Here’s a story for you… a little over a year ago my friends over at the Academy of Motion Pictures Art & Sciences called me up and asked me if I ever heard of a UPA cartoon called “Bric’s Stew”. My answer was “no – never heard of it. Why do you ask?”
Images from the negative
I asked for a chance to see it. At that time it existed only in negative form. They gave me a few frame grabs from the titles… but didn’t have any plans (nor budget) to make a print. They simply wanted to know what it was.
They apparently had an undocumented UPA short – with no plans to make a print?!?! Curiosity was driving me crazy. I had to see this film – further more, I stated that I would commit funds from Asifa-Hollywood’s Preservation Fund to make a print and create a High Definition digital master.
With that commitment – and a check from Asifa-Hollywood – during a three or four month period last fall Bric’s Stew was added to the Academy’s list of projects slated for restoration.
The first thing done was making a work print off the negative – this would be my first chance to see the film. To be honest, considering its pedigree as a “UPA” cartoon, it was a bit of a let down. And a bit of a mystery. I can’t release the whole film online at this time, but I can post a few frame grabs and I’ll take a chance of putting the first minute online (below) to give you an idea of what its like.
My thoughts and theories: This is clearly (by credit) one of the last cartoons Stephen Bosustow produced at UPA before selling to Henry Saperstein The copyright date is 1959. It has full “screen credits” and a credit for “Technicolor” (that credit usually appears on theatrical cartoons main titles – not TV cartoons).
Though it looks like a TV cartoon (or a pilot) they formatted it for a theatrical release. Perhaps it was intended as both a pilot and fourth theatrical in the series UPA was distributing themselves (after the Columbia deal ended, UPA self-distributed I Was A Teenage Magoo, Magoo Meets Frankenstein and Magoo Meets McBoing Boing – these three later acting as pilots for the 1960s Magoo TV series).
The film has a UA-TV logo following the end titles. From this I surmise that UA perhaps had a deal to represent this “pilot” to prospective networks or local channels. UA had tremendous success with the Looney Tunes and Popeye AAP cartoon packages – and were clearly in the market for more cartoons. They also had a similar deal with Bob Clampett and Beany & Cecil. Their hunger for a new package of cartoons led to financing DePatie Freleng’s Pink Panther, Inspector and further theatrical shorts in the 1960s and 70s.
Apparently UA had no success selling Bric ‘n Brac to television. Bosustow never released it to theaters. Saperstein was unaware of this Bosustow short – otherwise he would have included it in the Magoo TV syndication package (as he had included other TV pilots sans Magoo).
It sat forgotten in a New York lab (though produced in LA, it was probably in New York because that’s where UA TV was headquartered) – until the Academy acquired it… and Asifa restored it.
I asked Mike Kazaleh and Mark Kausler to give me their thoughts on Bric’s Stew – here’s what they had to say:
Mike Kazaleh: “We can surmise that: The film was probably made after the Mr. Magoo movie (1001 Arabian Nights) was completed…
…And after Columbia did not renew their contract with UPA…
…And definitely after Herb Klynn sold Steve Bosustow his UPA stock (at Bosustow’s insistence,) left the studio and founded Format Films.
The film seems to have been intended for theatrical release, probably part of Bosustow’s plan to self-distribute shorts. It seems as if it had not been shown anywhere publicly.
Director Harvey Toombs was hired at UPA to animate on the Magoo movie. He directed and animated Bric’s Stew, but he would soon join Herb Klynn at Format films. There are a few scenes, some of the more “animated” scenes, that appear to be Toombs’ animation. Many other scenes are so sparse that his stamp is not so apparent.
It is likely that this film was made close to the time of “Operation Heartthrob”, the Waldo and Presley pilot (Directed by Gil Turner) that was eventually re-titled and put into the “Cartoon Parade” package of UPA shorts. Bric’s Stew did not get put in the package for some reason, even though the onscreen copyright is attributed to UPA. Which brings up a point to make some wild guesses about…
Jack Hannah has a writer credit. At this time he would have been employed at Walter Lantz, working on the Woody Woodpecker TV show. Also close to this time, Lantz had produced two TV pilots, one of them directed by Hannah, and featuring the voicework of Dal McKennon (Sam and Simeon in Jungle Medics.) Dal also did all the voices in Bric’s Stew. Dal normally did not do voices at UPA. Here’s where the wild guessing comes in as to why Bric’s Stew went unseen by the public…
Did Jack record the voices at Lantz? If so, did Lantz reject the story? Did he even know about it? For this reason, or perhaps because Hannah may not have been contractually allowed to take on outside work that the ownership was disputed? Did UPA actually own the characters? Then again, it may not have seen the light of day because the story and characters were old hat, even in 1959. Naw, it couldn’t have been that… in any case, there isn’t a lick of evidence to support any of these theories.
Going into a little more detail about Steve Bosustow’s self distribution, three Magoo cartoons were actually released, and a fourth one well into production before Bosustow decided to make films for television instead. What happened next is a story for another time…”
Mark Kausler: “I noticed that “Jack Hanna” (sic) was one of the story guys, could it be Disney’s Jack Hannah, going under a pseudonym?
The outstanding thing about the cartoon is the color by Bob McIntosh and the character and BG designs by Bob Dranko, who I used to talk to when he worked for Fred Calvert. Bob also did the first page of the storyboard for “Maybelline” which I animated for Ralph B.
Harvey Toombs apparently did all the animation. His limited animation timing is good to average, he typically anticipated the character for a zip-off and then pops the character off, and follows with streak lines that go from exit point to the top of the field. I think he worked on the Jack Kinney Popeye cartoons, you can tell by the zip-offs he did on that series as well.
