Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

Last night, Charlie Rose aired an appreciation of a number of his past guests who had died in 2006. R.W. Apple, Stanley Kunitz, Milton Friedman and others were given a short clip of about a minute each from past shows. It made for a sad but interesting hour.

Prescott Wright died last Thursday. I had hoped to post something a bit sooner but decided to wait for the tribute written by Karl Cohen of ASIFA-SF sent to me Sunday:

PRESCOTT WRIGHT, THE PRODUCER OF THE TOURNEE OF ANIMATION FOR MANY YEARS, A FOUNDER OF THE OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL AND ASIFA-SF AND A GREAT FRIEND OF ANIMATION, PASSED AWAY ON DECEMBER 28. Prescott had been in slow decline for several years with Picks Disease, a form of dementia related to Alzheimer’s. He was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico and was 71.

Prescott was raised in the Bronx, was stationed in the Army at Ft. Ord and went to Monterey Community College. In the mid-1960s he moved to San Francisco where he worked at Brandon Films and then moved to Los Angeles to study film at the American Film Institute. He returned to San Francisco about 1970 to work on a graduate degree in film at San Francisco State University (MA 1975). While at State he was asked to be a teaching assistant and then a part-time instructor. He also worked again at Audio-Brandon and was running Filmwright, his own small film distribution company as a part-time business.

While working with Brandon Films, a major film distributor of American and foreign features and shorts; he developed a keen interest in animation from around the world. In the late 1960s several of his friends with ASIFA-Hollywood (Bill Scott, Bill Littlejohn, Les Goldman and June Foray) decided to put together an international animation program to be shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It was almost impossible to see quality animation in the US at that time. Pres was active with the group and having worked previously in film distribution, he was asked to head the project when they decided to show the program in other places (ca. 1969). Under his guidance the program became known as the International Tournee of Animation and he began to book the program at the San Francisco Museum of Art and other cultural institutions around this country. He continued to organize and distribute the annual celebration until Expanded Cinema purchased rights to the program in the late 1980s.

For many years Prescott was on ASIFA’s International Board of Directors (ASIFA is the international animation association with over 30 chapters around the world.). Until the Iron Curtain fell ASIFA helped bridge the gap between East and West by helping animators from Eastern Europe attend festivals in the West, to visit studios in the Europe and North America and to show their films in-person. Pres, David Ehrlich, Howard Beckerman, Charles Samu, John Halas, John Hubley and others worked hard to further international relations and to arrange for these screenings in cities with ASIFA chapters. He was also a founder of ASIFA-San Francisco chapter, a very active and creative group.

Prescott also served as an advisor to major animation festivals around the world. He was a founder and the first International Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (1976) and also served in that capacity in ’78, ’80, ’82, and in 1992. In 2004 the Ottawa festival made him an honorary president of the festival, but he was unable to attend the event. He also served a year as director of the Denver International Film Festival (1981/82), helped start a festival at Foothill College and was involved with several other cultural events.

In the 1990s he worked for a year for Disney as a spotter and recruiter of animation talent. After that he worked in both the Philippines and Southern India as an instructor and festival director for emerging animation studios.

In the 1970s Gary Meyer who ran the U.C. Theater in Berkeley and became a co-founder Landmark Theatres, convinced Prescott to expand his distribution of the Tournee of Animation to theaters. Gary says, “We needed interesting new programming and approached Prescott about showing the Tournee in theaters. He had only screened at colleges and museums. He took the leap with us and the result was a greatly expanded audience for animated shorts. At a certain point he got burned out. Assembling a feature length package, distributing it and keeping a couple dozen filmmakers happy is an overwhelming task. We agreed to buy the Tournee with the understanding that Prescott would continue to provide guidance as we moved forward. And what a mentor he was!”

Author and animation historian Jerry Beck writes, “I met Prescott shortly after I moved to L.A. in 1986, when I came to work with Terry Thoren to distribute the Tournee for Expanded Entertainment. Prescott was always friendly, knowledgeable and eager to help us communicate with filmmakers and theatre owners across the country and around the world. Prescott was a pioneer – in those pre-cable, pre-Internet days – in getting independent and international animation showcased and making those films accessible to those unable to attend festivals in far off lands. Without Wright’s vision, the Ottawa festival would not be what it is; successor-touring programs like Spike and Mike and The Animation Show would not be and ASIFA-SF would not be the strong chapter it is.”

Prescott ‘s daughter Maureen Wright, her family, and his brother Roger Wright from Florida and a few friends will have a small ceremony in his honor in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the first week of January. His ashes will be buried with full military honors at the Santa Fe National Cemetery (date to be confirmed). The Aspen Funeral Alternatives in Albuquerque is handling the arrangements (505-323-9000).

ASIFA-San Francisco will dedicate some time at their Friday, Jan. 5 ASIFA 12th Night Party to honor his memory and invites those of who knew him or were inspired by his programs to send their newsletter a memory of him to share with others for the February newsletter and on their website. karlcohen@earthlink.net

(All images enlarge by clicking.).
Images above are:
1. A caricature of Prescott Wright by Zagreb’s own Borivoj Dovnikovi.
2. Prescott in 1971.
3. Prescott in Ottawa 1978.

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