Editing United Productions of America

{{Short description|American animation studio and later distribution company (1941–2000)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2024}}{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{More citations needed|date=July 2024}}{{Infobox company
| name = United Productions of America
| former_name = Industrial Film and Poster Service (1941–1945)
| logo = UPA logo.svg
| logo_size = 200px
| industry = [[Animation]]
| founded = {{Start date and age|1941}}
| founders = Zack Schwartz<br />[[David Hilberman]]<br />[[Stephen Bosustow]]
| fate = Closed; assets purchased by [[DreamWorks Classics|Classic Media]]
| successor = [[DreamWorks Classics]] (television productions)<br>[[Columbia Pictures]] (theatrical shorts)<br>[[Warner Bros. Animation]] (''[[Private Snafu]]'' and ''[[Gay Purr-ee]]'')
| hq_location_city = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
| hq_location_country = [[United States]]
| defunct = {{End date and age|2000|1|1}}
| key_people = Robert "Bobe" Cannon<br />[[John Hubley]]<br />[[Henry G. Saperstein]]
| owner = 
| parent = 
}}

'''United Productions of America''', better known as '''UPA''', was an American [[animation studio]] and later [[film distribution|distribution]] company founded in 1941 as '''Industrial Film and Poster Service''' by former [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]] employees. Beginning with industrial and [[World War II]] training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for [[Columbia Pictures]] such as the [[Mr. Magoo]] series. In 1956, UPA produced a television series for [[CBS]], ''[[The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show]]'', hosted by [[Gerald McBoing Boing]]. In the 1960s, UPA produced syndicated Mr. Magoo and ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' television series and other series and specials, including ''[[Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol]]''. UPA also produced two animated features, ''[[1001 Arabian Nights (1959 film)|1001 Arabian Nights]]'' and ''[[Gay Purr-ee]]'',<ref name="MaltinMiceMagic">{{cite book |title=Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons |last=Maltin |first=Leonard |year=1987 |publisher=New American Library |isbn=0-452-25993-2 |pages=341–342 }}</ref> and distributed Japanese films from [[Toho Studios]] in the 1970s and 1980s.

[[Universal Pictures]] currently owns the majority of the UPA library after their acquisition of [[DreamWorks Animation]] in 2016. The theatrical shorts, which were released by [[Columbia Pictures]], are still owned by that studio.

== History ==
=== Origins ===
UPA was founded in the wake of the [[Disney animators' strike]] of 1941, which resulted in the exodus of a number of long-time [[Walt Disney Animation Studios]] staff members.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Andrae |first=Thomas |date=2013 |editor-last= |editor-first= |title=Animation's Icarus: UPA and the Fate of the Modernist Cartoon |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23823984 |journal=Studies in American Humor |issue=27 |pages=189–200 |issn=0095-280X |jstor=23823984}}</ref> Among them was [[John Hubley]], a layout artist who was unhappy with the ultra-realistic style of animation that Disney had been utilizing. Along with a number of his colleagues, Hubley believed that animation did not have to be a painstakingly realistic imitation of real life; they felt that the medium of animation had been constrained by efforts to depict cinematic reality. [[Chuck Jones]]' 1942 cartoon ''[[The Dover Boys]]'' had demonstrated that animation could freely experiment with character design, depth, and perspective to create a stylized artistic vision appropriate to the subject matter. Hubley, Bobe Cannon, and others at UPA, sought to produce animated films with sufficient freedom to express design ideas considered radical by other established studios.
[[File:A Few Quick Facts About Fear.ogv|thumb|UPA-produced [[Private Snafu]] short film '''''A Few Quick Facts About Fear''''' from 1945]] 
In 1941, Zack Schwartz, [[David Hilberman]], and [[Stephen Bosustow]] formed a studio called first '''Industrial Film and Poster Service''', where they were free to apply their new techniques in film animation. Finding work (and income) in the then-booming field of wartime work for the government, the small studio produced a cartoon sponsored by the [[United Auto Workers]] (UAW) in 1944. ''[[Hell-Bent for Election]]'' was directed by [[Chuck Jones]] and was produced for the reelection campaign of [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|FDR]]. The film was a success, and it led to another assignment from the UAW, ''Brotherhood of Man'' (1945). The film, directed by Bobe Cannon, advocated tolerance of all people. The short was innovative not only in its message but in its very flat, stylized design, in complete defiance of the Disney approach. With its new-found status, the studio renamed itself '''United Productions of America''' (UPA).

