December 18, 2020
Terrytoons and Hanna-Barbera Animator Doug Crane has Passed Away!
The Animation Hall Of Fame family is sad to acknowledge the passing of Veteran animator and cartoonist Doug Crane. He died yesterday in Stuart, Florida after a short battle with cancer. He was 85.
Born in Bronxville, New York, Crane attended Eastchester High School before graduating from the Cartoonist and Illustrators School, now known as The School of Visual Arts, in New York City. He started at Terrytoons in 1956; his first day on the job, he met his future wife Maureen Hurley, with whom he eventually had eight children.
Putting his career on hold in 1958 to join the Army, Crane married Hurley and together, they had their first child. While serving his many duties included illustrating recruitment pamphlets, creating and painting floats for the base parades, painting signage for the White Sands Proving Grounds, and creating a comic strip called "Tiptoe and Timber" that ran in military Newspapers.
When he finished his service he and his family returned to New Rochelle, NY, where he rejoined Terrytoons. During his time at the studio, he worked with industry greats including Burne Hogarth, Preston Blair, Art Babbitt, Jimmy (Shamus) Culhane, Bill Hanna, Joe Oriolo, Bill Tytla, John Hubley, Grim Natwick, Jack Zander, Al Capp, Bob Blechman, Gene Deitch, Ernie Pintoff, Richard Williams, and a host of others.
At the urging of Bill Hanna, Crane setup and ran, along with Reg Auguston, the Hanna-Barbera East studio in New York City. He went on to animate films, television series, commercials, theatrical releases, and half hour specials. His Wall Street Journal commercial won him a Clio Award. Although he was well-known for his storyboard work, character creation and design, background design and finished layouts, he noted that some of his favorite work was animating the bobbing, rolling, and twisting ship scene in the
Raggedy Ann & Andy movie.
Crane designed and taught a comprehensive Cartooning and Animation techniques course at his alma mater, Eastchester High School, and was a Professor of Classical Animation at his other alma mater, The School of Visual Arts in New York City, for 15 years. Crane was also invited to teach at the Institute of Animation and Film at the Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
While maintaining a full schedule of lectures and demonstrations on the art of animation at schools, libraries, fraternal organizations, and various business functions, Crane served as the Artist In Residence at the prestigious Thornton-Donovan school in New Rochelle. He also served the Westchester County residents as an Auxiliary Police officer, a Grand Knight at the New Rochelle Knights of Columbus, and as the Municipal Arts Commissioner, where he planned and carried out the weekend-long 40th Anniversary Terrytoons celebration in February 1982.
As noted by his daughter, Crane was most proud of his family. His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were the light of his life. He loved all the activity that was always happening in a household with a family of 10.
He is survived by his children Maureen, Erin (her husband Mark and their daughters Megan, Katie, Kerry, and their families), Thomas (his wife Debbie and their children Sean, Brianna, and their families), Colleen (her husband Art and their children AJ, Aidan, Tiernan, and Riley), Caitlin (her husband Shawn), Kevin (his wife Erin and their children Abigail and Nathaniel) and Rose-Ellen (her husband Andrew and their daughters Sam, Shannon, Jordan, and Hayley).
Crane was predeceased by two days, by Maureen, his beloved wife of 61 years, and by son Douglas Jr. in 2018.
December 1, 2020
The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 Released!
In 1987 the fantastic The Puppetoon Movie honoring legendary animation and film pioneer George Pal's greatest creations was released theatrically and shortly afterward came out on VHS and then Blu-ray/DVD in 2013. Now a second act has been released with The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2.
These fully restored groundbreaking stop-motion animation selections by George Pal, created between 1932 and 1947 features 18 shorts all of which are from original 35mm Nitrate IB Technicolor prints, or the original Three-Strip Technicolor successive negatives. The set also includes bonus features, a 6-panel color booklet, and 'Liner Notes' by producer Arnold Leibovit.
November 27, 2020
Honoring Our Stories Themed Black In Animation Awards Show
Black Women Animate (BWA Studios) and Cartoon Network Studios have partnered to launch the inaugural Black in Animation Awards Show. This new initiative will honor Black people in animation who have and currently are paving the way for this sector of the entertainment industry.
