Jazz Cartoons on the Big Screen

January was a lot busier than expected and blogging had to take a back seat for a while. The other reason for the lack of posts recently is that at the moment I'm more involved with live-action than animation. On the one hand I am co-writing on a treatment for a feature film. On the other hand I'm going through many of the 29 theatrical features directed by Clint Eastwood because I'm involved in putting together a small retrospective of Eastwood's directing career of the past 20 years.

But now for something completely different: If you happen to be in the area of Zürich (Switzerland) this week, don't miss Jazz Cartoons Part II on Tuesday, January 27th 2009 at 6:15 pm. The Filmpodium is showing the following classic cartoons in 16mm:

Three is A Crowd
Dir: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, USA 1932, 7 Min., sw
Organ Grinder
Dir: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, USA 1933, 7 Min., sw
Shuffle Off to Buffalo
Dir: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, USA 1933, 6 Min., sw
Three Orphan Kittens
Dir: Walt Disney, USA 1935, 9 Min., color
Speaking of the Weather
Dir: Frank Tashlin, USA 1937, 7 Min., color
Wholly Smoke
Dir: Frank Tashlin, USA 1938, 7 Min., sw
A Star Is Hatched
Dir: Fritz Freleng, USA 1938, 8 Min., color
Juke Box Jamboree
Dir: Alex Lovy, USA 1942, 6 Min., sw
One Froggy Evening
Dir: Charles M. Jones, USA 1955, 6 Min., color
Mud Squad
Dir: Art Davis, Fritz Freleng, David H. DePatie, USA 1971, 6 Min., color
Señor Droopy
Dir: Tex Avery, USA 1948, 8 Min., color

In Switzerland, such 16mm screenings are rare occasions, but whenever there is one, the name Theo Zwicky (a.k.a. Mr. Jazzfilms) is involved in one way or the other. Zwicky is an ardent collector and admirer of all things jazz and song and dance short movies of that era in particular. Jazz Cartoons Part I about ten days ago was absolutely magnificent and I must write about it some day soon.