George Pal
{{Short description|Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer (1908–1980)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = George Pal
| image = George Pal (1979).jpg
| caption = Pal in 1979
| birth_name = György Pál Marczincsak
| other_names = Julius György Marczincsak
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|2|1}}
| birth_place = Cegléd, Austria-Hungary
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|5|2|1908|2|1}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
| alma_mater = Hungarian University of Fine Arts
| nationality = Hungarian, American
| citizenship = American
| awards = See Awards and Honours
| spouse = Elisabeth "Zsoka" Pal (m.1930)
| children = 2 sons
| years_active = 1931–1975
}}
George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak;{{cite web|url=http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/index.cfm?articleid=11825|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928015951/http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/index.cfm?articleid=11825|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 28, 2011|title=Historical Development|publisher=University for the Creative Arts|access-date=2010-07-12}} {{IPA|hu|ˈmɒrt͡sint͡ʃɒk ˈɟørɟ ˈpɑːl|lang}}; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after emigrating from Europe.
He was nominated for Academy Awards (in the category Best Short Subjects, Cartoon) for seven consecutive years (1942–1948) and received an honorary award in 1944. This makes him the second-most nominated Hungarian exile (together with William S. Darling and Ernest Laszlo) after Miklós Rózsa.
Early life and career
Pal was born in Cegléd, Hungary, as György Gyula Marczincsak the son of Gyula Marczincsak, Sr.{{Cite web|url=https://walkoffame.com/george-pal/|title=George Pal|date=October 25, 2019}} and his wife Mária Tikó; in 1936 he officially changed his lastname Marczincsak to "Pál", becoming György (George) Pál. He graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1928 (aged 20). From 1928 to 1931, he made films for Hunnia Film Studio of Budapest, Hungary. In 30th June of 1930 in Budapest, he married Elisabeth "Zsóka" Grandjean,{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6RXC-H2DW?lang=hu|title=familysearch.org - Civilian registers - Budapest, Hungary - 5th district - marriages - György Gyula Marczincsak and Erzsébet Jozefa Grandjean - 1930. Jun. 30.}} and after moving to Berlin, founded Trickfilm-Studio GmbH Pal und Wittke, with UFA Studios as its main customer from 1931 to 1933. During this time, he patented the Pal-Doll technique (known as Puppetoons in the US).
In 1933, he worked in Prague. In 1934, he made cigarette{{cite web |last1=Worth |first1=Stephen |title=Biography: George Pal |url=https://animationresources.org/biography-george-pal-2/ |website=AnimationResources.org |access-date=17 October 2023 |date=29 November 2010}} advertisement films in his hotel room in Paris, and was invited by Philips to make two more ad shorts. He started to use Pal-Doll techniques in Eindhoven, in a former butchery, then at villa-studio Suny Home. He made five films before 1939 for the British company Horlicks Malted Milk.{{cite journal |last1=Lloyd |first1=Fran |title=10 Making Animation Matter: Peter Sachs Comes to Britain 191 |journal=Applied Arts in British Exile from 1933 |date=5 April 2019 |pages=191–211 |doi=10.1163/9789004395107_012 |isbn=978-90-04-39510-7 |s2cid=194290056 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004395107/BP000011.xml}} In December of that year, aged 32, he emigrated from Europe to the United States,Pal, his wife and son, were second cabin passengers on the S.S. Statendam which arrived at the Port of New York from the Netherlands on December 3, 1939. and began work for Paramount Pictures. At this time, his friend Walter Lantz helped him obtain American citizenship.
As an animator, he made the Puppetoons series in the 1940s, which led to him being awarded an honorary Oscar in 1943 for "the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons". Pal then switched to live-action film-making with The Great Rupert (1950).
He is best remembered as the producer of several science-fiction and fantasy films in the 1950s and 1960s, such as When Worlds Collide,{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0DEED9123AE53ABC4F53DFB4668389649EDE |title=THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; George Pal's New Film Adventure Into Outer Space, 'When Worlds Collide,' Opens at the Globe |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |date=February 7, 1952 |work=The New York Times}} four of which were collaborations with director Byron Haskin, including The War of the Worlds (1953). He himself directed Tom Thumb (1958), The Time Machine (1960), and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).
Death
In May 1980, he died in Beverly Hills, California, of a heart attack at the age of 72, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. The Voyage of the Berg, on which he was working at the time, was never completed.
Awards and honours
Pal has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine St. In 1980, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founded the "George Pal Lecture on Fantasy in Film" series in his memory.
