YET MORE PERSONAL...

Seymour’s granddaughter, Karin Kneitel, has offered to share some of the personal family items that she owns. Her father, Tommy Kneitel, was Seymour and Ruth’s first child. Tommy was born Jan. 28,1933, and is the infant/young child in these drawings.

Click on any item to enlarge

At the time of Tommy’s birth Seymour was an animator for Fleischer Studios in New York City. 


Not sure why Seymour is staying at this Brooklyn Hotel (see below). I’m speculating that since Tommy was born in a Brooklyn hospital Seymour might have moved temporarily into the Hotel St. George to be closer. In the 1930’s women had longer maternity hospital stays then they do today.  

Wow—stockings!!!  These were probably made of silk or rayon (then called ‘artificial silk’) since Nylon had not yet been invented!


















Stockings still seem to be the gift of choice. Tommy looks maybe 4 or 5 years old, so these stockings are likely still made of silk or rayon. It will be a couple more years--- 1940—before Dupont makes nylon stockings commercially available.

In 1933 Fleischer Studios signed a five year contract with King Features to make Popeye films. This pencil drawing that Seymour made for Tommy probably a few years later is curious in that Popeye wears a sailor tie (not used in the comic book or film drawings of Popeye) and he has a slightly different collar treatment. 

Done in 1938 or ’39, this is a drawing by Tommy himself! Seymour writes: “I showed Tommy a pencil-test of Gulliver- where a derrick was trying to lift his foot- he didn’t say anything but drew this picture and showed me it- Good isn’t it—Seymour.” Note that this drawing is on Fleischer Studios animation paper that uses the Fleischers distinctive hole punch system at the top.

Since this letter mentions visiting the Worlds Fair it must date from either 1939 or 1940. As I’d mentioned in an earlier post- Seymour and family were often separated with one in New York and the other in Florida (or vice versa)—with Seymour often traveling between the two locations. At this time the Studio was in Florida and a number of filmmaking activities that were not supported in that Miami location had to be carried out in New York.

A cute drawing by Seymour showing Tommy thanking ‘Max’ for a check. ‘Max’ is Tommy’s grandfather, Max Fleischer. 

Here’s a letter from Max Fleischer to grandson Tommy dated Jan. 1944. Max by this time was commuting between New York and Detroit while directing animation for the Jam Handy Organization. Here Max draws himself as a ghost carrying a corned beef sandwich!

Thanks for sharing these Karin!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Collection: Virginia Mahoney

Here’s another special occasion card made by a Famous Studios artist for my parents 25th wedding anniversary… which would date this from December 1956. My parents met while both were working at Fleischer Studios and they became one of the many studio romances that led to marriage. 


The signatures on this card are a good survey of some well known people working for Famous Studios in the 1950’s...


Al Eugster, Dave Tendlar, Nick Tafuri, Tom Johnson, and William Henning were long time animators—all had worked for both Fleischer and Famous Studios—as well as other studios. Bob Little and Liesel Howson, also long time employees, painted the animation backgrounds. Leonard McCormick was responsible for camera work and Win Sharples scored music for the cartoons. Jack Mercer was best known as the gravelly voice of Popeye….. Ellsworth Barthen and Mike Myer were story writers……and Mina Morrisey was Head of cel painting. Just to mention a few……

GETTING PERSONAL...

My dad was always in an animation state of mind. He didn’t turn it off when he came home at night.  He would get hysterical over a good ‘gag’ or joke  (before the days of e-mail good jokes were widely shared in person with the re-telling of it a craft in itself). Sitting at the dinner table was an occasion for dad to gather input from the family for anything he might use at work. In fact, if we suggested a corny cartoon title that was used, we could earn five dollars!  This generated a lot of hackneyed one-ups-manship between my two brothers, mother and myself. My brother Tommy swore he came up with the idea for the character ‘Goodie the Gremlin’ and he never got paid!! (Goodie starred in four Noveltoons, the first appeared in 1961.)

In addition, all kinds of life events were acknowledged with  one of a kind creations.  Here’s a selection of some of these unique drawings made by my dad, Seymour Kneitel. 

I especially like the one above made for my mother… it shows that humor at our house was neither high-class nor subtle.

A Valentine for my mother has a bit of a spelling problem, but love the sentiment.  In 1937, while Seymour was working for Fleischer Studios, the studio relocated to Florida. During and after that re-location there were many times when one of my parents might be in New York and the other in Florida.  Besides several separations during the complex New York to Florida move, there were a number of film production activities not supported in Florida that required Fleischer staff traveling to New York.

