Hugh’s Project
What a great experience it was to get to know Hugh Harman. In the early seventies, Bob Clampett introduced me to Hugh. It was a lot of fun to eat breakfast or lunch with him at his favorite restaurant, The Old World in Beverly Hills. However, Hugh did not live in Beverly Hills, but in an old apartment building on Selma and Cahuenga in Hollywood. Hugh preferred to come over to my house, or meet me in Beverly Hills. He did not own a car, took the bus everywhere and never invited me to his rooms. You see, he was poor. I tried to help him by selling artwork he had from the Bosko comic strip of the thirties, and some Red Ryder prints that his brother, Fred Harman had created. Hugh would always bring something every time he came over, like a sack of donuts. Then he would borrow a hundred dollars or so. Up to the time I met him, no print of the legendary Bosko pilot: “The Talk-Ink Kid” existed. Then mysteriously, a nitrate copy turned up out of a friend’s garage. We made a safety negative in 16mm, but the print had no main or end titles. So Hugh designed the main title (the sketch on yellow lined paper). I then re-drew and inked the design to look like the earliest model of Bosko (sketch on white paper). Hugh was pleased with the result, but I can’t remember if we ever photographed the title cards or not. Later my friend Dave Butler, made a final negative and put the new title cards on it. I just recently saw a copy of “Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid” on DVDr and I saw my titles on it. All the memories of Hugh Harman came back, and I smiled. Can you imagine how much fun it was to work with one of my childhood heroes, creator of such a beloved character as Bosko? It always amazed me how tough Hugh was on himself, and in how little esteem he held all the great old cartoons he had helped to create, except for “Peace On Earth”, one of his MGM cartoons. What an honor to have known him, and to have helped him out a little. It’s a sobering thought to know that such a key creator and one of the greatest animators of the 1920s lived the last years of his life in such reduced circumstances. He didn’t save his money, and was forgotten by Hollywood. Residuals for animators!
Michael Sporn says:
That’s a great story and an interesting view of Hugh Harman. I suspect there were more than a few people of his generation who ended in similar situation. Harman was one whose work truly inspired me when I was younger. I took pains to videotape every MGM short of his aired on TNT in its early days, and I ended up with an almost complete collections of videos. Maybe someday they’ll be collected on dvd.
Kevin Langley says:
Thanks for sharing that story. It’s a crime that a pioneer had to live out his final years in poverty.
Kent Butterworth says:
Gosh, that’s such a sad story. I didn’t know Hugh lived in such straitened circumstances. I know some animators, like Carl Urbano, bought houses on the beach in Malibu “back then” for a few hundred bucks (those homes are worth millions today) but it’s just sad that a guy of Hugh’s stature didn’t keep any of his money (and of course he didn’t own any of his creations)
David Gerstein says:
Correct me if I’m wrong here, Mark, but I believe Hugh did own the rights to Bosko.
Saalfield published this coloring book in the late 1950s…
• http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/miscelooneyous/boskocolorbook.jpg
…which mentions Looney Tunes on the cover and seems timed to capitalize on the Guild Films package circulating on TV, but does not refer to Warners in the indicia (nor was Saalfield the standard WB coloring book licensee at the time).
I’ve always suspected that this book, which I bought and gave as a gift to Jerry Beck some years ago, was licensed by Hugh Harman; and it seems even more likely when one compares its Bosko title logo and subhead (“Star of Looney Tunes”) with the title logo and margin doodles on Hugh’s TALK-INK KID title card sketch (once again, “Star of Looney Tunes”). The character model on Bosko is similar too. Do you think Hugh had the coloring book at his side for reference when laying out that title card?
The coloring book seems to be a rare item. In years of collecting, I’ve only ever seen that one copy. I suspect that the use of the Looney Tunes title on the cover might have led to legal problems with WB, though I have no actual evidence to back this up.
