Donate!VOLUNTEERASIFACONTRIBUTEASIFAEXPLORE
LINK TO USASIFAJOIN ASIFAASIFAThanks!

Thursday, December 15, 2005

HUBLEY, John

This posting is a stub. You can contribute to this entry by providing information through the comments link at the bottom of this post. Please organize your information following the main category headers below....

Birth/Death

Occupation/Title

Bio Summary

Early Life/Family

Education/Training

Career Outline

Comments On Style

Influences

Personality

Anecdotes

Miscellaneous

Filmography

Honors

Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 1975


Related Links

Bibliographic References

Contributors To This Listing


To make additions or corrections to this listing, please click on COMMENTS below...

You can contribute to this listing. Click on COMMENTS below to submit information.

posted by Stephen Worth @ 2:50 PM   Read Comments Or Post Yours

1 Comments:

At 6:11 PM, Blogger Tigrin said...

Birth/Death
b. May 21, 1914 -- Marinette, Wisconsin
d. February 21, 1977 -- New Haven, Connecticut

Occupation/Title
Animator, Director, Art director, Writer, Producer

Bio Summary
John Hubley is one of the leading figures in animated history, known especially for his design contributions to the United Productions of America (UPA) studio. He was born in Wisconsin in May of 1914. At the age of twenty-two, he was hired along with a wave of new talent to paint backgrounds and layouts for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He also provided art direction on Pinocchio, Bambi, Dumbo, and the "Rites of Spring" sequence in Fantasia. He left the studio during the strike in 1941 and directed films for Screen Gems. During World War II, he served in the Army in the Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU) producing instructional shorts, such as "Flat Hatting" (1944). Shortly after, he joined the newly formed United Film Production studio (renamed United Productions of America in 1945), where he worked as a director and is most noted for the character Mr. Magoo. During the 50s his name became blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He found work producing commercials uncredited, and later formed his own studio together with his wife, Faith Hubley. They collaborated on twenty-two films, some of which were nominated for and won Oscars. He was further honored with a Winsor McCay award in 1975. John Hubley died in February, 1977 during heart surgery, survived by his family and his legacy.


Early Life/Family
John married Faith Elliot, who became an important collaborator on many of John's independent and commercial films. Together they had four children -- two sons, Mark and Ray, and two daughters, Emily and Georgia. John often used employed his children as voice talent stars, giving his commercials a unique and youthful spark remembered long after their television run. John is survived by his wife and children, who continue to be involved with and influential in the industry.


Career Outline
-1935 -- gets job as background, layout artist at Disney -- works on Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Fantasia
- 1941 -- leaves during animator's strike and directs for Screen Gems
- 1942 -- joins the Army and assigned to Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU)
- 1944 -- John Hubley joins United Film Production
- 1945 -- UFP renamed to UPA
- 1946 -- named Supervising Director of UPA
- 1949 -- creates Mr. Magoo and directs the first cartoon "The Ragtime Bear"
- 1952 -- forced to leave UPA when he refuses to name names before House Committee on Un-American Activities -- name is blacklisted
- 1953 -- founds Storyboard Studios, working on television commercials uncredited
- 1956 -- moves studio to New York and works on independent short films together with wife Faith Hubley

Comments On Style

UPA (United Productions of America) revolutionized Western animation with its modernist, flat style and limited animation. UPA films are often noted for their use of flat planes of color and graphic shapes, uniting modern design with animation. The wide variety of themes and styles in their films were liberated from the bigger studios' focus on realism and cartoon conventions.

John Hubley discussed animation in a March 1942 issue of The Animator:
"A progressive, intelligent approach to animation, and realization that it is an expressive medium, is imperative if we want to keep animated cartoons from stagnating. Development and growth of animation is dependent upon varied, significant subject manner presented in an organized form, evolved from elements inherent in the medium. Among the least understood of these elements are the graphic ones. In spite of the fact that animation is almost entirely concerned with drawings, drawings which must function in both time and space."

John Canemaker notes:
"He was a brilliant caricaturist and he pushed the characters into a more contemporary idiom. You could say that really started the UPA style."

Regarding Faith and John's collaborative style:
"They violated all the rules. They threw dust on the cels, and they worked with grease so the paint would run. It came out beautifully; everybody was awestruck that such a thing would work." - Bill Littlejohn, animator

Anecdotes
John was the original director of Watership Down (1978). He was fired by producer Martin Rosen when the film made slow progress. His opening sequence with its unique, Aboriginal-inspired style remains and stands out from the rest of the film.

Filmography

Animation Department:
1. "The Electric Company" (animator) (780 episodes, 1971-1977)
2. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975) (background artist) (layout artist)
3. Cockaboody (1974) (background artist)
4. Voyage to Next (1974) (background artist)
5. The Year of the Horse (1966/I) (animator)
6. The Cruise (1966) (layout artist)
7. We Learn About the Telephone (1965) (animator)
8. Of Stars and Men (1964) (background artist)
9. The Four Poster (1952) (director: animation sequences)
10. Hell-Bent for Election (1944) (storyboarding and design)

