After digging through the list of Oscar winners, I’ve noticed that before the 50s the Academy Award for best animated short had only been shared by three producers: ten times winner Walt Disney, six times winner Fred Quimby — mostly for his work on Tom and Jerry — and two times winner Edward Selzer — for his work on Warner’s Tweety Pie (1947) and For Scent-imental Reasons (1949) shorts.
It was only in 1950 when there was a new addition to this select group of people for producing a short that would breathe some fresh air into the animated shorts scene. Based on an original story by Dr. Seuss, Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950), produced by Stephen Bosustow and directed by Robert Cannon, tells the story about a young boy who could not speak, but was able to use his voice to make various foley sounds instead.
Rhyming lines — from the narrator and other characters of course — and simple but beautifully stylized and expressive characters add to the already interesting and funny story as the boy struggles to find his place in the world. The art and animation style is loose and with little regard to form or perspective realism, instead focusing on the stylization of characters and their actions to emphasize their emotion and intent.
Gerald eventually meets someone who gives him an opportunity to use his unique talent, but you can see it for yourself by watching the lovely cartoon, which can be easily found online. Gerald McBoing-Boing was the first successful short from the american studio UPA (United Productions of America) and was actually included as #9 in Jerry Beck’s list of The 50 Greatest Cartoons (1994).
References:
“Watch the Oscar-Winning “Gerald McBoing-Boing” (1950): It’s Ranked as the 9th Greatest Cartoon of All Time”. Open Culture. Dec 11th, 2020.
Lackmann, Ronald W. (2003). The encyclopedia of 20th-century American television.
“Dr. Seuss & UPA’s “Gerald McBoing-Boing” on Records”. Cartoon Research. Aug 21st, 2018.
