Few know or remember that America nearly missed having a cartoon character as president. Long before the current presidency, the nationwide celebrity of the cartoon character « Winney the Bull » had generated a popular craze that made him America’s favorite candidate. Luckily, Winney was not elected, but this electoral campaign resurrected chocking facts that horrified the nation. That’s probably why, in a reflex of shame, it was decided to wipe out from History anything connected to Winney and the powerful Winney Company’s. Chance brought us into contact with some non destroyed clues, which made us want to investigate.
WITNESSES
« My grand-grand father died in 1920 in the big fire that destroyed the studio he shared in Hollywood with Ron Gold, the creator of Winney. They both emigrated from Prague in search of a wider horizon for their creativity. The legend says that in their suitcase, they brought a lot more than some cartoon sketches. Rumors about a magical system to control the motion and the brains, or a special technology, I don’t know really. That time was so esoteric oriented, and very blurry were the boundaries between creation and deception »
THE GRAND GRAND DAUGHTER OF MAX FLESHMAN, AUTHOR OF LOOSEY-THE-DONKEY
«It was during a live TV show, I was piloting Winney’s hologram with some real time motion captors wired on my flesh, and all of a sudden, it was no more me who was controlling Winney, it was Winney controlling me. He made me tell scandalous things I never wanted to say. They fired me, but I know the truth : Winney is coming, Winney is the Beast of the apocalypse.»
WINNEY’S EX PUPPET MASTER, NOW LIVES AS A REFUGEE IN JAPAN, IN A SAKE FACTORY’ BACKYARD
EVIDENCE N°1 – Last time we saw Loosey was in this 1920 cartoon
A rare footage from 1920 into which we see Loosey-The-Donkey teaming up with Winney-the-bull character.
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It is interesting to see how this cartoon ends up. Seems like a premonition of what eventually happened in the real life : Winney and his creator Ron Gold had this tremendous success leading the Winney Company to drive a massive empire of entertaiment, while Loosey and his creator Max Fleshman were sinking in the ocean of forgotness.
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Remasterisation of the vintage footage by Kuntzel+Deygas
Production: Add A Dog, Paris.
Music: silent movie version of « This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us » kindly created for this project by Sparks, Los Angeles.
EVIDENCE N°2 – Confidential footages
We recently compiled some confidential footage of old VHS tapes that we’ve been given by one of the witnesses. Theses clips, once edited on a chronological timeline, demonstrate that the plan to connect Winney to the political world was existing since long. Winner is not that naive.
THE INVESTIGATORS
We are 2 french visual artists fascinated by the power that fictional characters have over the real world.
Probably because we live in a world where Miss Piggy is a multi awarded celebrity, where Queen of England gives a medal to Wallace and Gromit characters, where Eurodisney deal was signed between the french prime minister and an actor in a Mickey Mouse costume, where Bugs Bunny is accused of being racist in his old cartoons.
Characters are so nice, so cute, so funny, that we give them our heart our souls and our children without hesitation.
But sometimes, it can be like signing a pact with the devil.
OUR STRATEGY
How can we warn future generations in order to prevent such a slippage from happening again ?
We had the idea to make revive the story of Winney, bits by bits depending on the progress of the investigation. But we had to find a way fitting with our possibilities and limits. That’s why we do it through fashion events, worldwide exhibitions, invented memorabilia, short films. Digging in the past is long and sometimes fastidious, or desapointing, but we will never give up this subject.
Better keep entertainment where it stands, and avoid let politics become entertaining.
And as for esotericism, it should stay a personal matter.
IN THE BOX
SNOOPS
2016
#Billy Graham Room °Las_Vegas_Convention_Center_Dome >> Final_Warm_Up_Before_E_day. A meeting that turned into a brain wash operation, says an anonymous participant.
WINNEY TV – CATCH THE FAKE
In this episode, Winney dives into the world of vintage, makes reveals about Catch Me If You Can opening credits, got a gorgeous interview of Pamela Golbin Chief curator in fashion and textiles at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, about fashion in the 60's, and...
WINNEY TV – CRAZY PARIS
In this episode, Winney introduce his parisien friends, visit his retrospective at Palais de Tokyo, interview Christophe Girard on Art and Commerce, and fear the night at Hotel de Bondeville.*After being awarded Best Personality 2001 by Fashion Tsushin TV program in...
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merveilles@kuntzeldeygas.com
And thank you Violette Chatiliez for the graphic design of the website