Monday, April 27, 2015

Sam Clayberger and Cap'n Crunch

Jay Ward Productions had one of the longest running accounts in advertising history, producing animated commercials for one client, Quaker Oats, for over 20 years.   First out of the gate was Cap'n Crunch, a property developed by ace storyboard artist and designer Roy Morita and future TV comedy writer Allan Burns (see pages 227-239 in The Art of Jay Ward Productions).

Sam Clayberger was kept very busy during those decades, keying and painting all of the backgrounds for the commercials, below are a few samples of his work on Cap'n Crunch:












A few years later, Bill Scott developed Quisp and Quake for Quaker Oats, here are some of Sam's keys for those spots:







And a few years after that, Wallace the Waffle Whiffer for Aunt Jemima Frozen Waffles:



*Burns later wrote for television sitcoms and helped develop, write and produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show, among others.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Sam Clayberger, Rocky & Bullwinkle and Mr. Peabody

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Rocky and Bullwinkle shows were largely produced in Mexico so very little art has survived.  Fortunately, the titles and bumpers were produced locally and one can see Shirley Silvey's whimsical layout drawings for The Rocky Show on pages 75-77 in The Art of Jay Ward Productions.  Below are some very loose color keys by Sam Clayberger for those same opening titles:




In 1961, Jay Ward produced a film aimed primarily at school children promoting savings stamps using Rocky & Bullwinkle, Boris & Natasha and Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  Here are a few of Sam's color keys from the production:





All but one of the Mr. Peabody episodes were produced in Mexico City but the Mexican studio refused to do the Pancho Villa episode so Jay brought it back to the States.  Below, two of Sam's keys from that episode:



Color keys for some of the early Cheerios spots featuring Bullwinkle and The Cheerios Kid, in order of appearance, Bowling Judo, Mother Hubbard and Trapeze:





Next week, Sam turns his talents to commercials for Quaker Oats.  Stay tuned to see color keys for Cap'n Crunch and Quisp & Quake!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Sam Clayberger and Dudley Do-right

Probably the most consistently funny series of all Jay Ward's productions, Dudley Do-right of the Mounties had a handful of its episodes produced in Hollywood, most of them directed and animated by Gerard Baldwin.  Sam Clayberger remembered painting a lot of RCMP forts but as you can see by the images below, he painted much more than that.  This first batch of images is from the first Dudley episode, Disloyal Canadians.  The first and fifth images are the color keys for the backgrounds reproduced on page 186 of The Art Of Jay Ward Productions.







You can see the video for Disloyal Canadians here.  Notice how the color is unlike any of the keys above. 

Next,Foreclosing Mortgages:



Color keys for Mechanical Dudley, the background for this first image is reproduced on page 188 in The Art of Jay Ward Productions:


Saw Mill:





Next week, some more color keys for Rocky & Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody and Sherman and more!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Sam Clayberger and Jay Ward's Aesop & Son

Today, we move from fairy tales to fables.  Far fewer Aesop's than Fractured Fairy Tales were done in LA but those that were, were color keyed and painted by Sam Clayberger.  First, The Dog and His Shadow:

Next, The Sick Lion including the Aesop intro, images 2 and 3 can be seen on page 173 of The Art of Jay Ward Productions:






The Fox and the Winking Horse:


And, as an extra special bonus, a "color key" from a General Mills Aesop & Son commercial for Cheerios, produced in black & white:


Next week, Dudley Do-right!