United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American
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 ...
studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
such as the
Mr. Magoo series. In 1956, UPA produced a television series for CBS, ''The Boing-Boing Show,'' hosted by
Gerald McBoing Boing
''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950 ...
. In the 1960s, UPA produced syndicated Mr. Magoo and ''
Dick Tracy
''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''Detroit Mirror'', and it ...
'' television series and other series and specials, including ''
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol
''Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol'' is a 1962 animated musical holiday television special produced by UPA. It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella '' A Christmas Carol'', and it features UPA's character Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scro ...
''. UPA also produced two animated features, ''
1001 Arabian Nights'' and ''
Gay Purr-ee
''Gay Purr-ee'' is a 1962 American animated musical film produced by United Productions of America and released by Warner Bros. It features the voice of Judy Garland in her only animated-film role, as well as Robert Goulet in his first feature fi ...
'',
and distributed Japanese films from
Toho Studios
is a Japanese film production company that is a subsidiary of Toho Co., Ltd. Founded in November 8, 1971 as , the company originally served as a spin-off of Toho's original production department, and produced over 160 films. In December 2020, ...
in the 1970s and 1980s.
The UPA library was later purchased by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
, after their successful acquisition of
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...
.
History
Origins
UPA was founded in the wake of the
Disney animators' strike
The Disney animators' strike in 1941 reflected anger at inequities of pay and privileges at the non-unionized Walt Disney Productions. Walt Disney responded to the five-week strike by firing many of his animators, but was eventually pressured in ...
of 1941, which resulted in the exodus of a number of long-time
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
staff members. Among them was
John Hubley
John Kirkham Hubley (May 21, 1914 – February 21, 1977) was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer known for his work with the United Productions of America , United Productions of America (UPA) and his own independent ...
, a layout artist who was unhappy with the ultra-realistic style of animation that Disney had been utilizing. Along with a number of his colleagues, Hubley believed that animation did not have to be a painstakingly realistic imitation of real life; they felt that the medium of animation had been constrained by efforts to depict cinematic reality.
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
' 1942 cartoon ''
The Dover Boys
''The Dover Boys at Pimento University; or, The Rivals of Roquefort Hall'' (also known as ''The Dover Boys'') is a 1942 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on September 19, 1942. The cartoon is ...
'' had demonstrated that animation could freely experiment with character design, depth, and perspective to create a stylized artistic vision appropriate to the subject matter. Hubley, Bobe Cannon, and others at UPA, sought to produce animated films with sufficient freedom to express design ideas considered radical by other established studios.
In 1941, Zack Schwartz,
David Hilberman
David Hilberman (18 December 1911 – 5 July 2007) was an American animator and one of the founders of classic 1940s animation. An innovator in the animation industry, he co-founded United Productions of America (UPA). The studio gave its artis ...
, and
Stephen Bosustow
Stephen Reginald Bosustow (November 6, 1911 in Victoria, British Columbia – July 4, 1981) was a Canadian-born American film producer from 1943 until his retirement in 1979. He was one of the founders of United Productions of America (UPA) and pr ...
formed a studio called first Industrial Film and Poster Service, where they were free to apply their new techniques in film animation. Finding work (and income) in the then-booming field of wartime work for the government, the small studio produced a cartoon sponsored by the
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...
(UAW) in 1944. ''
Hell-Bent for Election
''Hell-Bent For Election'' is a 1944 two-reel (thirteen minute) animated cartoon short subject film.
The short was one of the first major films from United Productions of America (then known as "Industrial Films"), which would go on to become ...
'' was directed by
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
and was produced for the reelection campaign of
FDR
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
. The film was a success, and it led to another assignment from the UAW, ''Brotherhood of Man'' (1945). The film, directed by Bobe Cannon, advocated tolerance of all people. The short was innovative not only in its message but in its very flat, stylized design, in complete defiance of the Disney approach. With its new-found status, the studio renamed itself United Productions of America (UPA).