Initially, UPA contracted with the [[United States government]] to produce its animation output, but the government contracts began to evaporate as the [[FBI]] began investigating [[Communist]] activities in [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] in the late 1940s. No formal charges were filed against anyone at UPA in the beginnings of [[McCarthyism]], but the government contracts were lost as Washington severed its ties with Hollywood.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Essays/UPA/UPA.html|title=MichaelBarrier.com -- Essays: UPA 1944–1952|website=www.michaelbarrier.com}}</ref>

=== Columbia Pictures and success ===
UPA entered the crowded field of theatrical cartoons to sustain itself and gained a contract with [[Columbia Pictures]]. Columbia had historically been an also-ran in the field of animated shorts, and it was not satisfied with the output of its [[Screen Gems]] cartoon studio. The UPA animators applied their stylistic concepts and storytelling to Columbia's characters [[The Fox and the Crow (animated characters)|The Fox and the Crow]] with the shorts ''Robin Hoodlum'' (1948) and ''The Magic Fluke'' (1949), both directed by Hubley. Both were nominated for [[Academy Award]]s, and Columbia granted the studio permission to create its own new characters. UPA responded, not with another "funny animal", but a star that was a human character, a crotchety, nearsighted old man. ''The Ragtime Bear'' (1949), the first appearance of [[Mr. Magoo]], was a box-office hit, and UPA's star quickly rose as the 1950s dawned.

With a unique, sparse drawing style that contrasted greatly with other cartoons of the day, not to mention the novelty of a human character in a field crowded with talking cats, mice, and rabbits, the ''Mr. Magoo'' series won accolades for UPA. Two ''Magoo'' cartoons won the [[Academy Award for Animated Short Film|Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons)]]: ''[[When Magoo Flew]]'' (1954) and ''[[Magoo's Puddle Jumper]]'' (1956).

UPA scored another hit with ''[[Gerald McBoing-Boing]]'' (1950), based on a record by [[Dr. Seuss]]. ''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' won UPA the Academy Award in 1950; UPA cartoons would receive a total of fifteen Oscar nominations between 1949 and 1959. In December 1950, UPA announced plans for a feature-length film based on the work of cartoonist and humorist [[James Thurber]].<ref>Archer Winsten, "UPA, Media and James Thurber," ''New York Post'', 6 December 1950.</ref> The film was to combine live action and animation and was tentatively titled ''Men, Women and Dogs'', but it was never completed.<ref name="Priceless">{{Cite web
  | title = Priceless Gift of Laughter
  | work = Time Archive: 1923 to the Present
  | publisher = Time Inc.
  | date = 1951-07-09
  | url = https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806164-1,00.html
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071016211832/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806164-1,00.html
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = October 16, 2007
  | access-date = 2007-01-31 }}</ref> (Only one of the Thurber pieces intended for this feature, ''[[The Unicorn in the Garden (film)|The Unicorn in the Garden]]'', was eventually released as a short subject.)<ref name="Unicorn">{{Cite web
  | title = The Unicorn In The Garden
  | work = The Big Cartoon Database
  | url = https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/725-Unicorn_In_The_Garden.html
  | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120719100731/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/725-Unicorn_In_The_Garden.html
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = July 19, 2012
  | access-date = 2007-01-31 }}</ref> Shorts such as ''[[The Tell-Tale Heart (1953 American film)|The Tell-Tale Heart]]'' and ''[[Rooty Toot Toot]]'' featured striking, sophisticated designs unlike anything offered by competing studios. The "UPA style" began to influence significant changes at the other major animation studios, including [[Warner Bros.]], [[MGM]], [[Famous Studios]], and even Disney, ushering in a new era of experimentation in animation.

