I Wanna Mink

1 Jan 1959
Sound
8m

A cartoon cautionary tale of a marriage turning sour, featuring real-life husband and wife Sam Wanamaker and Charlotte Holland

When the sea of matrimony turns tempestuous. This cartoon cautionary tale sees the relationship of Herbie and Abby turn from sweet, to sour, to acid... literally. The HaBa Tales series was initiated by Halas & Batchelor to try and make animation for the limited budgets of the new commercial TV channels. Significantly, with this title in particular, the stories aimed at adult audiences rather than suggesting cartoons are just for children.

The pared back look of the drawings was partly to do with designing for the black-and-white 405-line televisions of the time, but mostly to do with cutting costs. Rather than trace pencil drawings onto cels as in traditional animation, here the artists drew directly onto cels with wax pencils. The voices of real-life husband and wife Sam Wanamaker and Charlotte Holland bring an added kudos to the production.

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From the collection

Halas & Batchelor

Celebrating the vital and varied work of the pioneering British animation studio

Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films were a defining force in British animation for more than five decades. Founded in 1940 by the Hungarian-born John Halas and Watford-born Joy Batchelor, the company progressed from producing cinema advertisements to creating vital public information films during and after the Second World War, before producing Britain's first animated feature film, Animal Farm, in 1954.

Whether working in advertising, children's television or independent short films, Halas and Batchelor championed animation as both a commercial enterprise and an art form. Though more than the story of John and Joy, their vision, advocacy and innovation helped shape the careers of generations of artists and practitioners, while bringing a broad range animated storytelling to audiences on screens both large and small.