A Chairy Tale
Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart, Claude Jutra, 1957, Silent, 10 min 5 sec, bw
This
directorial collaboration of three of the geniuses of the NFB is a surrealistic
fable without words told through the pixillation stop-action technique.
In it, Jutra tries to sit on a chair (animated by Evelyn Lambart) that declines
to be sat upon, until.... The moral of the story recalls Aesop, but the
wit and marvellous sense of timing are all McLaren. This experimental short
shows the daring and originality already present in Jutra’s work by
the late 1950s. Music by Ravi Shankar and Chatur Lal.
Claude Jutra declared "McLaren is a blend of art, science, technique, and emotion. He is total creation." Jutra acted in and co-directed this film that McLaren shot partly with pixillation and partly at 12 frames a second. In this film, Jutra performed a sort of pas de deux with a chair, the movements of which implied it had feelings. This experience was a powerful one for him: "I passionately admire McLaren, Chaplin, and Renoir. That is my pantheon!" [source].
Awards
A Chairy Tale won a Canadian Film Award for Best Arts and Experimental Film, as well as a BAFTA Special Award, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Live Action Short Subject.
Screening
Sunday, February 20th, 1pm
Part of a tripple bill with
Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story »
Total screening time: 3hrs, with a 15min intermisssion.
About the Director
Claude Jutra
Norman McLaren
b 11 April 1914; Stirling, Scotland
d 26 Jan 1987; Montreal
FILMOGRAPHY
Seven Till Five (1933)
Camera Makes Whoopee (1935)
Polychrome Phantasy (1935)
Book Bargain (1936)
Defense of Madrid (1936)
Hell Unlimited (1936)
Mony a Pickle (1938)
News for the Navy (1938)
NBC Greeting (1939)
Scherzo (1939)
Love on the Wing (1939)
Spook Sport (1940)
Mail Early (1941)
V for Victory (1941)
Five for Four (1942)
Hen Hop (1942)
Tic Tac Toe (1943)
Chants populaires No. 1 (1943)
Chants populaires No. 2 (1943)
Chants populaires No. 3 (1943)
Dollar Dance (1943)
Stars and Stripes (1943)
A Rainey Day (1944)
Keep Your Mouth Shut (1944)
C’est l’avrion (1944)
Let’s All Sing Together No.1 (1944)
Let’s All Sing Together No.2 (1944)
Alouette (1944)
Let’s All Sing Together No.3 (1945 )
Let’s All Sing Together No.4 (1945)
Let’s All Sing Together No.5 (1945)
Let’s All Sing Together No.6 (1945)
Chants populaires No. 4 (1946)
A Little Phantasy on a Nineteenth Century Painting (1946)
Hoppity Pop (1946)
Là-huat sur ces montagnes (1946)
La poulette gris (1947)
Fiddle-de-dee (1947)
Boogie-Doodle (1948)
Dots (1948)
Begone Dull Care (1949)
Pen Point Percussion (1951)
Now is the Time (1951)
Around is Around (1951)
Twirligig (1952)
Neighbours (1952)
Evelyn Lambart
Blinkity Blank (1952)
A Phantasy (1952)
Loops (1952)
Two Bagatelles (1952)
Rythmetic (1956)
A Chairy Tale (with Claude Jutra, 1957)
Le Merle (1958)
Short and Suite (1959)
Mail Early for Xmas (1959)
Serenal (1959)
New York Lightboard (1961)
Opening Speech (1960)
Lines Vertical (1961)
Lines Horizontal (1961)
Mosaic (1965)
Pas de deux (1965)
Spheres (1969)
Synchromy (1971)
Ballet Adagio (1971)
Pinscreen (1973)
Animated Motion Part 1 (1976)
Animated Motion Part 2 (1976)
Animated Motion Part 3 (1977)
Animated Motion Part 4 (1977)
Animated Motion Part 5 (1978)
Narcissus (1983)
Evelyn Lambart
b 23 July 1914; Ottawa, ON
FILMOGRAPHY
With Norman McLaren:
Begone Dull Care (co-dir., 1949)
Around is Around (prod. ass’t., 1950–51)
Now Is the Time (prod. ass’t., 1950–51)
Rhythmetic (co-dir., co-photog., 1956)
A Chairy Tale (co-dir., prod. ass’t., chair animator, 1957)
Le Merle (co-anim., 1958)
Short and Suite (co-anim., 1958)
Lines Vertical (co-dir., co-anim., 1960)
Lines Horizontal (co-dir., co-anim., 1962)
Mosaic (co-dir., 1965)
As Director/Animator:
Maps in Action (1945)
Family Tree (1949)
Challenge: Science Against Cancer (two animation sequences, 1950)
Sing a Little (co-puppeteer with Jean P. Ladouceur and Wolf Koenig, 1951)
O Canada (1952)
Fine Feathers (1968)
The Hoarder (1969)
Paradise Lost (1970)
The Story of Christmas (1973)
Mr. Frog Went A-Courting (1974)
The Lion and the Mouse (1976)
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (1980)
Cast and crew
Producer
National Film Board of Canada, Tom Daly, Executive Producer
Animation
Evelyn Lambart
Cinematographer
Norman McLaren
Music
Maurice Blackburn, Chatur Lal, Ravi Shankar, Modu Mullick
Principal Cast
Claude Jutra – Young Man
Links
TAKE ONE tribute to Norman McLaren
The Film Reference Library's biography of Norman McLaren
NFB still photos of McLaren and production of "A Chairy Tale".
The Canadian Encyclopedia entry for Norman McLaren
