AWN Headline News

* Sunday, April 11. Richmond, Viriginia, USA.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ANIMATED TV COMMERCIAL will feature over 50commercials from 1948-1993. Janet Scagnelli will introduce the program,which starts at 3pm at the James River Festival. TEL: (804) 355-1383 orvisit www.vcu.edu/artweb/jamesriverfest.

Daffy Duck will finally get the respect he longs for on April 16 at 10am atthe Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood when a U.S. postage stamp isdedicated in his honor and "Daffy Duck Day" is declared in Hollywood tocommemorate the event. Johnny Grant, Ceremonial Mayor of Hollywood andChairman of the HollywoodWalk of Fame, will declare the day as "Daffy DuckDay" when he joins Tirso del Junco, M.D., member of the Postal Service'sBoard of Governors, and Dan Romanelli, President, Warner Bros. Consumer

Bob Gurr, designer and veteran Walt Disney Imagineer whose designs for Disneyland include the original "bubble-top" Monorail engine, will appear in person Saturday, April 10, from 1:30 to 3:30 pm in The Disney Gallery, New Orleans Square, Disneyland. Gurr will meet with Disneyland guests and sign a specially commissioned lithograph representing his own imaginative vision of a future Monorail. The lithograph retails for $95.

The adventures of Toucan Sam continue in a 30 second spot made by SimExDigital Studios for Leo Burnett/Chicago. The spot, entitled "Frog/Idol,"promotes Kellogg's Marshmallow Blasted Froot Loops.

"Frog/Idol" is a continuation of last summer's "Marshmallow Temple/ExtremeAdventure." In it, Toucan Sam falls through a temple floor into anunderwater cavern. There he discovers an enormous frog idol, and swims intoits mouth. Once he surfaces, a multitude of frog marshmallows jump towardshim.

The new Paramount Home Video release of THE RUGRATS MOVIE was the bestselling video in the US for the week ending April 4, 1999. RUGRATS out soldits nearest rivals, TAE-BO WORKOUT and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, by about four toone. However, MULAN, which debuted on video in the US earlier this year,sold about 38% more copies during its debut week than RUGRATS sold duringits first week. RUGRATS was also released on DVD last week where it debutedat #2, just behind Buena Vista's THE WATERBOY with Adam Sandler.

Marvel Enterprises has secured a $60 million credit line from Citibank. This lends credence to rumors that it is interested in taking over Harvey Entertainment which owns the rights to many animated and comic book characters such as Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich. Three years ago, Marvel Entertainment Group filed for bankruptcy. Toy Biz, which had been a subsidiary, acquired the bankrupt Marvel Entertainment Group, then created Marvel Enterprises as the umbrella company.

Pam Coats has been promoted from producer to senior vice president of creative development at Walt Disney Feature Animation, making her the hightest ranked woman at Disney Animation.

Coats, who produced MULAN, will direct creative development of all projects in the studio's feature animation division. Her previous credits include producing the Roger Rabbit short, TRAIL MIX-UP, and executive producing the Mickey Mouse short, RUNAWAY BRAIN. She joined Disney feature animation in 1989.

The deadline for submissions for the 7th Annual New York Digital Salon is May 1, 1999. The competition consists of a gallery exhibition of prints, sculpture, CD-ROMs, and interactive installations; animation/digital video screenings; websites/internet-works; and a catalog of original essays on digital culture. For further information contact Kirsten Solberg, Director of the Digital Salon and Director of Operations for the MFA Computer Art Department, at (212) 592-2535 or by fax at (212) 592-2509. e-mail: kirsten@sva.edu www.sva.edu/salon

Big Ticket Television has teamed-up with Will Vinton Studios to produce a new Claymation and dimensional animation series entitled GARY AND MIKE, slated to air on FOX this Fall. The series will be executive produced by creators Fax Bahr and Adam Small, along with Academy Award winning Will Vinton and Tom Turpin (CEO/president of Will Vinton Studios).

George Lucas has donated $1.5 million, while Steven Spielberg has donated $500,000 to the USC School of Cinema-Television to help fund the new, yet-to-be-built Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. The Lucas money will help build a sound stage which will be named for Akira Kurosawa.