How long can you hold your breath?

I ask this question because Paul Briggs wound up holding his “Breath” (i.e., “Catch My Breath,” that charming picture book which Briggs wrote & illustrated. This is also the 48-page hardcover that Disney Hyperion sent out into stores late last month as the most recent installment of its Walt Disney Animation Studios Artist Showcase series) for over five years.

“I initially submitted my pitch for a children’s book back in early 2012. But just as my idea was selected for Disney’s Artist Showcase program, I was then asked to become Head of Story on ‘Frozen,’ ” Briggs recalled during a recent phone interview. “So I put my picture book proposal in a drawer and then devoted the next year of my life to ‘Frozen.’ All with the idea that – once this job was done – I’d then turn my attention back to ‘Catch My Breath.’ “

Paul Briggs at a recent signing for “Catch My Breath,” his new picture book. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

That was Paul’s plan, anyway. But then in the Fall of 2013, just as the team at Walt Disney Animation Studios was completing “Frozen,” Briggs learned that he was needed on “Big Hero 6.”

“I was literally at the ‘Frozen’ wrap party when I learned that I was going to be asked to come on board ‘Big Hero 6.’ So I was like ‘Okay! I’ll now go work on that project and then – as soon as that’s done – get back to work on my picture book,’ Paul continued. “But once I finished working on ‘Big Hero 6,’ there were another couple of projects that the Studio wanted me to help out with. Which meant that another year or so went by before I was then finally able to circle back on ‘Catch My Breath.’ “

Given all of these delays, another writer might have thought “It’s not meant to be” and have just left this book pitch in that drawer. But not Briggs.

Story sketches that Paul Briggs did for Disney’s “Frozen.” Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

“I’m the kind of guy who likes to fold bits & pieces of his real life into the stories that he’s trying to tell. Take – for example – ‘Frozen.’ I have four sisters. Which is why – when I was working on that movie – I tried to make sure that Anna & Elsa came across as realistic siblings. That – over the course of that film’s story — these two behaved like real sisters do,” Paul explained. “Now on ‘Big Hero 6’ … Well, my Mom had just passed away as I began working on that movie. So as the story team was sorting through how to best tell ‘Big Hero 6’ ‘s story, I was in the middle of my own personal journey of understanding. Trying to learn how to accept grief into my life without it then overwhelming or undermining everything else in my life. And what I learned by going through that part of the grieving process then influenced a lot of the story suggestions that I made on ‘Big Hero 6.’ “

Truth be told, the passing of Briggs’ mother did help shape the sort of story that he was hoping to tell with “Catch My Breath.”

“The very same year that my Mom died, my son was born. So in that same short span of time, I got to see my mother take her very last breath and my first-born take his very first breath,” Paul remembered. “And that’s when it occurred to me that our breath is kind of like our bestest, closest friend. Which is why you can’t ever allow it to get away.”

Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

So with that creative conceit in his head, Briggs then began to sketch out a story for ‘Catch My Breath.’ A tale which Paul admits took a teeny bit of inspiration from that Grammy Award-winning author, Shel Silverstein.

“I just loved his stuff when I was growing up. But – to be honest – there are so many authors that I read when I was a kid, so many artists whose styles I’d tried to emulate when I was just getting started with my career and I was still trying to find myself that …,” Briggs stated. “Well, when it came to ‘Catch My Breath,’ what was really important to me with this picture book was that I just do my own thing. Mind you, I didn’t exactly know what that was when I was just getting started on this project. But in the end, it would up being this very intimate, personal thing.”

And given that his pitch for the Walt Disney Animation Studio Artists Showcase was so personal, Paul wasn’t entirely sure that they’d actually go for this story.

Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

“Even when I first proposed it, I was like ‘The illustrations for this book are only going to be two colors and they’re just going to be line work. Is that going to be a problem?’ But Samantha McFerrin and Scott Piehl at Disney Publishing were so supportive. And they said ‘No. This picture book is great. We love it just the way it is,’ ” Briggs said. “So barring some tiny tweaks that the three of us made for clarity’s sake, this story pretty much stayed the same throughout the entire development process. It’s pretty close to the same thing that I originally pitched.”

