Back in print!

 After 8 years of being out of print, I'm pleased to announce that my book on the making of the first animated Christmas special is back in print!  But wait, there's more!  This edition is softcover but instead of reprinting the 2009 book, this is a reprint of the 2012 deluxe slipcased 50th anniversary edition, which had 48 more pages than the original and over 200 more images.  This edition has the added bonus of 2 more pages with 6 more rare photos from the song recording session, photos that were uncovered years after the deluxe edition had sold out.  

To sum up, this printing has 180 pages vs the original edition's 128 pages and 439 images vs 232 in the original.  Because of the limited print run of the deluxe version (only 250 copies), very few people have seen the extra material.  If you only own the first printing, you owe it to yourself to get this version, it's the most complete edition ever printed.  Available online only from the usual suspects like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Bob Inman, 1927-2016

I'm sorry to report that Bob Inman, one of the two main background painters on Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, has passed away.  Bob was one of animation's unsung talents, largely because he spent his career painting for television animation which has never received the kind of recognition theatrical animation has.  He was part of a generation of highly trained artists who were nominally known in the industry as background painters but who might be more properly defined as color stylists, using color boldly and expressively, oftentimes outshining the low quality animation that served as the foreground.


Bob started at Bob Clampett's Snowball Productions, churned out BGs by the dozen for Hank Saperstein's UPA TV productions of Mr. Magoo and Dick Tracy, painted numerous backgrounds in the manner of various French Impressionists for the stylish feature, Gay Purr-ee and served as one of two main color stylists and painters on Christmas Carol. 

Stylish yet spartan BG from an unknown Magoo TV short

When work at UPA dried up, he followed Christmas Carol producer Lee Orgel over to Cambria for The New Three Stooges and then moved to Chuck Jones' incarnation of the MGM studio, working under Maurice Noble on such productions as Tom & Jerry and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Bob later styled and painted The Pogo Special Birthday Special and reunited with Christmas Carol director Abe Levitow for We're Off to See the Wizard.
 

Moody BG likely from a Magoo GE comercial

He had brief stints with Jay Ward on the George of the Jungle series and with Abe Levitow on B.C.: The First Thanksgiving.  Later years were spent on seasonal work at Hanna-Barbera along with stints for Bosustow & Associates and freelance for most of the commercial houses in LA.  Bob returned to UPA in 1970 to once again work for Lee Orgel and Abe Levitow on Uncle Sam Magoo, where he was chief color stylist for the special.

Shortly before retiring, he freelanced for Chuck Jones on his stylish TV special, Mowgli's Brothers, below is one of his color keys for the show.  He finally left animation in 1976, tiring of the on again, off again nature of the industry and spent the rest of his time pursuing his passion for fine arts painting.

Bob's unorthodox approach to color in Christmas Carol

While the Saperstein years at UPA were without a doubt a factory system, the painters were left alone to style and paint as they saw fit.  Being able to paint using various techniques and unusual color schemes were the hallmarks of Bob's time at UPA as evidenced by his work on Christmas Carol and The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo.


 
Right, one of Bob's more painterly backgrounds from the 4 part Robin Hood episode of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo. Below, a background from the Cyrano De Bergerac episode from the same series. You can read a little more about Bob and see some more of his work here from a profile I did over 5 years ago here on this blog. 

Bob, like so many of his contemporaries in TV animation (David Weidman, Gloria Wood, Jack Heiter and Sam Clayberger among many others) has remained "in the background" of animation history.  I was fortunate to have met and interviewed Bob Inman and, because he saved so many examples of his work, highlight his legacy for future generations.  Thanks for the memories, Bob.

Pitching The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo

Pitch art for Robin Hood, artist unknown

My last post, Mr. Magoo and the Features That Never Were, featured some rare UPA pitch art for the studio's unproduced Mr. Magoo features.  Considering the lineage between the feature concepts and the concept for the 1964 TV series, The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, it seemed only fitting to do a post on the artwork produced to pitch the show to NBC.

