Mad Professor

This is a book I've dreamed about writing for years. Fortunately, I procrastinated long enough that someone came along who is much more knowledgeable than I am about mid twentieth century animation. That someone is Amid Amidi, an animation history veteran and the publisher and editor of the great Animation Blast magazine. When he told me, a few years ago, that he had a proposal for a book about fifties animation, I immediately hooked him up with my editor and friend at Chronicle Books, Alan Rapp, and told him he had to pounce on this. Alan didn't need any arm twisting — he recognized Amidi's talent as a writer and animation connoisseur.

Cartoon Modern traces the history of this era of highly stylized animation, which drew heavily on jazz music, surrealism, and a sense of "rebellion against the fluid realism of Disney animation" (although a number of Disney animators pioneered the look of 50s animation).

If you've ever marveled at the flat, bold, and sophisticated art in Gerald McBoingBoing, you'll love finding out more about this wonderful era in animation, an era that today's animators like Craig McCracken (Powerpuff Girls) mine for inspiration. $26.40 on Amazon