"All the world loves a lover" is a quotation attributed to many. There are lots of romantic pairs -- real and putative -- in cartoons. Think of Donald and Daisy Duck, Porky and Petunia Pig, even Lucy Van Pelt and Schroeder. OK, that relationship isn't mutual.
But there have been a sizable number of real cartoon folks who have been involved not only with cartoons, but with each other! Apparently, animation doesn't have the taboo against "fraternizing" that other professions have.
Here, in no particular order, are some loving couples whose halves had something in common: they were both members of the cartoon community!
John Halas and Joy Batchelor: In 1936, John Halas (born Janos Halasz in Hungary) came to England, hired by British Animated Films to animate and direct Music Man, the first British Technicolor cartoon. He and co-worker Joy Batchelor met on the job while this cartoon was in production. In 1940, they formed their own studio, Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films; the following year, they married. The studio's output was tremendous, with Halas usually producing and Batchelor directing. The famous "H & B" partnership ended only with Batchelor's death in 1991.
Peter and Joan Foldes: In 1952, this British couple produced, directed, animated -- and wrote! -- Animated Genesis, an amateur production which became the first cartoon to win a British Film Academy Award. The two won notoriety in 1956 for A Short Vision... a vision of an apocalyptic nightmare. It was the first British cartoon to be X-rated (adults only) in Great Britain under the British Board of Film Censors classification system. (Like John Halas, Peter Foldes was born in Hungary.)
Walter Lantz and Grace Stafford: Their marriage was the second for both, and it was long and happy. The two were on their honeymoon in 1940 at Sherwood Lake, California. They kept hearing a knocking on the roof. Lantz went out to take a look, and spotted a woodpecker drilling holes in the asbestos shingles! Back at his cartoon studio, he tols his staff about his noisy honeymoon...and Woody Woodpecker was born.
Following an out-of-court settlement to end a legal dispute with Mel Blanc (the first "Woody"), Grace Stafford played the voice of Woody in 165 cartoons from 1951 until the end of the 1980s (she died in 1992; Lantz died in 1994). To avoid accusations of nepotism, she was billed as Grace Stafford, not Lantz. During her first two years of voicing Woody, she was uncredited at her request, as she felt children would be "disillusioned" if they knew that Woody was voiced by a woman.
Seymour Kneitel and Ruth Fleischer: Like Halas and Batchelor, this couple met on the job. Seymour, an animator and future director, attended the Art Students League in New York City. In about 1930, he started work for Fleischer Studios, owned by Ruth's father Max. (Ruth was working at the studios for a while.) Seymour and Ruth were married in 1931. Ruth Kneitel continued to supply story ideas for Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios; according to her son, Tom Kneitel, she supplied several uncredited scripts for Popeye and Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons. Seymour Kneitel died in 1964, Ruth Fleischer Kneitel in 2001. Ruth's sole screen credit was as a writer in Keep The Cool, Baby, a 1967 installment in the GoGo Toons series. (At age 13, she did appear as a chorus girl in the 1920 live-action short Another Bottle, Doctor, directed by Max's brother Dave!)
Jack Mercer and Margie Hines (Heinz): Yes, Mercer (the voice of Fleischer Studios' Popeye) was married to Hines (the voice of Olive Oyl)! Sadly for Popeye fans, the union didn't last. Tom Kneitel recalls: "While the studio was in Florida, they got married. Mercer went off to World War II military service soon after, and the marriage promptly disintegrated." Hines also helped provide the voice of Betty Boop. Mercer remarried; he died in 1984.
Paul and Linda McCartney: The story of the marriage of Paul (his first) and Linda (her second) is known to just about all of us. Not so well-known is their involvement in animation.
In 1978, their company MPL Communications (MPL stands for "McCartney Paul Linda") released Oriental Nightfish: "The Oriental Nightfish is everything that we know and all that we cannot comprehend." Paul and Linda were the producers, while Linda and Wings composed music; Linda also provided vocal talent.
