Directing

Pete Burness

Born — Died

1904-06-16 — 1969-07-21

Place of birth

Los Angeles, California, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

Wilson D. "Pete" Burness (June 16, 1904 – July 21, 1969) was an American animator and animation director. He was perhaps best known for his work on the Mr. Magoo series. He also contributed to the Tom and Jerry series, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, and Rocky and His Friends.

Known for

Trouble Indemnity poster
6.2

An insurance salesman enters Magoo's house hoping to make a sale. Magoo refuses but the salesman is eventually able to sell Magoo some by posing as one of Magoo's old college chums. Magoo is now worth a hefty sum and is ready to collect after being bitten by a dog (actually a tiger rug) but, instead of going to the insurance building, enters a building under construction next door to it. The salesman and his boss notice Magoo walking around the steel skeleton of the building and realizing, "If he falls, the company falls", they rush over making several attempts to save Magoo's life and keep him from endangering himself.

Trouble Indemnity

1950

Bungled Bungalow poster
10.0

Mr. Magoo's house is towed-away by thieves.

Bungled Bungalow

1951

Magoo's Private War poster
8.0

The near-sighted Mr. McGoo takes his duties as an Air Raid Warden, in the civil-defense, cold-war/iron curtain days of the 1950s, seriously. When he stumbles across the premiere of a new science-fiction movie at a theatre, he thinks his town has just been invaded by outer-space aliens. He takes the on-screen activities as part of the attack and goes through all the civil-defense steps to save the audience.

Magoo's Private War

1957

The Explosive Mr. Magoo poster
8.0

Mr. Magoo has a windup toy mistaken for a bomb.

The Explosive Mr. Magoo

1958

Matador Magoo poster
8.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo, further lost than usual, mistakes a bullring in Mexico for a highway in the United States, and his myopic wanderings through the arena cause much havoc, and draws very few cheers, especially from the bull.

Matador Magoo

1957

Destination Magoo poster
8.5

The title of this short is a play on the title of the feature film Destination Moon (which itself has an animated sequence made by Walter Lantz and starring Woody Woodpecker) and once again Magoo and his myopia take an adventure, hand in hand, off to the "Moon". The life that man leads!

Destination Magoo

1954

Film credits

Behind the camera

Trouble Indemnity poster
6.2

An insurance salesman enters Magoo's house hoping to make a sale. Magoo refuses but the salesman is eventually able to sell Magoo some by posing as one of Magoo's old college chums. Magoo is now worth a hefty sum and is ready to collect after being bitten by a dog (actually a tiger rug) but, instead of going to the insurance building, enters a building under construction next door to it. The salesman and his boss notice Magoo walking around the steel skeleton of the building and realizing, "If he falls, the company falls", they rush over making several attempts to save Magoo's life and keep him from endangering himself.

Trouble Indemnity

1950

Bungled Bungalow poster
10.0

Mr. Magoo's house is towed-away by thieves.

Bungled Bungalow

1951

Magoo's Private War poster
8.0

The near-sighted Mr. McGoo takes his duties as an Air Raid Warden, in the civil-defense, cold-war/iron curtain days of the 1950s, seriously. When he stumbles across the premiere of a new science-fiction movie at a theatre, he thinks his town has just been invaded by outer-space aliens. He takes the on-screen activities as part of the attack and goes through all the civil-defense steps to save the audience.

Magoo's Private War

1957

The Explosive Mr. Magoo poster
8.0

Mr. Magoo has a windup toy mistaken for a bomb.

The Explosive Mr. Magoo

1958

The Explosive Mr. Magoo poster
8.0

Mr. Magoo has a windup toy mistaken for a bomb.

The Explosive Mr. Magoo

1958

Matador Magoo poster
8.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo, further lost than usual, mistakes a bullring in Mexico for a highway in the United States, and his myopic wanderings through the arena cause much havoc, and draws very few cheers, especially from the bull.

Matador Magoo

1957

Destination Magoo poster
8.5

The title of this short is a play on the title of the feature film Destination Moon (which itself has an animated sequence made by Walter Lantz and starring Woody Woodpecker) and once again Magoo and his myopia take an adventure, hand in hand, off to the "Moon". The life that man leads!

Destination Magoo

1954

Grizzly Golfer poster
6.5

Magoo goes golfing in an unbearable way. When Magoo and Waldo go to play golf, they wind up in the middle of a bear hunt. Magoo mistakes a grizzly bear for Waldo and proceeds to make the bear caddy for him. The bear continually gets clobbered by clubs, balls, you name it. Meanwhile, Waldo is nowhere to be found, and the hunters are closing in. Just as Magoo is playing the last hole, the hunters open fire (seeing the bear), and everyone runs away: Magoo, the bear and Waldo.

