Chuck Jones' Off To See The Wizard! OH MY!

It's amazing what you can find on EBAY these days. About a week ago, I found this cel with the original animation drawing from Chuck Jones ABC series 'Off To See The Wizard' from the late 60's. It was offered with a buy it now option and I decided to grab it.
The sheer fact is that not a whole lot of these cels are readily available from this show. That's besides the other fact that a lot of people don't even remember the show. My sister, who's a little older than me and a Wizard Of Oz fan (she was featured in a book about Gumby...more of that in a later post) didn't even know the show existed! Well, I sure did cause I tuned in every week that it was on expecting to see an animated show with The Wizard Of Oz characters. All I got was a dazzling title sequence, neat wraparounds and end credits!
You see, the show was kind of a ABC/MGM version of The Wonderful World Of Color, where certain movies would be the featured attraction, with the animated title and wraparounds used as a device of tying everything together. Actually, to this frustrated youngster, I felt jipped.  The show only got me angry, because there were no other cartoons to be found, once you got through the title and bridge sequences.
Like the village idiot, I tuned in every week expecting a different result! Guess the joke was on all the kids out there in TV land!
It's funny, after all these years, I never forgot about the animation on this show.

Fortunately, all this stuff is surfacing on You Tube. For years now, people thought I was nuts when I mentioned the show. Here's a black and white version of the opening with information about the featured Live Action movie!

Anyway back to my story about the animation art; when I received it, it was framed in an odd way. The cel was sealed in glue from the front, just behind the glass and the drawing was glued in the from the back of the frame. Whoever put it together as a presentation piece wanted you to see the drawing behind the cel. However, somehow in the process of art being mounted, the drawing ripped by the Wizards hand. I wasn't sure why it ripped, so I decided to take the frame apart so that no further damage would happen to the drawing.
Now this is where my story gets interesting.

Taking these pieces out from this frame was an absolute nightmare. Not only was the animation art trimmed down, both pieces were glued down and sealed with more glue. Gone were the peg holes as they were chopped off to fit in the frame! To make matters worse, the animation drawing overlapped the sides of the back of the frame when mounted and whoever did the framing job (Likely Larry, Moe and Curly Joe), put two hanging screws through each side of the animation drawing (see pictures). Probably, when the so called framer was tightening the screws, it put pressure on the paper to cause it to rip! Yikes!
Look, I try to have a sense of humor about stuff like this but it's tough. I consider these things works of art and when someone just sloppily puts something together like this, you can plainly see that there's no care or respect for the material. Maybe I'm too sensitive about this, but I can't help it; I love the material that much. Bottomline is that I have to keep reminding myself that animation drawings and cels were considered a by-product of the animation process; that the films themselves were the actual product. Looking at the bright side of the situation, I have to be thankful that even with the mediocre framing disaster that this was, it still somehow managed to preserve (almost) these pieces of art for almost 50 years...and now I am able to own it!
Here's the opening of the show, some of those wraparounds (one of which features this cel) and some of the closing credits. Enjoy!

The Essential Laurel and Hardy

Coming out soon! The Essential Laurel and Hardy DVD box set (Retail $99.99)!
I've been waiting years for this and never thought that this would ever be released. This set includes most if not all of their Hal Roach pictures, even foreign release versions that contain additional unseen footage.
The fact that this has made it to release is a reason to celebrate. For many years you could only get a handful of their films on video or dvd.
Now, you can purchase this ten disc set on pre-order at a heavily discounted price here! The Essential Laurel & Hardy
I'm a huge Laurel and Hardy fan and have been for as long as I can remember. My father and I were huge fans and often would sit for hours enjoying the insanity of their humor.
Certainly, Laurel and Hardy have influenced thousands of actors, comedians, animators, and even directors over the years. Famed Warner Bros. Cartoon Director Chuck Jones often used Oliver Hardy's expressions for Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. Live action director Blake Edwards borrowed gags from their films to use in his Pink Panther Live Action pictures; even lifting a wild explosion gag from a L&H comedy!
In Edwards' 1965 comedy The Great Race Blake pays tribute; the film is lovingly dedicated to 'Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy.'
Sadly, the youth of the world today only know of Laurel and Hardy through 'The March Of The Wooden Soldiers.' Although it's a great film featuring the boys, it is just the tip of the iceberg of their work.
Hopefully, this box set will get people talking about the laughter and joy of Laurel and Hardy again!
Oh by the way, the clip above is from one of their best films, Way Out West! Enjoy!