Tom Klein
Acting
Biography
Tom Klein is a Loyola Marymount University Professor and the Chair of Animation, serving from 2013 to 2020. His work on the avant-garde ‘mini-films’ of Shamus Culhane has been written about in The New York Times and Time Magazine, leading to subsequent appearances on TV and radio, including the BBC, Fox and CBC. His articles have appeared in such journals as Animation, Griffithiana, Animation Journal and Animation Studies. He appears in the film anthologies Animated Landscapes (UK) and What’s Up Tex? Il Cinema di Tex Avery (Italy). He was a consultant for Universal Cartoon Studios during the productions of Woody Woodpecker (FoxKids) and From the Earth to the Moon (HBO). His biographical study of animator La Verne Harding is recognized as a seminal contribution to animation studies, appearing in the recent four-volume set, Animation: Critical and Primary Sources, published by Bloomsbury Press (2021). He also writes a popular blog that can be read on the Cartoon Research website and he is the designer of the strategy game Pirate Ring.
Known For
The story of Walter Lantz and Woody Woodpecker from the early days at Universal Pictures to the creation of brand new cartoons in 2018. Featuring contributions from Woody experts and of course, Woody himself.
Bird Gone Wild: The Woody Woodpecker Story
A group of animators pitch The Unlucky Rabbit, a documentary exploring Walt Disney’s earliest creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Through storyboards, they retrace the 1920s from Disney’s arrival in California, to his collaboration with Ub Iwerks for the character Oswald at Universal Pictures.