There's no place like home
Limited Edition Animation Cels
from the 1961 Canadian Production, "The Wizard of Oz"
Artguise
One of the original pairs of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garlnd in The Wizard of Oz (1939), photo by RadioFan
"People will be walking by," says co-owner Jason McVaughan, "And suddenly they'll stop...and there'll be this moment of recognition!" It's nine animation cels, mounted in modest off-white mounts, each held up by a couple of bulldog clips and string, with a few also displayed in the shop's window. Both McVaughan and co-owner Brandon McVittie point out this response crosses generational lines, revealing itself in everyone from gen-Xers to boomers. So they're not the original pair of ruby slippers Judy Garland playing Dorothy wore when she clicked her heels together, and said those unforgettable words, "There's no place like home." And yet that makes all the difference - the gels are "homegrown", and for between $90 and $135, you can own one.
Home, fear, friendship, character flaws, a child surrounded by adults, a seemingly unachievable quest: the themes taken up in Oz may be simple and straightforward, but they reverberate with the mythic, the surreal, the fantastic, and, paradoxically, a basis well within the confines of reality. Perhaps this is why L. Frank Baum's book reached such legendary status in other media subsequent to its original publication in 1900. Most of us know the story through the remarkable film version staring Judy Garland, released in 1939, but for masses of Canadians however, the animated series took the story to a completely different level.
Originally broadcast in the Saturday morning cartoon slot in 1961, almost 40 years ago, "The Wizard of Oz" is the first animated series produced in Canada. In total 130 five-minute episodes were created by Crawley Films, an Ottawa-based production house. From its humble beginnings in 1940, Crawley would become the biggest production house in Canada outside the National Film Board, finally closing its doors about 5 years ago.
McVittie literally happened upon the cells. After getting a call from someone selling an illustrator-animator's tools of the trade, McVittie noticed the cels at the bottom of the seller's hand-written list. There they were—a limited edition, 250 each of 9 animation cels.
Unlike today's cartoons, often dominated by similar kinds of palettes, these cels glory in heavy doses of hues off the beaten track, like mustard, crimson, aqua, violet, pinks and blues. Some of the backgrounds have a psychedelic look like two-tone swirling pink circles on white, for instance.
"I animated the titles for the series," says Bill Clarke. Now 70, Clarke originally came to Canada for a job in 1955, later working for Crawley Films as the assistant art director. A New York-based company, Videocraft, held the copyright for the Oz material in 1960, he explains. "They were looking for someone to do the series and chose Crawley. They came up with the storyboards and the original designs for the characters - later revised by Crawley," he adds. Because of the high cost of producing the series, the animation was limited.
"No one thought their (Crawley Film's) archives would be worth anything," says McVaughan. As a result, nothing was kept. Thankfully, Clarke saved a few cels from the Oz series. Taking the final character designs from the TV show, he created new compositions with the original paper backgrounds. After photocopying them onto cels, he opaqued them with the original paints used in the series.
Before moving to Ottawa, Clarke worked in the heartland of the contemporary British animation industry, Cockham, Berkshire. Under the general direction of David Hand, Cockham was the base for the animators of the Beatle's classic "Yellow Submarine" film and for Gaumont British Animation, a division of Rank Films.
"I worked for the diagrammatic section," says Clarke, where the meat and potatoes consisted of industrial films, mostly about the human body. Clarke recalls working on the first documentary to explain atomic energy, but his fondest memories are of the animation section.
"You really only need to be able to draw the same thing over and over again," he says. The company would hire the "top cartoonists" and train them. "At the beginning of the month, they'd have about 50 new animators, and by the end of it, they'd have kept only about 3," he says. Long before the final selection, "All the local pubs would ban (all of) them," he says, laughing.
"No, I didn't realize at the time," he admits, of the cultural significance of the animated Oz series. "As I got older, people in the industry would ask what I'd worked on and I'd tell them.... I couldn't get over the reaction!!! And everybody (who'd worked on the series) got that reaction. It was hard work but a of fun!"
