Here’s the first clip that I’ve managed to upload to YouTube. It’s the opening and closing titles that Rod Scribner animated for UPA’s last theatrical series “Ham and Hattie.” He probably animated this sometime around 1957. Scribner is obviously having a lot of fun animating these characters, which he designed himself. Note how he really pushes the graphic construction of the faces. Most animators of the period had a tendency to treat the “big nose/eyes-on-the-side design” as a flat shape, but Scribner isn’t afraid to make the design dimensional (especially in the tallest character) and show the construction of the character in 3/4 and front views as well as the standard side view.
PS - There’s a bit of a glitch in the middle of the video. I’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
That was all sorts of cool fun Amid - don’t think I have ever seen it before either.
Sorry I missed you in San Diego and L.A. too, but things were just ultra crazy.
Really looking forward to recieving my copy of Animation Blast and Cartoon Modern. Just wish i could have nabbed one of those DVD’s you were so kind to throw together for the con.
Comment by Clarke (Csnyde) — August 7, 2006 @ 9:36 am
I really think Scribner is the Ohira Shinya of his time. In terms of keeping his own personal interests invested in the animation he creates. I always think back to the kissing scene he animated in Coal Black. God damn!
Comment by Noah — August 12, 2006 @ 8:01 am
Clarke: I’ll meet ya yet one of these days. Hope you had fun in San Diego. I’ll make sure you get one of those dvds with your copy of the Blast.
Noah: Or perhaps Ohira Shinya is the Rod Scribner of his time
But you’re right, the best animators of the Fifties, such as Rod Scribner, Emery Hawkins and Bobe Cannon, put a lot of themselves into their work. Their animation always has a spark of individuality that makes it a lot of fun to watch. Sadly, that type of personal creative animation is all but non-existent in contemporary American animation, though it’s alive and well in Japan as I experienced in Masaaki Yuasa’s incredible feature MIND GAME.
Comment by Amid — August 13, 2006 @ 2:03 am
true … true …
Comment by Noah — August 14, 2006 @ 8:34 am
Thanks a million for putting this up! UPA was at its best when it combined design and stylized animation. Nowadays only the design is studied.
Comment by Eddie Fitzgerald — May 18, 2007 @ 12:52 pm