Mr Morgan's Wild Ride - for Charity

Thorfinn, aka Richard Morgan - the nicest viking indeed.

Richard Morgan has authored and Illustrated heaps of childrens' books in the UK, such as his latest series Thorfinn the Nicest Viking.  I met him in New Zealand working on my Redux Riding Hood short, and we've been long distance pals ever since.  He shares with FLiP his plans of bicycling to raise money for cancer research. 

by Richard Morgan

My daughter and I have started cycling together during the lockdown and felt we wanted a goal, so we joined the Cancer Research UK Cycle 300.  I lost my Mum and my wife's Gran to cancer, plus I have lost several close friends to this disease and seen the horrible upset it leaves in its wake. However, I have also seen close friends fight and beat cancer due to the amazing treatment available now.

Living in Cambridge, its all road bike for us.  We've been building momentum since the Tour De France came to visit.  I have always cycled its like second nature. I got my first bike from Ellis Briggs in Shipley, Yorkshire, and rode it everywhere.  As I learnt to drive I got a mountain bike and took it to the lakes in Cumbria to hoon down mountains. When I moved to Auckland NZ to work for Disney*, I treated myself to a new Marin and cycled all over, it was amazing.  So at 53, this seems like a wonderful thing to be doing with my daughter before she goes off to university in September, hopefully!

The cycle is over the whole of September and my daughter is keen to do it as lots of short rides and avoid the pain in the bum.  I would rather do one or even two bigger rides for the adventure, so we will see who wins.   I will be updating the charity page as we do the rides so you can see us on the road and follow our progress.

People can donate on my Just Giving page.

Or join ... and get on your bike .   Cancer Research cycle 300 website.

*Toonz Animation in Auckland produced shows for Disney TVA, including Redux Riding Hood.

Ten Bits of Trivia about Redux Riding Hood

First of all, a HUGE public thank you to Jerry Beck, the patron saint of cartoons, for posting about Redux on his Cartoon Brew site.  The ensuing avalanche of YouTube views exceeded 15,000 in 48 hours.  Yikes!

So now that you've seen the film, here's some useless information to store in your head:

1. Most of the photo cut-out elements came from a Montgomery Ward catalog from the 1940's owned by production designer John Kleber. He xerox'ed the entire catalog for our production purposes.  The catalog had live chicks, and kits to build an entire house yourself.

2. In order to sufficiently tone down his voice during the depressed Wolf scenes, Michael Richards recorded those lines while lying on the floor.

3. Grandma is a caricature of my maternal grandmother, Bertha Davis.  She also appears in the movie Bebe's Kids.

Grandma Davis, left, with my Aunt Viola at Disney World's Contemporary Hotel, 1972.

4. The photo over Grandma's bed is my maternal great-grandmother, Louisa Schmickel, who lived to be 100.  

5. Grandma's house is pink because she's a faded red.  It's a color pun, a bad one at that.

6. Next to the door in the Wolf's garage is a shovel and two bags of sheep manure.  A side business for Doris?

7. The boy in the photo on Grandma's dresser is my nephew, Henry Moore.  In one shot, it is background painter Richard Morgan.

8. To entice Fabio to do the part, the Woodsman's role was padded by storyboard artist John Norton, who added the "Mr. Bunny Rabbit." lines.

9. Don Rickles couldn't keep our names straight, so he called us all "Richie."

10. In the final sequence, where hundreds of wolves make plans in the kitchen, there's a wall map with a red X.  That address was the location of Toonz Animation in Auckland, New Zealand.

11.  The final shot is a take-off on Alfred Hitchcock's final shot in The Birds.

Okay, that's eleven pieces of worthless trivia.  I'm glad to have so much interest in a short I thought was forgotten.  Thanks for watching and spreading the word.

-Steve