George Pal

Early life and career

Pal was born in Cegléd, Hungary, as Gyula György Marczincsak the son of Gyula Marczincsak, Sr. and his wife Mária Tikó; in 1936 he officially changed his last name Marczincsak to "Pál", becoming György (George) Pál. He graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1928 (aged 20). From 1928 to 1931, he made films for Hunnia Film Studio of Budapest, Hungary. In 30th June of 1930 in Budapest, he married Elisabeth "Zsóka" Grandjean, and after moving to Berlin, founded Trickfilm-Studio GmbH Pal und Wittke, with UFA Studios as its main customer from 1931 to 1933. During this time, he patented the Pal-Doll technique (known as Puppetoons in the US).

In 1933, he worked in Prague. In 1934, he made cigarette advertisement films in his hotel room in Paris, and was invited by Philips to make two more ad shorts. He started to use Pal-Doll techniques in Eindhoven, in a former butchery, then at villa-studio Suny Home. He made five films before 1939 for the British company Horlicks Malted Milk. In December of that year, aged 32, he emigrated from Europe to the United States, and began work for Paramount Pictures. At this time, his friend Walter Lantz helped him obtain American citizenship.

As an animator, he made the Puppetoons series in the 1940s, which led to him being awarded an honorary Oscar in 1943 for "the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons". Pal then switched to live-action film-making with The Great Rupert (1950).

He is best remembered as the producer of several science-fiction and fantasy films in the 1950s and 1960s, such as When Worlds Collide, four of which were collaborations with director Byron Haskin, including The War of the Worlds (1953). He himself directed Tom Thumb (1958), The Time Machine (1960), and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).

Death

In May 1980, he died in Beverly Hills, California, of a heart attack at the age of 72, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. The Voyage of the Berg, on which he was working at the time, was never completed.

Awards and honours

Pal has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine St. In 1980, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founded the "George Pal Lecture on Fantasy in Film" series in his memory.

George Pal (along with the film When Worlds Collide) is among the many references to classic science fiction and horror films in the opening theme ("Science Fiction/Double Feature") of both the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its cinematic counterpart, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

In 1975, Pal received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, as well as the San Diego Comic Con Inkpot Award.

Pal's Puppetoons Tulips Shall Grow and John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946) were added to the Library of Congress 1997 and 2015 National Film Registry. One of the Tubby the Tuba models along with a frog and three string instruments were donated to the Smithsonian Institution for the National Museum of American History.

In 2023, film historian Justin Humphreys released the biographical book George Pal, Man of Tomorrow.

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of George Pal's films, including Radio Röhren (Valve) Revolution (1934), an advertising short for Philips, Jasper and the Beanstalk (1945), and John Henry and the Inky Poo (1946).

Filmography

Puppetoons

Main article: Puppetoons

Live-action feature films

Unreleased, unfinished, or projected films

• Gulliver's Travels (1935)
• Sinbad (1935)
• Three Little Princes (1935)
• Casey Jones (1945)
• Davy Crockett (1945)
• Johnny Appleseed (1946)
• After Worlds Collide (1955)
• Odd John (1967) (rights acquired only)
• Logan's Run (1968)
• When the Sleeper Wakes (1972)
• *War of the Worlds * (1974–75) Unfinished TV pilot
• Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil (1976)
• The Time Traveller (1977–78) aka Time Machine II. A novelization with Joe Morhaim was published posthumously in 1981.
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1979)
• The Disappearance (1980) (only in preproduction)
• Voyage of the Berg (1980) (only in preproduction)

Posthumous collection

• The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit)
• The Puppetoon Movie (1987) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit)
• The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 (2020) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit)
• The Puppetoon Movie Volume 3 (2023) (Produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit)

References

Bibliography

• Gail Morgan Hickman. The Films of George Pal. South Brunswick, NJ: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1977. .
• Schepp, Ole and Kamphuis, Fred. George Pal in Holland 1934–1939. Den Haag: Kleinoffsetdrukkerij Kapsenberg, 1983.
• Miller, Thomas Kent. Mars in the Movies: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. .
• Peters, Mette. "George Pal’s ‘Cavalcade of Colours, Music and Dolls’: 1930s Advertising Films in Transnational Contexts". In: Animation and Advertising. Thompson, Kirsten Moana, Cook, Malcolm (Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. .
• Justin Humphreys. George Pal: Man of Tomorrow. Albany, GA: BearManor Media, 2023.

References

1. "Historical Development". University for the Creative Arts.
2. (October 25, 2019). "George Pal".
3. "familysearch.org - Civilian registers - Budapest, Hungary - 5th district - marriages - György Gyula Marczincsak and Erzsébet Jozefa Grandjean - 1930. Jun. 30.".
4. (29 November 2010). "Biography: George Pal".
5. (5 April 2019). "10 Making Animation Matter: Peter Sachs Comes to Britain 191". Applied Arts in British Exile from 1933.
6. Pal, his wife and son, were second cabin passengers on the S.S. ''Statendam'' which arrived at the Port of New York from the Netherlands on December 3, 1939.
7. Crowther, Bosley. (February 7, 1952). "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; George Pal's New Film Adventure Into Outer Space, 'When Worlds Collide,' Opens at the Globe". [[The New York Times]].
8. (26 September 2019). "Rocky Horror Picture Show: The Movies And References Behind Science Fiction Double Feature". Den of Geek.
9. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". [[American Academy of Achievement]].
10. (December 6, 2012). "Inkpot Award".
11. (December 16, 2015). "2015 National Film Registry: "Ghostbusters" Gets the Call". [[Library of Congress]].
12. (18 February 2014). "Puppets on Radio, Film, and Television". [[National Museum of American History]].
13. (April 30, 2024). "Here are the winners of the (Gasp!) 22nd Annual Rondo Hatton Awards". [[Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards]].
14. "The George Pal Site: Philips Radio".
15. "Preserved Projects".
16. "The Great Rupert". American Film Institute.
17. "Destination Moon". American Film Institute.
18. "When Worlds Collide". American Film Institute.
19. "Houdini". American Film Institute.
20. "The War of the Worlds". American Film Institute.
21. "The Naked Jungle". American Film Institute.
22. "Conquest of Space". American Film Institute.
23. "Tom Thumb". American Film Institute.
24. "The Time Machine". American Film Institute.
25. "Atlantis, the Lost Continent". American Film Institute.
26. "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm". American Film Institute.
27. "7 Faces of Dr. Lao". American Film Institute.
28. "The Power". American Film Institute.
29. "Doc Savage...The Man of Bronze". American Film Institute.
30. "Available Now** at www.Puppetoon.Net ~ The triumphant discovery of ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES **(1935), thought lost for some 85 years, has... | By Arnold | Facebook".
31. ''Chico Record''. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/enterprise-record/171419811/ "Hollywood"]. Virginia McPherson. 25 October 1945. ''Chico'', page 2.
32. ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle''. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-eagle/171419869/ "Ellen Drew Named For Film Comedy"]. 13 April 1946. ''Brooklyn'', page 14.
33. "William Nolan recollection of history of Logan's Run Movie". William Nolan.
34. (4 March 2023). "The Puppetoon Movie: Volume 3 BD".