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Spümcø
Spümcø, Inc. (/ˈspuːmkoʊ/ SPOOM-koh; stylized as SPÜMCØ) was an American animation studio that was active from 1989 to 2005 and based in Los Angeles, California. The studio was best known for working on the first two seasons of The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon and for various commercials. The studio won several awards, including an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject for the music video of the song "I Miss You" by Björk.
Spümcø was founded by animators John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp, Jim Smith and Lynne Naylor. Kricfalusi named the company after the fictional person "Raymond Spüm", whom he jokingly described as the inventor of animation. The golden age of American animation (exemplified by the 1940s cartoons by Bob Clampett and Tex Avery) served as inspiration for the surreal and highly expressive house style of which Spümcø became well known.
In the 1980s, animators John Kricfalusi and Lynne Naylor attempted to sell original cartoon ideas while working for various animation studios, including Filmation.[relevant?] Spümcø was officially founded in Hollywood in 1989 by cartoonists Kricfalusi, Naylor, Bob Camp and Jim Smith, who were all disappointed at the state of animation and had either been laid off or quit from other animation companies. Soon thereafter, Nickelodeon announced that they were looking for new cartoons created by cartoonists.
Kricfalusi explains the name Spümcø: "Well, it's a weird coincidence. The word spüm is the word for 'quality' in Danish. But it's actually named after Raymond Spüm, the guy who invented animation in 1856." Despite Kricfalusi's claims, Spüm is actually not a Danish word and Raymond Spüm is a fictional figure.
The Spümcø headquarters were located in Los Angeles, west of Paramount Studios at 5625 Melrose Avenue in a bland concrete industrial building. Amy Harmon of The New York Times described the "not-quite-underground headquarters" as "a nondescript building".
A few months after founding Spümcø, Kricfalusi pitched five cartoon ideas to Nickelodeon. Geraldine Laybourne, the president of Nickelodeon at the time, picked two of these: Ren & Stimpy and Jimmy the Idiot Boy, the former being initially rejected by three other major American television networks. Ultimately, Kricfalusi decided to sell Ren & Stimpy to Nickelodeon, which led to Spümcø's first animated series production, The Ren & Stimpy Show.
Because Nickelodeon had no original cartoon material prior to the hiring of Kricfalusi, the network was unaware of the basic process of producing an animated cartoon. Kricfalusi volunteered to give Nickelodeon executives an informative background of cartoonists using storyboards for storytelling in animated cartoons, rather than a script. Vanessa Coffey, who became the executive for The Ren & Stimpy Show, listened to Kricfalusi's lessons and background briefing of the animation industry, and was pleased to learn about how the process works. Coffey agreed with Kricfalusi that, "If storyboards were good enough for Bugs Bunny, they were good enough for her."
Spümcø finished the pilot "Big House Blues" in October 1990 and it aired on August 11, 1991, premiering alongside Doug and Rugrats. Spümcø continued to produce the show for the next two years, while encountering issues with Nickelodeon's standards and practices. Over the next couple of years, a number of episodes were censored.
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Spümcø
Spümcø, Inc. (/ˈspuːmkoʊ/ SPOOM-koh; stylized as SPÜMCØ) was an American animation studio that was active from 1989 to 2005 and based in Los Angeles, California. The studio was best known for working on the first two seasons of The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon and for various commercials. The studio won several awards, including an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject for the music video of the song "I Miss You" by Björk.
Spümcø was founded by animators John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp, Jim Smith and Lynne Naylor. Kricfalusi named the company after the fictional person "Raymond Spüm", whom he jokingly described as the inventor of animation. The golden age of American animation (exemplified by the 1940s cartoons by Bob Clampett and Tex Avery) served as inspiration for the surreal and highly expressive house style of which Spümcø became well known.
In the 1980s, animators John Kricfalusi and Lynne Naylor attempted to sell original cartoon ideas while working for various animation studios, including Filmation.[relevant?] Spümcø was officially founded in Hollywood in 1989 by cartoonists Kricfalusi, Naylor, Bob Camp and Jim Smith, who were all disappointed at the state of animation and had either been laid off or quit from other animation companies. Soon thereafter, Nickelodeon announced that they were looking for new cartoons created by cartoonists.
Kricfalusi explains the name Spümcø: "Well, it's a weird coincidence. The word spüm is the word for 'quality' in Danish. But it's actually named after Raymond Spüm, the guy who invented animation in 1856." Despite Kricfalusi's claims, Spüm is actually not a Danish word and Raymond Spüm is a fictional figure.
The Spümcø headquarters were located in Los Angeles, west of Paramount Studios at 5625 Melrose Avenue in a bland concrete industrial building. Amy Harmon of The New York Times described the "not-quite-underground headquarters" as "a nondescript building".
A few months after founding Spümcø, Kricfalusi pitched five cartoon ideas to Nickelodeon. Geraldine Laybourne, the president of Nickelodeon at the time, picked two of these: Ren & Stimpy and Jimmy the Idiot Boy, the former being initially rejected by three other major American television networks. Ultimately, Kricfalusi decided to sell Ren & Stimpy to Nickelodeon, which led to Spümcø's first animated series production, The Ren & Stimpy Show.
Because Nickelodeon had no original cartoon material prior to the hiring of Kricfalusi, the network was unaware of the basic process of producing an animated cartoon. Kricfalusi volunteered to give Nickelodeon executives an informative background of cartoonists using storyboards for storytelling in animated cartoons, rather than a script. Vanessa Coffey, who became the executive for The Ren & Stimpy Show, listened to Kricfalusi's lessons and background briefing of the animation industry, and was pleased to learn about how the process works. Coffey agreed with Kricfalusi that, "If storyboards were good enough for Bugs Bunny, they were good enough for her."
Spümcø finished the pilot "Big House Blues" in October 1990 and it aired on August 11, 1991, premiering alongside Doug and Rugrats. Spümcø continued to produce the show for the next two years, while encountering issues with Nickelodeon's standards and practices. Over the next couple of years, a number of episodes were censored.
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