Rummaging through my archives last night, I came across this inter-office memo (click thumbnail below to see full size) distributed throughout Walt Disney studios on January 17th 1939:

Attention has been called to the rather gross language that is being used by some members of the IBT (Inbetween) Department in the presence of some of our female employees.

It has always been Walt’s hope that the studio could be a place where girls can be employed without fear of embarassment or humiliation. Your cooperation in this matter will be appreciated.

Leon Schlesinger died on Christmas Day, 1949. He sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944 and spent his last years in an executive job at the studio, the first one dedicated to merchandising the cartoon characters. While he wasn’t technically “Bugs Bunny’s Creator” (as his obituaries claimed) he was a significant figure in the creation of a dozen pop culture icons that will literally live forever.

His obituaries from the Los Angeles Times (below left) and Los Angeles Examiner (below right) are fitting tributes. Click on each thumbnail for larger images:

Disney exec Howard Green informs us that there will be an official Life Celebration for Ollie at the El Capitan Theatre on Tuesday evening August 19th. Please note that, though this is a free event, tickets are required. Leonard Maltin is hosting and participants will include John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Andy Gaskill, Roy Disney, John Musker, Ron Clements, Charles Solomon, the Johnston family, Jeanette and Ted Thomas, and Mark Kirkland, among others.

Thanks to the courtesy of Disney, Cartoon Brew is exclusively offering 100 readers the opportunity to attend this event in Hollywood. UPDATE: No more tickets! We’ve given away our allotment. I have posted a complete list of Brew reader names who will be on the list in the comments below. If your name isn’t on this list, we cannot guarantee your admittance to this event.

To answer the many inquires they received at the time, Warner Bros. produced a three page pamphlet, in comic strip style, to explain the production of animation cartoons. Clearly the work of a lower level assistant artist, the artwork isn’t so good, but the information in this 1956 handout is essentially accurate.

Click the thumbnails below to see the pages full size. According to this piece, Fifteen months and fifteen thousand drawings are required to create a Warner Bros. cartoon. Note the caricature of Eddie Selzer (the producer) in panel #1 and Beaky Buzzard in panel #7. Adding fuel to the ongoing script versus storyboard controversy, Bugs is shown typing a story in panel #2, while Daffy is sketching the storyboard in panel #3.

It’s the one year anniversary of Cartoon Dump, our monthly live comedy and cartoons showcase in Hollywood. As a special anniversary show treat, we will have two guest comedians performing within our show on Tuesday night: Maria Bamford (above left) and Blaine Capatch (above right). So this Tuesday, July 22 at 8 PM, please come along and join Maria, Blaine, Moodsy, Compost Brite, Officer Pete, Dumpster Diver Dan, Cue Card Goddess and me, Jerry Beck, for an evening of hilarious comedy, demented songs, and really, really crappy cartoons.

It’s at the Steve Allen Theater, 4773 Hollywood Blvd. (two blocks west of Vermont). Map here, see you there!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present Normand Roger on The Animation Soundtrack, on Sunday, August 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater on Vine Street in Hollywood.

For this special presentation, Roger will discuss his creative approach to the animation soundtrack in an onstage conversation with composer Michael Giacchino (THE INCREDIBLES, RATATOUILLE). They will be joined by animator Frédéric Back (CRAC, THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES), with whom Roger collaborated on six films. In addition, four Animated Short Film winners which feature Roger’s scores and sound design will be screened in their entirety: EVERY CHILD (1979, directed by Eugene Fedorenko), CRAC (1981, directed by Frédéric Back), THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1999, directed by Alexander Petrov) and FATHER AND DAUGHTER (2000, directed by Michael Dudok de Wit).

This program is presented in conjunction with the opening night of the exhibition Frédéric Back: A Life’s Drawings on display in the lobby of the Linwood Dunn Theater. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. All seating is unreserved. Tickets may be purchased online at oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office or by mail. For more information, call (310) 247-3600

(Image above from Synchromie (1971) by Norman McLaren)

The ASIFA-Hollywood panel with Ralph Bakshi will be a particular highlight at the Comic Con next week. The blurb for this event posted online was not accurate. Here’s the correct description:

ARTISTS ONLY: A Chat With Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi is responsible for some of the most wildly original animated features ever made- including Heavy Traffic, Coonskin and Wizards. Working in a largely collaborative medium hide-bound by the legacy of Walt Disney, Bakshi was able to rip the lid off of the moribund medium and create films with remarkable honesty and a startlingly unique point of view.

The legendary cartoonist Ralph Bakshi will be on hand to be interviewed by ASIFA-Hollywood Archive Director Stephen Worth on his life and career. He will be offering advice to aspiring cartoonists and reflecting on what it means to be an artist in today’s world. Whether you’re lucky enough to make a living doodling or whether you still dream of being paid to create, you won’t want to miss this important presentation.

Don’t miss it - Saturday, July 26th 4:30 - 5:30 in Room 10.

Oh, I get it - the operative word here is “cartoons”, and the joke is that the current political situation is a different “cartoon” from the one Jeffy and PJ usually watch. Ha. Ha. That’s a real knee-slapper. I’ve got nothing against The Family Circus and I’m not trying to turn into the Comics Curmudgeon - but today’s Family Circus is badly written and poorly composed. Perhaps they should leave the political humor to Garry Trudeau.

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