Biographic's A Cat is a Cat and Gold Whiskers

The name of Biographic is associated primarily with co-founder Bob Godfrey, but we should not forget the work by other members of the group. Here are some stills from A Cat is a Cat, made in 1971 by Vera Linnecar; the short is a lighthearted documentary about cats in both nature and human culture, narrated by two children.

And while we're at it, some stills from Keith Learner's 1964 short Gold Whiskers. Unfortunately, this cartoon hasn't aged well - James Bond parodies have been rather well-trodden in the intervening decades, and this one in particular is now all too reminiscent of the later Danger Mouse. Still, some interesting design work.

Incidentally, I'm not entirely sure why these two films are credited to "Biographic 3" and "Biographic 2". The Biographic group appears to have become divided into units at some point, but I have no idea what the full story is there.

Bubble & Squeek annual (1950?)

The Bubble and Squeek series from George Moreno's British Animated Productions studio never really took off, lasting for just four shorts and one spinoff from 1947 to 1948. But it did spawn at least three annuals, only one of which I own.

I'm not sure when it was published; the only date in the book, 1950, was written in by a previous owner. That doesn't necessarily mean it was published in 1950, although as I'm not familiar with the average shelf-life of children's annuals at the time I can't vouch for the likelihood of it being published earlier.

If it was indeed published two years after the series it was based on ceased production then it would seem likely that it was the final Bubble and Squeek annual. However, it opens with the story of how the title characters first met, implying that it was actually the first in the series - is it possible that Moreno and his company were trying to revive the characters in the field of children's books after they failed to catch on in animation?

Aside from the frontispiece, which is signed "Cal", the illustrations in the book are credited to Moreno himself. That said, in the comments section of this blog post about Moreno (which is itself well worth reading) one poster, who worked for Moreno in the sixties, speculates that some of the artwork credited to him in fifties comics was actually ghosted by members of his studio.

Here are the covers of the only other Bubble & Squeek annuals that I know of: