Comics & Cartoons - Cartoon News: A 45% pay cut possible... - Page 4

Tina · 12-22-2009, 08:26 AM

Didn't she also played Joesph before he hit puberty? May she rest in peace.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc318 (View Post)

Oh, this guy:

I thought that was one of his cousins or something.

Was The Princess and the Frog hand drawn as well?

Wow!

I never knew that - I want to see the scary Grover.

Lain · 12-22-2009, 10:33 AM

You're right, she voiced Joseph in his pre-puberty years.

So you ask, so you shall get:
YouTube - Sesame Street: First and Last

Lain · 12-24-2009, 05:08 PM

Another death (or two) follows. Sorry for the delay.

Source: Link

Quote:

Arnold Stang, Intense Comic Actor of Stage and Screen, Dies at 91

By Robert Simonson
December 23, 2009

Arnold Stang, who played a memorable array of comedic pests and lapdogs on radio, stage, television and film over a six-decade career, died on Dec. 20 in Newton, MA. He was 91 and lived in Needham, MA.

Short, bespectacled, with sleepy eyes made beady by thick glasses, and a weak chin, Mr. Stang hardly seemed a shoo-in for a long acting career. Yet he managed apply his talents to a great variety of projects. He was the voice of the savvy, street-smart, Phil Silvers-like Top Cat in the 1960s animated series of the same name. He was the spokesman for the candy bar Chunky in the 1950s, delivering the memorable slogan "Chunky! What a chunk o' chocolate!" for years. He played a running character in the popular radio series "The Goldbergs," and applied his pesky, nattering persona as a sidekick to Milton Berle and other comedians.

More often than not, he came off as a brassy New Yorker (he grew up in Brooklyn) who fought back from too many beatdowns with a know-it-all personality and honking bravado. Yet he could also bring dramatic heft to a role. His best known film was 1955's "The Man With the Golden Arm," an early drug drama based on a Nelson Algren novel, starring Frank Sinatra as a drummer with an addiction. Mr. Stang played Sinatra's needy, insistent shadow, named Sparrow, who sticks by the musician only to be abandoned in the final scene.

His other films included "Seven Days Leave," "My Sister Eileen," "They Got Me Covered," "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," "Skidoo," "Hercules in New York" and "Hello Down There."

Mr. Stang made three short stops on Broadway, in All in Favor and You'll See Stars in 1942, and a revival of The Front Page in 1969.

He put his naturally cartoonish voice to good work voicing an array of animated characters. The most famous was Top Cat. But he also provided the voice for Popeye's pal Shorty (a caricature of Stang), Herman the mouse in a number of Famous Studios cartoons, Tubby Tompkins in a few Little Lulu shorts, and Catfish on Misterjaw. He also furnished the voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee in the 1980s and was also a spokesman for Vicks Vapo-Rub.

He is survived by his wife, JoAnne Stang, his son David, and his daughter, Deborah Stang.

To the curious, Arnold Stang was known for playing Top Cat (T.C) during the 70s.

And since we were talking about Sesame Street, for those who have seen it during the 70s-80s, or if you have ever seen Sesame Street: Follow That Bird

Source: Link

Quote:

Alaina Reed Hall, "Sesame Street" Actress, Dies at 63

By Robert Simonson
23 Dec 2009

Alaina Reed Hall, a singer and actress best known for playing Olivia Robinson on "Sesame Street" for a dozen years beginning in the mid-1970s, died Dec 17. She was 63.

Reed Hall was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. She died at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica.

Ms. Hall later played Rose Holloway on the situation comedy "227." She appeared on Broadway three times, first playing Mama Morton in the original 1975 production of Chicago. She went on to star in a 1977 revival of Hair and the 1978 Eubie Blake revue Eubie! The actress was also one of the original cast members of the 1974 Off-Broadway production of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road.

Ms. Reed joined "Sesame Street" in 1976 and played Olivia — a professional photographer and sister to the character Gordon — until 1988.

On "227," the 1985-90 NBC sitcom, she played the apartment landlady and best friend to star Marla Gibbs' Mary Jenkins character. She married in real life the co-star she married in the series, Kevin Peter Hall.

