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Jeff Hale’s Amazing Cartoon Career by Karl Cohen
Animator, artist, raconteur, Emmy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Jeff Hale circa 1970. photo: courtesy J. Hale
JEFF HALE, WHO DIED AT 92 IN FEBRUARY,
had a career in animation that spanned over 50 years. He directed and animated award winning shorts, work for “Sesame Street“, part of the feature “Heavy Metal“ (1981), TV shows and commercials. He worked at the National Film Board of Canada, ran his own studios in London and San Francisco and worked freelance. His best known works include “The Great Toy Robbery“ and the controversial “Thank You Mask Man“.
Jeff was born January 5, 1923 in Margate, England and he died in late February, 2015 in Oregon. During a long hospital stay when he was a young teenager, he began to draw. The love of drawing resulted in his attending the Royal College of Art in London. He graduated just as WWII was ending.
His career in animation began with a job at William Larkin and Company in London where Peter Sachs taught him the basics. Sachs joined Larkin in 1940 and he had once worked with George Pal, a great stop-motion artist. At Larkin Jeff’s young co-workers included Bob Godfrey and Keith Learner.
In 1954 Jeff felt confident enough to form his own studio, Biographic Films with Learner and Godfrey. Biographic was created specifically to make commercials for ITV, the UK’s first commercial TV broadcaster. The first spot aired on the first night ITV went on the air (September, 1955) was by Biographic.
One person Jeff told me about meeting when he was working at Biographic was David Hilberman, a former Disney animator who had helped organize the Disney strike. Dave went on to head Tempo, a successful animation studio in NY City that made award winning TV commercials and industrial films. They worked for well-known corporations until they lost almost all their clients after a right wing anti-communist publication informing their readers that Dave and his business partner should be blacklisted. Why?
In the late 1930’s Dave held political beliefs that were unpopular with conservative Americans and he was also involved with the Disney strike. Jeff told me, “I met Dave in London in the mid ‘50s. Bob Godfrey and I had just started our own animation studio in Soho when Dave arrived like a gentle angry bull, driven into exile by the vicious fascist freaks in Congress and the moronic mutterings of Disney.”
Among Jeff Hale's many achievements was the iconoclastic, 'Thank You Masked Man', 1971, using recordings of a controversial routine by comedian Lenny Bruce. photo: courtesy J. Hale
Off to Canada
In 1956 Jeff moved to Winnipeg, Canada where he joined Phillips-Gutkin and Associates (PGA). The studio was said to be Canada’s largest commercial animation firm, but in the book “Cartoon Capers“, a history of Canadian animation, it is described as a pioneering studio that barely survived doing commercials for Labatt’s Beer, Kellogg’s and other clients.
In 1959 Jeff was invited to join the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in Montreal. Among his first assignments were short segments for non-commercial Canadian TV. "Hors-D'Oeuvre" (1959-’60) is a collection of one-minute segments created by several NFB animators for Canada’s channel 6. Most are humorous playful moments influenced by the wacky things “The Goons Show“ was doing in England. A second compilation of their TV material was assembled into the film “Pot-pourri“ (1962).
In 1963 the NFB decided to create an elaborate production for the Christmas holiday season. Christmas Cracker includes segments animated by Jeff Hale, Norman McLaren, Grant Munro and Gerald Potterton. One of its awards was best animated short at the 1964 Golden Gate Awards, a competition hosted by the SF International Film Festival. It received an Academy Award nomination.
Jeff’s most celebrated film made at the NFB is “The Great Toy Robbery“ (1963), a spoof on the American western in which Santa driving his horse drawn sled full of toys across a desert is robbed at gunpoint by an evil gang. It was originally conceived as part of Christmas Crackers, but as the project developed the NFB realized it would be a stand alone film. The cartoon marked the beginning of a close friendship between Jeff and Derek Lamb and they eventually would collaborate on other successful projects.
Derek Lamb became an animator, producer, Harvard professor, and administrator. He was born in Great Britain in1936 and died in Washington State in 2005. Jeff once told me Derek knew nothing about animation when he came to Canada, but when he saw a Norman McLaren short in Montreal in 1958 he knew he wanted to animate. Jeff says “He somehow conned his way into a job with the Film Board as a writer.”
