John Canemaker facts for kids

John Canemaker (born 1943) is a famous American animator. He is also an animation historian, author, teacher, and speaker. He is known for making his own animated films.

In 1980, he started teaching animation at New York University (NYU). He helped create the animation program there. Since 1988, he has led the program as a full professor.

In 2006, his animated film The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation won an Oscar. This 28-minute film was about his relationship with his father. The next year, it also won an Emmy award for its amazing design.

About John Canemaker

John Canemaker grew up in Elmira, New York. When he was younger, he started an acting career. From 1961 to 1965, he acted in plays and commercials in New York City.

After serving in the Army for two years, he went back to acting. He appeared in over 35 TV commercials. One famous ad showed him leading "fat kids, skinny kids, kids who climb on rocks" for hotdogs. He also drew on a large pad for a TV show called Patchwork Family in 1972.

He used money from his acting jobs to go to college. He earned his first degree from Marymount Manhattan College in 1974. Then, he got a master's degree in film from New York University in 1976.

His Animation Work

While studying, John Canemaker became very interested in animation again. He started making his own short animated films. He also began writing about the history of animation. He has written over 100 articles on this topic.

His first book, The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy, came out in 1977. It was about how the film Raggedy Ann and Andy was made. He has written many other books about animation history, including:

• Winsor McCay—His Life and Art (1987)
• Felix, the Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat (1991)
• Tex Avery: The MGM Years (1997)
• Before the Animation Begins: the Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (1997)
• Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999)
• Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (2001)
• The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003)

His research into animation history also inspired some of his own films. These include Remembering Winsor McCay (1976) and Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat (1977).

John Canemaker's Films

Many of John Canemaker's independent animated shorts are part of the collection at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Some of his films are:

• The '40s (1974)
• Street Freaks (1975)
• Confessions of a Stardreamer (1978)
• The Wizard's Son (1981)
• Bottom's Dream (1983)
• Confessions of a Stand-Up (1993)
• Bridgehampton (1998)

In the early 1980s, he created animation for Sesame Street. He also made animation for TV commercials. In 1981, he created animated parts for the movie The World According to Garp. He also designed and directed animation for two award-winning documentaries:

• You Don't Have to Die (1988), which won an Oscar
• Break the Silence: Kids Against Child Abuse (1994), which won a Peabody Award

You can find a collection of his films on a DVD called John Canemaker: Marching to a Different Toon. He also writes about animation for The New York Times. He has been a commentator on DVD versions of classic Disney films like Fantasia, Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

John Canemaker has appeared on TV shows like Today and Entertainment Tonight. He has also given talks about animation all over the world. In 2006, he received an award for his amazing work in animation studies at the World Festival of Animated Film in Zagreb.

Books

• Felix, The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat, 1991, Pantheon, New York, ISBN: 0-679-40127-X.
• Storytelling in Animation: The Art of the Animated Image, Volume 2, editor, 1988, The American Film Institute.
• Paper dreams; The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards, 1999.
• Winsor McCay: His Life and Art, 1987.
• Treasures of Disney Animation Art (with Robert E. Abrams), 1982.
• The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy, 1977.
• Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation, 2001.
• Two Guys Named Joe: Master Storytellers Joe Grant & Joe Ranft., 2010. ISBN: 978-1-4231-1067-5.
• The Lost Notebook - Herman Schultheis and the secrets of Walt Disney’s movie magic, 2014.ISBN: 978-1-61628-632-3.
• Before the Animation Begins: the art and lives of Disney inspirational sketch artists, 1997.ISBN: 0-7868-6152-5.
• The Art and Flair of Mary Blair: an appreciation, 2003.ISBN: 0-7868-5391-3.