Director:
1. "O Canada" (1997) TV series (episode "The Cruise" [1966])
2. The Cosmic Eye (1986)
3. A Doonesbury Special (1977)
4. People, People, People (1976)
5. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975)
6. Cockaboody (1974)
7. Upkeep (1974)
8. Voyage to Next (1974)
9. Dig (1972)
10. Eggs (1970)
11. Of Men and Demons (1969)
12. Windy Day (1968)
13. Zuckerkandl (1968)
14. The Cruise (1966)
15. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966)
16. Urbanissimo (1966)
17. The Hat (1964)
18. Of Stars and Men (1964)
19. The Hole (1962)
20. Children of the Sun (1960)
21. Old Whiff (1960)
22. Moonbird (1959)
23. A Date with Dizzy (1958)
24. Harlem Wednesday (1958)
25. The Tender Game (1958)
26. The Adventures of an * (1957)
27. Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951)
28. Barefaced Flatfoot (1951)
29. Rooty Toot Toot (1951)
30. The Popcorn Story (1950) (supervising)
31. Trouble Indemnity (1950) (supervising)
32. The Miner's Daughter (1950) (supervising)
33. Spellbound Hound (1950) (supervising)
34. Punchy de Leon (1950)
35. Ragtime Bear (1949)
36. Magic Fluke (1949)
37. Robin Hoodlum (1948)
38. Flat Hatting (1944)
39. He Can't Make It Stick (1943)
40. Professor Small and Mr. Tall (1943)
41. The Vitamin G-Man (1943)
42. King Midas, Junior (1942)
43. The Dumbconscious Mind (1942)
44. Wolf Chases Pigs (1942)

Producer:
1. "O Canada" (1997) TV series (episode: "The Cruise" [1966])
2. A Doonesbury Special (1977)
3. People, People, People (1976)
4. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975)
5. WOW Women of the World (1975) (associate producer)
6. Cockaboody (1974)
7. Upkeep (1974)
8. Voyage to Next (1974)
9. Dig (1972)
10. Eggs (1970)
11. Of Men and Demons (1969)
12. Windy Day (1968)
13. Zuckerkandl (1968)
14. The Cruise (1966)
15. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966)
16. Urbanissimo (1966)
17. The Hat (1964)
18. Of Stars and Men (1964)
19. The Hole (1962)
20. Old Whiff (1960)
21. Moonbird (1959)
22. Harlem Wednesday (1958)
23. The Tender Game (1958)
24. The Adventures of an * (1957)
25. Fudget's Budget (1954)
26. The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1954)
27. Spare the Child (1954)
28. Madeline (1952)
29. Pete Hothead (1952)
30. Pink and Blue Blues (1952)
31. Willie the Kid (1952)
32. Sloppy Jalopy (1952)
33. Grizzly Golfer (1951)
34. Wonder Gloves (1951)
35. Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951)
36. The Family Circus (1951)
37. Rooty Toot Toot (1951)
38. Brotherhood of Man (1945)
39. Flat Hatting (1944)

Writer:
1. The Cosmic Eye (1986) (writer)
2. A Doonesbury Special (1977) (screenplay)
3. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975) (writer)
4. Voyage to Next (1974) (writer)
5. Dig (1972) (writer)
6. Urbanissimo (1966) (writer)
7. The Hat (1964) (writer)
8. Of Stars and Men (1964) (writer)
9. The Hole (1962) (story)
10. Children of the Sun (1960) (writer)
11. The Adventures of an * (1957) (writer)
12. Georgie and the Dragon (1951) (story)
13. Rooty Toot Toot (1951) (story)
14. Brotherhood of Man (1945) (writer)

Art Director:
1. Leben des Galilei (1947)
2. Bambi (1942)
3. Dumbo (1941) (uncredited)
4. Fantasia (1940) (segment "The Rite of Spring")
5. Pinocchio (1940)
6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) (uncredited)

Miscellaneous Crew:
1. Of Stars and Men (1964) (rendering artist)
2. M (1951) (production layout)
3. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) (supervising director)
4. Bungled Bungalow (1950) (supervising director)
5. Giddyap (1950) (supervising director)

Sound Department:
1. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975) (sound editor)

Art Department:
1. Eggs (1970) (graphic artist)

Editor:
1. Harlem Wednesday (1958)


Honors
1978 -- Nominated for Oscar, Best Short Animated Film for "A Doonesbury Special"
1975 - Nominated for Osccar, Best Short Animated Film for "Voyage to Next"
1970 -- Nominated for Oscar, Best Short Subject, Cartoons for "Of Men and Demons"
1969 -- Nominated for Oscar, Best Short Subject, Cartoons for "Windy Day"
1967 -- Won Oscar for Best Short Subject, Cartoons for "Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature"
1963 -- Won Oscar for Best Short Subject, Cartoons for "The Hole"
1960 -- Won Oscar for Best Short Subject, Cartoons for "Moonbird"
1975 -- Annie Awards, Winsor McCay Award winner
1978 -- Won Jury Prize for Best Short Film, "A Doonesbury Special" -- Cannes Film Festival -- nominated for Golden Palm for Best Short Film
1967 -- Nominated for Golden Palm for Best Short Film, "Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature"
1961 -- Nominated for Golden Palm for "Children of the Sun" (1960)
1953 -- Nominated for Golden Lion for "The Four Poster" (1952)

Related Links
John Hubley on Wikipedia

John Hubley on IMDB

Bibliographic References
Mary Corliss -- The Hubley Studio: A Home for Animation -- 1997
Noel Wolfgram Evans -- Less is More: John Hubley's Animation Revolution
PBS -- Independent Spirits: John Hubley
Master of Animation: John Hubley

Contributors To This Listing
Krystina Haggerty

 

Post a Comment

<< Home