John Hubley
Encyclopedia
John Hubley was an American
animation director
, art director
, producer and writer
of traditional animation
films known for both his formal experimentation and for his emotional realism which stemmed from his tendency to cast his own children as voice actors in his films.
, Wisconsin
. In 1935, he gained a job as a background and layout artist at Disney
, where he worked on such classic films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
, Pinocchio, Dumbo
, and Bambi
, as well as "The Rite of Spring
" segment from Fantasia
.
On February 25, 1939, the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright
visited the studio, and brought with him a copy of the Russian animated movie The Tale of the Czar Durandai (1934), directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano
, which he showed to the artists, among them Hubley. Wright thought that the different style and design, that was very different from the typical Disney animation, would inspire and give the animators new ideas. Hubley liked what he saw and was influenced by it.
He left the company during Disney animators' strike
in 1941, and found work directing films for Screen Gems
and the Army's First Motion Picture Unit
until he joined United Productions of America
which was founded by Stephen Bosustow
, Zack Schwartz, Dave Hilberman and former Disney animator Ub Iwerks
. UPA soon became known for their highly stylized designs and limited animation
.
In 1949 he was the creator of the Mr. Magoo
cartoon character, based on an uncle, and directed the first Magoo cartoon with Jim Backus
(later in Gilligan's Island
) voicing Magoo.
He was forced to leave UPA in 1952 when he refused to name names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He founded Storyboard Studios the next year and worked on commercials (where he would not be credited) such as creating the Marky Maypo
character, but was forced to turn down more exciting projects (such as an adaptation of Finian's Rainbow
) because his name was still blacklisted. He moved his studio to New York in 1955, where he switched production over to independent short films.
Hubley was the original director of the movie Watership Down
(later being replaced by producer Martin Rosen
), with some of his work, including the opening sequence, remaining in the final version.
He married Faith Elliott
(September 16, 1924 – December 7, 2001) the same year as the studio's move, and they collaborated on nearly every film he made until his death in 1977 at age 62 during heart surgery; their final production was A Doonesbury
Special (with creator Garry Trudeau
), which aired on NBC
in November of that year. Faith and their four children carried on his legacy in the renamed Hubley Studios. Hubley is survived by his daughters Georgia Hubley
, who plays drums and sings for the rock band, Yo La Tengo
as well as Emily Hubley
, a filmmaker and animator, who has made numerous short films, including animated inserts and segments for documentaries such as Blue Vinyl
and the film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch
, and a feature called The Toe Tactic (www.thetoetactic.com) which combines live action
and animation. Their two other children were Mark and Ray Hubley, whose voices were used for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film-winning Moonbird.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
animation director
Animation director
An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film...
, art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
, producer and writer
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
of traditional animation
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
films known for both his formal experimentation and for his emotional realism which stemmed from his tendency to cast his own children as voice actors in his films.
Biography
Hubley was born in MarinetteMarinette, Wisconsin
Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,749 at the 2000 census.Marinette is the principal city of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Marinette County, Wisconsin and Menominee...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. In 1935, he gained a job as a background and layout artist at Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
, where he worked on such classic films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
, Pinocchio, Dumbo
Dumbo
Dumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
, and Bambi
Bambi
Bambi is a 1942 American animated film directed by David Hand , produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten...
, as well as "The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...
" segment from Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
.
On February 25, 1939, the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
visited the studio, and brought with him a copy of the Russian animated movie The Tale of the Czar Durandai (1934), directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Pyetrovich Ivanov-Vano was a Soviet animator and Russian animation director, sometimes called the "Patriarch of Soviet animation"....
, which he showed to the artists, among them Hubley. Wright thought that the different style and design, that was very different from the typical Disney animation, would inspire and give the animators new ideas. Hubley liked what he saw and was influenced by it.
He left the company during Disney animators' strike
Disney animators' strike
The Disney animators' strike was a labor strike by the animators of Walt Disney Studios in 1941.-History:The 1930s led to a rise of labor unions in motion pictures as in other industries such as The Screen Actors Guild which was formed in 1933. Animators of Fleischer Studios went on strike in 1937...
in 1941, and found work directing films for Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
and the Army's First Motion Picture Unit
First Motion Picture Unit
The First Motion Picture Unit was the first unit of the United States Military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel. It was also the title of a 1943 documentary about the unit.-Organization:...
until he joined United Productions of America
United Productions of America
United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio of the 1940s through present day, beginning with industrial films and World War II training films. In the late 1940s, UPA produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures, most notably the Mr. Magoo series. In...
which was founded by Stephen Bosustow
Stephen Bosustow
Stephen Reginald Bosustow was a Canadian-born American film producer from 1943 until his retirement in 1979. He was one of the founders of United Productions of America and produced nearly 600 cartoon and live action shorts. He is chiefly remembered for producing a string of Mr...
, Zack Schwartz, Dave Hilberman and former Disney animator Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
. UPA soon became known for their highly stylized designs and limited animation
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...
.
In 1949 he was the creator of the Mr. Magoo
Mr. Magoo
Quincy Magoo is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem...
cartoon character, based on an uncle, and directed the first Magoo cartoon with Jim Backus
Jim Backus
James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...
(later in Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
) voicing Magoo.
He was forced to leave UPA in 1952 when he refused to name names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He founded Storyboard Studios the next year and worked on commercials (where he would not be credited) such as creating the Marky Maypo
Maypo
Maypo is a brand of maple-flavored oatmeal. It was developed by the Maltex Corporation in Burlington, Vermont, in 1953. It was famous for its television commercials with the catchphrase, "I want my Maypo!" by Marky Maypo in 1956 by the Fletcher, Richards, Calkins & Holden Advertising Agency with...
character, but was forced to turn down more exciting projects (such as an adaptation of Finian's Rainbow
Finian's Rainbow
Finian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane. The 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances. Several revivals and a 1968 film version followed. A Broadway revival ran from October 8, 2009 until January 17, 2010...
