Wah Chang papers, ca. 1928-2000, bulk, ca. 1950-2000
Finding aid prepared by Amanda Schapel, with assistance from Julie Graham; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline
Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575
(310) 825-4988
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
©2002 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Title: Wah Chang papers
Collection number: PASC 202
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
3.4 linear ft.
(2 boxes and 6 flat boxes)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1950-2000
Date (inclusive): ca. 1928-2000 (bulk, ca. 1950-2000)
Abstract: Collection consists of biographical scrapbooks and exhibit panels documenting the career of special effects and film pioneer,
artist Wah Chang.
Language of Materials: Materials are in English.
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Creator:
Chang, Wah
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Wah Chang Papers (Collection PASC 202). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift, 2001.
Biography
Wah Ming Chang was born 1917 in Honolulu and moved to San Francisco in the early 1920s. There he began exhibiting his creative
work at the age of six. After the death of his mother in 1928, he came to live with Blanding Sloan and Mildred Taylor. In
1938, Chang began his career in film and special effects by building murals, sets, and animated puppets shown at the World's
Fair in San Francisco. He joined Disney Studios' Effects and Model Department in 1939 and worked on projects such
Pinocchio,
Fantasia, and
Bambi. In 1941, he worked for George Pal Puppetoon Studio as head of the puppet department working on Army and Navy training films.
Chang formed East-West Studios with Blanding Sloan in 1945 and produced
The Way of Peace, an animated puppet film commissioned by the American Lutheran Church. He later formed Centaur Productions, working on television
commercials and toy designs. Throughout the 1950s he freelanced and worked on motion picture projects such as the
King and I,
Can Can,
Tom Thumb,
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and
The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao , for which he received an Oscar nomination. Over the next several years he worked on major motion pictures, commercials for
such companies as Dole Pineapple, Kellogg, and Kraft, and various television series such as
The Outer Limits and
Star Trek. Chang left Hollywood in the 1970s to pursue his interests in wildlife and sculpture.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of biographical scrapbooks and exhibit panels documenting the career of special effects and film pioneer,
artist Wah Chang. Includes original and reproduced photographs, clippings and ephemera.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Books About Chang
- Clippings
- Photographs
- Scrapbooks
- Exhibit Panels
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chang, Wah--Archives.
Cinematography--Special effects--Archives.
Photographs.
Box 2, Folder 9
Life and Sculpture of Wah Ming Chang (The).
Box 2, Folder 8
Wah Ming Chang: Artist and Master of Special Effects.
Box 5, Folder 5
Assorted clippings and ephemera.
ca. 1960s.
Box 5, Folder 7
Way of Peace (The).
ca. 1940s.
General note
Clippings and ephemera.
Box 1, Folder 1
Miscellaneous photographs.
no date.
General note
Seven (7) images.
Box 1, Folder 4
Award-Winning Movie Years (The) (1 of 2).
many no date, 1961.
General note
Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work on the films "Tom Thumb" and "Time Machine." Images with
Gene Warren, Russ Tamblyn, George Pal, Ed Sullivan, Tim Barr, and Glen Chang.
Box 1, Folder 5
Award-Winning Movie Years (The) (2 of 2).
many no date, 1961.
General note
Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work on the films "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm,"
"Tom Thumb," "Atlantis," "Seven Faces of Doctor Loa," and "The Power." Images with Don Salin, Jim Danford, and Tony Randel.
Box 1, Folder 2
Early Years (The).
many no date, 1928, ca. 1940s, 1957.
General note
Reproductions and original clippings, drawings, and photographs of early exhibits. His work with Leroy Prinz, Serta Mattress,
Popeo Paint, California Prune Association, Disney Studios, George Pal Puppetoon Studio, Morey/Southerland Studio, CBS Playhouse
"90" series, and "The Way of Peace" puppet film produced by Wah Chang.
Box 1, Folder 7
Movie and TV Commercials.
no date.
General note
Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work on a Hercules movie, the Sawyer View Naster 3 D Series,
"Spartacus," a McHales Navy TV Show, and assorted commercial work including Schick, Kraft cheese, Pillsbury, and McDonald.
Box 1, Folder 6
Movie Years and Stage Productions (The).
no date.
General note
Reproductions and original photographs. Chang's work on "Red Skelton," "Magdalana," "My L.A.," "Jack the Giant Killer," and
"Masters of the Word."
Box 1, Folder 3
Movie Years and Toys (The).
many no date, 1952.
General note
Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Masks designed and made by Chang for "King and I," "Can Can" and "Cleopatra,"
and toys designed by Chang for Centaru Productions.
Box 2, Folder 1
Science Fiction and Fantasy (1 of 2).
many no date 1960, 1966, 1995.
