Bill Melendez Productions (partially found non-Peanuts media of animation studio; 1968-2005)
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The studio's logo as seen on Frosty Returns.
Status: Partially Found
Bill Melendez Productions (also known as Melendez Films or Melendez Features, Inc.) was an animation studio founded in 1962 by Bill Melendez and his son Steven Melendez [1]. The studio is best-known for adapting the Peanuts comics to TV; an effort worth celebrating until its final special in 2006 with He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. Alongside the Peanuts TV specials, the studio also produced content that doesn't remotely relate to Peanuts, some of which are either lost or remain mysterious.
Please note that this page lists obscure non-Peanuts content from the studio, so their Garfield specials as well as Frosty Returns and The Romance of Betty Boop will not be listed.
List of non-Peanuts Specials
Babar (1968, 1971)
Status: Lost (The Story of Babar the Elephant, Babar's Strange Planet), Partially found (Babar Comes to America), Existence unconfirmed (Babar III)
Before Nelvana adapted the books to animation, Bill Melendez Productions were one of the first to adapt Babar the Elephant into animation. The Babar specials were also the studio's first attempt on producing specials that aren't related to the Peanuts comic strip, and were one of the first animated pieces of Babar media. There were three Babar specials: The Story of Babar the Elephant and Babar the Elephant Comes to America and Babar's Strange Planet. The former two were produced in 1968 and 1971, respectively, and both specials were released in out-of-print VHS tapes [2]. While The Story of Babar the Elephant remained unseen, the opening and closing credits to Babar the Elephant Comes to America can be seen on YouTube. Babar's Strange Planet on the other hand was the rarest and mysterious of the Babar specials, and outside of a mention on Bill Melendez's website, remained completely lost forever, and unlike the other two Babar specials Melendez did, it never received a home release.
Babar III
Babar III was the name given to a mysterious Babar special from the studio. Outside of a mere mention on the Bill Melendez website, whether or not it was a production title for Babar's Strange Planet or a different special entirely remains a complete mystery and completely unknown.
Credits
Babar Comes to America (1971)
- Writer
- Laurent de Brunhoff
- Narration
- Peter Ustinov
- Directors
- Bill Melendez
- Ed Levitt
- Producers
- Lee Mendelson
- Bill Melendez
- Original Score Composer and Conductor
- John Scott Trotter
- Lyrics
- Tom Adair
- Celestiville Singers
- Lulle Jean Norman
- Sue Allen
- B.J. Barker
- Bill Lee
- Bob Tebow
- Graphic Blandishment
- First Part, Left Side
- Bernard Gruver (design)
- Evert Brown (design)
- Dean Spille (design)
- Don Lusk (animation)
- Beverly Robbins (unknown position)
- First Part, Right Side
- Al Shean (unknown position)
- Rudy Zamora (unknown position)
- Frank Smith (unknown position)
- Ruth Kissane (unknown position)
- Spencer Peel (unknown position)
- Second Part, Left Side
- Phil Roman (animation)
- Bob Matz (animation)
- Bob Carlson (animation?)
- Herm Cohen (unknown position; possibly ink and paint?)
- Gwenn Dotzler (possibly ink and paint?)
- Second Part, Right Side
- Dick Thomson (animation?)
- Sam Jaimes (animation)
- Eleanor Warren (ink and paint?)
- Faith Kovaleski (ink and paint?)
- Manon Washburn (ink and paint?)
- First Part, Left Side
- Editing
- Robert T. Gillis
- Chuck McCann
- Rudy J. Zamora
- Sound
- Producer's Sound Service
- Camera
- Dickson/Vasu
Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus (1974)
Status: Found
Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus was a 1974 animated Christmas special based on the poem Is There a Santa Claus? first airing on ABC. The special won a 1975 Emmy award for outstanding children's special. [3] Like with the Babar specials, the special's only home release was in VHS. The special is viewable on the Internet Archive in rather poor quality.
