Moonbird
Encyclopedia
Moonbird is a 1959 short animation by John Hubley
John Hubley
John Hubley was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer of traditional animation films known for both his formal experimentation and for his emotional realism which stemmed from his tendency to cast his own children as voice actors in his films.- Biography :Hubley was...

 and Faith Hubley
Faith Hubley
Faith Hubley was an animator, known for her experimental work both in collaboration with her husband John Hubley, and on her own following her husband's death.-Biography:...

 "...in which Two Boys have an Adventure in the Middle of the Night..." as they sneak out and try to catch a Moonbird and bring it home. The film was animated by Robert Cannon and Ed Smith. It won an Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons)
Academy Award for Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....

 in 1959.

Moonbird featured the voices of the Hubley's sons, Mark and Ray ("Hampy").
For The Moonbird, the Hubleys secretly recorded the boys sharing an imaginary adventure before going to sleep in the darkness of their room. Their parents afterward took the tapes and created an animated film to fit their sons' story.

The cartoon shows the little boys climbing out their bedroom window and going on a quest for the Moonbird, trying to trap the Moonbird, and otherwise obsessed with the Moonbird which they never do encounter, though we see it following them about from place to place, leaping in and out of their trap, and in general keeping an eye on them.

The film has lapsed into the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

and can be found on numerous discount cartoon compilations.
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