Envelopes and letters were great places for a drawing...

The P.S. in the letter “Give my regards to Bimbo” is a reference to a real life dog they had called Bimbo.

These last three drawings are all on Fleischer Studios animation paper.  When these drawings were done, animation studios each had their own preference as to the size of the paper, the type of paper, and the system of holes at the top that held the paper in place.  Details such as these can be useful in identifying from which studio a drawing might have originated.  The drawings below were made between 1931 and about 1938 during the time Fleischer Studios used this distinctive paper... 8.5” x 11” sheets punched with three holes at the top that fit their unique animation peg system. This paper was made specifically for them by Hammermill and is watermarked ‘Management Bond.’

This drawing on Fleischer animation paper looks like they’re temporarily separated again!

This must refer to changes around the house after the birth of first son, Tommy… which would date this and the drawing below about Feb. 1934.

Here's a sketch made about the same time.. interesting to speculate on where he was going with this...

I back-lit and enlarged one of the drawings (below) to show the ‘Management Bond’ watermark.  The Fleischer’s continued to use this type of paper until about 1938 during the making of Gulliver’s Travels.

All items, letters, envelopes, drawing in this section: Collection of V. Mahoney

THE FIRST WOMAN ANIMATOR!

In 1933 Lillian Friedman, while working at Fleischer Studios, became the first woman EVER to work as an animator at any studio.


From the early days of animation—and up until 1933—women were generally hired only in the lowly role of inker or opaquer. If talented and lucky they might advance to the position of inbetweener. But they NEVER worked as animators.


It was accepted thinking in the industry that women were not capable of the creativity required to be an animator, plus there was resistance to women entering this male dominated field. The article below from a Paramount 1936 promotional booklet includes the statement “Nobody knows just why, but women generally are not successful as cartoon animators.”


There’s also a telling 1938 letter that can be found online, typed on beautiful Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs stationary. It’s a response to Miss Mary V. Ford who wrote Walt Disney Productions concerning a job… the reply states “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school....The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions."

(click to enlarge for viewing)
Article from Paramount promotional booklet for "Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor"  1936     Collection: Virginia Mahoney       
Popeye copyright 2011 King Features Syndicate, Inc. TM Hearst Holdings, Inc.

In 1933 Lillian Friedman, an employee of Fleischer Studios, became the very first female to be hired as a commercial animator at any animation studio. She had joined Fleischer Studios as an inbetweener in 1931 at the age of nineteen. Animator Shamus Culhane recognized that she was highly talented and advocated for her advancement to animator. It was no easy job to convince the other animators to accept a woman working in that position. In addition, Shamus points out in his book Talking Animals and Other People, he had to devise tricks to make her accepted in the all male environment… and even though Lillian achieved animator status she was paid considerably less then her male counterparts.  


The film below, Pudgy and the Lost Kitten, gives screen credit for animation to Myron Waldman and Lillian Friedman. This copy of the film has German sub-titles which I always thought reflected how popular these films were overseas- but 'The Crazy HR' has corrected me... "This was for many years a 'lost film,' meaning nobody knew about the existence of any copy of the cartoon. This has subtitles because it aired on the Channel ARTE during their show "Cartoon Factory." (ARTE is a German Channel)


                            Film: Pudgy and the Lost Kitten  

                                     Betty Boop and Pudgy copyright Fleischer Studios, Inc.


The Internet Movie Database (online) credits Lillian with animation work on 11 films made with Fleischer Studios between 1934 and 1938—and shows she received screen credit on seven of these films, and was uncredited for her work on the other four. However,  IMDb did not include her animation on Sindbad the Sailor which the above article attests to—or a reference elsewhere to her animation on Betty Boop’s A Language All Her Own.  So Lillian animated on a total of at least thirteen films, with six of them uncredited. The lack of screen credit is not unusual since generally, although several animators may work on a film, no more than two animators received  on-screen credit. Lillian remained at Fleischer’s until 1939 when she resigned to be with her family full time.

For work purposes animators at the time were assigned to ‘units,’ each unit run by a head animator. While working as an animator at Fleischer Studios Lillian worked in three different units, each headed by a different animator… Shamus Culhane, Myron Waldman, and my dad… Seymour Kneitel.

(When giving credit to trailblazing women  animators I should also mention Laverne Harding who in 1934 went to work for another famous studio, Walter Lantz, becoming only the second women animator in the industry.)

