Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
Feb 1, 2008, 3:19 PM
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Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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Born György Pál Marczincsák in Hungary (but then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) on February 1, 1908, George Pal died on May 2, 1980. He became an American citizen after emigrating from Europe.
Famed for his special effects in such films he produced as Destination Moon (1950), The War of the Worlds (1953) and The Time Machine (1960), Pal was just as important for his whimsical puppet animation.
In 1931, he moved to Berlin and founded Trickfilm-Studio Gmbh Pal und Wittke, with the UFA Studios as its main customer until 1933. During this time, he patented Pal-Doll (known in the U.S. as Puppetoons).
In 1934, he made a film advertisement in his hotel room in Paris, and was invited by Philips to make two more ad shorts. He started to use Pal-Doll techniques in Eindhoven, Netherlands, in a former abbatoir.
He made five films before 1939 for the British firm Horlick's Malted Milk. He left Germany as the Nazis came to power.
In 1940, he emigrated from Europe, and began work for Paramount Pictures. At this time, his friend Walter Lantz helped him obtain American citizenship.
As an animator, he made the Puppetoons series in the 1940s. He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1944 for "the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons." This was one of eight Academy Awards that Pal won.
His background with the whimsical Puppetoons set the foundation for the imaginative production designs for his science-fiction films in the 1950s and 1960s, including four with director Byron Haskin.
He died in Beverly Hills, California of a heart attack at 72.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine Street. In 1980, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founded the "George Pal Lecture on Fantasy in Film" series in his memory.
In 1975, Paul Tripp wrote a remake of his own Puppetoon, Tubby The Tuba. It was released as a feature film by the New York Institute of Technology. This was Cyril Ritchard's last movie.
In 1987, Arnold Leibovitz Entertainment released another feature, The Puppetoon Movie -- a compilation of Pal's animated works. Hosted by Gumby, Pokey and new pal Arnie the Dinosaur, it featured classic characters like Tubby the Tuba, Jasper in a Jam and Speedy Alka-Seltzer. It included hip jazz tunes from Charlie Barnet and Louis Armstrong, and had as many as 5,000 individually carved puppets per short.
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Feb 2, 2008, 4:20 PM)
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Member
Posted:
Feb 1, 2008, 4:39 PM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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Wow...
Thanks for that acknowledgment. If it can be said at all that I've had any heroes in this life, George Pal is one of the select few. What a great and wonderful man!
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Lead Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 1, 2008, 8:29 PM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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There is a toon that I can only imagine being a George Pal Puppetoon that I remember as a kid, but I can't locate it or even name it. It takes place in deepest Africa during a nighttime tribal ritual. Music plays a huge role (no surprise, here) with lots of indigenous drumming. Things get rolling when the dance around the bonfire summons members of the spirit world who join the festivities, to the general alarm of the tribe. One spirit in particular spooked me as a kid—he was an African mask, actually, two masks glued together, smiling on one side and frowning on the other. It was his dance that announced the arrival of the spirits. I'd love to know what this toon is and if it's available.
Here's to the memory of George Pal. That man was one of animation's true geniuses.
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Lead Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 2, 2008, 3:34 AM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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What made Pal's stop-frame models so great was that they actually animated!
By which I mean instead of just reposing a model frame-by-frame Pal carved animated sequences of limbs, heads etc and replaced them frame-by-frame giving a far more fluid effect.
Watching the model faces go through complete elastic expression changes is magical!
Check out this site for more details:
http://www.awn.com/...nd_hell/PAL/GP10.htm
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("La-la La-la I can't HEAR you!")
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Directing Animator
Posted:
Feb 2, 2008, 5:56 PM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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OT, I know... but nice avatar, mreiof!  Hopefully your upcoming Valentine's Day with the missus will be butt-flame-free!
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"Sit, Ubu, sit... good dog!" ("Arf"!)
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Directing Animator
Posted:
Feb 2, 2008, 7:13 PM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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It would be nice if some of George Pal's Puppetoons made their way onto DVD. Who currently owns the rights to these?
