Here’s a cool photo of the UPA crew, ca. 1950, standing outside their then-new John Lautner-designed animation studio.
Below is a key that identifies some of the folks in the photo. Click on it for a bigger version. And remember that next weekend at the Egyptian Theatre in LA, you’ll be able to hear in person from some of the amazing animators in this photo, namely Bill Melendez, Alan Zaslove and Willis Pyle.
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A great photo. Thanks for posting it. I wish I could be in LA next week for the UPA show. (Believe me, I’ve thought of flying out for it, but it’s not practical.) I hope you’ll post a long report on it.
Michael
Comment by Michael Sporn — March 19, 2006 @ 6:49 am
What a fantastic picture! Of course I can’t help looking at the women and wondering who they are. ; )
Is that very dark-haired gal to the immediate left(our left)of the tall guy in the bow tie Faith Hubley? Who’s the artistic-looking blonde?!
Then there’s a guy in the back/left side in a white knit shirt who could be Lou Romano’s dad(or Lou himself in a Twilight Zone episode, which, now I mention it, would make a lot of sense…hmmmm)?
Cool!
Comment by jenny — March 19, 2006 @ 12:54 pm
Michael - I’ll try to do a report…if anything exciting happens.
Jenny - The only woman I can identify in the photo is Mary Cain, in the very front, right, wearing the dark outfit. She was the head of the ink and paint department. I believe all the other women in this photo were ink and paint and production personnel. Shortly after this photo, UPA hired two women artists - Michi Kataoka, who did background painting, and Sterling Sturtevant, who became one of the studio’s primary designers. They hired a number of other women artists in the mid-1950s. That’s funny that the one guy looks like Lou. He wasn’t an artist, I think a cameraman or some other type of production person.
Comment by Amid — March 19, 2006 @ 5:36 pm
Thanks, Amid–I wonder if Ruth Kissane ever worked at UPA? She was a teacher in “motion graphics” at CalArts in 87-90 and I took her class for a lark; she was a fascinating person–a trumpet player also–who worked on the first Peanuts/ Melendez specials, so I wonder if she went back a bit further…she died too young, not too long after I left school.
As for that doppelganger for Lou–I should have clicked the photo to enlarge it before I made that call! I’m afraid Lou is much less like that fellow than I thought…he’s going to be at your shindig next weekend, yes? Can’t wait for that–it’s going to be fun, I’m sure.
Comment by Jenny — March 19, 2006 @ 6:18 pm
Wonder where Corny Cole is?
Comment by Fitzgerald Gonzalez — March 23, 2006 @ 10:34 am
Corny wasn’t at UPA at the time. I think he worked there in the late-1950s or early-1960s (perhaps on some of the Saperstein Magoos and Dick Tracys). But he’s definitely not in the two photos I posted.
Comment by Amid — March 23, 2006 @ 11:52 am
It was great to see a picture of my dad at UPA. It is very exciting to be able to read about the history of animation on your site. I was touched by Micheal Sporn’s comment about the first scene my dad (Jack Schnerk), animated in Gerald McBoing Boing. That was a story I never heard. I remember going to the studios in New York with my dad and meeting so many of the animators mentioned on this site including Michael Sporn. It brings back alot of good memories.
Comment by Mary Schnerk Lincoln — April 1, 2006 @ 10:13 pm
Is George Singer in that picture? I guess he cameto UPA a bit later
Comment by Randy Singer — May 28, 2008 @ 4:49 am