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Ware, Massachusetts
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Ware is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,872 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Ware, Ware was first settled on Equivalent Lands in 1717 and was officially incorporated in 1775. It is named after the English town of Ware, Hertfordshire, in 1716 a tract of land which was a little more than 11,000 acres in size was granted to John Read. He named it The Manour Of Peace and had it in mind to develop it in the style of an English manor anticipating that it would become a very valuable country estate. He leased out the land and did not sell 1-acre until after his death when he gave a gift of 200 acres to serve as a ministry lot. As time passed, the town of Ware grew up around the old Congregational meeting house and later became a center of local manufacturing. The actual origin of the name, Ware, is thought to be derived from a translation of the Native American word Nenameseck, the weirs were used to capture salmon that were once abundant in New England waterways. In 1729, the first grist and saw mills were built on the banks of the Weir River by Jabez Olmstead, during the American Revolution there were at least eight taverns and several inns in the area. Two of the most famous were Ebenezer Nye’s tavern and John Downing’s, after town meetings were held they would often adjourn to the latter establishment. By the 1830s it was not uncommon to see textile mills dotted along the local rivers. At this point Ware community was making the transition from an economy to an industrially based society. The post Civil War era brought a new prosperity to the now established textile mill town, Ware factory village, as it was known, sprung up overnight and formed the basis for new growth and development. For nearly 100 years the Otis company had been the largest single Ware employer, cotton had been the primary product and by 1937, denims, awnings and tickings were the principal output. It had been very prosperous until World War I when its employees numbered close to 2,500, by the 1920s however, the company began to decline due to southern competition and lack of modern machinery. By the mid thirties, the Directors decided to liquidate although no announcement was made. Instantly, the townspeople rallied to the cause, a public mass meeting was called that evening and plans to raise the necessary cash in order to forestall what appeared to be the imminent ruin of the town were formulated. The citizens of Ware were able to purchase the mills together with the backing of the Ware Trust Company, the mills became Ware Industries Inc. and Ware came to be known nationwide as The Town That Can’t Be Licked
2.
Animator
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An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, Animation is closely related to filmmaking and like filmmaking is extremely labor-intensive, which means that most significant works require the collaboration of several animators. The methods of creating the images or frames for an animation piece depends on the artistic styles. Other artists who contribute to animated cartoons, but who are not animators, include layout artists, storyboard artists, in hand-drawn Japanese animation productions, such as in Hayao Miyazakis films, the key animator handles both layout and key animation. Some animators in Japan such as Mitsuo Iso take full responsibility for their scenes, one important distinction is between character animators and special effects animators. Usually, a young artist seeking to break into animation is hired for the first time in one of these categories, historically, the creation of animation was a long and arduous process. Each frame of a scene was hand-drawn, then transposed onto celluloid. These finished cels were placed together in sequence over painted backgrounds and filmed. Animation methods have become far more varied in recent years, todays cartoons could be created using any number of interesting methods, mostly using computers to make the animation process cheaper and faster. These more efficient animation procedures have made the job less tedious. Audiences generally find animation to be more interesting with sound. Voice actors and musicians, among other talent, may contribute vocal or music tracks, some early animated films asked the vocal and music talent to synchronize their recordings to already-extant animation. Nowadays, visual development artists will design a character as a 2D drawing or painting, texture artists paint the character with colorful or complex textures, and technical directors set up rigging so that the character can be easily moved and posed. For each scene, layout artists set up cameras and rough blocking. Despite those constraints, the animator is still capable of exercising significant artistic skill, more recently, Chris Buck has remarked that animators have become actors with mice. Some studios bring in acting coaches on feature films to help work through such issues. Each finished film clip is then checked for quality and rushed to a film editor, Animation Computer animation Computer graphics Key frame Sweat box Animation Toolworks Glossary, Who Does What In Animation How An Animated Cartoon Is Made
3.
