Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Art Davis - "Bye Bye Bluebeard"


If I'm not mistaken I believe this was the last short produced by Art Davis' unit before it was disbanded. (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong)I love that in each Davis short you can always count on at least one cool camera angle. Like this one below.



12 comments:

Paul F. Etcheverry said...

Thanks! That was yet another interesting, unique, cleverly staged, warped and dark piece of work from the cartoon world of Art Davis and Sid Marcus.

Anonymous said...

Yes, This was indeed the last art Davis Cartoon To Come Out of his unit. But I got a couple of questions for you. Do you happen to know whatever happend to the animator's in his unit after they left the studio? and have you gotten a copy of "Birth of a Notion'' Yet?

Paul F. Etcheverry said...

Kevin, tell me if I'm wrong on this. . . I thought most of Davis' animators ended up in Bob McKimson's unit, at least for a little while.

The 'Bluebeard swallowing mouse with tabasco' scene is a brilliant bit of animation.

Thad said...

Paul--

Basil Davidovich and Don Williams left when the Davis unit disbanded. Bill Melendez and Emery Hawkins [the animator of the tabasco scene] went to McKimson's unit.

Kevin Langley said...

Thad- Any idea where where Davidovich went to after Warners? He doesn't seem to be credited for anything until '56 when doing layouts at Disney. Same for Don Williams. I can't find anything on him until he appears at Hanna-Barbera.

Thad said...

Kevin--
Not sure. They may have been working for independents. There's a rumor Williams was an alkie.

Martin Juneau said...

Yes, "Bye Bye Bluebeard" was the last cartoon that Davis realised in a period but he was back in 1962 like director for only one cartoon: "Quackodile Tears".

Davis have a big experience for cartoons ideas, sometimes much obscure than Freleng, McKimson and Jones did at their times.

Paul F. Etcheverry said...

Thanks, Thad!

Bill Scott and Lloyd Turner wrote the storyboards for most of the Davis WB cartoons. I don't know where Turner landed between his stints at WB and Jay Ward, but Scott moved to the TIME FOR BEANY TV show, where he worked with Stan Freberg, Daws Butler and Charlie Shows.

Wonder where animators Davidovich and Williams ended up, let alone where Sid Marcus took his original and idiosyncratic gag mind before re-emerging at Warners a few years later.

Answering the question of where a lot of animators ended up between the early and latter 50's (and who got in on the early boom of animated TV ads with very small studios) is a good challenge for historians.

Andy Latham said...

That's a great camera angle! I love well staged animation. It's amazing what the correctly chosen angle can add to a shot.

Ryan Khatam said...

that is a crazy shot of porky with the guillotine silhouette

Anonymous said...

I laughed so hard at this and I was watching it in a library!

Anonymous said...

Makes you wonder if Porky really WAS intended to be included in this, Davis's last Warner short, as there's no star billing.