Wonderful people live in some form as long as the rest of us remember them and pass forward the things they’ve taught us and helped us to do. Losing this wonderful man is particularly hard, so I thought I’d share a few words about him and post a film he lent to us— and did a commentary too!

Dave Kirwan (1951-2026) was a husband and father, Grand Sheik (and often keeper of the celluloid) for the Sons of the Desert ‘Busy Bodies Tent’, cartoonist and Illustrator, and a generous and talented human being.

While I didn’t know Dave as well as many of his closer friends, I always enjoyed the chats and communication we had over the years. He was an amazing help to Thunderbean and its pre-curser, Snappy Video, by doing a lot of the early film transfers onto 3/4” tape as well as lending many rare prints and even selling a few to me. Dave’s help, along with his good friend Jeff Missinne, helped me at a time where I was completely new to trying to get anything produced or finished, and I’m forever grateful to them both.

Dave’s son, Alex, has worked in animation since the 90s, creating all sorts of beautiful and fun work. He was nice enough to illustrate the cover for the Flip the Frog Blu-ray as well as provide a commentary for Spooks, a cartoon he grew up with from his father’s 16mm film collection.

When Thunderbean was working on the Mid Century Modern 2 DVD set, Dave lent his whole series of ‘Weatherman’ spots, made by Soundac Studios in Florida. I asked Dave if he’d be willing to do a commentary for these short little films, and was thrilled when he said yes. In the four and a half minutes or so of these shorts, Dave does an excellent job of explaining what they are and how they were used.

So, here’s Dave’s commentary and his prints to boot! I hope you enjoy them!

An excerpt of one of Dave’s ads, selling used 16mm prints in the fanzine Mindrot #16 (February 1980)