Pitch art for William Tell, possibly drawn by Bob Dranko

The 1962 broadcast debut of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol had performed well beyond expectations and the network was looking for a followup.  The special had featured Magoo playing a role in a piece of classic literature and considering that all of UPA's previous proposed feature vehicles had done the same, Robin Hood, Don Quixote and 1001 Arabian Nights, it was not a big leap to suggest an entire series based around the premise.  Hank Saperstein was a consummate salesman but despite his skills, he still needed some visuals to clinch the deal.  It was most likely Lee Orgel that put together the art that sold the series, turning to Shirley Silvey, who was on layoff from Jay Ward at the time, and Corny Cole, who had produced the concept art that had previously sold Christmas Carol.

Pitch art by Corny Cole

How many drawings were done by Corny Cole is unknown but about half a dozen have surfaced.  It appears that Shirley did a much larger number of images for a wide variety of stories, although most of the original drawings and setups have been lost.  Below is a scan of many of her pieces that were photographed for early promotion, this image is from a brochure sent to NBC affiliates.

When I was going through the boxes of her surviving artwork, I found photocopies of a few of her thumbnails; it's possible that some of these were never taken to full-sized color artwork.  The quality is poor so click on them to enlarge:

 

Captain Kidd

Don Quixote

 

Treasure Island

The final rendering for the left thumbnail for "Treasure Island" is reproduced in the pamphlet image above.  Recently discovered in Ray Bradbury's collection, and sold at auction, was the following piece of pitch art for Famous Adventures, also by Shirley Silvey.  The background is done with cut paper and colored pencil:

The setup below, which was reproduced in my book, was listed as artist unknown.  Looking at the breadth of the art done by Shirley as well as her drawing style and the use of cut-out background elements and color pencil, it appears that this piece can now be attributed to her.

Special thanks once again to the Mago0 Admirer for the idea behind this post.

UPA's lost year

Despite the overwhelming positive response to Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, the studio largely lay fallow through 1963.  Once again, as was (and still is) common for animation studios, most of the staff had been let go at the end of production and only a few key artists stayed on, in this case, to handle the demands of the General Electric TV commercials featuring Magoo.  Mr. Magoo was considered an “in” property at the time and continued to generate income through licensing and merchandising even if he wasn’t actively utilized in production.  Saperstein expanded his Magoo empire by developing and selling a Mr. Magoo comic strip to the Los Angeles Times Syndicate around this time.  (Above, a panel from the strip, drawn by the versatile Pete Alvarado.)

But considering the success of the special, it's a bit puzzling that, aside from the TV commercials, Magoo made no new broadcast or film appearances during 1963.  Without having access to the UPA production records, it's difficult to know exactly what happened during this "lost" year.  What seems likely, though, is that UPA had been caught flat footed with the unexpected success of the special.  In Hollywood, success demands more of the same so it's not unreasonable to assume that NBC immediately requested a follow up and UPA would have had to scramble to come up with something.  

Some of the answer to what happened in 1963 might be in a letter recently discovered in Abe Levitow's files.  Although it seems like a natural progression to take the central conceit of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, Magoo as an actor in literary classics, and expand it into a series, this letter indicates that the path was anything but a straight line.  The letter, dated June 6, 1963, addressed to Abe Levitow, is from Chris Hayward, one of the staff writers at Jay Ward (Hayward is credited as the creator of Dudley Do-Right and future co-developer of The Munsters).  It's unusual for competing animation studios to collaborate, but in my book I note the frequent interchange of personnel between UPA and Jay Ward throughout the 1960s.  Now, it appears that the relationship between the two studios might have been even closer than first realized.

Hayward begins:

I think we can now generally agree that depositing Magoo in a proper and saleable vehicle provides with us what we can label one hell of an enigma.

When the character first erupted on the screens, he was dug by kids but I think mostly by adults, appealing to that select group of connoisseurs who now rapture joyously over the Hubley and Pintoff offerings.

