Working at Disney and the 1941 Animator's Strike: 1936–1941 Hubley started working at Walt Disney Productions on January 1, 1936. who was greatly inspired by the film's stylized visuals and animation. Hubley was chosen as one of three directors (alongside
Dick Kelsey and McLaren Stewart) to handle the
"Rite of Spring" passage of
Fantasia (1940). Specifically, Hubley directed the section covering the molten stage of Earth's creation to the cooling off into greenery. Hubley was upset by the film's inaccuracy, stating that "it was not scientifically accurate in terms of the demise of the reptiles. It was more likely they were frozen by the
ice age. But
Disney didn't want an ice age; he wanted a desert sequence". In the spring of 1941, employees at Disney Studios were unhappy with salary inequalities and the studio discouraging
unionization. Hubley and his wife Claudia both participated in the
1941 Disney animators' strike, with John taking dozens of photographs to document the event. Hubley was one of the better-paid employees of the studio, making $67.50 a week however, Fleischer's detachment from the employees allowed Hubley to gain creative freedom he had not found at the Disney Studio. Hubley co-directed seven cartoons for Screen Gems, with many noting how most of them relied much more on human characters and stylistic designs and backgrounds, elements that would remain relevant to Hubley's later work. Hubley and Sommer were also noted for directing
The Rocky Road to Ruin (1943), a cartoon eerily similar to
Chuck Jones'
The Dover Boys (1942) which featured similar character designs and settings. On November 23, 1942, Hubley enlisted in the
United States Armed Forces to work in the
First Motion Picture Unit, an independent film production unit in the Air Force. Here, Hubley directed animated training films related to flight safety and firearm equipment. Hubley's time in the Air Force was leisurely, and he "got to go home every night" and "spent half [his] time drawing [gags] and passing them around". In 1943, Hubley was contacted by the
United Automobile Workers (UAW), who were looking to hire Hubley to produce a short film endorsing
Franklin D. Roosevelt in the
1944 Presidential Election. Hubley co-wrote the film and led the
production design. With both UAW films, Hubley pushed for a
modernist aesthetic of sleek lines, flat shapes, and bold colors that were completely unique to UPA's films. By 1947, Hubley had been promoted to vice president and creative head of UPA. Hubley and UPA founder Zachary Schwartz made their intentions with UPA clear in a 1946 issue of
Film Quarterly. Hubley and Schwartz believed it had become "necessary for the craftsman-animators of the motion picture industry to analyze and reevaluate their medium". Hubley and Schwartz were influenced by their shared experience in the First Motion Picture Unit making training films, specifically by how animation was being used as an educational tool, as the two believed "animation usage in the educational film [was] singularly undeveloped" While the film was nominated for the Academy Award, it lost to
The Two Mouseketeers. The same year, Hubley also directed the animated segments of Irving Reis's
The Four Poster (1952). In September 1951, UPA layout artist Bernyce Fleury testified before the
House Un-American Activities Committee that several UPA artists, including Hubley, were
promoting communism through their films. In response, the following April Columbia sent UPA a list of eight suspected communist employees which included Hubley. Columbia, threatening to end their distribution deal with UPA, wanted the named employees to either confess or leave UPA.
Independent success with Storyboard, Inc. 1952–1969 Following his firing from UPA, Hubley was effectively
blacklisted from the animation industry. These covers showed Hubley's art progressing further into
abstract expressionism and modernism, taking heavy influence from
Pablo Picasso. Still "undercover" in Hollywood, Hubley founded Storyboard, Inc. (sometimes referred to as Storyboard Studios or simply Storyboard) in 1953.
