The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 75

6 Part VITucsday. April 13. 1982 Cos Angeles Simea LANTZ: A CAREER AS LAUGH MAKER how studio animation is done and a collection of memorabilia. His paintings still lifes and landscapes with Woody sell for tens and thousands of dollars. Pewter statues of his characters and collector plates of Woody spoofing famous paintings have been issued along with toys, dolls and comic books.

This Thanksgiving, a 75-foot balloon of Woody will float down Fifth Avenue in Macy's parade. Solomon is completing a book on animation to be published later thit year by Kodak. "It's been a wonderful life in this business, bringing laughs to so many people. Tve never had anything to sell but humor." Wtlttr Uatt By CHARLES SOLOMON 9th. SMASH MONTH Winner of LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD TONIGHT AT 8 HOT TIX, SENIOR CITIZENS AND STUDENT RUSH AVAILABLE.

CALL FOR INFO. Charge by Phone 1 0' til 9 in. I 461-2755 IE42 North Ul Pllmil Mack wna ft yUOfmt lu Hollywood, CA 9002S Ccnwmm pamng omaci to in ffwafr Walter Lantz, with wife, Grace, the voice of Woody Woodpecker, and some Woody creations. "fal0Aom btj Clanstopner harnfton Sixty-five years after he began working in the animation industry and seven years after stopping production of his cartoons. Walter Lantz is as busy as he was when his studio was in full swing working on distribution deals, making personal appearances, painting and receiving awards.

Universal recently renewed its distribution contract with him through 1987. (He first signed with them in 1927, possibly Hollywood's longest-running contract. In 1973, the international animation society, ASIFA Hollywood, presented him with its "Annie" Award; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences followed with a special Oscar in 1979. New York's Museum of Modern Art presented a Lantz retrospective in 1977, as did Filmex in Los Angeles in 1978. A warm, genial man, Lantz, 81, talked about his career recently in his Trousdale Estates home, high above the city.

Beside him was Grace, his wife of 41 years and the voice of Woody Woodpecker, who added her own details and asides to the conversation. At 15, Lantz came to New York and found a job as an office boy at William Randolph Hearst's New York "American." One of his duties there was washing the brushes of the great cartoonist and animation pioneer, Winsor McCay. Morrell Goddard, the originator of the Sunday newspaper color comic section, offered Lantz a job in the animation department Hearst had recently added to his Cosmopolitan Pictures Studio. "I started out in camera when I was 16," recalls Lantz. "Within three years, I was an animator on 'The Katzenjammer 'Jerry on the 'Bringing Up Father' and all the cartoons based on popular newspaper strips.

We didn't know much about animation in those days everything was loose and rubbery but my studies at the Art Students' League had given me a good background in drawing the figure in various positions. I also used to project Charlie Chaplin's silent films, trace them frame by frame, then flip the drawings to study his motions." By 1922, Lantz was a producer for the J. R. Bray studio, where he worked with such characters as Colonel Heeza Liar, Pete the Pup and Dinky Doodle. Some of the cartoons included live-action sequences, in which Lantz appeared as an actor.

I was a terrible actor," he moans, "I had four expressions." "He started limited live-action," adds Grace with a laugh. In 1926, Lantz moved to Hollywood, where he worked briefly as a gag writer for Mack Sennett. He then signed as a cartoon producer with Universal. In 1928, Kantz created the first of nearly 300 shorts starring Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit, a character originally created by Walt Disney. Despite his commercial success, Lantz re- Tonight at 8.

Hot-Tix on sale at 4:30. Now thru May 9. Post perf. discussion tonight. Info Charge by Phone 972-7654.

Deaf TTY 680-4017. MARK TAPER FORUM j'4 Center Theatre Group Gordon Davidson, Artistic Director Music Center mained something of a maverick in the animation industry. "I was the only producer, except Disney, who financed his own pictures, so I now own my films," he explains. "Every year, Universal releases 13 re-issues, and we recently signed an agreement to release another 190 cartoons for syndication that have never been seen on television before." Lantz also was the only producer to employ a woman as a full-fledged animator: La Verne Harding. "La Verne came to me with a beautiful portfolio," he says with enthusiasm, "so I gave her a job as a in-be-tweener.

