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Birth/Death

Pete Burness was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 16, 1904. He died of pancreatic cancer on July 21, 1969.

Occupation/Title

Animator, Animation Director

Bio Summary

Wilson D. “Pete” Burness was an American animator and director. He’s best known as the writer/producer of Mr. Magoo, animator on looney toons, director on Rocky and Friends, Hoppity Hooper and George of the Jungle.

Early Life/Family

Wife named Juana.

Education/Training

Career Outline

His animation career started in 1931 where he worked for Romer Grey and Ted Eshbaugh on Goofy Goat Antics. Burness was hired at Van Beuren Studios in 1933, where he animated a film adaptation of The Little King. He transferred to the Harman-Ising studio in 1936 and on to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938.

While at MGM, Burness worked on Tom and Jerry until 1945 then went to work for Warner Brothers from 1948-1949 on a number of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts. He left Warner Bros. to be a director for UPA on the Mr. Magoo series. Some have given Burness credit for creating Mr. Magoo, but there were already Mr. Magoo shorts in development before Burness came to UPA. 

Burness is credited with softening Mr. Magoo into a more appealing character, better designed for mass audiences.

Two of Burness’ Mr. Magoo shorts; When Magoo Flew (1954) and Mr. Magoo’s Puddle Jumper (1956), won Academy Awards for Best Short Subject. In 1958 he co-wrote and began to direct1001 Arabian Nights, featuring Mr. Magoo but Burness had a dispute with producer Stephen Bosustow and left the project.

Comments On Style

Represents the peak of the 1950s UPA house style.

Influences

Personality

Burness was famous for having an explosive temper. The lead character in the Pete Hothead shorts were based on Burness:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151951/

Anecdotes

Martha Sigall remembers working in ink and paint and seeing Pete Burness come through the building.

Miscellaneous

Filmography

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0122319/

Honors

two Academy Awards

Related Links

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0122319/

Bibliographic References

UPA photos featuring Burness: http://cartoonmodern.blogsome.com/category/pete-burness/

On Burness falling asleep during a screening: http://www.awn.com/articles/annecy-iau-revoiri

http://www.toontracker.com/magoo/magoo.htm

http://www.rarebit.org/wiki/Wilson_D._(Pete)_Burness

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Burness

Died of pancreatic cancer: http://pancreaticcancerdenver.blogspot.com/2011/03/famous-and-pancreatic-cancer-pete.htm

Contributors To This Listing

Doug TenNapel

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Birth/ Death

B. March 6, 1913
D. January 13, 2003

Occupation/Title

Animator, Art Director, Production Designer

Career Outline

Worked for Disney in the early 1930’s until the Strike in 1941
Worked for Screen Gems from 1941-1943
Co founded United Productions of America (UPA) in 1944 (formerly known as Industrial Films and Poster Service)

Comments on Style

Worked mostly in limited animation (reusing common parts between frames, rather than redrawing entire frames)

Anecdotes

“Our camera is closer to being a printing press, in the way we use it, than it is to being a motion picture camera.”-Zack Schwartz

“Hell Bent For Election” was made in Zack Schwartz’s apartment because UPA did not have a studio in 1944

Miscellaneous

Wrote a book with Jim McCaulay (a colligue from Sheradon) called, And Then What Happened?
Taught at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada in the 1980’s and 90’s
Helped develop the animation department at Sheridan along with Kaij Pindal

Filmography

1947 “Clearing The Way” (short) (animator)
1947 “Expanding World Relationships” (short) (Production Designer)
1946 “Flight Safety: After the Cut” (short) (layout artist)
1945 “A Few Quick Facts: Fear” (short) (Production Designer)
1945 “A Few Quick Facts: Fear” (short) (layout artist)
1944 “Hell-Bent for Election” (short) (Production Designer)
1944 “Lend Lease” (short) (Production Designer)
1944 “Flat Hatting” (short) (layout artist)
1943 “He Can’t Make It Stick” (short) (layout artist)
1943 “Willoughby’s Magic Hat” (short) (layout artist)
1943 “Professor Small and Mr. Tall” (short) (layout artist)
1943 “The Vitamin G-Man” (short) (layout artist)
1942 “Song of Victory” (short) (layout artist)
1942 “Old Balckout Joe” (short) (layout artist)
1942 “Wolf Chases Pigs” (short) (layout artist)
1942 “Concerto in B Flat Minor” (short) (layout artist)
1940 “Fantasia” (segment “The Sourcer’s Apprentice”) (art director)
1938 “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” (short) (layout artist)

