Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town! [Hardcover]

Jerry Beck (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 1 and up

Covering every move the Pink Panther has ever made in the last 40 years - this is the ultimate guide to the coolest cat in town...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jerry Beck is a noted animation historian who has written numerous articles and books on the subject, including DK's Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 1 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT (November 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756610338
• ISBN-13: 978-0756610333
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #400,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jerry Beck is an animation historian and cartoon producer. His over fifteen books on the subject include The Animated Movie Guide, Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide and The 50 Greatest Cartoons. He is also co-founder/co-writer of the popular animation blog, Cartoon Brew.

Beck is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney, and is currently a consulting producer to Warner Bros., Universal and Disney for their classic animation dvd compilations. Beck has programmed retrospectives for the Annecy and Ottawa Animation Festivals, The Museum of Modern Art and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. He has taught animation history at NYU, SVA, the AFI and UCLA. He is the host/producer of the annual "Worst Cartoons Ever" screening at the Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Beck started his career in film distribution, working at MGM/UA, Orion Classics, Cannon Films and Expanded Entertainment (Tournee of Animation), before starting his own company, Streamline Pictures in 1989, the first U.S. distributor to import anime features such as Otomo's Akira and Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle In The Sky. Beck was instrumental in launching Animation Magazine, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Beck was also the West Coast Bureau Chief for Kidscreen magazine in 2000. He has also created, written and produced animated films for various clients. His latest animation project, Hornswiggle, recently aired on the Nicktoons Network.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find out what you didn't know about that Pink Cat, December 15, 2005

By 

Paul J. Mular (San Carlos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town! (Hardcover)

Here is the missing chapter to the bible of U.S. theatrical animation ( Of Mice And Magic ).

Jerry Beck fills us in on what animation was being produced for theatrical distribution in the late 1960's, 1970's & 1980's. Long after Disney, Warner Brothers, MGM, Walter Lantz/Universal, and UPA gave up the ghost on theatrical cartoons, Depatie-Freling brought the Pink Panther, The Inspector, The Ant & The Aardvark, The Tijuana Toads (later called Texas Toads on TV) and others to a theater near you!

These cartoons are historically, if not histerically, important as they were the last of the dying breed of cartoons & characters created for the theatrical market in the U.S. .
If you missed them there, youll have a hard time missing them on television. Today the Panther does mostly commercials, but in the 1970's & 1980's he shared the spotlight with Bugs Bunny & Scooby Doo as one of the big cartoon stars of Saturday morning.

Jerry's book is well illustrated, and you will find pictures of characters from the DFE studio you have forgotten about. There is also a history of the DFE studio, details of the live action movies that the Panther introduced, and a complete filmography of all DFE cartoons released by United Artists to theaters & television. You'll even find photos of some classic Panther collectables.

While not written like a text book on Animation, you will probably learn a few things, I certainly did. My only complaint is that some of the text is too small for most eyes, you may need a magnifying glass to read the filmography! I wish DK spared a few more pages for text to save our eyes.

You won't find critical reviews of the cartoons, like in Jerry's earlier animation books, and the descriptions for each last only a sentence or two, but if you dig into the book you will find it informative.

This is a must-get for anyone collecting animated cartoons!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PINK PANTHER ROCKS, February 1, 2006

By 

John Profetto (Hamilton, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town! (Hardcover)

The Pink Panther is among my all time favourite cartoon characters that I grew up with.I bought my copy of this book at Chapters Bookstore yesterday.It was definetly worth it.This is the best book I've ever seen on my favourite panther.His complete history is completely detailed in this book.As one poster wrote,it goes from the 1960s all the way to the current decade.Not only that,but every Pink Panther/Inspector Clouseu movie(except for Return Of The Pink Panther)is fully detailed too.Plus all of the panther's cartoon costars,The Inspector,The Ant & The Ardvark,Mister Jaws etc..,are fully detailed as well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but Not Complete, February 6, 2006

By 

kametamorphic "ametamorphic" (East Haven) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town! (Hardcover)

This is a very good book on the Pink Panther in films and art. However, it is not complete. It ignores and does not even metion the RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER film. Yet, it is the best book on the subject to date.