She was born Bernice Reed in Springfield, OH, on Nov. 10, 1946. Ms. Reed's first marriage ended in divorce. Her marriage to Hall ended with his death in 1991. Reed Hall married Tamim Amini in 2008.

For those unfamiliar, here's a video:

YouTube - Sesame Street - Sing (Olivia & Linda)

Tina · 12-27-2009, 09:34 AM

That's horrible. Lots of death this year! May they rest in peace.

Thanks for posting the video, Kris.

Man, he IS creepy!

Lain · 01-13-2010, 03:28 AM

If anyone has some actual good news to share, please feel free to post here. Lately, it's just one after the other.

Apologies in advance if I tend to be a little late. School started.

Quote:

Art Clokey, Animator Who Created Gumby, Dies at 88
By MARGALIT FOX

Art Clokey, the animator who half a century ago created Gumby, that most pliant of pop-cultural figures, died on Friday at his home in Los Osos, Calif. He was 88.

His son, Joe Clokey, said he died in his sleep.

Asparagus green and fashioned from clay, Gumby made his television debut in 1956 on “The Howdy Doody Show.” The next year, he became the star of “The Gumby Show,” in which he embarked on a string of gently quixotic adventures with his supple steed, Pokey. The series was one of the first extended uses of stop-motion animation on television.

Though the 1950s show was fairly short-lived, Gumby reappeared in new series in the 1960s and in the 1980s and continued for years in syndication. He also starred in a feature film, “Gumby: The Movie” (1995), directed by Mr. Clokey.

Gumby is now firmly ensconced in popular culture. He dangles from rearview mirrors, appears in video games and crops up ubiquitously in references in film and on television. Millions of Gumby dolls have submitted to their owners’ manipulations. The character has been satirized, notably by Eddie Murphy, who played him as a cigar-chomping vulgarian — “I’m Gumby, dammit!” — on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s.

With his first wife, Ruth, Mr. Clokey also produced “Davey and Goliath,” the adventures of a clay boy and his dog, broadcast in the 1960s and ’70s.

Mr. Clokey was the subject of a documentary film, “Gumby Dharma,” released in 2006.

Arthur Charles Farrington, as Mr. Clokey was first known, was born in Detroit on Oct. 12, 1921. After his parents divorced when he was about 8, he lived with his father; when Art was 9, his father was killed in an automobile accident. Rejoining his mother in California, the boy was banished by her new husband and placed in a children’s home.

At about 11, Art was adopted by Joseph Waddell Clokey, a well-known composer of sacred and secular music. By Art’s later account, Joseph Clokey was a loving father who opened up a world of books and culture.

Art Clokey earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Ohio and later attended Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, intending to become an Episcopal priest. He left before graduating and settled in California, where he and Ruth planned to make religious films.

Entering the University of Southern California, Mr. Clokey studied with the modernist filmmaker Slavko Vorkapich. In 1955, he made a student film, “Gumbasia” — the title was a nod to “Fantasia” — in which clay shapes dance to a jazz soundtrack. (The film is included on the DVD “Gumby Essentials,” released in 2007 by Classic Media.)

Mr. Clokey created Gumby soon afterward. As he often said, Gumby’s asymmetrical head, resembling a rakish pompadour, was a tribute to his biological father’s prominent cowlick.

“The Gumby Show” had an undercurrent of tender, if slightly surreal, spirituality. (A lifelong seeker of enlightenment, Mr. Clokey tried LSD — but only once, under medical supervision and not till long after he created Gumby, his son said in a telephone interview on Sunday.)

“Davey and Goliath” was spiritual by design. Underwritten by what is now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the series was meant to teach values like charity and tolerance.

Mr. Clokey’s first marriage, to the former Ruth Parkander, ended in divorce; his second wife, Gloria, died in 1998. In addition to his son, Joe, from his first marriage, he is survived by a stepdaughter, Holly Harman; a sister, Arlene Cline; a half-sister, Patricia Anderson; and three grandchildren. A daughter from his first marriage, Ann, died in 1974.

