Upa Jolly Frolics Collection Overview
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UPA: THE JOLLY FROLICS COLLECTION three-dvd set is an August, 2014 LVCA dvd donation to the Hugh Stouppe Memorial Library of the Heritage United Methodist Church of Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Below are some highlights of the collection, as well as mathematical evaluations of each short color animation and a ratings guide for parents. ROBIN HOODLUM from 1948 boasts streamlined editing and richly nuanced vocal performances. It was directed by John Hubley as part of a Fox and Crow character series. THE MAGIC FLUKE of 1949 benefits from the music of Franz Liszt, versatile camera movements, and the initial appearance of a minimalist, unindented linear style with flowing character borders and basic geometric graphics. Proportions of parts to wholes are shrunken, solid colors predominate, backgrounds are often left monochrome or void. Detail work on faces is eschewed in favor of sparseness. Even ideas frequently find expression chiefly as by-products of dominant angles and harmonious or warring masses of color. Speeches get shortened to telegraphic communications. Characterization depends mostly on positioning and viewpoint. Eyelines establish relationships, not speech. Topping off innovations is a preference for express pacing which usually permits only reaction, not deliberation. Collectively these characteristics define UPA’s limited animation style. Jules Engel’s designs here are especially notable for their clear break from Disney picturesque storytelling which favored layered, meticulously detailed backgrounds and impressionistic shadings. Introducing such primary characters as inept Mr. Magoo and his hapless nephew Waldo, 1949’s THE RAGTIME BEAR, directed by Mr. Hubley, marked a sea change in the career of actor Jim Backus. That raspy, crotchety voice he employed became a comedy trademark, landing him a multitude of jobs in voice acting roles and on humor-saturated television shows, most popularly as the bumbling millionaire of GILLIGAN’S ISLAND. Note also an engagingly slapstick music score by Del Castillo. Stark lighting contrasts and a screenplay rooted in history, written by Millard Kaufman and Phil Eastman of ARE YOU MY MOTHER? fame, combine with minutely recorded sound to make 1950’s PUNCHY DE LEON another unique UPA production. Also from 1950, THE MINER’S DAUGHTER features a variation on the folk song “Clementine”, as well as country-flavored music supplied by Gail Kubik. Try to spot early animation work by Bill Melendez, later renowned for Charlie Brown television specials. Director Art Babbitt tried his hand at creating a comical western with GIDDYAP from 1950. A highlight of this animation is Dave Raksin’s evocative music score. Remarkable use of contrast between open spaces and pastel masses is traceable to color designers Herb Klynn and Jules Engel. Mark Twain’s penchant for “stretchers” received new life in THE POPCORN STORY, also directed by Art Babbitt, an utterly preposterous tall tale about the invention of popcorn. Its tongue-in-cheek screenplay was the felicitous fabrication of writers Bob Russell, Phil Eastman and Bill Scott. Pay special attention to the Rube Goldberg-like shoeshine apparatus. A fancifully teeming production design owed its origin to Bill Hurtz. Appearing in 1951, THE FAMILY CIRCUS offered a humorous music score by Ernest Gold, later to become famous for the heroic EXODUS movie theme. Another memorable UPA character came into being that year, GERALD MCBOING BOING. Bouncy music by Gail Kubik, UPA signature design of Bill Hurtz and a storyline created by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) insured popular success for the amiably inventive mute hero. Bill Melendez was one of five animators, so the facial resemblance between Charlie Brown and Gerald is probably not coincidental. For once departing American shores, UPA crafted GEORGIE AND THE DRAGON, whose characters employed an almost impenetrable Scottish brogue. Its European setting supplied opportunity for composer Ernest Gold to explore Celtic melodies and tone colors. Characterizations are especially memorable, deflating clichés about Caledonians while giving animators opportunity to cheerfully wreak havoc with furnishings. Among these craftsmen was Grim Natwick, previously best known for his work on Disney Studio’s SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. If Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton could entertainingly imitate pugilists, why not a janitor with WONDER GLOVES? Playful animation from Bill Melendez, Frank Smith and Roger Daley teamed with appropriately jarring music composed by Paul Maury. Ray Sherman’s bass brasses constitute the principal asset of THE OOMPAHS. Martin Miller’s narration assist considerably in holding auditor interest. A much greater film is ROOTY TOOT