Finding Aid for the Wah Chang papers, ca. 1928-2000, bulk, ca. 1950-2000

Processed by Arts Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Elizabeth Graney and Julie Graham.

UCLA Library Special Collections

Performing Arts Special Collections

Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library

Box 951575

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575

spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

URL: http://www2.library.ucla.edu/specialcollections/performingarts/index.cfm

Descriptive Summary

Title: Wah Chang papers,

Date (inclusive): ca. 1928-2000

Date (bulk): (bulk, ca. 1950-2000)

Collection number: 202

Creator: Chang, Wah

Extent: 2 boxes (1 linear ft.) 6 flat boxes

Abstract: Collection consists of biographical scrapbooks and exhibit panels documenting the career of special effects and film pioneer, artist Wah Chang.

Language: Finding aid is written in English.

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Performing Arts Special Collections.

Los Angeles, California 90095-1575

Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Administrative Information

Restrictions on Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Gift, 2001.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Wah Chang papers (Collection 202). Performing Arts Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Biography

Wah Ming Chang was born 1917 in Honolulu and moved to San Francisco in the early 1920s. There he began exhibiting his creative work at the age of six. After the death of his mother in 1928, he came to live with Blanding Sloan and Mildred Taylor. In 1938, Chang began his career in film and special effects by building murals, sets, and animated puppets shown at the World's Fair in San Francisco. He joined Disney Studios' Effects and Model Department in 1939 and worked on projects such Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi. In 1941, he worked for George Pal Puppetoon Studio as head of the puppet department working on Army and Navy training films. Chang formed East-West Studios with Blanding Sloan in 1945 and produced The Way of Peace, an animated puppet film commissioned by the American Lutheran Church. He later formed Centaur Productions, working on television commercials and toy designs. Throughout the 1950s he freelanced and worked on motion picture projects such as the King and I, Can Can, Tom Thumb, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao , for which he received an Oscar nomination. Over the next several years he worked on major motion pictures, commercials for such companies as Dole Pineapple, Kellogg, and Kraft, and various television series such as The Outer Limits and Star Trek. Chang left Hollywood in the 1970s to pursue his interests in wildlife and sculpture.

Scope and Content

Collection consists of biographical scrapbooks and exhibit panels documenting the career of special effects and film pioneer, artist Wah Chang. Includes original and reproduced photographs, clippings and ephemera.

Organization and Arrangement

Arranged in the following series:

Books About Chang
Clippings
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Exhibit Panels

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects

Chang, Wah -- Archives.

Cinematography -- Special effects -- Archival resources.

Genres and Forms of Material

Photographs.

Container List

Books about Chang

Box 2, Folder 9

Life and Sculpture of Wah Ming Chang (The)

Box 2, Folder 8

Wah Ming Chang: Artist and Master of Special Effects

Clippings

Box 5, Folder 5

Assorted clippings and ephemera ca. 1960s

Box 5, Folder 2

Cleopatra no date

Box 5, Folder 3

Early Years ca. 1920s

Box 5, Folder 6

Time Machine ca. 1960s

Box 5, Folder 4

Tom Thumb ca. 1950s

Box 5, Folder 7

Way of Peace (The) ca. 1940s

Note

Clippings and ephemera.

Photographs

Box 1, Folder 1

Miscellaneous photographs no date

Note

Seven (7) images.

Scrapbooks

Box 1, Folder 4

Award-Winning Movie Years (The) (1 of 2) many no date, 1961

Note

Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work on the films "Tom Thumb" and "Time Machine." Images with Gene Warren, Russ Tamblyn, George Pal, Ed Sullivan, Tim Barr, and Glen Chang.

Box 1, Folder 5

Award-Winning Movie Years (The) (2 of 2) many no date, 1961

Note

Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work on the films "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm," "Tom Thumb," "Atlantis," "Seven Faces of Doctor Loa," and "The Power." Images with Don Salin, Jim Danford, and Tony Randel.

Box 1, Folder 2

Early Years (The) many no date, 1928, ca. 1940s, 1957

Note

Reproductions and original clippings, drawings, and photographs of early exhibits. His work with Leroy Prinz, Serta Mattress, Popeo Paint, California Prune Association, Disney Studios, George Pal Puppetoon Studio, Morey/Southerland Studio, CBS Playhouse "90" series, and "The Way of Peace" puppet film produced by Wah Chang.

Box 1, Folder 7

Movie and TV Commercials no date

Note

Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work on a Hercules movie, the Sawyer View Naster 3 D Series, "Spartacus," a McHales Navy TV Show, and assorted commercial work including Schick, Kraft cheese, Pillsbury, and McDonald.

Box 1, Folder 6

Movie Years and Stage Productions (The) no date

Note

Reproductions and original photographs. Chang's work on "Red Skelton," "Magdalana," "My L.A.," "Jack the Giant Killer," and "Masters of the Word."

