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Chapter 15A: Terrytoonery
Terrytoons. Here was my locale that most interests the animation historians. So now I finally have the chance to tell it like it really was. I name names -- all the names, and print the pix. And all the production details about Tom Terrific. I tell you what I did and what I tried to do - a "renaissance" - a total make over... and I tell you why it failed.
On the following pages are model sheets of some of the characters I created at Terrytoons, for which I had unfulfilled high hopes. For all of these, I made the original model sketches. Some of them were later refined by my key designers. "Dewitt Clinton Clobber" was my personal highest hope, and I drew all of the model sheets of him myself. Gaston Le Crayon went through several stages of development, with the final model drawn by Eli Bauer.
John Doormat also evolved, with Al Kouzel coming up with the final model, and directing his best film, "Another Day, Another Doormat," of which I am still very proud to have nurtured. On all of these characters, we tried very hard to develop in a multi-dimensional way, writing extensive character studies of each of them. Part of the John Doormat character outline is reproduced here. It's from early 1957.
The Sidney model sheet was drawn by me. Foofle, the precursor of my later Nudnik character, was developed by me, but this production model sheet was drawn by Larz Bourne, Terrytoons best traditional gagman and storyboard artist.
I'm proud to have been the first to bring the work of R.O.(Bob) Blechman to animation production, with his charming and incisive rendition of "The Juggler of Our Lady." It was a great gas to put his tiny scribbly characters onto the huge CinemaScope screen! A few frames are reproduced here.
After the model sheets are some notes on the people of Terrytoons during my time there.
4 Comments Posted
dave chavers: can you tell me why silly sidney, one of my childhood favorites, had, in his brief career, three distinctly...
Charles Brubaker: I like your cartoons, even though I only have Sidney tape. I guess your cartoons are rare. By the way,...
Mike Kazaleh: Hi, Gene. I am a big fan of yours. On your Terrytoon staff list, you also left off animator George Bakes....
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