United Productions of America and Cartoon Modernism

These modernistic innovations are most easily revealed in comparison to the animation design of Disney Studios, marked by a fully realized, three dimensional naturalism. In fact, Stephen Bosustow began working as an animator and writer at Disney in 1934 before leaving the studio after a bitter labor strike in 1941. Bosustow founded UPA in 1943, initially named Industrial Film and Poster Service, with Zack Schwartz and David Hilberman, both ex-Disney employees, and catered initially to the sponsored film market. Without the financing of a major studio like Disney though, their animation style had to change, and this initial constraint led to a more efficient, sparse, and abstract style.

The process that allowed for this style of streamlined animation is known as "limited animation." It can be compared to "full animation," whereby a cartoonist draws twenty-four images for every second of film time, recreating the cinematic ratio simulating lifelike movement. Limited animation relies on less images per second, such as twelve, eight, or even six frames per second, and only redrawing parts of a frame where movement is occurring. Movements are often repeated and recycled to convey action, instead of creating an entirely unique progression of movement. While the features of limited animation necessarily save time, labor, and money, they were combined by UPA with innovative graphic abstraction that didn't simply reduce their style to a matter of economic survival. It was a combination of the limited animation process and their creative graphic abstraction that reflected the cultural and aesthetic developments of midcentury America. Bashara neatly and definitvely sums up UPA's influence on midcentury, modern animation style: "By the mid-1950s, UPA style had become cartoon style."

The success of their stylistic approach was clearly evident by the early 1950s with a string of Academy Award nominations and the Oscar in 1950 for Gerald McBoing-Boing, featuring a boy who could only speak in sound effects struggling to find his place in the world. In an ironic and validating twist of fate, Disney Studios released several cartoons in 1953 mirroring the animation style of UPA, including Adventures in Music: Melody and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Bloom, clearly riding the animation successes UPA garnered that ultimately reflected the culture, design, and innovation of modern America.