With the rise of slick, titillatingly violent cartoons in the 1970s, Gumby’s popularity waned. According to many published accounts, Mr. Clokey struggled financially. Then along came Mr. Murphy, and suddenly Gumby was everywhere.

Mr. Clokey adored Mr. Murphy’s performance, his son said. But he was also gratified that it was broadcast late at night, when no child was awake to see it.

Source: Link

Lain · 01-24-2010, 05:43 PM

Woot goes the extension of Robot Chicken!

Quote:

"Robot Chicken" Picks Up Two More Seasons
By Ed Liu
01-22-2010, 4:35 PM
Adult Swim has announced that Robot Chicken has been renewed for 40 more episodes, which will compose season 5 and 6 for the hit series. No information was provided on when the new seasons will begin production or when they will air.

The full press release follows:

Robot Chicken Gets Unprecedented
Two-Season Pick-Up

(click to enlarge)

Seth Green and Matthew Senreich
Secure 40-episode Order with Adult Swim
for 5th and 6th Season

Robot Chicken creators/executive producers Seth Green and Matthew Senreich have made a deal with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim for a two-season, 40-episode pick-up for Seasons five and six. Robot Chicken, the highest-rated original series on Adult Swim, began airing in February 2005 and remains the top-rated original on the network. The series has been Emmy-nominated as Outstanding Animated Program for the last two years; Green was nominated for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and the series has won multiple Emmys in Animation. Robot Chicken produced two hit Robot Chicken: Star Wars specials, and Robot Chicken DVDs consistently rank among the industry's top TV on DVD releases during the week they are released. In addition, Robot Chicken has won four Annie Awards, including Best Animated Television Production, Best Writing and Best Director for Green.

"We're very excited," says Green, "we never expected to do a second season, let alone a fifth and sixth, so we are thrilled by the audience response and how the show continues to grow internationally." Senreich says, "We love Adult Swim. It's really that simple. From the get-go, we've always said that Robot Chicken was a show where we play with friends and we look forward to doing that for years to come!"

Robot Chicken is created and executive produced by Green and Senreich under their Stoopid Monkey Productions, in conjunction with Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico's ShadowMachine Films. Green and Senreich also executive produce, write and, with Chris McKay, direct the series, with Green providing many of the voices. Tom Root and Douglas Goldstein are the head writers of Robot Chicken and series writers Mike Fasolo, Kevin Shinick and Zeb Wells are frequently joined by guest writers Breckin Meyer (who also does many voices on the show), Hugh Davidson, Hugh Sterbakov and Dan Milano, Erik Weiner and Jordan Allen-Dutton.

Both Green and Senreich are represented by UTA. Green's deal was also handled by Koopman Management and David Weber of Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern and Senreich's by Allison Binder of Stone, Meyer, Genow,
Smelkinson & Binder.

Adult Swim (AdultSwim.com), launched in 2001, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.'s network offering original and acquired animated and live-action series for young adults. Airing nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (ET, PT), Adult Swim shares channel space with Cartoon Network, home to the best in original, acquired and classic entertainment for youth and families, and is seen in 97 million U.S. homes.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

[Source]

H O T Spike_Angel · 02-28-2010, 06:13 PM

ooo I'm glad I found this thread, because I had a question, and didn't know where to ask it...but hopefully here is the right place!

The original Strawberry Shortcake was recently released on DVD...but only the first two episodes...does anyone know when and if the rest of the original cartoons will be released? I am really not a fan of the remake at all, and I refuse to watch anything but the original! (even tho there were only a few episodes ever made lol). Thanks!

Lain · 02-28-2010, 06:38 PM

This is really just a news thread where we occasionally throw in article. Sadly, lately, it's either of DVD Releases, season renewals, or obituaries. I might consider opening a Questions thread one of these days depending on how effective it would be.

But to answer your question:

I'm not really familiar with the Strawberry Shortcake series (heard of it, never watched it) but assuming you're talking about the 80s version, of all the specials that have been aired, only The World of Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City have ever been released. It's not known when the other specials are going to come out on DVD.

