Daily Birthdays and Events in Sci-Fi, Comics and related areas

September 11, 2010

Pinto Colvig, Bolivar the talking Ostrich, Goofy, Pluto, Grumpy, Bluto, Bozo the Clown, Timelock, Enemy From Space, Dick Tracy, Tarzan, Dynomutt.

Some very interesting reading and events today.


Enjoy !!!



Birthdays

Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig 1892, cartoonist, voice actor, In 1914 he landed a job as a newspaper cartoonist at the "Nevada Rockroller" in Reno, and later the "Carson City News" in Carson City. By the spring of 1915 his cartooning was going well but the lure of the circus was too strong. When the Al G. Barnes Circus came through Carson City, Pinto dropped everything and joined the troupe, once again clowning and playing his clarinet in the circus band. After having left the circus once again Pinto toiled daily to meet newspaper commitments, but then began to spend evenings experimenting with the animation of cartoons and eventually set up his own studio, Pinto Cartoon Comedies Co., where he created one of the first animated silent films in color called "Pinto's Prizma Comedy Revue (1919)". In 1922, after realizing that San Francisco was not the place to break into the movie business, he moved his family to Hollywood. There he would be able to continue his animation work and find a wealth of other things that he could do. He was overjoyed one day to get an offer to join Mack Sennett, the reigning king of movie comedies, who had developed one of the most successful studios of the day, the Keystone Film Co., home of the famous Keystone Kops, Charles Chaplin and many others. Sennett needed an experienced animator for his own films, but Pinto soon found himself also writing and acting in comedies and dramas. In 1928 he teamed up with his friend Walter Lantz to create an early talking cartoon, "Bolivar, the Talking Ostrich (1928)", but unlike Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie (1928), it failed to become a hit. Pinto and Lantz, who would later be the voice of Woody Woodpecker, gave up and went to larger studios. Disney, who was making "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphony" cartoons, signed Pinto to a contract in 1930. Pinto worked on stories, co-wrote songs such as the lyrics to "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" and was the original voice of animated characters such as Goofy and Pluto, Grumpy and Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and the Practical Pig in "Three Little Pigs." Disney cartoonists copied many of Pinto's facial expressions while drawing animal characters for the cartoons. He left Disney in 1937 following a fallout with Walt and Disney proceeded to reuse his old voice tracks. Meanwhile, Pinto freelanced voices and sound effects for Warner Bros. cartoons, sang for some of the Munchkins during Dorothy's arrival scenes in MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939), and also joined Max Fleischer Studios in Miami, where he did the voice of Gabby in Gulliver's Travels (1939) and the blustering of Bluto in "Popeye the Sailor" cartoons. He returned to Disney in 1941 and continued to freelance for them and on radio programs for others. He was the original Maxwell automobile on Jack Benny's show, the hiccuping horse for Dennis Day, and a variety of voices for "Amos 'n Andy." His live radio experience and contacts introduced him to the recording industry. He did several albums before encountering one of his best-known characters, Bozo the Clown.
Joey Dedio 1963, actor, Jeff - Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw (1988) (voice), The Dealer - Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) (TV) (voice), Larden - Timelock (1996), Wheeler - Captain Planet and the Planeteers (63 episodes, 1990-1996), Bently the Dog - The Last Great Ride (1999) (voice).
James O'Hara 1927, actor, Party Guest - Brainstorm (1965), Airport Control Tower Man - Batman (1966), Policeman / Police Sargeant / Sgt O'Leary - Batman (11 episodes, 1966-1967), Benson - The Immortal (1 episode, "The Queen's Gambit", 1970).
Edwin Richfield 1921, actor, Soldier Burned on Back - X: The Unknown (1956), Peterson - Enemy from Space (1957), Max - Invisible Man (1 episode, "Behind the Mask", 1959), Reitlinger's Subordinate - Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1 episode, "The Sorcerer", 1961), Singleton - Adam Adamant Lives! (1 episode, "The Survivors", 1967), Minister - Five Million Years to Earth (1967), Admiral Sheringham - UFO (1 episode, "Destruction", 1970), Captain Hart / Mestor - Doctor Who (10 episodes, 1972-1984).


Events

1937, Porky's Garden is released.
1950, Dick Tracy is aired, TV show sparks uproar concerning violence.
1966, It's About Time airs on CBS.
1971, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show airs on CBS.
1971, The Jackson 5ive airs on ABC.
1976, Ark II TV series begins.
1976, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl airs on ABC.
1976, Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle animated series airs on CBS.
1976, The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour airs on ABC.
1976, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder airs on ABC.
1976, Jabberjaw airs on ABC.
1983, Exosquad, animated television series, airs on USA Network.
1993, Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron airs.
1995, Star Trek:Voyager, "Projections" airs.
1996, Star Trek:Voyager, "Flashback" airs.
2004, The Batman, animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation begins.

2 comments:

  1. Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig is part Greek. His great-great-grandmother was Greek!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not one single minute of Bolivar the Talking Ostrich exists, no copies are known to exist.

    ReplyDelete