United Productions of America was originally formed in 1941 as the Industrial Film and Poster Service by a group of ex-Disney animators during the Disney strike of 1941. It initially produced war and propaganda films, but in 1948, it got its big break to produce films for Columbia Pictures, supplanting its original in-house cartoon studio. Although the company made the last few cartoons featuring Columbia's The Fox and the Crow, it managed to make its own creations Gerald McBoing Boing and Mr. Magoo, which was proven to be successful. UPA would later be supplanted as Columbia's cartoon provider by Hanna-Barbera in 1958. Henry G. Saperstein bought out UPA in 1960, and the studio closed its doors in 1970. The library became the roots of Classic Media in May 2000. The company never used a logo until 1950.
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1st Logo (November 2, 1950-1970) | 2nd Logo (January 30, 1958-1960s) | 3rd Logo (1965-July 29, 1970) |
Visuals: On a custom background, the UPA logo of the era is shown. It consists of a blue ellipse with a "U" in it, a yellow ellipse with a black "P" in it, plus a red ellipse with an "A" in it.
Variants:
Technique: A still, hand-drawn graphic.
Audio: The theme of the cartoon.
Availability: It was seen on their cartoons produced by this company such as Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing as well as TV shows and specials that they produced such as Gay Purr-ee.
Visuals:
Variants:
Technique: Traditional animation by Rod Scribner.
Audio: A jazzy theme with horns and drums.
Availability: Was originally created for UPA's short-lived Ham and Hattie series, but it also appeared on the unreleased Bric 'n Brac pilot and the promotional film Inside Magoo.
Legacy: This fanfare was also used on the 2nd logo of the Spanish company Motion Pictures S.A..
Visuals: On a blue background, there is the phrase "HENRY G. SAPERSTEIN" and under it "PRESENTS" in black. After a few moments, it fades to the card that says "A UNITED PRODUCTIONS OF AMERICA RELEASE", with the UPA logo over "RELEASE", which consists of the same UPA logo as seen on the last two logos. The byline "ANOTHER DEI COMPANY" is seen under the logo.
Technique: Fading effects.
Audio: None.
Availability: Seen on non-animated UPA releases and the American release of the Godzilla movie Invasion of the Astro Monster.