Friday, December 21, 2012
Rick Goldschmidt chronicles history of Rankin/Bass studio and iconic TV holiday classics like 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.'
Their names might not be as famous as some associated with film and TV, but Rick Goldschmidt won’t let the world forget the contributions of Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass to the world of art, animation, movies, TV and especially Christmas. Goldschmidt, who lives in Oak Lawn, has a house full of memorabilia from TV’s best, but he is mostly known as the official Rankin/Bass historian. The newest edition, the 15th, of his 1997 book The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass: A Portfolio has been published. Copies can be purchased from Goldschmidt's Miser Bros. website. Goldschmidt said he would autograph them and add a little artwork as well. Goldschmidt didn’t think he’d be a historian. He attended Columbia, studying illustration and art. Through …
Friday, December 16, 2011
Stuff you didn't know about the three little men two feet high from local pop culture expert, Rick Goldschmidt.
If you’re a Chicagoan of a certain age—and we won’t say what age—the annual airing of Hardrock, Coco and Joe on WGN was no doubt part of your holiday tradition. The black-and-white “cartoonette” employed all of the state-of-the-art technology available to stop-action animators in 1951. Buried in shadows and set high above a spinning earth, a chorus of male yodelers sang the story of Santa’s three favorite helpers acted out by scary Laplander-looking elves and a Santa that bore a striking resemblance to its Chinese-American creator. Children were first introduced to the “story so queer” about Hardrock, Coco and Joe by the genial host of WGN’s Garfield Goose and Friends, Frazier Thomas, on Dec. 18, 1956. WATCH THE video of 'Hardrock, Coco …
Friday, December 2, 2011
Oak Lawn-resident Rick Goldschmidt, the official historian of the famed 'animagic' studio, knows everything there is to know about the TV holiday classic 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.'
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, but did you know that the official Rankin-Bass historian lives in Oak Lawn? Rick Goldschmidt has penned three lavish coffee-table books on the famed animators Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, best known for the TV holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. READ "All Aglow Over Rudolph and Friends" Struck by Goldschmidt’s sincerity, the animators, whose “animagic’ stop-action style of animation has influenced a generation of Pixar animators, gave Goldschmidt full access to the Rankin-Bass studio archives. Rankin-Bass churned out 16 holiday-themed, animagic specials between 1964 and 1972 based on American pop standards. The Enchanted World of Rankin-Bass, The Making of Rudolph the Red-…
Eddie Simmons
12:31 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Hardrock,Coco and Joe takes me so far back when I watch it,It makes me feel like a kid again.bigE4306 more ›