John Hubley
May 21, 1914 - February 21, 1977



Husband of Faith Hubley.

An art director at the Walt Disney studio during its peak period of creativity (during production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi), Hubley was active in the bitter Disney strike of 1941, and wound up moving with a number of his colleagues to the Columbia/Screen Gems studio. After a short time there, Hubley and some of his cohorts found themselves making training films for the Army's First Motion Picture Unit during World War 2. Many of them moonlighted on a campaign film for President Roosevelt called Hell Bent for Election (which Chuck Jones directed) that was executed in a bold, modern graphic style. Several people who'd worked on the film then formed an official partnership called United Productions of America (UPA), and Hubley joined them for an even bolder film called Brotherhood of Man a plea for tolerance designed to help union organizers in the South.
UPA then landed a contract with Columbia Pictures for theatrical cartoons, and Hubley directed a pair of modern-style films with The Fox and Crow, Robin Hoodlum (1948, nominated for an Oscar) and The Magic Fluke (1949), before launching the studio's first (and most successful) cartoon series, featuring the nearsighted Mister Magoo. Ragtime Bear (1949) introduced the cantankerous character, whom Hubley directed again in Spellbound Hound (1950) and Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951). By this time, UPA was winning critical notice for their innovative approach to animated cartoons. Blending modern-art graphics with often innovative, nonformulaic content, UPA broke down one barrier after another. Among Hubley's other personal triumphs: Rooty Toot Toot (1952), a stylish rendering of "Frankie and Johnny" that won an Academy Award, and some clever, beautifully designed linking sequences for the live-action feature The Four Poster (1952).
Unfortunately, the witch-hunt politics of the era forced Hubley to leave UPA and set out on his own. An independently backed animated production of the Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow lost its financing in midstream, but Hubley found financial salvation in the production of TV commercials, and artistic satisfaction by making at least one "personal" animated short every year, in collaboration with his wife, the former Faith Elliott. These highly individual, graphically advanced films-which reflected the Hubleys' love for jazz through the participation of such musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, and Quincy Jones-won countless honors, including Academy Awards for Moonbird (1959), The Hole (1962), and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966). Oscar nominations came their way for Windy Day (1968), Of Men and Demons (1970), and Voyage to Next (1974). Hubley's final film was a half-hour special that brought the Doonesbury comic strip to television, in 1977. (Although made for television, it was nominated for an Academy Award.)
Since John's death, Faith Hubley has continued to make original and challenging films, along with her daughters Georgia and Emily and son Mark, all of whom provided charming and wonderful soundtracks for their parents' earlier films when they were unknowingly tape-recorded while at play.