I seem to recollect Dave Butler having told me that as Bosko Video, he was carrying on Hugh’s trademark. It’s many years since I’ve spoken to Dave, though, so my apologies if he’s reading this and I’ve misremembered something.
Mark Kausler says:
You’re right, David. Hugh did own the character and underlying rights to Bosko (actually both Hugh and Rudy owned them). Those rights gave Hugh and Rudy the power to take the character elsewhere, as they did when they had the MGM release. However, Hugh did not really formally keep the trademark renewed and ultimately the character became PD. Dave’s rights in the character would probably not pass court scrutiny, but I am NOT a lawyer! It is my understanding that with the Sonny Bono copyright act, copyrights in motion pictures and music can be renewed virtually forever. Trademark law comes under patents, and those are still granted only a limited lifespan, in my understanding. That Saalfield Bosko on the coloring book looks like the monkey that some people thought Bosko was supposed to be! I hope you have a real high-quality scan of that someplace, quite an historic image! Oh, and note to Kent, Hugh could have saved his money, but due to life complications, he couldn’t. This could happen to anybody!
David Gerstein says:
Before giving the book to Jerry, I took high-quality scans and color copies of the cover, as well as BW copies of the monochrome pages inside. I just don’t have any of those immediately at hand as I write this!
Another giveaway of Hugh’s involvement: the coloring book interior shows a monkey-tailed approximation of the WB Bosko model, but Bruno looks more like the MGM design—and Fog Horn and the other Jazz Frogs are there too, albeit not named as such.
Tom Minton says:
I met Hugh only once, with Rudy Ising, in 1979. They were sitting at the bar in a hotel attached to a convention center. When I asked what they’d been doing, Hugh replied that they were working on a feature version of “Peace on Earth.” He certainly held that cartoon in high esteem. Is there any truth to the tale that the MGM “Peace on Earth” short was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize? I’ve heard that many times over the years and it even appears in the Wikipedia article on Hugh. But is there any hard evidence?
Paul Etcheverry says:
I met Hugh briefly at the 1980 CINECON. He struck me as very humble and utterly blown away by the fact that I knew anything about his films or enjoyed them at all. He did, however, look quite dapper, and was in the company of a blonde babe
Personally, I love the “three monkeys” and “swingin’ jazz frogs” cartoons.
It’s great to have found your blog! I’ll link you to my “Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog” site.
Charles J Ilardi says:
For my birthday i just got Vol.1 of “The Looney Tunes Golden Collection” (I know, I KNOW!!!) and in the extras there was “Bosko The Talk-Ink Kid.” I noticed the lack of titles, never knowing that Hugh Harman 50 years after the fact had designed one! Very interesting and touching stuff!
Chris Sobieniak says:
“For my birthday i just got Vol.1 of “The Looney Tunes Golden Collection†(I know, I KNOW!!!) and in the extras there was “Bosko The Talk-Ink Kid.†I noticed the lack of titles, never knowing that Hugh Harman 50 years after the fact had designed one! Very interesting and touching stuff!”
I first saw that courtesy of the “Bosko Video” release that had the title and end credit card included. It was nice to at least get something to remind us what we were going to see than nothing at all (which I think the “Looney Tunes Golden Collection did nothing on that matter unless there was an intro or description about it). We all should be thankful that pilot was found at all after all these years. Or else we would still be discussing what kind of hilarity ensued from not having seen it at all.
Greg Duffell says:
Thanks for this wonderful story, Mark. I’m glad Paul Etcheverry brought it up, but I admit as I was reading your piece, I was thinking of the photos I’ve seen of Mr. Harman from later in his life more often than not accompanied by incredibly striking women, to say the least.
Mark says:
Of course, Greg, that “incredibly stiking woman” was a lady named Katya, whom Hugh actually married! Katya managed to take what little money Hugh had left and abscond with it, leaving him totally broke. Hugh told me about the time he married Katya, “Never be afraid of marriage, boy.”