Talking Animals and Other People: The Autobiography of One of Animation's Legendary Figures

by Shamus Culhane

A director of animated cartoons recounts his long career and offers a behind-the-scenes looks at the studios of Max Fleischer, Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, and Walter Lantz

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

463 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1986

Reviews

[Gijs Grob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shamus Culhane had a checkered career in the animation industry, and spent some time in most of the major cartoon studios of the golden age (only MGM, UPA and Terrytoons are lacking on his cv). Thus Culhane's autobiography is a highly insightful and very worthwhile account on the animation industry from 1928 to 1967. What's more, Culhane leaves out his private life almost completely, focusing on his animation career instead, never falling into the trap of thinking himself more interesting than he really is. On the contrary! Culhane emerges as a sharp and witty writer, critical and self-critical, but certainly not without praise for his co-workers and competitors in the animation field. He explains what made Disney stand out from the rest, why Fleischer and the other New York studios completely missed the mark, why Van Beuren's last years were a disaster, why UPA's success was short-lived, how difficult the emerging television market was etc. etc. You may not be interested in Shamus Culhane - it doesn't matter, the scope of this book is such that anyone interested in the golden age of American studio animation should read this book.

[Tonk82 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biografía de uno de los animadores clásicos de la edad de oro. Culhane pasó por prácticamente todos los estudios clásicos (Fleischer dos veces, Disney, Walter Lantz, Ub iwerks studio, van beuren, pat sullivan...), y ofrece una divertida y sincera visión de ellos. Es muy facil ver un cartoon de la época y pensar en lo magnífico que es... sin pararse a pensar en lo amateur e imporvisado que era muchas veces todo. Repleto de empresarios que no tenían demasiado interes en el medio (salvo walt diney) y estudios bastante desorganizados.

El último tercio del libro resulta un pelín menos interesante en comparación, pero es perdonable. Los cortos animados para cine (y sus grandes productoras) desaparecieron y se llegó a una transición al modelo de serie televisiva. Una época de menor calidad y cuyos procesos son bastante menos interesantes. Culhane por suerte aún pudo hacer algunos cortos para cine, y explica bien sus ideas sobre la animación en tv.

Es un libro prácticamente imprescindible para un aficionado a la historia de la animación. Tremendamente personal y desmitificador.