The Baby Boom generation created a huge market for kid related material in the late 50s and early 60s. There were plenty of cartoons, both old and new, on TV. Most of the Saturday morning cartoons shown on network TV came from California.
Greater New York was home not only to newspaper cartoonists and comic book artists, but animators. Quite a few of the syndicated cartoons that kids watched after school were produced in New York.
Joe Oriolo, a former Fleischer/Famous Studios animator, was behind several popular syndicated TV cartoon series. Looking at these examples now, I admire the industry veterans of theatrical cartoons who succeeded within the limitations of TV animation.
Comic book artist Joe Staton gets recognition, and presumably financial compensation, for co-creating Guy Gardner, the latest incarnation of Green Lantern. In the Superman movie he’s played by Nathan Fillion.
It started with me sending Denro this picture of an album I saw on display at Newbury Comics. The late and very great Joe Sinnott, Bing’s #1 fan, would have been pleased to see a new Crosby record in 2025.
The topic quickly switched to something else from long ago, when Denro replied that he had just purchased a new record he spotted at a Barnes & Noble.
It’s a soundtrack of It’s a Wonderful Life that I heretofore didn’t know existed. Denro said the album was originally released as a CD that is no longer available.
The CD information at that link includes this warning…
Do not be fooled by any other CDs that purport to be the original soundtrack for this film – they are all bootlegs and contain dialogue, sound effects and music right off the film itself. This is the first release of the real deal.
… a warning that is easily confirmed.
The album Denro bought is also available as a new CD release.
The soundtrack is on Amazon as an MP3 for $9, so I bought that. I would have sprung for a CD copy, but the liner notes are available on the Kritzerland page.
This music cue is called “Love Sequence”. It reminds me of the music that Tiomkin composed for Capra’s Lost Horizon, produced ten years before It’s a Wonderful Life.
My favorite aspect of It’s a Wonderful Life is the contrast that’s drawn between Mary and Violet, who I see as the most interesting character in the movie. It’s easy to infer what Violet originally had in mind for her evening’s fun, before her attempt at seducing George, and it’s certainly intended for mature audiences. “We’ll wait for you, baby.”
On Facebook, comic book artist Walt Simonson says he’s listening to Technicolor Web of Sound. There are other Internet stations featuring this music, and Web of Sound is on Live365, a streaming service with a shaky history, but I’ll give it a try.
After Superman issue #187, Batman #182 was my second DC 80-pg. GIANT comic book.
Batman #182, August 1966
The collection of reprints features “Fantastic, BIZARRE Adventures!” The most enduring story is “The Rainbow Batman.” YouTube has a surprising number of videos about Rainbow Batman.
“An Evening with Sy Barry” came off very well indeed. Attendees included residents of the facility, high school students, and some college students. Most of them were unlikely to be very familiar with Sy’s work. So, he was pleased when I chimed in with the names of some of his former colleagues and dearly departed old friends, such as Infantino, Toth, Giella, Giacoia, and Romita.
