A Studio on the Edge

First in a four part series

      How did UPA, the animation studio once regarded as the pinnacle of artistic animation, end up as a factory for TV animation?  Rumors and half truths about what actually happened circulated within the animation industry for so many years that they became conventional wisdom.  Unfortunately, the conventional wisdom contained some disparities and it became a question that I felt needed an answer as I delved deeper into the story of the UPA studio and Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.  To answer that question, it was necessary to examine over a thousand pages of documents in the Los Angeles County Superior Court records.
      In the original draft for the book, I had posited that four people were responsible for the production of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol-UPA studio chief Stephen Bosustow, executive producer Hank Saperstein, producer Lee Orgel and director Abe Levitow.  Although Bosustow had not been involved with the actual production of the special, decisions he had made years earlier created the situation that eventually led to the film’s existence.  During the book rewriting process, it was determined that those actions “behind the curtain” were not germane to the story of the making of the film and the material was excised. 
      However, I felt it was a fascinating insight into the clash of business and art, not to mention the clash of wills and have chosen to make it available to others as a cautionary tale about the business side of art.

Trouble in paradise 

     As the decade of the 1950s came to an end, there were a number of elements which conspired to challenge the future of the UPA studio, not the least of which was the market for theatrical animated cartoon shorts was rapidly disappearing.   Television had been making inroads into the animation industry and that trend had begun to accelerate in the late 1950s.  The collapse of the theatrical market during that period had essentially closed that revenue stream to UPA.  As devastating as that loss was, it may have been a mixed blessing as the shorts were a financial drain for the studio, being consistently and chronically over budget.
     What paid for the over budget shorts was UPA’s television commercial division.  Years earlier, UPA had branched out from theatrical shorts at their main Burbank studio to open TV commercial production offices first in New York in 1951 and five years later in London, with plans to open yet another office in Chicago.  Apparently 1955 was the financial high point for UPA as the studio boasted of record profits that year and by 1956, television commercials were providing nearly half of their gross income (i).  Although the New York office had been a roaring success and was highly profitable, it was never autonomous and the income it produced was siphoned off to keep the Burbank operation afloat (ii).  That kind of bookkeeping, along with the increased overhead of numerous branches and other management missteps began to compromise the financial health of the studio and in 1958, the New York office closed, followed shortly by the London facility.  The Chicago office never materialized. 

Stephen Bosustow

     It seems that financial issues had always dogged the studio, perhaps not unreasonably for a studio built almost solely on the strength of its artists rather than business acumen.  During the early days of UPA’s existential struggles, stock ownership had been exchanged for weekly paychecks.  When Columbia Studios agreed to distribute their films, paychecks became more regular but the studio was still paying less than the competition.  In 1952, twelve animators walked off the job over the lack of wage increases.  The trade-off had always been artistic freedom but the low pay and lack of raises had begun to rankle many of the staffers.  When Gene Deitch was solicited to join UPA in the New York commercial operation, Steve Bosustow put his hand on Deitch’s shoulder and said, “Gene, you’re a Marxist, aren’t you?” (iii)   It was a clever way to keep a lid on labor costs, appealing to his artists’ left wing sympathies.  Matters weren’t helped when it became apparent to UPA Vice President Herb Klynn and a number of other staffers that while Bosustow was keeping a lid on their wages, he was running personal expenses, like a new swimming pool, through the company coffers.        
 

      Adding a final straw to the studio’s woes at this time, was the release of UPA’s first feature, 1001 Arabian Nights (featuring their star character, Mr. Magoo), which failed miserably at the box office.  The studio had been banking on the film’s success to dig it out of its financial hole; instead it only worsened the company’s dire predicament.

Herb Klynn

     In October 1959, twenty six artists and administrative personnel left the company, some apparently so angry they preferred to resign via Certified Mail rather than face Bosustow in person.  The timing of their departure was not coincidental.  Herb Klynn, as Vice President, was in a position to see where the company was headed and neither he nor many of the other UPA staffers liked what they saw.  The group had decided to take their fate into their own hands and through the efforts of former Klynn assistant and now head of sales, Henrietta “Hank” Jordan, the group had concluded a deal with Ross Bagdasarian (the writer, creator and performer of Alvin and the Chipmunks) to produce the animated series, The Alvin Show under the banner of their newly formed company, Format Films.    