) because his name was still blacklisted. He moved his studio to New York in 1955, where he switched production over to independent short films.
Hubley was the original director of the movie Watership Down
Watership Down
Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...
(later being replaced by producer Martin Rosen
Martin Rosen (director)
Martin Rosen is an American film and theater director, producer and writer. Rosen is known for the animated adaptation of Richard Adams's Watership Down.He is founder and owner of film/theater company Nepenthe.-Career:...
), with some of his work, including the opening sequence, remaining in the final version.
He married Faith Elliott
Faith Hubley
Faith Hubley was an animator, known for her experimental work both in collaboration with her husband John Hubley, and on her own following her husband's death.-Biography:...
(September 16, 1924 – December 7, 2001) the same year as the studio's move, and they collaborated on nearly every film he made until his death in 1977 at age 62 during heart surgery; their final production was A Doonesbury
Doonesbury
Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...
Special (with creator Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...
), which aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in November of that year. Faith and their four children carried on his legacy in the renamed Hubley Studios. Hubley is survived by his daughters Georgia Hubley
Georgia Hubley
Georgia Hubley is an American percussionist and is one of the founding members of the alternative-rock band Yo La Tengo.She is married to the group's other founding member, Ira Kaplan. They would often see each other in record shops and at the same shows...
, who plays drums and sings for the rock band, Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
as well as Emily Hubley
Emily Hubley
-Work:After more than two decades of making numerous shorts, providing animated segments for documentaries such as Blue Vinyl and the musical feature Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hubley made her first feature, The Toe Tactic. The Toe Tactic had its theatrical premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in...
, a filmmaker and animator, who has made numerous short films, including animated inserts and segments for documentaries such as Blue Vinyl
Blue Vinyl
Blue Vinyl is a 2002 documentary film directed by Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand. With a lighthearted tone, the film follows one woman's quest for an environmentally sound cladding for her parents' house in Merrick, Long Island, New York...
and the film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama film based on the stage musical of the same title about a fictional rock band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The film was adapted and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, who also portrayed the title role...
, and a feature called The Toe Tactic (www.thetoetactic.com) which combines live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
and animation. Their two other children were Mark and Ray Hubley, whose voices were used for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film-winning Moonbird.
Screen Gems
- Wolf Chases Pigs (1942)
- Old Blackout Joe (1942)
- The Dumbconscious Mind (1942)
- King Midas, Junior (1942)
- The Vitamin G-Man (1943)
- Professor Small and Mister Tall (1943)
- He Can't Make It Stick (1943)
UPA
- Flat Hatting (1944)
- Robin Hoodlum (1948)
- The Magic Fluke (1949)
- Ragtime Bear (1949)
- Spellbound Hound (1950)
- Punchy de Leon (1950)
- Gerald McBoing-BoingGerald McBoing-BoingGerald McBoing-Boing is an animated short film produced by United Productions of America and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950...
(1951) - Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951)
- Rooty Toot TootRooty Toot TootRooty Toot Toot is a 1951 United Productions of America animated short film, directed by John Hubley. In 1994 it was voted #41 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field...
(1952)
Storyboard Studios
- Adventures of an * (1956)
- Harlem Wednesday (1957)
- Tender Game (1958)
- MoonbirdMoonbirdMoonbird is a 1959 short animation by John Hubley and Faith Hubley "...in which Two Boys have an Adventure in the Middle of the Night..." as they sneak out and try to catch a Moonbird and bring it home. The film was animated by Robert Cannon and Ed Smith...
(1959) - The Tale of Old Whiff (1959)
- Children of the Sun (1960)
- Of Stars and MenOf Stars and MenOf Stars and Men is a 1964 animated film from the Hubley family of animators, based on the 1959 book of the same name by astronomer Harlow Shapley, who also narrates...
(1961) - The HoleThe Hole (1962 film)The Hole is a 15-minute animated film by John Hubley and Faith Hubley that won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1962.The film uses improvised dialogue from Dizzy Gillespie and George Mathews as two construction workers at work in the bottom of a hole on a construction site...
(1962) - The HatThe HatThe Hat is a Southern California fast-food restaurant specializing in pastrami sandwiches. This iconic eatery, once local only to the San Gabriel Valley, has been offering its "World Famous Pastrami" to Southern California residents since 1951. Its customers consume 13 to 15 tons of pastrami per...
(1963) - A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966)
- Urbanissimo (1966)
- Windy Day (1967)
- Of Men and Demons (1968)
- ZuckerkandlZuckerkandlZuckerkandl is the name of:* Amalie Zuckerkandl* Bertha Zuckerkandl , journalist, author* Emil Zuckerkandl , anatomist* Emile Zuckerkandl , biologist, physiologist...
(1969) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Imagination E", 1969) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("O Song", 1969) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Polar Bear & Exit", 1970) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Small V", 1970) - Eggs (1970)
- Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("F for Football", 1971) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Baby Fantasy", 1971) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Birds 1-20", 1971) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Penguin Rhythms", 1971) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Hungry M", 1971) - Dig (1972)
- Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
("Letter S", 1972) - Cockaboody (1973)
- Voyage to Next (1974)
- People, People, People (1975)
- Everybody Rides the CarouselEverybody Rides the CarouselEverybody Rides the Carousel is a 1975 independent animated film about the stages of life. It was directed by John Hubley and written and produced by Hubley and his wife Faith...
(1976) - Second Chance: Sea (1976)