Initially, UPA contracted with the
United States government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
to produce its animation output, but the government contracts began to evaporate as the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
began investigating
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
activities in
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, ...
in the late 1940s. No formal charges were filed against anyone at UPA in the beginnings of
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
, but the government contracts were lost as Washington severed its ties with Hollywood.
Columbia Pictures and success
UPA entered the crowded field of theatrical cartoons to sustain itself and gained a contract with
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
. Columbia had historically been an also-ran in the field of animated shorts, and it was not satisfied with the output of its
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
cartoon studio. The UPA animators applied their stylistic concepts and storytelling to Columbia's characters
The Fox and the Crow with the shorts ''Robin Hoodlum'' (1948) and ''The Magic Fluke'' (1949), both directed by Hubley. Both were nominated for
Academy Award
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 ...
s, and Columbia granted the studio permission to create its own new characters. UPA responded, not with another "funny animal", but a star that was a human character, a crotchety, nearsighted old man. ''The Ragtime Bear'' (1949), the first appearance of
Mr. Magoo, was a box-office hit, and UPA's star quickly rose as the 1950s dawned.
With a unique, sparse drawing style that contrasted greatly with other cartoons of the day, not to mention the novelty of a human character in a field crowded with talking cats, mice, and rabbits, the ''Mr. Magoo'' series won accolades for UPA. Two ''Magoo'' cartoons won the
Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons)
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...
: ''
When Magoo Flew
''When Magoo Flew'' is a 1954 animated short produced by UPA for Columbia Pictures. Directed by Pete Burness and produced by Stephen Bosustow, ''When Magoo Flew'' won the 1955 Oscar for Short Subjects (Cartoons). In addition, it was the first ...
'' (1954) and ''
Magoo's Puddle Jumper
''Magoo's Puddle Jumper'' is a 1956 animated short produced by UPA for Columbia Pictures. Directed by Pete Burness and produced by Stephen Bosustow
Stephen Reginald Bosustow (November 6, 1911 in Victoria, British Columbia – July 4, 1981) was ...
'' (1956).
UPA scored another hit with ''
Gerald McBoing-Boing
''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. ...
'' (1950), based on a record by
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;["Seuss"](_blank)
'' James Thurber
James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected in ...
. The film was to combine live action and animation and was tentatively titled ''Men, Women and Dogs'', but it was never completed.
(Only one of the Thurber pieces intended for this feature, ''
The Unicorn in the Garden'', was eventually released as a short subject.)
Shorts such as ''
The Tell-Tale Heart
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is related by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the n ...
'' and ''
Rooty Toot Toot
''Rooty Toot Toot'' is a 1951 American black comedy musical film noir cartoon directed by John Hubley. It was released by Columbia Pictures and produced by UPA. Annette Warren provides the voices of both Frankie and Nelly Bly. Thurl Ravenscroft ...
'' featured striking, sophisticated designs unlike anything offered by competing studios. The "UPA style" began to influence significant changes at the other major animation studios, including
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
,
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 ...
,
Famous Studios
Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contro ...
, and even Disney, ushering in a new era of experimentation in animation.
Turning to television
In 1955, Steve Bosustow secured a CBS contract for UPA to produce a television series (''The Boing-Boing Show'' aka ''The Gerald McBoing Boing Show''), which premiered in December 1956. Supervised by Bobe Cannon, this production offered an array of styles and brought then-new talent to the studio, such as
Ernest Pintoff
Ernest Pintoff (December 15, 1931 in Watertown, Connecticut – January 12, 2002 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles) was an American film and television director, screenwriter and film producer.
He won the Oscar for Best Animated Short for ''The ...
,
Fred Crippen,
Jimmy Murakami
was a Japanese-American-Irish animator and film director with a long career working in numerous countries. Among his best-known works are the animated adaptations of the Raymond Briggs books '' When the Wind Blows'' and ''The Snowman''. He was ...
