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Frank Macchia a multi-award winning musician, composer, and arranger who has worked for Disney, Nickelodeon, The Temptations, and more.

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Frank Macchia began performing and writing music at an early age, starting in high school, and continuing on in the San Francisco music scene. He studied music later at Berklee College of Music, in Boston, but eventually returned to warmer weather in San Francisco. In 1991 Frank toured Germany performing in productions of West Side Story and 42nd Street, and when the tour was over, he found himself in Los Angeles, where he has remained ever since, now living with his wife, Tracy, and son, Charlie.

Over the years, he has performing with such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Rita Moreno, Tony Bennett, Jack Jones, Clare Fischer, Chuck Mangione, and the Temptations, to name a few. He also has led his own original groups, including; Booga-Booga, The Gleets, Desperate Character and The Frankie Maximum Band, the later pictured on the right. In 1989 he began recording a series of eclectic CDs that showcased a variety of his own original material, from new wave to polka, including; Way-er Out West, Little Evil Things, The Galapagos Suite, Animals, Mo Animals, and, most recently, Emotions, with the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Frank has worked as a composer/orchestrator on many films and television projects, including Superman Returns, The Fantastic Four, The Guardian, Miracle, X2-Xmen United, Men of Honor, Eight Legged Freaks, Hide and Seek, Austin Powers: Goldmember, The Contender, The Apt Pupil, Santa Clause 2, and television shows Night Visions, Nickelodeon’s Oh Yeah Cartoons, Disney’s Oliver Twist, and the Tonight Show. And, Macchia is the recipient of many prestigious music awards.

Clips from his “Bobo Takes a Stroll” can be heard introducing and ending each of our podcasts of Toon In to the World of Animation!

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This episode is sponsored by The UPA Legacy Project.

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Mark Kausler didn’t have time in our first interview for him to play some of the music that influenced him in his early years, so that’s all we do in this show.  

It would probably be best to listen to his first interview before listening to this one, just to get a background feel for his extensive experience as; animation director, producer, writer, animator, layout artist, storyboard artist, story sketcher, animation historian, animation film and archives collector, and weekend painter.

But, just briefly, Mark Kausler, has spent most of his professional life working at many different studios as a freelance animation jack-of-all-trades, picking up animation work wherever and whenever it was available, and using his free time to paint and work on his own personal films … his “It’s the Cat” won him a coveted Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short. 

Of course, this vagabond adventure of his has meant that he’s been able to work at many different studios, with a great variety of people, and in many different styles.  He freely admits his gratitude to the great masters he’s been able to work with over his long career. At the Annie Awards ceremony in  2006, he won the June Foray Award for his great contributions to the world of animation. 

A quick look at his bio fines a number of widely different animated characters as; Daffy Duck, Goofy, Tony the Tiger, The Lion King, Roger Rabbit, and that little guy in the Yellow Submarine, who looks like a purple cloud. And his list of film credits is longer than most people in the business twice, three times, his age, including; Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Beauty and the Beast, Heavy Traffic, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Fantasia/2000, Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas, The Prince and the Pauper, Michael & Mickey, and Night of the Living Duck, just to name a few.

And, if that’s not enough, Mark Kausler is one of the most respected animation experts in the business. His name can be found in the acknowledgements pages of many of the best books written on the art and history of animation. 

But, this particular interview is about a part of Mark Kausler that is not as well known, even among other animators, his love for animation music, and how it has profoundly affect his animation work.  So, sit back and enjoy some of the early music that Mark listened to as a little kid, and again today.

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This episode is sponsored by The UPA Legacy Project.

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Rebecca Moline and Robert May are the creators of The Animation Show and its companion web site, but they’ve done much more. Robert May graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BFA in dramatic art in 1998. He’s been wildly active in theater, television and film since 1994. Working with Bitter Films, Robert has performed voice work in Don Hertzfeldt films, “Lily & Jim,” “Rejected,” and all three of Don’s more recent shorts created specifically for “The Animation Show”. Rebecca Moline graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in Film Studies in 1998. She has handled all of the editing for Don Hertzfeldt films, “Billy’s Balloon,” “Rejected,” and all three of Don’s shorts created for “The Animation Show.” After moving to Los Angeles, Rebecca worked for four years on the NBC drama “The West Wing” as Post Production Supervisor.

Both Rebecca and Robert have produced The Animation Show since 2003, for Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt. The Animation Show is an annual feature-length compilation of the best animated short films from around the world, exclusively curated by Mike Judge (Office Space, “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “King of the Hill”) and Academy Award nominated animator Don Hertzfeldt (Billy’s Balloon, Rejected, The Meaning of Life). Animation may be the single most misunderstood film medium, and the animated short in particular is undervalued in American cinema, despite widespread appreciation throughout the rest of the world. With luck, popular animated shorts may see limited theatrical play, but most are relegated to the dungeons of the internet.

The theatrical animation festival tour was born in 1976 with the launch of the Fantastic Animation Festival. This was the first show to create the now-universal “program on a flyer” and the first to receive a first-run 35mm theatrical release. It’s popularity helped pave the way for similar commercial programs, including Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation, the Tournée of Animation, and several others that came and went with varying success. The Animation Show launched in 2003, was the first festival of animation created and produced by actual animators. A sister series of high quality Animation Show DVDs now supplement the theatrical tour. Every year the Show works diligently to put animated shorts into more theaters than any festival in American history, giving these filmmakers the wide exposure their work deserves. The 2007 program also includes a ten minute documentary on the 100 year history of the animated short.

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This episode is sponsored by The UPA Legacy Project.

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Antran Manoogian is the long-time president of ASIFA-Hollywood and has a twenty-year history in the animation industry.

Antran Manoogian has been a member of the Hollywood Branch of ASIFA, the International Animated Film Society, since 1978. An active member from the time he joined the organization, Manoogian was elected to the board of directors of ASIFA-Hollywood early in 1989, and later that year was appointed President, an office he holds to this day.

As President, Manoogian has overseen such major ASIFA-Hollywood events, as; the Annie Awards, animation’s highest and most prestigious awards ceremony, honoring outstanding achievements in the art and techniques of animation, the Animation Expo, an animation trade show and exhibition, and the Animation Art Festival, an event aimed at promoting the art of animation to the general public. Also under Manoogian’s leadership, ASIFA-Hollywood has embarked upon the organization’s most ambitious project, the creation of an animation archive, library and museum.

Besides serving as President of ASIFA-Hollywood, Manoogian has worked in the animation industry for over eighteen years. Working primarily as a producer, Manoogian has worked on numerous animated television series, commercials, interstitials, short subjects, and home videos, for such studios as Bagdasarian Productions, DIC, Hanna Barbera, Walt Disney Television Animation, and Tom T. Animation.

Besides his involvement with ASIFA-Hollywood, Manoogian is also involved in other professional organizations, such as: the Academy of Television Arts and Science, Women In Animation, and the Society for Animation Studies.

Manoogian is a graduate of California State University, at Northridge, with a BFA in Radio-Television-Film, with an emphasis in film production. The “info” link below will take you to ASIFA-Hollywood, where you can join ASIFA, find out about their many events and projects, or contact Antran Manoogian directly.

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This episode is sponsored by The UPA Legacy Project.

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