Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Processing Information
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Walter Lantz Animation Archive
Creator:
Lantz, Walter
Identifier/Call Number: PASC.0047
Physical Description:
400.0 Linear Feet
(800 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1927-1972
Abstract: Collection consists of
materials related to the career of cartoon animator, Walter Lantz. Includes production
files, subject files, cels, drawings, backgrounds, exposure sheets, and comic books and
posters. Production files contain writer's and director's materials used in pre-and early
production. Subject files contain correspondence, clippings, photographs and personal
material. Comic books consist largely of foreign language publications from the 1960s, 70s,
and early 80s including El Pajaro Loco, Haccke Hackspett, Nakke Nakuttaja, O Pica-Pau,
Picchiarello, Pico, and Soren Spaette, and English language comics published from the
1940s-50s including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, Woody Woodpecker, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and
New Funnies. The bulk of the collection consists of materials related to the music
production process at the Lantz Studios from 1951-70. Includes the holographs of scores,
parts, and detail sheets for Woody Woodpecker cartoons and various commercials. Also
includes music sketches, recording routines, reports, and sorted printed classical and
popular sheet music used as source material for various productions. Production scores
include the work of Lantz music directors Darrell Calker, Frank Churchill, Walter Greene,
James Dietrich, Frank Marsales, Eugene Poddany, and Clarence Wheeler.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access
special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on
this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Conditions Governing Access
Portions of collection unprocessed. Material in the Merchandising and Scrapbooks,
1930-1972; Personal Papers, 1927-1972; and Institutional Relationships: Papers and Records,
1927-1972 series is unavailable for access. Please see
LSC's Access to Unprocessed Collections Policy for more information about levels
of discovery and access of special collections materials and registering interest in
unprocessed collections.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All
other 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], Walter Lantz Animation Archive (Collection Number PASC 47). UCLA
Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California,
Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Walter Lantz Productions, Inc., 1977, 1980, 1985.
Theater Arts Library; transfer; 1977
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make
them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and
resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level
of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts
more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to
national and local standards and best practices.
Processed by UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections staff..
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Lantz was born in New Rochelle, NY, Apr. 27, 1900; at 12 years old he took his first
mail-order cartoon drawing course which affected his entire life and career; he began
working as a copyboy for the Hearst newspaper, New York American, where he was recommended
to Gregory LaCava; from that point he started his career as a cartoonist drawing characters
such as the Katzenjammer kids, Happy Hooligan, Krazy Kat, and Mutt and Jeff; produced and
directed his first cartoon series, Colonel Heeza Liar, at J.R. Bray Studios in NY (1922);
moved to Hollywood, CA in 1926 and wrote for Max Sennet comedies; started with Universal
Studios in 1928 where he produced Oswald Rabbit for 10 years; in 1930, he produced
The king of jazz, the first technicolor cartoon and Bing Crosby's first
sound recording in a film; married Grace Stafford in 1941 who later became the voice of
Woody Woodpecker; Lantz started his own production company in 1935 and served as its
president into the 1970s; Lantz who is best remembered for Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy,
and Andy Panda, received an honorary Academy award, 1978; died Mar. 22, 1994, in Burbank,
CA.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of materials related to the career of cartoon animator, Walter Lantz.
Includes production files, subject files, cels, drawings, backgrounds, exposure sheets, and
comic books and posters. Production files contain writer's and director's materials used in
pre- and early production. Subject files contain correspondence, clippings, photographs and
personal material. Comic books consist largely of foreign language publications from the
1960s, 70s, and early 80s including El pajaro loco, Haccke Hackspett, Nakke Nakuttaja, O
Pica-Pau, Picchiarello, Pico, and Soren Spaette, and English language comics published from
the 1940s-50s including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, Woody Woodpecker, Oswald the lucky rabbit,
and New funnies.
Includes a master index of materials by year and a chronology of productions,
1927-1972.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Lantz Productions, 1930-1972
- Commercials and Television Productions, 1950-1955
- Government and Industrial Productions, 1937-1953
- Character Sketches, 1927-1972
- Merchandising and Scrapbooks, 1930-1972
- Personal Papers, 1927-1972
- Institutional Relationships: Papers and Records, 1927-1972
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Cartoonists -- Archives.
Animators -- Archives.
Walter Lantz---Archives.