NickALive!: Jerry Beck Once Wrote a Book About the History of Nickelodeon

Monday, September 14, 2020

Jerry Beck Once Wrote a Book About the History of Nickelodeon

Written by Jerry Beck for Animation Scoop:

I Wrote A Book About the History of Nickelodeon That No One Has Ever Seen

Five years ago I spent 12 months on a special project that has never seen the light of day.

I wrote a history of Nickelodeon – for Nickelodeon – an elaborate in-house book project that was pure pleasure to research and write. It included tipped-in booklets featuring interviews with Gerry Laybourne, Herb Scannell, Fred Seibert, Vanessa Coffey, Albie Hecht, and Mary Harrington. It had all kinds of fold-outs and pop-outs, mini-comics and original posters. The graphics, the photos and art, were amazing. The actual text is pretty good too.

Don’t ask me where you can get one – I was only given one “author’s copy” (photo above) hot off the press, so I know it was published. The story I heard is that only 1000 copies were created. And outside of the interviewees and few other Nick execs at the time, no one else I know got a copy. It was never on Amazon; It was never for sale.

In fact, as I understand it, it was never intended for sale. It was created as a gift to celebrate the network’s anniversary, and to champion its talent – artists still at Nick and past creatives who contributed to building the channel. It was an effort to help garner goodwill towards Nick at a time when its fortunes were beginning to droop (the company has since bounded back). But apparently those thousand printed copies sat in a storeroom somewhere – and rumor has it they may have been destroyed. I don’t really know.

Initiated by then Nick Animation president Russell Hicks (an 18-year veteran of the company who rose through the ranks by developing the Nick’s Shorts program and who ultimately green lit The Loud House), I was contacted to join the project as a work-for-hire, to pen text that spanned the beginnings of the channel as component of Time-Warners Qube experiment in Columbus Ohio, through its earliest original live and animated programming – and all they way up to its current successes with Spongebob and Dora.

My own involvement with Nickelodeon goes back to 1994 when I was hired by Gerry Laybourne to develop animated features for Nickelodeon Movies. I’d later write two books for the company, Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons (2007) and The Spongebob Squarepants Experience (2013) – and produced a pilot, Hornswiggle.

The same week I received my author’s copy of this book in 2016, word hit the trades that Russell had resigned his position at Nickelodeon. Management changes were afoot. I wondered if this would affect the book… and it did. Russell had written the book’s foreword and his photo adorned a full page. My guess is they didn’t want to give the book away when the person introducing it was now no longer part of the company.

I’d kept quiet about the project the past few years – but I recently came across two posts about the book (both online since 2016), both from folks involved with its production. Since this thing isn’t a secret anymore, I might as well call attention to it – even if you can’t see it. You can at least see some of the layouts and get an idea of what it looked like.

Both pieces online were posted by Struck, the design firm in Utah who pulled the book together (and from what I gathered, this was the first book this studio ever produced). This first link is by Brent Watts, one of Struck’s founders, and appears on the Medium blog. Brett is a hell of a nice guy and his company is top notch.

The second post is on Behance.net, a platform for designers. Here you’ll see more of the clever designs and layouts Struck created based on information I provided.

You Can’t Do That On Television: The Rebellious History of Nickelodeon has no ISBN number, there are no used copies on eBay, it has no historical footprint. I would assume the trickle of copies that got out to the interviewees and assorted Nick execs will eventually accrue some value, as word of this legendary tome gains more attention. All I can say is it was a joy to assemble.

I want to publicly thank Russell Hicks and Brett Watts for the opportunity to participate in this amazing project. I only wish more people could see it.

Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.

###From Medium:

You Can’t Do That on Television: The Rebellious History of Nickelodeon

A peek inside the limited edition coffee table book that honors the edgy and groundbreaking animation studio.

Where did you keep the great memorabilia that you grew-up with — the stuff you stored in your shoebox under your bed? Your Michael Jordan rookie card. The stickers you traded for months with your best friend, Knuckles. The boondoggle from summer camp. The rubber band ball it took a year to make from your paper route.

Many of these defining childhood things have been lost over the years. And yet, their memories live on.

For us at Struck, some of these memories resurfaced when — as part of a long-standing relationship — Nickelodeon asked us to design a limited edition coffee table book in celebration of the studio’s landmark 25th anniversary.

We’ve worked with Nick for a few years now — our very first project involved designing a logo for SpongeBob. And when we first stepped into the studio a couple of years ago, we knew we were walking on fertile ground.

From that moment on, in all our work with Nick — including designing creator portraits, a poster series, conception of the studio’s new offices and redesign of its website — we’ve felt incredibly fortunate to act as stewards for a brand so playful. One that has defined creativity and originality.

This limited edition book, You Can’t Do That on Television: The Rebellious History of Nickelodeon, marks the pinnacle in our history with Nick and brings us full circle back to the studio’s beating heart — its creators and origin story. The colorful pages of the book combine original sketches, pop-outs and text by Jerry Beck to weave together the edgy and groundbreaking history that is Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Beginning with the launch of Ren and Stimpy, Rugrats and Doug in 1991, to becoming a global brand, and then on into the rocket-fueled future of animation.

During the conception of the project, we realized that print would be the best medium to pull together the history of Nickelodeon and the studio’s success, memorializing Nick’s story in the written form.

Print provides an emotional connection that allows us to experience the tactual nature of brand expression.

For, there are some things you can’t experience on TV. Like the turn of an oversized page. The play between odd shaped, die-cut funky paper. The texture and smell of ink. Discovery sketches and raw concepts scribbled on a napkin. Actual tennis shoe laces weaving Nick’s history into a timeline as a subway map.

This book was designed by kids, for kids.

In the book, you can literally see the process Nick went through when beginning a cable channel that would eventually become a global brand. It unfolds before you on each page. You start to understand that it took a village of superbly talented, unleashed creative to make it all happen.

This oversized history book defines a brand that sparked many of the emotions of childhood. Memories stored in a shoebox under the bed. Rekindled images of Sandy and Patrick from Spongebob, Salute Your Shorts and Ren and Stimpy. Memories you can touch and react to while you eat your favorite cereal.
You can’t do that on TV.

###

From Behance.net:

History of Nickelodeon monograph

About:

When Nickelodeon launched on televisions over 25 years ago, the landscape of children’s programming was dominated by poorly produced animation with a focus on selling toys. Nickelodeon changed that by creating television for kids, by kids. At turns silly, sad and gross, Nickelodeon revolutionized children’s TV and created some of the most iconic characters of the last quarter century. Struck in collaboration with Nickelodeon Animation Studio created a sumptuous coffee table book to capture the the Nick story in all it’s wacky glory.

The limited edition book, You Can’t Do That on Television: The Rebellious History of Nickelodeon, is the brainchild of Russell Hicks, President of Content Development and Production for Nickelodeon. In the years leading up to the book’s fruition, Hicks tossed around the idea of the need for something that pulled together the history of Nickelodeon and the studio’s success. The colorful pages of the book combine original sketches, pop-outs and text by Jerry Beck to weave together the edgy and groundbreaking history that is Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Beginning with the launch of Ren and Stimpy, Rugrats and Doug in 1991, to becoming a global brand, and then on into the rocket-fueled future of animation.