Last summer, helping my friend Svea Macek (widow of my late business partner Carl Macek) go through things left behind regarding our company Streamline Pictures, I came across an odd comic book among his possessions. It was actually a clever little program/flyer/calendar for a seven-week Summer Animation Festival at his alma mater, Chapman College (now Chapman University) in 1974.

It’s crudely drawn – but cool, in an underground comix way – certainly worthy of scanning and preserving on this blog. It has a slick color cover and four pulp newsprint pages inside; drawn in comic strip style, each panel tells of each screening, panel, tribute of this event. And look at the programming (all films shown in 16mm): A night of British animated films, The 7th Tournee of Animation, a Chuck Jones tribute with Chuck in person; retrospectives of silent animation, stop-motion, student animated films, Zagreb and Czech cartoons; a Fleischer Studios marathon, Bob Clampett tribute (with Clampett in person), George Pal retrospective (w/Pal in person), Disney shorts, Looney Tunes, Jean Image’s Johnny The Giant Killer, UPA with Stephen Bosustow in person, Hanna Barbera with Tom & Jerry, one night of Terrytoons, Arthur Davis in person with Fox & Crow cartoons, Experimental animation, Fritz The Cat and Heavy Traffic double feature, Harman-Ising Bosko cartoons, Walter Lantz in person screening his cartunes – and the finale was Dumbo (and a bunch of Disney shorts). Holy SH-T!!! Take a look (click to enlarge):

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My friend James Curtis (author, Buster Keaton, A Filmmakers Life and W.C. Fields: A Biography, among others), who went to Chapman during the same years as Carl Macek and recalled this animation festival. When I was able to show him the program/calendar, which he hadn’t seen in decades, it brought back many memories of the event.

“The late Dr. Paul Frizler was in charge of all the film programming at Chapman. He was an adventurous programmer, but not too particular about print quality. Nor projection for that matter.

“I remember at the time that Paul was advised not to expect Tex Avery to attend, that he was reticent about making public appearances. I was producing a weekly TV show, kind of a magazine format put together by students at KOCE. I wanted to see if we could get him to sit for a brief interview if he showed up, and were prepared with an old 16mm mag-sound news camera we borrowed for the night. (I think I paid for the film we ran through it.)

“It was a great evening; not only did he show up but he took the stage and fielded questions for about 40 minutes. Alas, I doubt if anyone taped his comments — I don’t think they even gave him a microphone.

“Afterwards, he graciously consented to join us in the balcony where we were set up. I’m sending the audio from that sequence to you. Unfortunately, the actual film was discarded by the station. I should have thought to reclaim it, but didn’t. When we were finished, I remember telling him that Screwy Squirrel was my favorite character. (Still is.) I remember he seemed pleased. He said: “We tried, but we just couldn’t make a go of him.”

“The interviewer was one of our on-camera people, whose name was Jeff Yoncich. He was a good guy but didn’t know anything about Tex Avery, so I gave him the questions to ask and wrote his intro. I was also the cameraman on this one. The sequence was for a series called “Peoplewatch,” which aired on Friday nights on KOCE, channel 50.

“You might also want to credit Paul Frizler, a longtime English professor at Chapman who died about 20 years ago.

We needed some B-roll for editing purposes, so I brought a drawing pad and soft pencil and asked Tex if he’d mind sketching something for us. I moved the camera behind him and shot over his shoulder as he sketched a Droopy. From behind the camera I said, “Can you sign it?” and he did. Needless to say, I kept that page, had it de-acidified about 25 years ago, and it now hangs on the wall outside my office. I don’t want to take it out of its frame, but here’s a shot of it I took with my camera (at left).

“The word that comes immediately to mind if I’m asked to describe him is grandfatherly. Not at all the wild-eyed maniac you’d expect from his work. The date of this interview was whatever it says in the comic book (8/17/74). The audio was taken from an air check.”

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I handed this audio to our Devon Baxter to add a few visuals to track – and he went above and beyond, enhancing the recording by compiling clips, stills and comic art and editing the whole thing into a brilliant video tribute.

Here then, is the world premiere of a new Cartoon Research video: In His Own Words: Tex Avery at Chapman College, 1974.