Seaside Woman (Boreweald/Dragon Productions/MPL Communications/ITC, 1980): Paul was the executive producer, while he and Linda helped provide the music for this short film, which featured a little black girl and her parents. It won the Golden Palm for Best Short Film at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, and second prize for Best Short Animated Film in Zagreb (1980). As well, it was nominated for the BAFTA Film Award for Best Animated Film in 1981.
This musical cartoon was produced to accompany the record "Seaside Woman" by "Suzy and the Red Stripes" -- a pseudonym for Wings, with Linda as the lead vocalist. "Seaside Woman" was the first song written by Linda, who was inspired by her delight in being exposed to the Caribbean lifestyle. Paul revealed that during the cartoon's screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1980, he and Linda sneaked in unnannounced to watch their film, and that the applause afterward was one of their fondest memories.
Paul and Linda were executive producers of Rupert and the Frog Song (MPL Communications, 1984). This cartoon was based on characters in the Rupert Bear comic strip. Originally intended to be a feature-length film, it was released as a short instead. It introduced an original song by Paul, "We'll All Stand Together." Paul voiced the roles of Rupert Bear, Edward, Bill and Boy Frog, while Linda was also a voice in the cartoon.
The two guest-starred in Lisa the Vegetarian, a 1995 episode of The Simpsons, in which a trip to a local petting zoo leads to confrontations at the dinner table when Lisa decides to become a vegetarian. In real life, Linda persuaded Paul to "go veggie."
Gene Deitch and Zdenka Deitchova: The two were married -- to other people when they met in Czechoslovakia! Deitch, a former TerryToons producer, moved to Prague in 1960 to work with William L. Snyder at Rembrandt Studios. He directed a dozen Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM, as well as Krazy Kat and Popeye for cartoons for King Features. Gene and Zdenka still live in Prague. In 2000, Zdenka was named the chief of the Kratky Film animation studio in Prague, where she had worked as a producer for over 55 years!
John and Faith Hubley: John (formerly of Disney Studios and UPA) and Faith (nee Faith Elliott) were innovative producer-director-writers at Storyboard Films, as well as at their own outfit, Hubley Studios. At Storyboard, their often politically liberal releases included the Oscar-winning The Hole (1962), as well as Venice Film Festival winner The Hat (1963), which marked the film debut of British comedian Dudley Moore. After John's death in 1977, Faith continued to make animated films for Hubley Studios until her own death in 2001. Their son Mark has been an ink-and-paint artist, while daughters Georgia and Emily provided unwitting soundtracks for their parents' films when they were recorded at play; in recent years, Emily has animated a number of films on her own.
Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman: Personal as well as professional partners, this married couple directed and wrote the screenplay for last year's American Splendor, a critically acclaimed live-action film with animated sequences. (Berman received screen credit ahead of her husband on this, their first feature film.) Among their many honors for this comedic "biography" of comic-book artist Harvey Pekar is an Oscar nomination for "Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published." We'll see what happens!
"One nice thing eez, the game of love eez never called on account of darkness." -- Final line by Pepe Le Pew in Touché And Go (1957)
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Feb 13, 2004, 1:06 AM)
"All the world loves a lover" is a quotation attributed to many. There are lots of romantic pairs -- real and putative -- in cartoons. Think of Donald and Daisy Duck, Porky and Petunia Pig, even Lucy Van Pelt and Schroeder. OK, that relationship isn't mutual.
My sister would have your head for not mentioning Mickey and Minnie Mouse, eminovitz. When mentioning famous cartoon couples, Mickey and Minnie are at the top of her list.
Voice actress BJ Ward and Hanna-Barbera recording director and "Dilbert" voice actor Gordon Hunt were married in the 1990s.
Hunt is the father of actress Helen Hunt who was in the guest voice cast of the "Scooby Doo" series in the 1980s with Scrappy Doo, Shaggy, and Daphne.
