Michael Richard Lah (September 1, 1912 – October 13, 1995) was an American animator of Slovene origin. He is best remembered for his work at the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to ...

, primarily as a member of

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...

's animation unit. He first worked on Tom and Jerry shorts before going to work on Droopy/Tex Avery shorts.

Early life and career

Lah was born in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. He worked briefly at Walt Disney Studios before joining MGM in the late 1930s. His first work at MGM was in the

Harman-Ising Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios. Early history Harman and Ising first worked in animation in the early 1920s at Laugh-O-Gram Studio, ...

unit, working on the final

Happy Harmonies ''Happy Harmonies'' is the name of a series of thirty-seven animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938. Produced in Technicolor, these cartoons were very similar to Wal ...

cartoon, ''The Little Bantamweight'' in 1938. He then joined Tex Avery's unit as lead animator, where he remained until the studio closed in 1957, directing a handful of cartoons with

Preston Blair Preston Erwin Blair (October 24, 1908 – April 19, 1995) was an American character animator, best remembered for his work at Walt Disney Productions and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. A native of Redlands, California, Blair began his a ...

in the late 1940s before becoming a full-time director in 1953 after Avery left the studio. After he left MGM, he briefly rejoined Hanna-Barbera at their television cartoon studio as an animator on

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...

and various other shows, then joined Quartet Films, a commercial animation studio that created television commercials for

Kelloggs The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...

and

Green Giant Green Giant and Le Sueur (spelled Le Sieur in Canada) are brands of frozen and canned vegetables owned by B&G Foods. The company's mascot is the Jolly Green Giant. Company and brand history The Minnesota Valley Canning Company was founded in ...

Foods. He was an active member of

ASIFA-Hollywood ASIFA-Hollywood, an American non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California, United States, is a branch member of the "Association Internationale du Film d'Animation" or "ASIFA" (the International Animated Film Association). Its purpose is to ...

, serving on the board for several years. In 1984, Lah received the

Winsor McCay Award The Winsor McCay Award is given to individuals in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, design, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, technical work, music, profession ...

for his lifetime of work in the animation field.

Personal life and death

He was married to Alberta Wogatzke, the twin sister of Violet Wogatzke (

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the anim ...

's wife). Lah died on October 13, 1995, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

References

External links

*
Michael Lah animation sketches from ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
1912 births 1995 deaths American animators American animated film directors Hanna-Barbera people Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people American people of Slovenian descent {{US-animator-stub