David Pal

David Pal (born George Sies Pal) was born in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands, on January 30, 1937, to George and Zsoka Pal. The family lived and worked in Eindhoven by invitation of Philips Radio for whom George Pal made animated film advertisements (which, at that time, were shown in movie theaters). He also created his first Puppetoon films in Eindhoven.

In 1939, with a reference from Paramount Pictures which had taken an interest in George's work, the Pals were granted an exit visa to emigrate to America, which they did early in 1940 on the ocean liner, Normandie, which relied on its speed to outdistance any U-Boat near its sea lane.

After arriving in New York City, the Pals traveled by train to California and settled in Beverly Hills where George began producing and directing new Puppetoons for the 1940s.

In 1941, the Pal family had a new addition in the person of son, and brother, Peter.

By the 1950s, George Pal was producing his first full-length feature films that combined live action with increasingly elegant special effects. David attended Los Angeles schools, including the Hollywood Professional School -- a highly-respected school for the children of film makers and film artists and for young people who were already working in some capacity. At the age of 16, he changed his name to George David Pal and expressed his preference to be called simply David Pal. In his mid-teens, David began an 8-year-long interest in motor racing, specializing in the improvement of high-performance motorcycle and automobile engines. He also did paintwork for Von Dutch -- the famous artist and pin striper. Eventually, he became the machine shop foreman at Tattersfield Speed Equipment -- owned by Schraeger Engineering. In his late teens and early 20s, he developed interests in the aesthetics of film -- especially still photography, through a friendship with Ralph Gibson, and also in the use of the animation camera.

In this endeavor he worked with Wah Chang and Gene Warren at Projects Unlimited, where he did stop-motion animation on MGM's The Time Machine (1960), "The Cobbler and the Elves" sequence in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), The Power (1968), and the television shows, Star Trek and The Outer Limits (the original). While in Germany, working on the Brothers Grimm project, he was introduced to the operation and technology of Cinerama's three-strip process by Thomas Conroy, Cinerama's Vice President.

Throughout the 1960s, as various wide-screen systems fought for market dominance, David was very much involved in the photographic aspects of film. He tested and evaluated a number of optical and photographic systems, as well as projection and display systems. At Cinerama, he became Assistant Head of the Photographic Department, and, at Cinemiracle, Head of the Photographic Department. After Cinerama acquired the Benson and Lehrner Company, David evaluated the prototypes developed there and tested both experimental 360-degree, wide-screen systems and ultra-high speed cameras. As a part-time director of photography at ABC's Wide World of Sports, he introduced the use of ultra high-speed photography of car and motorcycle races, filmed at 128 to 600 frames per second. He also applied this film method to Evel Knieval's motorcycle stunts, cliff divers in Acapulco, downhill ski races, and air races. At a Fairchild Optical subsidiary, he worked on the development of their new 180-degree field-angle lens and methods of using it. The lens was later used for an exhibit in 70-mm film format at the Seattle World's Fair "Spacarium. " He also tested prototypes, designed by Felix Bednarz, for wide-screen motion picture systems. He went on to be a project manager for the New York World's Fair, Government Exhibition, where he designed and prototyped display ideas. At Walt Disney Studios' Camera Department, he worked with Scene Planning and developed a simplified method of numerically calculating camera movements that gave a filmed scene a fluid and natural look. He worked at the CBS Studio Center (formerly Republic Films) Camera Department on such productions as Gunsmoke, The Wild West, Rawhide, Gilligan's Island, Big Valley, and many others.

In the 1960s and 70s, David worked on feature films (where, for instance, he developed camera masks to give George Stevens's The Greatest Story Ever Told a "Rennaisance look"). He also worked on several television series, including The Smothers Brothers Show, where he was director of photography for the opener. He also worked on documentaries, commercials, and special effects projects. After working as an art director for MGM-Europe, David worked as art director and animator on the Philips Cavalcade "History of Music" show, produced at Joop Geesink Studios (Amsterdam, Netherlands). He did various commercials for German and Dutch markets, as well as second-unit camera work for MGM Europe, and was on call to do automobile stunts. He was third partner, along with Gene Warren and Wah Chang, at Excelsior Films -- an Academy Award winning special effects company. He did the character and set design for a combined live-action and animated version of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

After leaving the motion picture business in the mid-1970s, David turned his attention to other areas of interest: The design and construction of furniture in partnership with Farhad Ebrahimi, co-owner of Quark Software; the importing of antiques and decorative objects of art from Austria and Hungary -- which required living three months of the year in Vienna; the opening of an Antique Conservation Facility specializing in the conservation (via museums and sales to private collectors) of Biedermier furniture, 18th and 19th Century time pieces, and scientific instruments.

In the late 1970s, David was awarded the Burlington House Annual Award for "Best Interior Design. "David, now retired, lives in Northern, California with his wife, Mariam. He has four children, Alison, Daniela, Jeff, and Jeremy. Mariam is an accomplished performing cellist specializing in chamber music, and is also a performer of classical mandolin music. She was Manager of the Los Angeles Mandolin Orchestra for over a decade. She is an accomplished painter who's work is frequently exhibited and had a well-known drawing and painting workshop in Los Angeles for 11 years. She is also an avid antique car collector. Alison is in Minnesota, finishing her doctorate in post-war German film. Jeremy is employed by the International Center for the Study of Advanced Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy and has recently accepted a professorship at Loyola University in Los Angeles. Daniela is a Physician's Assistant in cardiac surgery and resides in Phoenix, Arizona. Jeff is an MD working as an anesthesiologist in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.