Who Needs Paint Anyways?

Let’s see. Characters that are outlines. Cigarette-shaped heads. Walls represented by a signs in the background. If it’s a 1950s commercial, it could be just about any studio. But if it’s a theatrical cartoon, you can pretty well guess which one it is.

Here’s an example of the limited animation of UPA. This background is from “Gerald McBoing Boing’s Symphony” (1953). The heads are on cells. They turn to follow Gerald as he comes toward the camera from the buildings in the distance, turns and then proceeds across the drawing. The bodies don’t move.



If you’re curious, the pastel blue sign in the background reads ‘Carmel.’

The designs are by T. Hee, while the colour schemes were worked out by Jules Engel and Michi Kataoka.