New Set of Tyers

(I couldn't resist using that pun)

I recently read this post at the IAD forum. In both cartoons listed there - 'Nicky Nome Rides Again' (1938) and 'One Bad Knight', I found animation by Popeye animator/de facto director Jim Tyer. Not the style usually associated with him - but a subdued version of what would later become his trademark style. (The spacing to the first clip is unusually big - blogger wouldn't allow the clip to play with smaller spacing)

I have no idea when 'One Bad Knight' was produced and released - my guess is probably after 1939. This cartoon has drawing licks and animation closest to the style that is most recognizable to his work at the Famous Studio.

The king looks like a Tyer design.

More examples of expressions and timing typical of Tyer's animation.

One Plus One = One

Remember this post??
I received this message from a relative of Abner Knietel:

Hi. My name is Karen and Abner Matthews Kneitel was my great uncle. He was married to my grandmother's sister Virginia Kneitel (ne Hodge). My grandmother had always said the Abner went by Abner Matthews since Seymour Kneitel (his relative) was already credited and he didn't want to use the same last name. So Abner Matthews is Abner Kneitel. Another tidbit, Virginia used to help out with the cartoons for fun. She was never credited, but she did work on them as well. As his daughter Betty had indicated, Abner was quite a drinker from what I was told.

Virginia Hodge worked at the Fleischer Miami Studio in the ink and paint department.

Educated Guess ID #2 - Nick Tafuri

It's been a while since my last post. Time to dust off the cobwebs and get back to some blogging. I have a lot of material to cover - just not the time to present it. Anyway - back to business...

Remember as you go forth reading that this is a speculative post so those of you like to add uncredited animators to sites like IMDB and Wikipedia please refrain from doing so.

I heard that Nick Tafuri did not like to talk about his career or animation so I have nothing to go on except deduction based on style and drawing earmarks - one in particular that was pretty much exclusive to what I speculate to be Tafuri's animation. This was a hard fought deduction since there are no drawings of Popeye I'm aware of that are attributed to Tafuri.

Instead of me pointing out the major earmark that tipped me off to Tafuri's style I would like you readers to take a shot a it. Look at the clips and let me know what you think.

One aspect of Popeye cartoons that's usually overlooked is the filmmaking - and by that I mean the choice of shots and composition. I noticed this one while assembling the clips for this post. Take a look at this scene from 'Pleased To Meetcha' -

This is a great composition. The window blind cord visually splits the scene in two. Popeye and Bluto are on each side of the split. Olive is split down the middle - half on Popeye's side of the screen and half of her on Bluto's side of the screen. The dynamics of the composition create a feeling of tension.