ANIMANIACS: "TWAS THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS"

Here's the entire Animaniacs cartoon, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," adapted into a comic book published by DC Comics back in 1994.  The original cartoon was written by Randy Rogel and me and directed by Rusty Mills.  The comic book has great pencil work by Neal Sternecky.  (Neal  boarded and directed on the series as well.)   I've mixed in images from the original cartoon with the comic adaptation.   

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

"Animaniacs" Returns To TV on Christmas Eve: 12/24/12

A six hour Christmas-themed marathon of Animaniacs episodes airs today/tonight on THE HUB.  The marathon starts at 4 PM Eastern, 1 PM Pacific, with a partial repeat later in the evening.  Faboo!

Happy Holidays!

Santa Claus by Haddon Sundblom -- Part 2

For most of my younger days (the late 50's and the 60's), every time Christmas rolled around, the Coca-Cola Bottling Company rolled out a new full-color Christmas ad in all the national magazines.  The ads featured what became the definitive image of Santa Claus as rendered by the brilliant artist Haddon Sundblom.

Below, four of Sundblom's non-Coca-Cola Santa images.  

                                 Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Merry Christmas from Metuchen High School!

Holiday Greetings from Metuchen High School's student newspaper, The Bulldog's Bark, Metuchen, New Jersey.  

Merry Christmas from Yakko, Wakko and Dot, Freakazoid and Pinky & the Brain

Warner Bros Animation Studio holiday card, circa 1995

Christmas Card from Warner Bros. Animation, 1999

Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Superman, Taz, Buster Bunny and Babs Bunny (no relation), Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner (related), Michigan J. Frog, Pinky & the Brain, Tweety and Sylvester, Wile E. Coyote, Father Time and Big Fat Baby from "Histeria," Batman from "Batman Beyond" and the cast from "Detention" wish you Happy Holidays!

An Animalia Christmas

Allegra the alligator in an image from the holiday episode of  Animalia, the BBC series based on the classic book by Graham Base.  

Animaniacs: "Little Drummer Warners"

The "Little Drummer Warners" cartoon from Animaniacs...as seen on YouTube:

 

Happy Holidays!

It's A Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special Logo

Here's the logo for "It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special" which first aired on December 6, 1992.   This image was used in trade ads, in newspaper reviews, and in "TV Guide" promotions.   Whoever ordered this artwork must have requested "extra cel-shadows."  That request was granted.   

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with Laurel & Hardy

To celebrate the season, here are some holiday images from movies made by Laurel & Hardy, who remain among the very top comedy teams in the history of the movies.  

In "Big Business" (silent, 1929),  Stan and Ollie are door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen who run into a very difficult customer in the form of their recurring nemesis, James Finlayson.  

  

While it seems a little strange that Laurel & Hardy are dressed in winter attire in a sunny Southern California landscape filled with palm trees, in the end, what matters is the comedy of perfectly-timed and ever-escalating destruction.  

As a kid, my family owned a super-8 mm copy of this movie -- bought for $8.99 from Blackhawk Films out of Davenport, Iowa.   It's the only movie we owned.  When our projector was functioning, which wasn't often, we'd thread this baby up, turn out the lights, and project it onto a sheet.  Movie night! 

In another classic, "Below Zero" (talkie, 1930), Laurel & Hardy are pan-handling street musicians playing the one song that they know, "In the Good Old Summertime," in the middle of a blizzard.   

This isn't a Christmas movie, per se, but it has a very wintry feel, and brilliant comic timing throughout. 

My Uncle Richie --  Richard McLaughlin, writer and author of the novel "Into the Dangerous World" -- was a film buff who saw almost every film that came out in his many years living in New York City.   He was a big fan of Laurel & Hardy, and once made a comment that I've never forgotten.  

Uncle Richie said:  "It's too bad they never made a short about trimming a Christmas tree.   I always thought that Laurel and Hardy would be able to turn the trimming of a Christmas tree into something hilarious."  

I think Uncle Richie was right.  

Happy Holidays!