Tales Of Hollywood - Ray Harryhausen Lunch

Tales of Hollywood - Ray Harryhausen Lunch

In 1983, I was working "Ghostbusters" and "2010," for Boss Film, and the stop-motion guys were fun to lunch with. They had done some of the best stop-motion anywhere. Phil Tippett, Jon Berg, Randall William Cook, Jim Aupperle, and some others. 

They were very funny guys, and I was was very pleased to be in their company. I was fresh off an animated clay movie in Portland, and my 35mm Seattle feature, now I was building 65mm camera equipment in Hollywood. 

My friend Jerry Jeffress had told me Ray Harryhausen had a unique way of speaking, and Jerry could imitate it perfectly. He was great at it. So, I could mimic Jerry imitating Ray, which I did to the amusement of the stop-motion guys at lunchtime.

To my surprise, they ALL could imitate Ray's speaking voice! It was clear they loved him. He was their hero, the reason they got started animating. That was fun! 

In the next couple of days, some amazing things happened. A magazine writer asked if I could do a favor. Ray Harryhausen was in town, and could I take him to lunch? And then bring him to Showscan, where the writer also worked, to see the Showscan demo presentation? 

(Showscan was a 65mm 60fps system, at Doug Trumbull's company near Boss Film). 

Then Mr. Harryhausen would be interviewed for the magazine. Did I say yes? Yes, indeed! 

I picked up Mr. Harryhausen, and we chatted a bit. I took him to the restaurant, where the stop-motion guys were. I asked if we could surprise someone, and he grinned yes. As he waited outside for a minute, I went in. 

"Guys, our last lunchtime, my Ray Harryhausen imitation wasn't very good. I've been working on it, and it's better. I want to show it to you. I just need a moment to prepare." What a setup. Such eager, expectant faces.

I went outside, and sent Ray back in. Hubbub! Tumult! Somebody yelled "Sam, that's a fantastic imitation!" And that was a fantastic lunch.



2010
Boss Film
Showscan
Ghostbusters
Sam Longoria
Doug Trumbull
Clay Animation
Ray Harryhausen
Tales of Hollywood
Stop-Motion Animation

First Stop-Motion Feature?

First Stop-Motion Feature?

The usual yammer how a movie is the "first" at something.
But the "First Stop-Motion Animation Feature?" C'mon guys.

I'd think the Editors Guild would know better,
and it's in their professional magazine!

Okay, it's first to use still-cameras to shoot a feature's worth
of digital frames, and it's the first digital stop-motion feature
edited with Final Cut Pro. On a Thursday.
Okay...so what?

This Article says it's the "First Stop-Motion Animation Feature,"
right over the title.

A shockingly ignorant assertion, when you know how long stop-motion's been around. "Humpty Dumpty Circus" was made in 1898, "Modelling Extraordinary" brought clay to life in 1912, George Pal and Jiri Trnka worked throughout the twentieth century, Willis O'Brien's "The Lost World" was stop-motion in 1925, and his "King Kong" was mostly stop-motion in 1933.

The great Ray Harryhausen did lots of movies with lots of stop-motion, Cosgrove/Hall's 1983 "The Wind in the Willows," Tadahito Mochinaga was in Japan animating those Rankin/Bass stop-motion Christmas specials.

There was that Pogo Possum feature from 1980 (third screen role for Pogo), Art Clokey's "Gumby and Pokey" and "Davey and Goliath," (ran for 17 years!), Nick Park's brilliant "Wallace & Gromit" and "Chicken Run" were feature-length, as was the Claymation (TM) Mark Twain 35mm feature I worked on for a year, in the early '80s.

Tim Burton did another stop-motion feature,
"The Nightmare Before Christmas,"
before this one, for cryin' out loud!

Maybe it's Tim's "First Stop-Motion Feature"
...since Tim's last stop-motion feature.

Interesting article, though.