Friday, February 14, 2020

Thursday, February 13, 2020

It was Pete's birthday today, but was having a hard time seeing the computer until now. He was a Monkee man! #petertork #birthday #themonkees #rickgoldschmidtcollection

From the collection of Rick Goldschmidt

Friday


I Dream of Jeannie


Got a nice Valentine in the mail on Dot records 💝 #barbaraeden #jeanie

💘

The team of Blake Edwards and Henry Mancini was pretty powerful stuff! The TV Guide came in the mail today and oddly enough, is dated February 13, 1960. Sixty years ago to the day! Just finishing up Mr. Lucky and going to watch again! I love Peter Gunn and this is every bit as good and the bumpers are included in most episodes. Perfectly cast and so many great guest stars including Jack Nicholson (one of his first roles), Yvonne Craig, Joi Lansing, Richard Chamberlain, Barbara Bain, Anne Helm, etc. There was a third series in the works starring Robert Vaughn called A. Dunster Lowell, but it only got as far as a pilot and aired as part of the Dick Powell Theatre. Edward's movie career (along with Mancini scores) really took off in 1961, with Breakfast at Tiffany's and the rest is history. When television was beyond great and creative! #mrlucky #johnvivyan #rossmartin #blakeedwards #henrymancini

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

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Masaki Iizuka remembered


 This was a photo I took at the Museum of Broadcast in New York 2003 at the evening with Arthur Rankin, Jr..  I sat with Masaki.
 This is my favorite picture I took of him!  We were on our way back to Arthur's place after passing Tiffany's.



Masaki talked about how all of the Animagic animators felt they never quite lived up to the legend of Tad Mochinaga and what he did with Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  While the technique on the Rankin/Bass specials progressed, they always looked at that special as the best!

I just learned that one of my dear friends from the Rankin/Bass Productions group, Masaki Iizuka, passed away. Arthur met Masaki during the making of Rankin/Bass' Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters and he became an integral part of the company. Later he would be associate or assistant Producer and a part of the Rankin family. He started his own animation company called PACIFIC ANIMATION CORPORATION (PAC) and would later produce things like The King and I and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. When we got together for Arthur's Memorial in July of 2014, Masaki told me his favorite Animagic scene of all the Rankin/Bass Animagic animation was "Peace Berries" in the Rankin/Bass feature film Marco. I agreed that it was tops. Over the holidays I noticed Masaki's name in the credits more, in things like Nestor, the long-eared Donkey, Thundercats and Jack Frost. Masaki was a great help with all of my books and did a great deal of work on the museum in Bermuda, Masterworks, on the Arthur Rankin exhibit "Arthur's Galaxy." The history of the studio was important to him and Masaki will definitely be missed! #masakiiizuka #rankinbassproductions #thundercats #associateproducer



Monday, February 10, 2020

Danny and Marlo starred in Rankin/Bass' Cricket on the Hearth and then Marlo returned in That Girl in Wonderland!


Monday book signing


 www.miserbros.com


Batman and Robin

💌💘💝💖💗💓💞💕💟❣❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍💯

Return to Oz

Jack's Birthday is this week 💝 One of my all-time favorites! It was great to get all of his specials on dvd uncut with commercials!

it's almost here 💘

It's an Enchanting world! 💘 www.miserbros.com

Sunday, February 09, 2020

Ranger Smith says this will be a good week!


February 9, 1964, The first Rankin/Bass TV special appears and The Beatles hit the air waves on The Ed Sullivan show #susanconwaymitchell #rankinbassproductions

Writing about these guys tonight and the people behind the classic! Also thinking about appearing with them again at a few places!

Return to Oz

Coming soon!


Friday!



Many fans have been posting about this in our Facebook groups and on social media......

I spoke about this last Spring, when it was a WALMART exclusive.  It is the edited, syndicated version and is missing about ten minutes of the special.    One of our Rankin/Bass group members emailed UNIVERSAL and they said there are no plans for a replacement disc program.   My advice on RANKIN/BASS PRODUCTIONS blu rays with the name UNIVERSAL on them is BUYER BEWARE.   I returned The Little Drummer Boy blu ray last Christmas as it fades to black in the middle of scenes and needs all kinds of restoral work.   No care was put into the 2018 releases either.  A complete bust!