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UPA : redesigning animation

Bottini, Cinzia 2016 Bottini, C. (2016). UPA : redesigning animation. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

https://hdl.handle.net/10356/69065 https://doi.org/10.32657/10356/69065

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UPA: REDESIGNING ANIMATION

CINZIA BOTTINI
SCHOOL OF ART, DESIGN AND MEDIA
2016

UPA: REDESIGNING ANIMATION

CINZIA BOTTINI

School of Art, Design and Media
A thesis submitted to the Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

2016

“ A rt does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.”

Paul Klee,
“Creative Credo”

Acknowledgments

When I started my doctoral studies, I could never have imagined what a formative learning experience it would be, both professionally and personally. I owe many people a debt of gratitude for all their help throughout this long journey.

I deeply thank my supervisor, Professor Heitor Capuzzo; my cosupervisor, Giannalberto Bendazzi; and Professor Vibeke Sorensen, chair of the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for showing sincere compassion and offering unwavering moral support during a personally difficult stage of this Ph.D. I am also grateful for all their suggestions, critiques and observations that guided me in this research project, as well as their dedication and patience.

My gratitude goes to Tee Bosustow, who graciously shared memorabilia his father had collected. I also thank all the enthusiastic staff of the American archives and libraries that I visited: Howard Prouty and Jenny Romero, archivists of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills; Mark Quigley, archivist of the UCLA Film & Television Archive; Michelle Harvey, archivist of the MoMA archives in New York City; and Brent Phillips, media specialist and processing archivist at the Fales Library and Special Collections of New York University.

Special appreciation also goes to those who shared their observations and comments on the general topic: Adam Abraham, who provided invaluable information and sent me a copy of The Boing-Boing Show animated shorts; Professor Emerita Marsha Kinder; Professor Ben Alvin Shedd; Associate Professor Jaroslaw Kapuscinski; Associate Professor Hans-Martin Rall;

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Assistant Professor Kathrin Albers; and the many experts on animated cinema and UPA who kindly accepted to be interviewed and shared their memories and opinions with me. Among them, I would like to mention UPA animators Alan Zaslove, Willis Pyle, Howard Beckerman and Fred Crippen; UPA sound designer Joe Siracusa; animators Ishu Patel and Eric Goldberg; artist Hans Bacher; and animation historians Maureen Furniss and Karl F. Cohen.

I thank the School of Art, Design and Media and Nanyang Technological University for their support and generosity in granting the necessary funds for this research. I am especially grateful to Associate Professor Michael J. K. Walsh, Associate Chair (Research) at ADM; Hong Bee Kuen, manager of the Ph.D. program at ADM; and all the ADM librarians, particularly Phoebe Lim Choon Lan and V. Somasundram.

I would not have been able to complete this undertaking without the kindness and generosity of many dear friends. Carlos Jaramillo helped me enjoy Singapore city life, as well as providing enlightening conversations that offered new perspectives on life’s twists. Darlene Espeña revealed to me the importance of being optimistic. My colleagues Mohammad Javad Khajavi, Catherine Yang Jing, Juan Camilo González and Christine Veras De Souza contributed to my learning process at different stages and in different ways. Andrijana Ruzic translated interviews from Croatian to Italian for me. Dr. Jodi Finkel welcomed me in Los Angeles during my research field trip, taught me how Angelenos live and generously gave me many rides to diverse parts of the city. My dearest friend, Federica Travaglianti, constantly motivated me during the lonely months I spent in Italy, writing this dissertation, and accompanied me on a visit to the Bauhaus Archive/Museum of Design in Berlin. Dr. Hiram Ring kindly printed out and hand-delivered for me the first version of this dissertation to ADM in Singapore, while I was living in Italy.

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I thank Katherine Barnhart, who shared her opinions on this dissertation, edited it and patiently answered all my queries during the process.

I am finally grateful to the members of the Ph.D. Examination Panel for all their valuable recommendations and suggestions that made this study more exhaustive, accurate and precise.

No words are enough to acknowledge all the love that my husband, Andrea Fusi, has shown me during this challenging period of our life together. I dedicate this dissertation to him, who is my family.

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Contents

Summary.................................................................................................................................xv Notes......................................................................................................................................xvii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... xix Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................xxxi

Introduction ............................................................................................................................1
1. “Almost too good to be true”...................................................................................1 2. UPA in history and the history of UPA ................................................................8 3. UPA studio and its people .....................................................................................15 4. UPA Modernism.........................................................................................................20 5. UPA and the international scene........................................................................28 6. Research purpose, significance of research and goals..............................32

Chapter I ................................................................................................................................39 UPA within the Historical and Cultural Framework of Cold War America39
1. The 1930s: from the Great Depression to the New Deal .........................41 2. The American postwar stage...............................................................................53 3. A changing society, a different life.....................................................................62
3.1 The patriarchal family .....................................................................................62 3.2 The debate among intellectuals ..................................................................69
4. Years of endless experimentation......................................................................71
4.1 Literature, poetry, music and painting.....................................................72 4.2 Graphic design ....................................................................................................75 4.3 Cinema....................................................................................................................80 4.4 Television..............................................................................................................83
5. American animation goes Modern....................................................................86
5.1 Animation during and after WWII .............................................................86 5.2 UPA as a cultural product of its time.........................................................92 5.3 The 1955 MoMA exhibition........................................................................ 100