Grizzly Golfer

1951

Spellbound Hound poster
9.0

Mr. Magoo invites a friend to his lakeside cabin, unaware that a bloodhound has pursued an escaped convict to that isolated location.

Spellbound Hound

1950

Pink and Blue Blues poster
5.9

Mr. Magoo is hired by his neighbors to babysit their little son, Homer. Magoo is delighted to accept but, unfortunately, a notorious cat burglar is intent on entering and robbing the house Magoo is babysitting it. To make matters worse, Magoo is constantly confusing Homer with the family dog and vice versa. When the thief finally breaks in, all chaos breaks loose but everything turns out all right in the end when the thief is apprehended thanks to the dog who is more alert than Magoo was.

Pink and Blue Blues

1952

Magoo's Young Manhood poster
8.0

In a flashback Mr. Magoo thinks back in time to the Gay 90's when he was a young man, and just as myopic then as in the 1950s. He makes a bet with a friend that he can get a date with a star of the Broadway stage. It isn't long before Stage-Door Johnny Magoo winds up on stage in the play during a dinner scene, and performs rather well considering he was hearing the dialogue for the first time. Later, he is firmly convinced he had taken the Police Gazette beauty to dinner. No, her name wasn't Andre.

Magoo's Young Manhood

1958

Magoo's Young Manhood poster
8.0

In a flashback Mr. Magoo thinks back in time to the Gay 90's when he was a young man, and just as myopic then as in the 1950s. He makes a bet with a friend that he can get a date with a star of the Broadway stage. It isn't long before Stage-Door Johnny Magoo winds up on stage in the play during a dinner scene, and performs rather well considering he was hearing the dialogue for the first time. Later, he is firmly convinced he had taken the Police Gazette beauty to dinner. No, her name wasn't Andre.

Magoo's Young Manhood

1958

When Magoo Flew poster
6.7

Mr. Magoo sets off to go to the movies but goes to an airport by mistake and gets on a plane thinking it to be a theater. Little does Magoo know the man he is sitting next to is actually a thief and when a detective appears on the plane to track the thief down, Magoo thinks it's all part of the movie. After doing some wing walking, Magoo reenters the plane and exposes the thief to the detective. When the plane lands, Magoo remarks that they should have shown a cartoon particularly one with that "delightful near sighted fellow".

When Magoo Flew

1954

Magoo's Problem Child poster
10.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo returns from a trip and mistakes a ramshackle shack, near his home, for his palatial home. There, he finds evidence of all manner of crimes, ranging from murder down to counterfeiting, and jumps to the conclusion that his nephew Waldo is responsible. He gets Waldo and runs away seeking a hideout until he can straighten things out. Following Magoo's fugitive-directions, they wind up in the city jail.

Magoo's Problem Child

1956

Magoo's Canine Mutiny poster
7.7

The nearsighted Mr. McGoo goes shopping for a dog as a pet, and enters the pet store just as it is being robbed by a crook wearing a fur coat. McGoo puts a leash on him and heads for home as the crook thinks this will afford him a safe escape. But a policeman puts the collar on the thief and takes him to jail. McGoo, still wanting a dog, goes shopping for a replacement but ends up in a record store. He exits dragging a s statue of a dog, the 'His Master's Voice' trademark of a record company

Magoo's Canine Mutiny

1956

Magoo Goes Overboard poster
8.3

Mr. Magoo and Waldo are on a cruise aboard an ocean liner when the near-sighted MaGoo accidentally falls into the ship's swimming pool and thinks he has fallen overboard. When he tries to rescue one of the swimmers, the ship's captain jumps in and rescues Magoo. The grateful---and talkative---MaGoo informs the ship's captain that he will inform the ship's captain of his good deed and, when last seen, MaGoo is heading in the direction of the swimming pool.

Magoo Goes Overboard

1957

Magoo Saves the Bank poster
7.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo, on his way to make a bank deposit, boards a race-track bound bus instead. Mistaking the betting windows for tellerwindows, he keeps making and winning bets on long shots. The track finally tosses him out with his bag of winnings, which Magoo thinks was the result of compound interest growth.

Magoo Saves the Bank

1957

Magoo Saves the Bank poster
7.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo, on his way to make a bank deposit, boards a race-track bound bus instead. Mistaking the betting windows for tellerwindows, he keeps making and winning bets on long shots. The track finally tosses him out with his bag of winnings, which Magoo thinks was the result of compound interest growth.

