Cartoon Modern

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There’s many designers who are as mysterious to me today as when I first started working on the book. Charleen Peterson is one of them. Here’s everything I know about her:

- She was recruited from Chouinard Art Institute.

- She worked at UPA from 1954-1956. She may have worked there longer, but I haven’t been able to confirm beyond 1956.

- She was married to story artist Charlie Frazier.

- Her only UPA credit that I’ve found is that she was the designer of MEET THE INVENTOR: ROBERT FULTON, a short that aired on the CBS TV series THE BOING BOING SHOW (1956). The piece was directed by Aurelius Battaglia, and it’s made in a simple but effective cut-out style.

It’s funny because during the course of research, I asked a number of UPA veterans about her, and the response was always, “Oh yes, of course I remember Charleen!” But nobody could ever remember what she actually did at the studio. Then I found a photo of her, which is below, and it became obvious why she was so fondly remembered by the other artists. If ROBERT FULTON is any indicator, she was a pretty good designer too. I have no idea whether she continued working in animation after UPA or whether she’s still alive, but perhaps somebody out there knows?

Frame grabs from MEET THE INVENTOR: ROBERT FULTON

Mid-1950s photo of Charleen Peterson

Today I offer an example of what I consider to be poor animation design. The cartoon is WACKIKI RABBIT, a 1943 WB short directed by Chuck Jones. The only reason I’m pointing out the film right now is because the entire cartoon was recently posted on the classic cartoon podcast Refrederator. Despite its faults, it’s worth checking out to see an example of Modern design in early-1940s animation.

My problem with this film is its backgrounds and how they compete with and overwhelm the animation. The superflat wallpaper styling also makes it seem as if the characters are performing in front of a backdrop rather than truly interacting with their environment. It’s hardly a surprise to read in this Mike Barrier interview that the film’s background stylist, Bernyce Polifka, had been designing wallpaper patterns prior to joining Jones’s unit.

John McGrew, who is the subject being interviewed in Barrier’s interview, was Chuck Jones’s layout designer prior to Polifka, and he was doing amazing modern design in the early-40s Warner shorts. He understood the balance between form and function that is necessary in successful layout design, and in a film like THE ARISTO-CAT (1943), he was able to push the background design in a way that complemented—and even enhanced—the film’s animation.

The Tom Oreb model sheet below, irreverently titled “Pegleg-less Pete Cat,” was for a car commercial with Donald Duck, ca. 1955. There’s a cel from the commercial in the book, but we couldn’t fit in this model sheet.

That so many commercials with stylized Disney characters were produced at studio is nothing short of amazing. Had Walt known that his most famous characters were receiving such extreme makeovers, he never would have approved, and in fact, as soon as Walt found out about them, he forbade the commercial division from doing any more stylized versions of the characters. Fortunately, Oreb had already created dozens of reinterpretations of the Disney characters. His mastery of design and shapes is just amazing in these designs. Note how in the model sheet below he plays curves versus straights in Pete’s face. Even in straight-ahead poses, there is nothing even or boring about the character’s design.