Norman Hildreth McCabe[2] (February 10, 1911 – January 17, 2006) was an American animator who enjoyed a long career that lasted into the 1990s.
Early life and Warner Bros.[]
McCabe was born in England and raised in the United States. He worked in Tacoma, Washington, as a theater lobby artist. During the Great Depression, he moved to Los Angeles to look for work at lobbies, but to no avail.[3] In the 1930s, he joined Leon Schlesinger Productions (which produced cartoons for Warner Bros.) as a animator in Frank Tashlin's unit. He moved over to Bob Clampett's unit in 1938 where he animated and/or co-directed several classic black and white Looney Tunes. When Tex Avery left Schlesinger in 1941, Clampett took over Avery's unit and McCabe took over Clampett's old unit. In 1943, McCabe was drafted into the Army and was assigned to the Army Air Corps Training Film Unit (Tashlin took over McCabe's unit after McCabe's final cartoon). In his final Warner cartoon before he left (a black-and-white propaganda cartoon called Tokio Jokio), he was billed as "Cpl. Norman McCabe".[4]
He served in the First Motion Picture Unit, headquartered at the Hal Roach Studios. His commanding officer was major Rudolf Ising.[4]
Post-World War II[]
After the war, McCabe worked on commercial illustrations for such works as the Bozo the Clown children's storybook records[5][6] and educational films.
In the 1950s, McCabe found himself working for various television commercial studios such as Swift-Chaplin Productions, Five Star Productions, FilmFair, and TeleMation Inc. He worked as an animation director for All Scope Pictures, Inc., a commercial film division for 20th Century Fox from 1958 until the early 1960s.[7][3]
He returned to animation in 1963, joining DePatie-Freleng, where he worked on the titles for the feature film The Pink Panther. McCabe animated at DePatie-Freleng, working on Pink Panther cartoons as well as Warner Bros. cartoons. He also directed made for TV cartoons at DePatie-Freleng. During that time, he was usually credited as "Norm McCabe".
McCabe moved to the Filmation animation studio in 1967 working on several Saturday-morning cartoon series. He returned to theatrical animation with the adult animated feature film Fritz the Cat in 1972 before returning to DePatie-Freleng where he animated until the end of the 1970s. An in-joke at the studio had the name of a villain in The Houndcats as being "McCabe".
Other studios McCabe worked for include Film Roman (Bobby's World), Hanna-Barbera, Henson Associates (Muppet Babies), Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles), Pacific Title & Art Studio, Pantomime Pictures (Skyhawks), Playhouse Pictures, Ruby-Spears, Sunbow Productions, and Universal Animation Studios.
In the 1980s, McCabe returned to Warner Bros. where he worked on new animation for Warner cartoon feature film anthologies. He also trained a new generation of animators in working with the classic Warner cartoon characters. His last job was as a sheet timer on the series Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz-Mania, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries.
Death[]
McCabe died in January 2006, a month before his 95th birthday and he was the last surviving director from the golden age of Warner Bros. Cartoons to die.[3][7]
Legacy[]
McCabe's work is obscure today, because he never made color cartoons during his (relatively brief) directorial tenure at the Schlesinger studio, and several of his cartoons would now be considered offensive due to heavy racial stereotyping (particularly true in his World War II propaganda cartoons, such as The Ducktators, Confusions of a Nutzy Spy, and Tokio Jokio, which satirize Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and/or Hideki Tojo, alongside broadly caricatured versions of Japanese soldiers). During a screening of his cartoons at ASIFA-Hollywood, he spoke highly of Clampett, but was outright embarrassed by his old black-and-white cartoons.[3] However, he won recognition and accolades from those in the animation business.[8]
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Series | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Merrie Melodies | Goin' to Heaven on a Mule | animator |
| How Do I Know It's Sunday | |||
| 1935 | Looney Tunes | Buddy's Theatre | |
| Buddy's Pony Express | |||
| Buddy's Lost World | |||
| 1936 | The Phantom Ship | ||
| Boom Boom | |||
| Alpine Antics | |||
| Westward Whoa | |||
| Fish Tales | |||
| Shanghaied Shipmates | |||
| Porky's Pet | |||
| Porky's Poultry Plant | |||
| Little Beau Porky | |||
| Porky in the North Woods | |||
| 1937 | Porky's Road Race | ||
| Porky's Romance | |||
| Porky's Building | |||
| Get Rich Quick Porky | |||
| 1938 | Porky's Party | ||
| Porky in Wackyland | |||
| Porky in Egypt | |||
| The Daffy Doc | |||
| 1939 | Porky's Tire Trouble | ||
| Kristopher Kolumbus Jr. | |||
| Scalp Trouble | |||
| Porky's Hotel | |||
| The Film Fan | |||
| 1940 | The Timid Toreador | director | |
| 1941 | Porky's Snooze Reel | ||
| Robinson Crusoe, Jr. | |||
| 1942 | Who's Who in the Zoo | ||
| Daffy's Southern Exposure | |||
| Hobby Horse-Laffs | |||
| Gopher Goofy | |||
| The Ducktators | |||
| The Impatient Patient | |||
| The Daffy Duckaroo | |||
| 1943 | Confusions of a Nutzy Spy | ||
| Hop and Go | |||
| Tokio Jokio | |||
| 1964 | Pancho's Hideaway | animator | |
| The Pink Panther | The Pink Phink | ||
