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May 17, 1988 · Happy Birthday, Garfield: Directed by Jim Davis. With Lorenzo Music, Thom Huge, Gregg Berger, Lou Rawls. Garfield creator Jim Davis presents a behind-the-scenes 10th-anniversary celebration of the pasta-eating cat.
- (27)
- Animation, Documentary
- Jim Davis
- 1988-05-17
Happy Birthday, Garfield is an hour-long television special dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Garfield comic strip, hosted by its creator Jim Davis. It uses both live-action and animation. The special was first broadcast on May 17, 1988, on CBS and February 24, 1989, on CITV .
This rare, behind the scenes Garfield special, hosted by Jim Davis, originally aired in 1988.
- 48 min
- 1553
- Stringer's Stuff
Visit the movie page for 'Happy Birthday Garfield' on Moviefone. Discover the movie's synopsis, cast details and release date. Watch trailers, exclusive interviews, and movie review.
- Jim Davis
- Paws, Inc., Film Roman
- Jim Davis
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Cast
- Trivia
- Songs
is an hour-long documentary special covering the 10th anniversary of Garfield. It is also the eighth Garfield television special. The only home video release of the special thus far has been on VHS.
Opening
Clips from various TV specials are shown, with an announcer mentioning Garfield’s accomplishments therefrom. The announcer then proclaims that Garfield is about to take on “his greatest challenge”- his 10th birthday party. A song cue, featuring more TV special clips, comes up, finishing with Garfield’s catchphrase “big fat hairy deal”.
Part 1
The announcer mentions some parts of the 10th anniversary special, and then introduces Jim Davis, who is walking outside in Muncie, Indiana, as the host for the evening. Davis greets the audience and invites them into the Paws Inc. studio. He discusses the history of Garfield (particularly the “Darwinian evolution” of the title character’s appearance), describes the main characters, and demonstrates how to draw the characters. Davis goes over the process (at the time) of producing the comic strip. Davis mentions that what he likes best about doing the comic strip is getting people to laugh, or at least smile. Clips from The Fantastic Funnies, TV specials, and Garfield and Friends are shown throughout.
Part 2
Jim Davis notes that he benefits from both Garfield merchandise and animation, as both portray the character in different dimensions. He then lets Phil Roman show an example of animation being done for Garfield Goes Hollywood. Roman goes over animation topics- such as the making of storyboards via the script, character model sheets used as references for the animators, and bar sheets that assist in timing and pacing- as well as a behind the scenes look of production crew members at work. The final result is shown with a scene from the special. The TV special version of Garfield: His Nine Lives is previewed with part of the Cave Cat segment. Davis then tells the audience of Garfield’s first appearance on Saturday morning television- Garfield and Friends- which leads to a voiceover recording session featuring Lorenzo Music as Garfield, Gregg Berger as Odie, and Thom Huge as Jon Arbuckle. Songwriters Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette are then featured, with Davis asking them to come up with a theme song for the upcoming Garfield's Babes and Bullets special in fifteen minutes for fun. Davis provides details of the special to Bogas and Goyette to let them develop the song, which Davis notes should be bluesy. After fiddling around with the idea, the duo soon performs a demo of the song. Several Garfield quickies from Garfield and Friends are previewed, two of which are represented during the voiceover session.
Live action
•Jim Davis •Phil Roman •Ted B. Miller •Shannon Meyer •Lorenzo Music •Thom Huge •Gregg Berger (also the announcer at the beginning of the special) •Desirée Goyette •Ed Bogas •Lynn Johnston •Dik Browne •Mike Peters •Bill Hoest •Ralph Smith •John Cullen Murphy •John Prentice •Bill Gallo •Dick Hodgins •Fred Lasswell •Curt Swan •Bud Sagendorf •Johnny Hart •Tom Armstrong •Lou Rawls •Jim Clements •Dave “Doc” Davis •Gary Barker •Vicky Scott •Kevin Campbell •Larry Fentz •Mike Fentz •Mike Farris •Doug Frankel •Bob Scott •Ralph Eggleston
•Part of the animation clip from Fantastic Funnies is featured in the first part of the special.
•Comic strips are featured with unique voiceover from Lorenzo Music, Thom Huge, and Gregg Berger.
•Garfield and Friends, then unreleased, is featured in preview clips, consisting of Quickies and parts of episodes.
•The background music and sound effects from the Garfield and Friends clips tend to be different from what appeared in the final versions.
•Desirée Goyette and Lou Rawls singing "We Got It Good, And That Ain't Bad" from Garfield's Judgment Day appears to be the only known release of anything from the cancelled film.
•The version of Here Comes Garfield played during the "living the good life" montage is from the opening sequence of the TV special of the same name. Sounds of Garfield yawning during the sequence are intact.
•"Just Who Is He?"
•"What Shall I Be?" (instrumental version; original version from Garfield's Halloween Adventure)
•"The Wizard of Love" (from Garfield Goes Hollywood)
•"Babes and Bullets"
•"Comic Artist Song"
•"We Got It Good, And That Ain’t Bad" (sung by Lou Rawls and Desirée Goyette; from Garfield's Judgment Day)
Share. Happy Birthday Garfield (1988) 05/17/1988 (US) Documentary , Animation 48m. User. Score. Play Clip. Overview. Garfield creator Jim Davis presents a behind-the-scenes 10th-anniversary celebration of the pasta-eating cat. Jim Davis. Director, Writer.
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1h. Animation/Documentary. Cast. Lorenzo Music (Self - Garfield) Thom Huge (Self - Jon) Gregg Berger (Self - Odie) Lou Rawls (Self) Desirée Goyette (Self) Ed Bogas (Self) Vaughn West (Costumed...
