Gym Gent

I never get tired of looking at John Gentilella's (aka Johnny Gent) animation. He is truly one of the unsung greats of the golden age of animation. Johnny animated like a jazz musician plays music - with feeling, style, and flair. He also had an incredible sense of dynamics, power, rhythm, and appeal in his drawing. Johnny could have easily been one of the top animation talents on the west coast but for whatever reason, chose to stay and work in New York.

I've been waiting ages for someone to post a copy of Gym Jam online (I never got it off TV) and it finally happened. Below is a clip from that cartoon with some great Johnny Gent animation. It also includes animation by Frank Endres and William Henning. This is one of the last good Famous Studio Popeye cartoons (with a few exceptions) before they got really bad. (I think all of us Popeye fans will agree that the downward slide to the end of the theatrical cartoons was not a good time for the animated sailor)

Following are frame grabs from some of Johnny's animation - strong poses with strong silhouettes that are essential for great cartoon animation.

I love this 'Don't f**k with me' pose.

Popeye Shark Model

I got a gift yesterday from my collector buddy and Fleischer fanatic Ryan Englade - an original Charlie Thorson shark model from the Popeye cartoon Females is Fickle . Thanks Ryan!!

Click on image to enlarge

Character designer Charlie Thorson worked briefly for the Fleischer Studio in Miami and among his accomplishments was the design of Popeye's nephews. There's a book on him that was published years ago - it's worth getting a copy.

The 1940 Popeye model drawn by Charlie Thorson.

Here's a bear model from a previous post that was was designed by Charlie. And below is a clip of the shark's brief appearance -

Back to Business...

I've republished some of the older posts - not all though. Many were just fluff pieces. If anybody misses those let me know and I'll put them back up.

New post soon.