MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SEYMOUR!

Another original card from Seymour and Ruth, who are yet again facing the Christmas season waiting for the birth of a baby. At the time Seymour was working for Fleischer Studios.

Christmas was a hugely important holiday for the Fleischer Studios people. Staff came from many different backgrounds, many of them were first generation Americans... and they represented many different religions. But no matter their background or religion, they all seemed to think Christmas was yet another great way to have a good time together.

They had a really big and crazy Christmas party in a rented theater or restaurant, exchanged these hand made and personalized Christmas cards with each other… and had a rousing good time. To see more about how Fleischer Studios staff celebrated Christmas, including more of the original Christmas cards created by staff... plus rare footage of a home made movie during one of these 1930’s Christmas parties….

go to…
Fleischerstudios.com

Click on the word 'Museum' near the top of the page (under Fleischer Studios).  This will take you to the Fleischer Studios Museum site where you can click to enter the exhibit, entitled 'Christmas.'

Enjoy and Merry Christmas… 
and watch this Blog in early 2012 for the next postings on some of the interesting ‘technical’ things Seymour was involved with. 

A Love Story...

My parents were married on December 24, 1931. They met while both were working at Fleischer Studios. They remained completely devoted to each other through raising three children and dealing with the sometimes-challenging politics of the animation business.

My dad had married Ruth Fleischer, the boss’s only daughter. When they met, my father Seymour was a young animator at Fleischer Studios. Another Fleischer animator, Shamus Culhane, in his autobiography, Talking Animals and Other People, notes: “The marriage made no difference in Seymour’s status in the studio: he was never given, nor did he ever ask for, special handling from the management.”

In another post I’ll share more about my mother. She was in some of Max Fleischer’s very early films, including roles in his short-lived and little known completely live action series ‘Carrie of the Chorus.’ Before working at the studio she had been dancing ‘on the road’ in an all girl troupe. In the late 1920’s she joined the staff of Fleischer Studios as an inker, progressing to head of the Coloring Department- and then to head of the Inking Department.

In an interview with historian Mike Barrier my mother talked about working at the studio “When I met Seymour, everyone became involved in the romance…It was a family; everybody knew what everybody was doing. The great part of it was, after work, we didn’t just all go away and forget each other.” This was a close-knit staff that spent considerable time together outside the office .

As they started life together it was with the background of the Great Depression, which began with the stock market crash of October 1929. Although many bussinesses closed or struggled to survive, this was not true of the movie business. Films and animated cartoons were an inexpensive escape from the troubles of daily life. In fact, there was so much creativity and technical progress during this time (at a number of animation studios) that the 1930’s is often referred to as “The Golden Age of Animation.”

Seymour’s Letter of Contract from Fleischer Studios (below) shows the typical salary of an animator in the early1930’s….eighty dollars a week. The second letter reflects the huge success and popularity of Fleischer films that allowed a bonus to be distributed to employees Christmas 1931.

Bachelor Dinner for Seymour Kneitel...

December 1931

This photo of Seymour Kneitel’s bachelor party was taken exactly eighty years ago, in New York City at the Blue Ribbon Restaurant, December, 1931. Seymour (front row center) met his future wife, Ruth Fleischer, while both were working at Fleischer Studios. Max Fleischer, Seymour’s soon to be father-in-law is in the front row, far left.

The staff at Fleischer Studios during the late 1920’s and 1930’s often celebrated occasions like this together. Staff also joined the studio sports teams (bowling, baseball etc), played cards and gambled together, partied together, and the men held these bachelor dinners.

Fleischer Studios was a training ground for animators and other animation specialists.While many worked their entire careers with Fleischer Studios (and it’s successor studio Famous Studios) others went on to work at any number of other emerging animation studios…. sometimes even returning later to work again at Fleischers. Many of the men in this photo went on to become prominent and well known figures in animation.

It’s interesting to note that, as with Seymour, virtually all these men would have begun their careers in the early days of silent black and white film…. worked through the introduction of sound, color, and 3D…..and by the end of their careers where producing animation for Television!

Seated front row left to right are Max Fleischer, Seymour Kneitel, Roland (‘Doc’)Crandall. Standing behind them are Frank Paiker, Willard Bowsky, Al Eugster,Ugo D'Orsi, Reuben Timinsky, and possibly Dave Tendlar (present but not visiblein this copy of the print). Back row: Sam Stimson, Charles Shettler, SamBuchwald, unknown, Izzy Sparber, Tom Bonfiglio (who later changed his name toGoodson), Ralph Sommerville, Myron Waldman. Collection of Ginny Mahoney.