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184-501: Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is a Palestinian-American animator, filmmaker and painter. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions . Between 1972 and 1994, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, predominantly urban dramas and fantasy films , five of which he wrote. He has also been involved in numerous television projects as director, writer, producer and animator. Beginning his career at

368-595: A trans woman named May Marigold, voiced by Kdin Jenzen. Nomad of Nowhere , another RoosterTeeth show, released in 2018, featured a lesbian protagonist named Skout, who had a crush on Captain Toth, her superior. In addition, Hazbin Hotel , by Vivienne Medrano , centers around a bisexual princess of Hell named Charlie, with a girlfriend named Vaggie, with the series also featuring an asexual character named Alastor, and

552-497: A "family picture" that had the same impact as his adult-oriented films. British illustrator Ian Miller and comic book artist Mike Ploog were hired to contribute backgrounds and designs. The crew included Vita, Turek, Sparey, Vitello and Spence, who had become comfortable with Bakshi's limited storyboarding and lack of pencil tests. As the production costs increased, Fox president Alan Ladd, Jr. declined Bakshi's requests for salary increases, and refused to give him $ 50,000 to complete

736-770: A Black student from attending its public elementary schools and instead established a separate segregated school when it was sued. Portland's public schools were integrated in 1872. Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870, granting African Americans the right to vote, and it also enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1875 forbidding racial segregation in accommodations. Federal occupation in

920-646: A Democrat from North Carolina, accused him of trying to break down segregation laws, Ickes wrote him to deny that: The New Deal, nonetheless, also provided federal benefits to Black Americans. This led many to become part of the New Deal coalition from their base in Northern and Western cities where they could now vote, having in large numbers left the South during the Great Migration . Influenced in part by

1104-432: A Niggerman". Its structure was rooted in the history of the slave plantation - slaves would "shout" lines from poems and stories great distances across fields in unison, creating a natural beat. Bakshi has described its vocal style, backed by fast guitar licks, as an "early version of rap ". Bakshi intended to attack stereotypes by portraying them directly, culling imagery from blackface iconography. Early designs in which

1288-404: A backlash among white Republicans led to the rise of the lily-white movement to remove African Americans from leadership positions in the party and to incite riots to divide the party, with the ultimate goal of eliminating black influence. By 1910, segregation was firmly established across the South and most of the border region, and only a small number of black leaders were allowed to vote across

1472-439: A car whose occupants they believed had shot into their homes and mistakenly killed two policemen riding in a car. The next day, a full-scaled riot erupted which ended only after nine whites and thirty-nine blacks had been killed and over three hundred buildings were destroyed. Anti-miscegenation laws (also known as miscegenation laws) prohibited whites and non-whites from marrying each other. The first ever anti-miscegenation law

1656-597: A chance of seeing airtime on more normal and expensive forms of mainstream broadcasting on most television networks, which still continue to function on a more traditional distribution matrix). Annoying Orange , which started off as a series of viral quasi-CGI animated comedy shorts on YouTube , quickly gained a cult following and an excess of 100 million views online. It is an example of an animated web series to transition between Internet and television distribution successfully, as an animated series on Cartoon Network . Recent independent animations released on YouTube include

1840-543: A college for African Americans in New Haven, Connecticut. Black schools were established by some religious groups and philanthropists to educate African Americans. Oberlin Academy was one of the early schools to integrate. Lowell High School also accepted African American students. California passed a law prohibiting "Negroes, Mongolians and Indians" from attending public schools. It took ten or more minorities in

2024-458: A colored person"— or vice versa—each party "shall be guilty of a felony" and face prison terms of five years. In 1965, Virginia trial court Judge Leon Bazile, who heard their original case, defended his decision: Almighty God created the races white , black , yellow , Malay , and red , and placed them on separate continents , and but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated

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2208-427: A community to petition for a segregated school or these groups were denied access to public education. The state's superintendent of schools, Andrew Moulder , stated: "The great mass of our citizens will not associate in terms of equality with these inferior races, nor will they consent that their children do so." In Colorado housing and school segregation lasted into the 1960s. In 1867, Portland, Oregon prevented

2392-429: A copy of the book and learned every lesson in it. During his teenaged years, Bakshi took up boxing. While attending Thomas Jefferson High School , he took little interest in academics, spending most of his time focusing on "broads, mouthing off, and doodling". After participating in a food fight and being caught smoking, Bakshi was sent to the principal's office. Believing Bakshi was unlikely to prosper at Thomas Jefferson,

2576-443: A deal with Jerry Gross, the owner of Cinemation Industries, a distributor specializing in exploitation films. Although Bakshi did not have enough time to pitch the film, Gross agreed to fund its production and distribute it, believing that it would fit in with his exploitation slate. Despite receiving financing from other sources, including Saul Zaentz (who agreed to distribute the soundtrack album on his Fantasy Records label),

2760-554: A disadvantage when it came to the job market, which led to a decrease in marriage rates in the black community due to the large number of men that weren't financially secure enough to take care of a family. Hypersegregation was prominent in creating an isolated community for African Americans in the United States. This pattern was consistent in making African American residents unstable financially which spread to other poor living conditions. The pattern of hypersegregation began in

2944-403: A film crew or actors, or develop 35mm stock, Bakshi requested prints of films that contained the type of large battle scenes needed, including Sergei Eisenstein 's Alexander Nevsky , and spliced together the footage he needed. However, the cost of printing photographs of each frame would have cost $ 3 million. Learning that IBM had introduced an industrial-sized photocopier, Bakshi asked one of

3128-476: A full season was ordered. Nico Colaleo's animated web series, Too Loud , the first season which ran from July to August 2017, and the second season which aired from September to November 2019, includes an LGBTQ+ character. In the episode "Slumber Party Sneak-In," Desiree plots with her sister, Sara, to dress up as a girl in order to go to a slumber party. The rest of the girls find this out, then console her, accepting, and deciding they like her no matter whether she

3312-535: A gay pornstar named Angel Dust. Medrano's other series, Helluva Boss , featured various bisexual characters, such as a demon named Moxxie, and a pansexual demon named Blitzo. My Pride: The Series , which premiered in February 2020 on YouTube , follows a "queer, disabled lioness" named Nothing who is trying to heal the world. Yssa Badiola of Recorded by Arizal hosted a RTX panel, on September 21, 2020, and stated that there would be LGBTQ characters if

3496-458: A given neighborhood not to sell to blacks. Whites who broke these agreements could be sued by "damaged" neighbors. In the 1948 case of Shelley v. Kraemer , the U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled that such covenants were unenforceable in a court of law. Residential segregation patterns had already become established in most American cities, and have often persisted up to the present from the impact of white flight and redlining . In most cities,

3680-510: A handful of northern colleges accepted black students. Northern denominations and especially their missionary associations established private schools across the South to provide secondary education. They provided a small amount of collegiate work. Tuition was minimal, so churches financially supported the colleges and also subsidized the pay of some teachers. In 1900, churches—mostly based in the North—operated 247 schools for black people across

3864-551: A holiday film, United Artists pressured Bakshi to complete it on schedule for its intended November 15, 1978, release. Once it was finished, Bakshi was told that audiences would not pay to see an incomplete story; over his objections, The Lord of the Rings was marketed with no indication that a second part would follow. Reviews of the film were mixed, but it was generally seen as a "flawed but inspired interpretation". Newsday ' s Joseph Gelmis wrote that "the film's principal reward

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4048-570: A home computer, using software such as Flash , and distribute these short films over the World Wide Web . Independently produced Internet cartoons flourished as the popularity of the Web grew, and a number of strange, often hilarious short cartoons were produced for the Web. In the late 1990s, an independent animated short film called The Spirit of Christmas was produced for under $ 2,000 by two artists, Matt Stone and Trey Parker . This film

4232-567: A love letter to the Andrews Sisters and 1940s animation . First conceived in 2008, he released online in 2015 the opening sequence that was in progress before shelving it after being hired by Disney in 2011. Other notable animated indie efforts of the 2020s include Marcel the Shell with Shoes On , Ninety-Five Senses , War Is Over! and My Year of Dicks . LGBTQ+ representation in independent animation has increased over

4416-414: A meeting with Peter Bogdanovich when he learned that Bakshi wanted to discuss acquiring the rights to The Lord of the Rings . Melnick agreed to pay United Artists $ 3 million, but was soon fired; the project was canceled by his replacement, Dick Shepherd. Bakshi contacted Saul Zaentz, who wrote a check to cover MGM's debt and agreed to fund the $ 8 million budget for the first of what was initially planned as

