SALLY CRUIKSHANK

I've been thinking about animated credit sequences in films. Turns out a few of the sequences I can think of are animated by the same person, Sally Cruikshank. Cruikshank maintains a Youtube channel with many of her shorts, collecting credit sequences (Mannequin, Ruthless People), Seseme Street segments, and her original shorts, like the amazing "Quasi at the Quackadero" (follow the link, embedding is disabled), which credits Kim Deitch as "Special Art Assistant," which illustrates the kind of crowd Cruikshank was running with.

I actually remember my friend renting a tape of animated shorts from a library in college which contained "Quasi's Cabaret Trailer".



I recognized the style from Mannequin and Ruthless People at the time, but until recently I hadn't done any actual research. Here is an excellent interview with Cruikshank from 1980. Note the amazing model sheets! Cruikshank's wardrobe and general attitude seem more in tune with the aesthetic universe of underground comics than animation, a notion supported by the domestic surrealism and social satire of the actual shorts, not to mention the ragtime music and simple yet expressive line style, which should remind of major strains in the underground scene of the time.