Anyone old enough to remember that commercial for flavored Tootsie Rolls that featured claymation characters riding a rainbow? Well, my dad created that ad when he worked in Evanston. Here’s a shot from the set:
Date on the picture looks like ’72. I think my dad must have some old Super 8 or 16mm footage of this spot sitting around somewhere. I’d love to get it transferred to digital and uploaded to YouTube or someplace. It was a really fun commercial to watch, and it represents a cool period in animation when there was a lot of work being done in clay (anyone recall Gumby?). We always had a Gumby sitting around the house somewhere (dammit).
My dad’s one of those people who can pick up a chunk of clay, a pencil, a piece of wood, or pretty much any other material and create something compelling out of it. I wish I’d gotten more of that from him, for Ava’s sake, if nothing else.