Fleischer Studios
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Fleischer Studios, Inc. was an American corporation which originated as an animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York. In its prime, The Fleischer Studio was a producer of animated cartoons for theaters. Fleischer Studios is notable for Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, Popeye the Sailor, unlike other studios, whose characters were anthropomorphic animals, the Fleischers most successful characters were humans. The cartoons of the Fleischer Studio were very different from the Disney product, as a result, the Fleischer cartoons were rough rather than refined, commercial rather than consciously artistic. But in their way, their artistry was expressed through a culmination of the arts. The approach was sophisticated, focused on surrealism, dark humor, adult psychological elements, and the environments were grittier and urban, often set in squalid surroundings—a reflection of the Depression as well as German Expressionism. Kim Deitch, Robert Crumb, Jim Woodring, and Al Columbia are among the creators who have acknowledged their inspiration. And much of Richard Elfmans 1980 cult film Forbidden Zone is an action pastiche of the early Fleischer Studios style. The Fleischer style was used in the 1995 animated series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. The Fleischer Studio was built on Max Fleischers novelty film series, the novelty was based largely on the results of the Rotoscope, invented by Fleischer to produce realistic animation. The first Out of the Inkwell films were produced through The Bray Studio, and featured Fleischers first character, The Clown, in 1921, The Bray Studio ran afoul with legal issues, having contracted for more films than it could deliver to its distributor, The Goldwyn Company. The Fleischer Brothers left and began their own studio with Dave as Director and Production Supervisor, in 1924, Veteran Animator, Dick Huemer came to The Inkwell Studio and redesigned The Clown for more efficient animation. Huemers new design and experience as an Animator moved them away from their dependency on The Rotoscope for fluid animation, in addition to defining the clown, Huemer established the Fleischer style with its distinctive thick and thin ink lines. In addition, Huemer created Ko-Kos companion, Fitz the Dog, other innovations included Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes and sing-along shorts, a precursor to Karaoke. In 1924, Distributor, Edwin Miles Fadiman, and Hugo Riesenfeld formed the Red Seal Pictures Corporation, Riesenfeld was the Theatrical Manager of the Strand, Rivoli, and Rialto theaters on Broadway. Because the Out of the Inkwell films were a part of the program in Riesenfeld’s theaters. The Red Seal Company committed to a release schedule of 26 films with The Inkwell Studio as the primary supplier. The following year, Red Seal released 141 films that included documentaries, short comedy subjects, carrie of the Chorus, also known as Backstage Comedies, was one of the Red Seal series that featured Max’s daughter, Ruth in a supporting role
4.
Ub Iwerks
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Ubbe Eert Ub Iwerks, A. S. C. was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician, who created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney. The works Iwerks produced alongside Disney went on to win numerous awards and he was born in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, Eert Ubbe Iwerks, immigrated to the U. S. in 1869 from the village of Uttum in East Frisia, Ubs full name can be seen on early Alice shorts that he signed. Several years later he simplified his name to Ub Iwerks, sometimes written as U. B and he is the father of Disney Legend Don Iwerks and grandfather to documentary film producer Leslie Iwerks. Iwerks was considered by many to be Walt Disneys oldest friend, the two met in 1919 while working for the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio in Kansas City, and would eventually start their own commercial art business together. Disney and Iwerks then found work as illustrators for the Kansas City Slide Newspaper Company, while working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company, Disney decided to take up work in animation, and Iwerks soon joined him. He was responsible for the style of the earliest Disney animated cartoons. In 1922, when Disney began his Laugh-O-Gram cartoon series, Iwerks joined him as chief animator, after the end of this series, Disney asked Iwerks to come up with a new character. The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was animated entirely by Iwerks, following the first cartoon, Oswald was redesigned on the insistence of Universal, who agreed to distribute the new series of cartoons in 1927. In spring 1928, Disney lost control of the Oswald character and he promised never to work with a character he did not own ever again. Disney asked Iwerks, who stayed on, to start drawing up new character ideas, Iwerks tried sketches of frogs, dogs, and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were created at this time by Iwerks and they would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. Ub Iwerks eventually got inspiration from an old drawing, in 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. Then, on a ride back from a failed business meeting. Afterwards, Disney took the sketch to Iwerks, in turn, he drew a more clean cut and refined version of Mickey, but one that still followed the original sketch. The first few Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies cartoons were animated almost entirely by Iwerks, including Steamboat Willie, the Iwerks Studio opened in 1930. Financial backers led by Pat Powers suspected that Iwerks was responsible for much of Disneys early success, however, while animation for a time suffered at Disney from Iwerks departure, it soon rebounded as Disney brought in talented new young animators. The Flip and Willie cartoons were distributed on the home-movie market by Official Films in the 1940s
5.
