Bill Littlejohn, R. I. P.

Longtime veteran animator Bill Littlejohn, one of the few people who worked on both versions of Tom and Jerry---the Van Beuren version in the early 1930s as well as MGM's more famous cat-and-mouse team in the 1940s---passed away on Saturday night in his sleep at age 96.

How 'Bout A Big Heapin' Bowl Of...

Grape Nuts Flakes.






This television commercial for Post Grape Nuts Flakes is from around 1958.

Okay, Kids, Time For A Cartoon

The title of this cartoon is "Yelp Wanted" starring Scrappy in his first cartoon.

Produced by Charles Mintz

Story: Dick Huemer

Animation: Sid Marcus, Art Davis

Music: Joe De Nat

Released theatrically in 1931 by Columbia Pictures

Enjoy!

Time For Frosty

Here's a made-for-TV cartoon of "Frosty The Snowman," produced around 1950 for Hill & Range Songs in Hollywood by United Productions of America (UPA) and directed by Robert (Bobe) Cannon, who directed the 1950 Oscar-winning cartoon "Gerald McBoing Boing.)









This short used to be shown on television stations all over the country.

Filthy, Disgusting

Here is a 1959 cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios in New York City entitled "La Petite Parade" produced and directed by Seymour Kneitel (Max Fleischer's son-in-law).







The cartoon, originally released theatrically by Paramount Pictures, was subsequently released to television by the Harvey Company, which refilmed the titles, replacing the Paramount eblem with the Harveytoons logo, this being the case of the 1950-62 Famous-Paramount product, save for Popeye, which was sold separately to television in 1957.

As for Seymour Kneitel, he was a longtime animator with his father-in-law's studio and also worked on stories. Paramount, which beginning in 1927, started distributing the Fleischer brothers' cartoons, took over the studio in 1942. Seymour Kneitel became a director at the studio at that time, remaining with the outfit until his death in 1964.

Personnel:

Direction: Seymour Kneitel

Story: Irv Spector

Animation: Tom Johnson
Nick Tafuri

Scenics: Robert Gentle

Music: Winston Sharples

Voice Characterizations (uncredited):
Alan Swift

Cinematography (uncredited):
Leonard McCormick

Production Manager (uncredited):
Abe Goodman

Technicolor

RCA Sound System

6 Minutes

Released on March 6, 1959 by Paramount Pictures Corporation and produced by Paramount Cartoon Studios

Rats!

Longtime animation veteran Bill Melendez, best remembered for his work directing and animating numerous television specials with Charles Schulz's Peanuts characters (A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, et al), as well as a number of theatrical animated feature films with Charlie Brown, Snoopy and company, passed away on Tuesday at Santa Monica, California at age 91. Mr. Melendez, who in earliers times worked for Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, and UPA, also did the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock in the Peanuts specials.



Bill earned eight Emmy Awards and 17 Emmy nominations. For many years, he sported a handlebar mustache.