File puptcrit/puptcrit.0802, message 528


From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:55:34 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] Howdy vs Disney Early TV


I pretty much agree with Fred's points, but in the Davis book, SAY KIDS WHAT TIME IS IT? whch tells the bizarre story of Howdy Doody, the author makes the point that Howdy had no competition on TV other than a test pattern until Disney came along. And the early Disney TV offered considerable variety and quality (tho it at times approached the status of short infomercials on Disneyland too).

So from Davis' standpoint, Disney bumped Howdy.

In defense of the original Harry Potter Books, written by a single mom living on public dole, the mss was rejected I think 20 times before being accepted for publication. First, it was "too long" just in volume #1.

Well we know that later volumes were even longer, loaded with imagination and ethical choices and danger and magic and lots of ooooooohs, which upset certain "fundamentalists" (the ones who are afeard of everything unfamiliar), but school teachers and children's librarians were thrilled that such colossal interest was created in actually reading BIG BOOKS!

Ms Rowling deserves her fabulous success--it was hard-won. Now if we could all figure out how to be similar financial successes....

Last summer before the St Paul MN Puppet Festival opened, I set up the exhibit of 30 puppets in the St Paul Central Libary before the final Harry Potter book was released. The Library, bless 'em, had a Harry Potter night when the book was released, wih a huge turnout of kids in Harry Potter drag. Most of my puppet exhibit there was  in the main display case which every single patron had to pass on the way to the book shelves. So thanks to Harry Potter for bringing so many to see historic puppets.

Because Harry Potter became a phenomenon  as a book series, as a movie franchise, as spinoff products, as a saviour to Scholastic Publishing which printed the American editions with sufficient profit to save that company from bankruptcy, and for encouraging a generation of new readers , it also was inevitable that some would poke fun on youtube.

Thank you Mathieu for encouraging a few more hits on my tiny corner of youtube. I am still a long way from the Harry Potter spoofs, but we've gotten over 200 hits (a far cry from Joe Cashore's 4,000. Who knows? I might make it to 400 some day.

David Brown who made the 5 minute film for a class assignment at CSUN pretty much told me what to do & what to say. He is a funny, laidback person, I think he did a good job and at least it is out there for elite people to discover.

I hope David gets to make tons of money sometime.

ALAN COOK


-----Original Message-----
From: Angusson-AT-aol.com
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 11:22 AM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Youtube-a lesson to be learned?

Alan and Rolande bring up a couple of items I'd like to comment on...

Alan wrote that the 'Howdy' show was '...bumped off by Wonderful World of 
Disney (another meaning of "Disneycide?").   Not to be argumentative, Alan....
 
I'm not sure that Disney had anything to do with the demise of the Howdy 
show. It was already on its way out before Disney became popular on TV. As I 
recall, (not sure of the year 1956?) Howdy had by then, been relegated to a 
Saturday morning slot. His time had come. 
I think the Wonderful World of Disney was on later on in the evenings. I 
could be wrong. (I'm NOT talking about the Mickey Mouse Club.) 
And since we are talking about 'quality' here, I'd take reruns of the first 
couple of years of 'Wonderful World of Disney' anyday over the crap that Bob 
Smith and NBC foisted on the young American public. BTW: I say this in spite of 
the Rose's involvement with the Howdy show and despite the fact that I knew 
and worked later with many of the other people involved with that show. 

Walt Disney at least shared his dream with us and let us see it realized. He 
showed us HOW things were done. He let us (as kids) become part of the 
process. I still remember how eager I was each week to see the next development at 
Disneyland or the behind-the-scenes at his animation studios. I learned about 
Walt and his engineers who developed the multi-plane cameras and how they 
created characters and brought them to life. I learned about how each of his artists 
approached their work. Compare the early animations to today's stiff and cold 
attempts. 
That EARLY dream of Walt Disney was noble as far as I'm concerned   and only 
became corrupted when the corporate types took over. Walt was 'thinking GREEN' 
long before the idea became a catch word. He was far ahead of his time with 
Epcot Center. I'm talking EARLY Disney.

When Burr Tillstrom and Kukla, Fran and Ollie's time slot was changed from 
7:00pm, there was an incredible outpouring of displeasure from the general 
public. Even TIME magazine wrote about it. The NEWS (OK the networks) was the 
culprit.   'The public be damned!!' 

Rolande wrote: "The popular stuff will always appeal to a certain populace!"

This pretty much says what I was thinking about when I first read Grego's 
post.   One has to assume that the popularity of the Harry Potter series would 
automatically boost the number of hits by those who loved the books or the 
movies. That's to be expected. 
Forgive my 'snobbery,' but it also seems to me that the 'Potter Puppets' 
appeal to a certain type who actively share information about showings on You Tube 
OF A CERTAIN SORT. It has little to do with art or, in fact, puppetry, but 
has, most likely by word of mouth, gained attention. 
You and I may let others know about Joe Cashore and Bil Baird, but even if 
every puppeteer visited these offerings on You Tube several time over, we still 
couldn't match the numbers generated by the hoi polloi. 

Some have suggested that our youth are being 'dumbed down' by our school 
systems.   No sure I totally agree. Still, there is a problem with the present 
system.   TV and computers now are the main source of exposure to 'art' in any 
form and unless one seeks out the better examples, one might come to the 
conclusion that the Potter Puppets are the standard for the Art. 

I'm going to continue to pursue that goal, elusive as it may seem at times, 
to produce '...high quality puppets and fine manipulation...'   Just in case 
someone cares to look me up... Why not?

Thanks and Best,

Fred T.








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