Sunday, December 14, 2008

Irv Spector at Hanna Barbera: The Jetsons: Memo To Layout




This post is actually about my father's episodic character layouts. However, I thought Memo To Layout was a cooler title for the post, even if the memo is intended for the background layout department. So sue me. Still, I think it's an interesting minor tidbit of a read for those interested.




There are a handful of episodes represented in this post and the one coming up, which I more or less deduced from this cool little fansite put online about a decade ago. As far as I can tell the episodes in this post and the next are likely from The Space Car, Elroy's TV Show, Uniblab and Las Venus, to name just a few. However, I haven't really arranged these according to episodes -- so go take a look if interested and report back here if you know better.




I'll be the first to admit that this type of work is at first glance not as glamorous to view as his storyboards. However to me it's interesting because it's one of the few post-war instances where he was not involved in the story department (as far as I know). A few in this post and the next are a lot cleaner then you'd usually see him draw. Also don't forget, this is streamlined assembly line early TV H&B, where the process is as simplified as possible.







































Anyone says his line in these looks like Walt Kelly...you're outta here!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This 1962 memo from Bill and Joe may well pinpoint the moment H&B went from using A to E repeat pan backgrounds to longer A to G lengths as standard. Or not. It's great to see a memo about nuts and bolts animation studio stuff, signed by studio heads who actually knew a few things about how things worked.

p spector said...

I appreciate the comment, Anon. It helps to know that someone besides myself finds these sort of things interesting -- that way I'll know to keep posting this type of thing when I come across them. Not that I have much along these lines, but when pertinent they'll go up.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed it very much! Just saw the Uniblab episode on Cartoon network, and what a treasure to find this. Thank you!

p spector said...

Really? CN is showing the original Jetsons episodes? I'll have to start warching. Thanks!