Above: a coffee ad designed by Mordi Gerstein and animated by Grim Natwick.
Here are some random stills from UPA TV commercials. Some of the stills have suffered water damage hence the funky quality. The designers of the ’50s made this type of simplified design look so effortless and appealing, not an easy thing to pull off. I’ve never seen any of these particular commercials but I bet they’re quite a bit of fun to see in movement. Click on the images below for larger versions.
Arcadian Nitrogen fertilizer
designer unknown
Bromo Seltzer
director: Gene Deitch
Same coffee ad as up top
A couple stills from some motor oil ad or something.
A commercial for Holiday magazine
Oldsmobile spot
Proctor toaster
designer: Fred Crippen
These are great, Amid! Too bad about the water damage — but at least we get to see a good amount of each frame. Love that dude on the tractor. And the home layout for the Holiday Magazine? I dream to be able to pull off something like that. One day….
Comment by Ward — August 9, 2007 @ 10:36 pm
I have a set of cells from Procto toaster and till this very minute I didn’t by whom or what they were. Terribly elegant design and beautiful brush tracing!
Comment by Oscar Grillo — August 17, 2007 @ 7:21 pm
super old! thanks for the pictures, i’m a great cartoon lover, but due to my age i grew up on cartoon network (dexter, cow and chicken, tom&jerry) and other post 1995 cartoons. so i enjoy seeing where it all began.
keep up the good work!
Comment by eye-contact — September 9, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
I know these have been up here for a while. No matter..this is great, inspiring stuff!!
Comment by Robert Schaad — September 12, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
These do appear to be spots I directed at UPA/NY
1951-1954
Comment by Gene Deitch — April 29, 2009 @ 12:29 am
Aaaaaaaaah! There’s nothing like hand-rendered
advertising illustration. So rich. Such personality. Such…attitude. You don’t get that from a computer.
Comment by Betty — August 4, 2009 @ 2:12 pm