Sally Cruikshank

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Sally Cruikshank
Sally Cruikshank at Snazelle Films in the 1970s, where she produced her signature "Quasi" animated shorts
Born
Sarah Cruikshank

1949 (age 74–75)
Chatham, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)Animator, cartoonist, artist
Years active1971–present
SpouseJon Davison (1984–present)
ChildrenDinah Davison

Sarah Cruikshank[1] (born 1949)[2] is an American cartoonist, animator and artist, whose work includes animation for the Children's Television Workshop program Sesame Street, and whose short Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)[3] was inducted into the United States National Film Registry.

Biography

Early life and education

Sally Cruikshank was born in

anthropomorphic characters, said, "My ducks are based on the ducks from Carl Barks' comics. But I guess they got twisted in memory, because people don't seem to see much similarity between them."[12]

Encouraged by the response of "Ducky", Cruikshank, after graduation, enrolled at the

animation cels.[12]

Quasi at the Quackadero

While editing "Chow Fun" at San Francisco's Snazelle Films, a

TV commercials when there was work".[14] By the end of summer 1972, Cruikshank was head animator there.[15]
In 2009, she recalled of her time with Snazelle,

The job was to experiment with animation, and do commercials for him when the jobs came in. He also hoped I'd figure out how to solve

3-d without glasses. Needless to say I didn't solve 3-d. I didn't even do very many commercials over ten years, but I showed up at 8:30, took an hour off for lunch and worked till 5:30. I was paid $350 a month, and I could live on that then. He encouraged me generously without ever paying much attention to me. These days if an opportunity like that even existed, you'd be forced to sign all kinds of rights statements for characters and content created, but this was before Star Wars and he just seemed to be happy to have me around. We were never particularly close. It spoiled me for any job after that. I made all my 'Quasi' films while I was working at Snazelle.[16]

Still from 6:49 of Cruikshank's signature work, Quasi at the Quackadero, depicting Anita and Quasi at left.

In 1975 Cruikshank made a comic strip based on her characters Anita and Quasi, which was published in the third issue of the underground comics magazine Arcade.[17]

At Snazelle, Cruikshank began developing her best-known work,

B.C. unfold.[19] The music, by the Berkeley, California band the Cheap Suit Serenaders, used slide flute, xylophone, ukulele, duck call, boat whistle and bagpipe to create what Cruikshank called the "strange, gallopy feeling" of 1920s/1930s dance-band music, of which she is a devotee.[20]

Quasi at the Quackadero won awards and was shown at the Los Angeles Film Exposition, and made its first theatrical booking at the Northside Theater in Berkeley,[18] not far from Cruikshank's home at the time at 1890 Arch Street in that city.[21]

Other early projects

Cruikshank's next short, the eight-minute, 35mm Make Me Psychic (1978; working title Mesmeroid Madness) returns Quasi and Anita and adds the suave Snozzy. Built around a device that taps into one's latent telekinetic power, leading to slapstick at a party, the $14,000 film also was financed by Cruikshank, with the higher budget going toward the hiring of additional cel painters and increased lab fees. Of its slicker look than her previous short, Cruikshank said, "People didn't know what to make of 'Quasi.' It was pretty hard to absorb in one sitting, solid. So, I thought I would try directing the eye more, by simplifying things and giving the next film a clearer focus."[18] The Cheap Suit Serenaders again supplied music.[20]

In 1980, Cruikshank won a $10,000 grant from the

charter airline and Anita as a flight attendant.[20]

Later work and life

Cruikshank evolved a recognizable style with surrealistic and psychedelic elements. Her film Face Like a Frog (1987) bears a musical score by Oingo Boingo, with the group's Danny Elfman singing his song "Don't Go in the Basement."[22]

Cruikshank has contributed

website design. Cruikshank also animated and produced many music videos for Sesame Street from 1989–1999.[24]

For a short time in the 1990s, Cruikshank was employed by the Palo Alto laboratory and technology incubator Interval Research Corporation as an animator.[25]

Cruikshank was in the process, as of 2011, of transferring her works into 35mm film format, for archival purposes.[26]

Cruikshank then participated in a Halloween special of SpongeBob SquarePants called The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom in the 2D section of that special.[27]

Personal life

Cruikshank was in a relationship with underground cartoonist Kim Deitch during the period 1971–c. 1982.[28][29] On March 17, 1984,[30] she married producer Jon Davison,[31] with whom she has a daughter, Dinah.[32]

Influences and style

Cruikshank prefers the early

Van Beuren Studios, as well as early Bob Clampett.[20]
In a 1981 interview, she said of her own style at the time,

I think I have a different concept of motion than most other animators. One thing that bothers me about so many contemporary animators is that they've learned a language from other animators. You see the same hand movements, the same 'blink' 'blink' 'blink' when a character asks a question. Too many animators don't try to picture the dynamics of movement, to use it creatively. I'm not that great an animator per se, but I do think I have a sense of motion that makes for an offbeat view of the world.[20]

Animated short films

Several other short films are on Cruikshank's YouTube channel.

