Jerry Beck to be honored at this year’s Annie Awards

Jim Hill

17 years ago

Next Friday night, Toontown’s top talents will put on their Sunday best and then motor on over to UCLA‘s Royce Hall for the 35th annual Annie Awards.

This is the night that the animation industry honors its own. When the very best work from 2007 in the fields of feature films, shorts, television and gaming finally gets the recognition that it so richly deserves.

And speaking of recognition … Earlier this year, I was thrilled to learn that Jerry Beck had been selected to receive the 2008 June Foray award. Which is given annually to that individual who has …

” … made a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation.”

2008 June Foray Award winner
Author & historian Jerry Beck
Photo by Harvey Deneroff

Which describes Jerry Beck to a T.

Now I know that Jerry isn’t exactly a household name. Unless — of course — you’re a Hollywood history nut like myself. If that’s the case, then your library already has at least one of the 12 well-written & researched tomes that Mr. Beck has produced over the years.

I mean, never mind about James Brown. To my way of thinking, Jerry Beck is the hardest working man in show business. Hell, just last year between October 25th and November 20th, three new books of his turned up on store shelves.

First up was “The Art of Bee Movie” (Chronicle Books, October 2007), which detailed the convoluted production history of Dreamworks Animation’s latest CG feature.

Given the decades that he’s been covering the animation industry, Jerry knows story. Which is why he has a great eye for that truly ironic detail (EX: Like how DreamWorks design labored for months to come with a character design that looked just Jerry Seinfeld. Only to then have the acclaimed comedian reject this design because he thought it looked too much like himself) that just makes a show biz anecdote soar.

But what Beck’s also great at is explaining the actual process of animation. Breaking the various phases of production down, giving his readers a clear understanding of how an animated feature really comes together.

He’s also not afraid to tackle big projects. So when Nickelodeon decided that it wanted a book that chronicled its entire animation output, Jerry jumped in with both feet. Creating “Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons!” (DK Adult, November 2007) …

… this profusely illustrated coffee table book that’s just loaded with great stories from the creators of such landmark Nickelodeon animated series as “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Rugrats.”

But you know what I like best about Beck? In spite of all the years that he’s been writing about animation, all the high profile projects that he’s worked on, all the movers and shakers that he’s met & interviewed, Jerry has never become jaded. Deep in his heart of hearts, he’s still a huge animation fan.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Beck’s third book for 2007, “The Hanna-Barbera Treasury” (Insight Editions, November 2007). Jerry’s love for the sometimes schlocky Saturday morning shows that HB churned over the years is obvious, given all the model sheets, miniature comic books and other tchotchkes that he crams into this 56-page hardcover.

It’s books like these three which entertain as they inform, not to mention the dozens of magazine articles that Beck’s written over the years or the great work that he continues to do over at Cartoon Brew with Amid Amidi that explains why this writer / historian is so well respected by members of the animation community.

So congratulations on your June Foray award, Jerry. Enjoy your time in the spotlight next Friday night. You definitely earned it.