Colourful Lift-Off

Coloured cards to augment effects were popular with a number of directors at Walter Lantz. Here’s an example from Ace in the Hole, a fairly lacklustre Woody Woodpecker cartoon directed by Alex Lovy.

A lit flare falls into Woody Woodpecker’s otherwise airtight pilot suit. The force of it makes Woody take off. The coloured cards and the effect animation are shot on twos.



George Dane is the credited animator. Woody is Kent Rogers, who was killed in a training exercise during World War Two.