Sources:

Book: Talking Animals and Other People by Shamus Culhane
Popeye Paramount Promotional brochure for Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor 1936
Ray Pointer online comments
Disney rejection letter:
       http://www.flickr.com/photos/polaroid/632255233/
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) 
Book: Who’s Who in Animated Cartoons by Jeff Lenburg

ABOUT INKERS AND OPAQUERS...

One of the great aspects of being part of an animator’s life was being on the receiving end of some very personalized artwork.

(click to enlarge)

The drawing above was given to me as I was leaving for my first year of college after having spent the summer of 1954 working at Famous Studios as an opaquer—coloring animation cells. My dad is the fellow helping me to the door. He never would have hired me … but when I went to an employment agency looking for a summer job  they told me of an opening at Famous Studios. Without telling my dad I interviewed (though surely the person interviewing made the connection) and I got the job. 

Before this I’d had little idea of what it took to make an animated film.  For people who were on the bottom of the ladder—like inkers and opaquers-- it was hard work that involved a lot of sitting over a desk with a slanted back-lit light table for a surface--- lots of eye and back strain. Didn’t take long to notice that just about everyone wore glasses. And everyone punched in and out daily on a time clock. As an opaquer one would get assigned to a series of cells, maybe 15 or so, that had already been inked on the front. The image on the cell was often not even a whole figure—all 15 cells might be of just an arm!  So one never got the drift of what the whole cartoon might be about. After receiving the allotment of cells one visited the paint department, which was right in the opaquing area.  This is where you’d pick up the several colors that were specified on a sheet that came with the drawing—it was so important to use the exact color specified to insure color consistency throughout the film. Next, one sets to work painting on the reverse of the cell—and staying within the lines! As each cell is painted it’s moved to shelves above the desk to dry. Humid days were awful- nothing dried and there might be cells sitting around the room on every flat surface, high and low, with every available fan in service.


Having  performed adequately—the following summer I was hired as an inker—sitting again at the same type desk—but this time laying a clean cell over an animator’s drawing and using pen and ink to draw a black line on the cell to define an animator’s drawing. Inking had a few additional challenges—one of which was making the ink adhere to the cell—since the tendency was for a cell to repel ink. This required putting a kind of talc on the cell—not too much—not too little. Plus one had to develop some skill at making a black line that was consistently the same.


The high points were learning more about the whole process of animation and meeting a fantastic group of people. They worked hard—but when party time came they were ready for a good time. And any time there was a special occasion, when someone left, or was sick, or got married… there would be these memorable one of a kind cards.

POPEYE FOR PRESIDENT!

It’s politics as usual in this 1956 film Popeye for President! Popeye and Bluto are both running for President and need only one more vote to break the tie… and that vote belongs to Olive Oyl. Dirty tricks abound as they vie for her vote. 


Planned to be timely, this film was released in 1956 just as a real Presidential campaign was in progress. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the extremely popular Republican President was being challenged by Democrat Adlai Stevenson. This was a rematch from four years earlier when Eisenhower first defeated Stevenson.

Some other interesting things to note. The 'story credit' in this film is given to Jack Mercer. In addition to story development, Jack Mercer also did the voice of Popeye. Mercer had been working as an in-betweener at Fleischer Studios in 1935 when he was overheard by Lou Fleischer singing in Popeye’s gravelly voice. Lou immediately put Mercer to work doing Popeye’s voice. In addition to working as an animator in training Mercer became an extremely versatile voice artist providing Popeye’s voice as well as the voices for many other Fleischer films.

Jack Mercer and Popeye   Collection: V. Mahoney

Mercer had a real talent for developing story ideas. He submitted hundreds of them, many of them ideas for Popeye films. Although Famous Studios had a story department all staffers were encouraged to come up with story ideas, and if a concept was accepted a staffer was paid an extra fee. 


Here’s two story proposals that were submitted to Famous Studios for a film to be titled Popeye for President--- both were written by Izzie Klein, who was part of the Famous Studios story department. These are two different proposals for a film with that same title, neither of which were used, though one has a slight resemblance to the final film of that name. It may be that Jack Mercer, who received the screen story credit for this film, used this basic idea and elaborated on it, producing the final story. You can click on the pages to enlarge for reading...

The two story proposals below, “TWO SCRAMBLED YEGGS“and “GUIDES AND DOLLS” are samples of other story ideas that were submitted by Jack Mercer. I get a big kick out of reading these stories in this early form…….

BTW- Seymour Kneitel was the Director of Popeye for President.

Scripts: Collection of Virginia Mahoney

Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto are copyright King Features Syndicate, Inc. TM Hearst Holdings, Inc.

