I read in the January 1998 issue of The Peg Board that John Gentilella passed away. Many animation fans and professionals will not recognize his name, and many who do will only know him as an animator at Famous Studios.

The golden age theatrical cartoons that continue to attract the most attention are those by the Disney, Warner and MGM studios. The reason for this is simply that the films are wonderfully entertaining. The cartoons that were made in New York by Famous and Terry are not held in particularly high regard. These films couldn't match the level of craft of the Hollywood studios and Famous Studios had the additional stigma of not living up to Fleischer cartoons of the 1930's. The Fleischer cartoons were not particularly well animated compared to Disney and MGM cartoons of the same time period, but they did have a strong point of view and a distinctive humor that made them entertaining. While Famous Studios was made up in large part of ex-Fleischer artists, the Famous cartoons can only be described as bland by comparison.

As a result, even dedicated animation fans pay less attention to the Famous Studio product. While I started working in the New York animation business in the mid-1970's and worked with veterans of the Famous and Terry studios, I was more interested in learning about Hollywood animators than I was in learning about anyone who had worked in New York.

Ironically, my eyes were only opened when I moved to Toronto in 1980 and worked with Bob Jaques. Jaques raved about the work of John Gentilella in the Famous Studios Popeye cartoons. Having worked in New York and being familiar with Famous cartoons, I couldn't imagine why Jaques would be interested in anybody from a New York studio. The important animators were the nine old men and folks like Grim Natwick, Art Babbitt, Emery Hawkins, Bill Tytla, Norm Ferguson, Fred Moore, Ken Harris, Irv Spence, Rod Scribner, Preston Blair, Bob Cannon, Ben Washam, Ken Muse and others. But Bob Jaques knew something that I didn't: John Gentilella was their equal.

It's now my opinion that from the mid 1940's through the early 1950's, John Gentilella was the best animator in New York and the equal of anyone working in short cartoons at the time. His draftsmanship was far superior to the majority of Famous and Terry animators. His sense of timing, specifically his use of drawings on ones, was razor sharp. He had a sharp sense of rhythm in his posing and animation that could rival Fred Moore's. However, while Moore used those things to emphasize appeal, Gentilella used them to emphasize power. It was as if Bill Tyta's sensibilities were expressed through Moore's talents. I think Gentilella's fight scenes in Popeye cartoons are the best. The action of throwing and taking punches is far more complex than the other animators were able to muster. That complexity carried over into his dialogue scenes. They are very well done, and it seems that the head animators would often give Gentilella the scenes that required real acting. It's a shame that Gentilella never had the chance to work on cartoons that were more ambitious than those Famous produced.

What follows is a list of Gentilella scenes from Popeye cartoons. If you have acess to these cartoons, they're worth studying.

Rodeo Romeo (1946) - Gentilella animated the first several scenes of Popeye and Olive in the viewing stand. Olive yells "Hooray for Bluto! Yippee!" Bluto comes over and says "Hi, my little cactus cutie...Watch this here next stunt, cutie." Olive leaps into the air and Popeye catches her by the nose. Bluto rolls a cigarette and uses Popeye's pipe to light it. Later in the cartoon, Gentilella animated the scene of Olive yelling "Hooray for Popeye! Yippee!"

Wotta Knight (1947) - Gentilella animated the cycle of Olive as Sleeping Beauty snoring. Later in the cartoon, Bluto steps into the frame with an axe and is about to split Popeye down the middle. He succeeds in knocking Popeye's armor off. Bluto swings madly at Popeye, who vanishes. Bluto looks around for him, and Popeye turns out to be in Bluto's armor. Popeye starts to beat up Bluto to a conga-like piece of music on the track. Popeye destroys Bluto's armor and knocks him out of the stadium. This whole sequence is beautifully timed.

Barking Dogs Don't Fite (1949) - This is a remake of the Fleischer cartoon Proteck the Weakerist. Gentilella animated the entire opening of the cartoon, with the possible exception of the shots of the poodle without Olive or Popeye. Olive is singing while washing. Popeye arrives. Olive reveals that she's washing a poodle and that Popeye has to take him for a walk. Popeye starts walking the dog and a mutt cracks up at the sight. Popeye says "Get away from me dog, you bother me," to wrap up Gentilella's sequence. Gentilella also animates the last shot with Popeye singing his theme variation to the poodle.

How Green is My Spinach (1950) - This cartoon opens with several short sequences to emphasize the formula nature of Bluto's encounters with Popeye. Gentilella animated the sequence entitled Popeye in Strictly from Spinach. His animation continues through Bluto getting knocked to the moon and getting the idea to destroy spinach to defeat Popeye. Gentilella does a really nice job on Bluto's soliloquy. Later in the cartoon, when the spinach has been destroyed, Gentilella animates Popeye in a supermarket, sampling brocolli and other vegetables. Popeye hits Bluto on the chin and his arm turns into an accordion. Bluto uses Popeye as a punching bag. He sweeps the floor with Popeye. He starts jumping on Popeye. The cartoons cuts to the audience where a live action kid throws Popeye a can of spinach. Gentilella picks up the animation through the end of the cartoon. Popeye splits into multiple Popeyes, hits Bluto and then uses him as a plow horse to replant the world's spinach supply.