When Jeff joined the NFB he worked with Derek on a series of “clips” (public service announcements). In 1963 Derek was working on another project when Jeff realized he was having trouble with the script of “The Great Toy Robbery“. He says, “I found a hole in the story and showed it to Derek.” That was one of several occasions when he realized how brilliant Derek could be as a writer. Derek was given screen credit for design work and writing on “The Great Toy Robbery“. Jeff called Derek one of the greatest animation writers in the business, along with George Dunning and Stan Hayward.
Hale in another incarnation as Auggie Ben Doggie around 1980. photo: courtesy J. Hale
Off to San Francisco
In 1964, after “The Great Toy Robbery“ was completed Jeff joined Cameron Guess in San Francisco. Guess had worked at the NFB from the late 1950s until 1963 when he came into a large inheritance. He moved to San Francisco, opened Cameron Guess and Associates. He had worked with Jeff Hale on “The Great Toy Robbery“ and liked him so he convinced Hale to join him in San Francisco. Later Derek Lamb and animator Barrie Nelson joined the firm. Guess produced “The Well“ (1965) and The Shepherd (1967). Hale says he directed The Shepherd and Lamb wrote it and did “marvelous, unique backgrounds using cutouts.”
On Christmas Eve, just before the film was completed, Guess invited Derek and Jeff out for drinks. After an enjoyable drink “Cam said you’re both fired, and he meant it.” Jeff says they were fired so Guess could take full credit for the film. And he did. After the film received an Oscar nomination in 1970, Guess left the animation business and moved to Florida.
Thank You Mask Man
In 1968 Jeff and his wife became partners with John Magnuson and Walt Kramer who ran Imagination Inc. (closed in 1979). The San Francisco animation studio was responsible for supplying a great deal of animation to the Children's Television Workshop, creators of “Sesame Street“. Geraldine Clarke, who studied film at SF State, was working at Imagination Inc. She says they were supplying animation to Sesame Street even before it went on the air and that Edith Zornow, who was with the workshop “nurtured Imagination for a long time.” Some of Jeff’s timeless work is still being seen on TV.
Magnuson was a close friend of Lenny Bruce and Hale became the director of the controversial animated classic "Thank You Mask Man" (1969). The soundtrack, assembled by Walt Kramer, was edited together from material in Magnuson’s extensive library of Lenny Bruce’s live performances.
Hale's 'Hardware Wars' short (1978) was one of the first and most successful parodies of 'Star Wars'. photo: courtesy J. Hale
The film was scheduled to premiere on the opening night of the San Francisco International Film Festival as the short before the feature Z, but it was not shown. Magnuson wasn’t told ahead of time that his film had been cut from the program. According to Prescott Wright, who was working at that time for the festival, Magnuson ran up the aisle shouting "they crucified Lenny when he was alive and now that he is dead they are screwing him again!"
Magnuson told me the festival director said the producer of Z did not want any short shown that night; however, he believes the rumor that the wife of one of the festival's financiers hated Bruce, and she threatened to withdraw her husband's money if the short was screened.
Magnuson also ran into trouble when he asked Bill Meléndez, chairman for the Academy Awards animation nomination committee, to nominate the film. Meléndez told Magnuson that he loved the film, and agreed, so the film was submitted. When it wasn’t nominated he asked Melendez why? He was told that it was never shown for the screening committee. Magnuson says he believes a member of the Academy hated Bruce so much that he hid the entry form so it would not qualify. Jeff’s version was that "the projectionist took it upon himself to act as a censor."
Although the film didn’t get the theatrical exposure Magnuson and Hale had hoped for, it is now honored as a classic. Magnuson says at first theatres sometimes booked the short and later canceled for unexplained reasons. George Evelyn, a former animator for Colossal Pictures, was working as a programmer at a military theater in Texas when he booked the short without previewing it. He says the rental catalog "made it sound interesting." After several audience members complained about the film, Evelyn was fired from his job.
Initially the gay community was nervous about screening the film as they were not sure if it was or wasn’t homophobic. More than once Magnuson had to explain that Lenny Bruce wanted people to think about homophobia and that the film bashes rednecks. Eventually the gay community accepted the film as supportive and it was screened by their film festivals.