,
Richard Williams,
George Dunning
George Garnett Dunning (November 17, 1920 – February 15, 1979) was a Canadian filmmaker and animator. He is known for animating and directing the 1968 film inspired by the Beatles, '' Yellow Submarine''.
Biography
Dunning was born in Toronto ...
,
Mel Leven
Melville A. Leven (11 November, 1914–17 December, 2007) was an American composer and lyricist who had a long association with the Walt Disney Company, although he also wrote songs for Peggy Lee ("Every Time"), The Andrews Sisters ("Commoners B ...
,
Aurelius Battaglia
Aurelius Battaglia (January 16, 1910 – May 29, 1984) was an American illustrator, muralist, writer, and director.
Early life
Battaglia was born in Washington, D.C., in 1910. He was the son of Giuseppe and Concetta Battaglia, who had emigrated ...
, and
John Whitney, among others. However, audiences did not embrace UPA's experiment in television entertainment; as a result, the show vanished from the airwaves in 1958. Further, as the major Hollywood studios began cutting back and shutting down their short film divisions in the late-1950s and early-1960s, UPA was in financial straits, and Steve Bosustow sold the studio to a producer named
Henry G. Saperstein
Henry Gahagen Saperstein (June 2, 1918 – June 24, 1998) was an American film producer and distributor.
Biography
The son of Aaron Saperstein and Beatrice Pearl Saperstein, Henry's father owned five independent cinemas in Chicago. Henry was ed ...
. Saperstein turned UPA's focus to
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
to sustain the studio. UPA adapted Mr. Magoo for television and produced another series based on the
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
''
Dick Tracy
''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''Detroit Mirror'', and it ...
''. UPA was forced to churn out cartoons at a far greater quantity than the studio had done for theatrical releases or even the CBS television series. Despite this however, quality was languishing, and UPA's reputation as an artistic innovator faded.
UPA's style of
limited animation
Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation.
Early history
The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...
was adopted by other animation studios, especially by television cartoon studios such as
Hanna-Barbera Productions
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
. However, this procedure was generally implemented as a cost-cutting measure rather than an artistic choice that UPA originally intended. A plethora of low-budget, cheaply-made cartoons over the next twenty years effectively reduced television animation to a commodity, partly popularizing the notion of animation as being made only for children rather than a medium for any age group to enjoy (with the exception of shows like ''
The Flintstones
''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...
''), and notoriously going against UPA's original goal to expand the boundaries of animation and create a new style for the medium.
One bright moment in the UPA television era came with ''
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol
''Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol'' is a 1962 animated musical holiday television special produced by UPA. It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella '' A Christmas Carol'', and it features UPA's character Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scro ...
'' (1962), which inspired the format of Magoo's next television endeavor, the 1964 series ''
The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo
''The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo'' is an American animated television series produced by United Productions of America that aired for one season on NBC from September 19, 1964 to April 24, 1965. The television series was based on the Mr. Magoo, ...
''. ''Christmas Carol'' captures the spirit of Charles Dickens's 1843 book and is considered a holiday classic, ranking alongside ''
A Charlie Brown Christmas
''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' is a 1965 animated television special. It is the first TV special based on the comic strip ''Peanuts'', by Charles M. Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez, the program made its debut on C ...
'' and ''
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a Christmas children's story by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a grouchy, solitary creature who tries to cancel Christmas by st ...
''.
UPA produced only two full-length feature films in their tenure: a 1959 feature starring Mr. Magoo entitled ''
1001 Arabian Nights'', directed by ex-Disney animator
Jack Kinney
John Ryan Kinney (March 29, 1909 – February 9, 1992)Lenburg (2006), pp. 180 was an American animator, director and producer of animated shorts. Kinney is the older brother of fellow Disney animator Dick Kinney.
Early life
Jack Kinney was bor ...
; and ''
Gay Purr-ee
''Gay Purr-ee'' is a 1962 American animated musical film produced by United Productions of America and released by Warner Bros. It features the voice of Judy Garland in her only animated-film role, as well as Robert Goulet in his first feature fi ...