TOOT, retelling, with courtroom setting designed by Paul Julian and hot jazz by Phil Moore, the violent revenge Frankie took upon faithless lover Johnny. In this version, Nellie Bly is a singer. Where else but here can you find a defense lawyer named Honest John the Crook? A musical drama in torrid Technicolor. Not the kind of stuff found at Disney story conferences. Directed by jazz devotee John Hubley. Parodying bullet-riddled 1950s westerns, WILLIE THE KID is notable for its clever story line, written by Thornton Hee (T. Hee) and director Robert Cannon. Ernest Gold’s music added zestful gunslinger flavoring. According to director Pete Burness, PETE HOTHEAD was very much a self-parody, marking the debut of a ragingly short-fused personality preprogrammed to act before he thinks, with predictably disastrous consequences. A soundtrack doubling as wordless audio commentary and acerbic scripting by Bill Scott and Phil Eastman are major assets. MADELINE, from 1952, was narrated by UPA secretary Gladys Holland. It brought Ludwig Bemelman’s classic Parisian orphan to the screen with a charmingly complete rhyming text from her creator. Though one of UPA’s stylistically weakest films, it was nonetheless nominated for an Academy Award®. Bill Melendez and Frank Smith were responsible for comfortably rhythmic animation. Innovative editing, dramatic lighting contrasts, distinctive voices and George Brun’s frequently obnoxious music powered another Robert Cannon fantasy, LITTLE BOY WITH A BIG HORN. Bill Melendez, Frank Smith and Tom McDonald combined to create a unique spin on the familiar problem of neighborhood noise pollution. Paul Julian’s decidedly non-traditional designs elevated THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES, infusing it with novelty and relevance for a new generation. All characters were voiced by Hans Conried, a bravura feat showcasing splendidly his range and acting skill. Colorations by Hungarian native Jules Engel and a trio of vocal performances by Marvin Miller highlight CHRISTOPHER CRUMPET. GERALD MCBOING BOING’S SYMPHONY appealed through a brilliant profusion of sound effects, flawlessly synchronized musical snippets by Ernest Gold, a felicitous alliance between live radio and the noise machine boy, and an unexpectedly dramatic script by Thornton Hee and Robert Cannon making eloquent use of silences and sound. Perhaps most perfect of all was THE UNICORN IN THE GARDEN, employing unchanged the entire text of James Thurber’s short fable. It benefited also from imaginative music by David Raksin (LAURA) and ideal vocal casting of Colleen Collins as the anomalous visitor. Designed by Robert Dranko in strict conformity to Thurber’s own drawings, THE UNICORN IN THE GARDEN represented cinematic adaptation of literature at its most successful. Unless that honor be accorded THE TELL-TALE HEART, also released initially in 1953. Somber hues, unusually thick lines, camera perspectives matching narrator irrationality, suspensefully gloomy music from Boris Kremenliev --- all interlock to recreate Edgar Allan Poe’s toxic ambience. This chilling film is totally inappropriate for preteens. A mocking score by Benjamin Lees for BRINGING UP MOTHER was reinforced by vigorous cutting and a role-reversing cynical script penned by Tedd Pierce and William Hurtz. Only a very small step indeed interposes between this 1954 production and the 1957 Zagreb Film of COWBOY JIMMY from Oscar-winning animation director Dusan Vukotic. BALLET OOP, Robert Cannon’s not-so-graceful tribute to amateur dance, despite sturdy propping from a storyline by Thornton Hee and the director, charmed principally due to awkward Tonya, an undaunted hopeful terpsichorean burdened with complete absence of timing and form. Bill Melendez, Frank Smith and Tom McDonald, the credited animation trio, appeared to relish gifting little Tonya with terminal klutziness. A more adult production was THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE, directed by Ted Parmalee, a story adaptation by Bill Scott and Fred Grable of the evergreen narrative song. Paul Julian designed this exaggerated melodrama featuring late Victorian décor and fashions. Taking full advantage of the entire screen, FUDGET’S BUDGET, impeccably designed by Thornton Hee, possesses extravagantly teeming compositions and profuse formal clutter. Graph paper backgrounds, complete lack of depth perspective lending an air of weightlessness to every object, horizontal character flips, basic figural outlines, black-and-white intrusions into color panels, commentary by anonymous speakers depicted only by curves of mouth and jaw --- these components had rarely surfaced before in American animation. Add a Gay ’90s piano score by George Bruns. Result: an original masterwork. Jack Easton’s droll boogie-woogie score propelled the aptly named BABY BOOGIE to an eminent position in UPA’s hierarchy. Colorful, lively