Derek and Jeff
Derek Lamb and Jeff would eventually work together again. Derek left the Film Board for a job with Halas and Batchelor in London in 1964 where he wrote, designed and/or directed several works. After London (1964 –‘66) he accepted a position at Harvard teaching animation (1966-’70). Then he moved to NYC where he worked for “Sesame Street“.
When Jeff began work on “The Last Cartoon Man“ (1973, winner of the Best Scenario Award at Zagreb), Derek met with Jeff to develop script ideas. Hale says that Derek’s suggestions and his few rough drawings were so clear that he didn’t need a storyboard. Derek and Jeff’s cartoon man is a magician who can remove his arms, legs and lastly his head in his stage act. The laughs begin when the man fumbles and drops his head.
Over the years Jeff and Derek dreamed up other projects that were never produced. Jeff said one was “an outrageous piece on religion, but we were advised not to make it.” Geraldine says that outrageous piece was called “Christians and Jews” and was derived from Lenny Bruce material. Jeff also made “Blind Man’s Bluff“, (1980) his last independent theatrical short without Derek.
Another classic Hale animation, 'Typewriter Man' made for Sesame Street in the 1970s. photo: courtesy J. Hale
Imagination’s image in North Beach
The studio was located in an area once known as the Barbary Coast and later as North Beach. It was the home of the Beatniks in the ‘50s and the birth of topless bars in the ‘60s. Imagination was doing cool art so it and Spec’s, a great local bar full of character, became hip places for fun gatherings. I recall one event at the studio where animator Bud Luckey was playing banjo and two or three local musicians stopping by for a drink and an impromptu jam before going to work. Comics from The Committee were also seen in the company of Imagination’s staff. Jeff and Margaret Hale and John Magnuson knew how to have a good time, and they did.
The founding of ASIFA-San Francisco
Geraldine knew Prescott Wright when she was a student at SF State. She says, “Prescott and I got Jeff et al into thinking about starting a San Francisco ASIFA branch. At the time we were members of ASIFA Hollywood and part of the selection committee that decided which shorts should go into the Tournee of Animation. The fights which ensued showed that San Francisco should have its own ASIFA.
Our first President was some go-getter guy from an ad agency whose name I don't remember, but when a volunteer was called for, he rose up and claimed it because the rest of us were too reticent to do so. He didn't do a very good job so, after the first year I became President and did it for 5 years or so. I was always re-elected because the board meetings were held at my waterfront shack on the Larkspur Boardwalk, a really great place for a party after the meetings were over.”
The group was originally called The San Francisco Animation Association (1973 – ‘75) as ASIFA’s board in Europe didn’t understand why the US needed more than one chapter. The founders were Jeff and Margaret Hale, Geraldine Clarke and Prescott Wright. They held informal meetings at Imagination Inc. (virtually the only game in town for professional animation at that time) and at Geraldine’s “ark” (a small shack on stilts 11 feet above the water), and open membership meetings at the Canadian Consulate’s screening room.
As the word spread, many amateur animators and enthusiasts joined the organization. In 1974 they applied to become a chapter of ASIFA, the international animation association at the Zagreb Animation Festival. At Annecy ‘75 the chapter was accepted as an official ASIFA member. The early ASIFA-SF board of directors included Prescott Wright, Jeff Hale, Margaret Hale, Geraldine (Frerks) Clarke and Rudy Zamora Jr. Prescott was the distributor of the Tournee of Animation, a 16mm film program that toured the country. Geraldine worked at Imagination in various capacities and Rudy worked there as a production manager.
Jeff as a spinner of good yarns
When I was writing about ASIFA’s history years ago I asked Jeff about his attending Zagreb ’74. He had shown “Last Cartoon Man“ there. Prescott, Geraldine Clarke and Jeff had attended the festival and when it ended they went to London where they stayed in a friend’s flat. Jeff said, “We were all very hungry, but the cupboards were bare except for a can of Spam. We were all nearly penniless and restaurants were out of the question, so Pres took up a collection and he and I stepped out into the night in search of a food store.”