Awards and honors

In 1986, Cruikshank won the initial Maya Deren Award for independent film and video artists, given by the American Film Institute, along with Stan Brakhage and Nam June Paik.[39]

In 2009, Quasi at the Quackadero was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.[40] It was voted No. 46 in the 1994 book The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals.[41]

References

  1. ^ "Hating Sarah". Sally Cruikshank's official blog. September 9, 2008. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011.
  2. ISBN 978-0-7914-4516-7
    . Well, I was born in New Jersey in 1949.
  3. ^ Sally Cruikshank: A Career Retrospective, Part 1 — Art of the Title
  4. ^ a b Counts, Kyle. "The Short Life of Sally Cruikshank", Starlog Presents Comics Scene #7, January 1982, p. 40
  5. ^ "More Party", Cruikshank blog, December 29, 2008
  6. ISBN 0-8093-2417-2
  7. ^ "10 Little Indians", Cruikshank blog, November 28, 2009
  8. ^ "July 17, 1958 from Carol", Cruikshank blog, November 11, 2008
  9. ^ "Out of here", Cruikshank blog, December 05, 2008
  10. ^ "Auntie Bea's portrait of my sister" at Cruikshank blog, September 10, 2008
  11. ^ a b Counts, pp. 40–41
  12. ^ a b c Counts, p. 41
  13. ^ a b Counts, p. 43
  14. ^ Counts, pp. 41–42
  15. ^ a b c d Counts, p. 42
  16. ^ "Quasi's Big Day", Cruikshank blog, December 30, 2009
  17. ^ "Sally Cruikshank - Lambiek Comiclopedia".
  18. ^ a b c Counts, p. 44
  19. ^ Counts, p. 43-44
  20. ^ a b c d e f Counts, p. 45
  21. ^ "A letter from Jan. 18, 1981", Cruikshank blog, December 23, 2009
  22. ^ Portfolio: "Face Like a Frog" at Fun on Mars (official site)
  23. ^ "Smiley Face Titles", Cruikshank blog, March 30, 2009
  24. ^ Resume Archived 2011-07-11 at the Wayback Machine at Fun on Mars (official site)
  25. ^ Landekic, Lola (May 27, 2015). "Sally Cruikshank: A Career Retrospective, Part 2". ArtOfTheTitle.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  26. ^ "Obsolete Formats", Cruikshank blog, November 29, 2011
  27. ^ "Screen Novelties Scares Up Stop-Mo Magic for ‘SpongeBob’ Special", Animation Magazine, October 12, 2017
  28. ^ Deitch, Kim. "Mad About Music: My Life in Records: Part 10: Cartoon Tunes," The Comics Journal (SEP. 9, 2011).
  29. ISBN 978-0313397509
    .
  30. ^ "March 17 the Good", Cruikshank blog, March 18, 2009
  31. ^ Dixon, Collected Interviews, p.209
  32. ^ "10 days or so!", Cruikshank blog, February 08, 2010
  33. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award 1975 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  34. ^ "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1978 -". cartoonresearch.com.
  35. ^ "A MOVEABLE FEAST FOR IMAGINATION". Orlando Sentinel. 9 April 1987.
  36. ^ "'ANIMATION' SERVES UP A SMORGASBORD". Chicago Tribune. 18 December 1992.
  37. ^ "20th Tournee of Animation Entertainment Tonight". December 22, 2015 – via Vimeo.
  38. ^ "The Best Of The International Tournee Of Animation | Jonathan Rosenbaum". jonathanrosenbaum.net.
  39. ^ Taylor, Clarke (February 1, 1986). "AFI Gives 1st Award For Independent Film Makers". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 27, 2012.
  40. ^ "Michael Jackson, the Muppets and Early Cinema Tapped for Preservation in 2009 Library of Congress National Film Registry" (Press release). Library of Congress. December 30, 2009. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011.
  41. ISBN 1-878685-49-X
    .

External links
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