| Pink Pajamas | |||
| Merrie Melodies | Road to Andalay | ||
| 1965 | Looney Tunes | It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House | |
| Merrie Melodies | Cats and Bruises | ||
| The Pink Panther | We Give Pink Stamps | ||
| Merrie Melodies | The Wild Chase | ||
| The Pink Panther | Dial "P" for Pink | ||
| Moby Duck | |||
| Sink Pink | |||
| Merrie Melodies | Assault and Peppered | ||
| The Pink Panther | Pickled Pink | ||
| Pinkfinger | |||
| Shocking Pink | |||
| Looney Tunes | Well Worn Daffy | ||
| The Pink Panther | Pink Ice | ||
| Merrie Melodies | Rushing Roulette | ||
| The Pink Panther | The Pink Tail Fly | ||
| Pink Panzer | |||
| An Ounce of Pink | |||
| Reel Pink | |||
| Bully for Pink | |||
| The Inspector | The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation | ||
| 1966 | Looney Tunes | The Astroduck | |
| The Inspector | Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat | ||
| Napoleon Blown-Aparte | |||
| The Pink Panther | Pink Punch | ||
| The Inspector | Cirrhosis of the Louvre | ||
| The Pink Panther | Pink Pistons | ||
| Looney Tunes | Daffy Rents | ||
| The Inspector | Plastered in Paris | ||
| The Pink Panther | Vitamin Pink | ||
| Looney Tunes | A-Haunting We Will Go | ||
| Merrie Melodies | Snow Excuse | ||
| The Pink Panther | The Pink Blueprint | ||
| Pink, Plunk, Plink | |||
| Smile Pretty, Say Pink | |||
| The Inspector | Cock-A-Doodle Deux Deux | ||
| The Pink Panther | Pink-A-Boo | ||
| Looney Tunes | A Squeak in the Deep | ||
| Merrie Melodies | Feather Finger | ||
| The Inspector | The Pique Poquette of Paris | ||
| Sicque! Sicque! Sicque! | |||
| Merrie Melodies | A Taste of Catnip | ||
| 1967 | Daffy's Diner | ||
| The Inspector | Sacré Bleu Cross | ||
| Le Quiet Squad | |||
| The Pink Panther | In the Pink | ||
| 1969 | Looney Tunes | Fistic Mystic | |
| Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too! | |||
| Merrie Melodies | Shamrock and Roll | ||
| 1973 | The Blue Racer | The Boa Friend | |
| Wham and Eggs | |||
| Killarney Blarney | |||
| Hoot Kloot | The Shoe Must Go On | ||
| Pay Your Buffalo Bill | |||
| Stirrups and Hiccups | |||
| 1974 | Phony Express | ||
| Giddy Up Woe | |||
| Gold Struck | |||
| As the Tumbleweeds Turn | |||
| The Pink Panther | Pink Aye | ||
| Hoot Kloot | Saddle Soap Opera | ||
| The Dogfather | The Dogfather | ||
| The Pink Panther | Trail of the Lonesome Pink | ||
| The Dogfather | Mother Dogfather | ||
| Bows and Errors | |||
| Deviled Yeggs | |||
| 1975 | Rock-A-Bye Maybe | ||
| From Nags to Riches | |||
| The Pink Panther | Pink Streaker | ||
| Forty Pink Winks | |||
| The Dogfather | Goldilox & the Three Hoods | ||
| The Pink Panther | Keep Our Forests Pink | ||
| Pink Campaign | |||
| 1976 | Mystic Pink | ||
| The Pink Pro | |||
| The Dogfather | Medicur | ||
| The Pink Panther | Pinky Doodle | ||
| 1977 | Therapeutic Pink | ||
| 1978 | String Along in Pink | ||
| Pink Lemonade | |||
| Pink Trumpet | |||
| Yankee Doodle Pink |
Feature films[]
| Year | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Fritz the Cat | animator |
| 1982 | Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales | |
| 1983 | Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island | |
| 1986 | The Transformers: The Movie | animation director |
| 1988 | Daffy Duck's Quackbusters | animator |
Television[]
| Year | Title | Credits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Clerow Wilson and the Miracle of P.S. 14 | animator | TV special |
| The Barkleys | 3 episodes | ||
| 1973 | The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas | TV special | |
| 1974 | The Magical Mystery Trip Through Little Red's Head | ||
| 1975 | The Hoober-Bloob Highway | ||
| 1977 | Bugs Bunny's Easter Special | ||
| 1978 | Michel's Mixed-Up Musical Bird | ||
| Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special | |||
| 1979 | The Bugs Bunny Mother's Day Special | ||
| Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet | |||
| 1980 | The Trouble with Miss Switch | ||
| Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? | |||
| 1981 | The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight | ||
| A Chipmunk Christmas | |||
| 1982 | Bugs Bunny's Mad World of Television | ||
| The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat | |||
| 1986-1987 | My Little Pony | director | |
| 1990-1991 | Tiny Toon Adventures | director/timing director |
Sources[]
- Sigall, Martha (2005). "The Boys of Termite Terrace", Living Life Inside the Lines: Tales from the Golden Age of Animation. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781578067497.
References[]
- ↑ Sigall 2005, p. 119.
- ↑ Yowp (2021-01-16). "Tralfaz: Leon's Staff, 1940". Tralfaz.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Baxter, Devon (May 23, 2018). "Animator Profiles: Norm McCabe". CartoonResearch.com.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sigall 2005, p. 70.
- ↑ "Bozo and His Rocket Ship". ClownFlower.com (October 26, 2007).
- ↑ Knudde, Kjell (September 5, 2020). "Norm McCabe". Lambiek.net.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Norm McCabe (1911-2006)
- ↑ Wilding, Robin (March 8, 2012). "The Top 100 Most Influential People in Animation". AnimationCareerReview.com.
External links[]
- Lambiek Comiclopedia article.
- Norman McCabe tribute
Norman McCabe at the Internet Movie Database
Template:Winsor McCay Award 2000s
