During the late 1940s and early 1950s, United Productions of America (UPA) was the most critically acclaimed animation studio in the United States. The conventions of modern abstract art, featuring flat graphics, minimalist animation, and a striking use of color and design, made UPA a worthy alternative to Disney Studios’ realism.
Well-recognized stars of animation such as John Hubley, eventual studio head Steven Bosustow, Jules Engel, Bill Hurtz, Pete Burness, and Bob Cannon rewrote the rules of animation during their distinguished careers at UPA. Extraordinary shorts, such as Rooty Toot Toot, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Unicorn in the Garden, and Gerald McBoing Boing, won UPA (and their distributor, Columbia Pictures) awards and acclaim.
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The studio had planned a feature film as far back as 1946 and, over the next ten years, considered subjects such as Ben Johnson’s Volpone, a James Thurber feature film, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas, and Helen of Troy. Not until 1957 did writer Ted Allan submit a treatment titled “Mister Magoo’s Arabian Nights” (Steve Bosustow decided as early as 1953 that any feature would star Magoo, including Don Quixote). A later draft by Czenzi Ormonde sealed the deal with Columbia.
Unfortunately, by the time the feature commenced production in early 1958, UPA was on its last legs as a creative entity and lacked the resources to tackle the project. As the end of the fifties neared, UPA had lost three satellite studios, the loss of Columbia Pictures’ distributorship, and the TV cancellation (twice) of The Boing Boing Show. By 1959, nearly all their founders and leading lights were gone. The loss of artists and other talents, combined with UPA’s other troubles, doomed the project from the beginning.
Pete Burness was tabbed to direct the Magoo feature but clashed with studio head Bosustow and departed UPA. Bosustow reached out to ex-Disney director Jack Kinney (famous for directing the 1943 short Der Führer’s Face and his hilarious Goofy sports shorts. Kinney, aware that most studios were closing their animation departments at the time, was able to hire many established animators now seeking work.
Phil Duncan, ex-Disneyite who had worked with Frank Tashlin at Columbia-Screen Gems came on board. Rudy Zamora, who would later be involved in over twenty TV animation projects, had worked in nearly every major animation studio. Harvey Toombs, Ken Hultgren, Bob Carlson, Jack Campbell, and Herman Cohen also contributed. Also present was animator Jim Davis, who had a regular gig drawing DC Comics Fox and Crow comics.
Abe Levitow, one of Chuck Jones’ most notable collaborators at Warner Bros., was hired as animation director. (Levitow became the film’s de facto director, according to one animator). This arrangement ensured that the Arabian Nights feature would have a varying look and tone compared to the “classic” UPA style, despite Production Designer Robert Dranko’s efforts to preserve it.
Jack Kinney recalls that upon his arrival, “Considerable work had been done on the feature, but it was a mess.” Facing what he called “a very skimpy budget” (estimates suggest $1M), Kinney soldiered on and pulled the pic together just in time for the 1959 Christmas season, suggesting a very rushed and chaotic production schedule lasting slightly under one year.
The voice cast may have been the most talented people in the film. Foremost was Jim Backus as the voice of nearsighted lamp salesman Abdul Aziz Magoo. Magoo was a character Backus would play for decades. Dwayne Hickman (TV’s Dobie Gillis) voiced Magoo’s nephew Aladdin, and Kathryn Grant (Mrs. Bing Crosby), portrayed Princess Yasminda. Alan (the future Fred Flintstone) Reed played the Sultan, and the ever-reliable voice artist Daws Butler starred as Magoo’s buddy Omar the Rug Maker. Add Herschel Bernardi as the Jinni of the lamp, and a great cast is on hand.
But the real show-stealer was Hans Conried as the Sultan’s wicked Wazir, a sneaky, slick, and slimy villain with a host of loving vermin as pets. Critics never failed to point out Conried as the film’s highlight.
The film did not remain in theaters for long. Reviewers were more indifferent than unkind. Despite several high notes, there are not nearly enough of them to elevate 1001 Arabian Nights to either classic or cult status. It remains a pleasant, mildly entertaining time-filler that leaves serious animation fans wondering what UPA might have accomplished with its whole, original staff and more sophisticated material. Instead, the film marked the virtual end of UPA as an animation studio.
To take this flashback full circle: In 1965, NBC bought a prime-time series called The Famous Adventures of Mister Magoo. Those who followed the short-lived program enjoyed a two-part episode where Quincy Magoo gave a sterling performance as… Don Quixote!
NOTE: This piece is an edited version of an article I did for the Fall 1998 issue of TOON Magazine.
Martin Goodman is a veteran writer specializing in stories about animation. He has written for AWN and Animation Scoop – and lives in Anderson, Indiana.