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"Sit, Ubu, sit... good dog!" ("Arf"!)
(This post was edited by zavkram on Feb 2, 2008, 7:14 PM)
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Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
Feb 2, 2008, 11:31 PM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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Some are public-domain and have shown up on DVD.
And The Puppetoon Movie (click on the link!) is available on DVD at Amazon.com -- $9.99 new, only $4.22 used. I have it on VHS.
You can also get a 3-DVD box set, George Pal - Flights of Fantasy, for $26.99. This includes The Puppetoon Movie, the documentary The Fantastic Film World of George Pal and Pal's first feature film, The Great Rupert (which includes a short Puppetoon sequence). Sounds like a bargain!
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
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Apprentice
Posted:
Feb 3, 2008, 6:45 PM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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Years ago I had a collection of public domain cartoons with one of the Jasper Puppetoons on it--"Jasper and the Haunted House," to be precise. Definitely entertaining, if, by today's standards, politically incorrect.
Thanks for the tip, eminovitz. Maybe I'll check one of those DVDs out! 
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I am NOT the next American Idol.
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Inbetweener
Posted:
Feb 7, 2008, 9:10 AM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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It would be nice if some of George Pal's Puppetoons made their way onto DVD. Who currently owns the rights to these?
While Viacom holds the elements, the Puppetoons are owned by Arnold Lebovit Entertainment.
Haven't you tried to link to a George Pal Puppetoon when you're on YouTube and then it's unavailable "due to a copyright claim by Arnold Lebovit Entertainment"?
"Jasper and the Haunted House" is the most common of all of the Puppetoons- even though the series title card said it was relased as a "Madcap Model". UM&M said in the titles "A George Pal Puppetoon Madcap Models" rather than "George Pal's Madcap Models"
Arnold Lebovit himself actually met George Pal. Did you know that? So his friendship to the late Pal must have made him mad on protecting the intectectuall (spelling?) rights to George Pal films. In fact, the most recent film adaption of Well's "The Time Machine" was done by arrangment with Lebovit.
But how is Arnold going to ban PD videos and DVD's featuring at least ONE Puppetoon? I'm just kidding, but you get the point.
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Inbetweener
Posted:
Feb 7, 2008, 9:15 AM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
[In reply to]
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There is a toon that I can only imagine being a George Pal Puppetoon that I remember as a kid, but I can't locate it or even name it. It takes place in deepest Africa during a nighttime tribal ritual. Music plays a huge role (no surprise, here) with lots of indigenous drumming. Things get rolling when the dance around the bonfire summons members of the spirit world who join the festivities, to the general alarm of the tribe. One spirit in particular spooked me as a kid—he was an African mask, actually, two masks glued together, smiling on one side and frowning on the other. It was his dance that announced the arrival of the spirits. I'd love to know what this toon is and if it's available.
Here's to the memory of George Pal. That man was one of animation's true geniuses.
None other than "Hoola Boola". In the orginal titles, there's a thunderclap on a specially animated Puppetoon version of the Paramount print logo where thunder starts a hurricane. The hurricane blows the title cards.
It never scared me, you should watch it again on the Puppetoon Movie DVD as part of the movie or as a bonus short (I would prefer you see it as a bonus so you can see the title cards and no selling of Horlick's for the next half of the scene for confusion), where you can figure out the ending.
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Lead Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 7, 2008, 10:00 AM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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Thank you, Famouslover!! Sometimes I wondered if I dreamt the whole thing up! Now I know!
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Directing Animator
Posted:
Feb 9, 2008, 8:45 AM
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Re: Happy (posthumous) 100th to George Pal!
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"...And The Puppetoon Movie (click on the link!) is available on DVD at Amazon.com -- $9.99 new, only $4.22 used. I have it on VHS..."
I just ordered a copy, new, from an independent seller on Amazon for only $5.85 plus shipping!
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"Sit, Ubu, sit... good dog!" ("Arf"!)
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(The avatar is ironic, no? It celebrates V-Day, but there's no ignition.) 
