Tiny Toon cel bandits caught

[Chris Adamson]

From Variety, January 6 1992, p. 55: "Warner catches cel bandits;
hearing set for Jan. 15":

"Warner Bros. has broken up an alleged ring of thieves who stole
animation cels worth $500,000 from its 'Tiny Toon Adventures' TV
series and were selling them at swap meets, Variety has learned...

"Named as defendants are Jerry Zweighaft, Travis Cowsill (also known
as Travis Locke) and Nicolette Harley. Cowsill, an animator, had done
some freelance and work for Warner Bros., said Barbara Brogliatti, a
spokeswoman for the studio...

"Warner Bros. limited distribution of the cels to about 200 through
studio-owned stores, the complaint said. When the studio learned cels
were being sold at swap meets, it hired private investigators and
conducted a six-week investigation, according to a studio spokesman...

"A studio spokesman said he believed all but six or eight cels had
been recovered. The studio has not decided whether to pursue criminal
charges against the defendants, who have been cooperating with the
investigation, Brogliatti said."

Ouch. Hope none of you kids have bought hot cels from these
guys...

=================================================================
/ Chris L. Adamson / US per capita TV viewing = 45 hrs/wk /
/ Michigan State U. / "It's not adventure... it's a job!" /
/ Telecomm Production / --------------------------------------- /
/ M.A. student / plu...@irie.ais.org , plucky2(Amer. O-L)/
================================================================
DISCLAIMER: MSU wishes it could be so erudite and clever...

[John H. Kim]

In article <+!BJ...@irie.ais.org> plu...@ais.org (Chris Adamson) writes:
>
>"Warner Bros. has broken up an alleged ring of thieves who stole
>animation cels worth $500,000 from its 'Tiny Toon Adventures' TV
>series and were selling them at swap meets, Variety has learned...
>

> Ouch. Hope none of you kids have bought hot cels from these
>guys...

A little more I heard and saw on the local news:

The cels were being sold at swap meets in Orange County. Total
number of cels was estimated at around 300. The cels on top of
the pile of recovered cels included one of Plucky (carrying a
football I think) from The Acme Bowl, one of Bugs, and one of
Buster dressed up and walking through a hall at school.

Would've been neat to scan a few of those...
--
John H. Kim | (This space to be filled when I
jo...@jarthur.claremont.edu | think of something very clever
uunet!jarthur!jokim | to use as a disclaimer)