Four new previews for animated movies coming out in the next 8 months are out this week. Each has genre actors that might get you to go to the theater for your animated viewing fix.
First up is Free Birds, which is about a Thanksgiving turkey pardoned by the president (who appears to be President Clinton) who partners with another bird to use the White House time machine to go back and prevent the first turkey from being the subject of Thanksgiving–thereby saving all turkeys from a Thanksgiving fate from then on. The story looks good and the cast and animation do, too.
With the passing Thursday and public announcement yesterday of classic movie and TV comedian Jonathan Winters, we thought we’d post a few clips of some our favorite bits of his unique humor. In countless interviews Robin Williams counted Winters as his comedic inspiration, both men at the top of the world of improvisation. Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1925, Winters went on to serve in the Marines in World War II. His first TV appearance was on Chance of a Lifetime in 1954, and his 15-minute variety show The Jonathan Winters Show on October 23, 1956, sponsored by Tums for RCA on the NBC network included the first color video ever to appear on television. That’s right, it was Jonathan Winters who brought color to the TV-viewing world.
Every generation who watched TV encountered Winters in some way. He led the second generation of modern American comedic actors, following The Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy. He was known by some as the Hefty garbage man and by others for his recurring bit as Maude Frickert. Like many comedians in his and later generations, he released many comedy albums on LPs. In 1961 Winters first entered the world of sci-fi TV in The Twilight Zone episode “A Game of Pool” with Jack Klugman. He appeared in more than 50 movies and guest starred and starred on many TV shows in his 60 years as an actor, including repeated appearances in every major variety and talk show over the years.