“Which – I have to tell you – is just not something that I’m used to. Because when we’re working on the story for a new film at Walt Disney Animation Studios, we’re just brutally honest with one another,” Paul continued. “You see, our process is that – every couple of months — we have these screenings of the animated movies that we’re making. And then we look closely at what’s working – more importantly, what’s not working – and we just attack it. I think that’s what makes the films that Disney Animation Studios makes today so great. There’s this honesty between the filmmakers & the writers & the story team & the Studio as a whole.”

And given that Briggs has been working for the Mouse for 21 years now (“I started back when I was 20. Which meant that I couldn’t drink. So it was really painful sometimes to have to work on some of these movies,” Paul laughed), he’s had a front row seat for the huge creative cultural shift that Walt Disney Animation Studios has undergone during that period.

Story sketch that Paul Briggs did for Disney’s “Tangled.” Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

“I started at the satellite studio that Walt Disney Feature Animation had in Florida back then working on ‘Mulan.’ That was a really tight unit down there. Especially once ‘Lilo & Stitch’ came down. That was a very special movie to me,” Briggs recalled. “Then after 9 years, I moved out here. But I still run into a lot of my old Florida friends here at work. There’s definitely a feeling of family here, a sense of pride. You can definitely feel that nowadays. We all want to continue to make great films here. Which is why we’re always so focused on the next movie we’re making.”

Which is why Paul can’t get away at the moment to do the traditional promotional book tour for “Catch My Breath.” You see, he’s right in the middle of working on a project for Walt Disney Animation Studios that Briggs isn’t allowed to talk about. Not yet, anyway.

“We’re still trying to figure out what my schedule is. When the best time to travel would be, so that I can then go out in the world and do some promotion,” Paul admitted. “In the meantime, I’m sticking pretty close to home.”

Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

And speaking of close to home … Given that Briggs & his wife Christin have two little boys of their own (i.e., Luke & Leo), who does Paul tell his sons the lead character of “Catch My Breath” is based on?

“It’s funny.  My boys have actually asked me that. ‘Daddy, which one of us is this?” And my response is ‘Well, it’s my favorite,’ ” Briggs teased.

Here’s hoping that Luke & Leo don’t decide to try and wait out Paul out when it comes to getting a definitive answer to their which-of-us-is-this-character-actually-based-on question? Because – as Briggs has already proven by the five-plus years it took to get his children’s picture book published as part of the Walt Disney Animation Studios Artist Showcase program – he is an infinitely patient man.

This article was originally published by the Huffington Post on Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Ever since “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” was first published back in 1964, people have dreamed of visiting the Wonka Works. Make their way past those fabled gates and then … Well, go for a sail down the chocolate river aboard the Wonkatania.

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Or – better yet – visit some of the rooms at that factory that Roald Dahl mentioned in his text but which readers then never got to explore. I mean, what sort of machinery is actually inside of the Juicing Room (i.e., where the Oompa-Loompas took Violet Beauregarde after she chewed that piece of gum which isn’t ready for human consumption yet and then wound up as a giant blueberry)?

Well, thanks to “My Golden Ticket: A Journey into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,” you can now do what Charlie Bucket did. Wander that factory floor. Peek behind all of those closed doors. Have a literary adventure that – thanks to the state-of-the-art personalization technology which powers the creation of this volume – will be different for every single person who orders this book.

An inspired collaboration between the Roald Dahl Literary Estate and Wonderbly (that Google-backed personalized startup), “My Golden Ticket” not only allows the reader to revisit some of the candy rooms that were described in the original “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” book (and were subsequently visualized for the two films that followed), it also takes them to rooms that Roald only mentioned in passing. Better yet, visit sections of the factory that Wonka fans didn’t even know existed before that were taken directly from Dahl’s original notes for this much-beloved book.

