George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after emigrating from Europe.
He was nominated for
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
(in the category Best Short Subjects, Cartoon) for seven consecutive years (1942–1948) and received an honorary award in 1944. This makes him the second-most nominated Hungarian exile (together with
William S. Darling
William S. Darling (born Vilmos Béla Sándorházi; 14 September 1882 – 15 December 1963) was a Hungarian-American art director who was prominent in Hollywood during the 1920s and 30s. Darling received six Academy Award nominations, win ...
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
, the son of György Pál Marczincsak, Sr. and his wife Mária. He graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1928 (aged 20). From 1928 to 1931, he made films for Hunnia Film Studio of Budapest, Hungary.
At the age of 23 in 1931, he married Elisabeth "Zsóka" Grandjean, and after moving to Berlin, founded Trickfilm-Studio GmbH Pal und Wittke, with
UFA Studios
UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...
as its main customer from 1931 to 1933. During this time, he patented the Pal-Doll technique (known as '' Puppetoons'' in the US).
In 1933, he worked in Prague; in 1934, he made a film advertisement in his hotel room in Paris, and was invited by
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...
to make two more ad shorts. He started to use Pal-Doll techniques in
Eindhoven
Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Horlicks Malted Milk. In December of that year, aged 32, he emigrated from Europe to the United States, and began work for
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
. At this time, his friend
Walter Lantz
Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.
Biography
Early years and start in animation
Lantz ...
helped him obtain American citizenship.
As an animator, he made the '' Puppetoons'' series in the 1940s, which led to him being awarded an honorary Oscar in 1943 for "the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons". Pal then switched to live-action film-making with '' The Great Rupert'' (1950).
He is best remembered as the producer of several science-fiction and fantasy films in the 1950s and 1960s, such as '' When Worlds Collide'', four of which were collaborations with director Byron Haskin, including ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by '' Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was i ...
'' (1953). He himself directed '' Tom Thumb'' (1958), ''
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively fo ...
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
, of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...
at the age of 72, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. ''The Voyage of the Berg'', on which he was working at the time, was never completed.
Awards and honours
Pal has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
at 1722 Vine St. In 1980, the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...
founded the "George Pal Lecture on Fantasy in Film" series in his memory.
George Pal (along with the film ''When Worlds Collide'') is among the many references to classic
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...
American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...
1997 and 2015 National Film Registry. One of the
Tubby the Tuba
Tubby is a nickname and surname and may refer to:
People Nickname
* Tubby Clayton (1885–1972), Anglican clergyman, founder of the Christian movement Toc H
* Michael Lindsay Coulton Crawford (1917–2017), Second World War Royal Navy officer an ...
models along with a frog and three string instruments were donated to the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
for the
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
.
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of George Pal's films, including ''Jasper and the Beanstalk'', ''John Henry and the Inky Poo'', and ''Radio Röhren Revolution''.
After Worlds Collide
''After Worlds Collide'' (1934) is a sequel to the 1933 science fiction novel, ''When Worlds Collide''. Both novels were co-written by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie. ''After Worlds Collide'' first appeared as a six-part monthly serial (November 1 ...
Logan's Run
''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusianism future society in which both population and the consumption of resou ...
'' (1968)
*''
When the Sleeper Wakes
''The Sleeper Awakes'' is a dystopian science fiction novel by English writer H. G. Wells, about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London in which he has become the richest man in the wor ...
'' (1972)
*''War of the Worlds '' (1974–75) Unfinished TV pilot
*'' Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil'' (1976)
*''The Time Traveller'' (1977–78) aka ''Time Machine II''. A novelization with Joe Morhaim was published posthumously in 1981.
*'' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1979)
*''The Disappearance'' (1980) (only in preproduction)
*''Voyage of the Berg'' (1980) (only in preproduction)
* Gail Morgan Hickman. ''The Films of George Pal''. South Brunswick, NJ: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1977. .
* Schepp, Ole and Kamphuis, Fred. ''George Pal in Holland 1934–1939''. Den Haag: Kleinoffsetdrukkerij Kapsenberg, 1983.
* Miller, Thomas Kent. ''Mars in the Movies: A History''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. .
* Peters, Mette. "George Pal’s ‘Cavalcade of Colours, Music and Dolls’: 1930s Advertising Films in Transnational Contexts". In: ''Animation and Advertising''. Thompson, Kirsten Moana, Cook, Malcolm (Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. .