    Things were looking pretty bleak that fall for Stephen Bosustow and UPA.  The theatrical shorts distribution contract with Columbia had expired mid-year, their first and only feature had bombed at the box-office, most of the staff had just deserted and there were no major projects or contracts ahead to keep the studio afloat.  Word got around that UPA was in serious trouble.  The man who would seemingly come to the studio’s rescue was someone who knew nothing about animation but a lot about selling, Henry G. Saperstein.

(i) "Look, No Humans in Boing Boing Show Making TV Bow Today", Cecil Smith, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 16, 1956
(ii) How to Succeed in Animation, Gene Deitch, p. 65
(iii) How to Succeed in Animation, Gene Deitch, p. 60

Next Thursday,  A New Direction

What's new in the second edition

The good news is that the book, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special will be back in print and, pending shipment from the printer, available next week.  The first edition exceeded sales projections and sold out so thank you to all of those who contributed to its success!  This new edition is not a straight reprint of the first one; once the book was published, people came forward with new information, art or documents that helped to refine the story of the film’s production.  There is no new art in the book but for those of you who are completists, here’s a compendium of what you will find new in this next edition:

p. 14-Short identified for background painting.

p. 22,23-New information regarding sponsors

p. 33-New theory regarding changed order of ghosts

pp. 41, 44, 45 & 49-New information regarding who did which voices

p. 48-New picture

p. 50, 51-New information on the dialogue recording session

p. 55-New information on Royal Dano’s role

p. 77-New information on an uncredited sequence director

p. 79-Graveyard sequence director corrected

p. 90-New information regarding NY debut party at the 21 Club

p. 97, 98-1977 paperback mentioned

pp. 116, 117-Credits added and corrected

p. 23, 32, 55, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 126-Production drafts, which UPA staffers told me didn't exist, came to light after the book had been sent to the printer.  I was able to positively ID artwork as a result and have made the corrections in the new edition. 

p. 75, 86, 87-A few of the background paintings have now been positively identified as the work of others.

This edition has a smaller print run than the first so don't wait until Christmas.  You can pre-order the book here.

Bonus features for the upcoming DVD release

After last December’s successful hi-def screening of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol and book signing at the Paley Center for Media in New York, Classic Media decided to re-master and re-package the special for a new Blu-ray collector's edition (a standard-def disc will also be included in the set).  As part of that process, I was asked to suggest bonus features for the upcoming release; following is a list of material I produced for the DVD:

Full length audio commentary-Interviews with Gerard Baldwin (sequence director), Bob Singer (layout), Marie Matthews (young Scrooge), Jane Kean (Belle), Laura Olsher (Mrs. Cratchit, Cratchit children) and Lea Orgel (wife of producer Lee Orgel).  Left, is a character from the sequence in which Scrooge visits the village of his youth; she was designed by Lee Mishkin but cut from the final film.  Scrooge refers to a Mrs. Doolittle when greeting villagers but the script also refers to a Mrs. Halsey so she could be either one.  In the commentary, I refer to this character and identify her as Mrs. Doolittle.

From Pencil to Paint: Production Art Montage-Character and background layouts compared to the final color art or screen images and set to the long lost Overture by Walter Scharf, presumably written for a never released soundtrack album.  This montage shows just how crucial the layout artists were to both the design and performances in the film.

Styne & Merrill Song Demo-A very rare recording of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill playing and singing their own material as a demo for producer Lee Orgel.  The featured song is “Ringle, Ringle” and synced to picture with Styne and Merrill voicing the characters during the song.

Storyboard Sequences-A peek into the process with storyboard thumbnails for two sequences (Lord’s Bright Blessing and Fezziwig’s) by production designer Lee Mishkin, synced to the existing soundtrack and compared against final picture.

Pamphlet-16 pages of text and images excerpted from the book to provide a broad overview of the film’s genesis and production.

