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Finding Aid for the George Pal Papers, 1937-1986
102
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Description
Collection consists of material related to career of animator producer director George
Pal. Includes correspondence, script materials, photographs, audio recordings, publicity
material, clippings, and research and development materials. Contains material
representing Pal's produced films, animated shorts, and unproduced projects. Includes
materials for several projects including "Doc Savage" (1975), "Puppetoons," "Seven Faces
Of Dr. Lao" (1964), "Time Machine" (1960), "War Of The Worlds" (1953), and "The Wonderful
World Of The Brothers Grimm" (1962).
Background
Pal was born in Cegled, Hungary, Feb. 1, 1908; graduated from the Budapest Academy of
Arts with an architecture degree; began his cinema career in Budapest, then moved to
Universum Film Aktien Gesellschaft (UFA) in Berlin where he became head of the animation
department; moved to Paris and under the sponsorship of Phillips radio he began work on
his first "puppet-toon," "The Ship of Ether"; he opened a studio in Holland (1930s) where
he continued working on his "puppet-toon" concept which involved manipulating thousands
of different interchangeable wooden heads, arms, legs, and bodies to produce a fluid and
lifelike effect when filmed a frame at a time; in 1940, Paramount studio commissioned Pal
to make a series of theatrical puppet cartoon short subjects, "The Madcap Models" and
"George Pal Puppetoons"; he went on to feature films in 1950 with "The Great Rupert" and
"Destination Moon," the first Technicolor science fiction film; the recipient of numerous
awards including Academy Awards for Achievement in Special Effects and a special Award
for the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects
known as Puppetoons; died 1980.
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Performing Arts Special Collections, UCLA. All
requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing
to the Arts Special Collections Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Arts Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to
include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Availability
Advance notice required for access.