The Backstages: Uncover Classic Animation Productions: Golden Age Of American Cartoon

The evolution of animation is an ongoing process since pre-historic times. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope. It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation. Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows. This book delves into little-known-and sometimes unknown, until now-tales about animation greats like Walt Disney, Walter Lantz, Chuck Jones, Ward Kimball, Ralph Bakshi, and Jay Ward. Inside this, you'll meet these legends at their best and at their worst, such as when Warner Brothers' producer Leon Schlesinger bought a yacht and told his animators that they weren't welcome aboard because he didn't like to sail with poor people. Moreover, you will discover stories such as:

- Walt Disney's confrontation with a wildlife "expert" who told him he'd done Bambi all wrong
- How the inspiration for Woody Woodpecker may have come to Walter Lantz during sex with his wife
- Marvel Comics legend Jack Kirby's early years with Max Fleischer
- Why stuttering country singer Mel Tillis defended Porky Pig's right to stutter
- How Casey Kasem turned Scooby-Doo's Shaggy into a vegan
- And hundreds more, including Jim Backus' desire to do an X-rated Mr. Magoo, Bullwinkle's Jay Ward confounding the censors with the term "hog flogger", and Ralph Bakshi's rotoscope rant