Moonbird (1959), The Hole (1962), & A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966), the married director duo John and Faith Hubley's three Academy Award Best Animated Short winners, are very similar in intention and execution.
They are all unscripted- a conversation between their two children, an improvised conversation, and two already established songs, respectively. In this sense, the animation was an afterthought; secondary and (at least initially) separate from the source. The animation style is simple; childlike and rudimentary looking, flat and two dimensional. By no means is this type of animation inferior to more technologically advanced three dimensional styles; when used effectively, it can be as good or even better. Last but not least, music plays an important role in each short.
The first two shorts make it painfully evident that this is not the most advisable or easiest modus operandi to find source material for an animated short. The third shows us that it is possible, however, to make it work when done correctly!
"Moonbird", as mentioned, is a conversation between two young boys. The directors secretly recorded their sons, Mark and Ray, as they told each other stories before bedtime, as many young children are likely to do. This particular occasion was about something they called a "Moonbird", that was supposedly following them around, and their attempts to capture or otherwise trap it. The brothers imagine crawling out their window into the night on this very important quest. For whatever reason, this is the conversation their parents decided would work as the base for their short animation film. Unfortunately, like a stream of consciousness, the nonlinear thoughts and things said that likely made sense only to the speaker resulted in a confusing, uninteresting narrative. One can hardly be surprised, as the animation was made to order- it was created to match their sons' story and not the other way around!
"The Hole" features Dizzy Gillespie and George Mathews as two construction workers at work in the bottom of a hole on a construction site discussing nuclear war. That is the premise, anyhow. Turns out to be uncompelling nonsense regarding the possibility for nuclear war and the surrounding anxieties and fears. The voice over does not really match or flow smoothly with the animation.
This husband and wife team's final Academy Awards winner was, by far, the most successful of the three. It is no coincidence that it is also the shortest by far, at only a few seconds over the 5 minutes mark- and actually a "double feature", telling two separate stories! Essentially a narrative music video, using songs from the Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass album "Going Places", it features two catchy and mellifluous numbers: "Spanish Flea" and "Tijuana Taxi". Maybe in order to keep up the pace with the festive brass band numbers, this short was funny, quick, and avoided all the pitfalls in "Moonbird" and "The Hole"- namely an arbitrary plot, insipid dialogue, and unnecessary length.
All in all, this talented duo won three Academy Awards for their shorts that may not have been deserved every time, but there is little doubt that the Hubleys were innovative pioneers in animation.