She became one of my top animators, and was the only woman studio animator in the business for years. Most producers didn't believe a woman could draw the exaggerations needed for action, that they could only handle birds and bees and flowers. They were wrong, of course." Lantz's popular characters tended to be animals no one else had used: Andy Panda; the penguin, Chilly Willy; and, of course, Woody Woodpecker. Mel Blanc provided Woody's voice in his first four cartoons, but he soon signed an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. After experimenting with various voice actors.

Lantz unknowingly chose his wife for the job in 1951 she had slipped an anonymous recording into a stack of audition records. diction was so good," said Lantz. "She had been an actress on stage and in Grace Stafford Lantz initially declined screen credit because she felt children would be disappointed if they knew Woody's voice was supplied by a woman. However, she obviously enjoys the role: Her conversation is punctuated with the famous ah-ha-ha-HA-ha laugh. It sounds lightly lower in person, as the voice is speeded up 15 in the films.

Although Lantz stopped production in 1975, he remains active in animation and related fields. His films are in re-issue theatrically and on television in more than 70 countries. Universal will open a Lantz exhibit later this spring that will include film clips, a display on song Opens Wednesday at 8. In the Mark Taper Forum's New Theatre For Now Festival AQUARIUS THEATRE 6230 W. Sunset Hollywood Thru May 1.

Info 972-7654. for a Nisei fisherman by Philip Kan Gotanda Low-Priced Preview Tonight at 8:00 rl Low-rricea rreview lomgni i ttlEBWE WITH BLtT ILjEA 1 TONIGHT fO-tll lib HeHfjHUiHililil-- rTT Pl'BLIC THEATRE I Pt'K Producer I Saturday Mjtrrxfei 1 Suoetty Evenings ONLY, I KA DIRECT FROM ITS NEW YORK SELL OUT ENGAGEMENT 1 PJj NOW thru APRIL 18 oi Otfic Hours: ktoftday ihm talurday: 10 am lo pm; Sunday: CHARGC TICKETS tY PHONE WITH MAJOR ANTAGES "(213) 553-8101 Information Phone-Charge (213) 462-3104 or TICKETRON Group Sales: 213464-7521 CREDIT CARDS Ham mNtfrtHJht) CALL LP, "CLOSE TIES' HAS FRESH WRITING. OBSERVED AN INVIGORATING POINT OF VIEW." VII RIM RAID IKAMIWI SEATS AVAILABLE NOW! TlfSJ ShubeftThearrel FOB GROUP SAUS CALL 12111 201 1520 FOR INFORMATION CALL Century City 9 1 Ticktts availabta by mail, at Bo Olfict and all Mutual ft Tichttfon Agtncie (211 S3 9000 nn ivinui ix iNi stios ids iwkis ci A MUSICAL FIND. WINNER 3B BEST MUSICAL 1981 UA MOVIES CAPITOL OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD PirkSkm I OUGHT TO rXTUMS(KI 131 S. artnd 243-4261 LOW-PRICED PREVIEWS: SAT.

APRIL 17 TUES. APRIL 20 OPENING WED. APRIL 21 AT 8:30 PM Conmi. Cantir 3M0 Ft Stan Dr. NwtkN (714 359-6995 CATKOPU(I) t- Tonight at 8:00 "See it both a treat and a treasure Rick Talcovt.

DAILY NEWS rl CHOBU! UA MOVIES I CHARGE NOW BY PHONE (213)851-9750 VISA-MASTERCARD-QnOUr SALIS THEATRE A INFORMATION 1213)462-6686 U.A. mmiiULi VKTOR, VKTOtU(N) EGYPTIAN 712 Mywd. 467-6167 UA MOVIES TlNOMtShonCtr. OUtlOTS Or FM(PO) 32 W. rHtcrnt 606497-6706 tMCektl louGtrrati MrKTUHSIPG) ARWUR CHARIOTS Of Xi MMTtll) 661-5171 TICKETS AT IOX OFFICE AND ALL MUTUAL 1 TICKETRON AGENCIES UA MOVIES 3 E6YPTIAN 2 UA MOVIES l- VW MUUIII DMrt WISH ON OOLtM MtB(K) UA MOVIES UA MOVIES RKNARO PRTOR UV V.

