August. The dog days. As the summer equinox grants us six final weeks before the leaves begin to tint with crimson and gold, I come to realize that another season of summer blockbusters has come and gone. Our memories of The Lost World , Speed 2, Batman and Robin , ConAir , and the other big-budget blasters are as stale as popcorn left in the aisles after a Sunday matinee. Gone are the exploding vehicles of every ilk, flying bodies, and sweaty, paranoid gunsels that shoot everything that moves. Yes, off they go until next summer, leaving behind a trail of bullet-riddled and fragmented corpses which oddly reflect the holes in the plotlines and discongruous scripts of these Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder - paced thrillers. Far be it from me, dear reader, to fault the studios for what they release; it's what they don't release that inspires this month's column.
After paying for tickets ($12.50 and up for two) and a popcorn-and-soft drink "combo deal" ($7.50, again for two) I am entitled to said SFX Must-See Major Motion Picture Event of the Summer preceded by several extended commercials which serve as delicious appetizers for the product placement in the film itself. Oh, yes...I am also entitled to up to six previews of future films as represented by dizzying jump cuts of exploding vehicles of every ilk, flying bodies, and sweaty, paranoid - have I covered this ground already? My apologies - accompanied by a thumping Dolby-enhanced soundtrack. What I do not get, and dearly miss, is simply this...a good cartoon before the main feature.
The death of the theatrical cartoon short is well-documented and easily explained. As early as 1947, television was threatening to cut into studio profits, and many of the majors were preparing to survive by cutting expenses in every available manner. Arthur Loew, the Chief Financial Officer at MGM was the first to realize that cartoons costing up to $60,000 to produce were a waste of money; re-releasing old shorts brought in roughly 90% of the same income. By 1955 MGM was issuing more re-releases than new cartoons, and in 1957 the studio closed its animation department for good. This was the beginning of the sadly inevitable end.
Television alone cannot be blamed, however. In the decade preceding the MGM closing, production costs of animated shorts had risen some 225% while rental profits rose 15%. As Paul Terry explained in an interview, cartoons did not demand a price and were not a major draw; they were simply distributed with a feature and got a very limited (often fixed) cut from the exhibitor. Walt Disney saw the writing on the wall and ceased production of cartoon shorts in 1955, knowing that recouping the cost of $75 - $100,000 per short was well-nigh impossible. Leonard Maltin offered a non-economic theory of decline to the mix, noting that most of the major animators at the studios had reached retirement age and there was little effort made to attract new blood to a dying industry. In any case, the dreary procession to the sepulchre had begun. UPA: 1959. Paramount: 1967. Terrytoons: 1968. Warner Brothers went down in 1963, came up briefly for air in 1967, and finally died in 1969. Walter Lantz Studios fought the good fight until 1972, and the animated theatrical short expired: de mortuis nil nisi bonum .
Since that time, theatrical cartoons have been few and far between. Chuck Jones has been responsible for a few and is about to deliver his sixth for Warners, Father of the Bird ( introducing a new character named "Cornbread"). We last heard from Chuck this Spring when "Pullet Surprise" took the point for Cats Don't Dance. There have been three Roger Rabbit shorts released with Disney live-action features. These were directed by Rob Minkoff, who also directed "Runaway Brain", the first Mickey Mouse short produced in over forty years. There may have been two or three more desultory entries somewhere else along the line, but theatrical cartoons have been rarer than rabbit a la king dinners at Elmer's house. Speaking for the last generation to grow up with a cartoon before the movie, I must wonder: Is this the way it truly has to be?
I cannot believe that the day of the theatrical animated short is over for all time, and I call upon the movie industry to restore them to the evening's program. Impossible? I think not. To begin, every major studio now boasts an animation department in full flower and there are more independent studios than ever to subcontract with. The shorts are expensive to produce, but only in a relative sense; Titanic 's titanic budget is possibly in the $160 -$180 million dollar range, Batman and Robin's budget can't be far behind that figure, and the final cost of the oft-postponed Starship Troopers could probably fund a vacation for the Mars Sojourner team on the rocky red planet itself. It would seem that a cartoon short would scarcely scratch any studio's checkbook in comparison.
While we are on the subject of money, let me also add that many of the major studios are part and parcel of multicompany conglomerates that could help fund the return of the animated short. A studio these days rarely lives or dies on the product it releases. Shall I go on? Animated shorts have more ways of producing revenue than ever due to the video market. Case in point: Disney and Amblin released all three Roger Rabbit theatrical shorts in a video package, The Best of Roger Rabbit and found a new way to recoup expenses.
How about using direct-to-video profits to fund theatrical shorts? The upcoming profits from Toy Story II would enable the production of several Mickey, Donald, or Roger shorts for the fans. Another point; I contend that animated shorts would be more of a draw today, with animation more popular than ever. It was proven during the past year that the Warners characters could still make major dollars on the big screen, and Beavis and Butthead certainly did America. If I may suggest, why not release theatrical shorts with the movies that are certain to play on more than one screen at the the local multiplex? The cut from the exhibitor would double, recouping costs more quickly.
I do not wish to focus merely on profits here; think of the benefits to studios both major and independent; theatrical shorts could function as a good training program, providing excellent learning and growth opportunities for animation staffs. Why not create a wonderful medium in which a staff learns to work together, smooth out the rough edges, and function as a unit in preparation for a major feature? Must SKG Dreamworks rush directly into Prince of Egypt? This nascient, would-be empire has a brand new team drawn from the four corners of the animation world; why not let them get into sync by producing a few theatrical shorts? In the six years that it took to get Cats Don't Dance into the theaters, what if the Turner team had produced a theatrical short or two?
No longer can it be said that the world's top animators are all dentured graybeards drawing little more these days than Social Security checks. Nor can it be said that studios are not actively recruiting all the talent thay can muster, pilfering rival studios and headhunting for every student they can pry loose from animation schools. The days of a stagnated industry are over. Animation is reaching towards the apex of it's hundred-year existence, and the burgeoning talent pool, now armed with CGI weaponry, is ready to (motion) capture the world. Let's put them to work revitalizing a wonderful lost tradition and return the animated short to its rightful place in the theaters.
Come sit beside me. The lights go down and the theater darkens. The speakers begin to hum and the big screen comes to life. Suddenly a swell of symphonic mayhem, a charge of marvelously manic music pours forth. Rushing straight at us from the rear of the screen, a tiny face rapidly expands into a huge, beaming portrait of a familiar, beloved old friend from Toontown. It may be Mickey, it may be Goofy, or Bugs, or Pepe, or even Woody or Betty reborn. It may be Dexter or Ned or Jimmy the Idiot Boy; what matter? Grin along with me, grab your cold, sweaty cup of whichever cola rules, dig into your popcorn and enjoy the cartoons. They've come home at last.
Send your questions, comments, and ripostes to Dr. 'Toon
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