The Walt Disney Company
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The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the second largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue. Disney was founded on October 16,1923 – by brothers Walt Disney, the company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and then Walt Disney Productions. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its operations and also started divisions focused upon theater, radio, music, publishing. In addition, Disney has since created corporate divisions in order to more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its studio, Walt Disney Studios. Disneys other three divisions are Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney Media Networks, and Disney Consumer Products. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6,1991, Mickey Mouse, an early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, is a primary symbol and mascot for Disney. In early 1923, Kansas City, Missouri, animator Walt Disney created a film entitled Alices Wonderland. After the bankruptcy in 1923 of his previous firm, Laugh-O-Gram Studios, Disney moved to Hollywood to join his brother, Walt and Roy Disney formed Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio that same year. More animated films followed after Alice, in January 1926, with the completion of the Disney studio on Hyperion Street, the Disney Brothers Studios name was changed to the Walt Disney Studio. The distributor owned Oswald, so Disney only made a few hundred dollars, Disney completed 26 Oswald shorts before losing the contract in February 1928, due to a legal loophole, when Winklers husband Charles Mintz took over their distribution company. After failing to take over the Disney Studio, Mintz hired away four of Disneys primary animators to start his own animation studio, Snappy Comedies. In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse and starred in several Disney produced films, ub Iwerks refined Disneys initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disneys first sound film Steamboat Willie, a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18,1928 through Pat Powers distribution company and it was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind Plane Crazy and The Gallopin Gaucho. Disney used Pat Powers Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee De Forests Phonofilm system, Steamboat Willie premiered at B. S. Mosss Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disneys Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks, Disney continued to produce cartoons with Mickey Mouse and other characters, and began the Silly Symphonies series with Columbia Pictures signing on as Symphonies distributor in August 1929
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Walter Lantz
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Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, director and actor best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York, to Italian immigrant parents, Francesco Paolo Lantz, according to Joe Adamsons biography, The Walter Lantz Story, Lantzs father was given his new surname by an immigration official who anglicized it. Walter Lantz was always interested in art, completing a drawing class at age 12. He was inspired when he saw Winsor McCays animated short, Gertie the Dinosaur, while working as an auto mechanic, Lantz got his first break. Wealthy customer Fred Kafka liked his drawings on the bulletin board. Kafka also helped him land a job as a boy at the New York American. Lantz worked at the newspaper and attended art school at night, by the age of 16, Lantz was working in the animation department under director Gregory La Cava. Lantz then worked at the John R. Bray Studios on the Jerry On The Job series, in 1924, Lantz directed, animated, and even starred in his first cartoon series, Dinky Doodle, and soon replaced George Vernon Stallings as head of production. In the meantime, he worked briefly for director Frank Capra and was a gag writer for Mack Sennett comedies and he also resorted to odd jobs, one of them being the chauffeur for one of Hollywoods most important moguls. In 1928, Lantz was hired by Charles B, Mintz as director on the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon series for Universal Pictures. Earlier that year, Mintz and his brother-in-law George Winkler had succeeded in snatching Oswald from the characters creator, Universal president Carl Laemmle grew dissatisfied with the Mintz-Winkler product and fired them, deciding instead to produce the Oswalds on the Universal lot. While schmoozing with Laemmle, Lantz wagered that if he could beat Laemmle in a game of poker, as fate would have it, Lantz won the bet, and Oswald was now his character. Nolans previous credentials included inventing the panorama background and developing a new, in September 1929, Lantz released his first cartoon, Race Riot. By 1935, he parted company with Nolan, Lantz became an independent producer, supplying cartoons to Universal instead of merely overseeing the animation department. By 1940, he was negotiating ownership for the characters with whom he had been working, when Oswald had worn out his welcome, Lantz needed a new character. Meany, Miny, and Moe, Baby-Face Mouse, Snuffy Skunk, Doxie, however, one character, Andy Panda, stood out and soon became Lantzs headline star for the 1939–1940 production season. In 1940, Lantz married actress Grace Stafford, during their honeymoon, the couple kept hearing a woodpecker incessantly pecking on their roof. Grace suggested that Walter use the bird for inspiration as a cartoon character, taking her advice, though a bit skeptical, Lantz debuted Woody Woodpecker in an Andy Panda short, Knock Knock
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J.R. Bray
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John Randolph Bray was an American animator. Bray became interested in animation in the years of moving pictures. By 1914, he opened a New York area studio specifically organized to make animated films, as the 1910s progressed Brays studio became a powerhouse in the early animation industry. The studio assembled a staff that included many accomplished animators, and it produced a steady, Bray contributed a series featuring his Colonel Heeza Liar series, which was among the most popular series of animated shorts in that era. Bray produced the first animated film in color, The Debut of Thomas Cat, Bray Productions produced over 500 films between 1913 and 1937, mostly animation films and documentary shorts. Cartoonist Paul Terry worked briefly for Bray Studios in 1916, the entertainment branch of Bray Pictures Corporation closed in 1928. Documentary production for theatrical release continued through the late 1930s, the educational and commercial branch, Brayco, made mostly filmstrips from the 1920s until it closed in 1963. Bray Studios was still in operation in the early 1980s, J. R. Bray died in Bridgeport, CT at the age of 99 in 1978. Jam Handys company, the Jam Handy Organization, began as a Chicago-Detroit division of Bray Studios, Jam Handy made several thousand industrial and sponsored films and tens of thousands of filmstrips, many for the auto industry, closed in 1983. Bray visited Winsor McCay during his production of Gertie the Dinosaur, McCay was very open about the techniques that he developed and showed all the details to Bray. John Randolph Bray later patented many of McCays methods and unsuccessfully tried to sue the other animator, McCay prevailed, however, john Randolph Bray at the Internet Movie Database
8.