ON SUNSET STM(R) 10-3 50-5 30 2 EGYPTIAN 3asnof mmjunirc) OUST FOi RM(I) 70mm 6 TrkCk SHrMlll WOO lomwrMitws(pe) UA MOVIES MUVIkS lowmroti VKTOR, VKTORIAIPOl irKTUMSiroi MIMES 0MIV CITY CINEMA i ought to km CKytorkr nCTUHS(fG) 714634-3911 CITY CINEMA MttitoocjO) 6W-6KW0 CITY CINEMA auttusrir) UA MOVIES CHARGE TICKETS BY PHONE: orTicketron. Group Sales: 464-7521. UA MOVIES MISSMGIPGI POMrSli) Convenient ftxWng Araltabls VVII KHIUP CITY CINEMA NoseattnglormefirstlOmlnutes 'PHFATRF CAT PfOni(R) ottntpertorrnanct. T2)-2: 3 p.A. 7 Lktdbrooh At 4 wtstwott 206-4575 LA.

BEVERLY HILLS tOMTtlt) CITY CINEMA "SPELLBINDING ENTERTAINMENTr GREGORY LISA HARRISON EICHHORN RUSSELL SpS. THE HASTY HEART JJ NOW THRU MAY 29 izSKfXt TODAY AT 2:00 8:30 i JJ i CHARGE CALL: 972-7654 A CENTER THEATRE GROUP ''(iSt MUSIC CENTER 4 AHMANSONiiiiaiki K. FtOFJERT FRYER BLd. Stfln RAGf(R) i.ni'in.iiif.-i.ri.u.'iuH-'n.uii.i'HJTT.UTt UA CINEMA 4335 6HOCM 622-2960 niTaffsnuv MKSHO(Pe) AIM ES Mr UA CINEMA m. Fwy Tykr OUTST KM HRf(R) (714) 6W-6022 CINEMA CTR.

ratTernuTi(t) UA CINEMA WtcMMBI. CITY CINEMA rkhaid wvor UVIONTM SUNSn STtr(t) iHk.so.wwi. matr wn () aumn or mirai UA CINEMA 1ft tt 475-9441 A CINEMA CTR. SUNT RAGf(R) UA CINEMA Gala Opening Tonid (klDotwl oust rot mm UA CINEMA tOM rotmjRi lift it CINEMA CTR. UA CINEMA UA TWIN EDrt SlOutH IV1 IMPB 1 iWIPG) ON GOttM KWIPel UA CINEMA VKTOR VICTORIA! PC DfTRTRAP(K) CINEMA CTR.

cusamuK(6 O. Fn BoW 714696-1243 UA CINEMA irjuotiioii PKTWISIK) 10-3: KhtO 100 Of MNSSirO) UA TWIN QUEST KM FKIR) UA CINEMA UA CINEMA MKSMGIPG) 714693-0546 UA TWIN UA CINEMA loodrrrtt A UA MOVIES OUST KM Fttl(l) Fwv So. St A UTTU SIJI) 40 Buo rl 924-1 tO, -5514 A At Liufki oust rot nri(R) zJ 766-4317 UA TWIN UA CINEMA RHIMES Ml louomroit Mncrvtisira UTMt(PO) 9:20 UA PC. 325-4232 ROtMtOOOIGI VKTOR, VKTOR1A(PGI i UA MOVIES naun riTOt uvi ON TM SMKtT iTKt) UA CINEMA SON ltd Of RBrOlll HATMES MT UA CINEMA i ought toh loo 0mm KM PKTURISIPC 924-7726 50-3 06 DEL AMO FiiMon So. Ma 542-7313 UA MOVIES iougntioh DfATi ntPiroi Verdi's STADIUM 6 ncrwH fOI WjKDtwy'l! a tootiei.

