Chuck Jones &Daily post 12 Mar 2008 08:31 am
Abe Levitow.com
- There’s a brand new site debuting today, and I’m pleased to say that my studio had a small part in seeing it off and running. Abe Levitow was an animator and director whose work I’ve long admired. I met his daughter, Judy Levitow, during the production of Raggedy Ann and Andy, and I really enjoyed her friendship. So many years later, she contacted me to ask about our sites and their design and told me that her family was hoping to put up a site to honor her father. The end result was that Matthew Clinton, a key animator in my studio, worked with Roberta Levitow in putting together the new site www.abelevitow.com, ______________ Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow
for the family, Judy, Roberta and Jon Levitow.
Darrell Van Citters was principal in organizing the archival material. As of today the site’s operational and in full swing.
The site includes lots of photos, artwork and information about Abe Levitow’s life and career.
For those of you who are not familiar with his work, Abe Levitow started at Leon Schlesinger’s studio where he worked for years, breaking only for work in the Signal Corps during World War II. He animated key sequences of What’s Opera Doc, Robin Hood Daffy and Broom-stick Bunny. He joined UPA where he was an animation director on 1001 Arabian Nights with Magoo, and he directed Magoo’s Christmas Carol and the feature Gay Purr-ee.
He worked with Chuck Jones at MGM where he directed a number of the Tom & Jerry shorts as well as co directing The Phantom Tollbooth with Jones.
Abe Levitow’s animation for Richard Williams was key to Dick’s films. On The Christmas 
Carol his animation of the ghost of Christmas Present revealing the two waifs “want” and “ignorance” under his robe is the finest scene in that fine film. (I suddenly realize that he is probably the only artist to have worked on both the Magoo Christmas Carol and Williams’ Christmas Carol.)
He died in 1975 at age 53.
This new site also announces the soon-to-be-published book by Darrell Van Citters about the making of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.
on 12 Mar 2008 at 10:46 am 1.Thad Komorowski said …
Abe Levitow was also Ken Harris’ assistant for many years before becoming a full-fledged animator. He helped work on some of the finest animation of Bugs Bunny ever.
on 12 Mar 2008 at 11:26 am 2.Larry Levine said …
Excellent site!! Abe Levitow was a very big part of animation history. Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol is among the top three greatest holiday specials of all time (along with Charlie Brown & The Grinch).
on 12 Mar 2008 at 12:47 pm 3.Tom Minton said …
The Bobbs-Merrill “Raggedy Ann and Andy” book alludes to Abe Levitow being instrumental in pulling together the story for the Richard Williams “Christmas Carol” special, no small task and an amazing job of truncating Dickens. Had Abe still been around, Williams would’ve surely used him to perform the same preparatory work on “Raggedy Ann.”
on 13 Mar 2008 at 6:47 pm 4.Bill Perkins said …
In John Canemakers book on the making of “Raggedy Ann” I recall reading that Richard Williams had indeed approached Levitow to act in a directing or producing role on the movie and was disappointed that he “would’nt play ball” not knowing he was terminally ill. As I mentioned on Cartoon Brew – we lost him far too soon. Incredible talent.