Rick Goldschmidt | |||||
In the early 1990's, he befriended legendary MAD MAGAZINE artists Jack Davis, Paul Coker, Jr. and Mort Drucker and this lead to discussions about RANKIN/BASS Productions. Rick felt that the studio was long overdue for a book documenting all of their productions and wanted to develop a book that he could add his artistic/design talents to. Initially, Arthur Rankin was hesitant to assist with the project, due to some of his earlier experiences with inquiries by people who "wanted an 'ANIMAGIC" figure, or wanted something or other." After submitting a few sample chapters, he realized that "Rick was a very serious person" and the green light was given.
After Several years of scrounging up material, it was time to publish the book. Rick signed a contract with the STABUR CORPORATION (Publishers of JACK DAVIS: SOME OF MY GOOD STUFF by Hank Harrison) in the Fall of 1995 and to Rick's surprise the company closed it's doors in the Summer of 1996, Just after Rick had sent the very large package of RANKIN/BASS original materials. In the Winter of 1996, After WARNER BROTHERS Publishing came very close to taking the project on, TIGER MOUNTAIN PRESS came to the rescue. Doug Ranney had many years of experience with the Animation buisness by Running the WHOLE TOON CATALOG and decided to go into the publishing buisness. In fact, Rick had ordered a video tape of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO a few years prior from the WHOLE TOON CATALOG. It was the last copy of an out-of-print video and it was defective. He returned it to the WHOLE TOON CATALOG and Doug personally fixed the video (not knowing that Rick and he would one day work on a book together).
1997 was a busy year for Doug Ranney and Rick. In January, Arthur Rankin flew to Rick's home to go through the piles of material and spend time with Rick's family and friends. It was decided that the book was going to be a high quality coffee table book that would document the many RANKIN/BASS specials, films and TV series. For the most part, the material came from a variety of places and very little came from the RANKIN/BASS offices, due to several moves over the years. It was never anyone's intention to put a book together about the actual animation in Japan, nor could one be put together with the material provided. Rick, Arthur and Jules strived to put together a fun, well layed out book, that celebrates the history of the studio. Much of the credit deserves to go to Doug Ranney, who put his heart and sole into producing the book that everybody wanted. Rick and Doug worked together to make sure that there was no negative space on any pages and the photo reproductions were the best they could be. In the fall of 1997, Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin and Rick Goldschmidt perused the bluelines to the book, changes were made and it went into production.
The book was officially released on November 20th, 1997. On this day, TIGER MOUNTAIN PRESS shipped boxes of books to Chicago, so that Rick could do a book signing at the NEWBERRY LIBRARY's BIG Fall Festival; where many Chicago celebrities flipped through the freshly printed book, including Bill Kurtis and Linda MacLenon from CBS News. WGN-TV MORNING NEWS also panned the RANKIN/BASS display for their morning news.
Simultaneously, Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Don Duga appeared at the SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS in New York for an "Evening with Arthur Rankin" hosted by Don. Hardcover books were also present at this event for Arthur and Don to sign. This was a RARE Appearance by Arthur Rankin to discuss his background in the Animation buisness in the states. He has only taught film at Bermuda College in the past.
After the ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS was released, Rick went on a book signing tour with BORDERS BOOKS & MUSIC and has appeared at several conventions including the international SAN DIEGO COMICON. The book went into it's 2nd printing through MISER BROS. PRESS in September, 2001 and is once again selling briskly! The release of the book sparked many inquiries to product releases and further biography retrospectives. Rick started out as being the Official biographer to RANKIN/BASS PRODUCTIONS and wound up being the OFFICIAL HISTORIAN/CONSULTANT. The following list is a partial list of some of the Projects and product lines that Rick has participated in:
1. MAD MONSTER PARTY Soundtrack CD (PERCEPTO RECORDS) August, 1998 Rick acted as consultant, photo archivist and Biographer on this project. A 16 page booklet was written with the full cooperation of Maury Laws (the film's composer) and Jules Bass (The film's lyricist and Director). Through discussions with Maury Laws, Rick discovered that the LP was shelved and a master existed. "Taylor White deserves HUGE credit for the wonderful job he did in putting this all together and Doug Ranney once again did a beautiful layout job on the book! This is one of the projects I am most proud of. It was a GREAT feeling delivering copies of this to Phyllis Diller and Sara Karloff!," Says Goldschmidt.