In his next paragraph, he nails the central problem with the then current incarnation of Magoo:

The five minute cartoon TV series wiped out the avant garde fans, capitalizing instead on the tousled haired set from five to fifteen.

He continues to analyze the situation and then begins his proposal:

Currently in vogue is the dashing James Bond character, hero in sundry novels and recently in motion pictures.  Bond is the epitome of the secret secret service agent, thriving on deadly action, good booze, and an unending stream of delectable broads.

...Anyway, it might be fun making Magoo into a blase, man-of-the-world crime-solver, maintaining a lush penthouse suite in Manhattan, dining in elegant bistros educating an already glutted epicurean palate, pursued by a coterie of lovely vixens smitten by his ruddy maturity, and dedicating the twilight years of his life bringing scoundrels to justice.

At no point was Hayward suggesting that UPA continue to capitalize on Magoo's nearsightedness.  Instead, he saw Magoo as an adult level character again, although he may have been overreaching by pitching Magoo's involvement with the three Bs, booze, broads and bad guys.  It was an intriguing notion but once a character has crossed into the juvenile market, it's virtually impossible to bring them back.  Most likely UPA realized that as well, as the matter appears to have been dropped.  Hanna Barbera later capitalized on the Bond craze, albeit with less panache than Chris Hayward was suggesting, with their feature length film, The Man Called Flintstone.  And Hayward did get to explore his takeoff on the James Bond films when he wrote for the spy spoof TV series, Get Smart.

Eventually, the studio did adopt the idea of Magoo starring in literary classics, which became The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo.  This correspondence makes one wonder, though, what other proposals were explored during that year to capitalize on the success of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol?

Abe Levitow, director

During my interviews with some of the artists and production personnel who worked with Abe Levitow, it became apparent that despite being a highly regarded draftsman, he was a man of few words.  Annie Guenther, color modelist on Christmas Carol, who lived near him in Northridge when they both worked at UPA, would sometimes drive him to work when his sports car was experiencing trouble.  She remembers that during the lengthy drive to Burbank, Abe spent the entire time thoughtfully puffing on his pipe, never uttering so much as a word.  Although every single artist and administrator praised him as being a kind and an unusually supportive director, few could tell me much about him as a person.  With enough anecdotes and access to his well kept archives, I was able to form a fairly clear picture of the man but I felt that when it came time to consider candidates for profiles on this blog, perhaps the people most qualified to provide insight into the artist who directed Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol were his family.  Following is a remembrance by his three adult children.

“REMEMBERING THE MOOSE” by  Judy, Roberta and Jon Levitow

They called him “Moose” in the Army, and the name just stuck.  During World War Two he worked for the animation branch of the Signal Corps, the Army’s motion picture division, in New York's Astoria Studios making training films with other writers and cartoonists such as Stan Lee (Marvel Comics), Sam Cobean (The New Yorker, The Naked Eye) , and George Baker (Sad Sack) as well as many other Hollywood animators .  There are hundreds of caricatures of our dad as a moose with a huge nose and antlers planted on his head, towering over everyone.  He sent our mom Valentines and Anniversary cards with himself as a giant, awkward moose and our mom as a dainty damsel.  The caricature really fit him since he was tall, gentle, shy and funny.  (Above and below, drawings by Chuck Jones.) 

Often he communicated better through drawings than through conversation.  “Moosey” wasn’t prone to blowing his own horn, but worked with a quiet pride.  Even many years later, we’re told of the fierce loyalty he instilled in those who worked with him.  People tell us how he encouraged creativity in others and always tried to get the best work from them.  When he died too soon in 1975, just short of his 53rd birthday, he fell into a quiet obscurity undisturbed by the animation revival of the 1980’s.  It’s thanks to animation historians like Darrell Van Citters that our dad Abe Levitow’s loving contribution to the field will at last be remembered.  

