Gerald McBoing-Boing is an animated short film produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. The winner of the 1950 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, Gerald McBoing-Boing is the story of a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words.
It was adapted by Phil Eastman and Bill Scott from a story by Dr. Seuss, directed by Robert Cannon, and produced by John Hubley. In 1994, it was voted #9 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In 1995, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Dr. Seuss’s story had originally appeared on a children’s record in 1950, scored by Gail Kubik, issued by Capitol Records, and read by radio personality Harold Peary.
This film was the first successful theatrical cartoon produced by UPA, after their initial experiments with a short series of cartoons featuring Columbia Pictures stalwarts The Fox and the Crow. It was an artistic attempt to break away from the strict realism in animation that had been developed and perfected by Walt Disney. While Disney’s animation methods produced lush and awe-inspiring images, it was felt that realism in the medium of animation was a limiting factor. Cartoons did not have to obey the rules of the real world (as the short films of Tex Avery and their cartoon physics proved), and so UPA experimented with a non-realistic style that depicted caricatures rather than lifelike representations.
By Dr. Seuss.
Told by the Great Gildersleeve.
Produced by Alan Livingston.
Music by Billy May.