A 2008 Hall illustration from author Karl Cohen's private collection. illo: J. Hale
“Alas, the only store open was a green grocers shop run by a Pakistani. He was an evil looking gentleman who appeared to have been asleep behind the counter. His hair was standing straight up as if we had given him a terrible fright. His produce was in a disgusting state of preservation and of course expensive. Root vegetables seemed to be less rotten than anything else, so we stocked up with them. Prescott presided most ably over the stove, though I did catch him scoffing several pieces of Spam. ‘Just checking,” he said, and proceeded to drench the brew with hot sauce ... and it all tasted wonderful.”
When Geraldine read his account she wrote me, “That story about all of us being penniless and hungry is absolutely ridiculous. I always used to stay in London with Clare Kitson (Channel Four animation and much more). Anyway, after the festival, she was going to be away so she offered up her apartment to all of us so we camped out there. There was no food in the fridge because she'd been out of town for a while so we all pitched in and bought food and cooked. I sort of remember some sort of story being told about a weird Pakistani grocer but this is another example of Jeff embellishing a story.” I think Jeff’s account captures his jovial side and why he was fun to be around.
1979-‘80 Mill Valley Animation
As Imagination Inc. was closing Mill Valley Animation was being created to produce TV shows for Hanna-Barbara. Jeff helped set the studio up and he ran the animation department. Jeff’s credits from this period of his life include his animating lots of "Flintstone" episodes.
He left Mill Valley for an exciting prospect. He ended up animating the “B-17” segment of the feature “Heavy Metal“ (1981). It was directed by Gerald Potterton, an old friend who was a co-director at the NFB on “Christmas Crackers“.
Freelance in Los Angeles
During the 1980s TV animation was a growing business and not much theatrical animation was being produced. Jeff moved to LA where he could find work as a freelance artist on TV projects. In 1982 he worked on and Here Comes Garfield and on “Stanley the Ugly Duckling,” an episode for the ABC Weekend Specials. In 1983 he animated on five episodes of “The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show“.
From 1984 to ’86 he worked as an animation director on a series of “Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies“ (Emmy winners in 1985 and 1986). In 1985 he also worked on the first season of “The Transformers“, on “Sports Cartoons“ for a company run by Derek Lamb and Janet Perlman and on the G.I. Joe TV series that began in 1985. In 1986 he worked as the animation director on “Solarman“, a TV movie. It appears Jeff stopped working in 1987 for all his clients except one. A recent resume his daughter sent me says from 1967 to 1999 he did occasional work for a client that allowed him a great deal of artistic freedom, “Sesame Street“.
When Jeff finally retired from life as an animator he moved to Talent, Oregon where he lived near his son Nick. He remained active, constantly painting and drawing. His most recent resume says “1999 to present, illustrator/painter.”
Several times in recent years Jeff told me he wanted to find someone to publish his humorous art as cards, on T shirts, mugs or in some other way. His daughter Margot would still like to see that happen along with finding a gallery that would be interested in exhibiting his paintings. Jeff’s paintings can be seen on his website and Margot Hale can be reached .
Another illustration from Cohen's collection. . illo: J. Hale
Jeff as a star
Jeff made at least two on-screen appearances. In 1982 an hour-long TV special aired on public television called "The Animators". The documentary included interviews with Jeff Hale, Marcy Page, Sally Cruickshank, Bud Luckey and Rudy Zamora Jr. Bud went on to become a highly respected character designer at Pixar. While he was at Pixar he created “Boundn’“, a short which received an Oscar nomination in 2004.
Jeff also played Augie 'Ben' Doggie in the “Star Wars “ spoof “Hardware Wars“ (1978, directed by Ernie Fosselius). The film, certainly the best parody of the feature, was widely seen in theatres and at fan based conventions.
In 1999 Bill Dennis, a former Disney Vice-President, had become head of a major animation studio in India. He invited Jeff, Derek Lamb and Prescott Wright to be the honored guests at his “Week with the Masters.” Jeff later commented to me that it was a wonderful experience to see old friends again and that Derek “still had a great sense of humor.”
The animation world remembers Jeff
Janet Perlman, an award winning NFB animator and children's book author, said, “I am very sorry to hear of Jeff's passing. This is very sad news. To his family, please accept my condolences.”