SEYMOUR, IZZY, E.G. LUTZ, and "THE BIBLE"

This past January I posted several pages from the Standard Production Reference, the Fleischer Studios document developed by Seymour Kneitel and Izzy Sparber for in-house use. Often referred to as "The Bible," this is such an interesting piece of animation history I've now posted the complete document on this blog. To view it go to the black bar near the top of this page and click on “The Standard Production Reference.”


Some Background:
In my dad’s library there was a copy of the book Animated Cartoons by E.G. Lutz. Prior to the development of in-house animation manuals, such as the Standard Production Reference, Lutz was the first and most important book that existed on animation and how to do it. First published in 1920 it covers the early history of animated film, technical information,  details on how to animate people and animals in various activities… walking, running etc, plus ideas on how to create comedy on film. Below I’ve posted a few spreads from Lutz to give an idea of the book early animator's such as my dad used as a reference. (FYI: click on images to enlarge for reading)

To view more images and information about this very interesting Lutz book see Michael Sporn’s excellent discussion on his animation Blog:  http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2812

The Golden Age of 3D!

Could this be describing today? … No!…. What’s considered   ‘The Golden Age of 3D’ was actually from 1952 to 1955!

Film-makers have attempted to create the ‘illusion of depth’ since the earliest days of film. Experiments with 3D movies as we know them—with glasses—actually started as far back as 1897! But most attempts were for novelty, or impractical, and never got off the ground as a serious format for film until the 1950’s.

Patent drawing for invention of ‘set-back.’ Patent filed in 1933, and granted in 1936 to Max Fleischer. (click on to enlarge for viewing)

When Seymour worked as an animator at Fleischer Studios in the 1930’s they were using a completely different method to create the illusion of depth. It was technically called ‘the set-back’ and was used in many Fleischer films. This process, patented by Max Fleischer, involved building large miniature sets that sat on a turntable.  Painted drawings on clear celluloid sheets were placed in a special holder in front of the set. A special camera placed in front of the holder sequentially photographed each cell … after which the set was turned ever so slightly. When projected this created a terrific 3D effect… and in spite of considerable expense, was used in many Fleischer films. A number of other animation studios developed their own multiplane process with the same goal in mind—achieving a 3D effect. 

Photo: Dave Fleischer shown with 'set-back' for opening scene of Mr. Bug Goes to Town Fleischer Studios, released December 1941. Collection: Virgnia Mahoney

An interesting thing happened to the film industry in the early 1950’s. Movies had reached a low point in attendance--- television, an increasingly popular medium had taken away the audience! Attendance in theaters fell from 90 million in 1948 to 46 million in 1951. A favorite joke in our house was of a man standing at the box office asking what time the feature started, and the box office girl asking... "What time can you be here?" In 1952, just as theaters were desperately looking for something special they could offer the public, along comes the film Bwana Devil, the first popular 3D film in what would be referred to as 'The Golden Age of 3D.' Suddenly theaters could offer something TV could not...3D!!!

Poster for Bwana Devil explaining the 3D process, 1952 (click on to enlarge for viewing)
Collection: Virginia Mahoney

Bwana Devil was made in a dual strip process, which meant it required two projectors with a special motor to properly sync the projectors,  a special silver projection screen… and polarized glasses* worn for viewing. Most films made during this time used this process. Bwana Devil was hugely popular with the public. It not only brought the audience back to the theaters—it started a whole stream of 3D films that were made between 1952-55.

During this time Famous Studios made two animated 3D films, Popeye, The Ace of Space, (released 1953) and a Casper film, Boo Moon, (released 1954). To take advantage of 3D, both films used outer space as a setting.  The Popeye was directed by Seymour, and the Casper film by both Seymour and Izzy Sparber.

Advertisement for the Trade for Popeye, The Ace of Space. Famous Studios, 1953.

Popeye and Bluto are copyright 2011 King Features Syndicate, Inc. TM Hearst Holdings, Inc.

Collection: Virginia Mahoney

I remember going to the screening of the 3D Popeye film with my dad. He got a great charge out of the fact that the opening ‘gag’ in that 1953 film Popeye, The Ace of Space--- is the same ‘gag’ that had been used in the very first Popeye film made in 1933…. that of Popeye having to cross a great chasm by tossing a rope to the other side and pulling the other side to him. Re-cycling a good ‘gag’ was very common in those days. Popeye, The Ace of Space can still be seen at 3D Film Festivals today. 

