The Animator, January 1938

 

The second issue of The Animator is missing as of this writing, so here is the third edition from the start of January 1938. Snow White had its Carthay Circle premiere and would have its general release the following month.

The Animator provided an avenue for sharing industry news with Guild members, outside of the usual trade journals such as Variety, The Film Daily, et. al., chiefly Ub Iwerks’s upcoming series of “Gran’Pop Monkey” cartoons based on the illustrations by Lawson Wood. Contrary to what the newsletter persists, twenty-four cartoons - not fifty - were planned, but according to The Film Daily, only three were completed by the end of 1938, with no more produced. 

The newsletter also proudly declares its objective: “The Screen Cartoon Guild is the only bonafide organization representing all of the studios in the animated cartoon industry.”

Though she is unnamed in the newsletter, the home address of Schlesinger employee/Guild secretary Charlotte Darling, appears again at the bottom of the document. 

Courtesy of Mark Kausler. 

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Now, here’s issue number 4, from January 21, 1938. 

“Looney Tunes” in color? Charles McKimson joins MGM! New model sheets for Scrappy! By then, the Screen Cartoon Guild’s membership expanded, mainly from artists at Walter Lantz.

 

As you'll see on the left hand column, the writer heavily criticizes the anti-union organization The Neutral Thousands (initialized as TNT), established in 1937, and Harman-Ising's "sudden and inconvenient" shutdowns, which laid off many of its artists. 

 

In their “Exposure Sheet” column, the Guild newsletter offers exclusive tidbits otherwise undocumented in the trades, frequently providing the only clue as to one’s career path in animation. We’ve previously seen that Charles (“Chuck”), the youngest McKimson brother, started in animation as early as 1933 at Harman-Ising; now, we see that Charles joined MGM’s cartoon department (which opened months earlier in August 1937.) It is uncertain how long Charles worked at MGM and in what capacity—assistant or full animator is my educated guess. At any rate, Chuck joined Leon Schlesinger as a full-fledged animator in Tex Avery’s unit, receiving his first on-screen credit in Land of the Midnight Fun (1939).

The name “Peter Paige” escapes me, but it might be Peter Page, who became a Disney storyman by 1939. (David Gerstein and JB Kaufman, Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History, pp. 321-322.)

The newsletter references Boy Meets Dog, Walter Lantz’s commercial film for Ipana Toothpaste, the “nationally known molar grease company” in question. Like Disney borrowed Harman-Ising’s inkers and painters for Snow White, Leon Schlesinger allowed Walter to use his ink-and-paint staff to meet the sponsored cartoon’s deadline.

 

 

Background painter John Waltz, a name brought to my attention by Steven Hartley years ago, was profiled on Tralfaz. Perhaps Waltz was hired at MGM to do background paintings, as well? 

 

As many animation fans are aware, the Looney Tunes continued in black-and-white until 1942’s The Hep Cat, directed by Bob Clampett. An original release print of the series’ color debut has not survived, more commonly seen in its 1949 “Blue Ribbon” reissue.

Lew Landsman’s departure from Schlesinger’s is worthy of note. A storyman for Schlesinger, Landsman received only one screen credit there (see left). Later, Lew returned to Leon Schlesinger’s—the studio’s internal house organ, also named The Exposure Sheet, announced his second departure in approximately February 1939. In fact, a September 1945 issue of Top Cel shares that Lew found a job at Famous Studios in New York (no occupation is specified.) 

 

For its final anecdote, the newsletter proclaims 1938 as a “banner year” for Mickey Mouse, who Donald Duck eclipsed, and Walt knew it. On January 10, 1938, renowned musical conductor Leopold Stokowski recorded an orchestration of Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” for a “special” Mickey Mouse comeback vehicle; its development began as early as May 1937. (Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons)  

 

 

Courtesy of CSUN Northridge Archives, Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Guild, Local 839 Collection. Special thanks to David Sigler for providing this document.

Pegbar Profile: George Manuell

 

Caricature of George Manuell by T. Hee, circa 1930s.  

Image courtesy: Bonhams Auctions.

 

George Francis Manuell was born in Renton, Washington, on August 7, 1909, as the second child to John Joseph Manuell and Annie McKay; George’s father hailed from Departure Bay in British Columbia, while his mother was Scottish-born.1 George’s family, including his older brother John W., moved away from Renton to California, settling in San Joaquin County before his first birthday.2 By late 1918, the Manuells had relocated to Los Angeles.

 

1918 draft registration card of John J. Manuell, George's father.

 

George attended Garfield School in Pasadena as a teenager, as reported in The Pasadena Post.

 

The Pasadena Post, June 14, 1923.