2. MAD MONSTER PARTY video (DELUXO/BLACK BEAR) November 1998 Rick assisted with Photo archives, Consultant, obtaining the film print and appeared in the MAKING-OF-SPECIAL for DVD entitled "MAD MONSTER PARTY: UNEARTHING A CLASSIC" which remains un-released. "Dave Witting deserves the credit here! He was a pleasure to work with and a friend. He was very dedicated to doing the video right and he should be proud of the final release," says Goldschmidt. Currently, the video comes with a full size reproduction of the One-sheet movie poster.
3. ENESCO CORPORATION figurine lines 1999-2001 Consultant/Designer/Photo Archivist One of the finest figural lines to come out on RANKIN/BASS characters! The RUDOLPH line caused a sensation last Christmas, since that time Rick offered help and designs on HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS, THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY and SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN. In 2000, look for a FROSTY Ornament line, a NEW RUDOLPH line with a few scene designs by Rick and HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL which is now circulating through trade shows.
4. GOLDEN BOOKS FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT Video/DVD releases 1997-2001 Historical Consultant/Photo Archivist/RANKIN/BASS staff liason After buying several hundred copies of Rick's book in Hardcover, GOLDEN BOOKS has treated the RANKIN/BASS library very seriously. Recently, with a slight change in staff, very promising products are on the horizon! Look for collector's DVD releases of both RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER and FROSTY THE SNOWMAN (Finally....with photo packaging) this Holiday season! "I Love GOLDEN BOOKS and the people there have always been very generous!," Says Goldschmidt.
RANKIN/BASS Magazine bibliography:
1. MONSTERSCENE Issue No. 9 "The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters of RANKIN/BASS" by Rick Goldschmidt "Ironically, Basil Gogos did a beautiful Glenn Strange/Frankenstein painted cover for this issue and he also submitted a Frankenstein for the RANKIN/BASS book, But it was too late to include. Basil is the BEST!," says Goldschmidt.
2. TVPARTY.com Various articles on the studio including one on MAD MONSTER PARTY and a very exstensive RUDOLPH article that still appears under LOST KID'S SHOWS.
3. CHILLER THEATRE MAGAZINE and TOON MAGAZINE (Summer, 1999) "Unearthing A RANKIN/BASS Classic" Articles featuring up to date info on the film and involving MAD MONSTER PARTY writer Len Korobkin and actress Gale Garnett.
4. CINEFANTASTIQUE (January 1999) "CREATING ANIMAGIC: Exploring the stop-motion ANIMAGIC world of RANKIN/BASS" An in-depth look at the ANIMAGIC history of the studio and the restoral of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER in 1998. Color photos and the issue celebrates the 100th year of Stop-Motion.
5. ANIMATION BLAST (Summer 2000) "The RANKIN/BASS MAD MAGAZINE CONNECTION: The RANKIN/BASS art of Jack Davis and Paul Coker" A look at the R/B careers of two of the BEST artists in the buisness and two of the nicest guys. Also, Rick Participates in a review of the NEW Bob Clampett BEANY & CECIL DVD and an article about Artistic whiz David Sheldon.
6. SCARY MONSTERS (Halloween 2000) BIG MAD MONSTER PARTY issue featuring a wraparound cover by Terry Beatty. "MAD MONSTER PARTY VS. MAD, MAD, MAD MONSTERS" A look at both of the RANKIN/BASS Halloween classics. Also, featuring some unique images not seen before in print. This magazine gets GREAT distribution (BORDERS BOOKS, etc.) and is the type of MONSTER magazine you might remember reading as a kid.
* MORE to come..................
NOVEMBER, 2001 will see the release of Rick's New Collector's Hardcover edition of THE MAKING OF THE RANKIN/BASS CLASSIC: RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (Miser Bros. Press). It features over 200 pages and several in color. It contains the original 1963 draft of Romeo Muller's teleplay courtesy of the Muller Estate. It also features a FOREWORD by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and an AFTERWORD by PIXAR great Andrew Stanton. ART played a BIG role in the look of the book. It features NEW art from Jack Davis, Patrick Owsley, Steve Rude, David Sheldon, Jim Engel, Kirsten Ulve, Paul Coker, Jr., Mitch O' Connell and more! We may offer this art in a LIMITED-EDITION portfolio at this website!
Television appearances include several on WGN-TV MORNING NEWS with Larry Potash in Chicago and CLTV NEWS (Chicago Tribune Broadcasting)
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