Bank of America, and E-Z Pop. Since many of his clients were looking for a fast turnaround, Hubley's highly stylized approach to
limited animation and bold graphics became both practical and popular. For these early commercials, Hubley would again collaborate with animators such as
Bill Littlejohn,
Emery Hawkins, and
Rob Scribner. Also in 1953, Hubley and producer Michael Shore began developing an
animated adaptation of the musical ''
Finian's Rainbow. Shore wanted Hubley to direct, and Hubley was motivated to "develop the visual art even further than the UPA films". where he soon married his second wife, Faith Hubley (née Chestman). Faith, herself an editor and script supervisor on films such as 12 Angry Men
(1957), Hubley and Sweeney were determined to create a film that also served as a piece of modern art and communicated the importance of "play" and "the sensuous pleasures of [approaching pictures through] the eye rather than [the] intellectual pleasure [of] the ear". The resulting film, The Adventures of *'' (1957) was the first short film Hubley directed after leaving UPA, as well as the first animated film ever commissioned by an art museum. The film's visuals were heavily influenced by the Guggenheim Museum's collection of modern art, as well as Hubley's desire to "transform [animation] from hard-lined cel animation to textured, subtle, new styles more connected to the history of art than to the Disney or UPA look".
Benny Carter composed the film's score, including vibraphone by
Lionel Hampton. The film won several awards, including a diploma speciale from the 1957
Venice Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the 1958
Montevideo Film Festival. In 1957, Hubley was also hired by the advertising firm Fletcher, Richards, Calkins & Holden to direct the hugely successful
"I Want My Maypo!" commercial. For the first time in his career, Hubley used the voice of one of his children, his stepson Mark, for the commercial. Around this time, Hubley met musician
Dizzy Gillespie through mutual friend
Paul Robeson, and the Hubleys soon made their first film with Gillespie,
A Date with Dizzy (1956). The film contained many of the advertisements Hubley had already made at Storyboard, Inc., as well as an original segment by a then-unknown
R.O. Blechman. Following the success of the Maypo spot, John and Faith turned their attention to producing more short films. Their next film,
Harlem Wednesday (1957), marked the first time John and Faith were credited alongside one another on-screen (though Faith is credited as Faith Elliott). The film, an experimental montage of paintings by
Gregorio Prestopino with a score by Carter, further explored the Hubleys' desires to push animation towards modern art. Their next film,
Tender Game (1958), included an unused track by Fitzgerald from ''Finian's Rainbow
. Moonbird
won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1960, becoming the first independent film to win in the category. The success of Moonbird'' caught the attention of Susan Burnett, the film officer of the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), who commissioned the Hubleys to make a film for UNICEF. For the first time, Hubley used the voices of all of he and Faith's children, though most of their vocals are gurgles and mumbles made by his infant daughters
Emily and
Georgia. The film,
Children of the Sun (1960), addressed "how hunger affects the world's children". Intrigued by Shapley's attempts to understand mankind's place in the universe, Hubley wrote to Shapley with the idea to adapt the book's themes into an animated film. Instead of simply writing a script and getting Shapley's approval, Hubley and Shapley chose to collaborate closely on nearly every aspect of the film, with Hubley sending Shapley detailed outlines for the film's structure and frequently traveling to Shapley's home in
Peterborough,
New Hampshire, to meet with him. Hubley and Shapley became close friends during this period, resulting in
Of Stars and Men (1962), the Hubleys' first
feature-length film. The film follows a very loose narrative style, relying predominantly on Shapley's narration. Hubley's children would again appear in the film, with their improvised conversations again being presented much in the same way as in
Moonbird. Due to the nature of the film's presentation, the Hubleys, audiences, and distributors alike were unsure if the film could be categorized as a
documentary. At the 1961
San Francisco International Film Festival, the film won Best Documentary, and at the Venice Film Festival - where the Hubleys' films had been previously screened as part of the animation category - the film was placed in the feature category alongside
live-action films. Author Sybil DelGaudio cites the film as one of the earliest examples of an
animated documentary. and Show Corp. for distribution; it would be released to the general public in 1964 by
Films, Inc.
The Hole led to the
World Law Foundation a spiritual successor of sorts to
The Hole centered around an improvised conversation between Gillespie and
Dudley Moore as soldiers debating the morality of war.
The Hat came from the World Law Foundation's initiative to "reach...broader audiences" through "arts and media". Both
The Hole and
The Hat use a more grounded visual style than the abstract expressionism of
The Adventures of * and
Of Stars and Men and address more serious themes of violence, nuclear war,
nuclear anxieties, and death.
