Gerald McBoing-Boing is an animated short film about a little boy who
speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced
by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by
Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. It was adapted by Phil Eastman
and Bill Scott from a story by Dr. Seuss, directed by Robert Cannon,
and produced by John Hubley.Gerald McBoing-Boing won the 1950 Oscar
for Best Animated Short. In 1994, it was voted #9 of The 50 Greatest
Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, making it the
highest ranked UPA cartoon on the list. In 1995, it was selected for
preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the
Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or
aesthetically significant".Dr. Seuss's story had originally appeared
on a children's record, scored by Billy May, issued by Capitol
Records, and read by radio veteran Harold Peary as "The Great
Gildersleeve".This film was the first successful theatrical cartoon
produced by UPA after their initial experiments with a short series of
cartoons featuring Columbia Pictures stalwarts The Fox and the Crow.
It was an artistic attempt to break away from the strict realism in
animation that had been developed and perfected by Walt Disney.
Cartoons did not have to obey the rules of the real world (as the
short films of Tex Avery and their cartoon physics proved), and so UPA
experimented with a non-realistic style that depicted caricatures
rather than lifelike representations.
speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced
by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by
Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. It was adapted by Phil Eastman
and Bill Scott from a story by Dr. Seuss, directed by Robert Cannon,
and produced by John Hubley.Gerald McBoing-Boing won the 1950 Oscar
for Best Animated Short. In 1994, it was voted #9 of The 50 Greatest
Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, making it the
highest ranked UPA cartoon on the list. In 1995, it was selected for
preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the
Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or
aesthetically significant".Dr. Seuss's story had originally appeared
on a children's record, scored by Billy May, issued by Capitol
Records, and read by radio veteran Harold Peary as "The Great
Gildersleeve".This film was the first successful theatrical cartoon
produced by UPA after their initial experiments with a short series of
cartoons featuring Columbia Pictures stalwarts The Fox and the Crow.
It was an artistic attempt to break away from the strict realism in
animation that had been developed and perfected by Walt Disney.
Cartoons did not have to obey the rules of the real world (as the
short films of Tex Avery and their cartoon physics proved), and so UPA
experimented with a non-realistic style that depicted caricatures
rather than lifelike representations.
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