Cotton Warburton | |
|---|---|
 Warburton participating in an experiment, 1933 | |
| Born | Irvine Eugene Warburton (1911-10-08)October 8, 1911 San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Died | June 21, 1982(1982-06-21) (aged 70) Culver City, California, U.S. |
| Occupations | Film editor |
| No. 13 – USC Trojans | |
| Position | Quarterback |
| Career information | |
| High school | San Diego High School |
| College | USC (1932–1934) |
| Awards and highlights | |
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Irvine "Cotton" Eugene Warburton (October 8, 1911 – June 21, 1982) was an American college football quarterback (1933) who became a film and television editor with sixty feature film credits.[1][2] He worked for theMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and for theWalt Disney Studios, and is probably best known for hisAcademy Award-winning editing ofMary Poppins (1964).[3]
Warburton was born in 1911, inSan Diego, California, to Margaret Warburton. His siblings wereLeland S., Los Angeles City Council member in 1945–53; Milton, Lawrence and David.[4]
Warburton attendedSan Diego High School, and won the California high school440-yard dash in 1930.[5] He brought his speed to theUSC Trojans football team, and was chosen as anAll-American quarterback in 1933. Warburton was the quarterback during a winning streak that lasted for 27 games, which remained unsurpassed at USC until 1980.[1] Cotton was elected to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1975.[6] Warburton's teammateAaron Rosenberg was also elected to the Hall of Fame, and also had a successful career in the film industry as a director and producer.
Following his graduation from theUniversity of Southern California in 1934, Warburton declined an offer to become a professional football player with theChicago Bears. He became an assistantfilm editor atMetro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios, where he remained for 19 years.[1] As was common in the studio era, his first editing credit came after about eight years with the studio,[7] and was for theLaurel and Hardy filmAir Raid Wardens (1943). He was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Film Editing forCrazylegs (1953), a film aboutElroy Hirsch's football career;Robert Niemi has suggested that the nomination acknowledged Warburton's success in "weaving documentary footage of Hirsch on the playing field into the film proper."[8] Shortly after this film, Warburton left MGM.
By 1956 Warburton was an editor for theWalt Disney Studios, where he remained for the rest of his career. His first Disney film credit wasWestward Ho, the Wagons! (1956). About 1960, he began a fruitful collaboration on feature films with Disney directorRobert Stevenson. Their first film wasThe Absent-Minded Professor (1961). At the37th Academy Awards, he won for best film editing for the "spectacularly successful"Mary Poppins (1964), which also earned Stevenson an Oscar nomination as best director.[9] He also won for best film editor at the15th American Cinema Editors Awards.[10] CriticDrew Casper particularly notes Warburton's editing of the film's "chimney pot" musical sequence (see clip to the right).[11] In total, Stevenson and Warburton collaborated on nine films in the 1960s and 1970s; their last film together wasHerbie Rides Again (1974). Warburton retired from editing afterThe Cat from Outer Space (1978), a Disney film directed byNorman Tokar.[3]
Warburton was a member of theAmerican Cinema Editors.[12]
The spectacular success ofMary Poppins, which was the highest grossing film of 1964 (significantly outperforming its closest rivalsMy Fair Lady (George Cukor) andGoldfinger (Guy Hamilton)), pushed company profits to record highs of $11 million in 1965 and $12 million in 1966.
Disney was the leader, his musical fantasies mixing animation and truly marvelous f/x with real-life action for children and the child in the adult.Mary Poppins (1964) was his plum. ... the story was elemental, even trite. But utmost sophistication (the chimney pot sequence crisply cut by Oscared "Cotton" Warburton) and high-level invention (a tea party on the ceiling, a staircase of black smoke to the city's top) characterized its handling.
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