The theme of this year's event is "Honoring Our Stories." The inaugural honorees include Vanessa Morrison, President of Streaming at Walt Disney Studios (Trailblazer Award); Bruce Smith, EP & Director at Disney Television Animation (Narrative Creator Award); Dr. Ayoka Chenzira, TV Director and Experimental Filmmaker (Cultural Innovator Award); Tina Obo, Director (Rising Star Award); Latoya Raveneau, Director at Disney Television Animation (Next Gen Award), and Carole Holliday, Animator and Story Artist (Lifetime Achievement Award).
This awards show will be on December 6, 2020 at 5:00 PM PST / 8:00 PM EST and be hosted by Grammy award-winning artist Estelle.
November 9, 2020
Scooby-Doo Co-Creator Ken Spears has Passed Away!
The Animation Hall Of Fame family is sad to acknowledge the passing of animation writer, producer, and creator Ken Spears. He died Friday in Brea California of Lewy body dementia. He was 82.
Spears grew up in Los Angeles at which time he would become friends with the son of animation legend William Hanna. Years later, he was hired by Hanna-Barbera Productions as a sound editor, where he eventually met Ruby. The two went on to create one of entertainment’s most recognized animated cartoon characters, Scooby-Doo, and many other Saturday morning cartoons for Hanna-Barbera, including
Dynomutt,
Dog Wonder, and
Jabberjaw.
Eventually, they moved on to Depatie-Freleng where they created
The Barkleys and
The Houndcats. Then, Fred Silverman, CBS president of children's programming, hired the pair in the early 1970s to supervise the network's Saturday morning cartoon lineup. In 1975 they took over the same role at ABC after Silverman became president of entertainment at the network.
ABC set Ruby and Spears up with their own studio, Ruby-Spears Productions in 1977. They created for the Saturday morning lineup such shows as
Superman, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Plastic Man Comedy-Adventure Hour, Thundarr the Barbarian, Saturday Supercade, and
Mister T.
Spears is survived by his sons Kevin and Chris, their wives, his five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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October 30, 2020
The Walt Disney Company Remasters their 1929 Animation Classic
The Skeleton Dance.
The Walt Disney Company's video editor Adam Maciaszek has overseen the 4K remastering of the classic
Silly Symphony short
The Skeleton Dance. The original short was met with very positive reception, and in 1994 was named "18" out of 50 by animation historian Jerry Beck in his book "The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals."
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October 15, 2020
Kind Donation from AHOF Follower Jane Johnston In Memory Of Richard Williams!
The Animation Hall Of Fame would like to thank and commend AHOF follower Jane Johnston who honored the passing of animation legend Richard Williams with a kind donation in his memory. Thank you once again Jane for your donation and more over for honoring Richard Williams.
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September 23, 2020
Congratulations to the Dan MacKenzie 2020 Emmy Animation Winner!
The Animation Hall of Fame is proud to announce and congratulate Dan MacKenzie, this year's Emmy winner for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation. Dan created absolutely stunning stop motion animation for the
Vavilov episode of the National Geographic television series
Cosmos: Possible Worlds.
CEO, Chairman, and Co-founder of the Animation Hall Of Fame was Dan's stop motion animation professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design and said: "Dan was not just an extremely naturally talented student, but also one of the kindest individuals that I have ever met. He exemplifies the same wonderful qualities of one of my early mentors and legendary stop motion animation and film pioneer George Pal."
CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN DAN!
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September 22, 2020
Congratulations to the Women In Animation 2020 Best Short Award Winners!
Women in Animation has revealed their Class of 2020 Best Short Film winners. And here they are:
Ciervo, directed by Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma, a recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. La Vida de una Piñata, directed by Elena Heller, Marina Kunz, Raphael Pfyffer and Kai Müri, graduates of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland. Meow or Never, directed by Neeraja Raj, a graduate of the National Film and Television School in the UK.
Once again, congratulations!
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