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Chapter 13: UPA: Back To The Future
UPA again, and this time as creative chief! Bosustow beckoned and I was beamed to the Big Apple, the city of my youthful dreams. "If you can make it there…" etc. And I made it. Here are the vital statistics of that Golden Age studio.
Clearly, the lure of UPA again had me dazzled. I took another chance. By 1951 UPA had achieved a tremendous artistic and critical - if not financial - success. Tee Hee had replaced me as Bobe Cannon's designer, and together they had come up with one great film after another, exploring new graphic and story-telling ideas. Bill Hurtz had designed Gerald McBoing Boing and directed James Thurber's story, "The Unicorn in The Garden." Hub had launched Mister Magoo, and had directed the landmark classic, "Rooty Toot Toot." UPA was now BigTime.
Within two years, UPA had come back to me. Steve Bosustow had decided to open a branch in New York, 3,000 miles closer to Madison Avenue, to be able to latch on to the blooming market of television commercials. He flew to see me in Detroit, and made me the offer that indicated I was no longer an apprentice. I was so thrilled to be called back to the fold, and to be sent to New York, that I agreed to back off from my so recently acquired director status, and to start as production designer in the founding cadre of UPA-NY. Here was the opening team:
We came in with a hail of publicity, and were expected to lure the Madison Avenue bucks on the basis of the UPA name, which by now had sparkles shooting off it in all directions. We opened with a very nice bang.
There may have been a reason why Steve sent Abe to New York that I didn't know about, my having been off in the Detroit outlands for two years. But from the very beginning, Steve began to undermine Abe's position. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. Steve began to criticize everything Abe did, and after only a few months he was out. Steve named me Creative Director, and of course, I didn't fight it. I enjoyed a real blossoming.
Ted Bethune, the background painter, was a Canadian, and wanted to go home. That presented us with our first crisis, and I got on the phone several times with Steve, imploring him to send me a replacement. Orders were coming in, and we didn't have a background artist. As my desperation mounted, Steve put his hand over the mouthpiece, but I could still hear him ask someone, "Can you paint backgrounds?"
"Uh-oh," I thought. "What are we going to get?" Shortly, a handsome 20-year-old with bright black eyes showed up. He painted the worst backgrounds I had seen up to that time. "What else can you do?" I asked plaintively. I could not throw back a fellow Steve sent me.
"I have this reel I animated when I was 18," he said. I led him into the projection room with no real hope. The animation was sensational. Here was a natural born animator! He became my star. He was Duane Crowther.
Gene:
First a huge thanks for writing this book. You've got an incredibly unique perspective on the artform and life in general, and I'm so glad you're sharing all these fabulous stories. I'd love to hear more about UPA-New York. As I understand, UPA-NY was one of the most prolific commercial producers of the time, and I'm curious as to how involved the agencies were in the advertising process during the mid-'50s at a studio like UPA. It's always said that animation studios in the '50s had greater creative involvement in the commercial process, but then you say that a Y&R writer created the Bert & Harry campaign. Had the agencies already started providing boards at this time or were ad concepts still mostly thought up by the studios? I'd also be curious to hear what's your take on producing commercials as opposed to shorts and the other long-form animation you were producing later on. Was it more/less enjoyable? As fulfilling creatively? Completely different? That sort of thing.
Also I've heard that you created the original pilot of DUSTY OF THE CIRCUS at UPA-NY which turned into a series for THE GERALD MCBOING BOING SHOW. If that's true, I'd be interested in hearing details on how that came about, what it was originally intended for, etc, etc.
Thanks!
Amid
Gene, Fred Crippen is my father, and , I can go on record that his abilty to communicate visually was! and is! superior to his oratory skills,thanks for writing this history I had the pleasure to meet many of the people you've writen about, thanks for sharing your memories, sincerely Aaron Crippen
HI Gene, I'm enjoying reminiscing about the years you cover in animation. About the UPA staff photo, the caption requires editing. I don't know who everybody is, but I do know that the following names are improperly noted: Back Row: Grim Natwick on the left and Abe Liss in the center. Front row is Don McCormick on the left and Gene Deitch second from right. Wardell Gaynor is not in this photo although he was a super cameraman and should be there.
Keep writing,
Howard Beckerman
Hello Gene,
There is a man in New York that has thousands of hours of early telivision collected in a warehouse. He rents footage for the commercila business. I'm sure he has the Howdy Doody film you're looking for. I'll see if I can dig up his name.
Thanz for the wonderful stories.
Craig
Reply from Gene: Reader Scott Galley asked me to tell more about what it was like to work with Grim Natwick. Good idea, but I've been trying to keep this book from running on and on - just outlining the key events as I recalled them. I'm hoping some of my old staff who are still around will remind me of important stuff I may have forgotten. About Grim, I have to smile from my 77th year, and say that my first impression of Grim, when I first saw him, (and I have to confess I'd never actually heard of him at the time), was, "My gosh, why did Steve send me this old man?" Grim may have been in his 60s then! It didn't take long for me to get the answer! Grim was always laconic, and never said much. He just drawled a bit in a Minnesota way. I had a hard time getting him to talk about himself, or much of anything at first. It took a while to develop a warm relationship. After all, I was just a kid, playing at being the master's boss! The main thing he did was to produce great animation, and made me look very good! The UPA-NY staff member who benefitted the most from working in the same room with Grim was Duane Crowther. They became close friends, and Duane and his wife Cathy helped care for Grim until the end.
Gene;
Have been looking foward to this chapter most of all, and can honestly say, it was well worth the wait. Those years in New York sound facinating. It would be interesting to have a little more information on what it was like to work with animation legend, Grim Natwick, included.
Best;
Scott
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