Hawaiian Holiday
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Hawaiian Holiday is a 1937 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon stars an ensemble cast of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck and it was Disneys first film to be released by RKO, ending a five-year distributing partnership with United Artists. Mickey and his friends are vacationing in Hawaii, Minnie dances in a grass skirt while Mickey plays a slide guitar, Donald plays a ukulele, and Pluto chases the waves. The wave then comes back in and washes Goofy around, eventually leaving his head stuck in the sand, Mickey begins to have a problem with his guitar, while Minnie and Donald trade places. However, when Donald takes his turn with the skirt, he dances too close to the fire and he rapidly goes to a pool to put the blaze out, but in the process, he pulls up a starfish. Donald throws the starfish off his bottom and it lands right in front of Pluto, after Pluto sniffs at it, it begins to rapidly run away. Pluto chases it right up to the waves where he buried in the sand. The starfish hops right over him, hits him on the nose, Goofy tries his luck with the waves again and is actually able to get a swell, but it breaks beneath him and washes his board away. As Goofy searches underwater for his board, another wave comes it and drives his board into his pants, meanwhile, Pluto is sniffing at a seashell. A wave comes in and knocks him off his feet, which leaves the shell stuck to his nose. Pluto tries to shake the shell off, but it stuck on his bottom instead. He tries and tries to get it off, but cant seem to and it is later revealed that there is a crab living in the shell, which clamps onto Plutos tail. Although he can feel something on his tail, Pluto does not fully notice the crab until it pinches him, the crab begins walking in a certain pattern which Pluto follows until they reach the surf, where a wave comes in and buries Pluto. As with the starfish, the crab tortures him by hitting him on the nose before departing, Mickey, Minnie, and Donald laugh at him, and when he pops out unharmed, they continue enjoying their vacation. 1937 – theatrical release 1956 – Disneyland, episode #2.22, On Vacation c.1983 – Good Morning, episode #132010 – YouTube video 2011 – Have a Laugh. Volume 4 Hawaiian Holiday on YouTube Hawaiian Holiday at The Big Cartoon DataBase Hawaiian Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
9.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, it is the first full-length cel animated feature film and the earliest Disney animated feature film. The story was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith. David Hand was the director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce. Snow White premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre on December 21,1937 and it was a critical and commercial success, and with international earnings of $8 million during its initial release briefly assumed the record of highest-grossing sound film at the time. The popularity of the film has led to it being re-released theatrically many times, adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top ten performers at the North American box office. At the 11th Academy Awards, Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar, Disneys take on the fairy tale has had a significant cultural impact, resulting in popular theme park attractions, a video game, and a Broadway musical. Snow White is a princess living with her stepmother, a vain. The Queen fears that Snow Whites beauty surpasses her own, so she forces Snow White to work as a scullery maid, for several years the mirror always answered that the Queen was, pleasing her. One day, the Magic Mirror informs the Queen that Snow White is now the fairest in the land, the jealous Queen orders her Huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her. She further demands that the return with Snow Whites heart in a jeweled box as proof of the deed. However, the Huntsman cannot bring himself to kill Snow White and he tearfully begs for her forgiveness, revealing the Queen wants her dead and urges her to flee into the woods and never look back. Lost and frightened, the princess is befriended by woodland creatures who lead her to a deep in the woods. Finding seven small chairs in the dining room, Snow White assumes the cottage is the untidy home of seven orphaned children. In reality, the cottage belongs to seven adult dwarfs, named Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey, returning home, they are alarmed to find their cottage clean and suspect that an intruder has invaded their home. The dwarfs find Snow White upstairs, asleep across three of their beds, Snow White awakes to find the dwarfs at her bedside and introduces herself, and all of the dwarfs eventually welcome her into their home after they learn she can cook and clean beautifully. Snow White keeps house for the dwarfs while they mine for jewels during the day, the Queen goes to the cottage while the dwarfs are away, but the animals are wary of her and rush off to find the dwarfs. Faking a potential attack, the Queen tricks Snow White bringing her into the cottage to rest