Copyright Wonderbly. All rights reserved

“It has been an amazing privilege to work with the Roald Dahl Literary Estate to bring to life and re-open the gates of one of the most iconically imaginative worlds in children’s literary history,” said Asi Sharabi, the CEO of Wonderbly. “Our two teams here worked closely to strike just the right balance here: Creating a book that captures the spirit of Roald Dahl’s original tale, while – at the same time – crafting a story that expands & enriches what people already knew about Willy Wonka’s factory that also allows plenty of opportunity for personalization.”

And how exactly does Wonderbly go about personalizing each reader’s journey through “My Golden Ticket?” Just like that mysterious chocolatier, this innovative children’s book publisher has its secrets. But what can be revealed is that “A Journey Through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” – as it goes through its personalization production process – then makes use of an algorithm that keys off of the placement of letters in each child’s name.

Take – for example – what happens during this tour after each child eats a sweet that comes out tumbling out of Wonka’s Fizzical Effects Machine. This particular spread in “My Golden Ticket” makes use of whatever the fourth letter in your child’s name is. So if your daughter’s name is Sofia, that character in the book then becomes invisible. Or if your son’s name is Charlie, that character then becomes rubbery in this story.

Copyright Wonderbly. All rights reserved

This sort of super-specific personalization continues as each Golden Ticket holder explores the factory. In the Toffee Apple Orchard, each child will discover a Dahl-ified version of their family tree that then  keys off of what their individual surname is. In the Rainbow Drop Room, as the reader makes a rainbow, something goes wrong. And then everything turns a color that’s dictated by the second letter of this child’s name (EX: Sofia = Orange, Alan = Lavender, etc).

Adding to the fun of “A Journey Through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” are all the great illustrations that Adam Hancher has created for this project. Using classic candy & chocolate ads from the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s as his jumping-off point, Adam filled this 36-to-40-page volume with dozens of witty drawings & paintings that perfectly capture the look of what a modern-day Wonka Works might be like.

The end result is – to borrow a phrase from the song that Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley wrote for “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” – is a product of “Pure Imagination.” A beautifully illustrated book very much in the original Roald Dahl style where – thanks to the algorithms that power Wonderbly’s personalization technology – no two readers will ever have the exact same adventure.

Copyright Wonderbly, All rights reserved

So if you’d like your child to receive the Veruca Salt treatment (i.e., finding out what their own personalized Oompa-Loompa song would be like) without then being tossed down a garage chute by judgmental squirrels, why not wander over to the Wonderbly website and learn a bit more about “My Golden Ticket: A Journey into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” ?

This article was originally published by the Huffington Post on Thursday, September 7, 2017

According to the folks at Phrase Finder, when one is said to be ” … putting on the dog, ” that then means that they are ” … dressing stylishly and flashily.”

Copyright King Features Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved

Well, Betty Boop certainly got to put on the dog earlier this year. Thanks to those two new dresses that Zac Posen designed for this classic cartoon character. Each of which were colored “Betty Boop Red,” that bold new hue Pantone just created to celebrate this animation icon’s adventurous spirit.

Speaking of dogs, did you know that Betty actually started out life as a cartoon canine? Strange but true, folks. Miss Boop’s very first on-screen appearance was in “Dizzy Dishes,” a Max Fleischer Talkartoon that was first released to theaters back in August of 1930. And in this short, while this animated character does say her famous “Boop-boop-a-doop” catchphrase, she certainly doesn’t look like the Betty we know today. In her big screen debut, Boop seems to be some sort of weird amalgamation of a 1920s flapper & a French Poodle.

Fleischer’s girl-faced dog, first seen in “Dizzy Dishes.” Copyright  Fleischer Studios, Inc. All rights reserved

Even so, audiences seemed to spark to this animated character. Which is why – over the course of 10 or so shorts – Max continued to tinkered with Betty. Gradually refining her look from film & film (EX: Boop’s droopy dog ears eventually became elegant hoop earrings). Fleischer even experimented with various different names for this character (In “Barnacle Bill,” her second on-screen appearance, Betty was known as Nancy Lee. By her eighth animated short, “The Bum Bandit,” Boop was now being called Nan McGrew).