H O T Spike_Angel · 02-28-2010, 07:15 PM

Okay, thank you...yea hopefully eventually there will be news on the rest being released.

vc318 · 03-03-2010, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H O T Spike_Angel (View Post)

The original Strawberry Shortcake was recently released on DVD...but only the first two episodes...does anyone know when and if the rest of the original cartoons will be released? I am really not a fan of the remake at all, and I refuse to watch anything but the original! (even tho there were only a few episodes ever made lol). Thanks!

I'd loved the original too.

Lain · 04-21-2010, 05:12 AM

Things are getting rather intense with South Park, apparently.

Source: South Park creators threatened with death by Muslim extremists over portrayal of Muhammad

Quote:

South Park creators threatened with death by Muslim extremists over portrayal of Muhammad
April 21, 1:52 AM · Jeromie Williams - Montreal Celebrity Examiner

The creators of South Park have been threatened with murder by Islamic extremist groups in America over last week's episode which contained controversial portrayal of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

On April 14th the animated series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone produced an episode that showed the Muslim Prophet Muhammad dressed in a bear suit, and since its airing has caused a wave of controversy through the Muslim world.

A sobering and chilling reply was sent out this week when remarks made by a New York Islamic extremist group called Revolution Muslim said "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality that will likely happen to them."

Theo van Gogh was a Dutch film maker who was assassinated in 2004 by an Islamic extremist for his personal take on the Muslim religion in both films and books.

The website for Revolution Muslim went further than just a veiled threat, and posted information on their site for the general population about where the creators of South Park work and live. This was accompanied by a sermon from a wanted cleric in Yemen outlining the punishments for blasphemy against the Muslim religion.

The story was also covered tonight on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, and Cooper himself said.

"We live in a country which prides itself on its freedom of speech, in which we can say whatever is in our hearts, in our minds as long as it’s not threatening to someone else; as long as it’s not calling for violence against somebody else.

Now, you might not like South Park the cartoon, you might think it’s offensive, you might decide it’s not something you want to watch, that’s up to you. But the notion that some radical Islamic group in America would make a threat, even a veiled one, against two men's lives because of it is chilling, and for the people making this threat, that is precisely the point; to chill discussion, to chill debate."

Although the owners of the website Revolution Muslim claim that they are only calling on people to protest, the website clearly depicted a murder victim underneath a clip of the offending scene from South Park.

It is steadfastly believed by Revolution Muslim that the Muslim equivelant to the Bible, the Qur'an, commands them "to terrorize non believers."

A public response by the creators of South Park has yet to be released.

vc318 · 04-21-2010, 10:10 AM

^ Yikes. I swear those two are always pushing the envelope on these sort of things.

Lain · 04-23-2010, 05:54 PM

True, but I read up on it and thought it was pretty tasteless that the organization that warned/threatened Trey Parker and Matt Stone had put up the photo of Theo Van Gogh's assassination on their site just to justify that that's what would happen to them.

You can read about Van Gogh [here]

I'm trying to remember if Super Best Friends (the first episode Muhammad was on) actually stirred controversy. I know Cartoon Wars II had its own problems because of that Muhammad drawing in the Dutch newspaper issue.

Update! [Source]

Quote:

April 23, 2010
‘South Park’ Episode Altered After Muslim Group’s Warning
By DAVE ITZKOFF

“South Park,” the Comedy Central series, is an animated show that tries its best to push buttons and the boundaries of free speech by mocking every high-profile target in sight, from Hollywood celebrities to religious figures. But its creators may have gotten more than they bargained for with two recent episodes that satirized the Prophet Muhammad — one that elicited an ominous message from an Islamic group based in New York, and one that was censored by the cable network that shows it.

On April 14 Comedy Central broadcast the 200th episode of “South Park,” a cartoon that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have produced for that channel since 1997. In honor of the occasion, Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone populated the episode with nearly all the famous people their show has lampooned in its history, including celebrities like Tom Cruise and Barbra Streisand, as well as major religious figures, like Moses, Jesus and Buddha.

Cognizant that Islam forbids the depiction of its holiest prophet, Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker showed their “South Park” characters agonizing over how to bring Muhammad to their fictional Colorado town. At first the character said to be Muhammad is confined to a U-Haul trailer, and is heard speaking but is not shown. Later in the episode the character is let out of the trailer, dressed in a bear costume.

