Photo: Douglas Sacha / Moment / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane is teaming up, through his Seth MacFarlane Foundation, with Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation to fund the first-ever, curated restoration of historically significant animated shorts from the 1920s to 1940s, it was announced Thursday.
MacFarlane said he has been fascinated by animation since childhood when he began drawing. He studied animation at the Rhode Island School of Design and created the long-running animated series "Family Guy" after moving to Hollywood. The show is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
Scorsese's Film Foundation is dedicated to saving every aspect of the world's cinema heritage.
"I'm so grateful to Seth MacFarlane for his enthusiasm and his support on these restorations," Scorsese said in a statement. "What an astonishing experience, to see these remarkable pictures that I experienced for the first time as a child brought back to their full glory. Imagine the reactions of children today! Because the films now seem as fresh as they did when they were newly made."
Nine restoration shorts will premiere at the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival under the title "Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts" at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, with an in-person introduction by MacFarlane.
Seven shorts directed by Dave Fleischer will be screened: "Koko's Tattoo" (1928), "Little Nobody" (1935), "The Little Stranger" (1936), "Greedy Humpty Dumpty" (1936), "Peeping Penguins" (1937), "The Fresh Vegetable Mystery" (1939), and "So Does An Automobile" (1939). Also premiering are "The Three Bears," a 1939 Terrytoon directed by Mannie Davis and "Two-Gun Rusty," a George Pal Puppetoon from 1944.