Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Make A Wish

Fred Mogubgub made a film called "Unknown Reason" in the early 1970s (the tape is boxed up, so I don't have the date handy). A title card claimed it was his "second to last short film". It's manically somber.

Shortly after that he began working with Al Brodax, producer of Yellow Submarine, at Folio One Productions. There they worked on a few short films (like "American Pie") and the ABC kids' show "Make A Wish".




At 1:20 the animated titles come in.


I've only seen a couple episodes from a black and white 3/4 inch tape. The format is pretty clear. There's a subject like "cats" or "flying" and Tom Chapin sings about them for 22 minutes while we're treated to intense montages of "cats" or "flying".

Here's an animated segment.



This work lacks the polish of "Wonder Pets!" or "Blues Clues!". While it may be rough, it doesn't lack for that intangible quality called "soul".

*********************


Voice actor Billy West was interviewed on the radio by Ian Punnett on Saturday.

It's an insightful discussion. Mr. West dishes a little dirt on John Kricfalusi. Calling him "yellow" after John K. got fired by Nickelodeon. According to Mr. West, the animator tried instigating the actor to quit in an effort to scuttle the network from continuing the show.

Other than that, he's very studied in his craft and gives credit and observations on the work many peers and other voice talent, Mel Blanc, San Freberg, Harry Shearer.

Don't tell anyone (clip).

1 comment:

Liesje said...

Hah! I meant to ask you if you had listened to that show yet. I just caught it yesterday. I shudder to think what it would have been with Noory at the helm.