Owen Earl Duvall (; June 7, 1898 – December 21, 1950) was an American artist and animator best known for his work on

Disney comic strips The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

in the early 1930s and for a handful of animated short films he directed at

Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...

Career

Disney Studio

Duvall started as a layout artist and later as a member of the story department at

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

. During this time, he also worked as a cartoonist on the ''Mickey Mouse'' daily strip and the '' Silly Symphony'' Sunday

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

. According to Jack Kinney, a director who worked at Disney for many decades, Duvall was a "charming story man" who dressed well and was "the spitting image of the Prince of Wales", but often "lived beyond his means". Duvall left Disney's in rather unusual circumstances - pressed by Disney for several weeks to show his storyboards, Duvall simply gathered his belongings one day and left the company, "leaving Walt holding the bag".

Warner Bros

He was invited to

in 1933 along with fellow Disney animator Tom Palmer to head up the studio in the wake of Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising's departure. He was responsible for the creation of Buddy. In the event, Duvall was delayed working on other projects at Disney, and by the time he got to Warner Bros. Palmer, who directed the first Buddy cartoon, had already been fired and replaced by

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ...

. Tom Palmer left the Schlesinger studio after completing only two animated short films. Duvall replaced him as the director of the next few films of the studio. Duvall had experience as a story man for both Disney and Harman and Ising. Norman McCabe, who worked as an inbeetweener for the studio, recalled Duvall's resemblance to Prince Edward, the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

. Animation historian

Michael Barrier Michael J. Barrier (born June 15, 1940) is an American animation historian. Work Barrier was the founder and editor of ''Funnyworld'', the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha ...

considers that Duvall's princely looks and "aura of sophistication" helped him get ahead. Wherever Duvall worked, people were at least giving him the benefit of the doubt. During his time at the Schlesinger studio, Duvall directed a number of cartoons based around surprisingly adult themes, and was allowed to direct the studio's first color cartoon, '' Honeymoon Hotel'' in 1934. He only completed work on five animated short films. Three of them were part of the ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

'', and two of them were part of the ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 1970s to the ...

'' series. However, after a drunken argument with producer

Leon Schlesinger Leon Schlesinger (May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant rel ...

, Duvall left the studio. The departures of Palmer and Duvall left Schlesinger in need of new directors. Even composer

Bernard B. Brown Bernard B. Brown (July 24, 1898 – February 20, 1981) was an American sound engineer and composer, who wrote the scores for many early animated cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions for distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures. ...

received credits for directing two ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts. By early 1934, Schlesinger appointed Friz Freleng as the main director of the ''Merrie Melodies'' series and Jack King as the main director of the ''Looney Tunes'' series.

Death

Duvall died in 1950.

Filmography

As Director/Supervisor.imdb Filmography
/ref> * ''

Buddy's Garage ''Buddy's Garage'' is a 1934 Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes'' cartoon, the last to be directed by Earl Duvall. The short was released on April 14, 1934, and stars Buddy, the second star of the series. Summary The film opens to the scene of Buddy ha ...

'' 1934 (short) * '' Honeymoon Hotel'' 1934 (short) * ''

Sittin' on a Backyard Fence ''Sittin' on a Backyard Fence'' is a 1933 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Earl Duvall. The short was released on December 16, 1933. The film score was composed by Norman Spencer and writing was done by Ben Hardaway Joseph B ...

'' 1933 (short) * '' Buddy's Show Boat'' 1933 (short) * '' Buddy's Beer Garden'' 1933 (short)

References

External links

*
His profile in Lambiek Comiclopedia
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duvall, Earl 1898 births 1969 deaths American comics artists American film directors American animators American animated film directors Walt Disney Animation Studios people Warner Bros. Cartoons directors Disney comics artists