In a post from several years ago, I profiled
Bob Singer, one
of the production designers on
Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, who laid out
several key areas of the film including the prologue on Broadway and the
opening sequence in Scrooge’s office.
In
his capacity as a layout artist, he was responsible for drawing the characters
and their environments but had nothing to do with how they were interpreted in
color.
However, prior to joining UPA,
Bob was employed at Warner Bros. Cartoons as a background painter.
He did most of his painting in Bob McKimson’s
unit but would occasionally swing into action doing both paintings and layouts
for other directors, like Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow.
He was about to become Friz Freleng’s layout
man when UPA offered him more money.
During my consultation for
I Say, I Say... Son!, the book on Looney
Tunes director Bob McKimson, I reviewed a number of Foghorn cartoons and came
across one featuring Singer’s work as a background painter.
Below are some frames from the cartoon,
Crockett Doodle Doo, highlighting Singer’s sense of color, with layouts by
animation legend, Bob Givens. Click on each image to enlarge it:
You can see the complete cartoon
here but if you want to see a nice print where you can fully appreciate the color and design work, order it
here.
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