The film section of the National Archives has requested a set of the cels.
"I just haven't gotten round to giving them any yet," says Clarke, chuckling, and obviously chuffed. Finally, part of Crawley Film team's classic series, cherished by so many Canadians, will take its place in a national cultural institution.
Published in The Ottawa Xpress, 2000
Home, fear, friendship, character flaws, a child surrounded by adults, a seemingly unachievable quest: the themes taken up in Oz may be simple and straightforward, but they reverberate with the mythic, the surreal, the fantastic, and, paradoxically, a basis well within the confines of reality. Perhaps this is why L. Frank Baum's book reached such legendary status in other media subsequent to its original publication in 1900. Most of us know the story through the remarkable film version staring Judy Garland, released in 1939, but for masses of Canadians however, the animated series took the story to a completely different level.
Originally broadcast in the Saturday morning cartoon slot in 1961, almost 40 years ago, "The Wizard of Oz" is the first animated series produced in Canada. In total 130 five-minute episodes were created by Crawley Films, an Ottawa-based production house. From its humble beginnings in 1940, Crawley would become the biggest production house in Canada outside the National Film Board, finally closing its doors about 5 years ago.
McVittie literally happened upon the cells. After getting a call from someone selling an illustrator-animator's tools of the trade, McVittie noticed the cels at the bottom of the seller's hand-written list. There they were—a limited edition, 250 each of 9 animation cels.
Unlike today's cartoons, often dominated by similar kinds of palettes, these cels glory in heavy doses of hues off the beaten track, like mustard, crimson, aqua, violet, pinks and blues. Some of the backgrounds have a psychedelic look like two-tone swirling pink circles on white, for instance.
"I animated the titles for the series," says Bill Clarke. Now 70, Clarke originally came to Canada for a job in 1955, later working for Crawley Films as the assistant art director. A New York-based company, Videocraft, held the copyright for the Oz material in 1960, he explains. "They were looking for someone to do the series and chose Crawley. They came up with the storyboards and the original designs for the characters - later revised by Crawley," he adds. Because of the high cost of producing the series, the animation was limited.
"No one thought their (Crawley Film's) archives would be worth anything," says McVaughan. As a result, nothing was kept. Thankfully, Clarke saved a few cels from the Oz series. Taking the final character designs from the TV show, he created new compositions with the original paper backgrounds. After photocopying them onto cels, he opaqued them with the original paints used in the series.
Before moving to Ottawa, Clarke worked in the heartland of the contemporary British animation industry, Cockham, Berkshire. Under the general direction of David Hand, Cockham was the base for the animators of the Beatle's classic "Yellow Submarine" film and for Gaumont British Animation, a division of Rank Films.
"I worked for the diagrammatic section," says Clarke, where the meat and potatoes consisted of industrial films, mostly about the human body. Clarke recalls working on the first documentary to explain atomic energy, but his fondest memories are of the animation section.
"You really only need to be able to draw the same thing over and over again," he says. The company would hire the "top cartoonists" and train them. "At the beginning of the month, they'd have about 50 new animators, and by the end of it, they'd have kept only about 3," he says. Long before the final selection, "All the local pubs would ban (all of) them," he says, laughing.
"No, I didn't realize at the time," he admits, of the cultural significance of the animated Oz series. "As I got older, people in the industry would ask what I'd worked on and I'd tell them.... I couldn't get over the reaction!!! And everybody (who'd worked on the series) got that reaction. It was hard work but a of fun!"
The film section of the National Archives has requested a set of the cels.
"I just haven't gotten round to giving them any yet," says Clarke, chuckling, and obviously chuffed. Finally, part of Crawley Film team's classic series, cherished by so many Canadians, will take its place in a national cultural institution.
Published in The Ottawa Xpress, 2000