to i KaMh-OrrFm. tfabtaff DEL AMO Alt) MAX MVtMINj 061AT WMTIIPOI 3 UA MOVIES 1S-0KW UA CINEMA RKHARD PRTOR UVT ON SUNSn STRTIRI JuHt Andrtwi it STADIUM ON OOLOW fONB(fO) swttv nwoiroi 12: tutor, vktoria pbhonai UA CINEMA SoCoulPlu 714540-0594 1 UA MOVIES CAT PIOPUIR) DEL AMO UA CINEMA I OUGHT TON STADIUM DiATHTRAP(PO) SOW MM Of tnoft) via MWMjRl 10-1O06 MATH WtMIII 10 UA CINEMA noumiNi ARTRtfRlPO AUSSMfPGI UA MOVIES UA CINEMA Clwcfctorrlt STADIUM DEL AMO miriiii IVt UNDER TM SUNPGj BUVGEJS. 010 Use "Super Sellers" the little classified ads available only to private parties for merchandise priced $2,000 or under. Call (213) 629-4411 or your local Times office. Your ad must be prepaid or charged to your MasterCard or Visa.

'Ptri and Nvtirock art not ligiblf for thit iptciol rott. UA CINEMA stan ram Mn wna, iji 9:45 i own tow MncTumtroj 50-3 ivi uNDfR ni sun(po; SUN(PO) STADIUM UTTUHI(t; Muuioyiii)! DEL AMO VKTOR. VKTOIU(N) STADIUM factum PryofJ tow or mofa il WWAl'lillw 1030 DEL AMO MATMES MT 1 CMtlOTS Of rW(PO) W.50-1:30-4: UA MOVIES TowmCiniirPlui 7CMnl 714621-5027 UA MOVIES Pic.Cit.My. 594-6525 lOttttOOOIOI i buw ureal m. at Konijii OUST KM RRI(R) W-21JU SOUTHBAY I Hum Fwy.

2U5S-N11 Jarm Frinckcut mat whtiipo) tun wish UA MOVIES Tonight Saturday, April 13 and 17, 8:00 p.m. alto April 19, April 21, April 24, April 27, April 29 A May 1, 8:00 p.m. Carlo Maria Giulini conducts the Los Angeles Phillmrmonic Renato Bruson as Falstaff. Katla Ricciarelll, Barbara Hendricks, Lucia Valentlnl-Terranl, Brenda Boozer, Leo Nucci, Dalmaclo Gonzalez, Michael Sells, Francis Egerton, William Wildermann and members of the L.A. Master Chorale.

Directed by Ronald Eyre; scenery, Hayden Griffin; costumes, Michael Stennett; choreography, David Toguri; lighting, Jennifer Tipton. Some seats available most performances best locations April 27 29. Tickets: available by phone (213) 972-7611 10-5); also at the Music Center Box Office and Mutual nifZlt0r0 MUS1C CENTER RomaniK (213) 851-7866. doiuiiht chandiir Information (213) 972-7211. W.

PAVILION SWAtV TMM(PO) UA MOVIES 10-501 UA WARNER CTR. rjriOTi of mP0i POMY-SIRI 5 Yi SOUTHBAY AcaMmy Ann) Wkmri 0MAI WMTI I 36-1 WMTIIPOI ON MUM P0N9IP0I I-TO AtTIM PS UA WARNER CTR UA MOVIES knpirlcl Hwy. Orkm Fwy, 7147M0-4022 UA MOVIES UA MOVIES OUST KM mi) SOUTHBAY CAT PIOPUIR) 00-8 36 ISP POtlY'SJI) Mnmpiroi fTHTBCTIAtr HIR) Robart Rtdwd wiuaii) UA MOVIES UAMOVIES RKHAR PRTOR UVI ON TM SMMI STMt) SOUTHBAY CAT mruit) UAMOVIES RWAR. PRTOR UVi ON SUNSIT STMPII) Aumimm Chucli Norm SliHT l04l) UA MOVIES UAMOVIES I own to ti UA WARNER CTR. VICTOR.

VKT0tUfO) UA WARNER CTR. oust km mil.) UA WARNER CTR. SOUTHBAY UA MOVIES i own tom nCTUtli(M) I OUGHT TO Rl PKTUtlS(PO) 30-945 ncrunsiPOi Niitiuti KImM caipmpuirh AMfAKAN WtlWOU I Times Classified Private Party Ads UA MOVIES UA MOVIES SOUTHBAY UA MOVIES OMT'Sl) A UTTU SRI tKNAtt mm uvt i ON SIMtn STRTIR ra aAzvjj ON 0OUHN POND(PG) ilWIJJOJLIJlJJlillJJUJLIJUJli.