Honors

“Robin Hoodlum” (1948) and “The Magic Fluke” (1949) were both produced by UPA and nominated for an Academy Award

“When Magoo Flew” (1953) and “Magoo’s Puddle Jumper” (1955) both won Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (cartoons)

Related Links

http://www.animationeducatorsforum.org/Mag.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0777487/filmotype
http://kajpindal.blogspot.com/2010/03/zack-zchwartz.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdy07oY7SUg

Bibliographic References

BIO-AAA-524

Contributors To This Listing

Chelsea Burton 

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Birth/Death

B. April 28, 1903
D. February 21, 1990

Occupation/Title

Producer, Animator, Writer

Bio Summary

Norman ‘Norm’ Blackburn was born on April 28, 1903 in England, United Kingdom. He began his career with Walt Disney as an animator. Blackburn left the Disney studios to follow Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising as they began the Warner Bros. cartoon studio He later went to New York to join NBC as one of the first National Program Directors. He redesigned the Howdy Doody puppet in The Howdy Doody Show, which he asked some of his old Disney friends to refine it. He moved back to Hollywood and joined the J. Walter Thompson ad agency. Blackburn was the talent buyer for many radio shows such as The Lux Radio Playhouse and The Elgin Watch Shower of Stars. He created and produced one of the first golf shows on television, Celebrity Golf. He was a member of the Lakeside Golf Club in Burbank, California for many years and eventually was made into an honorary member. Throughout his career, he was responsible for producing four television series and animating twenty-four cartoon shorts. Blackburn was eighty-six years old when he died in North Hollywood on February 21, 1990.

Early Life/Family

He has a son named Norman A. Blackburn.

Education/Training

Career Outline

At the age of twenty-three, Norm Blackburn started his career in with Walt Disney as an assistant animator on February 5, 1927. In that same month, Blackburn was one of the three animators hired in the Disney Studios along with Les Clark and Ben Clopton. From 1929 to 1937, Blackburn worked at Hugh Harman-Rudolf Ising Production that would later be known as Warner Bros. Additionally, he worked for Ub Iwerks at his studio for a brief period during 1933 to 1935. He later became a newspaper cartoonist and a writer. By the 1940s, Blackburn was an executive at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in Hollywood. He later became a program director at NBC and created television series such as You Bet Your Life, The Dinah Shore Show, and Celebrity Golf. In 1975, Blackburn wrote the limited edition 50-year anniversary book for the Lakeside Golf Club that he was eventually made an honorary member of that club.

Comments On Style

Influences

Personality

Anecdotes

Miscellaneous

In 1957, he produced a pilot for ABC about the adventures of a boy traveling on a sailing ship entitled, “Cabin Boy,” but the series was never developed beyond the pilot stage.

Filmography

Producer:

(1960) Celebrity Golf (TV series, executive producer)
(1956-1957)Circus Boy (TV series, producer – 40 episodes)
(1947)Circus Boy (executive producer)

Animator:
The Good Scout (1934)
Rasslin’ Round (1934)
Play Ball (uncredited) (1933)
Shuffle Off to Buffalo (uncredited) (1933)
Beau Bosko (1933)
The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1933)
Ride Him, Bosko! (1932)
Bosko’s Dog Race (1932)
Pagan Moon (1932)
Bosko’s Fox Hunt (1931)
You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’! (1931)
Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (1931)
Yodeling Yokels (1931)
Ain’t Nature Grand!(1931)
Hold Anything (1930)
All Wet (1927)
Trolley Troubles (1927)
Alice in the Big League (1927)
Alice the Beach Nut (1927)
Alice the Whaler (1927)
Alice’s Medicine Show (1927)
Alice in the Klondike (1927)
Alice’s Channel Swim (1927)
Alice’s Picnic (1927)
Alice’s Three Bad Eggs (1927)

Writer:
Zenobia (treatment – uncredited) (1939) 

Honors

1988 Golden Award

Related Links

Bibliographic References

Cruz, Brian. “Creators: Norm Blackburn”. Toon Zone – Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies: The Early Years. 2003. Web. 28 October 2011. 

“Norm Blackburn”. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 28 October 2011. 

“Norman (Norm) Blackburn Studio Experience”. The Early Animation Wiki. Web. 28 October 2011.

Susanin, Timothy S., and Diane Disney Miller. Walt Before Mickey: Disney’s Early Years 1919-1928. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 2011.

Contributors To This Listing

Katrina Miclat 

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