Collection: Paul J Smith (1906-1980) Artist Biography and Art Gallery Collection

Paul J. Smith (March 15, 1906 - November 17, 1980) was an American animator and director who started with Walt Disney on the Alice Comedies, then joined Harman-Ising on the Bosko Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies and stayed with Schlesinger till 1939. In 1940 he began a 32 year career with Walter Lantz, graduating from animator to director, working to the bitter end directing the antics of Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy and The Beary Family.  Paul J. Smith also animated at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. By 1955, Smith had taken over as primary director of the Woody Woodpecker cartoon shorts, with periodic fill-in shorts directed by peers Alex Lovy, Jack Hannah, and Sid Marcus. With Smith in the director's chair, the Woody Woodpecker series maintained its trademark frenetic energy, while the animation itself was simplified, due to budget constraints. By the late 1960's, Smith became the sole director of the Lantz studio's output: the cartoon series Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy, and The Beary Family. Paul J. Smith stayed with Lantz until the studio was closed in 1972.

The initial version of Chilly Willy resembled Woody Woodpecker, except with flippers and black feathers, but he was redesigned in to his more familiar form in subsequent cartoons. Tex Avery revived the character for two of his most notable shorts, Cold (1954) and the Academy Award nominated The Legend of Rockabye Point (1955). After Avery left the studio, Alex Lovy assumed as director, starting by directing Hot and Cold Penguin. Chilly was mute in most of his 1950's and early 1960's cartoons, although he was voiced by Sara Berner in the initial entry. The next time he spoke was in Half Baked Alaska in 1965, with Daws Butler providing Chilly's voice until the end of the series in a style similar to his Elroy Jetson characterization. The character always speaks in the comic book stories based on the character. Also in the comic book stories (like Knothead Splinter), Chilly had two nephews named Ping and Pong. When the Lantz cartoons were packaged for television in 1957 as The Woody Woodpecker Show, Chilly Willy was a featured attraction on the show, and has remained such in all later versions of The Woody Woodpecker Show package.