Hey, guess who I had lunch with yesterday. That's right: Tony Benedict. Tony was a "story man" (i.e., a writer) in the glory days of Hanna-Barbera. He worked on the original Flintstones. He worked on the original Jetsons. I believe he created Secret Squirrel. He worked on a lot of great shows and — I'll say this as delicately as I can — he's one of the few guys who did who's still around.
Fortunately for us, Tony was a fierce taker of photos and home movies. Fortunately also for us, he's assembling them and his memories into what I'm sure will be a wonderful movie that will mean a lot to anyone who cares about animation and H-B. He's a guy who was right there in the midst of it all and he's also a funny, perceptive guy with no axes to grind, no illusions to spread. There is no more qualified guy on this planet to tell us what it was like then and there.
I get hundreds of requests to plug Kickstarter projects here and I can't and won't push more than one occasionally. This is my one at the moment and I put my money where my mouth was. I was the first backer and I intend to raise my contribution even more to help make this happen.
In all honesty, it may not from this effort. Tony, in his drive for perfection here, got a late start in opening the doors for crowdfunding to begin. He only has a limited amount of time and I doubt he's going to reach his goal in time, which would mean he'd collect nothing. However, as I understand it, he can solicit again later and intends to do so. So maybe think of this as an encouragement for him to do so. Please watch the video and then, when you're eager to see this film, go over to Tony's Kickstarter Page and pledge as much as you can. Remember that you're not limited to the suggested amounts there. You can pledge as much as you like. Like I said, I don't think he's going to make it this time but, hey, my state elected Arnold Schwarzenegger governor…twice. Stranger things have happened. Anyway, at worst, your pledges will let Tony know you want to see his film become a reality. I sure do.
And then maybe we can get him to do a similar film about his days at Disney, working with Walt…