4600-459: A meeting with CBS. The network executives rejected all of Weiss's proposals as "too sophisticated", "too corny", or "too old-timey". As Fred Silverman , CBS's daytime programming chief, began to leave the office, an unprepared Bakshi pitched a superhero parody called The Mighty Heroes on the spot. He described the series' characters, including Strong Man, Tornado Man, Rope Man, Cuckoo Man, and Diaper Man: "They fought evil wherever they could, and

4784-539: A minority lives on within its particular city. The higher segregation is within that particular area, the smaller the amount of land a minority group will control. In the 1980s, the rise of hypersegregation was distinctively large in Black neighborhoods. The extreme segregation of African Americans resulted in a different society lived by black and white residents. The isolation of the African American community

4968-415: A modern design sensibility. In response to the period's political climate and as a form of therapy, Bakshi drew the comic strips Bonefoot and Fudge , which satirized "idiots with an agenda", and Junktown , which focused on "misfit technology and discarded ideals". Bakshi's frustrations with his failing marriage and the state of the planet further drove his need to animate. In 1959, he moved his desk to join

5152-603: A number of animated films, starting with Heavy Traffic a year later. Ralph Bakshi became the first person in the animation industry since Walt Disney to have two financially successful films released back-to-back. Alongside Bakshi came other independent animated features of the 70s and 80s (some made by former Disney animators) such as John David Wilson 's Shinbone Alley (1971), Don Bluth 's The Secret of NIMH (1982), Vinton's The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985) and Jerry Rees 's cult classic The Brave Little Toaster (1987). Notable award-winning films also from

5336-430: A revolution. Krantz intended to release the sequence as a 15-minute short in case the picture's financing fell through; Bakshi, however, was determined to complete the film as a feature. They screened the sequence for Warner Bros. executives, who wanted the sexual content toned down and celebrities cast for the voice parts. Bakshi refused, and Warner Bros. pulled out, leading Krantz to seek funds elsewhere. He eventually made

5520-470: A segment of Mighty Mouse Playhouse on the network's 1966–67 Saturday-morning schedule; the series was renamed Mighty Mouse and the Mighty Heroes in recognition of the new segment. Bakshi received a pay raise, but was not as satisfied with his career advancement as he had anticipated; Rasinski had died in 1965, Bakshi did not have creative control over The Mighty Heroes , and he was unhappy with

5704-574: A segregated audience in Jacksonville, Florida . City officials relented following this announcement. A contract for a 1965 Beatles concert at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California , specifies that the band "not be required to perform in front of a segregated audience". Despite all the legal changes that have taken place since the 1940s and especially in the 1960s (see Desegregation ),

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5888-919: A series of race riots. In 1898 white citizens of Wilmington, North Carolina , resenting African Americans' involvement in local government and incensed by an editorial in an African-American newspaper accusing white women of loose sexual behavior, rioted and killed dozens of blacks. In the fury's wake, white supremacists overthrew the city government , expelling black and white officeholders, and instituted restrictions to prevent blacks from voting . In Atlanta in 1906, newspaper accounts alleging attacks by black men on white women provoked an outburst of shooting and killing that left twelve blacks dead and seventy injured. An influx of unskilled black strikebreakers into East St Louis, Illinois , heightened racial tensions in 1917. Rumors that blacks were arming themselves for an attack on whites resulted in numerous attacks by white mobs on black neighborhoods. On July 1, blacks fired back at

6072-495: A series of three films, and later negotiated down to two. Before production began, Bakshi and Zaentz insisted that the Tolkien estate receive residuals from the film. Bakshi did not want to produce a broad cartoon version of the tale, so he planned to shoot the entire film in live action and animate the footage with rotoscoping . The film also incorporated brief cel animation and straightforward live-action footage. Production of

6256-554: A similar requirement existed. The federal government required them to be explicitly segregated to be federally backed. The federal government's financial backing also required the use of racially restrictive covenants , that banned white homeowners from reselling their house to any Black buyers, effectively locking Black Americans out of the housing market. The government encouraged white families to move into suburbs by granting them loans, which were refused to Black Americans. Many established African American communities were disrupted by

6440-410: A single space; clustering often leads to one big ghetto and the formation of "hyperghettoization". Centralization measures the tendency of members of a minority group to be located in the middle of an urban area, often computed as a percentage of a minority group living in the middle of a city (as opposed to the outlying areas). Concentration is the dimension that relates to the actual amount of land

6624-468: A voice for Wizards . Although Wizards received a limited release, it was successful in the theaters that showed it and developed a worldwide audience. Dave Kehr of The Chicago Reader saw it as "marred by cut-rate techniques and a shapeless screenplay". In the view of film historian Jerry Beck, the lead character, an aging sorcerer, "clearly owes much to cartoonist Vaughn Bodé's Cheech Wizard character." In late 1976, Bakshi learned that John Boorman

6808-460: A week, Crumb left, leaving the film's production status uncertain. Two weeks after Bakshi returned to New York, Krantz entered his office and told Bakshi that he had acquired the film rights through Dana, who had Crumb's power of attorney and signed the contract. Crumb was subsequently hostile both to the film and Bakshi. Krantz produced a sequel, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974), to which Bakshi

6992-426: A year afterwards. Oscar-nominated animator Andrew Chesworth formerly worked at Disney (being animator on Wreck It Ralph , Frozen , Get a Horse! , Big Hero 6 , Feast , Zootopia and Moana ) and Netflix (on the 2019 Annie Award for Best Animated Feature winner Klaus ) while working independently on his passion projects including his 2023 Oscar-qualifying The Brave Locomotive ,

7176-511: Is a trans girl named Desiree or as a closeted boy. In September 2019, Colaleo later described the episode as important, described it as his favorite episode of the show's second season, and a "pro-transgender episode." Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice (2020), featuring Canadian Inuit characters, won Best Independent Short Film at the Festival Stop Montreal. African American animator/filmmaker Ayoka Chenzira

7360-436: Is a visual experience unlike anything that other animated features are doing at the moment". Roger Ebert called Bakshi's effort a "mixed blessing" and "an entirely respectable, occasionally impressive job [which] still falls far short of the charm and sweep of the original story". Vincent Canby found it "both numbing and impressive". David Denby of New York felt that the film would not make sense to viewers who had not read

7544-560: Is known for his independently-produced features Piercing I (2010) and Art College 1994 (2023). Independent cel animation made in South Korea during the 1980s-90s included Lee Yong-bae's award-winning tale of Sleeping Buddha Wa-Bull (1994) and powerfully political efforts from Choe Jeong-hyeon. In 2016, Alê Abreu 's Boy and the World (released in 2013) won the first Annie Award for Best Animated Feature – Independent at

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7728-469: Is known for making independent efforts such as the 2021 feature My Sunny Maad , which was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film . Other legendary Czech independent animators include Jiri Trnka and Jan Svankmajer . Estonian animator Priit Pärn is known for his crude drawings, dark humor and satirical absurdist tone on such films as Breakfast on

7912-910: Is known for the 1984 satirical animated short Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyhead People , which was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2018. Another example of independent African-American animation is Bruce W. Smith 's 2019 Academy Award-winning short film Hair Love . The 2016 autobiographical stop-motion short Deer Flower , made by Los Angeles -based filmmaker Kangmin Kim, mines his childhood in South Korea for themes. Independent Italian animators include Ursula Ferrara (who used techniques similar to animation pioneers like Emile Cohl on her 1986 film Lucidi Folli ), Alberto D'Amico, Saul Saguatti (known for his 1995 series Short Splatter Collection ) and Bruno Bozzetto , known for

8096-510: Is set in Brooklyn during the 1950s; its lead characters are Vinnie, the leader of a gang named "The Stompers", his friend Crazy Shapiro, and their girlfriends, Roz and Eva. Vinnie and Crazy Shapiro were based on Bakshi's high-school friends Norman Darrer and Allen Schechterman. Warner Bros. optioned the screenplay and greenlit the film in 1973. An initial version of Hey Good Lookin' was completed in 1975. A three-minute promotion of this version

8280-621: The 12th Academy Awards ceremony at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles she was required to sit at a segregated table at the far wall of the room; the hotel had a no-blacks policy, but allowed McDaniel in as a favor. McDaniel's final wish to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery was denied because the graveyard was restricted to whites only. On September 11, 1964, John Lennon announced The Beatles would not play to

8464-729: The 43rd Annie Awards . Two years later, Tito and the Birds would be nominated in the same category. Pato Escala 's 2014 debut short film, Bear Story , won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short . As a result, many animators such as Fernanda Frick ( Here's the Plan ), who worked on Bear Story , and Hugo Covarrubias (the Oscar-nominated Bestia ) made their own animated shorts in Chile . Michaela Pavlátová

