Alla veneranda età di 96 anni, l’animatore veterano Bill Littlejohn ha raggiunto l’Empireo dei Cartoni Animati.
Tra le altre cose, dopo aver debuttato nello Studio di Van Beuren Studio all’inizio degli anni Trenta (mettendo le mani su Felix a colori, per esempio), aveva lavorato per Ted Eshbaugh, la magica coppia Harman e Ising e più in generale per la MGM: The Captain and the Kids, Jitterbug Follies, Tom and Jerry... Come nel corto che appena scelto, al volo, per ricordare il caro Guglielmino Piccologiovanni, che da giovanissimo (io) incontrai già anziano (lui) durante un indimenticabile Salone.
Il SIGH! è obbligato.
Dal sito dell’ASIFA di Hollywood, che scriverà qualcosa di più su Bill da martedì in poi, ricavo questo suo curriculum:
Bill started animating at the Van Buren studio in New York in 1934 and for MGM in 1938. Duty called during World War II.
In 1943 he left animation to become an engineer and pilot. In 1948, Littlejohn left the east coast and returned to Hollywood. He then became one of the founders of the Screen Cartoon, meeting many famous union leaders outside of the industry.
Times changed during the Disney strike with his union being transmogrified from 852 into another that is still in existence today, but Bill wanted to return to his profession, animation. So in 1952, he went back to work to form an ASIFA chapter in Hollywood, the hub of animated features, shorts and festivals in Annecy and Zagreb that inspired Bill with Ward Kimball and Les Goldman ision series. They knew that Bill always had time for preserving and promoting animation besides working like crazy at his craft.
Jitterbug Follies (1939) Milt Gross
Caricato da klangley. – Guarda altri filmati divertenti
Questo (sopra) l’ho sicuramente già embeddato in precedenza, ma non credo in questa versione splendida-splendente.
E’ Jitterbug Follies, un MGM cartoon del 1939 basato su un fumetto di Milt Gross, animato da Littlejohn.
Segue un segmento dei Peanuts, sempre animato da lui, con la regia di Bill Melendez.
Commercials galor. The short film, feature animation branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences claims as its membership hundreds of U.S. and world-wide artists, In 1988, they voted Bill onto the Board of Governors to represent them.
Other two governors had another articulate, caring partner to protect and defend the short films. It was he who initiated the idea of creating an Oscar for theatrical animated features
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