George Pal, de vergeten Hongaarse Oscarwinnaar

Abstract

The name of the Hungarian animation film maker and producer George Pal (1908–1980) is almost unknown both in his home country Hungary and in the Netherlands, even though he played a key role in the formation of the Dutch animation film industry and was later granted with eight Oscars after he had emigrated to the USA. Once personally for the invention of a new animation film making technique, the so-called Puppetoon system. In this article I would like to summarize and fill his biography with until now unknown facts. Besides that, I would like to introduce his development, the puppetoon-system and demonstrate why we should see Pal as the founder of the Dutch industrial animation production.