Nelson
07-06-2004, 05:27 PM
Well fellas, it's been a while since i've posted and maybe(just maybe, lol) some of you have been wondering my whereabouts during the last couple of weeks, but I have been working on a very serious film project and what I hope that I can get out off all of this, is to see these long lost cartoons have survived(in any kind of film element) after all these decades.
The project that has kept me very busy is to track down the silent Krazy Kat cartoons that was made by George Winkler and Charles Mintz between the years of 1925 to 1929 and it has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride for me, as that how I can best describe my project.I have been offered some help with other members, but I decided that I want to go this alone and gather up as much information as I can.
I got the idea of tracking to down the other Winkler/Mintz silent cartoon shorts, while I was watching the Winkler produced "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit" cartoons, shortly after Disney was given the pink slip from Mintz.It was here, when I gave it some thought to see if the Winkler "Krazies" surived as well as the Oswald one reelers and that's when I set out to track down the films.
Wether or not you're a fan of "Krazy Kat", you have to understand that these cartoons are very important to animation film and screen history and that's why these films have to be saved and preserved for future generations to see once again.Two of my biggest supporters has been Jerry Beck and Ray Pointer, from "Inkwell Images" and they have been very helpful to my research.
My goal is to really focus on the post-1925 Winkler/Krazy cartoons, as that's where the animators made several changes to the series, including Krazy Kat being changed into a male, the disappearance of Ignatz Mouse and Offica Pup and to why the cartoons weren't done in the true style fashon of George Herriman's original concept.In just the last two weeks, I have been able to get some pretty good leads, including that the Library Of Congress has two Winkler cartoons in their vaults and the two shorts are "SENSE AND NONSENSE" (1926) and "PECK OF TROUBLE " (1926 or 1927?).
With the help of Ray, he told me that there is no copyright laws on either of these two films, meaning these films can be released into the public domain, as R-C Pictures Corp.and especially Par/Famous/Lasky don't have (or own) these films at all.This could possibly mean that all of the silent Krazy Kat cartoons are not protected by the copyright law, meaning that anyone can own all of these classic gems.
King Features Syndicates which owns the rights to the Herriman comic strip characters and just like the KFS/Time Warner Popeye situtation, King Features doesn't own of all the silent "Krazies" and certainly does not have the film rights to the Columbia Krazy Kat shorts as they belong to Sony, only the Gene Deitch produced 60s cartoons.The George Winkler/Krazy Kat cartoons are among the rarest and hard to find out fo any of the Krazy Kat silent shorts and there have been several reason,as to their whereabouts.
One theory was that the George Winkler estate was given all of the original negative 35mm prints of the cartoons, as they were given to private film collectors or that they were destroyed all together by the Winkler family.In another bizzare twist, a report was that Charles Mintz himself, wanted all of the silent Krazy one reelers burned or destroyed, but nothing has been proven to either story.This is why I'm leading a search to find these films in any way shape or forum and I feel that confident that I will come across something worth finding.
I have made contacts with the George Eastman House, Library Of Congress, UCLA FILM & TELEVISON ARCHIVE, and the American Film Inst.as all of them have been very helpful towards my search on trying to bring these films back in the public once again.This has been nothing but a painstaken search with nothing but hard work, time effort and I have many more places to continue my search and I'm bascially doing this for all you classic cartoon fans and I can only hope that I may be able to delivert the goods to all of you.
To Kent, Tom and Larry, sorry I couldn't get back to you a lot sooner but, I got all of your's PMS and will write back toy you guys ASAP.
Wish me luck gang:)
The project that has kept me very busy is to track down the silent Krazy Kat cartoons that was made by George Winkler and Charles Mintz between the years of 1925 to 1929 and it has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride for me, as that how I can best describe my project.I have been offered some help with other members, but I decided that I want to go this alone and gather up as much information as I can.
I got the idea of tracking to down the other Winkler/Mintz silent cartoon shorts, while I was watching the Winkler produced "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit" cartoons, shortly after Disney was given the pink slip from Mintz.It was here, when I gave it some thought to see if the Winkler "Krazies" surived as well as the Oswald one reelers and that's when I set out to track down the films.
Wether or not you're a fan of "Krazy Kat", you have to understand that these cartoons are very important to animation film and screen history and that's why these films have to be saved and preserved for future generations to see once again.Two of my biggest supporters has been Jerry Beck and Ray Pointer, from "Inkwell Images" and they have been very helpful to my research.
My goal is to really focus on the post-1925 Winkler/Krazy cartoons, as that's where the animators made several changes to the series, including Krazy Kat being changed into a male, the disappearance of Ignatz Mouse and Offica Pup and to why the cartoons weren't done in the true style fashon of George Herriman's original concept.In just the last two weeks, I have been able to get some pretty good leads, including that the Library Of Congress has two Winkler cartoons in their vaults and the two shorts are "SENSE AND NONSENSE" (1926) and "PECK OF TROUBLE " (1926 or 1927?).
With the help of Ray, he told me that there is no copyright laws on either of these two films, meaning these films can be released into the public domain, as R-C Pictures Corp.and especially Par/Famous/Lasky don't have (or own) these films at all.This could possibly mean that all of the silent Krazy Kat cartoons are not protected by the copyright law, meaning that anyone can own all of these classic gems.
King Features Syndicates which owns the rights to the Herriman comic strip characters and just like the KFS/Time Warner Popeye situtation, King Features doesn't own of all the silent "Krazies" and certainly does not have the film rights to the Columbia Krazy Kat shorts as they belong to Sony, only the Gene Deitch produced 60s cartoons.The George Winkler/Krazy Kat cartoons are among the rarest and hard to find out fo any of the Krazy Kat silent shorts and there have been several reason,as to their whereabouts.
One theory was that the George Winkler estate was given all of the original negative 35mm prints of the cartoons, as they were given to private film collectors or that they were destroyed all together by the Winkler family.In another bizzare twist, a report was that Charles Mintz himself, wanted all of the silent Krazy one reelers burned or destroyed, but nothing has been proven to either story.This is why I'm leading a search to find these films in any way shape or forum and I feel that confident that I will come across something worth finding.
I have made contacts with the George Eastman House, Library Of Congress, UCLA FILM & TELEVISON ARCHIVE, and the American Film Inst.as all of them have been very helpful towards my search on trying to bring these films back in the public once again.This has been nothing but a painstaken search with nothing but hard work, time effort and I have many more places to continue my search and I'm bascially doing this for all you classic cartoon fans and I can only hope that I may be able to delivert the goods to all of you.
To Kent, Tom and Larry, sorry I couldn't get back to you a lot sooner but, I got all of your's PMS and will write back toy you guys ASAP.
Wish me luck gang:)