Conceived in Ostrolenka, Poland, near the Russian border, our Dad was born in Boyle Heights in East LA in 1922.  William Levitow, his very pregnant wife Sarah, and their 2- year- old daughter Frances were part of an early wave of Jewish immigrants leaving Eastern Europe due to the upsurge of anti-Semitism amidst constantly changing borders, armies and governments.   “Willie” was originally a Talmudic scholar in Vilna, Lithuania, but left to avoid conscription in the various Russian armies to become an artist in a new media…photography.  He loved to tell us grandchildren that back in the Old Country everyone thought he was some kind of magician because he could superimpose an image of a man and make him look like he was sitting on a horse.  When he came to Los Angeles, he worked as a photo-retoucher for 20th Century Fox and made all the stars’ defects disappear.   Willie joined the IATSE #683 film laboratory technicians strike in 1945, found himself on the blacklist and never worked again for the studios.  As far as we could tell, from then until after “Willie” grew too weak to lift boxes at his brother-in-law’s grocery store, our grandparents lived on the rents in the little quadraplex they owned on Fountain Avenue in Hollywood.   

It was our grandmother who really nurtured our father’s drawing talent.  Sarah was passionately involved in Los Angeles’ early Yiddish culture scene and she counted many artists among her friends. She encouraged young Abe to pursue his evident talent and sent him to Saturday art classes.  As a teenager, Dad sent away for and completed mail-order cartooning classes from the W.L. Evans School of Cartooning.  After he graduated from Roosevelt High School, Dad won a scholarship to Chouinard School of Art (which eventually evolved into the California Institute of the Arts).  Our grandmother encouraged Abe to walk his drawings virtually across the street to the Leon Schlesinger studio on the Warner Bros. lot.  It was long spoken of as one of the family miracle stories that, on the spot, Chuck Jones hired him as an in-betweener.  Dad never left the animation business after that.  In gratitude, Chuck got one of our grandmother’s delicious European-style cheesecakes every Christmas time. We never knew if it was the cheesecakes or not, but they marked a long alliance between Chuck and our father.  They worked together at Warner Brothers, MGM and ABC.   Another benefit of animation was that Abe met our mother Charlotte, an award winning artist in her own right, who was an ink & painter at Warner Brothers.   They married in 1949.  (Below, a 1954 shot of Abe at Warner Bros., just after he began receiving screen credit.  Seated at the desk is animator Dick Thompson.)

Dad was always a little self-conscious about not having gone to college.  But he never stopped educating himself - reading, seeing plays or movies.  Throughout his career he continued life-drawing classes.  Our Sunday afternoon family outings were most likely to be a trip to the latest exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Fine art books filled our family bookshelves, and Dad had a particular love for the work of powerful draftsmen like Mexico’s Francisco Zuñiga and David Siqueiros.  

 

Abe Levitow’s career went on to span over 35 years.  He progressed from in-betweener, to animator, to animation director.  (Above, some of Abe's late '50s doodles.)  Besides his work with Chuck Jones, he spent a number of years at UPA and worked with Richard Williams in London and LA (below, an original cel setup from Richard Williams' version of A Christmas Carol).  We couldn’t be prouder of him and his accomplishments.  He’s listed as an animator on eight of Jerry Beck’s “The 100 Greatest Looney Tune Cartoons”,  although he had begun animating years before he received screen credit.  He directed late-UPA favorites Gay Purr-ee and Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol.   Many kind testimonials fill our guest book at www.abelevitow.com, a website we created to help bring his wonderful talent back to aficionados of animation history.  

In 1971, after decades of supporting so many other studios' efforts, he finally struck out on his own, forming Levitow/Hanson Films.  But just two years after realizing that dream, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a bone cancer that painfully reduced his former Moose-like stature.  Dad loved animation and never stopped working until he just couldn’t manage the effort, finally succumbing in 1975.  (Below, Levitow and crew in front of their office in the Walter Lantz building in Hollywood.  Christmas Carol alums Tony Rivera and Steve Clark are on the left.)