The Hat was the only film by the Hubleys distributed by
McGraw-Hill, Carter would collaborate with the Hubleys again on
Urbanissimo (1966), a film humorously examining the impact of
urban sprawl on the environment made for
Expo 67 in
Montreal,
Quebec.
A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966), a film interpreting the music of jazz musician
Herb Alpert, was released the same year. John and Faith won their third Academy Award for the short, and the film is today considered to be an early prototypical example of a
music video. The film was distributed by
Paramount, marking the first collaboration between Hubley and a major Hollywood studio following his 1952 blacklisting. Hubley began teaching filmmaking at
Harvard in 1962, becoming the first teacher of animation at Harvard's Visual Arts Center. Hubley wrote an adaptation of
Edwin Abbot's 1884 novella
Flatland, and collaborated with his students as well as Dudley Moore and several members of
Beyond the Fringe. The resulting film,
Flatland (1965), was directed by Eric Martin. Hubley was chosen to direct the film for the NFB, which eventually became
The Cruise (1967). The film was designed to be an educational tool for school use, though Hubley had very little involvement with creating the curriculum surrounding the film. The film would be screened in high schools and colleges across the United States and Canada throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Hubley's involvement with education would continue in the 1970s, when he and Faith became professors of film at
Yale University teaching animation and "The Visualization of Abstract Themes". The Hubleys continued to make short films together for the rest of the 1960s. Their next film,
Windy Day (1967) featured an improvised conversation between their daughters Georgia and Emily "explor[ing] the child's projection of fantasy to enact romance, marriage, and growing up".
The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions commissioned Hubley for
Zuckerkandl! (1968), a short film interpreting a comical routine by
Robert M. Hutchins. The short was also released as a
book with illustrations by Hubley. Hubley was commissioned again for Storyboard, Inc.'s next film,
Of Men and Demons (1969), by
IBM for
Expo '70 in
Osaka,
Japan. The film earned John and Faith their fifth Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short.
Hubley Studios, Inc. and late career: 1970–1977 1970 saw the release of Hubley's fifteenth independent directorial credit with
Eggs (1970). For the first time, John and Faith collaborated with musician
Quincy Jones, who composed and performed the film's score. The film addressed themes of fertility and death and continues Hubley's run of collaborating with musicians as voice actors, as singers
Anita Ellis and
Grady Tate lent their voices for the film, as did actor
David Burns. The film was entirely animated by
Tissa David, a recent hire of the Hubleys best known as the second woman to ever direct a feature-length animated film,
Bonjour Paris! (1953). Around this time, Storyboard, Inc. was renamed Hubley Studios, Inc. (sometimes referred to as The Hubley Studio or Hubley Studios), indicating Hubley's growing confidence towards using his name as the effects of the
blacklist faded away. Despite the critical acclaim the studio's films received, Hubley was still struggling financially. "Film shorts seem inevitably to be financial failures, for the only people who come out ahead on them are the distributors. Even
Moonbird, for instance, grossed at least as much as its production costs (about $25,000), but only a third of the gross wound up at Storyboard, Inc.", revealed a 1964 profile by
The Harvard Crimson. By the beginning of the 1970s, John and Faith understood they needed to take on more commercial work in order to fund their shorts, and began contributing animated segments for New York-based children's variety programs such as
The Electric Company and
Sesame Street. Notably, Hubley directed the "Letter E" segment for the latter's first episode on November 10, 1969. Hubley directed over thirty animated segments for the show between 1969 and 1977. His most notable contributions would be on
The Electric Company, where Hubley directed "
The Adventures of Letterman" segments from 1972 to 1977 featuring
Joan Rivers,
Gene Wilder, and
Zero Mostel. On both
Sesame Street and
The Electric Company Hubley would again collaborate with artists like Quincy Jones and
Dizzy Gillespie for voice acting and music. To help handle the new workload at the studio, Hubley hired several new artists, including Tissa David and
Michael Sporn. While working on animated segments for
Sesame Street and
The Electric Company, Hubley became more recognized for his television work (as he hadn't made a television commercial since the late 1950s).
