Bob McIntosh, John HubleyNovember 3, 2005 10:15 am
These are a couple caricatures of Bob McIntosh painted by genius director/designer John Hubley, while they were serving in the First Motion Picture Unit in the early-1940s. There’s also an incredible Hubley drawing of McIntosh that will be printed in the book. Prior to joining UPA in 1952, McIntosh had worked at Disney (where he painted multiplane backgrounds directly on glass for BAMBI), the First Motion Picture Unit during WWII, and at Paul J. Fennell’s TV commercial studio Cartoon Films Ltd. Bob is happily still with us today, at age 89, and still quite active as a fine art painter.
(click on images for larger versions)
James Lileks’ site led me here; I can’t wait for the book. Born in 1956, I can remember in high school and college being more than a little disdainful of ’50s animation; but somewhere along the line–to be honest, probably all along the line, given the solid unbroken nostalgia for the ’50s both early and late boomers maintain–I began to appreciate the distinctive lines and techniques of this era. For me, that appreciation first arrived via my affection for 1950s pulp SF magazine covers, which I think share some of the sensibilities of the things you’re considering. In any case, looking at these images gives me a distinctive shock of recognition; for better or worse, this is a look that has deeply affected the aesthetic sensibilities of post-WWW II Americans. Thanks for your book; best of luck with sales.
Comment by Paul J. Marasa — November 3, 2005 @ 11:50 am
That’s great, I love the exaggeration and the pallete. Looking forward to the book and more in the blog Amid. Any other caricatures here or there?
Comment by John — November 4, 2005 @ 1:53 pm
What a great site you have. Can’t wait for the book. Hope you have lots more on Hubley–John and Faith donated their papers to Yale and I got the job of archiving them one semester as an undergrad. It’s an amazing collection. Hope you checked it out.
Best of luck with the book.
Comment by Adrienne Crew — November 7, 2005 @ 6:06 pm
Hi Adrienne - Thanks for the kind words. And wow, that sounds so cool to have worked on archiving that collection. A couple years back, the Hubley family moved the collection from Yale to MoMA, but it’s still intact. And like you say, it’s amazing. I’ve only seen a little bit of it, but know what’s in it and it’s priceless stuff. I hope the family decides to do an entire book of that art someday.
Comment by Amid — November 8, 2005 @ 11:45 am
I’m one of Paul Fennells’ sons and remember going to my fathers animation/motion picture studio and talking to the artists - Don Jurwich, Charlie Burns, Lawrence Silverman, Hicks Lokey, Don Driscol, Zyg Jablecki, Rudy Zamora, Lee Blaire, Ed Benedict - must get your book. Saved some stuff — reels, storyboards, time sheets etc.
Comment by Tom Fennell — September 7, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
I’m looking for info on Paul J. Fennell. Would love a birthdate. Any body have any info to share? Thanks Lisa
Comment by Lisa Reinert — October 23, 2009 @ 10:20 am