Reprint of Jim Backus signed publicity photo from Christmas Carol

The remastered DVD is scheduled to be released Nov. 16, 2010 and you can pre-order it here.

Bob Inman, painter

Many of the artists that worked in the animation industry from the 1930s through the 1960s were graduates of the highly regarded Los Angeles art schools-Chouinard, Art Center, Otis and Jepson. The first wave of animation talent to go through these schools was during the 1930s due to Walt Disney’s drive to increase the quality and quantity of artists available for his rapidly increasing production needs. The second wave in the 40s and 50s was driven by the GI Bill as many returning vets opted for an art education before rejoining the work force.

One of those returning vets to benefit from this training was Robert Inman, one of the key background painters on Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. Bob had joined the Navy just before the end of WWII but saw limited duty. After he was discharged, he attended college but unhappy with the art program there settled on Chouinard Art Institute instead. One of his favorite instructors there was Disney legend, Don Graham, whose philosophy according to Bob was, “You don’t draw what you see, you draw what you know.” Upon graduation in 1952, he took a test at Disney where he was offered a job for $30 a week for the first year (approx. $245 in today’s dollars) but declined the position for a higher paying job at Douglas Aircraft doing technical drawings.

His first job in animation wasn’t until 1959 at Bob Clampett’s Snowball Productions, filling in for a few months for a staffer on vacation. Bob’s career in animation really took off, though, when longtime friend and former roommate, Corny Cole, who was working at UPA, told him of an opening in the background department. UPA paid better than Douglas and Inman spent the next five years there, working on The Mr. Magoo Show, The Dick Tracy Show, Gay Purr-ee, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol and finally leaving in 1964 when production shut down after the completion of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo. When I asked Bob what he thought of his tenure there, he replied, “UPA was the only animation studio I worked for that really let me be creative. They never held your hand and made being creative impossible.” (Above, one of Bob's paintings for Gay Purr-ee)

Corny’s recommendation had long term ramifications for Bob as he spent much of the rest of his career working with people he met while at UPA-Lee Orgel, who produced the animated series, The New Three Stooges at Cambria Studios; Abe Levitow at Chuck Jones’ MGM Visual Arts where Bob painted backgrounds for Tom & Jerry shorts, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Horton Hears a Who, The Phantom Tollbooth, Off to See the Wizard and The Pogo Special Birthday Special (for which he painted every single background despite being stricken with the Hong Kong flu); and fellow painter Gloria Wood, at Jay Ward, painting on George of the Jungle and Super Chicken. He briefly returned to UPA in 1970 to once again work with Abe Levitow on Uncle Sam Magoo (produced by Lee Orgel and scored by Walter Scharf, also veterans of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol).

Bob also painted for Hanna Barbera on many of their late 60s, early 70s TV shows like Arabian Knights, It’s the Wolf and The Roman Holidays (above, one of his paintings for Hanna Barbera). He left the animation business in 1973 to devote his time to fine art painting but continued to pick up freelance work from Bosustow Productions as well as many of the local commercial houses like Film Fair, Quartet and even working again with Abe Levitow at Levitow Hansen Films.

Since devoting his full time to fine art painting, Bob has sold many of his pieces to both private and corporate collections. The Art Rental & Sales Gallery of Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been representing his art over 20 years. You can find some of Bob’s abstract work here. Reflecting on his life as a painter, Bob had this to say:

“I’ve gone through three different stages in my painting career. I started out doing realistic works and ended up an abstract painter. People sometimes ask me “Why did you put that color there?” or “What were you thinking about when you did that painting?” I tell them I don’t think a lot about those decisions when I’m working. I work emotionally not intellectually. After so many years I’ve learned to trust myself---to just let it out.  If I think too much about what I’m doing my work will get fussy or stiff. I work from the belly.”

Bob’s artistic philosophy is evident even in his early career as seen in his work on Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol:

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.

Phill Norman, titles

On an irregular basis, I will be doing a few in-depth profiles of some of the cast and crew since the special was only a tiny part of their careers.  First up, as befits a title artist, is Phill Norman.