George drew at least one known cartoon for “The Junior Times,” the Los Angeles Times’ avenue for aspiring young cartoonists—many of whom went into the animation business—published on December 13, 1925. (George's signature is shown in the second panel.)

The 1927 and 1928 Alhambra directories indicate that he worked as a laborer, though no company or business was specified.3

According to the 1930 Los Angeles Census, George took a job as a librarian for a newspaper. (The 1930 Alhambra city directory, however, lists his occupation as a clerk.)4

It is still undetermined when Manuell entered the animation business, but speculation points to approximately 1933. Al Eugster stated in a 1978 interview that George was one of the lead writers at Ub Iwerks’s studio—there, George worked on stories with Otto Englander and Ben Hardaway.5 (George is shown seated for an Iwerks staff photo, circa 1934, on the left.)  

 

George had moved to Walt Disney’s studio as a storyman by the fall of 1934. Archival evidence unearthed by David Gerstein and JB Kaufman revealed that George helmed two story ideas that were never produced beyond early development: “Hillbilly Mickey” and “School Days”—the latter’s outline cast Mickey and the gang as unruly schoolboys!6

George married Olga Jane Winters, a stenographer for Barker Bros., on September 4, 1936.

 

 

Around 1937, George was hired at Leon Schlesinger Productions as a writer, where he received screen credit on at least five cartoons: Porky’s Double Trouble (Tashlin, 1937), Jungle Jitters (Freleng, 1938), The Isle of Pingo Pongo (Avery, 1938), Porky’s Spring Planting (Tashlin, 1938), and Wholly Smoke (Tashlin, 1938). 

 

 

George migrated to Miami to work as a writer at Max Fleischer’s new animation building, following Schlesinger storymen Tedd Pierce and Cal Howard. Among George’s story credits was a trio of Popeye cartoons where the Sailor co-starred with his ornery father Poopdeck Pappy: With Poopdeck Pappy (1940), Child Psykolojiky (1941), and Pest Pilot (1941).

 

Shortly after the release of Gulliver’s Travels, Max Fleischer made cutbacks in personnel. George was laid off from Fleischer’s on February 8, 1940.7 He returned back to Los Angeles.

The 1940 Los Angeles Census lists George’s occupation as a “cartoonist.” His draft registration card, dated October 1940, stated that he worked for The Los Angeles Times, presumably in the same capacity. (The 1942 Los Angeles city directory also lists George as a cartoonist.)8

 

George then became an aircraft worker for the war effort, as his occupation is listed here in the 1944 Arcadia city directory. 

 

 

George and his wife Olga also welcomed their daughter, Sherry Fay, on January 4, 1944.9

In March 1946, The Pasadena Independent reported that George had formed a business, Manuell Arts Advertising Agency.

Later, an August edition noted of George’s participation in the Pasadena Advertising Club. 

Pasadena Independent, Aug. 21, 1946.

By 1950, George used his artistry for Rexall Drug Store, a job he held for at least eight years.10

In 1958, George was hired as a coordinator for Lockheed Aircraft Missiles in Los Gatos.11 He passed away on October 19 that same year in Santa Clara, at age 49.

 

 __________________________________________________

 

1. George Francis Manuell, Washington, US Birth Records, 1907-1920. Courtesy: Ancestry.

2. 1910 US Federal Census, San Joaquin (Douglas Township), enumeration district no. 117, lines 91-94. 

3. 1927 Alhambra, California City Directory, p. 191. 1928 Alhambra, California City Directory, p. 196. Courtesy: Ancestry.

4. 1930 US Federal Census, Los Angeles (Alhambra), enumeration district no. 19-1412, lines 47-50. 1930 Alhambra City Directory, p. 201. Courtesy: Ancestry. 

5. Al Eugster, interview with Michael Barrier, March 17, 1978. Unpublished

.
6. David Gerstein and J. B. Kaufman, Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History (Taschen, 2018), pp. 287-289.

7. Al Eugster’s Journal, 1939-1942. Courtesy: Mark Mayerson. Unpublished. 

8. 1940 US Federal Census, Los Angeles, enumeration district no. 60-703, lines 5358. Courtesy: Ancestry. 1942 Los Angeles City Directory. Geo. F. Manuell, US City and Business Directories, ca. 1749-1990. Courtesy: FamilySearch. 

9. Sherry Fay Manuell, California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Courtesy: FamilySearch.

10. 1950 US Federal Census, Los Angeles (Arcadia), enumeration district 19-1204, lines 22-24. Courtesy: Ancestry. 1952 Monrovia City Diretory, p. 313; 1953 Monrovia City Directory, p. 532; 1955 Arcadia City Directory, p. 483.

11. 1958 Los Gatos City Directory, p. 344.