Frank Buxton On The Web

Mark Evanier so graciously pointed out that Frank Buxton, closest thing we have today to a modern-day renaissance man, now has his own website. Pursuant to this website, Frank Buxton is most notably the voice of Batfink.

So When IS Batfink Being Released, Anyway?

Shout! Factory is still maintaining a July 3 street date while Amazon is still posting a July 10 date. We'll see when it shows up in my mailbox, as part of a massive order of Five Cartoon Videos You Can't Do Without This Summer.

I'd still like to see Shout! Factory hire the guy who writes its ad copy for its website. Or at least acknowledge where the hell the words came from in the first place. Where I work, we call that... um.... plagiarism....

Batfink DVD Coming!

Well, someone got the hint! Shout! Factory is going to be releasing all 100 episodes of Batfink on DVD on June 19, 2007. You can order it from Amazon here... Batfink: The Complete Series

THE BAT IS BACK

Forty years ago, the late Hal Seeger did one of the very few authorized parodies of the "Batman" character, "Batfink". We have a wealth of information on the cartoons here.

But the real reason for this post is to welcome that bat with supersonic sonar radar and wings like a shield of steel back to TV! Boomerang has brought the Bat and his pal Karate back for another TV go-round, airing Saturdays and Sundays at 12:00 noon for a half hour. Each show features six Batfink adventures and they are going in episode order.

We're still waiting for the DVD release here in the US... we'd love to give you more favorable news on that, but now you folks in England will have to settle for your deluxe box set.

Myron Waldman 1908-2006

Myron Waldman was an animator of extreme durability throughout the classic era of cartoons and well into the television era. He has died in a Long Island hospital months short of his 98th birthday.

Waldman was one of the last living links to the Fleischer Studios, with many credits on Betty Boop and Color Classic cartoons. He was one of the few men who believed in that era that women could animate as well as men and promoted Lillian Friedman to an animator's position in his unit, at the parallel time that Walter Lantz was opening the same sort of door for La Verne Harding on the West Coast.

G. Michael Dobbs has more information on his blog.

Dennis Marks dies

Mark Evanier reports the death of Dennis Marks. He was a veteran animation writer who with Heywood Kling wrote the majority of the Batfink cartoons.

British "Batfink" Box

If you click on this link, you will be transported to Amazon's U.K. ordering page for a box set of "Batfink" on DVD, featuring all 100 episodes on four DVD's. These discs look handsome. (Incidentally, we do not get kickbacks on ordered merchandise from the Amazon U.K. branch.)

Now the bad news. These are PAL DVD's and they will not play on U.S. televisions, which are NTSC. The DVD's are encoded for Region 2; the U.S. is in Region 1.

If there's anything good that can come out of the shockingly meager press coverage the death of Hal Seeger has received, perhaps it will be a remembrance and awareness of Seeger's cartoon programs. And perhaps some enterprising U.S. distributor will get this complete "Batfink" set out in a format that Americans can enjoy.

HAL SEEGER 1917-2005

We regret to inform you that Hal Seeger, whom we honor in a special set of pages on our website, has died. Mr. Seeger, 87, died on March 13, 2005. There will be more information on our Hal Seeger site.

Batfink Rolls On In Australia

Monday, October 18 - Karate's Case
Tuesday, October 19 - The Wishbone Boner
Wednesday, October 20 - Hugo For Mayor
Thursday, October 21 - The Indian Taker
Friday, October 22 - The Devilish Device

Batfink Down Under - First Half Of October Schedule

Monday, October 4 - #29 A Living Doll
Tuesday, October 5 - #30 The Bat Patrol
Wednesday, October 6 - #31 Dig That Crazy Mountain
Thursday, October 7 - #32 Spin The Batfink
Friday, October 8 - #33 Greasy Gus
Monday, October 11 - #34 The Mark Of Zero
Tuesday, October 12 - #35 Swami Salami
Wednesday, October 13 - #36 The Human Pretzel
Thursday, October 14 - #37 Jumping Jewelry
Friday, October 15 - #38 Roz The Schnozz

Fair And Balanced - What Have We Learned?

Well, we have come to the end of Fair And Balanced Day. What have we learned?

• I wasn't alone in this endeavor. Neal Pollack led the way, along with Noam Alaska's "Demagogue" blog, the-hamster.com, Brian Plank's Helmethead Journal, Andy Ihnatko's Colossal Waste Of Bandwidth "Yellowtext" (the Bear and Valance version), and Mark Evanier's News From Me; if you know of others, pass them along and I'll update this entry.
  
• Dotto was cancelled in spite of the fine job Jack Narz did
  
• A butcher still won't give you a quarter pound of rump roast in New York City - you can't get there until the subways start running again
  
• Frank Buxton is still the man
  
• The Brits kick our ass when it comes to Batfink sites
  
• No matter how small you make Dakota Fanning's picture, her movie still sucks

One interesting sidelight to Fair And Balanced Day and the man whose bacon we are trying to save: I was flipping channels yesterday afternoon, and on Encore was the movie "Trading Places", and there, as an Amtrak baggage handler, was the man himself, Al Franken (super: "AL FRANKEN"). He was there along with his writing partner of those years, Tom Davis.

And Idi Amin is dead! My, how the once-mighty have fallen.

Batfink Rocks The UK

We continue our quest to be Fair and Balanced by bringing you news of a relatively new Batfink website, an official effort from the show's UK distributor. The URL is www.batfinkuk.com. (Just be fair and balanced and remember who was first on the web with a Batfink site!)

FRANK BUXTON SPEAKS

In our ongoing attempts to be Fair And Balanced (and make sure the "And" is capitalized), I wish to acknowledge this blog entry by Mark Evanier, who is also observing Fair And Balanced day. It includes a quote from the extremely fair and balanced Frank Buxton, who was half of the regular voice cast of "Batfink" and happens to mention the other half, Len Maxwell, in his quote. It seems that both Maxwell and Buxton, as well as actresses Julie Bennett and Louise Lasser, comprised the voice cast (and all took writing credits as well, to make a fair and balanced point) on the Woody Allen dub-fest, "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" (Buxton also hosted a game show, a kids show called "Discovery" and was the writer of the famous "Password" episode of "The Odd Couple".)

Address Correction - Hal Seeger Productions

Send your cards and letters of support to Hal Seeger Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 231117, Great Neck, NY 11024. And tell em Dave sent you!

Now It's Your Turn To Come To Batfink's Rescue!

There's a reason this icon is at the top of the stack you see at the left. We have always been staunch supporters of the plutonium-infused bat with the wings of steel and the supersonic sonar radar. After what seemed like an eternity (I think we went online with it in 1996), my little Batfink site has finally attracted the attention of the Seeger family, who couldn't be more pleased that we are keepers of the flame.

I am pleased to announce that Batfink's snail mailbox is now open! Hal Seeger Productions wants to hear from Batfink fans! What are your memories? How would you like to see Batfink as he prepares for his big comeback? Revival of the classic cartoons? New cartoons? Maybe even a feature film? The possibilities are endless.

Send your cards and letters of support to Hal Seeger Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 231117, Great Neck, NY 11024. And tell em Dave sent you!