Rankin/Bass-historian

Thursday, August 20, 2009

THE REDWALLS Rock!

We recently added "It's Alright" by THE REDWALLS to THE STARVING ARTISTS live set and I went back and listened to THE REDWALLS CDs and ordered their third. What a GREAT band and they are from Chicago! I first saw them open up for KEANE on their first US tour for HOPES AND FEARS. One of the BEST opening acts I ever saw. Then Josh and I hung out with them at LOLLAPALOOZA. They have kind of an early BEATLES/ROLLING STONES sound and they are very young. They definitely rock and play the kind of music that should be popular right now...given the interest in the BEATLES catalog, etc. They also have a very cool song called "Speed Racer" on their first CD.

LOLLAPALOOZA

Josh (When he was a little guy) and Justin

www.theredwalls.com

BARGAIN TOWN

I have very early memories of BARGAIN TOWN as a kid! I remember my parents buying my brother and I the MATTEL HOT WHEELS SUPER CHARGER RACE SET there. Remember the orange tracks that you attach together (They recently have been selling it again at TOYS R' US...which was originally BARGAIN TOWN). I want to THANK Ron Murphy for the wonderful full page ad from 1967! I have that original CAPTAIN ACTION set with the parachute BUT I did not pay $2.87 for it. That was their EVERYDAY PRICE too...wonder what it was when it went on sale?!

HANNA-BARBERA

1961 HANNA-BARBERA article from Ron!

HUCK HOUND beautifully drawn by my friend MARK CHRISTIANSEN

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Coming September, 2009

SUPER PRESIDENT

A clipping from Ron! Didn't know they ran a PEPE LE PEW cartoon with the film.

BEANY & CECIL vol. 2 coming to DVD Sept. 8th!

The long awaited DVD BEANY & CECIL Vol. 2 is coming out Sept. 8th (Same day as the DELUXE LIONSGATE MAD MONSTER PARTY). It has a completely awful cover (At first glance I thought it was not a licensed product...looks like a knock off) BUT it has amazing content! The first Volume came out around the time DVDs were just becoming big and it was my favorite DVD I owned and still is. It is GREAT to see all of this stuff come out of the family archives! The cartoons are some of the most beautiful cartoons ever made and it even has an alternate version of BEANYLAND! A Must have!

SARA & JOSH

Sara is all packed and ready to leave for school tomorrow. Josh saw his ortho doctor today for his broken Right foot and they gave him a new brace. I see my ortho Doctor Monday for a follow up. Busy, Busy, Busy.

Lil' RON MURPHY in Aurora, IL

I got to see my pal Lil' Ron Murphy today! I gave him his MYSTIC SEER TWILIGHT ZONE bobble head today and a few surprise DVDs. He once again loaded me up with some very cool things! THANKS Lil' Ronnie! I will post a few images in the coming days. It REALLY poured out in the Chicago area tonight!

RANKIN/BASS' THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

Making RANKIN/BASS' THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

Prototype

C O N T A C T U S Rickgoldsc@aol.com

Being as creative as I can...

With a healing broken right wrist....

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

THE STARVING ARTISTS

www.myspace.com/rgoldschmidt BOBBY McGEE'S August 29th THE BRAZEN HEAD October 3rd

My ENESCO design for SANTA CLAUS (from the RANKIN/BASS TV Musical spectacular RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER 1964)

A few years after my book THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS: A PORTFOLIO came out, there was an explosion of RANKIN/BASS merchandise. After seeing some of the early product and consulting with CVS and STUFFINS, I decided to get involved with ENESCO CORP and give them some direction on the characters, so they could be as good as they could be. This was an early drawing I did in my sketchbook to make sure that all the details were correct on SANTA CLAUS from RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. ENESCO did a beautiful job on their first couple of series of RANKIN/BASS RUDOLPH characters and produced some of the best replicas. I also assisted with designs on the other RANKIN/BASS specials and they did a wonderful line on HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL as well! They did ornaments from FROSTY THE SNOWMAN and SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN that were awesome too!

Email Rickgoldsc@aol.com

www.powsley.blogspot.com e-mail powsley@flash.net

MR. NED LOCKE

Another picture from my CHICAGO KID'S TV Book project! From the collection of Ron Murphy

KIRSTEN ULVE

From my friend KIRSTEN ULVE http://www.kirstenulve.com/

JACK DAVIS

from my pal Ron Murphy

Monday, August 17, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my pal RON MURPHY today too!!!

Here is my pal Lil' Ron Murphy (in the middle) with his brothers and Mr. Ned Locke from BOZO'S CIRCUS (Photo from my CHICAGO KID'S TV book project)! Happy Birthday Lil' Ron!

UNCLE BORIS

Brought to you by the General Electric company!

When I talk about GREAT designs from the 1950's-1960's, I mean designs like these from Mel Crawford.

I have been watching alot of UPA animation lately and always enjoy it. They did alot to influence the stylings of cartooning in the late 1950's and early 1960's! I wish there was more art in this style today. A few of my friends have used similar styles in their art. I am doing some designs right now that are somewhat in this style. If you ask me, they can take computers from today's ads and artwork (Especially bad airbrushing art) and go back to simple, clean, flat color designs like this in advertisement and animation!