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"Don't chew gum on camera. Don't whistle. You may kiss Bob Barker but please don't kill him." -announcer Johnny Olson briefing the audience of potential contestants for "The Price is Right"
My sister would have your head for not mentioning Mickey and Minnie Mouse, eminovitz. When mentioning famous cartoon couples, Mickey and Minnie are at the top of her list.
I guess this means your sister and I won't be a couple, FluidGirl!
Here's another cartoon couple: Bob and Sody Clampett (Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. and Theota Ann Clampett, if you want to get technical).
Sody was married to Bob from 1955 until his death in 1984. She composed music for the Beany and Cecil TV series, which Bob produced and directed. In addition, she supplied various voices for the series. Sketches from the Clampetts' home were used as backgrounds for episodes. (The Internet Movie DataBase credits her with co-writing the theme song of Beany and Cecil -- the original 1949 puppet show -- with Bob.) Sody was production coordinator for the 1975 documentary Bugs Bunny Superstarand appeared in the 1997 documentary Ducktators.
Bob and Sody's son Bobby Clampett (Robert Clampett Jr.) created the 1999 DVD Beany and Cecil: The Special Edition. Their daughter Ruth works for Warner Brothers (or did, as of 1999). Bob Jr. and Ruth both did voices for Beany and Cecil.
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Feb 13, 2004, 12:48 PM)
>>> Ruth works for Warner Brothers (or did, as of 1999)
Ruth is a wonderful woman, and one of the most creative minds in her business. She worked at WB as the creative head of their animation art program. When that closed down, folloewed shortly by the demise of the WB Stores, Ruth started (restarted? Reactivated) her private company Clampett Studios, and is now the official (and only) maker of Warner Bros, Hanna-Barbera animation artwork.
I guess this means your sister and I won't be a couple, FluidGirl!
Guess not. But I've got something interesting about Mickey and Minnie. Being the Mickey and Minnie guru that she is (and she'll have MY head if I don't mention BOTH of them), she reads anything about Mickey and Minnie that she can and she found this out:
Wayne Allwine (current voice of Mickey) is married to Russi Taylor (current voice of Minnie)
It was a marriage made not in heaven, but in Disneyland!
They met at a session of voices for the 1988 TV special Totally Minnie.
"We met long before we ever got serious about each other," Russi Taylor said during a 1997 chat with fans at the Arbordale Auditorium.
"We met doing the voices, of course. You get to know other actors, and Wayne was always very professional and a pleasure to work with. At one point, we'd both gone through difficult divorces, and got together as friends after work, just to talk. We've been talking ever since. It was fate."
Dingdog just reminded us (thanks!) that Chuck Jones' wife Dorothy -- nee Webster -- worked with him on the script for the feature film Gay Purr-ee (UPA, 1962).
This was another case of a couple meeting on the job! In 1932, Chuck got his first job in animation as a cel washer for former Disney animator Ub Iwerks. It was at Iwerks Productions that he met Dorothy Webster, who was Ub's secretary. Some sources say that Chuck and Dorothy wed in 1932; others say 1935.
Chuck was married to Dorothy (who had no other film credits) until her death in 1978. In 1981, Chuck Jones married Marian J. Dern, who was 16 years his junior; that marriage lasted until his death in 2002.
I keep learning from everybody! This time, FrankoSport reminded me...
Gerry Anderson's wife Sylvia worked with him on his many "Supermarionation" and other British series made by his Gerry Anderson Productions.
These included Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (Gerry was executive producer, Sylvia voiced Melody Angel), Fireball XL5 (producer Gerry voiced Robert, Sylvia voiced Venus), The Investigator (Sylvia voiced Julie and wrote the screenplay for this unreleased pilot) Joe 90 (Gerry and Sylvia co-wrote an episode), The Secret Service (they co-wrote an episode), Supercar (Gerry produced, Sylvia voiced Jimmy Gibson) and Thunderbirds (Sylvia voiced Lady Penelope and provided visual effects).
Gerry and Sylvia both produced and wrote the animated features Thunderbirds Are Go (1966; Sylvia also voiced Lady Penelope) and Thunderbird 6 (1968).
