Onto Umm. . .

by Jerry Beck, Josephine Martins (Editor)

Imagine A Highway Paved
With 3-Line Poems
Leading You To Ghost Towns Imagine Poems Being
Projected Onto Clouds Full
Of Lightening And Thunder Imagine Poems On The Soles
Of Your Shoes Inspiring
People To Follow Your Footsteps This Is The Place Of Possibility Where
Onto Umm Enters The Glorious Gateway
Into The Creative Revolution Enjoy the public art poetry by nationally recognized artist, educator, and community activist Jerry Beck in this playful and thought-provoking collection. Carefully edited and arranged for the book space by art critic and curator Josephine Fatima Martins, this engaging series of 3-line poems leads readers on an adventure of the mind. Onto Umm . . . unleashes the brain by encouraging curiousity and exploration in the familiar and questioning established perspective. Treat yourself to a moment of pause, expansion, and play with Jerry Beck's art poetry!

94 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2018

About the author

Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955 in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. The author or editor of several books on classic American animation and classic character, including The 50 Greatest Cartoons (1994), The Animated Movie Guide (2005), Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons! (2007), The Flintstones: The Official Guide to the Cartoon Classic (2011), The Hanna-Barbera Treasury: Rare Art Mementos from your Favorite Cartoon Classics (2007), The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom (2013), Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide (2005), and Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons (with Will Friedwald, 1989). He is also an authority on the making of modern films, with his books detailing the art of Mr. Peabody and Sherman, DreamWorks' Madagascar, and Bee Movie. Beck is also an entertainment industry consultant for TV and home entertainment productions and releases related to classic cartoons and operates the blog "Cartoon Research." He appears frequently as a documentary subject and audio commentator on releases of A&E's Cartoons Go To War as well as DVD collections of Looney Tunes, Popeye the Sailor, and Woody Woodpecker cartoons, on which he serves a consultant and curator.

Early in his career, Beck collaborated with film historian Leonard Maltin on his book Of Mice and Magic (1980), organized animation festivals in Los Angeles, and was instrumental in founding the international publication Animation Magazine. In the 1990s, Beck taught course on the art of animation at UCLA, NYU, and The School of Visual Arts. In 1993, he became a founding member of the Cartoon Network advisory board and he currently serves as president of the ASIFA-Hollywood board. He co-produced or was a consultant on many home entertainment compilations of Looney Tunes, MGM Cartoons, Disney Home Video, Betty Boop, and others. In 1989, he co-founded Streamline Pictures and first brought such anime as Akira, Vampire Hunter D, and Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky to the United States. He himself compiled collections of cartoons of Warner Bros., Woody Woodpecker, and the Fleischer Studios. As Vice President of Nickelodeon Movies, he helped develop The Rugrats Movie (1998) and Mighty Mouse.

In 2006, Beck created and produced an animated pilot for Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon. That cartoon, "Hornswiggle", aired on Nicktoons Network in 2008 as part of the Random! Cartoons series. Currently, he is teaching animation history at Woodbury University in Burbank, California.

In 2004, Beck and fellow animation historian and writer Amid Amidi co-founded another blog, Cartoon Brew, which focused primarily on current animation productions and news. Beck sold his co-ownership in Cartoon Brew in February 2013 and started an Indiewire blog, Animation Scoop, for reports on current animation while continuing to write about classic animation at Cartoon Research.