8648-671: The Animated GIF to overcome these limitations and create early web-based animation viewable through all browsers. Independent animation in the 2000s included animated features such as Paley's Sita Sings the Blues , Christiane Cegavske 's Blood Tea and Red String , the CGI-animated features Hoodwinked! and Barnyard and Indiewood director Wes Anderson 's first foray into animation territory: his 2009 stop motion adaptation of Roland Dahl 's Fantastic Mr. Fox . By

8832-686: The Cinequest Film Festival . Ralph Bakshi was born on October 29, 1938 in Haifa , British Mandate of Palestine , to a Krymchak Jewish family. In 1939, his family migrated to the United States, and he grew up in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn . The family lived in a low-rent apartment, where Bakshi became fascinated with the urban milieu. As a child, he enjoyed comic books, and he often dug through trash cans to find them. According to an interview in 2009, Bakshi said he

9016-602: The Civil Rights Act of 1875 , but it was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1883 in the Civil Rights Cases . The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), so long as " separate but equal " facilities were provided, a requirement that was rarely met. The doctrine's applicability to public schools was unanimously overturned in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). In

9200-656: The Constitution of Massachusetts . Emlen Institution was a boarding school for African American and Native American orphans in Ohio and then Pennsylvania. Richard Humphreys bequeathed money to establish the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia. Yale Law School co-founder, judge, and mayor of New Haven David Daggett was a leader in the fight against schools for African Americans and helped block plans for

9384-603: The Deep South . The legitimacy of laws requiring segregation of black people was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson , 163 U.S. 537. The Supreme Court sustained the constitutionality of a Louisiana statute that required railroad companies to provide " separate but equal " accommodations for white and black passengers, and prohibited white people and black people from using railroad cars that were not assigned to their race. Plessy thus allowed segregation, which became standard throughout

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9568-476: The International Tournee of Animation (which existed between about 1965 and ended in the late 1990s), Spike and Mike's Classic Festival of Animation (1977 to 1990) and Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation since 1990. Contemporary independent animators, including Steven Subotnick , Bill Plympton , Don Hertzfeldt , Nina Paley and PES have also made work outside of

9752-595: The Marines had no blacks enlisted in their ranks. There were blacks in the Navy Seabees . Before the war, the army had only five African-American officers. No African American received the Medal of Honor during the war, and they were mostly relegated to non-combat units. Black soldiers were sometimes forced to give up their seats in trains to Nazi prisoners of war. World War II saw the first black military pilots in

9936-486: The Motion Picture Association of America gave Bakshi's film an X rating, as well, Cinemation exploited it for promotional purposes, advertising Fritz the Cat as "90 minutes of violence, excitement, and SEX ... he's X-rated and animated!" Variety called it an "amusing, diverting, handsomely executed poke at youthful attitudes". John Grant writes in his book Masters of Animation that Fritz

10120-571: The Officer Candidate School became the Army's first formal experiment with integration – with all Officer Candidates, regardless of race, living and training together. During World War II , 110,000 people of Japanese descent (whether citizens or not) were placed in internment camps . Hundreds of people of German and Italian descent were also imprisoned (see German American internment and Italian American internment ). While

10304-705: The Republican Party in the South splintered and lost support, leading to the conservatives (calling themselves " Redeemers ") taking control of all the Southern states. 'Jim Crow' segregation began somewhat later, in the 1880s. Disfranchisement of black people began in the 1890s. Although the Republican Party had championed African-American rights during the Civil War and had become a platform for black political influence during Reconstruction,

10488-468: The Terrytoons television cartoon studio as a cel polisher, Bakshi was eventually promoted to animator and then director. He moved to the animation division of Paramount Pictures in 1967 and started his own studio, Bakshi Productions, in 1968. Through producer Steve Krantz , Bakshi made his debut feature film, Fritz the Cat , released in 1972. It was based on the comic strip by Robert Crumb ,

10672-441: The adult animated web series Helluva Boss , and pilots for Hazbin Hotel , Long Gone Gulch , Murder Drones , Lackadaisy and The Amazing Digital Circus . While Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are made by independent animator Vivienne Medrano , Long Gone Gulch was written and produced by Tara Billinger and Zach Bellissimo, who had worked on animations for Cartoon Network , Adult Swim , and Disney+ . At

10856-419: The federal civil service , according to Brian J. Cook in his work, Democracy And Administration: Woodrow Wilson's Ideas And The Challenges Of Public Management . White and black people were sometimes required to eat separately, go to separate schools, use separate public toilets, park benches, train, buses, and water fountains, etc. In some locales, stores and restaurants refused to serve different races under

11040-587: The southern United States , and represented the institutionalization of the Jim Crow period. Everyone was supposed to receive the same public services (schools, hospitals, prisons, etc.), but with separate facilities for each race. In practice, the services and facilities reserved for African-Americans were almost always of lower quality than those reserved for white people, if they existed at all; for example, most African-American schools received less public funding per student than nearby white schools. Segregation

11224-678: The " Black Cabinet " advisors and the March on Washington Movement , just prior to America's entry into World War II, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 , the first anti-discrimination order at the federal level and established the Fair Employment Practices Committee . Roosevelt's successor, President Harry Truman appointed the President's Committee on Civil Rights , and issued Executive Order 9980 and Executive Order 9981 providing for desegregation throughout

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11408-503: The 1930s . The US government heavily advertised the suburbs to them and the subsidized mortgages the government provided were typically cheaper than monthly rent. These same mortgages were not provided to Black Americans in public housing , leading to overcrowding, while white public housing sat vacant. As industry began to move out of the inner city, the African-American residents lost the stable jobs that had brought them to

11592-726: The 1930s as a whole was racially segregated; black people and whites rarely worked alongside each other in New Deal programs. The largest relief program by far was the Works Progress Administration (WPA); it operated segregated units, as did its youth affiliate, the National Youth Administration (NYA). Black people were hired by the WPA as supervisors in the North; of 10,000 WPA supervisors in

11776-589: The 1976 feature Allegro Non Troppo and the 1990 Academy Award-nominated Grasshoppers . One of the earliest feature-length animated films was The Adventures of Prince Achmed , made in 1926 by Lotte Reiniger , a German artist who made silhouette animation using intricate cut-out figures and back-lighting. The BFI funded around thirty pieces of experimental animation between the mid-fifties to mid-nineties (notable examples: The Quay Brothers ). Another major contributor to independent animation in Britain

11960-575: The 1978 adaptation of Watership Down by American filmmaker Martin Rosen , was also made independently as well. Examples of French independent efforts include René Laloux 's Cannes-winning Fantastic Planet (1973) and Marjane Satrapi 's own 2007 adaptation of her graphic novel Persepolis . Kōji Yamamura , Masaaki Yuasa , Yoji Kuri and Kihachiro Kawamoto have been prominently acclaimed Japanese independent animators known for their artistic qualities. Animation director Liu Jian

12144-455: The 2000-Year-Old Mouse , a series of educational shorts paid for by Encyclopædia Britannica . However, Bakshi was uninterested in the kind of animation he was producing, and wanted to produce something personal. Bakshi soon developed Heavy Traffic , a tale of inner-city street life. However, Krantz told Bakshi that studio executives would be unwilling to fund the film because of its content and Bakshi's lack of film experience. While browsing

12328-482: The 2000-Year-Old Mouse , a series of educational shorts paid for by Encyclopædia Britannica . Bakshi was uninterested in the kind of animation the studio was turning out, and wanted to produce something personal. He soon developed Heavy Traffic , a tale of inner-city street life. Krantz told Bakshi that Hollywood studio executives would be unwilling to fund the film because of its content and Bakshi's lack of film experience, and would likely consider it if his first film

12512-591: The 2000s, he focused largely on fine art and painting, and in 2003, co-founded the Bakshi School of Animation with his son Eddie and Jess Gorell. Bakshi has received several awards for his work, including the 1980 Golden Gryphon for The Lord of the Rings at the Giffoni Film Festival , the 1988 Annie Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Art of Animation, and the 2003 Maverick Tribute Award at