CBS approached the Hubleys to produce an educational program on geology for the station. Originally titled "What's Under My Foot?",
Dig (1972) premiered on CBS on April 8, 1972. The film's music was composed by Jones and featured
Jack Warden and Hubley's son, Ray. The following year, the film was adapted into a book co-written by John and Faith. Much in the same way
The Hole and
The Hat were companion pieces, Hubley's next film,
Cockaboody (1973) was a companion piece to
Windy Day (1967). Hubley again recorded a conversation between his daughters Georgia and Emily and brought it to life through animation. Unlike
Windy Day, John and Faith collaborated with students in their animation class at
Yale University to create the film.
Cockaboody was created in conjunction with the Hubleys' students at Yale, as well as the
Yale Child Study Center. The process of making
Cockaboody at Yale was filmed by Howard Sayre Weaver for the documentary
In Quest of Cockaboody (1973).
Cockaboody marked the first time The Hubley Studio name was used in one of Hubley's films, and the second film at the studio animated solely by David. John and Faith earned another Academy Award nomination for their next shot,
Voyage to the Next (1974), another collaboration with Gillespie, as well as actresses
Maureen Stapleton and
Dee Dee Bridgewater commissioned by The Institute for World Order. Continuing the themes of previous films like
Eggs and
The Hat,
Voyage to the Next tackles themes of environmentalism, nationalism, and war. The same year, the
Zagreb Film Festival held a career-long retrospective on John and Faith's films, with John serving as president of the year's jury. In an ironic turn of events, Hubley's next film,
People People People (1975), was commissioned by the
United States Bicentennial Commission. Now one of the most respected artists in an industry that had blacklisted him only two decades prior, Hubley began his most ambitious project to date. As early as 1973, John and Faith became interested in adapting
Erik Erikson's Theory of the Eight Stages of Life in a feature-length animated film. As they did with
Cockaboody, the Hubleys planned to make the film in conjunction with Yale's Film Laboratory Center. Initially, Erikson was dismissive of the idea, but by 1975 he agreed, with CBS interested in airing the film. Initially, CBS and Hubley agreed the film would be three half-hour episodes, but CBS changed it to be one ninety-minute film during the final three months of production. John and Faith created the film's storyboards alongside their Yale class, supervised by professor Ken Kennison. Hubley picked many unknown actors with few or no prior credits for the film, including
Lawrence Pressman, his then-girlfriend
Lanna Saunders, and Yale student
Meryl Streep in her first acting role. The Hubley children also appear in the film for different stages of life.
Everybody Rides the Carousel (1976) was broadcast on September 10, 1976. Much like the Hubleys' previous films, the film is built from improvised conversations between the actors relating to Erikson's stages of life. The larger production led to Hubley Studios hiring a handful of new employees, including Erikson's daughter, Sue Erikson, Hubley had signed an exclusivity contract to work on the film, but Rosen soon found out he was secretly developing a new film, leading to Rosen firing Hubley from the film and becoming the director himself. Hubley's work can be seen in the opening "fable" scene, animated by
Bill Littlejohn, Phil Duncan, Ruth Kissane, and
Barrie Nelson. Hubley is often credited as the co-director of
the film, but his name does not appear in the credits. In November 1976,
cartoonist Garry Trudeau approached Hubley with the idea of an animated special featuring Trudeau's characters from
Doonesbury. Hubley and Trudeau had already known one another, as Trudeau was one of Hubley's students in the early seventies, and Trudeau and the Hubleys greatly enjoyed working with one another. In 1976, Doonesbury was one of the most popular newspaper comics in America, having won a
Pulitzer Prize the year prior and frequently making headlines for being dropped by papers across the country over Trudeau's decision to tackle topical and controversial real-world events. Unlike their previous films, John and Faith shared directing and producing credits with Trudeau and followed a tight script for the film. Toward the middle of production in February 1977 Hubley died, leaving Faith and Trudeau to finish the film themselves.
A Doonesbury Special (1977) was broadcast on NBC on November 27, 1977. The film earned Hubley a posthumous Academy Award Nomination and posthumous Special Jury Prize at the
Cannes Film Festival, tying with
Oh, My Darling by Dutch animator
Børge Ring. == Personal life ==