Credits
- Executive Producer
- Burt Rosen
- Producers
- Bill Melendez
- Mort Green
- Writer
- Mort Green
- Director
- Bill Melendez
- Voices (Cast of Characters)
- Jim Backus (Narrator)
- Susan Silo (Miss Taylor)
- Courtney Lemmon (Virginia)
- Billy Green (Billy)
- Sean Manning (Specs)
- Tracey Belland (Mary Lou)
- Christopher Wong (Arthur)
- Vicky Ricketts (Amy)
- Jennifer Green (Pee Wee)
- Herb Armstrong (Officer Reilly)
- Arnold Moss (Sargeant Mutdoon)
- Mort Green (Sam Shulman)
- Louis Nye (Lee Fong)
- Ken Sanson (Papa)
- Karen Smith (Mama)
- Peter Hass (Tommy)
- Sidney Miller (Francis Church)
- Dorothy Green (Miss Pine)
- Shelly Rines (Little Girl)
- Associate Producer
- Tom Keegan
- Musical Conductor
- Jerry Styner
- Song Vocal
- Jimmy Osmond
- Design
- Evert Brown
- Bernard Gruver
- Ellie Bogardus
- Animation
- Sam Jaimes
- Don Lusk
- Al Pabian
- Bill Littlejohn
- Bob Carlson
- Checking
- Joanne Lansing
- Ink and Paint
- Adele Lenart
- Marie Ardell
- Brigitte Strother
- Patricia Capozzi
- Sheri Lonsdale
- Charanda Poweris
- Editing
- Chuck McCann
- Roger Donley
- Don Minkler (Sound Mixing)
- Production Co-Ordinator
- Carole Barnes
- Production Assistants
- Mary Lou Pine
- Sandy Claxton-Arnold
- Production Supervisor
- Conrad Holzgang
Molly and the Skywalkerz (1985, 1989)
Status: Found
See Molly and the Skywalkerz (found made-for-TV films from Bill Melendez Productions; 1985-1989) for more information
No Man's Valley (1981)
Status: Found
No Man's Valley was an animated special produced in collaboration with Frank Fehmers Productions and the Rights Company of North America first airing on CBS in 1981. In this special, a rare Californian condor named Elliot finds a hideaway for endangered animals before the humans drive them into extinction. Unlike the other specials listed, this, alongside the three Cathy specials, never received a VHS released despite doing well in the ratings. The special as originally aired can be viewable on YouTube. The special is also the last notable film role of Joe E. Ross before passing away in 1982, a year after the special aired. [4]
Credits
- Executive Producers
- Lee Mendelson
- Phil Howort
- Writers
- Christopher Brough
- Frank Buxton
- Creative Consultant
- David Hooper
- Music
- Ed Bogas (Music arrangement and conducting)
- Desiree Goyette (Original music, vocal for "Welcome to No Man's Valley")
- Producer and Director
- Bill Melendez
- Based on an original idea by Harrie Geelen and Imme Dross and original art concepts by Michael Jupp and Elsa Godfrey
- Co-Director
- Phil Roman
- Production Design
- Bernard Gruver
- Evert Brown
- Dean Spille (colour)
- Animation
- Left Side
- Sam Jaimes
- Al Pabian
- Hank Smith
- Joe Roman
- Dale Beer
- Right Side
- Bob Carlson
- Bill Littlejohn
- Fernando Gonzalez
- Larry Leichliter
- Utit Choomoang
- Left Side
- Voices
- Henry Corden (Chief)
- Frank Buxton (Elliot)
- Art Metrano (Abe)
- Hal Smith (George, Louis)
- Chanin Hale (Nipponia)
- Arnold Stang (Fred Firmwing)
- Barney Phillips (Pere David)
- Joe E. Ross (Daniel) (final film role)
- Desiree Goyette (Pal)
- Richard Deacon (Panda)
- John Stephenson (Herman, Protester)
- Checking
- Eve Fletcher
- Joanne Lansing
- Jane Gonzalez
- Ink and Paint
- Left Side
- Adele Lenart
- Karin Holmquist
- Valerie Green
- Karen Webb
- Emalene Sutter
- Right Side
- Micky Kreymann
- Roubina Janian
- Joan Pabian
- Lee Hoffman
- Chandra Poweris
- Left Side
- Editing
- Chuck McCann
- Roger Donley
- Production Manager
- Carole Barnes
- Production Assistants
- Sandy Claxton-Arnold
- Carol Neal
- Jane Mason
- Camera
- Nick/Vasu
- Mix
- Producer's Sound Service
- Colour
- Technicolor
Cathy (1987-1989)
Status: Found
See Cathy (found animated specials based on comic strip series; 1987-1989) for more information
Casey and the Comics (unknown year)
Status: Lost (it's existence was confirmed by the Bill Melendez website)
Casey and the Comics was a very mysterious special that only got a mention on the Bill Melendez Productions website, which is the only source of existence the special has. It's unknown what's the plot of the special, what year it was made, who composed the music and who were the voices. It's also unknown what channel the special aired. No footage for the special is available and wasn't even released on home media.
Jasper: The Story of a Mule (2005)
Status: Found (locked behind a paywall)
Jasper: The Story of a Mule is the first installment in the Jasper the Mule series based on the character created by Meredith Hodges, the daughter of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. This special is notable for being the final non-Peanuts special produced by Bill Melendez, and along with He's a Bully, Charlie Brown released a year later, was one of the final specials from Bill Melendez Productions before shifting its focus away from producing animated specials to producing commercials for business clients. The special was released on DVD and can be viewed on video on demand.
Fred Basset and The Perishers (1976, 1979)
Status: Partially found
In the 70's, Bill Melendez Productions (alongside Clover for Fred Basset and FilmFair for The Perishers) and its U.K. arm produced a series of cartoon shorts featuring British comic strip characters Fred Basset and The Perishers. The cartoons were released in 1976 and 1979 as interstitial material for the BBC. 20 cartoon shorts were produced for each series. Half of the Fred Basset cartoons were found in full via an out-of-print VHS tape and uploaded to YouTube, while the Perishers have their first minutes of a couple of cartoons uploaded to YouTube. It's unknown if more cartoons could be found from their respective series. [5][6]
Videos
External Links
- The studio's official website (you need Ruffle to access the site)
References
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melendez_Films
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babar_the_Elephant
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Valley
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Basset
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perishers_(TV_series)