how do I erase or delete animatin frames BEFORE the frame I want to keep? I read somewhere its better to make several smaller animaitons then conbine them in a movie joiner. I want specifically to keep the last frame of the sequece, (frame 44), and delete 1-43 and start over with the second part (beginning with frame 44 as the "new" frame 1).

Use the animation palette. Select Animation Palette from the Window menu, or click the Edit Keyframes button on the Animation Controls (it's the one that looks like a key). Left-click-and-drag a selection box around the keyframes you want to keep, then drag your selection to the beginning of the timeline.

ohhh.. ok, thanks! hey I sure appreciate the time you take to help. you specifically have answered most of my posts. thanks again, rowdy

ok, another Ques. I did that, and when I dragged all the key frames from 43 to 1 in the animation pallate, the character changed his pose a little. (any idea why?)

Is frame #43 a key frame? When you do this, I don't think that frame #1 will be overwritten, unless the first frame of your selected sequence (frame #43 in this case) is also a keyframe. You can easily tell which frames are keyframes in the animation palette; they're a brighter shade of green. So if #43 isn't a keyframe, make it one before dragging your selection to the left. Hope that helps!