Fat Albert

…as a 35 year old classic makes its reemergence, along with one of the artists who created it.

LOS ANGELES – When Leo D. Sullivan looks back on an animation career that spans almost half a century, he can look back with pride, (and has the boxes in his closets to prove it) at a multitude of animated projects he (and his wife Lyn) has had his multi-talented left hand in. They include projects as diverse as legendary animator Bob Clampett’s “Beany and Cecil” series, classic Hanna-Barbera series “Scooby-Doo”, “Superfriends” and the “Flintstones”, (among others); an animated series based on boxing great Muhammad Ali, and “Turn On”, itself a legend in that the George Schlatter produced series was cancelled after its first ABC broadcast.

One particular box in his closet, however, holds memories and mementoes of a different sort…with the classic cartoon character, current urbanwear icon and latest toon-turned-thespian, “Fat Albert”. Many, of course, remember the happy, heavy set ‘hey-hey-hey’er and his pals from the long running animated series (hosted by its live-action creator, Dr. William H. Cosby, E.D.) that ran on CBS from 1972-1982, then entered syndication in 1984. The drawings emptied from this box, however, reflect not the well known Cosby Kid images that are currently a staple of urban youth Fubu wear, but a looser, rougher, grittier version of the character that hasn’t been seen in public since the early ‘70’s.

This version of the Junkyard Gang were the stars of a DePatie-Freeling produced animated special, “Hey, Hey, Hey It’s Fat Albert”, that aired on NBC in 1969 and represented the first visualization of characters that had previously only existed as standup routines in Cosby’s comedy act. Sullivan was brought on board the project by director Ken Mundie as one of its seven animators.

It was unique experience not only in terms of the subject matter at the time (being one of the first animated TV projects with an all black cast, post civil rights era), but in the way animation was done. Rather than the traditional drawn on paper/Xeroxed on clear plastic cels then painted method, then colored by the animators drawn with grease pencils directly on top of each cel, then colored by the animators themselves, and then photographed over hi-con, live action footage of various Philadelphia locations. It gave the special an energetic, organic look, though one, Sullivan noted, that was totally impractical when it came to the characters’ transformation into cleaner, Saturday morning-styled archetypes when Filmation Associates adapted the characters into series form in 1972 for CBS.

One setup Sullivan unveiled that was particularly impressive was a layout setup of the kids watching a movie in the local theater. (A subplot of the special was the kids sneaking in to watch the movie when they should’ve been in school). A combination of line drawings of the characters on background paper, (usually the characters would be drawn and painted on a separate cel level from the actual background), and sepia-toned wash painting on the movie screen (simulating an old B+W movie), gave the scene a truly unique visual interpretation. “I did this during my truly creative period, “Sullivan chuckles.”

Even though he spent a couple of years in the early ‘80’s animating on Filmation’s Fat Albert series, Sullivan particularly notes his more ‘individual’ involvement in the production of this ‘prototype’ which as earlier noted, hasn’t been aired on television since its initial airing 35 years ago. When mentioned to him that there were rumors that an ultra rare copy of this special may actually exist, Sullivan looks with a twinkle in his eye and smiles, “Oh really?”

Although he doesn’t mind such trips into his past, Sullivan prefers to look into his creative future. Currently his plate is creatively full, between producing a series of direct to video “Afro-Classic Mother Goose” cartoons, running his ‘afrokids.com’ website, and developing a number of new animated concepts, (including ‘AfroKids’, a new series of comedy-adventures with a group of youngsters that are, in their way, a ‘Fat Albert for the new millennium’) it looks like this veteran animator with a lot left to say will soon be hitting your homes faster than you can say, “Hey, hey, hey.”