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"What's New" Archives: May 2018

 

May 22, 2018:

A Big Dreamweaver Headache

 

May 19, 2018:

Who Is This?

 

May 17, 2018:

Merrill Remembers a Native Son (Just Not Very Well)

 

May 9, 2018:

Changing Trains in Chicago

 

 

May 22, 2018:

A Big Dreamweaver Headache

Dreamweaver is my web-design software, which I've used with mostly very satisfactory results since 2003. But now it seems to have turned on me and made it difficult or impossible to post the illustrations that are a vital component of this site.

What happens is this: I scan photos, as I’ve always done, then put them through Photoshop before saving them in a subdirectory on my website. All the photos I’ve put into that subdirectory are clearly visible as I copy a new photo into it. But then, when I’m in Dreamweaver, and I try to insert the new photo into a page on the site by opening the subdirectory and looking for the photo, it’s not there. I’ve been tinkering with every setting I can think of (including skipping Photoshop), but without success.

Something similar happened with the photos that are now part of the item called "Changing Trains in Chicago" on my home page, but I was finally able to get those photos into the Dreamweaver page through constant repetition (at least, I wasn’t aware of doing anything else). And I was able to post the photo in my May 19 item through a workaround so elaborate I can't begin to remember what I did (and I didn't document what I did because I had no hope that it would work). But since then, no luck. It's as if I've dropped the scanned photos down a well. I've had expert help from Rick Freesland, who set up the site for me in 2003, but even Rick has been stymied..

This is a long shot, but if anyone out there has run into a similar problem, or has any suggestions as to how I might solve this one, please let me know.

 

May 19, 2018:

Who Is This?

Unknown Artist

I should recognize him, and, of course, I will be embarrassed when someone else does, but what the hell.

Comments

From Tim Walker: I believe the picture is of Volus Jones.

MB replies: A name I never would have guessed! Anyone else?

[Posted May 20, 2018]

From Peter Hale: I think it does look like Volus Jones. The link between Pinocchio, Geppetto and Donald would be the 1942 propaganda short All Together;. I was going to suggest director Jack King for that reason, but the photo does look more like Jones. (And the still implies an animator rather than a director.) I've not found any credits for All Together; but since he worked on King's Duck cartoons (and King apparently directed the short) it would seem likely that Volus was involved.

 

[Posted July 28, 2018]

May 17, 2018:

Merrill Remembers a Native Son (Just Not Very Well)

Thanks to Geoff Blum for forwarding this odd item:

Oregon Town Dedicates New Park to Donald Duck Artist

MERRILL, Ore. (AP) — The tiny town of Merrill is dedicating a new park to the Walt Disney animator who's known for drawing Donald Duck and creating the characters in DuckTales.

The Herald and News reported Friday that Carl Barks died in 2000 but he's now considered one of the most influential comics of all time.

Workers are planting trees and flowers at a new park that will be called Good Duck Park in Barks' honor.

Barks worked as an animator for Walt Disney Studios from 1935 until 1942.

He helped develop a basic Donald Duck sketch into a superstar Disney character.

Barks later drew a number of comic books, including one that led to the DuckTales comic book franchise and TV cartoon.

In all, Barks would draw more than 500 stories.

Set aside the fact that Barks's connection with Merrill was tenuous. The family ranch (where Barks was born) was about five miles west of the town, which barely existed when Barks was a child. When Phyllis and I set out to see the ranch back in the eighties, Carl and Garé discouraged us from going on to visit Merrill, because there was nothing there to connect the present-day town with the Merrill of Barks's childhood. But if Merrill wanted to name a park after Carl Barks, why not?

Unfortunately, the name is not Carl Barks Park but "Good Duck Park," which sounds like a Chinese restaurant. And note the emphasis on DuckTales, with no mention of Uncle Scrooge.

Did Disney insist on such a warped "tribute" to Barks? Or was Disney involved at all? It would be interesting to know, but, with the Barkses' cautionary words in mind, I doubt I'll ever visit Merrill to try to find out.

 

May 9, 2018:

Changing Trains in Chicago

Walt Disney passed through Chicago many times by train on his way to and from New York (and, sometimes, Washington, D.C.). The photo above was taken during one of those trips, early in 1942, when he was traveling to Washington. I've posted an essay with photos from several of his Chicago stops, and including the memories that Diane Disney Miller shared with me from a 1943 trip when she accompanied her parents. It's at this link.