12696-835: The 70s and 80s included Dale Case and Bob Mitchell's The Further Adventures of Uncle Sam (1970), Ted Petok's The Crunch Bird (1971), Frank Mouris 's Frank Film (1973) and Jimmy Picker's Sundae in New York (1983). Animation historians John Canemaker and Michael Sporn also made independent animation in New York, both earning Oscar nods for their work (only Canemaker won in 2005). Other animators like Candy Kugel , Jeff Scher , Joanna Priestley , Kathy Rose, Suzan Pitt , Robert Swarthe , Vince Collins, Barrie Nelson , Eli Noyes , Sky David (aka Dennis Pies), Steve Segal , Mike Jittlov , Paul Fierlinger , Adam Beckett , Lillian Schwartz , Larry Cuba and George Griffin also made experimental and personal animation during

12880-552: The Butcher , and the collage works of Winston Hacking. Independent animated efforts from Israel include the aforementioned Waltz with Bashir and Tal Kantor 's 2023 Oscar-nominated short Letter to a Pig . Racial segregation in the United States Facilities and services such as housing , healthcare , education , employment , and transportation have been systematically separated in

13064-528: The Cat was "the breakthrough movie that opened brand new vistas to the commercial animator in the United States", presenting an "almost disturbingly accurate" portrayal "of a particular stratum of Western society during a particular era, [...] as such it has dated very well." Fritz the Cat was released on April 12, 1972, opening in Hollywood and Washington, D.C. A major hit, it became the most successful independent animated feature of all time. The same month as

13248-602: The Cat would bring diversity to the animation industry. Other animators were less pleased by Bakshi's arrival and placed an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter , stating that his "filth" was unwelcome in California. By the time production wrapped, Cinemation had released Melvin Van Peebles ' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song to considerable success, despite the X rating it had received. When

13432-661: The Cat , and halfway through the production of Heavy Traffic , Bakshi asked when he would be paid. Krantz responded, "The picture didn't make any money, Ralph. It's just a lot of noise." Bakshi found Krantz's claims dubious, as the producer had recently purchased a new BMW and a mansion in Beverly Hills . Bakshi did not have a lawyer, so he sought advice from fellow directors with whom he had become friendly, including Martin Scorsese , Francis Ford Coppola , and Steven Spielberg . He soon accused Krantz of ripping him off, which

13616-543: The East Side Book Store on St. Mark's Place , Bakshi came across a copy of R. Crumb 's Fritz the Cat . Impressed by Crumb's sharp satire, Bakshi purchased the book and suggested to Krantz that it would work as a film. Fritz the Cat (1972) was the first animated film to receive an X rating from the MPAA, and the highest grossing independent animated film of all time. Bakshi then simultaneously directed

13800-577: The Grass (1988) and 1895 (1995; the latter spoofing cinema's impact on perceptions of history, identity and nationality filled with cinematic references, cultural stereotypes and inside jokes). Jonas Poher Rasmussen 's 2021 animated documentary Flee was nominated for three Oscars: Best Documentary Feature , Best International Feature Film (the second Non-English-language animated film after Ari Folman 's 2008 Israeli war documentary Waltz with Bashir ) and Best Animated Feature (becoming

13984-625: The South helped allow many black people to vote and elect their own political leaders. The Reconstruction amendments asserted the supremacy of the national state and they also asserted that everyone within it was formally equal under the law. However, it did not prohibit segregation in schools. When the Republicans came to power in the Southern states after 1867, they created the first system of taxpayer-funded public schools. Southern black people wanted public schools for their children, but they did not demand racially integrated schools. Almost all

14168-457: The South, only 11 were black. Historian Anthony Badger argues, "New Deal programs in the South routinely discriminated against black people and perpetuated segregation." In its first few weeks of operation, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in the North were integrated. By July 1935, practically all the CCC camps in the United States were segregated, and black people were strictly limited in

14352-627: The South, with a budget of about $ 1 million. They employed 1600 teachers and taught 46,000 students. Prominent schools included Howard University , a private, federally chartered institution based in Washington, D.C.; Fisk University in Nashville, Atlanta University , Hampton Institute in Virginia, and others. By the early 1870s, the North lost interest in further reconstruction efforts, and, when federal troops were withdrawn in 1877,

14536-508: The Spanish film development lab discovered that telephone lines, helicopters and cars were visible in the footage, they tried to incinerate it, telling Bakshi's first assistant director, "if that kind of sloppy cinematography got out, no one from Hollywood would ever come back to Spain to shoot again." When Bakshi returned to the United States, he learned that the cost of developing blown-up prints of each frame had risen. He did not want to repeat

14720-409: The U.S. These five dimensions are evenness, clustering, exposure, centralization and concentration. Evenness is the difference between the percentage of a minority group in a particular part of a city, compared to the city as a whole. Exposure is the likelihood that a minority and a majority party will come in contact with one another. Clustering is the gathering of different minority groups into

14904-496: The U.S., he responded, "I hope not; I don’t believe in it", before asking a question often aimed at anyone advocating racial integration, "Would you want your daughter to marry a Negro? She won't love someone who isn't her color." In 1958, officers in Virginia entered the home of Richard and Mildred Loving and dragged them out of bed for living together as an interracial couple, on the basis that "any white person intermarry with

15088-504: The U.S., the Tuskegee Airmen , 99th Fighter Squadron, and also saw the segregated 183rd Engineer Combat Battalion participate in the liberation of Jewish survivors at Buchenwald concentration camp . Despite the institutional policy of racially segregated training for enlisted members and in tactical units; Army policy dictated that black and white soldiers train together in officer candidate schools (beginning in 1942). Thus,

15272-731: The United States Armed Forces. A club central to the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, was a whites-only establishment, with blacks (such as Duke Ellington ) allowed to perform, but to a white audience. The first black Oscar recipient Hattie McDaniel was not permitted to attend the premiere of Gone with the Wind with Atlanta being racially segregated , and at

15456-477: The United States based on racial categorizations . Segregation was the legally or socially enforced separation of African Americans from whites , as well as the separation of other ethnic minorities from majority and mainstream communities. While mainly referring to the physical separation and provision of separate facilities, it can also refer to other manifestations such as prohibitions against interracial marriage (enforced with anti-miscegenation laws ), and

15640-407: The United States remains, to some degree, a segregated society, with housing patterns, school enrollment, church membership, employment opportunities, and even college admissions all reflecting significant de facto segregation. Supporters of affirmative action argue that the persistence of such disparities reflects either racial discrimination or the persistence of its effects. Gates v. Collier

15824-557: The United States, especially in the South, signs were used to indicate where African Americans could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat. With the passing of National Housing Act of 1934 , the United States government began to make low-interest mortgages available to families through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Black families were explicitly denied these loans. While technically legally allowed these loans, in practice they were barred. This

16008-476: The United States. Unknown to Bakshi, Krantz and producer Al Guest were in the middle of a lawsuit. Failing to reach a settlement with Guest, Krantz told Bakshi to grab the series' model sheets and return to the United States. When the studio found out, a warrant for Bakshi's arrest was issued by the Toronto police. He narrowly avoided capture before being stopped by an American border guard, who asked him what he

16192-724: The area. Many were unable to leave the inner city and became increasingly poor. This created the inner-city ghettos that make up the core of hypersegregation. Though the Civil Rights Act of 1968 banned discrimination in housing, housing patterns established earlier saw the perpetuation of hypersegregation. Data from the 2000 census shows that 29 metropolitan areas displayed black-white hypersegregation. Two areas—Los Angeles and New York City—displayed Hispanic-white hypersegregation. No metropolitan area displayed hypersegregation for Asians or for Native Americans. President Woodrow Wilson removed many Blacks from public office. He did not oppose segregation practices by autonomous department heads of

16376-408: The artist refused to sign the contract Krantz drew up. Artist Vaughn Bodē warned Bakshi against working with Crumb, describing him as "slick". Bakshi later agreed with Bodé's assessment, calling Crumb "one of the slickest hustlers you'll ever see in your life". Krantz sent Bakshi to San Francisco, where he stayed with Crumb and his wife, Dana, in an attempt to persuade Crumb to sign the contract. After

16560-628: The auto body shop, he met Liz, who later became his second wife. Though CBS passed on Tee-Witt , its designs served as the basis for Bakshi's 1977 film Wizards . While leaving the network offices, he learned that Paramount Pictures had recently fired Shamus Culhane , the head of its animation division . Bakshi met with Burt Hampft, a lawyer for the studio, and was hired to replace Culhane. Bakshi enlisted comic-book and pulp-fiction artists and writers Harvey Kurtzman , Lin Carter , Gray Morrow , Archie Goodwin , Wally Wood , and Jim Steranko to work at

16744-406: The ban on interracial marriage was still enforced in 29 states. While interracial marriage had been legal in California since 1948, in 1957 actor Sammy Davis Jr. faced a backlash for his involvement with white actress Kim Novak . Harry Cohn , the president of Columbia Pictures (with whom Novak was under contract) gave in to his concerns that a racist backlash against the relationship could hurt

