

By rights that Silver Skate trophy should have gone to Johnny. Unfortunately I spoiled it by falling over in the snow while walking backwards to retrace my footsteps.Īs to how Casper manages to lose every friend he makes - well, gee willikins, let’s gloss over the fact that he slammed Billy into a fence and then tied his wrists and ankles up with rope, and concentrate on the fact that he cheated to help Billy win the skating race. The opening shot of Casper’s disembodied footprints appearing in the snow reminds me of a little stop-motion film my brother and I made one winter. “Mildly entertaining shtick”? You may be overselling it a bit. Here’s Ice Scream from an original theatrical 35mm print, in glorious IB Technicolor. You’d think that at least a few of them would on occasion be curious about what happened to him and make him a care package or something, or rescue him from a freezer he’s been forced to stay in! I always wonder what Casper does between each cartoon to lose the friends he’s made so thoroughly. It’s really straightforward in its storytelling, so much so that you’re just longing for a turtle or mean person or something to show up and poke a hole in its direction. Perhaps the most unusual thing about this entry is a amount of restraint the Famous Studio’s staff has: there’s only one ‘A Ghost!’ gag, even though there are plenty of possible situations for it possibly happening. In this one, Casper helps his little friend Billy to skate by making him a marionette, and when he’s knocked out by falling, Casper drags him along from under the ice to victory in a skating contest. I feel like this particular short is pretty similar to Casper Genie from a few years later, with Casper pretending to be something other than a ghost. It’s well produced and, well, it’s well produced. I think Ice Scream is as pleasant of a watch as you could imagine. Now, onto a Ghost of Christmas present, or past, or at least a ghost from 1957! We hope to get this one sent in a week or two it’s titled Christmas Bear-Nan-Za! It’s available here at the Thunderbean Shop, as are the older special holiday discs for a little while.

We’ve been making a special Holiday/Christmas BDR set each year, and this year is no exception. News on some of these soon along with some fun things to look at. Most are parts of long-in-progress projects re-brewing here several getting their light of days after being a little mothballed. Some of the new material we’ve been able to get recently is pretty spectacular- things that none of us have seen before.

Lots of special discs continue to be finished right now as well as a lot of cleanup on several official sets. It’s still a little bit of a race to get it out this year, but it’s nice to be so close to finishing the set.Īs you’re reading this, I’ll most likely be driving quite a distance to get some scanning done related to all this stuff, including some nitrate things I’ve been wanting to scan for some time.

Flip the Frog that is – as he continues to attempt to leap into his proper, er, discs, with each jump taking longer than one would hope. Right now, Dave, Ciara and I are all been running uphill a bit with a Frog. It’s wintery some places, so why not pretend to be a snowman? Casper is here this week with his mildly entertaining schtick! I can imagine an audience looking at the screen with the same level of enthusiasm at the beginning and the end of this particular picture.įirst some news from the Thunderbean camp:
