Wild Minds

The Artists and Rivalries that Inspired the Golden Age of Animation

By: Reid Mitenbuler

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free

In 1911, famed cartoonist Winsor McCay debuted one of the first animated cartoons, based on his sophisticated newspaper strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, itself inspired by Freud’s recent research on dreams. McCay is largely forgotten today, but he unleashed an art form and the creative energy of artists from Otto Messmer and Max Fleischer to Walt Disney and Warner Bros.’ Chuck Jones. Their origin stories, rivalries, and sheer genius, as Reid Mitenbuler skillfully relates, were as colorful and subversive as their creations - from Felix the Cat to Bugs Bunny to feature films such as Fantasia - which became an integral part and reflection of American culture over the next five decades.

Pre-television, animated cartoons were aimed squarely at adults; comic preludes to movies, they were often “little hand grenades of social and political satire”. Early Betty Boop cartoons included nudity; Popeye stories contained sly references to the injustices of unchecked capitalism. “During its first half-century”, Mitenbuler writes, “animation was an important part of the culture wars about free speech, censorship, the appropriate boundaries of humor, and the influence of art and media on society”. During WWII it also played a significant role in propaganda. The golden age of animation ended with the advent of television, when cartoons were sanitized to appeal to children and help advertisers sell sugary breakfast cereals.

Wild Minds is an ode to our colorful past and to the creative energy that later inspired The Simpsons, South Park, and BoJack Horseman.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Reid Mitenbuler (P)2020 Recorded Books

Great fun history of Early Days Animation

This was a fantastic journey through the Golden Age of animation and going through the different creators and studios putting out the iconic cartoons of the era. The book does focus more on Disney than others, not a bad thing and there still is a good amount on the other studios like Fleischer, Warner Bros, Felix the Cat, early Hanna Barbera, and so on. And at least there is no biased side taking of favorites here in this book.

I would personally love to hear a part 2 from the author, chronicling the next section of animation from the 60s onward of traditional 2d animation. This book just barely touches on Hanna Barbera and I would love to hear more about Jonny Quest , Space Ghost, Scooby Doo and the Flintstones to name a few. Then go through the 70s and 80s cartoon era to get to the second golden age of animation in the 90s. Along with the anime boom too. I just want this book to continue on. Good stuff.

what a ride!

this would make a kickass docuseries. worth a listen for anyone interested in the minds behind the evolution of animation .

Wild minds indeed

If you ever wanted to learn about the history of animation (or at least is beginnings) this is the book for you. I don’t want to spoil anything but this book has the perfect ending I ever heard for a history book. I hope there will be more books like this that talk about the other parts of animation history.

Fascinating Story...confusingly wrong narrator.

Loved hearing this unknown wonderful epic story of this art form. Fascinating (but sometimes skips whole chunks of history...could have been two volumes!) But absorbing nonetheless.

HOWEVER.....This narrator is not up to the task.
He emphasizes the wrong things, tries and fails embarrassingly at imitating cartoon voices, at other times says the wrong words from the text, ("..many GROWING reviews.." instead of Glowing) mispronounces names from Hollywood's past (Fritz LahNG??). When reading the name Jose--he says The "J" (which should be silent) making the name JOE-Say...I mean REALLY? It is completely unbelievable that RECORDED BOOKS allows these kind of mistakes.

Almost , Everything You Wanted To know About The Story Of Animation But Didn’t Know To Ask

There was a lot of information covered in this book.It was an enjoyable listen The animation Studios of Warner Brothers, ( You know, the wacky gang of Fritz, Freleng, Tex Avery Chuck Jones,among others is extensively covered. )The Fleischer animation, studio history is also well covered. However, I have some gripes regarding this book.Where for instance is Walter Lantz ? I don’t recall his name being mentioned anywhere in this book. For those who are not familiar with Lantz he was the creator of Woody Woodpecker.DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, in my opinion, is not covered extensively enough. It seems they barely received any coverage at all. . The two principal men behind the studio are definitely from Warner Bros., golden age, namely, Depatie, and Fritz Freleng. The character of the Pink Panther is only briefly covered. What about characters like the Inspector or the Ant and the Aardvark? You can forget it. Not a word is written about about the rest of that stable of characters. If you are.a Disney fan, however, this is the book for you! His early history, and right up to the end of his life is extensively covered. Hanna Barbera and their collaboration, creating Tom and Jerry at MGM studios, you would think that would be extensively covered, right? Forget about it, and not even a mention as to the creation of these great characters. Such a shame! There are some glaring omission’s in this book, but if you can overlook them, it is an enjoyable listen, if you are looking for an extensive history of MGM, studios animation for instance, forget about it . It just is not here . While I understand, you can’t cover everything. These omissions are just too much for me to ignore. In my opinion, the author should have covered more ground than he did. While the book was enjoyable, these omissions just are not right to be ignored.

Subject

All good stuff. A fine overview of the history of animation from the beginning to the end of the golden age.

Beautiful

A great bit of history with hilarious and heartfelt stories. I absolutely loved it and as an artist I find it inspiring.

Excellent History of Animation

I’ve read several histories of animation, and this one stands out by going into detail about the studios, animators and moguls inseat of a rehashing of films that inhabit most histories.

The nostalgia of an art form dear to my memory and heart!

Being born in 1961, I can relate to less than half of this wonderful story. But still growing up watching the golden years of cartoons and animation on my family television and on movie screens of my favorite theater. The writer did an amazing job forcing my mind to picture every word and action during the entire book! The narrator was also outstanding, making me rise during the ups of the storyline and down when the story got subdued. I cannot recommend this book enough to those that not only enjoy animation and cartoon art, but for those who feel that they wished they could live during those times in our history as do I. This book is truly a masterpiece portraying the best times in art history!

a good history on the Fleischers

I love the emphasis given to the genius of Max Fleischer and his animated work.