Phill Norman, 2007

The iconic title lettering for Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol was done by Phill Norman, who also painted the title cards and all the lettering in the special, although he’s listed as a “color stylist” in the credits for the film. (For you font-a-holics, Phill’s hand-done work is most closely approximated by Latino Rumba for “Mister Magoo’s” and Ed Benguiat Interlock for “Christmas Carol” with a smattering of Coop Condensed thrown in for good measure. The second font was fairly commonplace during the early 60s-other examples can be found in The Alvin Show and My Favorite Martian.) 

In fact, Phill was responsible for all the title work, credits and lettering that ran through the studio but would occasionally paint backgrounds. Norman had one of the more unusual entrées into the animation field as he told it:

I had a friend that I had gone to high school with who worked there (at UPA). He had come out to California before me. I came out here on vacation and had lunch with him and some other guys from the studio. For some reason or another, in talking, they offered me a position and I didn't go back. I didn't finish the vacation. I went to work there a couple of weeks after that and I worked there for I think about 2 ½ or 3 years, something like that. I worked on a number of projects there. From that I went into doing main titles for movies and TV.

Phill had no prior experience painting, either for titles or for animation, although he had attended art school in Indiana for three years before accepting the job. His timing, though, couldn’t have been better. UPA had just ramped up production with 130 Magoo shorts and 130 Dick Tracy shorts, all of which needed titles and credits. Phill not only did the lettering but designed the title cards for each short as well. Owing to the fast pace of production, design, approval and execution for each of these were done in hours, rather than days.

A sampling of Phill's Magoo title work

When production ceased on the shorts, Norman left UPA to work at the John Sutherland studio for about six months doing industrials. (At one time or another, many of the field’s top talents worked for Sutherland-Eyvind Earle, Tom Oreb, Maurice Noble and Irv Spence to name a few.)

Phill came back to UPA to work on Gay Purr-ee, where this time, in addition to his title and lettering chores, he painted backgrounds. After Christmas Carol, Norman left UPA and freelanced for Pacific Title on the feature, Days of Wine and Roses. They liked his work well enough that he was asked to join them and spent the next three years there doing title design (once there, he left the hand lettering to those with an especially deft touch). He decided to strike out on his own in 1965, and despite a rocky start, he began to make a mark doing titles for television shows. Not long after he hung out his own shingle, he was outside talking to his across-the-street neighbor:

We started talking and he said 'What do you do?' and I said 'I design main titles.' I said 'What do you do?' and he said 'I produce television shows.' I said 'Really? Like what?' and he said 'Well, I produce 'The Fugitive' and I got one coming up called 'The FBI'. It was Quinn Martin.

He said 'Do you have anything on film?' Luckily by that time I had a few things on a reel and he told me to send it over. People say these things but you never know if they mean it. Next day I get a call and he said 'Where is that reel?' and I said 'Well, I will get it over to you right away.' I did and I did all his work after that, main titles for his shows. 'The FBI' was done, but I did 'The Streets of San Francisco', 'The Invaders', and all the stuff he did after that. He was a great guy to work with, he really was. It was just one of the few times when one person had a say about things. The word got quickly around for TV. In fact I had so much TV work that I had trouble having time to search out some of the movies I wanted to work on. It worked out okay and I did a lot of 'Kojak' all that kind of pop stuff in that period.

Phill Norman went on to do the main title design for dozens of TV shows like Dynasty, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat and feature films like The Way We Were, Ordinary People, On Golden Pond and even What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (see page 97 in the book for more info on the UPA tie-in). He was nominated six times for Emmys and won three-for QBVII, The French Atlantic Affair and Shogun.

Phill retired in 1999 and died unexpectedly July 11, 2009 after a short illness.

Back in print!

 

I'm pleased to announce that the book will be back in print beginning October 15th.  I'm also happy to report that this edition is being printed domestically and the proofs I've seen are even better than they were for the first edition.  How that will translate to the final printing is anyone's guess but it's looking very good at this stage.  There are some minor text revisions in this edition, based on new information that came to light after the first edition went to press, and I will list those changes in a later post.  You can pre-order the book by clicking here.