UPA, John HubleyMarch 30, 2006 1:15 am
This will be the last post about ROOTY TOOT TOOT for a while. The following are sequential frame grabs from scenes animated by Pat Matthews. One thing that really stands out to me about these drawings is how much liberty Matthews takes with Hubley’s character designs. Hubley had established clearly what the characters should look like, but he did not stifle the animators so that they could not add a bit of themselves into the work. Matthews, who had a strong ‘cartoony’ animation background, took advantage of the opportunity and really pushed the design of the character Johnny. His drawings have a slightly grotesque quality, which is perfectly expressive of the frantic happenings in his scenes.
(click on images for larger versions)
That’s interesting, I was just reading about Pat Matthews on Thad’s new “Identifying Animators” blog - there’s a a couple great clips of Matthews animating on the Lantz cartoon “Wild & Woody.”
Did he animate on a lot of the UPA shorts?
Comment by Marc Deckter — March 30, 2006 @ 1:52 am
Yes, Matthews animated on a lot of UPA’ Columbia shorts in the early-1950s. I don’t have an exact number but at least 15 or 16 films.
Comment by Amid — March 30, 2006 @ 6:47 pm