Pal (George) Papers, 1937-1986

Collection context

Summary

Title:
George Pal Papers,
Dates:
1937-1986
Creators:
Pal, George
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

George Pal Papers, 1937-1986. (Collection 102). Performing Arts Special Collections, Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

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).

Biographical / historical:

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.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Biographical miscellaneous
  2. Produced films
  3. Unproduced projects

Physical location:
Held at SRLF. Please contact the Performing Arts Special Collections for paging information.
Physical description:
36 boxes (16.0 linear ft.)

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Arts Library-Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by D.MacGill;
Date Prepared:
© 1998
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from database containing container list structure and data, encoding added via MS Access or other program; frontmatter gathered from other sources. Date of source: 1998.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

George Pal Papers, 1937-1986. (Collection 102). Performing Arts Special Collections, Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988