Magoo Saves the Bank

1957

Magoo’s Three-Point Landing poster
8.0

Magoo’s car breaks down on an airport runway.

Magoo’s Three-Point Landing

1958

Magoo’s Three-Point Landing poster
8.0

Magoo’s car breaks down on an airport runway.

Magoo’s Three-Point Landing

1958

Magoo's Puddle Jumper poster
5.7

At a used car lot, Mr. Magoo is intent on buying a car for his nephew Waldo. He is slick talked into buying an old clunker thanks to a shifty salesman but he drives it off anyway. Unfortunately, the myopic Magoo drives off a pier and under the ocean where he mistakes the various aquatic surroundings such as fish, sunken boats, and seals for other cars, dilapidated mansions, and a horn happy driver respectively.

Magoo's Puddle Jumper

1956

Kangaroo Courting poster
4.7

It's springtime and love is in the air particularly for Mr. Magoo. Magoo is disappointed to learn his nephew, Waldo, had a fight with his girlfriend, Juliette. Magoo plans to have Waldo and Juliette reunited but instead of going to Juliette's apartment, he goes instead to a boxing ring where a boxing female kangaroo is sparring. Magoo mistakes the kangaroo for Juliette and invites her home to meet Waldo. Unfortunately, the kangaroo is trained to throw punches every time she hears a bell and Waldo is usually at the receiving end of the blows.

Kangaroo Courting

1954

The Fifty-First Dragon poster
NR

Based on the Heywood Broun story of an awkward Knight who couldn't keep up with his classmates at the Killing Dragons Knight School, until a professor, in order to instill self-confidence in the Knight, convinces him that he can kill dragons with the best of them if he uses the magic word. And so he does until he meets his fifty-first dragon and forgets the magic word, and loses his self-confidence crutch provided by a word.

The Fifty-First Dragon

1954

Magoo Beats the Heat poster
10.0

Mr. Magoo, intent on going to the beach, winds up in the desert instead. Thinking himself to be at the beach, he tries fishing (he hooks a turtle which he mistakes for a crab) and swimming. Meanwhile, a desert wanderer and his horse are lost beyond hope when suddenly they lay eyes on Magoo's set up. Thinking the whole thing to be a mirage, they decide to make the best of it by devouring Magoo's picnic lunch and refreshments despite Magoo's protests. After the hearty meal, the man wants to thank Magoo before he "fades away" by giving him the only gold nugget he found while trekking the desert. Magoo thinks the gold is a sea-shell and plans to give it to Waldo to add to his collection!

Magoo Beats the Heat

1956

Magoo Breaks Par poster
7.0

The nearsighted Mr. Magoo sets out for a round of golf but catches the prison paddy wagon instead of the city bus and winds up in prison breaking rocks. He complains to the warden, who he mistakes for the grounds keeper, about the conditions of the golf course, and the warden boots him out.

Magoo Breaks Par

1957

Magoo Breaks Par poster
7.0

The nearsighted Mr. Magoo sets out for a round of golf but catches the prison paddy wagon instead of the city bus and winds up in prison breaking rocks. He complains to the warden, who he mistakes for the grounds keeper, about the conditions of the golf course, and the warden boots him out.

Magoo Breaks Par

1957

Trailblazer Magoo poster
8.0

The near-sighted one decides to take a hunting-and-fishing trip, and hires a Native American guide. He quickly grows impatient with the guide and takes over leading the way. He winds up in a big city and in a park lake, trail-blazing his way over park benches, statutes and through the zoo, releasing a lion along the way.

Trailblazer Magoo

1956

Meet Mother Magoo poster
10.0

Mr. Magoo brings in his mail opening up a flyer for a store's "83rd Anniversary Sale". Magoo thinks that the flyer is a letter from his mother about her "83rd birthday" and begins to worry that maybe he hasn't spent enough time with his mother lately. He goes to pay his mother a visit to make up for lost time but upon arriving, Mother Magoo doesn't quite appreciate Magoo's attempts at being helpful such as baking a feather duster thinking it to be a turkey dinner. So she uses psychology to eventually persuade him to go back home (at least until next year).

Meet Mother Magoo

1956

Sloppy Jalopy poster
7.0

Mr. Magoo heads to a used car lot hoping to buy Waldo a new car for his birthday promising Waldo, "I'll be back with a little surprise for you". The crooked car salesman notices how myopic Magoo is and takes advantage of it by over-pricing the car Magoo chooses. Magoo accepts but the car salesman gets his just desserts when he unwittingly goes for a harrowing test drive with Magoo taking him to an amusement park where Magoo leads the car to the top of roller coasters and ferris wheels among other things with a police officer in hot pursuit.