'' in 1962, written by
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
and his wife Dorothy and directed by a friend of Jones,
Abe Levitow
Abraham Levitow (July 2, 1922 – May 8, 1975) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and MGM Animation/Visual Arts. He is best known for his work under Chuck Jones' direction.
Career
Levitow was born in Los Angeles ...
.
Abandoning animation and Toho Studios
Saperstein kept UPA afloat in the 1960s and beyond by abandoning animation production completely after the animation studio closed permanently in 1970 and sold off UPA's library of cartoons, although the studio retained the licenses and copyrights on Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing and the other UPA characters. This led to UPA contracting with
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises studio to produce a new animated series called ''
What's New Mr. Magoo?'' in September 1977.
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
retained ownership of UPA's theatrical cartoons. The studio's TV cartoon library was licensed by Classic Media in New York, and then in 2007 merged into Entertainment Rights in London.
In 1970, Saperstein led UPA into a contract with
Toho Studios
is a Japanese film production company that is a subsidiary of Toho Co., Ltd. Founded in November 8, 1971 as , the company originally served as a spin-off of Toho's original production department, and produced over 160 films. In December 2020, ...
of Japan to distribute its "giant monster" (see ''
kaiju
is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...
'' and ''
tokusatsu
is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...
'') movies in America. Theatrical releases, and especially TV syndication, of the Toho monster movies created a new
cult movie
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in ...
market for Japanese monster movies, and long-running television movie syndication packages such as ''
Creature Double Feature
''Creature Double Feature'' was a syndicated horror show, broadcast in the Boston and Philadelphia area during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It sometimes also aired under names like ''Sci-Fi Flix'' and ''Creature Feature''. The show aired classic ...
'' exposed the Toho movie monsters to young American audiences, who embraced them and helped them maintain their popularity throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
When Toho began producing a new generation of monster movies in the late 1980s, beginning with ''
Godzilla 1985
''Godzilla 1985'' is a 1985 ''kaiju'' film directed by R. J. Kizer and Koji Hashimoto. The film is a heavily re-edited American localization of the Japanese film ''The Return of Godzilla'', which was produced and distributed by Toho Pictures in 1 ...
'', UPA capitalized on its Toho contract and helped introduce the new ''kaiju'' features to the Western world.
Because of its long association with Toho, UPA is better known to cult-movie fans today as Toho's American distributor rather than a pioneer of animated cartoons, but the legacy of UPA is an important chapter in the history of American animation. UPA continues to license the American library of ''
Godzilla
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...
'' movies, even today. UPA's contract with Toho also resulted in Saperstein producing
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
's first feature film, ''
What's Up, Tiger Lily
''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Woody Allen in his feature-length directorial debut.
Allen took a Japanese spy film, '' International Secret Police: Key of Keys'' (1965), and overdubbed it with completely or ...
?''.
Henry Saperstein died in 1998. In 2000, UPA was sold by the Saperstein family and then was absorbed into
Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...
.
On July 23, 2012,
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...
purchased Classic Media for $155 million and, as a result, UPA is now owned by DreamWorks Animation, which would be acquired by
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primari ...
in 2016. Although DreamWorks Animation (and later,
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
) now owns the ancillary rights to most of the UPA library, UPA itself (with DreamWorks Animation/Universal) continues to hold the licensing rights to ''Mr. Magoo'', and Saperstein was executive producer to
Disney
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 ...
's unsuccessful live-action feature ''
Mr. Magoo'' in 1997.
DVD releases
Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...
