Cartoon Modern

Wilbert Plijnaar wrote to let me know that FILM SCORE MONTHLY has released a cd that contains two complete film scores by George Duning: one score is for the live-action comedy BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE (1958) and the other is for UPA’s first animated feature 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS (1959), which featured Mister Magoo. Their WEBSITE has full track samples and ordering info. Here’s the description of the ARABIAN NIGHTS score:

Duning enlisted several “ethnic” musicians to depict the Middle Eastern locale, incorporating them into a traditional symphonic setting. Despite the fact that it was written for animation, the album (presenting the film’s lengthier cues and musical setpieces) has little “mickey mousing” and sounds like it could be the score to a live-action fantasy film.

More importantly, this gives me the opportunity to post this late-1950s magazine article I’d found that features some development art from 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS. It looks like the paintings are done by Jules Engel, though I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of the pieces are by Bob McIntosh. I’m not sure what magazine this is from, or if there was more to the article, but at least you can enjoy these two pages.

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Hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s look at TV Spots, Inc. Here’s three more stills and a TV Spots, Inc. trade ad.

KABC-TV
designer: Bob Guidi (Tri-Arts)
art director: Sam Nicholson

Boeing

Lucky Lager Beer

Magazine trade ad
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And three more commercials…

S&H Green Stamps

American Dairy Association
director: Bob Bemiller
art director: Sam Nicholson and Norm Gottfredson

National Biscuit Co.
director (and probably designer): Ed Levitt
art director: Sam Nicholson

Here’s three more from TV Spots, Inc.

AFL-CIO
designer: Norm Gottfredson
art director: Sam Nicholson

Esso Standard Oil
director: Bob Bemiller
artists: Bernice Shapira, Jack Miller
art directors: Sam Nicholson and Norm Gottfredson

Esso Standard Oil

This week, Cartoon Modern will be devoted to highlighting the work of LA commercial studio TV Spots. There were dozens of TV commercial studios around during the 1950s, and it was impossible to discuss them all in my book. TV Spots is one of those studios that I couldn’t fit in. The studio was started in the early-1950s. I’m not sure who founded the studio, but I think it was Sam Nicholson, who had been an animator in Friz Freleng’s WB unit in the 1940s. According to Keith Scott’s excellent book THE MOOSE THAT ROARED, the studio was purchased in 1954 by businessman Shull Bonsall. Nicholson stayed on as the studio’s vice-president.

In addition to TV commercials, TV Spots produced the color revival of CRUSADER RABBIT in 1957 and the primetime cartoon CALVIN AND THE COLONEL (1961). At some point, the studio changed its name to Creston Studios, though the staff remained the same. The studio’s head art director was Norm Gottfredson, who had previously worked at Ray Patin Productions and UPA. The commercial directors were primarily Bob Bemiller and Paul Sommer. Other people who worked there include director/designer Ed Levitt, animators John Sparey, Morey Reden, Phil Roman and Bob Matz, designers Fred Charrow, George Cannata Jr. and Bernice Shapira, and background/layout artists Eleanor Bogardus, David Weidman and Rosemary O’Connor.

It’s interesting to point out that more veterans of TV Spots are still around today than any other 1950s studio that I can think of. Among the artists still with us are Gottfredson, Weidman, O’Connor, Cannata Jr., Roman, Sparey, Sommer and even Sam Nicholson (though I understand he’s in poor health). I’ll be posting stills from their 1950s commercials all week long. Unfortunately, I’ve seen only one or two of the actual commercials. It’d be nice if somebody could find reels of this studio’s work.

Bexel Vitamins
director: Bob Bemiller
designer: George Cannata, Jr.
art director: Norm Gottfredson

L&M Cigarettes

Johnson’s Glo-Coat Floor Wax

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I was amused to see the above image on the blog of Canadian animation artist Jason Groh because it’s almost like a preview of my book CARTOON MODERN. The photo is of his inspiration board at his home studio, and it’s packed with designs by 1950s animation artists including Ed Benedict, T. Hee, Bobe Cannon, Maurice Noble, John Hubley, Tom Oreb, Cliff Roberts and Gene Deitch. Jason’s own drawings have a strong design sensibility so it’s hardly surprising that he was influenced by these artists.

And to wrap up the week, here’s some assorted art by Vic. Top to bottom: early-50s art school sketches of jazz musicians, including Gerry Mulligan; some jazzy cats for an unidentified project (probably not GAY PURREE); and a concept drawing for an unproduced religious project at Sutherland’s.

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Vic made these bold color styling suggestions for the Disney short GOLIATH II (1960), based on the Bill Peet story. Needless to say, Disney didn’t use this approach, and opted for more conservative color styling by veteran background painter Ralph Hulett.

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Vic Haboush week continues at Cartoon Modern with these paintings of sophisticated nightclub scenes. I wasn’t able to positively identify what project, or even studio, they were created for, otherwise they would have most certainly been in the book. The paintings may have been for some unproduced industrial at Sutherland’s. They sort of remind me of Shag’s work, except Vic understands how to use color and create dynamic compositions.

