It’s endlessly beguiling, since its goals for mainstream success were so high yet it broke so many rules. Raggedy Ann & Andy boggles the mind because it’s such a bold, spectacular enterprise, involves so many mammoth talents and has some tremendously impressive scenes, particularly Emery Hawkins’ infinitely astonishing Greedy sequence. Helen Reddy recorded “Blue” and sang it on The Muppet Show and The Carol Burnett Show, the latter performed in a monochromatic blue Raggedy Ann costume, presumably by Bob Mackie. ![]() Dinah Shore sang “Candy Hearts” with Hal Linden on her daytime talk/variety show. Two of the songs enjoyed some life beyond the film. As soundtrack enthusiasts often have to explain to those who cannot see the point of having the audio without the video, listening is a different experience altogether even if the material is similar or identical. That wouldn’t have made the songs seem less numerous, but definitely more spectacular. The power of Raposo’s score heard in full stereo has an effect that was not fully realized in the mono prints of the film. Animated features do not usually have 14 songs, the majority sung to completion (Disney’s Alice in Wonderland had about the same amount but kept most of them short or fragmented). This album, being his turf, works on records in ways that became problematic in the film. Joe Raposo’s expertise in music and records is undisputed, as his many honors attest. (It might have been nice if Didi Conn was brought into the studio again to add a few lines of exposition, like the soundtrack album of A Boy Named Charlie Brown.) The only segment missing is the end of The Greedy sequence, detailing how the heroes got away. The album includes all 14 songs plus lots of dialogue that covers the story quite well. It would have been nice of the record album would have credited the sterling cast (a who’s-who of New York voice actors), almost all of whom are heard on the densely packed LP. Imagine what a book about the aftermath of the film and the recollections of such an august group of artists might be like!Ī true animator’s film, the title credits feature the lead animators’ names instead of the voice actors. John Canemaker chronicled the production from start to finish in The Animated Raggedy Ann & Andy, a marvelous, richly detailed book that is a treasure to read and re-read, even if one has never seen the movie. Just a few of the artists involved were Tissa David (the first woman to animate a major feature character), Art Babbitt, Grim Natwick, Emery Hawkins, Eric Goldberg, Michael Sporn, Susan Kroyer, Hal Ambro, Cosmo Anzilotti, Spencer Peel, Gerald Potterton, Irven Spence, Art Vitello and many more. coast, the film is an historic landmark in that Williams combined animation talents from several generations and experience levels and let them loose. A massive enterprise requiring two studios on each U.S. Each placed these pleasant, passive rag dolls in odd, fantastic settings with odd, fantastic characters.īut nothing dialed up the crazy better than Richard Williams’ 1977 epic feature (that would be “crazy-cool” as well as “ crazy-whaaa…?!”), Raggedy Ann and Andy. Johnny Gruelle’s Raggedy Ann character (who turns 99 years old this Sunday) is one of those evergreen properties – along with her brother Andy – that have inspired animated versions throughout the 20th century, including Max Fleischer’s Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy (1941), Famous Studios’ Suddenly It’s Spring (1944) and The Enchanted Square (1947) and a Saturday morning TV series in 1988, among others. Songs: “I Look and What Do I See,” “I’m No Girl’s Toy,” “Rag Dolly,” “Poor Babette,” “A Miracle,” “Ho-Yo,” “Candy Hearts,” “Blue,” “I Never Get Enough,” “I Love You,” “It’s Not Easy Being King,” “Hooray for Me,” “You’re My Friend,” “Home” by Joe Raposo. Irving (Captain Contagious) Arnold Stang (Queasy) Mason Adams (Grandpa) Marty Brill (King Koo-Koo) Paul Dooley (Gazooks) Allen Swift (Maxie Fit-It) Joe Silver (The Greedy) Hetty Galen (Susie Pincushion) Sheldon Harnick (Barney Beanbag, Socko) Ardyth Kaiser (Topsy) Margery Gray and Lynne Stuart (Twin Penny Dolls). Voices: Didi Conn (Raggedy Ann) Mark Baker (Raggedy Andy) Fred Stuthman (Camel with the Wrinkled Knees) Alan Sues (Loony Knight) George S. Soundtrack Produced Februat Media Sound, New York. ![]() ![]() A peek at the soundtrack album to animation’s most expensive-yet-experimental, corporate-yet-independent and mainstream-yet-eccentric theatrical feature – ever!Ĭolumbia Records S-34686 (Stereo) (12” 33 1/3 RPM LP / 1977)
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