16928-642: The boarding school to one for only African American girls, but Crandall was jailed for her efforts for violating a Black Law . In 1835, an anti- abolitionist mob attacked and destroyed Noyes Academy , an integrated school in Canaan, New Hampshire founded by abolitionists in New England . In the 1849 case Roberts v. City of Boston , the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that segregated schools were allowed under

17112-479: The book. He wrote that it was too dark and lacked humor, concluding, "The lurid, meaningless violence of this movie left me exhausted and sickened by the end." The film, which cost $ 4 million to produce, grossed $ 30.5 million. The studio refused to fund the sequel, which would have adapted the remainder of the story. The Lord of the Rings won the Golden Gryphon at the 1980 Giffoni Film Festival . Following

17296-420: The box-office obstacles—seems joltingly healthy." Bakshi called Coonskin his best film. After production concluded on Harlem Nights , Bakshi wanted to distinguish himself artistically by producing a film in which live action and animated characters would interact. Bakshi said, "The illusion I attempted to create was that of a completely live-action film. Making it work almost drove us crazy." Hey Good Lookin'

17480-582: The budget was tight enough to exclude pencil tests , so Bakshi had to test the animation by flipping an animator's drawings in his hand before they were inked and painted. When a cameraman realized that the cels for the desert scenes were not wide enough and revealed the transparency, Bakshi painted a cactus to cover the mistake. Very few storyboards were used. Bakshi and Vita walked around the Lower East Side , Washington Square Park , Chinatown , and Harlem , taking moody snapshots. Artist Ira Turek inked

17664-549: The cartoon studio Terrytoons ; Anzilotti recommended Bakshi to the studio's production manager, Frank Schudde. Bakshi was hired as a cel polisher and commuted four hours each day to the studio, based in suburban New Rochelle . His low-level position required Bakshi to carefully remove dirt and dust from animation cels. After a few months, Schudde was surprised that Bakshi was still showing up to work, so he promoted him to cel painter. Bakshi began to practice animating; to give himself more time, at one point he slipped 10 cels that he

17848-451: The company's technical experts if he would be able to feed 35mm reels into the machine to produce enlarged copies of each frame. The experiment worked, and Bakshi got the pages he needed for a penny per copy. As War Wizards neared completion, Lucas requested that Bakshi change the title of his film to Wizards to avoid conflict with Star Wars ; Bakshi agreed because Lucas had allowed Mark Hamill to take time off from Star Wars to record

18032-464: The disappointing result as a "typical 1967 limited-animation theatrical". Animation historian Michael Barrier called the film "an offensively bad picture, the kind that makes people who love animation get up and leave the theater in disgust". Production of Mighty Heroes ended when Bakshi left Terrytoons. Bakshi served as head of the studio for eight months before Paramount closed its animation division on December 1, 1967. He learned that his position

18216-416: The drawings he had created while learning the artist's distinctive style to prove that he could adapt Crumb's artwork to animation. Impressed by Bakshi's tenacity, Crumb lent him one of his sketchbooks for reference. Preparation began on a studio pitch that included a poster-sized cel featuring the comic's cast against a traced photo background—as Bakshi intended the film to appear. Despite Crumb's enthusiasm,

18400-451: The early 20th century. African-Americans who moved to large cities often moved into the inner city in order to gain industrial jobs. The influx of new African-American residents caused many white residents to move to the new suburbs (federally subsidized for white families only ) in a case of white flight . This was encouraged by the government, as many were white middle-class families who lived in segregated public housing first established in

18584-411: The family to the black neighborhood of Foggy Bottom . Bakshi recalled, "All my friends were black, everyone we did business with was black, the school across the street was black. It was segregated, so everything was black. I went to see black movies; black girls sat on my lap. I went to black parties. I was another black kid on the block. No problem!" The racial segregation of local schools meant that

18768-553: The federal government and the armed forces. In an often-cited 1988 study, Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton compiled 20 existing segregation measures and reduced them to five dimensions of residential segregation. Dudley L. Poston and Michael Micklin argue that Massey and Denton "brought conceptual clarity to the theory of segregation measurement by identifying five dimensions". African Americans are considered to be racially segregated because of all five dimensions of segregation being applied to them within these inner cities across

18952-616: The film "could be [Bakshi's] masterpiece [...] a shattering successful effort to use an uncommon form—cartoons and live action combined-to convey the hallucinatory violence and frustration of American city life, specifically black city life [...] lyrically violent, yet in no way [does it] exploit violence". Variety called it a "brutal satire from the streets". A reviewer for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner wrote, "Certainly, it will outrage some and, indeed, it's not Disney. [...] The dialog it has obviously generated—if not

19136-423: The film an R rating, prepared different versions of scenes involving sex and violence, Heavy Traffic was rated X. Due to the success of Fritz the Cat , though, many theaters were willing to book adult-oriented animation, and the film did well at the box office. Bakshi became the first person in the animation industry since Walt Disney to have two financially successful movies released consecutively. Heavy Traffic

19320-425: The film is quite promising, with a garbage can discussing life on the streets with some garbage. This is an example of what Bakshi did best—using the medium of animation to comment on society. Unfortunately, he doesn't do it enough in this film. There is a wildly imaginative fantasy sequence during the climax, when the character named Crazy starts hallucinating during a rooftop shooting spree. This scene almost justifies

19504-595: The film was a financial success. The New York Times ' Vincent Canby wrote, "I'm amazed at the success that Mr. Bakshi has in turning animated characters into figures of real feelings." Jerry Beck called it "one of Bakshi's best films". Due to music clearance issues, it was not released on home video until 1998. Independent animation In America, working independent animators included Mary Ellen Bute , John Whitney , Harry Everett Smith and Oskar Fischinger alongside earlier efforts of what would later become UPA . In 1959, The Academy Awards witnessed

19688-477: The film's release, Bakshi's daughter, Victoria, was born. By the time Fritz the Cat was released, Bakshi had become a celebrity, but his reputation was primarily based upon his having directed the first "dirty" animated film. Facing criticism of his work on publicity tours and in trade publications, he began writing poetry to express his emotions. This became a tradition, and Bakshi wrote poems before beginning production on each of his films. The first of these poems

19872-450: The film. At the same time, Ladd was dealing with similar budget problems on George Lucas 's Star Wars . Bakshi and Lucas had negotiated contracts entitling them to franchise ownership, merchandising and back-end payment, so Ladd suggested that they fund the completion of their films themselves. Bakshi chose rotoscoping as a cost-effective way to complete the movie's battle scenes with his own finances. Because he could not afford to hire

20056-685: The final version was scored by John Madara. Hey Good Lookin' opened in New York City on October 1, 1982, and was released in Los Angeles in January 1983. The film's release was limited, and went largely unnoticed in the United States, although it garnered respectable business in foreign markets. In a brief review, Vincent Canby wrote that it was "not exactly incoherent, but whatever it originally had on its mind seems to have slipped away". Animation historian Jerry Beck wrote, "the beginning of

20240-554: The first animated film ever to be nominated in all three of those categories). Bill Kroyer 's 1992 feature debut Ferngully: The Last Rainforest , featuring the voice of comedian Robin Williams as Batty, was also made independently (under his own studio Kroyer Films , which also made the 1988 Academy Award-nominated Technological Threat ) as an Australian-American co-production later to be distributed by 20th Century Fox . Independent animation entirely from down under includes

20424-416: The first independent animated film to win an Oscar with John Hubley 's Moonbird which was also produced by wife and collaborator Faith Hubley using limited animation to tell their own personal stories. Jordan Belson , Robert Breer and Stan Vanderbeek made groundbreaking experimental animation during this time. Avant-garde animator Carmen D'Avino 's Oscar-nominated Pianissimo (1963)

20608-421: The following years the court further ruled against racial segregation in several landmark cases including Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964), which helped bring an end to the Jim Crow laws . Segregation was enforced across the U.S. for much of its history. Racial segregation follows two forms, De jure and De facto . De jure segregation mandated the separation of races by law, and

20792-550: The government program of Japanese American internment targeted all the Japanese in America as enemies, most German and Italian Americans were left in peace and were allowed to serve in the U.S. military. Pressure to end racial segregation in the government grew among African Americans and progressives after the end of World War II. On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 , ending segregation in

20976-582: The government to break down their resistance. On at least six occasions over nearly 60 years, the Supreme Court held, either explicitly or by necessary implication, that the "separate but equal" rule announced in Plessy was the correct rule of law, although, toward the end of that period, the Court began to focus on whether the separate facilities were in fact equal. The repeal of "separate but equal" laws