Box 1, Folder 3

Movie Years and Toys (The) many no date, 1952

Note

Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Masks designed and made by Chang for "King and I," "Can Can" and "Cleopatra," and toys designed by Chang for Centaru Productions.

Box 2, Folder 1

Science Fiction and Fantasy (1 of 2) many no date 1960, 1966, 1995

Note

Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work for Outer Limits, Star Trek, and Dinosaurs.

Box 2, Folder 2

Science Fiction and Fantasy (2 of 2) [ca. 1960s], 2000

Note

Reproductions and original clippings and photographs. Chang's work for "Land of the Lost," a special effects award, and a biographical story.

Exhibit Panels

Box 3, Folder 3

Award Costume Designers of Films and Designs for Bronze Originals of California ca. 2000

Note

Seven (7) images of awards and never-produced bent plywood chairs, and Three (3) photographs of designs for Bronze Originals of California exhibit.

Box 8, Folder 3

Can Can and The King and I ca. 2000

Note

Ten (10) images of Chang's work on Can Can, and six (6) photographs of Chang's work on The King and I.

Box 5, Folder 1

Dennis the Menace no date, [ca. 2000]

Note

Two (2) images and one drawing of a sculpture designed by Chang.

Box 6, Folder 3

Designed and Built for Star Trek ca. 2000

Note

Eighteen (18) images and two (2) clippings documenting Chang's work on the television series Star Trek.

Box 3, Folder 1

Dinosaurs and Masters of the World ca. 2000

Note

Four (4) images each of Chang's work on the films Dinosaurs and Masters of the World.

Box 6, Folder 2

Early Studies Age 17 to 18 ca. 2000

Note

Nine (9) drawings of Chang's early work.

Box 6, Folder 1

Early Works Block Prints and Etchings Age 7 to 9 ca. 2000

Note

Five (5) woodcuts, one (1) sketching, and two (2) clippings about Chang's very early work.

Box 4, Folder 1

Jack the Giant Killer ca. 2000

Note

Eleven (11) images of Chang's work on the film and the background projection by animator David Pal.

Box 7, Folder 2

M.G.M. The Time Machine Produced by George Pal ca. 2000

Note

Thank-you note and sixteen (16) images of Chang's work on the film.

Box 4, Folder 2

M.G.M. Tom Thumb Produced by George Pal ca. 2000

Note

Nine (9) images of Chang's work on the film, including his "yawning man" figure.

Box 6, Folder 4

Outer Limits ca. 2000

Note

Seventeen (17) images of Chang's work on the television series Outer Limits.

Box 4, Folder 4

Props and Costumes ca. 2000

Note

Sixteen (16) images of Chang's prop and costume designs, including a tarantula, gorilla, elephant, alligator, dragon, raccoons, and others.

Box 4, Folder 5

Props and Costumes ca. 2000

Note

Eleven (11) images of Chang's prop and costume designs, including Cleopatra headdresses, a Frankenstein figurine, masks, a giant razor, a gargoyle statue, and others.

Box 3, Folder 5

Puppet Movies for the San Francisco Worlds Fair ca. 2000

Note

Ten (10) images.

Box 4, Folder 3

Seven Faces of Doctor Lao and Around the World Under the Sea (The) ca. 2000

Note

Five (5) images each of Chang's work on the films, including a Jim Danforth sculpture and a giant eel head.

Box 3, Folder 2

Television Commercials ca. 2000

Note

Thirteen (13) images of Chang's work for Del Monte, Pilsbury, Kraft, McDonald's, and others for Monterey Museum of Art: The Imaginative World of Wah Ming Chang.

Box 3, Folder 4

Toy Designs ca. 2000

Note

Thirteen (13) images of toys designed by Chang, including Teddy the Tenderfoot and Centaur animated peek-through Easter egg.

Box 7, Folder 1

Walt Disney Studios ca. 2000

Note

Letter from Walt Disney and sixteen (16) images of Chang's work for the studio.

Box 8, Folder 2

Wanted Alive, Dinosaurs, Cesarean Section, and Alphabet Roll Call ca. 2000

Note

Seven (7) images and drawings of endangered species for Wanted Alive, seven (7) photographs of Chang's work on Dinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards, 3 photographs relating to Cesarean Section, and 1 photograph of Chang's work on the educational film Alphabet Roll Call.

Box 7, Folder 3

Way of Peace (The) ca. 2000

Note

Invitation and nineteen (19) images of Chang's work on the film.

Box 8, Folder 1

Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (The) ca. 2000

Note

Reproduction of an LA Times page and thirteen (13) images and drawings of Chang's work on the film, including wax faces and armature for the elves, a clay model of a dragon, and a puppet of Buddy Hackett.

Box 8, Folder 4

Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (The) ca. 2000

Note

Eight (8) images with captions of Chang's work on the film, including the yawning boy.

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