Then comes "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in all of its unpixelated glory, vast planes of color and jagged design, a beautiful piece of animation. After the show, that's what we're able to see across the street at the animation gallery: those beautiful pieces of animation, and Linda Jones, devotee of animation art and the daughter of the man who made them possible, Chuck Jones.

Mr. Jones set up his first production studio in 1961, after Jack Warner of Warner Bros. decided that TV and 3D would ruin the theatrical movie industry, and decided to stop making animated short films. Mr. Jones briefly worked for Walt Disney, spending six weeks on "Sleeping Beauty." He wasn't comfortable with the style and directors didn't have the autonomy to which he had been accustomed at Warner Bros. He told Disney he couldn't continue and that there was "only one job worth having and you've got it." He started his own film company.

In 1961 Mr. Jones's daughter Linda had just returned to Boston, Massachusetts from Berlin, Germany, where her husband had been in the US Army. She had worked as a secretary and her husband was in counter-intelligence. After four years of occasional excursions on sealed trains or holiday flights out of Berlin, Linda and her growing family moved back to the USA.

In 1964 they returned to California. Linda did typing and research for her father. Mr. Jones didn't consider TV to be where the best opportunity was. Character animation was where his heart was, and that's what he did. He didn't want to sell his soul like others of his time, sacrificing personality animation for TV assembly line production series.

He created TV specials, including MGM's "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Ted Geisel, and a theatrical feature film, "Phantom Tollbooth". "Phantom" was never released, as MGM was sold during that time, but the film has had a limited video release. Mr. Jones also made thirty-four Tom and Jerry cartoons. However, he never felt he could adapt the characters for himself. According to Linda, many in Hollywood felt that Mr. Jones' Tom and Jerry characters looked more like Roadrunner and Coyote in drag.

In 1992 Chuck Jones was asked to design the characters for "Stay Tuned", a feature film including a cartoon segment about TV hell. Mr. Jones set up a studio in Studio City, and, when the hired producer didn't work out, he asked daughter Linda to finish producing the segment. Her protests that she was unqualified to produce brought the response that it was no different than running her own business, and besides, he wanted a producer he could "kiss instead of curse". Next came director Chris Columbus with the opening sequence for the feature film, "Mrs. Doubtfire". Mr. Jones again asked Linda to produce and she agreed. In the final edit of the movie, however, the resulting six-minute sequence was cut to less than forty seconds. It appeared that Twentieth Century Fox might offer Mr. Jones more work, which apparently prompted Warner Bros. to ask Mr. Jones what he wanted to keep him as 'their guy'. He said he'd like his own studio, and the chance to make some more short animated films. He was given his wish. Chuck Jones Film Productions was resurrected in 1993, and started putting together an animation team.

This team included recent animation school grads, including several from Sheridan, as assistant animators and the likes of Greg Duffell, and Tom Ray, who was pulled out of retirement. Other animators worked under pseudonyms to lend a hand. Six shorts were produced for Warner Bros., of which four were directed by Mr. Jones. The studio was closed by Warner Bros. in 1997.

From the inception of his own studio in 1962, Mr. Jones continued creating animated films as President and CEO of Chuck Jones Enterprises. Linda Jones was raising a family in the 1960's and helped Mr. Jones now and then with administrative tasks, research, and archiving.

During this time, a woman by the name of Edith Rudman introduced a catalog of animation cels inspired by a similar catalogue she had seen in Israel. She began selling animation cels individually as artifacts. Before this, in the 1930's, Walt Disney studios had briefly sold cels through a prestigious art gallery, but interest seems to have waned during the 1940's. Warner Bros., on the other hand, often discarded used cels, as no one regarded them with an "art for art's sake" eye and did not collect them. On the opening day of Disneyland in 1955, Walt Disney gave cels away as promotion and later sold for as little as $5.00 apiece.

Edith Rudman was one of those who helped changed the perception of animation cels from giveaways or throwaways to fine art. Her catalog, the Gallery Lainzberg, offered animation cels obtained from studios including Chuck Jones Enterprises.

Another company was perhaps the most important to establish the fine art status of animation art. Circle Fine Art, a well-established name in the U.S., boasting approximately 34 galleries throughout the country had managed to obtain an exclusive agreement to sell the animation artwork of Walt Disney films sometime in the late 1970's.

During the 1960's, well known and versatile voice actress, June Foray (Witch Hazel, Natasha and Rocky on The Bullwinkle Show, among others) helped to establish an international animation film society ASIFA. She approached studios for artwork, and would frequently hold fund-raising 'cel-sales' which also helped to bring interest to this type of art.

Prior to Gallery Lainzberg and Circle Fine Art, there were only two or three companies marketing animation cels and almost entirely on the secondary market. Stu Reisbord and Jerry Muller were two of the best known secondary market dealers in those years.

For the first few years of its existence Gallery Lainzberg fielded three traveling shows which were circulated among most of the major college campus' Student Unions in the U.S. Midwest. "She was introducing the next generation to the art form of animation because she loved animation," says Linda. "She made very few sales, but we still hear of folks who tell us they saw their first animation art when they were in college." Although Rudman retired, Gallery Lainzberg continues in business.]

By 1982, Circle of Fine Art's exclusive deal with Disney had ended. CFA's CEO, Jack Solomon, enthusiastically added the name of Chuck Jones to the prestigious popular artists represented in his fine art galleries. They re-packaged Chuck Jones from creative animation film director to cultural pop artist, much as they did with illustrators Erté (Romain de Tirtoff) and Norman Rockwell. Animation was becoming something that could be proudly displayed in one's home. It legitimized animation as art. The high price of preparation, production and delivery could be justified, as the cels are as durable as watercolors, and could also be appropriately authenticated.

Linda says she caught the single cel animation bug when she was going through the folders of Mr. Jones' work for Edith Rudman in the late 1970's. She gazes off to the side, and remembers, "I was falling in love with cels. There was something special about the reflective artform and the familiar images." She also says there is a believability to the characters that is wanting in much of contemporary animation. The quest for realism, making images photographic, often stretches the credibility too far. She quotes her father on believability. "A small child once said to me: 'You don't draw Bugs Bunny, you draw pictures of Bugs Bunny.' That's a very profound observation because it means that he thinks the characters are alive, which as far as I am concerned, is true."

Looking at the pencil drawing of the Grinch hauling Max across the floor or the colorfully painted limited edition cel from "Duck Amuck" of Daffy in his cowboy get up telling the audience through slit eyes and sign, "Sound Please!" captivates, enchants and transports.

Thank you, Mr. Jones, for lifting the veil, one frame at a time.

Linda Jones has been instrumental in the development and growth of the animation art industry for more than 20 years. The daughter of renowned animated film director, Chuck Jones, from 1993-1997 Linda acted as president and producer for Chuck Jones Film Productions where she worked closely with director Chuck Jones on the creation of six animated theatrical short films for Warner Bros. Additionally, in she was involved in the making of George Daugherty's Emmy Award-winning "Peter and the Wolf", a made-for-television version of the classic tale airing in 1995. She lives in Costa Mesa, California with her husband Jim Clough.

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