21160-429: The historical legacy of de jure segregation. Schools were segregated in the U.S. and educational opportunities for Black people were restricted. Efforts to establish schools for them were met with violent opposition from the public. The U.S. government established Indian boarding school where Native Americans were sent. The African Free School was established in New York City in the 18th century. Education during

21344-461: The history of American pop and starred actor Ron Thompson in a dual lead role. While the film does not reflect Bakshi's own experiences, its themes were strongly influenced by people he had encountered in Brownsville. The film's crew included character layout and design artist Louise Zingarelli, Vita, Barry E. Jackson , and Marcia Adams. Bakshi again used rotoscoping, in an attempt to capture

21528-465: The late 1960s, animator Ralph Bakshi and producer Steve Krantz founded Bakshi Productions, establishing the studio as an alternative to mainstream animation by producing animation his own way and accelerating the advancement of female and minority animators. He also paid his employees a higher salary than any other studio at that time. In 1969, Ralph's Spot was founded as a division of Bakshi Productions to produce commercials for Coca-Cola and Max,

21712-560: The live-action sequences took place in Spain. During the middle of a large shoot, union bosses called for a lunch break, and Bakshi secretly shot footage of actors in Orc costumes moving toward the craft service table, and used the footage in the film. Jerry Beck later wrote that, while he found the rotoscoped animation "beautiful", he felt that it was unclear whether the use of live action was an artistic choice or due to budgetary constraints. After

21896-545: The main characters (Brother Rabbit, Brother Bear, and Preacher Fox) resembled figures from The Wind in the Willows were rejected. Bakshi juxtaposed stereotypical designs of blacks with even more negative depictions of white racists, but the film's strongest criticism is directed at the Mafia . Bakshi said, "I was sick of all the hero worship these guys got because of The Godfather ." Production concluded in 1973. During editing,

22080-570: The mid- to late 1970s through the early- to mid-1980s. In the 1970s, independent animator Sally Cruikshank (known for the 1975 cult short Quasi at the Quackadero alongside animated segments for Sesame Street ) continued to explore independent and D.I.Y. distribution options, but were still largely met with rejection even though her work is now considered ground breaking. Collections of independent films have been gathered for theatrical viewing, and video release, under such titles as

22264-484: The mid-to-late 2000s YouTube and the Internet and like-minded online video distribution, in addition to independent broadcasting sites that followed, proved to be a dominant form of independently distributed, broadcast, edited, and produced animation TV shows, anime, feature films, music videos, retro animation, commercials, trailers, original online animation content, and web exclusives (which would otherwise not stand

22448-640: The movie was banned by the Film Censorship Board in the province of Alberta , Canada. In 1973, Bakshi and Ruddy began the production of Harlem Nights , which Paramount was originally contracted to distribute. While Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic proved that adult-oriented animation could be financially successful, animated films were still not respected, and Bakshi's pictures were considered to be "dirty Disney flicks" that were "mature" only for depicting sex, drugs, and profanity. Harlem Nights , based on Bakshi's firsthand experiences with racism,

22632-400: The nearest white school was several miles away; Bakshi obtained his mother's permission to attend the nearby black school with his friends. Most of the students had no problem with Bakshi's presence, but a teacher sought advice from the principal, who called the police . Fearing that segregated whites would riot if they learned that a white, let alone Jewish student was attending a black school,

22816-614: The new public schools were segregated, apart from a few in New Orleans . After the Republicans lost power in the mid-1870s, Southern Democrats retained the public school systems but sharply cut their funding. Almost all private academies and colleges in the South were strictly segregated by race. The American Missionary Association supported the development and establishment of several historically black colleges including Fisk University and Shaw University . In this period,

23000-544: The only way blacks could relieve the pressure of crowding that resulted from increasing migration was to expand residential borders into surrounding previously white neighborhoods, a process that often resulted in harassment and attacks by white residents whose intolerant attitudes were intensified by fears that black neighbors would cause property values to decline. Moreover, the increased presence of African Americans in cities, North and South, as well as their competition with whites for housing, jobs, and political influence sparked

23184-427: The outlines of these photographs onto cels with a Rapidograph , the technical pen preferred by Crumb, giving the film's backgrounds a stylized realism virtually unprecedented in animation. The tones of the watercolor backgrounds were influenced by the work of Ashcan School painters such as George Luks and John French Sloan . Among other unusual techniques, bent and fisheye camera perspectives were used to portray

23368-420: The police removed Bakshi from his classroom. Meanwhile, his father had been suffering from anxiety attacks. Within a few months, the family moved back to Brownsville, where they rarely spoke of these events. At the age of fifteen, after discovering Gene Byrnes ' Complete Guide to Cartooning at the public library, Bakshi took up cartooning to document his experiences and create fantasy-influenced art. He stole

23552-521: The principal transferred him to Manhattan 's School of Industrial Art . At the school, he was taught by African-American cartoonist Charles Allen. In June 1956, Bakshi graduated from the school with an award in cartooning. He attended and graduated from the School of Industrial Art (now known as the High School of Art and Design ) in 1956. When Bakshi was 18, his friend Cosmo Anzilotti was hired by

23736-410: The process that had been used on Wizards , which was unsuitable for the level of detail he intended for The Lord of the Rings , so Bakshi and camera technician Ted Bemiller created their own photographic enlarger to process the footage cheaply. Live-action special effects and analog optics were used in place of animation to keep the visual effects budget low and give the film a more realistic look. Among

23920-506: The producer denied. As he continued to work on Heavy Traffic , Bakshi began pitching his next project, Harlem Nights , a film loosely based on the Uncle Remus story books. The idea interested producer Albert S. Ruddy , whom Bakshi encountered at a screening of The Godfather . Bakshi received a call from Krantz, who questioned him about Harlem Nights . Bakshi said, "I can't talk about that", and hung up. After locking Bakshi out of

24104-404: The production struggles of The Lord of the Rings , Bakshi decided to work on something more personal. He pitched American Pop to Columbia Pictures president Dan Melnick . Bakshi wanted to produce a film in which songs would be given a new context in juxtaposition to the visuals. American Pop follows four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians, whose careers parallel

24288-412: The project. Bakshi financed the film's completion himself from the director's fees for other projects such as Wizards , The Lord of the Rings , and American Pop . The live-action sequences of Hey Good Lookin' were gradually replaced by animation; among the eliminated live-action sequences was one featuring the glam punk band New York Dolls . Singer Dan Hicks worked on the initial musical score, but

24472-454: The quality of the animation, writing, timing, and voice acting. Although the series' first 20 segments were successful, Bakshi wanted to leave Terrytoons to form his own company. In 1967, he drew up presentation pieces for a fantasy series called Tee-Witt , with help from Anzilotti, Johnnie Zago, and Bill Foucht. On the way to the CBS offices to make his pitch, he was involved in a car accident. At

24656-606: The races shows that he did not intend the races to mix. In World War I , blacks served in the United States Armed Forces in segregated units. The 369th Infantry (formerly 15th New York National Guard) Regiment distinguished themselves, and were known as the " Harlem Hellfighters ". The U.S. military was still very segregated in World War II. The Army Air Corps (forerunner of the Air Force ) and

24840-510: The range of emotions and movement required for the film's story. According to Bakshi, "Rotoscoping is terrible for subtleties, so it was tough to get facial performances to match the stage ones." Bakshi was able to acquire the rights to an extensive soundtrack—including songs by Janis Joplin , The Doors , George Gershwin , The Mamas & the Papas , Herbie Hancock , Lou Reed , and Louis Prima —for under $ 1 million. Released on February 12, 1981,

25024-411: The rest of the animators; after asking Rasinski for material to animate, he received layouts of two scenes: a hat floating on water and a running Deputy Dawg , the lead character of a Terrytoons' series then being shown on CBS . Despite threats of repercussion from the animators' union, Rasinski fought to keep Bakshi as a layout artist. Bakshi began to see Rasinski as a father figure; Rasinski, childless,

25208-476: The routing of interstate highways through their neighborhoods. In order to build these elevated highways, the government destroyed tens of thousands of single-family homes. Because these properties were summarily declared to be "in decline", families were given pittances for their properties, and forced to move into federally-funded housing which was called " the projects ". To build these projects, still more single-family homes were demolished. The New Deal of

25392-639: The same roof. Public segregation was challenged by individual citizens on rare occasions but had minimal impact on civil rights issues, until December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to be moved to the back of a bus for a white passenger. Parks' civil disobedience had the effect of sparking the Montgomery bus boycott . Parks' act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. Segregation

