Fine Arts Films was a production studio based in Northern England and

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. It was founded in 1955 by the

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

John David Wilson as a means to preserve the notion of

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

as an art form. It shut down in 1996.

History

The company's first production was ''Tara, the Stonecutter'', which won high praise and many awards including the New York Golden Eagle, the London Film Festival Award and the

Edinburgh Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

Award. The next production was the groundbreaking animated music special ''

Petroushka Petrushka ( rus, Петру́шка, p=pʲɪtˈruʂkə, a=Ru-петрушка.ogg) is a stock character of Russian folk puppetry. Italian puppeteers introduced it in the first third of the 19th century. While most core characters came from Italy ...

'' (based on

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

's ballet) for NBC's '' Sol Hurok Music Hour''. It was noted for being one of the first animated shows on television and for being what could be called the first music video. Stravinsky himself conducted the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

. Fine Arts Films sought to raise the bar on children's entertainment by creating educational and illuminating shorts, many of which were shown in schools during class. These shorts were also broadcast as part of NBC's show ''Exploring'' and won the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

. Wilson additionally has seven Golden Eagle Awards for this work. Wilson was given the chance by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n television to set up shop in Melbourne. He later returned to the United States to work on his only feature film, ''

Shinbone Alley ''Shinbone Alley'' (sometimes performed as ''archy & mehitabel'') is a musical with a book by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, lyrics by Darion, and music by George Kleinsinger. Based on the album ''Archy and Mehitabel: A Back-Alley Opera'', which in ...

'', based on the hit Broadway

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

of the 1950s. Shinbone incorporated the talents of some of the original cast, including Eddie Bracken as Archie the Cockroach, Carol Channing as Mehitabel, and John Carradine as Tyrone T. Tattersol. One of the studio's more notable achievements was for the 1960 Seattle World's Fair. The film, ''Journey to the Stars'', used cutting-edge technology and was seen by over seven million people. It was the first 70mm Fulldome presentation, a precursor to

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

. Other noteworthy credits include opening titles and many music videos for ''

The Sonny and Cher Show ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was ...

'', the animated opening sequence for '' Grease'', an animated trailer for Billy Wilder's ''

Irma La Douce ''Irma la Douce'' (, "Irma the Sweet") is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond, based on the 1956 French stage musical of the same name by Marguerite Monnot and Alexa ...

'' and the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

-TV half-hour animated special, ''

Stanley, the Ugly Duckling ''Stanley, the Ugly Duckling'', a.k.a. ''Stanley'', is an animated American television special that was produced by Fine Arts Films and aired on May 1, 1982 as part of ABC's Weekend Special lineup. It is loosely based on the 19th-century fairy t ...

''. He directed ''

The Seventh Brother ''The Seventh Brother'' ( hu, A hetedik testvér; german: Bobo und die Hasenbande) is a 1995 Hungarian-German-American animated fantasy-comedy-drama film for children made and produced at Hungary's Pannonia Film Studio. It was co-produced with Magy ...

'' for Family Films, Fox Network-TV's '' Peter Pan and the Pirates'', '' Fraggle Rock'', '' Muppet Babies'', '' Jem'' and '' The Specialists'' for

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Film highlights

*''Tara, the Stonecutter'' (1955) (New York Golden Eagle, London Film Festival Award, Edinburgh Film Festival Award) *''Journey to the Stars'' (film) (1960) (shown at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair) *''

'' (film) (1970) (Golden Phoenix) *'' Grease'' (film) (1978)

Television highlights

*'' Petrushka'' (segment on ''Sol Hurok Music Hour'') (1956) *''

'' (TV series) (1970–73) *'' The Carol Burnett Show'' (TV series) (1972–76) *''COS w/Bill Cosby'' (TV series) (1974) *''

'' (TV show) (1982)Stanley, The Ugly Duckling (1982) - Overview - TCM.com
/ref> *''The Specialists'' (TV show) (1992)

Home video and commercial video release

Video Gems, a home video company, released at least two anthologies of short-form animation films by John Wilson, ''John Wilson's Animation Wonderland'' and ''John Wilson's Mini Musicals'' (also known as ''

The Fantastic All-Electric Music Movie ''The Fantastic All-Electric Music Movie'', also known as ''John Wilson's Mini Musicals'', is an anthology of short animated music videos which were originally created by John Wilson for '' The Sonny and Cher Show'' during the early to mid-1970s. ...

''). *''Animation Wonderland'' was released on VHS in the early 1980s. It includes over 15 animation shorts by Wilson that were produced for NBC TV in the US. The video is over 100 minutes in length. The animation works, based on famous children stories and folklore, included were ''Casey at the Bat'', ''Gulliver's Travels'', ''The Salty Sea'', ''The Early Birds'', ''The Tinder Box'' and ''Voyage to the Moon''. *''John Wilson's Mini Musicals'' or ''The Fantastic All-Electric Music Movie'' included 16 short-form animation music videos that were originally produced for ''The Sonny and Cher Show'' and broadcast on CBS TV from the early-to-mid-1970s. Some of the music videos were animated to the popular songs of the day. many featuring renditions by Sonny Bono and

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

. Included on this video release are two music videos for the

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

songs "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Both Sides Now". Another short form animated music video Sonny and Cher performing "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Higher Ground". All 16 animated music videos were produced and created by Wilson's Fine Arts Films.

Notes and references

External links

* {{Authority control Film production companies of the United Kingdom British animation studios 1955 establishments in the United Kingdom