The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the gift of the Abe and Charlotte Levitow Collection featuring animation art and related production materials documenting the career of animator Abe Levitow. Donated in their parents’ honor by the Levitows’ three children, Roberta, Judy and Jon, the collection features animation cels, backgrounds, storyboards, graphic art materials and related film prints – hundreds of items that represent Levitow’s accomplishments as an artist, animator and director for Warner Bros., UPA and MGM, and include his work on features such as “Gay Purr-ee” (1962) and “The Phantom Tollbooth” (1970).
The collection, which will be housed in both the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library and the Academy Film Archive, is a significant addition to the Academy’s holdings in the animation field. “We are honored that the Levitow family has entrusted the preservation of their father’s legacy to the Academy’s archivists,” said Margaret Herrick Library Director Linda Mehr, “and you really can’t go wrong when Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are in the mix, can you?”
Levitow began his career at Leon Schlesinger Productions, where he served as a publicity artist and animator on cartoons released through Warner Bros. He worked primarily as a member of the Chuck Jones unit, contributing to many of Jones’s films in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including the Academy Award๏ฟฝ-winning animated short “For Scent-imental Reasons” (1949). He was elevated to director on several Warner Bros. cartoons before moving on to UPA in the late 1950s, where he served as animation director on the studio’s first feature, “1001 Arabian Nights.”
At UPA, Levitow had two career directing milestones: first, on the animated feature “Gay Purr-ee,” featuring the voices of Judy Garland and Robert Goulet with original songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, and then with “Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol,” an animated musical version of the Charles Dickens tale. Following his stint at UPA, Levitow joined the animation unit at MGM, where he directed a number of the later Tom and Jerry cartoons, including “The A-Tom-inable Snowman” (1966), “Guided Mouse-ille” (1967) and “Rock ‘n’ Rodent” (1967).
In addition to the more than 500 pieces of original production art, which will join more than 15,000 such items already held by the Margaret Herrick Library, the Levitow Collection includes scripts, sound recordings and other documentation related to Levitow’s work in film, television and commercials. All of the production materials may be accessed by filmmakers, historians, journalists, students and the public at the library, located in the Academy’s Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills. Many of the pieces in the Levitow Collection are available for viewing online through the Library’s Production Art Database at http://collections.oscars.org/prodart. Additional information about Abe Levitow is also available at: www.abelevitow.com.
For more information about Academy’s holdings, visit www.oscars.org.
About THE ACADEMY
The world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards-in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners-the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies www.oscars.org
Tarrah Lee Curtis The ACADEMY Contact Tarrah via email
“ฦvolution” Comes Full Circle At The Chelsea Film Festival
The Chelsea Film Festival, running from October 16th through October 20th, 2024, at Regal Cinemas here in Union Square, is set to host the East Coast premiere of ฦvolution, a thought-provoking experimental micro-short film that proves big ideas can come in small packages and in perfect circles.
In just 1 minute 16 seconds, this cinematic gem by Award-Winning Director Romina Schwedler, with original music by Argentine Composer Ignacio Montoya Carlotto, explores a cycle as old as time: life leads to progress, progress leads to destruction, and destruction, well, leads back to life. But is this vicious circle unbreakable? ฦvolutionย suggests the answer is yes, unless we decide to open our eyes.
Inspired by the overwhelming number of recent events that threaten human existence,ย ฦvolution, possibly the shortest film in this 12th edition of the festival, plays out entirely through the symbolism of circles, cleverly illustrating โin the blink of an eyeโ the repeating patterns of history, and confronting viewers with the uncomfortable truth that our so-called โprogressโ may, in fact, be guiding us to our own ruin.Premiering at the Regal 14 Union Square, New York City, on October 18, 2024, at 11 a.m., Romina Schwedler's micro-short, featuring Leah Young with cinematography by Alan J. Carmona, will be sure to spark conversations longer than the film itself! Forcing viewers to reconsider the true meaning of evolution, not just as a biological process, but as a reflection of our collective journey as humans.
With a string of festival appearances across the globe, including CineGlobe at CERN (Switzerland/France), Oscarยฎ... Read More