25576-768: The same time, the all-ages web series, Sherwood , also released all 12 episodes on YouTube Originals , made freely available in April 2020. Alternative comics artist turned animator Dash Shaw 's Cryptozoo enjoyed critical success at the Sundance Film Festival to the point of winning the NEXT Innovator Award while it was also nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards

25760-460: The separation of roles within an institution. The U.S. Armed Forces were formally segregated until 1948 , as black units were separated from white units but were still typically led by white officers. In the 1857 Dred Scott case ( Dred Scott v. Sandford ), the U.S. Supreme Court found that Black people were not and could never be U.S. citizens and that the U.S. Constitution and civil rights were not applicable to them. Congress passed

25944-491: The series Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures , which ran for two years. After a nine-year hiatus from feature films, he directed Cool World (1992), which was largely rewritten during production and received poor reviews, consequently being his last theatrical feature-length film to date. Bakshi returned to television with the live-action film Cool and the Crazy (1994) and the anthology series Spicy City (1997). During

26128-469: The slave period in the United States was limited. Richard Humphreys , Samuel Powers Emlen Jr , and Prudence Crandall established schools for African Americans in the decades preceding the Civil War. In 1832, Prudence Crandall admitted an African American girl to her all-white Canterbury Female Boarding School in Canterbury, Connecticut , resulting in public backlash and protests. She converted

26312-414: The storyboards. We couldn't affect anything, but I still tried. I'd re-time, mix up soundtracks—I'd fuck with it so I could make it my own." Other animation studios, such as Hanna-Barbera , were selling shows to the networks, even as the series produced by Terrytoons (which was owned by CBS) were declining in popularity. In 1966, Bill Weiss asked Bakshi to help him carry presentation boards to Manhattan for

26496-401: The studio system. The rise of the Internet in the 1990s and 2000s saw an exponential increase in the production of independent animation which included personal independent works by Timothy Hittle, Janie Geiser , John R. Dilworth , Lewis Klahr and John Schnall. Personal computer power increased to the point where it was possible for a single person to produce an animated cartoon on

26680-530: The studio the next day, Krantz called several directors, including Chuck Jones , in search of a replacement. Arkoff threatened to withdraw his financial backing unless Krantz rehired Bakshi, who returned a week later. Bakshi wanted the voices to sound organic, so he experimented with improvisation, allowing his actors to ad lib during the recording sessions. Several animation sequences appear as rough sketchbook pages. The film also incorporated live-action footage and photographs. Although Krantz, in an attempt to get

26864-510: The studio. Davis briefly married black dancer Loray White in 1958 to protect himself from mob violence. Inebriated at the wedding ceremony, Davis despairingly said to his best friend, Arthur Silber Jr., "Why won't they let me live my life?" The couple never lived together and commenced divorce proceedings in September 1958. When former president Harry S. Truman was asked by a reporter in 1963 if interracial marriage would become widespread in

27048-493: The studio. After finishing Culhane's uncompleted shorts, he directed, produced, wrote, and designed four short films at Paramount: The Fuz , Mini-Squirts , Marvin Digs , and Mouse Trek . Marvin Digs , which Bakshi conceived as a " flower child picture", was not completed the way he had intended: It "was going to have curse words and sex scenes, and a lot more than that. [...] Of course, they wouldn't let me do that." He described

27232-670: The supervisory roles they were assigned. Philip Klinkner and Rogers Smith argue that "even the most prominent racial liberals in the New Deal did not dare to criticize Jim Crow." Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes was one of the Roosevelt Administration 's most prominent supporters of black people and former president of the Chicago chapter of the NAACP . In 1937, when Senator Josiah Bailey ,

27416-547: The title was changed to Coonskin No More... , and finally to Coonskin . Bakshi hired several African-American animators to work on Coonskin , including Brenda Banks, the first African-American female animator. Bakshi also hired graffiti artists and trained them to work as animators. The film's release was delayed by protests from the Congress of Racial Equality , which called Bakshi and his film racist. After its distribution

27600-463: The turn of the century, and they were repainted a lot but the paint was faded by, you know the hundred years of snow and rain, repainted and faded again." Bakshi loved the faded colors, the nails, the wooden crates, and he would build his own toys from the wood. He recalled having "a great feeling with wood, cement, and nails". In the spring of 1947, Bakshi's father and uncle traveled to Washington, D.C., in search of business opportunities, and soon moved

27784-415: The villains were stupider than they were." The executives loved the idea, and while Silverman required a few drawings before committing, Weiss immediately put Bakshi to work on the series' development. Once Silverman saw the character designs, he confirmed that CBS would greenlight the show, on the condition that Bakshi would serve as its creative director and to oversee the entire project. It would appear as

27968-406: The voice actors was the well-regarded John Hurt , who performed the role of Aragorn . The project's prominence brought heavy trade journal coverage, and fans such as Mick Jagger visited the studio for the chance to play a role. Animator Carl Bell loved drawing Aragorn so much that Bakshi gave Bell the live-action Aragorn costume, which he wore while animating. Viewing The Lord of the Rings as

28152-429: The way the film's hippies and hoodlums viewed the city. Many scenes featured documentary recordings of real conversations in place of scripted dialogue; this, too, would become a signature of Bakshi's. In May 1971, Bakshi moved his studio to Los Angeles to hire additional animators. Some, including Rod Scribner , Dick Lundy , Virgil Walter Ross , Norman McCabe , and John Sparey , welcomed Bakshi and felt that Fritz

28336-618: The whole film. But otherwise, this is a rehash of ideas better explored in Coonskin , Heavy Traffic , and Fritz the Cat ." The film has since gained a cult following through cable television and home video. Quentin Tarantino stated that he preferred Hey Good Lookin' to Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets . In 1976, Bakshi pitched War Wizards to 20th Century Fox . Returning to the fantasy drawings he had created in high school for inspiration, Bakshi intended to prove that he could produce

28520-453: The works of Felix Colgrave and acclaimed stop motion animator Adam Elliot , known for the Oscar winner Harvie Krumpet (2003) and his feature film Mary and Max (2009). Outside of NFB, independent animation entirely from Canada also includes Marv Newland , who is best known for his 1969 cult animated short Bambi Meets Godzilla , Danny Antonucci , known for his 1987 short Lupo

28704-669: The world". Bakshi Productions paid its employees higher salaries than other studios and expanded opportunities for female and minority animators. The studio began work on Rocket Robin Hood , and later took over the Spider-Man television series. Bakshi married Liz in August 1968. His second child, Preston, was born in June 1970. In 1969, Ralph's Spot was founded as a division of Bakshi Productions to produce commercials for Coca-Cola and Max,

28888-454: The years, as many series have featured LGBTQ+ characters. Lizzy the Lezzy , which premiered on Myspace in 2006, included LGBTQ+ characters like Lizzy, a lesbian. Plum, a bisexual character, first appeared in the animated series, Bravest Warriors , a show which aired on Cartoon Hangover 's YouTube channel from 2012 to 2018, as confirmed by her crushes and by writer Kate Leth . The show

29072-411: Was Channel 4 , which gained an international reputation as one of the most adventurous broadcasters of animation featuring works from Joanna Quinn ( Girls' Night Out ), Alison de Vere ( Mr. Pascal ) Paul Barry ( The Sandman ), Mark Baker ( The Village ), Barry Purves ( Next ) and former National Film Board of Canada animator Paul Driessen ( 3 Misses ). Another British animated milestone,

29256-436: Was "Street Arabs", which preceded the production of Heavy Traffic in 1972. Inspiration for the film came from penny arcades , where Bakshi often played pinball , sometimes accompanied by his 12-year-old son, Mark. Bakshi pitched Heavy Traffic to Samuel Z. Arkoff , who expressed interest in his take on the "tortured underground cartoonist " and agreed to back the film. Krantz had not compensated Bakshi for his work on Fritz

29440-414: Was 21. Their son, Mark, was born when Bakshi was 22. Elaine disliked his long work hours; parodying his marital problems, Bakshi drew Dum Dum and Dee Dee , a comic strip about a man determined "to get—and keep—the girl". As he perfected his animation style, he began to take on more jobs, including creating design tests for the studio's head director, Gene Deitch . Deitch was not convinced that Bakshi had

29624-416: Was a case decided in federal court that brought an end to the trusty system and flagrant inmate abuse at the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi . In 1972 federal judge , William C. Keady found that Parchman Farm violated modern standards of decency. He ordered an immediate end to all unconstitutional conditions and practices. Racial segregation of inmates was abolished. And

