Mel Shaw (born Melvin Schwartzman; December 19, 1914 – November 22, 2012) was an American animator, design artist, writer, and artist. Shaw was involved in the animation, story design, and visual development of numerous

Disney animated films This list of theatrical animated feature films consists of animated films produced or released by The Walt Disney Studios, the film division of The Walt Disney Company.This list does not include films or specials streamed on Disney+ as Disne ...

, beginning with ''

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. ...

'', which was released in 1942. His other animated film credits, usually involving animation design or the story, included ''

The Rescuers ''The Rescuers'' is a 1977 American animated adventure comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. The 23rd Disney animated feature film, its story follows Bernard and Bianca, two members ...

'' in 1977, ''

The Fox and the Hound ''The Fox and the Hound'' is a 1981 American animated buddy drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix. The 24th Disney animated feature film, the film tells the st ...

'' in 1981, '' The Black Cauldron'' in 1985, ''

The Great Mouse Detective ''The Great Mouse Detective'' (also known as ''The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective'' for its 1992 theatrical re-release and ''Basil the Great Mouse Detective'' in some countries) is a 1986 American animated mystery adventure film produc ...

'' in 1986, ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

'' in 1991, and ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...

'' in 1994. He was named a

Disney Legend The Disney Legends Awards is a Hall of Fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1987, the honor was traditionally awarded annually during a speci ...

in 2004 for his contributions to the

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Early life

Shaw was born on December 19, 1914, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. His mother was an

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

and his father was a lawyer. He was the second oldest of four brothers born to his parents.

Career

Shaw began his career in entertainment industry as a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

title card In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

creator at Pacific Title and Art, a company owned by film producer,

Leon Schlesinger Leon Schlesinger (May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant r ...

. He next worked for

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

in the early 1930s, where Shaw helped to create a storyboard ''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...

'', though the proposed Welles film was never created. Shaw would later join the

Harman-Ising Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios. Early history Harman and Ising first worked in animation in the early 1920s at Laugh-O-Gram Studio, ...

Studio, working on the Early

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

and

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

, as well as

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

Happy Harmonies ''Happy Harmonies'' is the name of a series of thirty-seven animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938. Produced in Technicolor, these cartoons were very similar to Wal ...

series. Shaw was personally recruited by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

to work on the 1942 animated classic, ''

''. He left Disney Studios to enlist in the

Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...

, where he served as a combat photographer during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Shaw returned to Disney's animation department in 1974 at the invitation of Walt Disney Studios. He returned to work on Disney animated films and mentored a new generation of animators. His last film at Disney was ''

'', released in 1994. Shaw partnered with former

MGM Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

animator Bob Allen to establish a design firm. Under Shaw and Allen, their company designed

Howdy Doody ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F Campbell

for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

during the late 1940s. He was among a couple of artists who worked at Disney both during its Golden Age within the late-1930s as well as during the studio’s resurgence within the 1990s

Death

Shaw died from

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

on November 22, 2012, at the Woodland Care Center in

Reseda, California Reseda is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1912, and its central business district started developing in 1915. The neighborhood was devoted to agriculture for many years. Earthquakes ...

, at the age of 97. His first wife, Louise, died in 1984. Shaw's second wife, Florence Lounsbery, who died in 2004, was the widow of Disney animator,

John Lounsbery John Mitchell Lounsbery (March 9, 1911 – February 13, 1976) was an American animator and director who worked for Walt Disney Productions. He is best known as one of Disney's Nine Old Men, of which he was the shortest lived as well as the fir ...

. They had resided in Acampo, California, for more than twenty years.

Filmography

* We're in the Money (short) (animator - uncredited) - 1933 * Tale of the Vienna Woods (short) (story, animator and character layouts - uncredited) - 1934 * Toyland Broadcast (short) (animator - uncredited) - 1934 * Good Little Monkeys (short) (animator - uncredited) - 1935 * Alias St. Nick (Short) (animator - uncredited) - 1935 *

Bottles A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...

(short) (animator - uncredited) - 1936 * To Spring (short) (animator - uncredited) - 1936 *

Merbabies ''Merbabies'' is a ''Silly Symphonies'' animated Disney short film. It was released on December 9, 1938. It is a collaboration between Walt Disney and Harman and Ising, the latter studio having donated artists to Disney to work on the production o ...

(short) (animator - uncredited) - 1938 *

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

(visual development artwork) - 1940 *

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, a ...

- 1941 *

(writer, visual development artwork) - 1942 * The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (visual development artwork for the ''Mr. Toad'' segment) - 1949 *

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

- (story for the ''Tricks of Our Trade'' episode) - 1957 *

- 1977 * Deadman's Curve (TV Movie) (writer: "Baby Talk" song) - 1978 *

(creative assistant to the producers) - 1981 * The Black Cauldron (writer) - 1985 *

(writer) - 1986 * It's Howdy Doody Time (TV Special) (thanks - as Melvin Shaw) - 1987 *

(production consultant: visual development) - 1991 *

(visual development artist) - 1994 *

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

(assistant animator) - 1999 *

Treasure Planet ''Treasure Planet'' is a 2002 American animated science fiction action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The 43rd Disney animated feature film, it is a science fiction adaptatio ...

(key animator) - 2002 *

Brother Bear ''Brother Bear'' is a 2003 American animated musical fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 44th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert ...

(character designer) - 2003 * Finding Grandma (short) (editor) - 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Mel 1914 births 2012 deaths Animators from New York (state) Walt Disney Animation Studios people United States Army personnel of World War II People from Brooklyn People from San Joaquin County, California American war photographers World War II photographers