Dick Tracy Locked Up In Warren Beatty's House?

AWN.COM: Beatty Sued Over Dick Tracy Rights
REUTERS - March 23, 2009

In an effort to regain the motion picture and TV rights to DICK TRACY, Tribune Media Services is suing Warren Beatty, reports REUTERS. In papers filed last week, Tribune states that Beatty "wrongly claims" the rights exclusively.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

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If Beatty hasn't done anything with the property in over ten years, he might want to consider selling it back to Tribune (though if the larger company's bankrupt, that doesn't really work). I guess it depends on whether or not Tribune Media Services sold Beatty all of the "Tracy" rights exclusively and indefinitely.

I'm assuming that Tribune wants the property back so they can try and generate revenue, though they'll have to dig deeper into the hole in order to get some cash coming in. I really like the comic strip, but how many fans of it are left at this point?

Toy OTD: Colgate Soaky Toy: Dick Tracy

I think one of the main reasons I like older toys is that so many of them have to find an appealing solution within a multitude of material/technological/aesthetic limitations. Soaky toys are great example of how you can take something as boring and uniform as a bath soap bottle, and make it playful and fun. How do you capture the essence of an animated (or comic strip) character, and still fit it into the practical dimensions that you're given?

Naturally, taller bipedal characters work the best for Soaky toy designs, so Dick Tracy here works great. The pose is stiff, but it maintains as much of the bottle's volume as possible. I love the minimal color usage in the design - the plastic does most of the work, with black and a skin color filling in the rest.

I also like the head sculpt - it's a lot friendlier than the comic character's chiseled grimace (how cheerily he reaches for his gun!), but it still has some feel for Tracy. As drawn, the famous profile almost defies dimensionality, but the I think the sculptor found a solution that works. I'm not thrilled that Tracy's name is emblazoned on the base, but at least it's not emphasized with paint.

There's not much additional packaging to a Soaky - a paper label wrapping the base, and some cellophane - but since the bottle is toy and package in one, that makes sense. It's a great idea that's still around today (though not made by Colgate), and works even better in these conservation-minded times!

Dick Tracy is not a rare Soaky character, so you should be able to get one without much effort. There's a slightly damaged one for sale at timepassagesnostalgia.com for $19.99 + $5.50 shipping, and another on eBay for $22.00 + $6.50 shipping. Happy shopping!

Ilinois Dick Tracy Museum Closes

NORTHWEST HERALD: Funding woes foil Dick Tracy museum
By JENN WIANT - jwiant@nwherald.com
Monday, February 04, 2008

WOODSTOCK – The Chester Gould – Dick Tracy Museum, housed in the Old Courthouse building on the Woodstock Square since 1991, will close June 1 for financial reasons.

Jean Gould O’Connell, daughter of “Dick Tracy” comic strip creator and former Woodstock resident Chester Gould, said the museum had been struggling financially.

“It’s been happening slowly for the past couple of years,” she said. “It was much too difficult to get fundraisers going. It was the same few people [who] were called upon to do it. We just found that we couldn’t make a go of it.”

O’Connell is pleased that the museum, which is privately funded, has lasted this long.

“I’ve put my heart and soul into that museum and tried to make it something that Woodstock would be proud of,” she said. “This is a very sad time for us, but we’ve had very many wonderful years there.”

The estimated 300 pieces of memorabilia and art in the museum, most of which had been donated by people all over the country, will be returned to the owners, O’Connell said. Beverly and Cliff Ganschow, owners of the Old Courthouse, said they would like to maintain a small, permanent display of Chester Gould and “Dick Tracy” memorabilia in a room of the building.

Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager was sad to hear about the museum’s closing.

“The Dick Tracy Museum was a wonderful resource for members of the community, as well as the school youth, and certainly it provided a draw for some visitors to our community,” Sager said. “We certainly are going to miss the museum, but we do understand, with respect and appreciation to the family, the decision that they have had to make.”

Fundraising for the Dick Tracy statue being planned for the grassy area outside of the Old Courthouse had been put on hold, O’Connell said.

Kevin Stebbins, who organizes the annual Dick Tracy Days Parade in June, said the festival probably would cease to exist after the museum closed. The parade will no longer be associated with the comic strip character and will become a community parade, Stebbins said. It has been scheduled for a week earlier this year, on Father’s Day.

When he learned Monday that the museum would close, Stebbins said he was “kind of shocked,” but had expected it to happen eventually.

“I know that they’ve had some financial difficulties in the past and they haven’t had very much support in the community,” he said. “... [But] I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon.”

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Crap! I was thinking of trying to go to Dick Tracy Days this year. So much for that... bummer.

Bruce Timm Drawing

Here's a close-up of the Bruce Timm piece, the central drawing of a birthday card. He did this for me when we worked together on Tiny Toon Adventures. We were all a little creatively frustrated then, hence the lavishness of the art! This is my favorite of the drawings that he did for me, and since his work goes for big bucks at conventions now, I thought I'd frame this and hang it up.

I collected even more soundtracks and movie T-shirts than I do now, so Bruce ragged on me for being excited about the Dick Tracy movie. I'll bet he even put my face on the watch - fifteen years and I never thought to check!

Yes, I did have a mullet and a mustache for a short time. Even with my cluelessness, I quickly came to my senses.