29808-440: Was a major focus of the civil rights movement . In Brown v. Board of Education , 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the Supreme Court outlawed segregated public education facilities for black people and white people at the state level. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 superseded all state and local laws requiring segregation. Compliance with the new law came slowly, and it took years with many cases in lower courts to enforce it. In parts of

29992-447: Was also pervasive in housing. State constitutions (for example, that of California ) had clauses giving local jurisdictions the right to regulate where members of certain races could live. In 1917, the Supreme Court in the case of Buchanan v. Warley declared municipal resident segregation ordinances unconstitutional. In response, whites resorted to the restrictive covenant , a formal deed restriction binding white property owners in

30176-608: Was always intended to be temporary and that Paramount never intended to pick up his pitches. Although Hampft was prepared to offer Bakshi a severance package, Bakshi immediately ripped up the contract. Hampft suggested that Bakshi work with producer Steve Krantz , who had recently fired Culhane as supervising director on the Canadian science-fiction series Rocket Robin Hood . Bakshi and background artist Johnnie Vita soon headed to Toronto , planning to commute between Canada and New York, with artists such as Morrow and Wood working from

30360-403: Was an adaptation, luckily he would find a Comic that would become his first animated feature. While browsing the East Side Book Store on St. Mark's Place , Bakshi came across a copy of Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat . Impressed by Crumb's sharp satire, Bakshi purchased the book and suggested to Krantz that it would work as a film. Krantz arranged a meeting with Crumb, during which Bakshi presented

30544-414: Was an attack on racist prejudices and stereotypes. Bakshi cast Scatman Crothers , Philip Michael Thomas , Barry White , and Charles Gordone in live-action and voice roles, cutting in and out of animation abruptly rather than seamlessly because he wanted to prove that the two media could "coexist with neither excuse nor apology". He wrote a song for Crothers to sing during the opening title sequence: "Ah'm

30728-587: Was because eligibility for federally backed loans was largely determined by redlining maps created by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC). Any neighborhood with "inharmonious racial groups" would either be marked red or yellow, depending on the proportion of Black residents. This was explicitly stated within the FHA underwriting manual that the HOLC used as for its maps. For neighborhood building projects,

30912-443: Was contracted to direct an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings , in which J. R. R. Tolkien 's three-volume novel would be condensed into a single film. Bakshi arranged a meeting with Mike Medavoy , United Artists ' head of production, who agreed to let Bakshi direct in exchange for the $ 3 million that had been spent on Boorman's screenplay. Down the hall from Medavoy was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer president Dan Melnick , who interrupted

31096-760: Was contracted to the Bryanston Distributing Company , Paramount cancelled a project that Bakshi and Ruddy were developing, The American Chronicles . Coonskin , advertised as an exploitation film, was given limited distribution and soon disappeared from theaters. Initial reviews were negative; Playboy commented that "Bakshi seems to throw in a little of everything and he can't quite pull it together." Eventually, positive reviews appeared in The Hollywood Reporter , New York Amsterdam News (an African-American newspaper), and elsewhere. The New York Times ' Richard Eder said

31280-521: Was distributed by none other than Amos Vogel 's legendary Cinema 16 . Other independent animators during this time included Charles Braverman , Gene Deitch , Fred Mogubgub , Fred Wolf and Will Vinton . The latter two would go on to win Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film along with the works of the Hubleys and Ernest Pintoff starting in the late 1950s-early 1960s. In

31464-593: Was doing. Bakshi responded, "All of these guys are heading into Canada to dodge the draft and I'm running back into the States. What the fuck is wrong with that!?" The guard laughed, and let Bakshi through. Vita was detained at the airport; he was searched and interrogated for six hours. Bakshi soon founded his own studio, Bakshi Productions, in the Garment District of Manhattan, where his mother used to work and which Bakshi described as "the worst neighborhood in

31648-491: Was evident in living conditions, grocery markets, job applications, etc. As segregation shaped different lifestyles in those that live in the suburbs compare to areas with public housing, the Concentration dimension of segregation played a significant role. Concentration increased poverty in black neighborhoods by providing more expensive and less ideal living situations to African Americans. This rise of poverty created

31832-428: Was happy to serve as Bakshi's mentor. At the age of 25, Bakshi was promoted to director . His first assignment was the series Sad Cat . Bakshi and his wife had separated by then, giving him the time to animate each short alone. Bakshi was dissatisfied with the traditional role of a Terrytoons director: "We didn't really 'direct' like you'd think. We were 'animation directors,' because the story department controlled

32016-488: Was made by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward and featuring Ian Jones-Quartey , who voiced the character, Wallow, while he directed his own show, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes which featured multiple LGBTQ+ characters. Although Plum had a crush on Chris, kissing him multiple times during the show, she is also madly in love with her doppelganger as shown in the comics. The Rooster Teeth animated web series, RWBY , which began in 2013, features lesbian characters, and

32200-488: Was not mandated by law in the Northern states, but a de facto system grew for schools, in which nearly all black students attended schools that were nearly all-black. In the South, white schools had only white pupils and teachers, while black schools had only black teachers and black students. President Woodrow Wilson , a Southern Democrat, initiated the segregation of federal workplaces in 1913. Some streetcar companies did not segregate voluntarily. It took 15 years for

32384-580: Was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1691, criminalizing interracial marriage. During one of his famous debates with Stephen A. Douglas in Charleston, Illinois in 1858, Abraham Lincoln stated, "I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people". By the late 1800s, 38 US states had anti-miscegenation statutes. By 1924,

32568-465: Was screened at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival , and the film was scheduled for a Christmas 1975 release, but was moved to the summers of 1976 and later 1977, before ultimately being postponed indefinitely. Warner Bros. was concerned about any controversy the film would encounter as a result of the backlash over the film Coonskin , and felt that the film was "unreleasable" because of its mix of live action and animation, and it would not spend further money on

32752-471: Was steadfastly opposed, having wanted to kill Fritz off to avoid further movies. After Bakshi pitched the project to every major Hollywood studio , Warner Bros. bought it and promised an $ 850,000 budget. Bakshi hired animators with whom he had worked in the past, including Vita, Tyer, Anzilotti, and Nick Tafuri, and began the layouts and animation. The first completed sequence was a junkyard scene in Harlem, in which Fritz smokes marijuana, has sex, and incites

32936-660: Was supposed to work on into the "to-do" pile of a fellow painter, Leo Giuliani. Bakshi's deception was not noticed until two days later, when he was called to Schudde's office because the cels had been painted on the wrong side. When Bakshi explained that Giuliani had made the mistake, an argument ensued between the three. Schudde eventually took Bakshi's side. By this point, the studio's employees were aware of Bakshi's intention to become an animator, and he received help and advice from established animators, including Connie Rasinski , Manny Davis, Jim Tyer, Larry Silverman, and Johnnie Gentilella. Bakshi married his first wife, Elaine, when he

33120-448: Was the first animated film to receive an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America , and is the most successful independent animated feature of all time. Over the next 11 years, Bakshi directed seven additional animated features. He is well known for such films as Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), and Fire and Ice (1983). In 1987, Bakshi returned to television work, producing

33304-716: Was the form imposed by slave codes before the Civil War and by Black Codes and Jim Crow laws following the war. De jure segregation was outlawed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. De facto segregation, or segregation "in fact", is that which exists without sanction of the law. De facto segregation continues today in such closely related areas as residential segregation and school segregation because of both contemporary behavior and

33488-409: Was very poor and the walls of his neighborhood were constantly repainted. He liked the feeling when he looked out the window and saw the sun as a little boy, and whenever he would walk out in the streets, someone would break open the wooden crates in the push-carts that were filled with food, stating as such: "And the push carts were wood, and most of the buildings were made out of old wood, going back to

33672-482: Was very well received by critics. Newsweek applauded its "black humor, powerful grotesquerie, and peculiar raw beauty." The Hollywood Reporter called it "shocking, outrageous, offensive, sometimes incoherent, occasionally unintelligent. However, it is also an authentic work of movie art and Bakshi is certainly the most creative American animator since Disney." Vincent Canby of The New York Times ranked Heavy Traffic among his "Ten Best Films of 1973". Upon release,

33856-495: Was widely distributed on the Internet as a pirated cartoon, and its phenomenal popularity gave rise to the popular television animated series South Park . Limited 1990s bandwidth made streaming difficult, if not impossible. While some animators like Spümcø 's John K . opted to use Flash , it still required a plug-in making it unviewable in many early web browsers . Other early online animators like M. Wartella opted to use

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