=== Turning to television ===
In 1955, Steve Bosustow secured a CBS contract for UPA to produce a television series (''The Boing-Boing Show'' aka ''The Gerald McBoing Boing Show''),<ref>Adam Abraham, ''When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA'' (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2012), 178.</ref> which premiered in December 1956. Supervised by Bobe Cannon, this production offered an array of styles and brought then-new talent to the studio, such as [[Ernest Pintoff]], [[Fred Crippen]], [[Jimmy Murakami]], [[Richard Williams (animator)|Richard Williams]], [[George Dunning]], [[Mel Leven]], [[Aurelius Battaglia]], and [[John Whitney (animator)|John Whitney]], among others. However, audiences did not embrace UPA's experiment in television entertainment; as a result, the show vanished from the airwaves in 1958. Further, as the major Hollywood studios began cutting back and shutting down their short film divisions in the late-1950s and early-1960s, UPA was in financial straits, and Steve Bosustow sold the studio to a producer named [[Henry G. Saperstein]]. Saperstein turned UPA's focus to [[television]] to sustain the studio. UPA adapted Mr. Magoo for television and produced another series based on the [[comic strip]] ''[[Dick Tracy]]''. UPA was forced to churn out cartoons at a far greater quantity than the studio had done for theatrical releases or even the CBS television series. Despite this however, quality was languishing, and UPA's reputation as an artistic innovator faded.

UPA's style of [[limited animation]] was adopted by other animation studios, especially by television cartoon studios such as [[Hanna-Barbera Productions]]. However, this procedure was generally implemented as a cost-cutting measure rather than an artistic choice that UPA originally intended. A plethora of low-budget, cheaply-made cartoons over the next twenty years effectively reduced television animation to a commodity, partly popularizing the notion of animation as being made only for children rather than a medium for any age group to enjoy (with the exception of shows like ''[[The Flintstones]]''), and notoriously going against UPA's original goal to expand the boundaries of animation and create a new style for the medium.

One bright moment in the UPA television era came with ''[[Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol]]'' (1962), which inspired the format of Magoo's next television endeavor, the 1964 series ''[[The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo]]''. ''Christmas Carol'' captures the spirit of Charles Dickens's 1843 book and is considered a holiday classic, ranking alongside ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' and ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas!]]''.<ref name="Hill">{{Cite web
  | last = Hill
  | first = Jim
  | title = Scrooge U: Part VI -- Magoo's a musical miser
  | publisher = JimHillMedia.com
  | date = November 28, 2006
  | url = http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2006/11/27/christmas-carol-vi.aspx
  | access-date = 2006-12-25}}</ref><ref name="TOTN">{{Cite web
  | last = Conan
  | first = Neil (host)
  | author-link = Neal Conan
  | title = Choose Your Favorite Scrooge
  | work = [[Talk of the Nation]]
  | publisher = [[National Public Radio]]
  | date = 2006-12-25
  | url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6673835
  | format = audio
  | access-date = 2007-01-03 }}</ref>

UPA produced only two full-length feature films in their tenure: a 1959 feature starring Mr. Magoo entitled ''[[1001 Arabian Nights (1959 film)|1001 Arabian Nights]]'', directed by ex-Disney animator [[Jack Kinney]]; and ''[[Gay Purr-ee]]'' in 1962, written by [[Chuck Jones]] and his wife Dorothy and directed by a friend of Jones, [[Abe Levitow]].

=== Abandoning animation and Toho ===
Saperstein kept UPA afloat in the 1960s and beyond by abandoning animation production completely after the animation studio closed permanently in 1970 and sold off UPA's library of cartoons, although the studio retained the licenses and copyrights on Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing and the other UPA characters. This led to UPA contracting with [[DePatie-Freleng Enterprises]] studio to produce a new animated series called ''[[What's New Mr. Magoo?]]'' in September 1977.

[[Columbia Pictures]] retained ownership of UPA's theatrical cartoons. The studio's TV cartoon library was licensed by Classic Media in New York, and then in 2007 merged into Entertainment Rights in London.

