Louis McManus was an American television engineer, film editor, and designer of the 1930s and 1940s. He is best known as the designer for the appearance of the Emmy award and symbol for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

During the 1930s, McManus worked primarily as an editor and edited many films and shorts, including those featuring Laurel and Hardy

Laurel and Hardy

Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...

 and the Our Gang

Our Gang

Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...

characters. In addition to editing, he also designed the title cards for many films. It was his work as a designer that inspired him to submit a design entry for the Emmy award in 1948. He used his wife, Dorothy, as a model for the figure. His design was ultimately chosen for the award, out of a field of forty-eight other proposals submitted.

McManus was awarded an Emmy (in the Special Award category) in 1948 (the first year awards were presented) for his work in designing the award. He was, however, presented with a plaque as an award, not a statue.