The next day the “South Park” episode was criticized by the group Revolution Muslim in a post at its Web site, revolutionmuslim.com. The post, written by a member named Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, said the episode “outright insulted” the prophet, adding: “We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid, and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

Mr. van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker and a critic of religions including Islam, was killed by an Islamic militant in Amsterdam in 2004 after he made a film that discussed the abuse of Muslim women in some Islamic societies.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Younus Abdullah Muhammad, a member of Revolution Muslim, repeated the group’s assertion that the post was a prediction rather than a threat. He said the post on the group’s blog “was intended in a principle that’s deeply rooted in the Islamic religion, which is called commanding the good and forbidding the evil.” He tied the group’s complaints about “South Park” to larger frustrations about American support for Israel and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Asked if the F.B.I. was investigating, Special Agent Richard Kolko, an F.B.I. spokesman in New York, said in a phone interview that the bureau did not “monitor people or groups, we investigate criminal activity.”

Mr. Kolko said: “The F.B.I. will investigate threats that occur over the Internet to determine if there is a potential for the threat to be carried out. However, in most cases these are First Amendment issues, and the F.B.I. vigorously defends people’s First Amendment rights.”

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the New York Police Department was “aware of the threat, and we’ve looked at it.”

He added, “We don’t think that this threat, as is currently assessed, rises to a crime right now.”

A law enforcement official, who requested anonymity because the investigation was continuing, said police investigators had met with people at Comedy Central and "made arrangements to address security concerns."

Comedy Central has previously given Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker a certain free rein with “South Park.” In a July 2001 episode, “Super Best Friends,” Muhammad was depicted alongside the founders of other religions, including Krishna and Lao Tzu.

But in 2006, when “South Park” wanted to weigh in on a controversy that erupted after Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, published cartoons satirizing Muhammad, it was not given the same latitude: a character said to be Muhammad was concealed behind a large black box labeled “CENSORED.” The measure was taken by the “South Park” producers partly at the insistence of Comedy Central, and partly as a commentary on the network’s policy of not allowing them to show the character, which the episode equated with giving in to the demands of extremists.

In a new episode of “South Park” broadcast Wednesday on Comedy Central, Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone exercised a degree of self-censorship. In continuing the previous week’s story line about the Prophet Muhammad, that character was hidden underneath a “CENSORED” graphic, and an audio bleep was heard when his name was said.

But in a message that appeared Thursday morning on SouthParkStudios.com, the Web site of Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker’s company, the studio said that Comedy Central had imposed further changes to the show.

“After we delivered the show, and prior to broadcast, Comedy Central placed numerous additional audio bleeps throughout the episode,” the message said. It added that the network was not allowing the episode to be streamed on the Web site, where “South Park” shows generally appear after they are broadcast on Comedy Central.

A spokesman for Comedy Central confirmed on Thursday that the network had added more bleeps to the episode than were in the version delivered by South Park Studios, and that it was not permitting the episode to be shown on the studio’s Web site. Comedy Central did not broadcast a repeat of the new “South Park” episode at midnight as it usually does, and instead showed a previous episode from this season. The channel was scheduled to do the same Thursday night.

Comedy Central declined to comment on the Revolution Muslim blog post or say if it was taking any precautions because of it.

In a statement, Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone wrote: “In the 14 years we’ve been doing ‘South Park’ we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central, and they made a determination to alter the episode.”

The episode was to end with a speech “about intimidation and fear,” Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone wrote, adding, “It didn’t mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too.”

They continued, “We’ll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different, and we’ll see what happens to it.”

vc318 · 04-25-2010, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~+Yamiko (View Post)

True, but I read up on it and thought it was pretty tasteless that the organization that warned/threatened Trey Parker and Matt Stone had put up the photo of Theo Van Gogh's assassination on their site just to justify that that's what would happen to them.

Oh, I read the article and that was truly messed up what they did.

Tina · 04-28-2010, 10:50 AM

Thanks for the South Park news, Kris. I can't believe someone would get killed/threat made over something like that.

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