In 1970, Saperstein led UPA into a contract with [[Toho Co., Ltd.]] of Japan to distribute its "giant monster" (see ''[[kaiju]]'' and ''[[tokusatsu]]'') movies in America. Theatrical releases, and especially TV syndication, of the Toho monster movies created a new [[cult movie]] market for Japanese monster movies, and long-running television movie syndication packages such as ''[[Creature Double Feature]]'' exposed the Toho movie monsters to young American audiences, who embraced them and helped them maintain their popularity throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

When Toho began producing a new generation of monster movies in the late 1980s, beginning with ''[[Godzilla 1985]]'', UPA capitalized on its Toho contract and helped introduce the new ''kaiju'' features to the Western world.

Because of its long association with Toho, UPA is better known to cult-movie fans today as Toho's American distributor rather than a pioneer of animated cartoons, but the legacy of UPA is an important chapter in the history of American animation. UPA continued to license the American library of ''[[Godzilla]]'' movies through to 2017 when the rights were transferred to [[Janus Films]]. UPA's contract with Toho also resulted in Saperstein producing [[Woody Allen]]'s first feature film, ''[[What's Up, Tiger Lily]]?''.

Henry Saperstein died in 1998. On January 1, 2000, UPA shuttered its operations, with the assets sold by the Saperstein family, which would later result in the founding of [[DreamWorks Classics|Classic Media]] by May 2000.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web |url=http://www.awn.com/news/classic-media-acquires-harvey-entertainment |title=Classic Media Acquires Harvey Entertainment |publisher=Animation World Network |date=August 25, 2000 |access-date=August 4, 2014}}</ref> On July 23, 2012, [[DreamWorks Animation]] purchased Classic Media for $155 million and, as a result, UPA is now owned by DreamWorks Animation, which would be acquired by [[NBCUniversal]] in 2016. Although DreamWorks Animation (and later, [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]]) now owns the ancillary rights to most of the UPA library, UPA itself (with DreamWorks Animation/Universal) continues to hold the licensing rights to ''Mr. Magoo'', and Saperstein was executive producer to [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]]'s unsuccessful live-action feature ''[[Mr. Magoo (film)|Mr. Magoo]]'' in 1997.

Some theatrical feature films are owned by other third-party companies. For example, [[Warner Bros. Discovery]] currently owns ''Gay Purr-ee'' and [[The Walt Disney Company]] owns the 1997 ''Mr. Magoo'' film adaptation.

== DVD releases ==
[[DreamWorks Classics|Classic Media]]/[[Sony Wonder]] began issuing the ''Mr. Magoo'' TV cartoon series on [[DVD]] in 2001, beginning with ''Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol'' (which received a Collector's Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in 2010). In 2011, Shout! Factory (with Classic Media) released the ''Mr. Magoo: The Television Collection'' set which contained all Mr. Magoo television productions (except for ''Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol,'' for which the DVD copy from the 2010 Blu-ray release was issued by itself). In 2013, Shout! (with Sony) released the ''Mr. Magoo Theatrical Collection'' containing all the Mr. Magoo theatrical shorts and the full-length feature ''1001 Arabian Nights'' (which was also released through Sony's MOD program in December 2011). The set was originally set for release on February 14, 2012 but then delayed to June 19, then December 4, then delayed to sometime in 2013. It was delayed so that the shorts could be restored from high quality sources (plus newly discovered elements added).

The ''[[Jolly Frolics]] Collection'' was released on March 15, 2012 through [[Turner Classic Movies]]' website. Extras included audio commentaries and an introduction by film critic [[Leonard Maltin]].