It wasn’t until “Any Rags” was released in January of 1932 that Betty finally lost her cute little poodle nose and became a fully human character. 1932 was also the year that Boop graduated from being just a supporting player at Max Fleischer Studio to being the star of her very own series of animated shorts. With the appropriately titled “Stopping the Show” being the very first Fleischer production to officially be designated as “A Betty Boop Cartoon.”

Copyright 1988 Amblin Entertainment / Touchstone Pictures. All rights reserved

Since then, Betty had endured some tough times (When the powers-that-be in Hollywood began strictly enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code in 1934, that then forced Fleischer to cut back on the sly adult humor that made those early Boop shorts stand out from the cartoon crowd) as well as some genuinely sweet moments (EX: Betty’s cameo appearance in 1988’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is – for many animation fans – one of the real high points of this Robert Zemeckis film).  

But as they say, every animated-dog-character-that-eventually-gets-transformed-into-a-human-character has their day. And in Betty’s case, her long overdue return to the spotlight started in the Spring of last year. In Italy, of all places. Which is where Athletes World AW-Lab (with the permission of King Features, the New York City-based unit of Hearst which serves as Miss Boop’s worldwide agent) plastered this animation icon’s likeness all over all manner of fitness apparel. Hoodies, tank tops, sports bras and the like.

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Z Palette helped add some momentum to the Betty Boop modern revival movement by – just ahead of The Make-up Show 2016 in NYC- launching an exclusive limited-edition collection of makeup palettes for the beauty industry that drew their inspiration from this Fleischer Studios star.

Meanwhile, in the Land of the Rising Sun, Betty’s star experienced a dual ascension. With first the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (i.e., the official league of Japan) producing a popular sportswear collection that featured her likeness. And then – in Shimbashi, Tokyo – the world’s first official Betty Boop Diner (featuring authentic American cuisine circa 1950) opening for business in late January of this year.

Copyright King Features Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved

Mind you, given that Betty is also now associated with the Heart Truth … Well, she might advise you to go easy on those burgers & fries.

And did I mention that – back in February – MAC introduced a lipstick shade called Boop Red? Or that in its May 2017 issue, ELLE Magazine just gave this almost 87-year-old animation icon a makeover. Reimagining Betty as a modern Manhattanite who works at a music streaming start-up and wears a wardrobe that’s straight off of the Fashion Week runways.

Copyright King Features Syndicate, Inc / Hearst Communications. All rights reserved

So what’s next for Miss Boop? There was some talk in early 2016 about Betty starring in a brand-new animated series for television. But that project (which was to have been produced by Normaal Animation of France, the studio behind that new “Peanuts” series that bowed on Boomerang last Summer) has since been tabled. 

For now, Boop will continue to concentrate her efforts on the fashion world. “Look for Betty to make another big splash in this space by year’s end,” teased Frank Caruso, Vice President of Creative at King Features. Who’s been working very closely with Max Fleischer’s grandson these past few years to stage manage Betty Boop’s return to the spotlight.

DesignerZac Posen and model Crystal Renn show off his Betty Boop-inspired gown. Photo by Ruven Afanador. All rights reserved

By the way, it is genuinely ironic that Boop’s first official Betty-is-a-human-rather-than-a-dog cartoon was called “Any Rags.” Given that – if you wanted to wear those Boop-inspired glad rags that Zac Posen designed earlier this year – you’d best be prepared to pay a pretty penny. For the flirty short dress sells for $250 while the full-length gown goes for $550.

But you’d definitely be dressed to the nines were you to wear either of these outfits. Or – given that these are Betty Boop-inspired dresses (and recognizing this animation icon’s flapper-meets-French-poodle origins) – should I say ” … dressed to the canines?” 

This article was originally published by the Huffington Post on May 5, 2017