We remember our father as a homebody, not much of a traveler - someone who loved nothing more than spending the evening and weekends doing ink drawings with his kids, working on clay sculptures, and exploring his oil paints.  He even painted sets for the local Northridge Theatre Guild.  He charmed our mom’s huge extended family and especially all the kids and cousins.  He enjoyed summers in San Diego, where we shared an extended-family house at the beach and where he delighted in beach softball and water sports.  For  a towering man of 6’4”, he was surprisingly gentle.  Sometimes he seemed lost in his own thoughts,  but if he was in the mood, he could keep the kids and grown-ups laughing hysterically at funny stories or his funny voices.  At family gatherings, “Moose” was always the large man with all the little kids crawling all over him, shooting hoops with the older kids in the backyard, or drawing a funny picture of Bugs Bunny or the family dog—whatever struck someone’s fancy. 

"Remembering the Moose" copyright 2010 by Judy Levitow, Roberta Levitow and Jon Levitow

Happy Thanksgiving!

The above drawing was done by Abe Levitow as pitch art for a never produced episode of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo.  May you and your family have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

And if you're in Los Angeles this weekend, don't forget about the screening of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol with Marie Matthews, Jane Kean and Bob Singer at the Egyptian Theater.  If you'd like a copy of the book signed by the panel participants, you can pre-order a copy here.

Happy Halloween!

The above drawing, by supervising director Abe Levitow, was used in the production of the Frankenstein episode from The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, one of the more interesting offerings in the series due to the dark, German Expressionist styling of the backgrounds by Gloria Wood.  Famed animal draftsman and ex-Disney animator, Ken Hultgren, author of The Art of Animal Drawing, animated a good portion of the episode.  There are a few cels from this episode for sale here.  Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Ronald Searle and Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

The British Invasion as a pop cultural reference usually refers to the wave of British bands that began to infiltrate American pop music starting in 1962. However, there was a sort of pre-British Invasion when it came to the culture in general. The vanguard was led by several British-themed musicals and plays in 1960-Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons, Lerner and Lowe’s Camelot and most importantly for Mr. Magoo, Oliver!, with music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart and based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

Shortly after the debut of the Dickens musical, an edition of A Christmas Carol with illustrations by Ronald Searle, the renowned British cartoonist, was published. (World Publishing Co., copyright 1960, 1961.) Searle illustrated two more of Dickens’ works, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, both published in 1962. The Magoo special had its debut on the NBC network in December 1962.

It appears that Dickens was experiencing a bit of a cultural renaissance and both Bart’s musical and Searle’s book had a hand in the genesis of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. The success of Oliver! clearly influenced the decision to make an animated musical based on A Christmas Carol and Searle's book seems to have inspired the artists at UPA as they designed the special-a UPA stamped copy of the book was found in Abe Levitow’s personal collection of material from the film.

Ronald Searle

Below are a few indications of Searle's influence: 

This early pre-production art shows the strongest Searle influence, artist unknown

A greatly simplified version of the fiddler by designer Lee Mishkin

Lee Mishkin simplified Fezziwig's and his wife's costumes for animation

Searle's drawing from the book has been flopped  for comparison

Tony Rivera's design for the turkey boy as animated by Duane Crowther

These few designs by Lee Mishkin and Tony Rivera unfortunately pale in comparison to Searle's florid line work but the two were working in a different discipline and constricted by production methodology and budget. Viewed by themselves, the designs are extremely appealing and contribute enormously to the charm of the film.

Mishkin was not alone in referencing Searle; many of his contemporaries were also influenced by Ronald Searle's work. In fact, Searle caught Disney designer Tom Oreb poaching what he felt was his horse design for Samson in Sleeping Beauty, and the host and contestants on "What's My Crime?" in 101 Dalmatians, also designed by Oreb, have a distinctly Searle feel to them. Even the line work in the backgrounds for 101 Dalmatians,created by layout man Ernie Nordli, echoes Searle's own backgrounds.

To see more from Ronald Searle's lavishly illustrated edition of A Christmas Carol, as well as his other Dickens' editions, click here.