Quite a story about Gerry and Sylvia's relationship...
In 1957, Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis decided to form a new production company, AP Films. They hired three former employees from their former workplace, Polytechnic Films, including Sylvia Thamm, a former secretary.
At the end of filming a puppet series, The Adventures of Twizzle, AP Films held a celebration party. This marked the beginning of Gerry's relationship with Sylvia, who had been married before. Soon, Gerry soon left his first wife, Betty Wrightman, and set up home with Sylvia.
During the early production of Supercar, Gerry Anderson's divorce from Betty came through. He and Sylvia were married in November 1960 at London's Caxton Hall Register Office. Their at times extremely stormy marriage ended in divorce in December 1980. In April 1981, Gerry was married to Mary Robins at Beaconsfield Register Office; Mary had moved in with Gerry while he was still married to Sylvia!
As far as I know, Gerry and Mary are still alive...and still married...to each other.
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Feb 18, 2004, 8:10 PM)
Another couple I just found out about the other day: Charles Mintz and Margaret "M.J." Winkler.
Charles Mintz was with Columbia Pictures and produced a great number of cartoon shorts, particularly the Scrappy and Krazy Kat series, in the 1930s.
Earlier, he was a film distributor for Disney. His wife, Margaret Winkler, distributed Disney's Alice Comedies and had her own company, M. J. Winkler Productions.
(In fact, she was the first woman to produce and distribute animated films. She was credited as "M.J. Winkler" on the screen; the name never revealed that a woman was in charge!) When Winkler married Mintz in 1926 (some sources say 1924), she retired and her husband took over the company.
Mintz suggested a change in direction to keep the Disney animated shorts fresh. Universal Studios sought a cartoon series featuring a rabbit, and the couple (Mintz and Winkler) suggested that Walt Disney do the job...which is how the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series came about.
Winkler and Mintz are widely "credited" (blamed!) for stealing the rights for the Oswald character -- as well as a number of animators -- from Disney. But this cloud had a silver lining: stuck with a skeleton staff, Walt quickly designed a replacement character: Mickey Mouse.
Another interesting fact: Margaret Winkler was Charles Mintz's boss! He had worked for her since 1922; presumably, that's how they met.
Also, "Les Triplettes de Belleville" director Sylvain Chomet's wife Sally is also his producing partner. She's in charge of Studio Django, her husband's new Edinburgh-based animation studio.
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Mar 25, 2004, 6:03 PM)
And how could anyone ignore Ross Bagdasarian Jr and Janice Karman? This couple collaborated on the 80's version of The Chipmunks, and even composed the theme song. In addition, Karman created the Chippettes for the series, and voiced them and Theodore. Bagdasrian, naturally, voiced Alvin, Simon, and Dave.
Julie McWhirter, who voiced Casper the Friendly Ghost in Casper and the Angels, has been married since 1977 to Rick Dees -- who was in the voice cast of the same series!
Rick is the DJ responsible for the 1978 novelty hit song "Disco Duck."
Julie's supplied voices in many, many animated series. In The Smurfs, she portrayed Baby Smurf and Sasette Smurf. She appeared in the credits as Julie Dees.
Ollie Johnston, the last surviving member of Disney's "Nine Old Men" of animators has been married to the former Marie Worthey since 1943. Marie was an employee in the Ink and Paint Department at Walt Disney Productions.
A backyard railroad hobbyist, Ollie named his full-size narrow gauge antique locomotive "Marie E." after his wife. He sold it several years ago to John Lasseter, CEO of Pixar.
Scriptwriters Jon Cooksey and Ali Matheson are married to each other and now live in Vancouver (they were formerly based in L.A.). They have their own production company, Hope Springs Productions.
Although much of their work is for live-action TV, they're both been writers for many episodes of Rugrats.
Jack Mercer and Margie Hines (Heinz): Yes, Mercer (the voice of Fleischer Studios' Popeye) was married to Hines (the voice of Olive Oyl)!
