Mark Hubley

I was born at Beth Israel hospital on Stuyvesant Square Park on east 16th street in NYC. Across the park is Friends Seminary the school I attended grades 7-12 and the oldest school in NY, founded in the mid 1700's. My brother Ray, sisters Emily and Georgia, parents John and Faith, and I lived on the upper eastside,

My parents moved from California to NY where my mom had grown up in Far Rockaway and Manhattan. My dad was blacklisted for refusing to testify before HUAC. Previously he had worked for Dizney on all the early classics, Snow White, Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio, and most notably Fantasia, where the introduction of the "rite of spring" of which he was the art director, portended his future work. There is a sharp departure from dancing hippos, the famous mouse who had declined in popularity and the other candy Fantasia offers. Two dinosaurs battle that follow a sequence that hints at evolution though edited down by studio gurus afraid of offending Creationists. *Using the animation medium to explore Thema beyond cartoon animals, to explore science, the universe at large, and human interchange," would be his artistic preoccupation for the greater part of his career.

Afer the strike at Dizney, my dad created a new film company with two business minded types, called UPA and they enjoyed great success while offering a new minimalist style of cartoons, some of which were socially conscious, Their greatest success, however, was with the curmudgeon Mr Magoo loosely based on my father's uncle.

Forced out of UPA because of the blacklist my parents supported us by making tv commercials in the mid-fifties and early sixties. They garnered considerable recognition with a new style of advertisement that mirrored modern art and used jazz tracks that brought sparkle and improvisation to the little screen. Commercials for Ford, EZ Pop, Maypo, Fizzies, Ruffles "have ridges," Heinz, and Vlassic pickles moved them to the top of the advertising animation world, By the mid-sixties they were able to leave commercials behind and work solely on projects that interested them; films that explored human relationships, culture, science, and society. Their small independent studio won 3 oscars amidst a trove of international recognition.

Mark, their eldest (that would be me), focused on horses from an early age (hence the cowboy outfit in the Maypo commercials). and has spent his adult life in the thoroughbred industry and the last twenty yrs in central KY. He rises before the sun and most of his time is occupied with four-legged equines and his Australian Shepherds "the service," who scout the vanguard to remove would -be assassins and other undesirables. Otherwise he enjoys time in Colorado with his sons and grandchildren, preferably on skis.