Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

A blog dedicated to the making of the first animated Christmas special, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Rocky & Bullwinkle in Mexico

Frank Hursh, head of background dept at Gamma
If you grew up with Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, it's a good bet you watched Rocky &
Bullwinkle and all the rest of Jay Ward's series.  For the next few weeks, my Jay Ward blog takes you behind the scenes at the Mexican studio, Gamma Productions, that actually produced those series.  This week, meet the ex-pat American head of the background department, Frank Hursh, and in the ensuing posts see some more rare photos and art from that era. Take a gander here.  And if you need a guidebook for your tour, get one here.

3 comments:

Anthony Zart said...

Dear Darrell,

I'm reaching out to you in the hopes of having a dialogue a bit longer than 140 characters.

I look to you for your take on the state of animation popularity today; most specifically as it relates/compares to the one-time popularity of Rankin-Bass and the concept of the cartoon special or — as Darrell Van Citters sites it — "appointment television".

I suppose to begin, my question is that in this day and age COULD an entity like Rankin-Bass thrive again? In as much that a production house or studio akin to them be looked upon to produce seasonal features that people sought out or looked forward to?

Or as I suspect, has the animation viewing world moved past that era of appointment tv into one saturated with a deluge of streaming options?

The only counter point to "today's state" I can come up with at this time is evidenced by the fact that those old programs — the classics — are still revered above anything current. In so many words, there is still something to be said for "quality", if not, nostalgia.

I truly would like to hear your thoughts on that matter if you have the time to do so.

I can be contacted via anthonyzart.com if you prefer.

Mike said...

I have to assume this blog has been abandoned. Too bad. FWIW, it looks like this will be another year (2018) without Magoo's Christmas Carol being shown on TV.

Darrell said...

Mostly true because there isn't anything new to post. After the 50th anniversary debacle on NBC, I think we're all better off that it's not run on any of the major outlets. The Blu-ray is the best option.