Producer

1. "O Canada" (1997) TV Series (producer)
2. Doonesbury Special, The (1977) (producer)
3. People, People, People (1976) (producer)
4. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975) (producer)
5. Cockaboody (1974) (producer)
6. Upkeep (1974) (producer)
7. Voyage to Next (1974) (producer)
8. Dig (1972) (producer)
9. Eggs (1970) (producer)
10. Of Men and Demons (1969) (producer)
11. Windy Day (1968) (producer)
12. Zuckerkandl (1968) (producer)
13. Cruise, The (1966) (producer)
14. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966) (producer)
15. Urbanissimo (1966) (producer)
16. Hat, The (1965) (producer)
17. Of Stars and Men (1964) (producer)
18. Hole, The (1962) (producer)
19. Moonbird (1959) (producer)
20. Harlem Wednesday (1958) (producer)
21. Old Whiff (1958) (producer)
... aka Tale of Old Whiff, A (1960) (USA)
22. Tender Game, The (1958) (producer)
23. Adventures of an *, The (1957) (producer)
24. Christopher Crumpet's Playmate (1955) (producer)
25. Baby Boogie (1955) (producer)
26. Man on the Flying Trapeze, The (1954) (producer)
27. How Now McBoing-Boing (1954) (producer)
28. Fudget's Budget (1954) (producer)
29. Ballet-Oop (1954) (producer)
30. Spare the Child (1954) (producer)
31. Bringing Up Mother (1954) (producer)
32. Tell-Tale Heart, The (1953) (producer)
33. Magoo Slept Here (1953) (producer)
34. Unicorn in the Garden, A (1953) (producer)
35. Magoo's Masterpiece (1953) (producer)
36. Gerald McBoing-Boing's Symphony (1953) (producer)
37. Christopher Crumpet (1953) (producer)
38. Safety Spin (1953) (producer)
39. Emperor's New Clothes, The (1953) (producer)
40. Little Boy with a Big Horn (1953) (producer)
41. Captains Outrageous (1952) (producer)
42. Madeline (1952) (producer)
43. Hotsy Footsy (1952) (producer)
44. Pete Hothead (1952) (producer)
45. Pink and Blue Blues (1952) (producer)
... aka Pink Blue Plums (1952)
46. Willie the Kid (1952) (producer)
47. Dog Snatcher, The (1952) (producer)
48. Rooty Toot Toot (1952) (producer)
49. Sloppy Jalopy (1952) (producer)
50. Oompahs, The (1952) (producer)
51. Grizzly Golfer (1951) (producer)
52. Wonder Gloves (1951) (producer)
53. Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951) (producer)
54. Georgie and the Dragon (1951) (producer)
55. Barefaced Flatfoot (1951) (producer)
56. Family Circus, The (1951) (producer)
57. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) (producer)
58. Bungled Bungalow (1950) (producer)
59. Popcorn Story, The (1950) (producer)
60. Trouble Indemnity (1950) (producer)
61. Miner's Daughter, The (1950) (producer)
62. Spellbound Hound (1950) (producer)
63. Ragtime Bear (1949) (producer)
64. Magic Fluke (1949) (producer)
65. Robin Hoodlum (1948) (producer)
66. Brotherhood of Man (1945) (producer)
67. Flat Hatting (1944) (producer)
68. Hell-Bent for Election (1944) (producer)


Director

1. "O Canada" (1997) TV Series (episode "Cruise, The")
2. Cosmic Eye, The (1986)
3. Doonesbury Special, The (1977)
4. People, People, People (1976)
5. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975)
6. Cockaboody (1974)
7. Upkeep (1974)
8. Voyage to Next (1974)
9. Dig (1972)
10. Eggs (1970)
11. Of Men and Demons (1969)
12. Windy Day (1968)
13. Zuckerkandl (1968)
14. Cruise, The (1966)
15. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966)
16. Urbanissimo (1966)
17. Of Stars and Men (1964)
18. Hole, The (1962)
19. Children of the Sun (1961/II)
20. Moonbird (1959)
21. Harlem Wednesday (1958)
22. Old Whiff (1958)
... aka Tale of Old Whiff, A (1960) (USA)
23. Tender Game, The (1958)
24. Adventures of an *, The (1957)
25. Four Poster, The (1952)
26. Rooty Toot Toot (1952)
27. Fuddy Duddy Buddy (1951)
28. Spellbound Hound (1950)
29. Punchy de Leon (1950)
30. Ragtime Bear (1949)
31. Magic Fluke (1949)
32. Robin Hoodlum (1948)
33. Flat Hatting (1944)
34. He Can't Make It Sick (1943)
35. Professor Small and Mr. Tall (1943)
36. Vitamin G-Man, The (1943)
37. King Midas, Junior (1942)
38. Dumbconscious Mind, The (1942)
39. Wolf Chases Pigs (1942)


Writer

1. Cosmic Eye, The (1986)
2. Doonesbury Special, The (1977)
3. Everybody Rides the Carousel (1975)
4. Hat, The (1965)
5. Of Stars and Men (1964)
6. Children of the Sun (1961/II)
7. Rooty Toot Toot (1952) (story)
8. Brotherhood of Man (1945)


Miscellaneous Crew

1. "O Canada" (1997) TV Series (layout artist) (episode "Cruise, The")
2. Cruise, The (1966) (layout artist)
3. Year of the Horse, The (1966/I) (animator)
4. M (1951) (production layout)
5. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) (supervising director)
6. Giddyap (1950) (supervising director)


Art Director

1. Leben des Galilei (1947)
... aka Galileo (1947) (USA)
2. Bambi (1942)
3. Dumbo (1941) (uncredited)
4. Fantasia (1940) (segment "rite of spring")
5. Pinocchio (1940)
6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) (uncredited)