In many ways, this film serves as a template for Disney’s later film version of “Aladdin”. Many elements are similar, including the design and color of the Genie plus the character of the Wicked Wazir, who could be looked on as a prototypical Jafar. Also, the overall structure of the plot bears more than a passing resemblance to its more famous successor.
Personally, I find much to enjoy in this film, particularly the voice cast with Jim Backus’ Magoo leading the way. The songs that survived into the film are delightful, although the best song “Three Little Maids from Damascus” was inexplicably cut–although it survives on the record album. (If it was to shorten the running time, there are many more scenes that could have been trimmed down to make room for it.) “You are My Dream” has got to rank among some of the better romantic songs written for animated films. The songs add zest and life where it is desperately needed in the screenplay.
In fact, it is the plodding pace of the film which is probably its most problematic element. The film is slow, as exemplified by the wedding scene which the Sultan is trying to prolong in order to give Aladdin time to come to the rescue. The same dialogue and moments repeat to the detriment of both humor and pacing for the scene. I don’t believe a child could sit through the film.
But that said, I still would prefer for this film to have been made than not to have been made. As a diehard Magoo fan, I find pleasure in Backus’ ad-libbing of Magoo’s antics, and as hinted above, this film is something of a precursor to the later series “The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo” (which I used to beg to be allowed to sit up and watch). Sometimes the merit in a project lies in what was attempted more than in what was actually achieved.
I just had a look at Greg Ehrbar’s column about the soundtrack album, as your comment made me curious about “Three Little Maids from Damascus”. You’re right, it’s a good song, and I love the Clark Sisters’ close harmony; but its omission, though lamentable, is hardly inexplicable. It doesn’t make sense for the opening number in a musical to feature three characters who subsequently disappear for the remainder of the film. Perhaps if the Damascene maids popped in periodically to comment on the plot in song, like a Greek chorus….
This was one of those movies that used to be televised on Saturday afternoons whenever a ball game was rained out. “A pleasant, mildly entertaining time-filler” sums it up quite nicely. The voice talent, colour schemes, and overall design remind me, not of early UPA, but of the Jay Ward Productions that were just around the corner — or rather, what Jay Ward Productions might have been like with twenty times the budget.
The singing Clark Sisters, who made a brief appearance in this picture, are not to be confused with the much more famous gospel group of the same name; those Clark sisters were still only little girls in 1959, and the youngest of them hadn’t been born yet. The earlier Clark Sisters were known as the Sentimentalists when they sang with Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra in the 1940s; however, Dorsey owned the rights to that name, and he refused to let the sisters use it when they set out on their own.
That magical sound effect with the flexitone, heard whenever the genie grants a wish, sounds very familiar. I’ve sure I’ve heard it in other productions, but I can’t place it. Any information on the sound effect’s origin and history will be greatly appreciated.
The sound effect heard when the genie emerges from the lamp was probably born in this film, and heard frequently in UPA’s made for TV Magoo and Dick Tracy cartoons that would ensue over the next two years. Hanna-Barbera would pick it up in 1966, mostly for use in magical transformations. (For that matter, many sound effects in the made for TV UPA would re-emerge in H-B product in the mid-1960s.) It sounds like a prolonged guitar gliss played background followed by a fistful of keys on a piano.
The sound effect also played a key role in Filmation’s “Fantastic Voyage” series, as it was used in each and every episode for the scenes where the crew and their ship are reduced to microscopic size (and ultimately restored back to normal size by the end of each episode) by a miniaturization ray.
That sound effect actually predates this film, by approximately one year. It was the creation of Columbia studios, not for this film, but as the sound when Kim Novak and others work spells in “Bell, Book, and Candle”. You can hear it prominently in the last shot as the street lights are going out around Pyewacket the cat.
Besides Abe Levitow, another Looney Tunes connection: Boris Gorelick did some of the backgrounds, who was briefly in Friz Freleng’s unit from 1957-1958.
I’ve never been a fan of abstract art. Fortunately, the animation in the theatrical Magoos, and the the Magoo show (both of which I’ve collected on disc) are high quality animation. I’ve seen reviews where this movie is described as wearing out its welcome halfway through. The Disney version (released in ’92) is so much better anyway
It had some good moments. Some good songs. That’s right, Hans conried really stole the show. I thought the biggest drawback was his nephew and the princess were just boring.
I wonder if they ever considered making Magoo the genie. Perhaps he could’ve always misunderstood the wishes.
Magoo as Quixote sounds like it would have worked better. I tell one Magoo role that did not work for me was Magoo as D’Artagnan in the Three Musketeers