Saturday, February 15, 2014

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

SID CAESAR R.I.P.


Ironically, I watched Sid in the very cool Stan Freberg commercials last night on the new IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD blu ray. My friend Jack Davis did this new piece of art for the Blu Ray DVD booklet :)   Sid was another great in television entertainment and his passing was covered by all of the news media...if the same could only be said for Arthur Rankin, Jr., I would be happy!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK R.I.P.



SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK R.I.P.
Arthur Rankin wanted to do a series in ANIMAGIC on Shirley and Shirley wanted to do it as well...something happened with her agent that nixed the deal.  Arthur's father appeared in Shirley Temple films and this series would have finally seen Shirley as Dorothy in THE WIZARD OF OZ :)

c. 1968 RANKIN/BASS PRODUCTIONS/RICK GOLDSCHMIDT ARCHIVES

The National News


c. 1997 RANKIN/BASS PRODUCTIONS/RICK GOLDSCHMIDT ARCHIVES

I recontacted WORLD NEWS at ABC w/ Diane Sawyer (of which I helped with the Billie Mae Richards (voice of Rudolph) obit a few years ago), NBC NIGHTLY NEWS (which did a nice obit on Larry D. Mann (voice of Yukon) about a month ago) and CBS NEWS w/ Scott Peller about Arthur BOTH through FACEBOOK and their websites. Maybe they just don't have a clue, even though it was reported in the LA TIMES, NY TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, YAHOO! and VARIETY. Their focus has been on egg throwing and heroin lately (and dumbing down America). CBS has been airing Arthur's RUDOLPH for 50 years and his FROSTY since 1969...they should be doing a 60 MINUTES segment on him BUT I heard they chose heroin. I think it is shameful, so I am trying to do something about it. Arthur contributed in a significant way to the world of entertainment and I thought it was common sense for the networks to recognize him. If Arthur just Produced RUDOLPH, I think that is enough to recognize him BUT he won a Peabody for THE HOBBIT, Produced series like THE JACKSON FIVE SHOW, THUNDERCATS and THE KING KONG SHOW, Produced feature films like THE LAST UNICORN and MAD MONSTER PARTY, etc. etc. His influence is seen in Tim Burton films, PIXAR films and many other animated films. I will keep trying 

Monday, February 10, 2014

MEDIA regarding ARTHUR RANKIN, JR.



I have helped many high profile newspapers with their obituaries on Mr. Arthur Rankin, Jr. this past week.
I hope I am wrong, but I haven't seen one single piece in the news media (with the exception of the online YAHOO! piece) since his passing January 30th.  If you have seen something in your local news, please let me know.   The news will talk all day and night about heroin and Justin Bieber egging a house BUT when it comes to the producer of the longest-running, highest rated TV special of all-time and many other memorable films, I see and hear nothing.  Shameful!