cartoon Gerald McBoing Boing

All:

Pointer to cartoon:
http://www.bremenonline.org/boing/boingboing.htm

Kobielus kommentary:
I've been looking for this for years. I've never seen it before. But it didn't disappoint.

Here's the description from the website:

"Gerald McBoing Boing won the Academy Award as best animated short subject for 1950. The competition was an MGM Tom & Jerry cartoon Jerry's Cousin, and another UPA entry Trouble Idemnity with Mr. Magoo. It was a major triumph for UPA--formal recognition of their groundbreaking efforts.
This film--one of the finest ever made--had an impact that was both immeadiate and long-lasting. The concept came from Dr. Seuss, who as Theodore Geisel, had worked with some of the UPA staff on army films during WWII. His story, and rhyming dialogue, was adapted for animation by Phil Eastman and Bill Scott. Director Bobe Cannon and designer Bill Hurtz's concept was--less is more--how few lines could they use. The action was charted, then the music written to that action before it was animated by Bill Melendez, Rudy Larriva, Pat Mathews, Willis Pyle, and Frank Smith. Next Jules Engel and Herb Klynn added the bright, flat colors in the background, broken only by the sparest of "props." Different colors were used to convey different moods thoughout the film."

Now my two cents on it:

This is a wonderful little cartoon, an exquisite and elegant composition from beginning to end (slightly less than 7 minutes). You'll need RealPlayer to watch this stream. Watch it all the way through, then restart it and simply listen to it all the way through. Then watch and listen. Stop the video at any point and marvel at the economy, balance, use of fine line, and richness of color and texturing in every frame. Check out how fluidly one scene gives way to the next. How the action is expertly punctuated by the sound effects and score at every point. How the narrator intones it all in a jaunty script that so totally anticipates the more minimal Dr. Seuss to come later in that decade. It's not really minimalistic--it simply doesn't waste a single compositional element, and pares it all down to the absolutely essential. And it's a fun unpretentious piece of animation. Bright and brilliant no matter how you take it.

Clearly, a cinematic milestone. Boingboing. Bump-bum. Dang dang dang dang. Ah-ooga. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom.

Jim