“I was very fond of Jeff. He was a great artist and I loved his wonderfully wicked sense of humor. I haven't been in touch with him for quite a while. In the ‘80s Derek and I spent some time in San Francisco when they were developing a Frank Ness-style gangster feature based on The Great Toy Robbery.”
“One of my favorite films by those two is The Shepherd. The herd of sheep were quite special: one amorphous blob of wool, with bleating heads and feet poking out, gliding through the streets of New York. They reappeared in an episode of Sports Cartoons (mid-1980s). Jeff animated several spots in that series.”
Geraldine Clarke says some of her fond memories of Jeff and Margaret are spending Thanksgivings with them. “Jeff and Margaret would gather together all of us who did not have family in the area for a great feast. They called us their ‘waifs and strays’. Everybody would cook and drink and eat and play at the house in Mill Valley in the redwoods. It would always turn into an all-day affair. Those were my best Thanksgivings ever.”
“I started working at Imagination in the early ‘70s. The studio's output was mainly pieces for Sesame Street with some commercials which paid the bills. We always over-spent on the Sesame shorts because they were so much fun and we didn't want to stint on their production. Because of that, those pieces played on the show for years and years. We'd hire ourselves as voice actors because, contractually, we had to pay through SAG or AFTRA for that so we'd take the talent payments and not get paid for the rest. All in all, we got paid much more per hour for the voice work than for our other work.”
Another illustration from Cohen's collection. illo: J. Hale
Jeff and Bud Luckey did most of the in-house animation. Lots of great out-of-house animators also contributed like Jimmy Murakami and Bill Littlejohn. It was such an amazing education that I got in my first job in the industry.”
“The studio was a wonderful pre-earthquake (that pesky '06 earthquake) brick building in Jackson Square. There was a great crack in the wall from the quake in the front meeting room. We built a loft in the back where I had my office and the mortar dust was a big problem as it would scratch the cels. (Yes, we still had real animation cels back then.) One time, I blew on some of the mortar and, as the dust settled I suddenly could see blue sky through the hole I'd just made in the wall. It is amazing that that building had stood up for so long. It was a great place to work. I will be forever grateful to Margaret and Jeff for hiring me in my first job. There are so many other stories to tell...”
Marcy Page, who studied and later taught animation at San Francisco State University before becoming a producer at the NFB wrote, “Oh no! I am so sorry to hear this sad news. Jeff was such a great guy, so funny and so kind to me when I was just a rookie in animation. Karl, do you remember when he and Margaret opened their home to let Bay area animators meet the visiting animation celebs? I remember I first met Derek Lamb at their house when Derek was waxing poetic about Cinderella Penguin. And I loved his and Margaret’s wry comments when we watched the Tournee of Animation contenders with Prescott.”
“Jeff was my boss for a brief time in Mill Valley when we did some subcontract work with the Flintstone characters. He was so patient with Catherine Margerine and me. Neither of us had ever worked in such a studio and knew little about this kind of cartoon animation. I remember Mitch Rose would circulate little cartoons about us all and that there would be the occasional lunchtime foray to the beach. I recall lots of laughter.”
“When there was an actors’ strike and work was halted, Jeff suggested that all the animators help me on my personal film, Paradisia. He himself animated a wonderful sequence. I was so unhappy when the regular work resumed at the studio. He was a very kind and generous man.”
“I had a long talk with Jeff just before I retired but that is now almost a year ago. Damn, we just don’t know it will be the last time.”
Marcy informs us Hors-d’oeurve and The Great Toy Robbery are posted on the NFB website. She added, “Of course his independent Thank you Mask Man is my absolute favorite of his. It still makes me smile. And there will be something fitting about The Last Cartoon Man.”
George Evelyn, who later directed animation for Colossal Pictures, Wildbrain and created kids’ TV shows for Disney, wrote, “Mill Valley Animation was my first real animation job; Jeff hired me. I lived in SF and was going to City College taking film-making courses when I heard they were hiring cartoonists up in Mill Valley. It was a "satellite studio" doing stuff for Hanna-Barbera (HB), “Space Ghost“ and something called A “Flintstones Comedy 90“, with grown-up Pebbles and Bam-Bam as groovy teens. Jeff Kahan and Jeff Hale were looking at portfolios, and while I could tell mine wasn't the best they'd seen all day, Jeff smiled at me and said, ‘We'll get you in somehow.’