Harvey Toombs did full animation for Disney and Screen Gems, usually Donald Duck type characters. He just cranked it out for limited – like the sequence with Bric just talking away, popping from pose to pose, sometimes slowing in, but not often. The little Mole character (is that “Brac”?) reminds me of Moley in Wind In The Willows. Bric certainly owes a lot to Crusader Rabbit, especially around the ears.
A rabbit wanting to eat meat, even chicken meat, and not vegetables, seems like a strange idea for a story. The rabbits in my back yard love to eat cactus! I don’t think they’d touch a CHICKEN! The rooster is very nicely designed by Bob Dranko, and has very colorful feathers.
There’s a lot of camera shakes, especially in the fight scenes. Dal McKennon’s voice makes the cartoon sound like a Lantz production!
I wonder if this is the LAST cartoon that Steve Bosustow produced? This may have been intended as a theatrical release – though it certainly couldn’t have cost much. It also has the UA TV credit at the end. I wonder if Bosustow tried to get UA to take the Magoos he made independent of Columbia release?”
At some point in the future the full cartoon will be released to the public. For now, here is a snippet of the film to give you a taste:
If anyone out there has any clues to the story behind Bric ‘n Brac – let us know in the comments below.
(Thanks to Yowp, Mark and Mike, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and Asifa-Hollywood)
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of Cal Arts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Great story!
Another mystery on this cartoon is who did the music for it?
I’m betting they just used the Gordon Zahler library for this, but the jazz riff that plays at the end of this clip sounds identical to the music over the title sequence, so it might be scored with original music, not sure who it might’ve been.
Another mystery about this cartoon is who did the music for it?
For what it’s worth, Variety reported on July 30, 1959 that Dranko had resigned from UPA for a VP position at John Sutherland. How long that lasted, or if he did work on the side, I don’t know.
Klynn, Roy Morita and Alan Zaslove left UPA in September.
Thanks for digging up this lost gem! It’s curious to notice that, while in their first times, UPA tried to avoid the “funny animal” genre that was common in other studios (aside from their few “Fox & Crow” cartoons which they made at Columbia’s request), they returned to that genre during their final years!
BTW, wasn’t “Inside Magoo” -made for the American Cancer Association- the very last UPA cartoon produced by Bosustow before he sold the studio to Henry Saperstein? This one is copyrighted 1960, while “Bric & Brac” is from 1959.
The irony of going back to animals again is very telling of the situation UPA found itself in by then. They lost their contract with Columbia and were already in a fix over what to do or where to go. I did wonder about the “Inside Magoo” film, unless most of it was produced/filmed in ’59 and released in ’60.
What is Brac supposed to be – a hedgehog, a warthog?
Yes, I just came here and wondered. Bric’s a rabbit.
Most likely a mole or groundhog.
Bric’s a rabbit. Can’t you tell from his tail?
I’m looking forward to seeing the entire cartoon at some point in the future.
Thanks Jerry! And ASIFA! Preserve and protect!
Brac looks like a cross between Morocco Mole and Muskie Muskrat.
Apparently not a masterpiece, but at least the opening UPA ID animation has some juice.
Even if it was a leftover remnant from the Ham & Hattie shorts.
Animated by Rod Scribner, I believe.
Yep, I should’ve mentioned that!
Yes its so undocumented itsn’t even listed on Adam Abraham’s excellent:
http://whenmagooflew.com/whenmagooflew.com/Filmography.html
It could be a good idea to get Adam to update that filmgraphy, and let him know about the film if he hasn’t heard of it jet.
That UA tv logo looks about like the “ZIV-United Artists” logo when in 1959 UA bought out Fred Ziv’s company.
Well, I liked what little I saw!
will the full upload be in hd? the standard def’s compression in the video doesnt seem to do it much favors (and even then, youtube is sometimes not too kind with high def film grain either)
It already looks more fun than our previous “lost” cartoon, Honesty is the Best Policy (8/20).
I wonder if Jack Hannah might’ve done his contribution to this between Disney and Lantz?
I’m hoping this cartoon will get an IMDB page of its own.
It’s already got an IAD page: https://www.intanibase.com/shorts.aspx?shortid=58487
This is a wonderful find. Thanks, Jerry. I was excited when you first mentioned this to me. Of course, I will update the UPA filmography on http://www.whenmagooflew.com. The list of production numbers on the site dates from around 1956, so Bric ‘n Brac would have started later, in the waning years of Bosustow’s UPA.
What I find most interesting about this mystery cartoon is that it came out at a time of major transition, not just for UPA and Bosustow, but for Dal McKennon as well, as around this time he was becoming a sought after talent in the voice over acting business, having already been heard in English dubs for some imported animated features as well as his work with Lantz. The following year (1960) would find McKennon as the principal voice actor behind the Courageous Cat And Minute Mouse series, along with minor voice roles, most notably playing a talking unicorn in the Three Stooges feature Have Rocket, Will Travel.
So, because United Artists presented it, are the rights to this short currently held by MGM?
There are many unanswered questions about this short. It was not only “lost” – it was completely forgotten and abandoned!
I can safely say that it is not known among the holdings of UPA (currently owned by Universal). That studio is unaware of it. I can probably say the same thing about UA (its holdings owned today by MGM). I can guarantee you no one at Universal or MGM has any knowledge of this film whatsoever – there is certainly no one looking for it. It was literally off the books, off the radar… unknown.
One would need two find the original contracts between UPA and UA – and I would suspect MGM might have that. Maybe Universal would too. It’s possible their arrangement was short term – 5 years or so. My best guess, based on the credits on the film, is that this was a UPA initiated film and thus, the film would belong to UPA (Universal).
For the moment BRIC N BRAC in BRIC’S STEW is an orphan film. The mystery remains – the research continues…