Gerald McBoing-Boing is a 1950 animated short film produced by UPA and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on January 25, 1951. The winner of the 1950 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, Gerald McBoing-Boing is the story of a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was adapted by Phil Eastman and Bill Scott from a story by Dr. Seuss, and directed by Robert Cannon. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1994, it was voted #9 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
Bill Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon to Don and Wilda Plympton. From 1964 to 1967, he attended Portland State University, where he was a member of the film society and worked on the yearbook. In 1968, he transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City, New York. Plympton's illustrations and cartoons have been published in The New York Times and weekly arts newspaper The Village Voice, as well as in the magazines Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Penthouse, and National Lampoon. His political cartoon strip "Plympton", which began in 1975, eventually was syndicated and appeared in over 20 newspapers. His distinctive style is easily recognized. Plympton is considered the first animator to draw every frame for an animated feature film entirely by himself. Signe Baumane, also a director and animator, has been inking and painting Plympton's cells for many years. As of 2006, Plympton has created 26 animated short films and five animated features. He has also published a comic book, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton. Plympton usually publishes a comic book of his feature before he releases the feature to raise money for the film. Plympton has teamed up with other independent New York City animators from and has released two DVDs of animated shorts. Avoid Eye Contact Volumes 1 & 2. His work also appeared on the 1992-1993 FOX Network comedy series The Edge. From 2001 to 2003, he teamed with Don Hertzfeldt for the touring "The Don and Bill Show" which was played throughout the United States. In 2005, Plympton's "Guard Dog", was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Also that year, Plympton animated a music video for Kanye West's "Heard 'Em Say". In 2006, Plympton created the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic "Don't Download This Song". The actress Martha Plimpton, "a distant relative of mine" served as associate producer on Plympton's animated feature Hair High (2004), doing much of the casting. The movie's voice cast included her father, Keith Carradine, and her uncle David Carradine. Plympton said in early 2007 he was working on an 80-minute feature, Idiots and Angels, that will have no dialogue.
Below are two of my favourites but there are many more classics.
