n 1968, Bakshi brought the production of Spiderman to be finished in New York where they opened up a studio at Herald Square. At this time Bakshi had opened Ralph’s Spot. (18) Here he worked with Peter Max (19) on various spots and did commercials for such companies as Fanta and Encyclopedia Britannica. He sold the idea of Fritz the Cat as a feature film to Steve Krantz. They flew out to Oakland to find Crumb to secure the rights. Dana Crumb was only too happy to join them in the venture.

Almost halfway through the production (20, 21) of Fritz the Cat, the entire studio moved to Los Angeles due to the Cartoonists Union refusing to cooperate with the studio. Instead of shutting down they moved to the coast where the Los Angeles Union was happy to have the production. Fritz was done completely in 2d animation and the audio track recorded almost entirely on the streets of New York, with the exception of Fritz and the girls and Big Bertha and a few other main characters.  In April of 1972 Fritz the Cat opened in LA and New York to rave reviews. Bakshi was invited to directors week at Cannes Film Festival. The Museum of Modern Art screened Fritz. That year Bakshi wrote Heavy Traffic  (22, 23) and went back into production. Still working with Steve Krantz as producer and Zaentz.

Bakshi met Al Ruddy when he was screening his film the Godfather at UCLA. They became instant friends. He sold Ruddy on making a version based upon the storybook “Uncle Remus. “ It was called Coonskin. Bakshi Productions (24, 25)was opened and they began pre-production. Heavy Traffic was still in production at this time with Steve Krantz, who locked Bakshi out of the studio with this news of Al Ruddy and Bakshi working together. After two weeks they asked him back to finish the picture – quickly realizing no one could come close to the job. Live Action was shot for Heavy Traffic and was married with the animation – but not rotoscoped. In 1973, Bakshi’s second feature, Heavy Traffic, was screened at the Museum of Modern Art where it continued to shock and stun the public to a great applause.

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