I did not know that!
I always thought that Mae Questal did the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl (or are we talking about the first batch of Fleischer Studio "Popeyes" from the pre-code era?)
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"I'd like to cover you with furs and automobiles!"
Mae Questel (as her last name was usually spelled) voiced Betty Boop through most of the series' 1930-39 run.
However, from 1938 to 1943, Questel took a break from Fleischer/Famous Studios. Margie Hines (also known as Heinz) voiced Betty from 1938 until the series ended in 1939; she also portrayed Olive Oyl from 1938 to 1943, when Questel returned.
Clive (Rocky) Morton and Annabel Jankel developed the character Max Headroom and directed the live-action film Super Mario Brothers. They directed several pioneering animated music videos (Elvis Costello, Tom Tom Club, Donald Fagen) for Britain's Cucumber Studios in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
They've been married since 1998, having met when they were film students. They have two children.
Jack Mercer and Margie Hines (Heinz): Yes, Mercer (the voice of Fleischer Studios' Popeye) was married to Hines (the voice of Olive Oyl)!
I did not know that!
I always thought that Mae Questal did the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl (or are we talking about the first batch of Fleischer Studio "Popeyes" from the pre-code era?) Very interesting! A clipping from an old TV listings mag in the 70s (a "10 things you didn't know about Popeye" sort of thing!) that I had carried aroud for years claimed that Mercer married Questel - but that could just have been the journalist's assumption that Mae was the only voice of Olive. Wish I could find the damn cutting - it's here somewhere! - 'cause it gave a date, which would help. When the Fleischers moved to Miami Mae Questel couldn't leave New York for some reason (anyone know what?) so Margie Hines did Olive's voice. When Paramount ousted the Fleischers and the studio (now "Famous") moved back to New York Questel resumed her former role.
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Back by popular demand - "La-la-La-la.. I can't hear you!"
(This post was edited by peterhale on Feb 8, 2005, 2:39 AM)
Andy Collen and Amy Blumenstein-Collen are co-writers of the award-winning short Winter/En Hiver.
Andy Collen freelanced with companies such as Vinton Studios and Blashfield & Associates. Now with Happy Trails Animation, he makes commercials and independent films.
Amy Blumenstein-Collen earned her BFA from the Pacific NW College of Art and completed an ink and watercolor short film, Bob’s Choice. After apprenticing with independent animator Joanna Priestley in Portland, Amy worked as an independent contractor on commercial projects such as Texas Lottery, Nike ACG, Fanta, Blueberry Pop Tarts and Sesame Street. In addition, she taught animation to young people through the Northwest Film Center's Filmmakers in Schools program.
Bob and Margaret creator/writers David Snowden and Alison Fine are "life partners" (I'm not sure if they're married).
Fine, a Torontonian, met Snowden at England's National Film and Television School. Their daughter, Lily Snowden Fine, provides the voice of the title character on Peppa Pig.
Thanks for the info. I always suspected someone other than Mae Questel voiced Olive Oyl. Jeff Lenburg's book THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ANIMATED CARTOONS is an invaluable reference but unfortunately is riddled with errors. He only credited one actress for the role of Olive but five for Betty Boop (Mae Questel, Ann Rothschild, Margie Heinz, Kate Wright, and Bonnie Poe).
Another pair of couples (one and a half couples?):
Selby Daley and 1) Roger Daley and 2) Walt Kelly
One of Disney's first female assistant animators, she was head of the paint mixing department at the time that Snow White was made. She ran her own animation studios in the United States and Mexico with her first husband, UPA animator Roger Daley. As Selby Daley, she was an animator for the 1971 feature film Shinbone Alley.
She met "Pogo" comic strip creator Walt Kelly in 1969, when she became his assistant on The Pogo Special Birthday Special. At the time, Walt's wife Stephanie had just died after a long illness. She was married to Walt for a few years before his death in 1973 and drew Pogo for a year and a half afterward.
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