Sloppy Jalopy

1952

Captains Outrageous poster
8.0

The near-sighted, and obviously rich, Mr. MaGoo and his nephew, Waldo, set sail on their well-rigged boat to catch Mighty Moe, the elusive giant marlin. Walso falls overboard and Magoo rescues a seal by mistake. Thinking he is giving brandy to Waldo, Magoo serves the seal with cod-liver oil, making the seal very happy. MaGoon ties the cod-liver oil to the anchor, sinks it and promptly catches Mighty Moe. He then sails for port with his prize catch, leaving Waldo, at sea, hanging onto a buoy.

Captains Outrageous

1952

Magoo Goes West poster
7.5

Mr. Magoo is depressed over the constant rainy weather. Well, actually, it isn't raining; he's just left the sprinkler running. Fed up, he plans to venture to California in search of sunny weather. Even though he never actually leaves town, the trip is a long one with Magoo driving through city parks and water fountains. Finally believing himself to be on the home stretch when going through a car wash, he is convinced he has finally made it to California when he crashes into a billboard advertisement for Florida.

Magoo Goes West

1956

Rock Hound Magoo poster
7.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo somehow or another is a nugget-happy prospector out west. In addition to mistaking a gold rock for a rain cloud, he meets an old prospector and accuses him of claim-jumping. Together, they actually discover gold.

Rock Hound Magoo

1957

Rock Hound Magoo poster
7.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo somehow or another is a nugget-happy prospector out west. In addition to mistaking a gold rock for a rain cloud, he meets an old prospector and accuses him of claim-jumping. Together, they actually discover gold.

Rock Hound Magoo

1957

Magoo Makes News poster
6.5

Mr. Magoo misreads a newspaper flyer thinking it is a letter from his power company saying they are shutting off his power. Outraged, Magoo heads for the power company intent on giving them a piece of his mind. However, instead of going to the power company, he goes to a newspaper printing officer by mistake getting tangled up in the machinery all the while thinking he is being given "the bum's rush". He returns to his house with the power back on thinking he has won. But the next day, he doesn't like the paper's editorial and heads to the newspaper office wanting to give them a piece of his mind!

Magoo Makes News

1955

Pete Hothead poster
8.0

This UPA cartoon introduces a new character, Pete Hothead, a feisty little man with a violent temper. Pete Hothead was featured in only one other cartoon. In this one he receives a parrot from a store rather than the radio he ordered. In his attempts to exchange the parrot for a radio, he cause much havoc, disruptions and chaos in the store. He finally gets his radio, but then decides he'd rather have a television set.

Pete Hothead

1952

Calling Doctor Magoo poster
7.0

When Rodney, a friend of the nearsighted Mr. Magoo, goes to the hospital, Mr. Magoo decides to visit him and to take along some of his cure-all, homemade elixir. But he makes a wrong turn and ends up on a docked-ship visiting a stranger wearing a turban, thanking he is Rodney, and gives him some of the elixir. He returns home and gets a telephone call from Rodney who is waiting for his visit. He thinks Rodney is delirious and ventures forth for another visit carrying a giant-size bottle of his elixir.

Calling Doctor Magoo

1956

Magoo's Check Up poster
7.5

After a rather unpleasant incident followed by a suggestion that Magoo have his glasses checked, Magoo decides to have his eyes examined. He mistakes a television repair shop for an ophthalmologist/optometrist and the fun begins.

Magoo's Check Up

1955

Madcap Magoo poster
8.0

Expecting a visit from his practical joker friend Smiley, Mr. Magoo instead entertains an escaped mental patient.

Madcap Magoo

1955

Safety Spin poster
8.0

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo (voice of Jim Backus) decides it is time for him to renew his drivers' license. Trust to form, he heads for the motor vehicle bureau but winds up at a maternity hospital.

Safety Spin

1953

Magoo's Glorious Fourth poster
7.5

It's the Fourth of July and Mr. Magoo is ready to kick it off safely and sanely forbidding Waldo to set off any firecrackers. Instead, he opts to celebrate by planting flowers in his garden. Unfortunately, he goes to a fireworks stand instead of a flower stand and purchases some fireworks thinking them to be flowers. He even plants them in his garden, no less! Of course, they are eventually set off with a series of explosions, Waldo panicking the whole time. After the fiasco, Magoo decides to soothe Waldo's panic by letting him set off one firecracker after which Waldo is sent to a jail by a policeman who accuses him of starting the fireworks catastrophe.

Magoo's Glorious Fourth

1957