George Pal (along with the film When Worlds Collide) is among the many references to classic science fiction and horror films in the opening theme ("Science Fiction/Double Feature") of both the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its cinematic counterpart, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).{{cite news |last1=Sokol |first1=Tony |title=Rocky Horror Picture Show: The Movies And References Behind Science Fiction Double Feature |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/rocky-horror-picture-show-the-movies-and-references-behind-science-fiction-double-feature/ |access-date=10 April 2021 |work=Den of Geek |date=26 September 2019}}
In 1975, Pal received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement,{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}} as well as the San Diego Comic Con Inkpot Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot|title=Inkpot Award|date=December 6, 2012|website=Comic-Con International: San Diego}}
Pal's Puppetoons Tulips Shall Grow and John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946) were added to the Library of Congress 1997 and 2015 National Film Registry.{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2015/15-216.html |title=2015 National Film Registry: "Ghostbusters" Gets the Call |date=December 16, 2015 |publisher=Library of Congress}} One of the Tubby the Tuba models along with a frog and three string instruments were donated to the Smithsonian Institution for the National Museum of American History.{{Cite web |url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/puppetry-america/puppets-radio-film-and-television-0 |title=Puppets on Radio, Film, and Television |date=18 February 2014 |publisher=National Museum of American History |access-date=24 August 2016 |archive-date=3 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003082907/http://americanhistory.si.edu/puppetry-america/puppets-radio-film-and-television-0 |url-status=dead }}
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of George Pal's films, including Radio Röhren (Valve) Revolution (1934),{{cite web |title=The George Pal Site: Philips Radio |url=https://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/PAL/GP6.htm |website=awn.com |access-date=17 October 2023}} an advertising short for Philips, Jasper and the Beanstalk (1945), and John Henry and the Inky Poo (1946).{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=http://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=pal+george&category=All&collection=All|website=Academy Film Archive}}
Live-action feature films
Unreleased, unfinished, or projected films
- Gulliver's Travels (1935)
- Sinbad (1935)
- Three Little Princes (1935) {{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/100011192462839/videos/available-now-at-wwwpuppetoonnet-the-triumphant-discovery-of-ali-baba-and-the-fo/570855896630821/|title=Available Now** **at** www.Puppetoon.Net ~ **The triumphant discovery of** ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES **(1935), thought lost for some 85 years, has... | By Arnold | Facebook|website=www.facebook.com}}
- Casey Jones (1945)
- Davy Crockett (1945) Chico Record. "Hollywood". Virginia McPherson. 25 October 1945. Chico, page 2. https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/681104846/?terms=inkypooh&match=1 (login needed)
- Johnny Appleseed (1946) The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. "Ellen Drew Named For Film Comedy". 13 April 1946. Brooklyn, page 14. https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/686223057/?terms=%22john%20henry%20and%20the%20inky%22&match=1 (login needed)
- After Worlds Collide (1955)
- Odd John (1967) (rights acquired only)
- Logan's Run (1968){{cite web|url=http://www.scribd.com/doc/6863907/William-F-Nolan-Logan-1-Logans-Run|title=William Nolan recollection of history of Logan's Run Movie|publisher=William Nolan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531060005/http://www.scribd.com/doc/6863907/William-F-Nolan-Logan-1-Logans-Run|archive-date=2013-05-31}}
- When the Sleeper Wakes (1972)
- War of the Worlds (1974–75) Unfinished TV pilot
- Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil (1976)
- The Time Traveller (1977–78) aka Time Machine II. A novelization with Joe Morhaim was published posthumously in 1981.
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1979)
- The Disappearance (1980) (only in preproduction)
- Voyage of the Berg (1980) (only in preproduction)
Posthumous collection
- The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit)
- The Puppetoon Movie (1987) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit)
- The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 (2020) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit)
- The Puppetoon Movie Volume 3 (2023) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit){{cite web | url=https://thedigitalbits.com/tag/the-puppetoon-movie-volume-3-bd | title=The Puppetoon Movie: Volume 3 BD | date=4 March 2023 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- Gail Morgan Hickman. The Films of George Pal. South Brunswick, NJ: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1977. {{ISBN|0-498-01960-8}}.
- Schepp, Ole and Kamphuis, Fred. George Pal in Holland 1934–1939. Den Haag: Kleinoffsetdrukkerij Kapsenberg, 1983.
- Miller, Thomas Kent. Mars in the Movies: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-9914-4}}.
- Peters, Mette. "George Pal’s ‘Cavalcade of Colours, Music and Dolls’: 1930s Advertising Films in Transnational Contexts". In: Animation and Advertising. Thompson, Kirsten Moana, Cook, Malcolm (Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. {{ISBN|978-3-030-27938-7}}.
External links
- {{IMDb name|657162}}
- {{Find a Grave|6700106}}
- [http://www.oscars.org/foundation/lectures/pal.html George Pal Lecture on Fantasy in Film] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906150641/http://www.oscars.org/foundation/lectures/pal.html |date=2008-09-06 }}
- [http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2008/palhumphreys.html A Cinema of Miracles: Remembering George Pal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408203300/http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2008/palhumphreys.html |date=2010-04-08 }}
- [http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2008/palhankin.html George Pal: A Career in Perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108135352/http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2008/palhankin.html |date=2014-01-08 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070501134134/http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/war_of_the_worlds_pal.htm War Of The Worlds review plus info on proposed WOTW TV series]
- [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv847064?q=08030 George Pal papers] are archived at the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
{{George Pal}}
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|title = Awards for George Pal
|list =
{{Academy Honorary Award}}
{{Inkpot Award 1970s}}
{{Winsor McCay Award 1970s}}
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Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients
Category:American animated film directors
Category:American animated film producers
Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Category:English-language film directors
Category:Hungarian animated film directors
Category:Hungarian animated film producers
Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
Category:American science fiction film directors
Category:Hungarian science fiction film directors