Jules Bass, director of stop-motion animation classics such as “The Party of the Crazy Monster” (1967) and “Frosty: The Snowman” (1969), died this Tuesday (25/10), in a retirement home . Rye, New York. He was 87 years old.
In addition to directing, Bass has also worked as a producer and songwriter and has successfully collaborated with Arthur Rankin Jr. (1924-2014), with whom he developed his career, producing landmark stop-motion television specials.
Born September 16, 1935 in Philadelphia, Bass attended New York University and worked in an advertising agency before forming a partnership with Rankin, the former ABC art director. The two founded a production company called Videocraft International (later known as Rankin / Bass Productions).
In a 2005 interview, Rankin said, “We kind of complemented each other. He had some talents that I didn’t have and I had some talents that he didn’t have. Basically I was an artist and a creator; he was a creator and a creator, writer and lyricist “. The duo’s first production was the TV series “The New Adventures of Pinocchio”, which premiered in 1960. They created a total of 130 five-minute chapters.
They also produced the special “Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964), based on the song popularized by Gene Autry, which started a tradition of animated Christmas specials, such as “Frosty: The Snowman” (1969), which featured the voices of comedians Jackie Vernon and Jimmy Durante, and “The True Story of Santa Claus” (1970), voiced by none other than Fred Astaire.
Among these specials, Bass released his first feature films, “The Enchanted World of Dreams” (1966), based on fairy tales, and “Feast of the Crazy Monster” (1967), a cult animated horror comedy featuring the voice of Boris Karloff icon.
The stop-motion animation features used by Rankin / Bass Productions were developed for Japanese animators and involved a meticulous process, in which thousands of still photos of their characters’ movements were put together at 24 frames per second, in one process. called “Animagic”.
Bass and Rankin received an Emmy nomination for their special “The Little Drummer Boy Book II” (1976) and won a Peabody Award for their animated version of “The Hobbit” (1977). They also made an adaptation of another JRR Tolkien book, “The Return of the King”, in 1980.
His other television projects included “The Ballad of Smokey the Bear” (1966), “The Wacky World of Mother Goose” (1967), “The Little Drummer Boy” (1968), “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” (1971), “The year without Santa Claus” (1974), the musical series of the group “Jackson 5” (aired between 1971 and 1972) and the popular animated series “Thundercats” (1985-1989).
Bass’s last directing credits were on the animated feature “The Last Unicorn” (1982) and on the TV specials “The Coneheads” (1983), “The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus” (1985) and “The Wind. in the Willows “(1987).
Bass has also written several children’s books. One of these books, “Headhunters”, was adapted into the film “Monte Carlo” (2011), with Selena Gomez.
+The best content in your email for free. Choose your favorite Earth Newsletter. Click here!
Source: Terra
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
