JOHN GAUG & EARLY DISADA ANIMATION Surfing around the internet and various animation sites, I recently
came across an appreciation of the career of John Gaug, which brought
back thoughts of Disada Productions' early days when we worked and
learned together. In 1967 Montreal was host to the world with Expo '67, an incredible
World's Fair that had anything you were interested in it seemed. If
that was animation, there was a phenomenal exhibition of animation
artwork and artifacts going back to the earliest days to the
television era. Here were original drawings, poster and newspaper
articles on Winsor McCay's GERTIE THE DINOSAUR from 1914 and it just
got even better, including actual stop-frame puppets from the early
days and much more. In addition there was an animation film festival, with over a week of
rare animation films, again from the earliest days, running in the
afternoons and in the evenings, each screening devoted to a specific
subject or studio. I had died and gone to Montreal. This was in the
days before video or DVDs so animation fans would get to see films we
had only read about. I arranged to take time off work so as not to
miss any of the screenings. I took notes on each film as it was projected and after each screening
noticed a young fellow who also seemed to attend each screening. After
a few times I went up to him and we talked about the films and
animation. I found someone who was as interested as I was in
animation. He was still in high school and was about 15 years old. After the week of films was over, he came to my place and saw more
16mm animation films I had collected and also animation memorabilia,
Disney cels and things that I had. We decided to do a short together
and got some publicity in newspapers and radio to find others who
would join us and soon we were underway. We worked mostly on weekends
and would go to see cartoon films and features as a group as well. We
read everything there was available on animation. We were passionate
and probably dreamed about animation in our sleep. The Cinematheque in
Montreal had animation nights we would attend. It was constant
learning, studying, drawing and experimenting. I got to know his
family and his barbershop group singing parents. A famous actor came to visit Expo '67 and I arranged to meet with him
after a press conference to sign some lobby cards from his most famous
film. He was associated with children often so he was surrounded by
them at the press conference, all smiles and laughs. As soon as the
press was gone, however, he turned mean, practically threw a little
girl off his lap and started swearing. The children were quickly
whisked away. He was reminded about signing the lobby cards and that
started a new tantrum. He had a Montreal representative, who took me
aside and suggested I leave the photos with him and he'd have them
signed by the actor before he left Montreal the next day. A couple of days later I went to see the rep who gave me the signed
cards and expressed sincere regrets for what happened. He asked me if
I wouldn't tell people who the actor was (and I haven't) and asked if
there was anything he could do for me. I could see from his office
that he was a real estate man and said we could use an animation
studio. He said he had a couple of small rooms in his real estate
company building there that he could rent out to us- how much room did
we need? I couldn't resist replying “Enough room to swing a cat in.”
He looked amused and I explained that in his Kansas City days Disney
rented out some rooms in the back of a real estate company and gave
that same answer when he was asked that, according to biographies. He
laughed, called it a good omen, and suggested we pay $25 a month to
cover the heat, light and water. John and I now had a small studio to work in, with storyboard panels
on the walls, animation desks we made ourselves, inking and painting
area. It got pretty crowded on weekends- I remember Ross drawing on
the floor under the larger table. He preferred drawing down there. We
did a lot of work in those two rooms and had a mascot, Irving the
cactus. We stayed there until we decided to become a professional studio about
three years later when we moved into a three-floor studio downtown. We
worked on a short titled THE MOUSE AND THE LION. John did some
animation but mostly layout and backgrounds on our next effort, a
theatrical cartoon short Columbia Pictures distributed called INSOMNIA
OR BUST. In each jungle background John would incorporate his
initials, in the bark of a tree or vines or whatever. It drove Tom
crazy but I didn't mind. When the film was nominated Best Animation in
what are now called the Genie Awards John and I went to the ceremony
in Toronto. We didn't win, but had a good time seated at the table
with the other animation nominees talking shop. The awards were handed
out by Hollywood legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck that year. That
would have added a plus to a win. I remember John was furious that as we left the awards the late
newspapers were out with headlines of the winners. He thought it was
fixed, but I saw no conspiracy. Besides we were in too much of a hurry
to bother about it. To save money in those early days we took the
train to Toronto and had to rush after the awards to catch the
overnight going back to Montreal. When we arrived we had to change
into our suits in the washroom of the hotel where the awards were
taking place! The overnight train was a milk run that must have stopped at each town
and village. You'd be jolted awake every time it stopped. One
passenger snored something fierce and finally John shook him awake
yelling something like “Wake up! I can't take it any more!” John did the backgrounds on our next picture, our first television
commercial and did a fine job once again. He did the storyboards for a
feature animation cartoon we wanted to do and designed the characters
for it. We did our own story though he wanted us to get the rights to
something called THE HOBBIT. We looked into getting the rights but
United Artists had the film rights back then and didn't want to sell
them. There were admittedly elements of it in the feature story we
wrote and designed, THE MAGIC JEWEL. He then wanted to get the rights
to THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, but it did nothing for me so
that went nowhere. He worked on a short he wrote, THE APPLE, at our
place but didn't finish it. He left the studio, though I would see him at animation events and
functions where we'd have a good talk. When I got a better copy of
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS on film he got my old copy which we
had both studied countless times including frame by frame. John went
on to do various films and projects and enjoyed working in other
cities, like New York, Ottawa and London. When he died in 1984 it was
a deep loss for animation and for those who knew him.