General note
Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work for Outer Limits, Star Trek, and Dinosaurs.
Box 2, Folder 2
Science Fiction and Fantasy (2 of 2).
[ca. 1960s], 2000.
General note
Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work for "Land of the Lost," a special effects award, and a
biographical story.
Box 3, Folder 3
Award Costume Designers of Films and Designs for Bronze Originals of California.
ca. 2000.
General note
Seven (7) images of awards and never-produced bent plywood chairs, and Three (3) photographs of designs for Bronze Originals
of California exhibit.
Box 8, Folder 3
Can Can and The King and I.
ca. 2000.
General note
Ten (10) images of Chang's work on Can Can, and six (6) photographs of Chang's work on The King and I.
Box 5, Folder 1
Dennis the Menace.
no date, [ca. 2000].
General note
Two (2) images and one drawing of a sculpture designed by Chang.
Box 6, Folder 3
Designed and Built for Star Trek.
ca. 2000.
General note
Eighteen (18) images and two (2) clippings documenting Chang's work on the television series Star Trek.
Box 3, Folder 1
Dinosaurs and Masters of the World.
ca. 2000.
General note
Four (4) images each of Chang's work on the films Dinosaurs and Masters of the World.
Box 6, Folder 2
Early Studies Age 17 to 18.
ca. 2000.
General note
Nine (9) drawings of Chang's early work.
Box 6, Folder 1
Early Works Block Prints and Etchings Age 7 to 9.
ca. 2000.
General note
Five (5) woodcuts, one (1) sketching, and two (2) clippings about Chang's very early work.
Box 4, Folder 1
Jack the Giant Killer.
ca. 2000.
General note
Eleven (11) images of Chang's work on the film and the background projection by animator David Pal.
Box 7, Folder 2
M.G.M. The Time Machine Produced by George Pal.
ca. 2000.
General note
Thank-you note and sixteen (16) images of Chang's work on the film.
Box 4, Folder 2
M.G.M. Tom Thumb Produced by George Pal.
ca. 2000.
General note
Nine (9) images of Chang's work on the film, including his "yawning man" figure.
Box 6, Folder 4
Outer Limits.
ca. 2000.
General note
Seventeen (17) images of Chang's work on the television series Outer Limits.
Box 4, Folder 4
Props and Costumes.
ca. 2000.
General note
Sixteen (16) images of Chang's prop and costume designs, including a tarantula, gorilla, elephant, alligator, dragon, raccoons,
and others.
Box 4, Folder 5
Props and Costumes.
ca. 2000.
General note
Eleven (11) images of Chang's prop and costume designs, including Cleopatra headdresses, a Frankenstein figurine, masks, a
giant razor, a gargoyle statue, and others.
Box 3, Folder 5
Puppet Movies for the San Francisco Worlds Fair.
ca. 2000.
General note
Ten (10) images.
Box 4, Folder 3
Seven Faces of Doctor Lao and Around the World Under the Sea (The).
ca. 2000.
General note
Five (5) images each of Chang's work on the films, including a Jim Danforth sculpture and a giant eel head.
Box 3, Folder 2
Television Commercials.
ca. 2000.
General note
Thirteen (13) images of Chang's work for Del Monte, Pilsbury, Kraft, McDonald's, and others for Monterey Museum of Art: The
Imaginative World of Wah Ming Chang.
Box 3, Folder 4
Toy Designs.
ca. 2000.
General note
Thirteen (13) images of toys designed by Chang, including Teddy the Tenderfoot and Centaur animated peek-through Easter egg.
Box 7, Folder 1
Walt Disney Studios.
ca. 2000.
General note
Letter from Walt Disney and sixteen (16) images of Chang's work for the studio.
Box 8, Folder 2
Wanted Alive, Dinosaurs, Cesarean Section, and Alphabet Roll Call.
ca. 2000.
General note
Seven (7) images and drawings of endangered species for Wanted Alive, seven (7) photographs of Chang's work on Dinosaurs:
The Terrible Lizards, 3 photographs relating to Cesarean Section, and 1 photograph of Chang's work on the educational film
Alphabet Roll Call.
Box 7, Folder 3
Way of Peace (The).
ca. 2000.
General note
Invitation and nineteen (19) images of Chang's work on the film.
Box 8, Folder 1
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (The).
ca. 2000.
General note
Reproduction of an LA Times page and thirteen (13) images and drawings of Chang's work on the film, including wax faces and
armature for the elves, a clay model of a dragon, and a puppet of Buddy Hackett.
Box 8, Folder 4
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (The).
ca. 2000.
General note
Eight (8) images with captions of Chang's work on the film, including the yawning boy.