Ralph Kickstarter

In 1986 I was working for Ralph Bakshi developing pitches for TV shows. One of them was called "Ralph Playhoel" and here is a page of doodles of Ralph and a puppet character from the show. In the segment that Tom Minton and I wrote, Ralph  would have sentimental moments talking to the puppet who he loved as if he were his own child. I forget the name of the puppet, maybe Tom remembers

but while we were doing this stuff Ralph came in one day and said Keith Richards asked him to do an animated video for the Harlem Shuffle:



We had an amazing crew for this

Bob Jaques - co-director/animator
Lynne Naylor - animator
Pat Ventura - animator
Gary (Gabby) Paine- animator
Jim Smith - layout
Phil Philipson -BG painting
Linda Gerlach - Ink and Paint

Did Bruce Timm work on it? Jim Gomez? Rebecca Reese?

If I missed anyone, let me know so I can add them.

I have lots of zany stories from that golden period, but am swamped working on my Cans Without Labels Kickstarter cartoon.

Speaking of Kickstarter, Ralph has his dream project up and you only have 5 days left to help him lay his most personal and intimate feelings out naked for the voyeuristic world to enjoy.

Last Days of Coney Island by Ralph Bakshi — Kickstarter

You get get some swell rewards too like original drawings of bums by the master himself!


...and if you are a young cartoonist animator starting out, I would strongly suggest you offer your work and soul to Ralph and help him out on the project. Working for Ralph is an essential character building episode for every cartoonist. We all need him to have an ongoing studio. It's bootcamp for quality cartoonists and benefits the whole industry.

Ralph is an international treasure, a true original.