== Legacy ==
UPA Pictures' legacy in the history of animation has largely been overshadowed by the commercial success and availability of the cartoon libraries of [[Warner Bros.]], [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] and [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]. Nonetheless, UPA had a significant impact on animation style, content, and technique, and its innovations were recognized and adopted by the other major animation studios and independent filmmakers all over the world as UPA pioneered the technique of [[limited animation]].<ref>[https://oddballfilms.blogspot.com/2014/06/mid-century-modern-animation-thur-jun.html Oddball Films: Mid-Century Modern Animation – Thur. Jun 26 – 8PM]</ref> Although this style of animation came to be widely used in the 1960s and 1970s as a cost-cutting measure, it was originally intended as a stylistic alternative to the growing trend (particularly at Disney) of recreating cinematic realism in animated films.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/499721 UPA Cartoons – TCM.com]</ref> UPA was also a central influence on the foundation of the [[Zagreb School of Animated Films]] in the 1950s. Animators in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] were heavily impacted by UPA's work on ''[[The Four Poster (1952 film)|The Four Poster]]'' (1952), a [[live-action]] film with animation directed by [[John Hubley]],<ref name="D.W. Paul">{{cite book | editor=Paul, David W. | section=The Short Film in Eastern Europe: Art and Politics of Cartoons and Puppets | title=Politics, Art and Commitment in the East European Cinema | date=1983 | author=Holloway, Ronald | pages=233–238 | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK | isbn=9781349067367 }}</ref> in his final project at UPA.<ref>{{cite journal|title=In the Picture; Evolution of a Cartoonist| author=Robinson, David | url=https://archive.org/details/Sight_and_Sound_1962_01_BFI_GB/page/n21/mode/2up| date=Winter 1961–1962 | volume=31 | number=1 | page=17 | journal=[[Sight & Sound]]}}</ref>

Both ''[[Gerald McBoing-Boing]]'' and ''[[The Tell-Tale Heart (1953 American film)|The Tell-Tale Heart]]'' were inducted into the [[National Film Registry]].<ref>[https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/29665/13-amazing-cartoons-national-film-registry 13 Amazing Cartoons from the National Film Registry|Mental Floss]</ref>

== Filmography ==
{{Main article|List of UPA cartoons}}

== See also ==
* [[Golden age of American animation]]
* [[Googie architecture]]
* [[Modernist film]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* Abraham, Adam (2012): ''When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA''. Wesleyan University Press.
* Amidi, Amid (2006): ''Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation''. Chronicle Books.
* Barrier, Michael (1999): ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age''. Oxford University Press.
* Larsen, Darl (2024): ''Moving Pictures: A History of American Animation from Gertie to Pixar and Beyond''. Rowman & Littlefield.
* Maltin, Leonard (1980): ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. McGraw Hill.
* Solomon, Charles (1989): ''Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation''. Alfred A. Knopf.
* Shapiro, Susan P (1980): ''Detecting Illegalities: A Perspective on the Control of Securities Violations.'' Yale University

== External links ==
* [https://archive.today/20130118043851/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Columbia_Pictures/UPA/index.html UPA Cartoons at BCDB.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051027181601/http://www.upapix.com/ UPA: Mavericks, Magic, and Magoo]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111229023454/http://tooninanimation.net/upapix/UPApix/History.html A Brief History of UPA Pictures] by Adam Abraham
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101009131933/http://columbia.goldenagecartoons.com/ The Columbia Crow's Nest]
* [http://www.bremenonline.org/boing/ Bill Paolucci's Gerald McBoing Boing Page]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/magoo.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Mr. Magoo]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040607201334/http://www.dalekempire.com/SapersteinInterview.html Interview with Henry G. Saperstein]
* [http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/UPA A series of posts criticising UPA's artistic style] by [[John Kricfalusi]]
* [http://whenmagooflew.com/whenmagooflew.com/Home.html When Magoo Flew]: A Web Site Dedicated to the Artistry and Achievement of UPA

{{United Productions of America}}
{{Animation industry in the United States}}
{{NBCUniversal}}
{{Adelaide Productions}}
{{Sony Pictures Animation}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:United Productions Of America}}
[[Category:UPA (animation studio)| ]]
[[Category:American animation studios]]
[[Category:History of animation]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1943]]
[[Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 2000]]
[[Category:DreamWorks Classics]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1943]]
[[Category:American companies disestablished in 2000]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:1943 establishments in California]]
[[Category:2000 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures]]
[[Category:Former Sony subsidiaries]]