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Chapter II............................................................................................................................ 105 Stephen Bosustow: Life, Merits, Limits, Gaps and the UPA Production System.................................................................................................................................. 105

1. Stephen Bosustow, an essential professional biography...................... 107 2. Stephen Bosustow, comments from the press .......................................... 118
2.1 National press.................................................................................................. 118 2.2 International press ........................................................................................ 121
3. Stephen Bosustow at the UPA studio ............................................................ 124
3.1 Opinions from his employees.................................................................... 124 3.2 Stephen Bosustow according to himself: a Mr. Magoo personality ........................................................................................................................................ 128

3.3 Stephen Bosustow: merits, limits and gaps ........................................ 136
4. The UPA production system.............................................................................. 143
4.1 The units............................................................................................................. 143 4.2 Freedom is granted........................................................................................ 145 4.3 A matter of style.............................................................................................. 148

Chapter III .......................................................................................................................... 153 The Birth of a Style: Modern Art, Graphic Design, Advertising and Animation in the 1940s and 1950s......................................................................... 153

1. Modern art................................................................................................................ 154 2. Modern graphic design........................................................................................ 165
2.1 Functional design ........................................................................................... 165 2.2 Functional design in UPA animated cartoons..................................... 172
3. Graphic (animated) Modernism...................................................................... 178
3.1 Line drawing..................................................................................................... 178 3.2 Animation as a graphic cinematic medium......................................... 184
4. Cross-fertilization between animation, Modern art and graphic design ............................................................................................................................................ 192

4.1 Advertising art................................................................................................. 192 4.2 Primitivism and children’s art .................................................................. 199 4.3 Some examples of cross-fertilization..................................................... 206

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Chapter IV .......................................................................................................................... 213 UPA Films as Case Studies for a Simplified Visual Language in Animation in the 1940s and 1950s................................................................................................ 213

1. Pre-Columbia films ............................................................................................... 214 2. The Jolly Frolics series.......................................................................................... 221
2.1 An overview...................................................................................................... 221 2.2 Four case studies ............................................................................................ 231
2.2.1 Gerald McBoing Boing........................................................................... 231 2.2.2 Rooty Toot Toot........................................................................................ 238 2.2.3 The Unicorn in the Garden................................................................... 243 2.2.4 The Tell-Tale Heart................................................................................. 247
2.3 Series attempts................................................................................................ 254
3. Mr. Magoo theatrical releases........................................................................... 259
3.1 Who is Mr. Magoo? ......................................................................................... 259 3.2 Case studies....................................................................................................... 265
3.2.1 Trouble Indemnity .................................................................................. 265 3.2.2 When Magoo Flew................................................................................... 267
3.3 Mr. Magoo’s world .......................................................................................... 269
4. The Boing-Boing Show......................................................................................... 272
4.1 An overview...................................................................................................... 272 4.2 Case study: The Invisible Moustache of Raoul Dufy........................... 280
5. The animated feature film: 1001 Arabian Nights..................................... 284

Chapter V............................................................................................................................ 289 The UPA Formula: From Direct Influences to Concurrent Examples of Modernism in Animation............................................................................................. 289

1. Direct influences of UPA in the United States............................................ 291 2. Modern styles in Western animation............................................................ 302
2.1 Modern animation in the United States: UPA influences at Storyboard, Inc........................................................................................................ 302

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2.2 Modern animation in Canada: UPA influences at the National Film Board and vice versa ............................................................................................ 308

2.3 Modern animation in England: UPA influences at Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films, W. M. Larkins Studio and TVC London ..... 313

2.4 Modern animation in Italy: UPA influences at Bruno Bozzetto Film ........................................................................................................................................ 319

3. Modern styles in Eastern European animation........................................ 323
3.1 Modern animation in Yugoslavia: UPA influences at Zagreb Film ........................................................................................................................................ 323

3.2 Modern animation in Romania: Ion Popescu-Gopo......................... 331 3.3 Modern animation in Czechoslovakia: Jiří Brdečka......................... 333
4. Modern styles in Soviet Union animation: Fyodor Khitruk................. 340 5. Modern styles in Asian animation: three Japanese directors............. 345
5.1 Taiji Yabushita.................................................................................................. 345 5.2 Osamu Tezuka.................................................................................................. 349 5.3 Yōji Kuri .............................................................................................................. 354

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 359 Appendix............................................................................................................................. 367

Primary Sources .............................................................................................................. 396
Archives consulted..................................................................................................... 396 Interviews cited........................................................................................................... 401 Private collections...................................................................................................... 401
Secondary Sources ......................................................................................................... 402
Artworks referenced................................................................................................. 402 Audiovisual materials referenced ....................................................................... 404 Works referenced ....................................................................................................... 419