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It’s Vic Haboush week at Cartoon Modern and I’ll be showing examples of his work all week long. I first met Vic back in 2000 while I was researching the life of Tom Oreb for ANIMATION BLAST #6, and we’ve been good friends since. As a sidenote, I’d actually taken figure drawing classes from his son, the supertalented Auguste Haboush, before I’d ever met, or even heard, of Vic. Small world. Vic worked in animation for only a decade or so, before starting his own studio, the Haboush Company, and becoming a successful live-action commercial director.

During his ten years in animation, he was an assistant art director on MELODY (1953) and TOOT WHISTLE PLUNK & BOOM (1953), a layout artist on LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955), SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959) and 101 DALMATIANS (1961), and the art director of UPA’s GAY PURREE (1962), as well as art directing a number of shorts at John Sutherland Productions, such as this classic industrial. With credits like that, I can see why Vic decided to set aside animation: if you’ve already worked on the best, why work on the rest? While Vic’s later career focused mostly on live-action, his company also produced numerous animated TV commercials and shorts, including the Oscar-nominated cartoon THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF UNCLE SAM: PART TWO (1970). Vic was lured back to feature animation a few years ago, and contributed visual development on THE IRON GIANT (1999). You can see some of Vic’s recent paintings at Haboush.net.

This week, I wanted to share some of Vic’s animation artwork from the 1950s. A lot of the work that’ll be posted here deserves to be in the book, but I wasn’t able to fit it in, either for lack of space or because I couldn’t get definite identifications on the pieces. To kick things off, here are a couple concept paintings from the 1950s. Vic recalls that they may have been done for a Donald Duck short, though I can’t imagine which one.

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I’ve added some links in the right-hand column that are sites either by or about prominent artists of the 1950s animation design scene. Putting together this set of links made me realize just how little information is available on-line about Fifties animation. Well, at least it’s a start.

Pietro Shakarian has posted, for a limited time, a RealPlayer version of the 1952 Mister Magoo short HOTSY FOOTSY. It can be found on his site’s right-hand column. This is a seldom seen, but very funny entry in the Magoo series. The animators, Phil Monroe and Pat Matthews, have a particularly solid handle on the character of Magoo, and they provide excellent animation throughout. Especially terrific are Magoo’s little dance moves and some of the action scenes in the boxing ring. Also notable is the animation of Magoo’s school chum Charlie, which is an example of how to achieve maximum expressiveness with a minimal number of drawings.

An element of the film that is much more difficult to appreciate in this print is the background design of Paul Julian and Bob Dranko. Julian, in particular, did superb work on this film, but the colors are so muddy here that it’s almost impossible to get any sense of his work. Not to worry, because there’s an incredible Julian bg from this film in my book. But somebody really needs to get on Columbia’s case and persuade them to restore and release these classic films in their vaults because the UPA shorts deserve better than this.

Below is a one-page UPA inter-office memo, dated Sept. 2, 1952, wherein UPA prez Steve Bosustow explains how the film went over budget. Lots of interesting facts revealed here including the fact that it took, rather unbelievably, two directors, two assistant directors and six storymen to make this short. Add a few more writers and it may as well be a modern-day animated production. Fortunately, it’s a cohesive film despite all the cooks fumbling around in the kitchen. And while the overages may not seem like much, if adjusted for inflation, the $4,500 overage on HOTSY FOOTSY would amount to over $33,000 today, and the $24,600 overage on UPA’s prior dozen films would be $177,000 today (thanks, Darrell). And for additional perspective, consider this: in 1952, lead animators at UPA were being paid in the range of $125 per week and background painters were making $100 per week.

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Illustrator Eric Sturdevant has posted some terrific Cliff Roberts illustrations on his blog Fun All Around. Roberts (1929-1996) drew these illustrations for the FORD TIMES in the late-1940s while living in Detroit. Right around the time he made these illustrations, he also began to work in animation at Detroit’s Jam Handy Organization. Gene Deitch writes more about Roberts’s early animation career in his on-line autobiography. The first animated work that Roberts designed at Jam Handy was the industrial film BUILDING FRIENDS FOR BUSINESS (1950). Here’s a cel setup from it:

In the 1950s, he became one of animation’s major character designers on the East Coast and there’s a lot more written about him in my book. Below is another example of his work: a late-1950s drawing for TOP CEL, the newsletter of the New York animator’s union.

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CARTOON MODERN has made the Amazon.com editor’s list of Popular Pre-orders: Pop Culture. The list is based only on ‘customer demand,’ in other words, the number of pre-orders the book has had, and this obviously makes me very pleased.

Below is a film still and news clipping from a 1958 issue of ART DIRECTION. The brief write-up was part of the magazine’s monthly “What’s New…What’s Best” column, and praises the UPA animated/live-action commercial created for the 1959 launch of Tang, “one of America’s most celebrated chemically created foods.” Not much to say about this one, except that I think the sun design has some great appealing shapes in it. Do any readers out there know if this commercial has ever been released on one of those commercial compilation tapes? And one bit of useless trivia: the article mentions that the jazz theme was composed by Phil Moore, a pianist and studio arranger who was also responsible for composing the music for John Hubley’s short ROOTY TOOT TOOT (1952).