An image from 'Ringmaster' by Jeff Hale circa 1970s also for Sesame Street. photo: courtesy J. Hale
“Jeff was the director of the shows being the uber-animation guy. He sat in a room with about six or seven other animators and did a lot of the drawing himself. I was over in another building, with the assistant animators. There were six of us doing clean-up and in-betweens.”
“One day Bill Hanna came up to visit and stalked through our tiny department without saying a word. The studio was run and owned by Jerry Smith, who had been a camera operator down at HB, but he had somehow convinced Bill and Joe that animation could be outsourced (from LA) at a cheaper footage rate. Mill Valley Animation (I remember the logo had a water mill and trees, like you might see on a jar of organic peanut butter) was Jerry's experimental demonstration of his outsourcing model. He needed the animation to be super-good, that's why he got Jeffrey Hale.”
Bill Dennis, a former Disney Vice-President, not only went on to run a major animation studio in India, he also founded ASIFA India. He invited Jeff, Derek Lamb and Prescott Wright to be the honored guests at his Week with the Masters in 1999.
He writes, “I heard from his family that my last letter was unopened and he had passed. I think India was his last real hurrah. He was splendid. He interacted well with the Indian animators and artists. I had invited him to join me in India to talk about his life in animation and to screen some of his films. A huge delight for me was to have Jeff and Derek Lamb together, talking about the good old days. I'll never, ever forget a wonderful evening the three of us had on Kovalam Beach, sitting in our chairs in the surf drinking Kingfisher beers and watching Derek dance around singing the song from an unproduced short film he and Jeff had written about the last Maharajah in India. Jeff was a class act and I'll really miss him.”
Arne Jin An Wong, who directed and animated “Tales of the Maya Sky“ presently playing at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, writes, “The last time I talked to him was on Venice Beach in the’90s. He was walking along the shoreline with his daughter. We met at ASIFA in SF in the early ‘70s when Mitch Rose and a few other Animators invited me there. He was a kind and witty man with a sparkle in his eye. I worked with Margret and Geraldine for many years getting her ink and paint team to help on my animated films.
Gary Meyer, a founder of Landmark Theatres, a former artistic director of the Telluride Film Festival who presently is the publisher of EatDrinkFilms.com, writes, “I have many wonderful memories of Jeff and Margaret...it was never dull when they were in your company. Laughter was the key activity whether watching Jeff's films, over a meal, or discussing practically anything.”
“Thank You Mask Man was possibly one of the most played short films in Landmark Theatres. We had screened it regularly and then it became one of "his Royal Short Subjects" with the reissue of The King of Hearts (plus Bambi Meets Godzilla). It showed non-stop for many years.”
“Jeff will be missed but his work and the joy it brings will live forever.”
Jeff’s work for Sesame Street includes:
o Pinball Number Count (series of 11)
o The Ringmaster (series of 11)
o Typewriter (series of 26)
o "V Imagination"
o "The Lost Kid"
o "1, 2, 3 Dogs"
o Detective Man (series of 5)
o Jazz Numbers (series of 9)
o "The 20 Pickle Pie"
o "Green Grow Rushes Song"
o "Hand Print Matching"
o "Mice & Elephant Monster"
o "Miners & Mules: Subtraction"
o "Hey Diddle Song"
o "Caterpillars Never Wear Brown Boots"
o "Room Cerrado"
o "Yes/no Dog"
o "Madrigal Alphabet"
o Constant Letter Poems (series of 21)
o "There Are Chickens in the Trees"
o "A - Runaway Ape"
o "King Minus"
o "The Hippo And The Mouse"
Jeff is survived by his daughter Margot and a son, Nick, who lives in Talent, Oregon.
This tribute to Jeff was was assisted by and and written by Karl Cohen, who is president of ASIFA-SF, teaches at San Francisco State and was an animator and director. He can be reached .Posted on Mar 04, 2015 - 11:41 PM