/
Sony Wonder
Sony Wonder (founded as Sony Kids’ Music) is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not direct ...
began issuing the ''Mr. Magoo'' TV cartoon series on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in 2001, beginning with ''Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol'' (which received a Collector's Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in 2010). In 2011, Shout! Factory (with Classic Media) released the ''Mr. Magoo: The Television Collection'' set which contained all Mr. Magoo television productions (except for ''Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol,'' for which the DVD copy from the 2010 Blu-ray release was issued by itself). In 2013, Shout! (with Sony) released the ''Mr. Magoo Theatrical Collection'' containing all the Mr. Magoo theatrical shorts and the full-length feature ''1001 Arabian Nights'' (which was also released through Sony's MOD program in December 2011). The set was originally set for release on February 14, 2012 but then delayed to June 19, then December 4, then delayed to sometime in 2013. It was delayed so that the shorts could be restored from high quality sources (plus newly discovered elements added).
The ''
Jolly Frolics
''Jolly Frolics'' is a UPA animated cartoon series. Thirty-eight films were produced in the series, theatrically released from 1948 to 1959, pioneering the use of limited animation.
Due to their mature themes, they weren't considered animation ...
Collection'' was released on March 15, 2012 through
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
' website. Extras included audio commentaries and an introduction by film critic
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...
.
Legacy
UPA Pictures' legacy in the history of animation has largely been overshadowed by the commercial success and availability of the cartoon libraries of
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
,
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 ...
and
Disney
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 ...
. Nonetheless, UPA had a significant impact on animation style, content, and technique, and its innovations were recognized and adopted by the other major animation studios and independent filmmakers all over the world as UPA pioneered the technique of
limited animation
Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation.
Early history
The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...
. Although this style of animation came to be widely used in the 1960s and 1970s as a cost-cutting measure, it was originally intended as a stylistic alternative to the growing trend (particularly at Disney) of recreating cinematic realism in animated films. UPA was also a central influence on the foundation of the
Zagreb School of Animated Films
Zagreb school of animated films is a style of animation originating from Zagreb and Croatia, most notably Zagreb Film. It is represented by authors like Nikola Kostelac, Vatroslav Mimica, Dušan Vukotić and Vladimir Kristl. The term was coined b ...
in the 1950s. Animators in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
were heavily impacted by UPA's work on ''
The Four Poster'' (1952), a
live-action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...
film with animation directed by
John Hubley
John Kirkham Hubley (May 21, 1914 – February 21, 1977) was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer known for his work with the United Productions of America , United Productions of America (UPA) and his own independent ...
,
in his final project at UPA.
Both ''
Gerald McBoing-Boing
''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. ...
'' and ''
The Tell-Tale Heart
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is related by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the n ...
'' were inducted into the
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
.
13 Amazing Cartoons from the National Film Registry, Mental Floss
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Filmography
See also
* Golden age of American animation
The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the ...
* Googie architecture
Googie architecture ( ) is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, Jet aircraft, jets, the Atomic Age and the Space Age. It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was pop ...
* Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
References
Bibliography
* Abraham, Adam (2012): ''When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA''. Wesleyan University Press.
* Amidi, Amid (2006): ''Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation''. Chronicle Books.
* Barrier, Michael (1999): ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age''. Oxford University Press.
* Maltin, Leonard (1980): ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. McGraw Hill.
* Solomon, Charles (1989): ''Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation''. Alfred A. Knopf.
* Shapiro, Susan P (1980): ''Detecting Illegalities: A Perspective on the Control of Securities Violations.'' Yale University
External links
UPA Cartoons at BCDB.com
UPA: Mavericks, Magic, and Magoo
by Adam Abraham
The Columbia Crow's Nest
Bill Paolucci's Gerald McBoing Boing Page
A series of posts criticising UPA's artistic style
by John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, voice actor and former animator. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which was ...
When Magoo Flew
A Web Site Dedicated to the Artistry and Achievement of UPA
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Productions Of America
American animation studios
History of animation
Mass media companies established in 1943
Mass media companies disestablished in 2000
DreamWorks Classics
American companies established in 1943
American companies disestablished in 2000
Articles containing video clips
1943 establishments in California
2000 disestablishments in California
Columbia Pictures
Former Sony subsidiaries