Clutch Cargo | |
---|---|
Genre | Action Adventure |
Written by | Clark Haas |
Voices of | Richard Cotting Margaret Kerry Hal Smith |
Theme music composer | Paul Horn |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 52 |
Production | |
Producer | Dick Brown |
Running time | 25 minutes |
Production company | Cambria Productions |
Original release | |
Network | Broadcast syndication |
Release | March 9, 1959 – 1960 |
Clutch Cargo is an American animated television series created by cartoonist Clark Haas and produced by Cambria Productions, [1] syndicated beginning on March 9, 1959. [2] The series was notable for its limited animation yet imaginative stories, [3] as well as for being the first widely-known use of Syncro-Vox technology.
The series' stories centered on adventurer Clutch Cargo, who was sent around the world on dangerous assignments. Accompanying him on the assignments were his young ward Spinner and his pet Dachshund Paddlefoot. Live-action footage of a 1929 Bellanca C-27 Airbus was used; series creator Clark Haas was previously a jet pilot. [4] Episodes were produced and serialized in five 5-minute chapters each. The first four chapters ended in cliffhangers, with the fifth chapter concluding the adventure. Haas explained that the show was formatted this way so that "the stations can run one a day on weekdays, then recap the whole for a half-hour Saturday show." [5]
The show was the first to use the "Syncro-Vox" optical printing system because of budgetary limitations and the pressure to create animation within a tight time frame. [6] Syncro-Vox was invented by Edwin Gillette, television cameraman and partner in Cambria Studios, as a means of superimposing real human mouths on the faces of animals for the popular "talking animal" commercials of the 1950s. Clutch Cargo employed the Syncro-Vox technique by superimposing live-action human lips over limited-motion animation or even motionless animation cels.
To further cut costs, Gillette and special-effects man Scotty Tomany supplemented Syncro-Vox with other tricks to save time and money. Haas explained, "We are not making animated cartoons. We are photographing 'motorized movement' and—the biggest trick of all—combining it with live action...Footage that Disney does for $250,000 we do for $18,000." [4] Gillette and Tomany simulated action in the real-time movement either with the camera or within the cel itself. Other live-action shots were superimposed as a means of adding a certain degree of realism and to keep production costs down; for example, footage of real smoke was used for explosions. [7] Traditional animation was also employed in the series on occasion.
The musical soundtrack to Clutch Cargo was also limited. Jazz musician Paul Horn provided a score using bongos, a vibraphone, and a flute.
The series consisted of 52 episodes. [8]
DVD name | Episodes | Release date | Additional information |
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Volume 1 | 26 | March 22, 2005 |
|
Volume 2 | 26 | March 22, 2005 |
|
In 1996, a live music venue named after the series, Clutch Cargo's, opened in Pontiac, Michigan [9] , but it closed in November 2013 with the site returning to its original use as a church. [10]
Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation.
Animation in the United States in the television era was a period in the history of American animation that slowly set in with the decline of theatrical animated shorts and the popularization of television animation during the late 1950s to 1960s, peaked in the 1970s, and ended in the mid-late 1980s. This era is characterized by low budgets, limited animation, an emphasis on television over the theater, and the general perception of cartoons being primarily for children. Due to the perceived cheap production values, poor animation, and mixed critical and commercial reception, this era is sometimes referred to as the Dark Ageof American animation by critics.
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Cambria Productions was the West Hollywood, California animation production studio most famous for its wide usage of the Syncro-Vox technique of animation developed by Edwin Gillette, who was a co-partner in the studio.
Clark S. Haas, Jr. was a cartoonist and, from 1957 to 1965, owner of Cambria Studios, which produced the limited animation series Clutch Cargo (1959).
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