Destination Magoo

Last week, I profiled the short, Pink and Blue Blues with layouts by UPA designer and director, Ted Parmelee.  This week, it’s Destination Magoo, an unusual cartoon because it’s the only one to be written by UPA’s two main voice artists, Jim Backus and Jerry Hausner, the voices of Mr. Magoo and Waldo, respectively: 

Once again, Bob McIntosh is featured on backgrounds, this time the layouts are by Sterling Sturtevant: 

 

Special thanks to Tim Hollis for the photograph of Backus and Hausner.

Pink and Blue Blues

In honor of Magoo's upcoming birthday, the next few posts will feature original art from some of his theatrical efforts.  The first is Pink and Blue Blues, written by Bill Scott and directed by Pete Burness, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject.

Originally titled, The Baby Sitter, this 1952 cartoon is one of my favorites of the Magoo canon for several reasons-it’s a strong premise, well executed and features some excellent staging and design work as well as expressive background painting.

Magoo has been called in as an emergency baby sitter by his neighbors and not only has to deal with the baby but a masked burglar as well.  I love the images of Magoo wearing a smoking jacket and fez, something that apparently upset Egypt enough to ban the cartoon, “… having found that it offends the dignity of all Oriental countries.”  The film features layouts by Ted Parmelee who later directed UPA’s classic short, TheTell-Tale Heart and moody backgrounds by Bob McIntosh.  Below are some of Parmelee’s original layouts:

The film was loosely adapted for the 1958 Wonder Book, Mister Magoo, which features Magoo as a nearsighted baby sitter sans the burglar story line:

The Art of the Jay Ward Studio

If everything falls into place, it appears that the follow up to the making of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol book will be a book on the art of the Jay Ward studio.  As I mentioned in the previous book, both UPA and Ward shared a number of key artists throughout the early 60s.  One of those artists, Shirley Silvey, kept a lot of material from her days at both studios and as I began sifting through the material, it occurred to me that there was a book in both her life and work as well as a book on the visual aspect of the one studio, who more than any other, tried to keep 'funny' alive in TV animation.  I proposed the book to Classic Media and the Ward estate, who are tied together as Bullwinkle Studios; both were enthusiastically behind it.

This book won't be a history of the Jay Ward studio, Keith Scott's thorough examination of the Jay Ward studio, The Moose That Roared, has already covered that topic and covered it exceptionally well.  This is meant to be a visual encyclopedia of the art created by some of the industry's most talented designers and boarders within the context of TV animation's 'golden age'.  The reason I'm devoting space to on this blog is that although I've collected a lot of images for this book already, I'm asking any and all collectors of Jay Ward art for scans of their art for use in the book in order  to make it as complete as possible.  This call includes original storyboards, model sheets, layouts, cels, backgrounds, pitch art for unsold pilots, promotional art, ad art, the Bullwinkle comic strip and comics, etc.

I realize that much of the early Ward production work was done in Mexico making it extremely difficult to locate, if in fact it still exists.  However, more often than people realize, episodes, titles and bridges were animated in Hollywood and every so often, an artifact from those productions shows up.  If you're a collector of Jay Ward production art or know someone who is, please have them contact me here.  And if you know family members of artists who worked at Jay Ward, please send them my way.

To be clear, I'm not looking for scene cels, art that was manufactured for the retail market.  It's unclear as to whether or not General Mills or Quaker Oats will cooperate with this venture so for the time being, I'm focusing on the entertainment side of Jay Ward productions rather than their commercial productions like Cap'n Crunch or Quisp and Quake.  The book is scheduled to be published late next year. 

50th Anniversary Edition of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol Book

It’s unclear how much will be done to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol this year but one thing you can count in is the upcoming deluxe collector’s edition of my book.   This new book has been expanded to 176 pages from the original 128 and includes not only the original text but all the pertinent information from my blog over the last two years. LOTS of new artwork, too!  Below is a sneak peek at an advance copy.

More to come when the book is released in early October.  If you'd like to reserve a copy, send me an email here.

The blog is back!

Or will be soon!  Posting will resume after the Labor Day holiday.  Information about the 50th anniversary edition of the book will be in an upcoming post and there will be lots of interesting Magoo art to share.  Check back September 5th.

Laura Olsher 1927-2012

I'm sorry to report that Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol actress, Laura Olsher, passed away on June 5th after a bout with pneumonia.  For those of you familiar with my book, you will remember Laura as the actress who performed the role of Mrs. Cratchit, Peter Cratchit and the Laundress as well as many other miscellaneous roles in the film, about a dozen in all.  Disney fans will recall her as the narrator on the album, Chilling,Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. 

The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

I'm sorry to say that posting will once again be light simply because people forget about Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol for about 11 months of the year.  However, 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of the special and although it's too soon to tell what will happen to mark the occasion, I will periodically update this blog when there's something to report.  It also promises to be a banner year for both Mr. Magoo and UPA with the upcoming publication of the definitive book on UPA, When Magoo Flew, as well as the DVD release of the UPA theatrical shorts (both in March) and all of Magoo's theatrical cartoons including the feature 1001 Arabian Nights (June).  To stay tuned to any and all developments, either become a follower of this blog by clicking on Join This Site at the right or like the book's page on Facebook.

And if you have any information, photos or art from either the Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol or UPA's television era that you think might be worthy of inclusion in a 50th anniversary edition of the book, please contact me as soon as possible via info@mrmagooschristmascarol.com.