came across an appreciation of the career of John Gaug, which brought
back thoughts of Disada Productions' early days when we worked and
learned together. In 1967 Montreal was host to the world with Expo '67, an incredible
World's Fair that had anything you were interested in it seemed. If
that was animation, there was a phenomenal exhibition of animation
artwork and artifacts going back to the earliest days to the
television era. Here were original drawings, poster and newspaper
articles on Winsor McCay's GERTIE THE DINOSAUR from 1914 and it just
got even better, including actual stop-frame puppets from the early
days and much more. In addition there was an animation film festival, with over a week of
rare animation films, again from the earliest days, running in the
afternoons and in the evenings, each screening devoted to a specific
subject or studio. I had died and gone to Montreal. This was in the
days before video or DVDs so animation fans would get to see films we
had only read about. I arranged to take time off work so as not to
miss any of the screenings. I took notes on each film as it was projected and after each screening
noticed a young fellow who also seemed to attend each screening. After
a few times I went up to him and we talked about the films and
animation. I found someone who was as interested as I was in
animation. He was still in high school and was about 15 years old. After the week of films was over, he came to my place and saw more
16mm animation films I had collected and also animation memorabilia,
Disney cels and things that I had. We decided to do a short together
and got some publicity in newspapers and radio to find others who
would join us and soon we were underway. We worked mostly on weekends
and would go to see cartoon films and features as a group as well. We
read everything there was available on animation. We were passionate
and probably dreamed about animation in our sleep. The Cinematheque in
Montreal had animation nights we would attend. It was constant
learning, studying, drawing and experimenting. I got to know his
family and his barbershop group singing parents. A famous actor came to visit Expo '67 and I arranged to meet with him
after a press conference to sign some lobby cards from his most famous
film. He was associated with children often so he was surrounded by
them at the press conference, all smiles and laughs. As soon as the
press was gone, however, he turned mean, practically threw a little
girl off his lap and started swearing. The children were quickly
whisked away. He was reminded about signing the lobby cards and that
started a new tantrum. He had a Montreal representative, who took me
aside and suggested I leave the photos with him and he'd have them
signed by the actor before he left Montreal the next day. A couple of days later I went to see the rep who gave me the signed
cards and expressed sincere regrets for what happened. He asked me if
I wouldn't tell people who the actor was (and I haven't) and asked if
there was anything he could do for me. I could see from his office
that he was a real estate man and said we could use an animation
studio. He said he had a couple of small rooms in his real estate
company building there that he could rent out to us- how much room did
we need? I couldn't resist replying “Enough room to swing a cat in.”
He looked amused and I explained that in his Kansas City days Disney
rented out some rooms in the back of a real estate company and gave
that same answer when he was asked that, according to biographies. He
laughed, called it a good omen, and suggested we pay $25 a month to
cover the heat, light and water. John and I now had a small studio to work in, with storyboard panels
on the walls, animation desks we made ourselves, inking and painting
area. It got pretty crowded on weekends- I remember Ross drawing on
the floor under the larger table. He preferred drawing down there. We
did a lot of work in those two rooms and had a mascot, Irving the
cactus. We stayed there until we decided to become a professional studio about
three years later when we moved into a three-floor studio downtown. We
worked on a short titled THE MOUSE AND THE LION. John did some
animation but mostly layout and backgrounds on our next effort, a
theatrical cartoon short Columbia Pictures distributed called INSOMNIA
OR BUST. In each jungle background John would incorporate his
initials, in the bark of a tree or vines or whatever. It drove Tom
crazy but I didn't mind. When the film was nominated Best Animation in
what are now called the Genie Awards John and I went to the ceremony
in Toronto. We didn't win, but had a good time seated at the table
with the other animation nominees talking shop. The awards were handed
out by Hollywood legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck that year. That
would have added a plus to a win. I remember John was furious that as we left the awards the late
newspapers were out with headlines of the winners. He thought it was
fixed, but I saw no conspiracy. Besides we were in too much of a hurry
to bother about it. To save money in those early days we took the
train to Toronto and had to rush after the awards to catch the
overnight going back to Montreal. When we arrived we had to change
into our suits in the washroom of the hotel where the awards were
taking place! The overnight train was a milk run that must have stopped at each town
and village. You'd be jolted awake every time it stopped. One
passenger snored something fierce and finally John shook him awake
yelling something like “Wake up! I can't take it any more!” John did the backgrounds on our next picture, our first television
commercial and did a fine job once again. He did the storyboards for a
feature animation cartoon we wanted to do and designed the characters
for it. We did our own story though he wanted us to get the rights to
something called THE HOBBIT. We looked into getting the rights but
United Artists had the film rights back then and didn't want to sell
them. There were admittedly elements of it in the feature story we
wrote and designed, THE MAGIC JEWEL. He then wanted to get the rights
to THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, but it did nothing for me so
that went nowhere. He worked on a short he wrote, THE APPLE, at our
place but didn't finish it. He left the studio, though I would see him at animation events and
functions where we'd have a good talk. When I got a better copy of
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS on film he got my old copy which we
had both studied countless times including frame by frame. John went
on to do various films and projects and enjoyed working in other
cities, like New York, Ottawa and London. When he died in 1984 it was
a deep loss for animation and for those who knew him.
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