Wah ming chang biography of albert

Sloan introduced Chang to the art of puppet making, and this talent had a lasting impression on Chang's life. Shortly after his mother died and his father left for Europe, Chang was taken in by Sloan and his wife to their Hollywood home and started creating film sets for the Hollywood Bowl at the age of Inafter moving back to Hollywood, year-old Chang began working for Anaheim-based Disney.

At that time he was the youngest member of Disney's Effects and Model Department. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. American designer — For the metals company, see Wah Chang Corporation. HonoluluTerritory of Hawaii. Carmel, CaliforniaU. In this Chinese namethe family name is Chang.

Early life [ edit ]. Career [ edit ].

Wah ming chang biography of albert: Wah Chang was an artist, sculptor

Later life [ edit ]. Death [ edit ]. Documentaries [ edit ]. Sculptures [ edit ]. Publications [ edit ].

Wah ming chang biography of albert: Don Coleman and Wah Ming

References [ edit ]. Jennie V. Oakland, Calif. In the meantime, Wah had gone to work for the George Pal Puppetoon Studio as the head of the model department. In addition to producing a number of animated "shorts," the company produced training films for the military. Some of the films required miniature sets and special-effects photography, tools which Wah incorporated into his growing set of skills in the film medium.

Wah spent a year and a half at Pal's. By then, ready to use his skills in the production of his own films, he and Glen invested their total savings in wah ming chang biography of albert equipment primarily a Kodak 16mm "cine special" and struck out on their own. They made a number of medical films. One was on oral surgery and another on a new Caesarean Section surgical technique.

A third, which was animated, illustrated a new treatment to stimulate the regrowth of motor nerves in polio victims. It has since been called a minor classic. A major project for Blanding and Wah during the "EastWest Studio" period was their production of " The Way of Peace ," an animated puppet film commissioned by the American Lutheran Church at the end of the war as a commentary on the Atomic Age.

The film premiered in at Constitution Hall in Washington D. Presented by means of puppets and miniature sets, a lavish production has been made possible; by sheer artistry budgetary problems have been annihilated. The story opens with the Creation and ends with the earth dissolving into the cosmos. Now man has invented the means of total destruction.

There is a scene of full-scale atomic warfare which is brilliant and unforgettable. This is a great picture and should not be overlooked. In Wah and Gene Warren, an associate from earlier studio days, were approached by Norval Krutcher to form a company called Centaur to do television commercials. Wah recalls, " We opened up a little studio on Melrose in Hollywood, but most of the time we sat around the studio waiting for any work to come in.

During this time, I did some free-lance designing. One of these jobs was working on one of the first models of the 'Barbie' dolls for the Mattel Toy Company. I also did some designs for a novelty company and had the idea for doing a small novelty using a bent wire inside a plastic figure to animate it. The first of these was a little harem dancing girl seated on a cushion.

When you turned the crank on the bottom of the base she did an exotic dance. We sold this to novelty companies and it became so successful overnight that we ended by hiring round-the-clock crews. We couldn't make them fast enough. Then we decided to use the idea for a more suitable toy for children. I designed a series of animals These were instantly popular.

Moving into a larger factory in Burbank, we had at the height of production some 70 or 80 people assembling toys, which we shipped all over the United States. This was the familiar red-haired clown figure molded around a pipe cleaner armature which you could bend and pose in any position. The idea was fine, but we ran into a mountain of difficulties with production problems and after spending thousands of dollars the company folded.

The costume designer for one of these productions, a musical called "Magdalena," was Irene Sharoff, who remembered Wah's work and later commissioned him to do the masks for the ballet sequence in the film version of " The King and I " with Yul Bryner at right. Through Sharoff, Wah began a long-term working relationship with the Western Costume Company, for whom he executed a number of special designs and properties over the years.

Wah now concentrated on creating sculpture of wildlife. In Hank Ketcham commissioned Wah to sculpt a life-size bronze sculpture of his creation, Dennis the Menace. Four sculptures were eventually done, one went to Ketcham's own garden, one in his studio, one at the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital and the forth was placed in Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey, California.

In Wah experienced post polio syndrome as a result of his earlier bout with polio. It was now necessary for Wah to use a walker to get around and Glen was now doing more of the business dealings regarding his bronze sculptures. A few years ago Glen passed away and today Wah has a live in helper who takes care of the daily tasks. Now at age 83 he is still solving problems with creativity.

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He gets around the house with the use of his walker which he has modified by the addition of a metal basket in which he has on hand paper, pens, his incoming and out going correspondence and his cordless telephone, in essence his own portable office. In Wah had a showing at his local art gallery of a photographic study of many of his accomplishments ranging from his early years up to his sculptures.

Although he doesn't have the strength and stamina to do his sculptures any longer, he has discovered the PC. On our recent visit with him in January this year he showed my wife and I his current art projects he has created using his PC. We've not seen the end of the creative endeavors of this great talent yet! Wah Ming Chang passes away at a. Virginia Park, Wah's caretaker and companion for the last seven years of Wah's life, said in reference to his relationship with his wife Glen "It was a love story that never actually ended.

At in the morning, he said it again. A few hours later, he was gone. Details on the memorial service held for Wah Ming Chang. If you entered this page from other than our main page and you are not in a frame set no page directory on the left Click Here. Magnolia Blvd.