Below is the Agreement between Famous Studios and Paramount Pictures dated July 1953 stating that during the contract period of 1953-54 Famous will make twenty four cartoons that will include both a Popeye and a Casper in 3D.

Here’s a 2D copy of the Casper film Boo Moon that was originally made in 3D. When Casper arrives on the moon the tiny inhabitants treat him like Gulliver…another bit of story re-cycling! You’ll also notice King Luna is a take-off on King Bombo from the earlier Fleischer Studio's film Gulliver’s Travels.

Boo Moon, starring Casper the Friendly Ghost, Famous Studios- released 1954. 
All character images are the copyright and trademarks of their respective owners. 

However, ‘The Golden Age of 3D’ was a passing fad, brought down by problems inherent in the 3D process used. The use of two projectors required them both to be exactly in sync—but film repairs due to tears, or even a sloppy projectionist could result in the two reels being out of sync, resulting in viewer headaches and eyestrain.  Also, the process required a special silver screen best viewed from the center with sideline seating often unusable. By 1955 3D was finished, and films using a wide screen format, that didn’t have these problems, were becoming popular. CinemaScope was to be the new fad.

3D periodically re-enters our lives. Some film historians see this occurring in 30 years cycles, pointing to ‘The Golden Age of 3D’ in the 1950’s, the brief 3D resurgence in the 1980’s (Friday the 13th Part 3, Amityville 3-D,  Jaws 3-D, etc.)– and in 2008 a new wave of 3D films started up again, energized by the release of the 3D film Journey to the Center of the Earth. 

The impetus behind this most recent 3D resurgence is again related to failing attendance at the box office. Since we can all now view large screen hi-def films in the comfort of our homes. theaters once again needed something unique to lure the public back. Again, the answer is 3D… this time enhanced with additional dazzling effects. When the film Avatar came out in 2009 it was released in 2D, RealD 3D, Dolby3D, Xpan 3D, and IMAX 3D. New and improved 3D films are suddenly abundant --- though so far we’re still wearing glasses…..

An interesting end to this story……Animation historian 

Michael Sporn has a post on his blog about Larry Riley who had worked at Fleischer Studios: 

"Larry also told of a 3D process he’d developed for Paramount in the 50’s when the movies were all going 3D…Larry offered to give me the camera on which he shot these films- he had it stored in his basement. He was afraid it would get thrown out when he died. I didn’t have room for it.” 

Larry’s grandson later told Michael another collector took the camera to keep it from destruction…. hopefully this bit of history is safely out there…somewhere….

*Most 3D viewing glasses during this time were polarized, with each lens the same gray tinted color- as opposed to the alternative type 3D glasses which have red/blue lenses.

Online References include:
Wikipedia
Odd Culture
Michael Sporn Animation
For the history of many amazing early 3D attempts see:
http://widescreenmovies.org/WoddCultureSM11/3D.htm

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Here’s a Valentine that my dad, Seymour, made for my mom. Living with an animator meant we might receive a one of a kind hand-made card like this at special times. Don’t know the year for this card, but it was typical.

This is also a Valentine from my dad celebrating Popeye! Seymour was Head Animator/Director* on 91 of the 230 theatrical Popeye cartoons made between 1933 and 1957, including the very first Popeye (these figures do not include any of the later made for TV Popeyes). The earliest Popeye films were made during his time at Fleischer Studios, they continued through the change-over to Famous Studios, and later to Paramount Cartoon Studios.

Popeye, a character created by Elzie Segar, first appeared in the comic strip Thimble Theatre. Olive Oyl and her boyfriend, Ham Gravy, were the original stars of this strip. Popeye appeared as a minor character in 1929, ten years into the strip’s already very successful run. Popeye quickly became so popular he replaced Olive Oyl as star of the strip. In 1933 Popeye made a ‘test’ appearance in Popeye the Sailor, a film in the Fleischer’s popular Betty Boop series. Popeye was immediately a huge success on film and soon was starring in his own Popeye the Sailor series. He became the most popular animated film character of his day.

A number of notable changes accompanied Popeye’s move to the world of film, some of which can be seen in his very first picture. In the comic strip Popeye derived strength from rubbing the Wiffle Hen, with spinach being used only sparingly. But on film the Fleischers consistently made spinach the source of Popeye’s super strength.  Also, this first picture introduced Popeye’s famous theme song, “I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.”

Here’s a typical Popeye film directed by Seymour,  “Little Swee’ Pea,” released in 1936. Note the wonderful 3D effect that’s created through the use of a stereoptical camera process (also known as the ‘set-back') that was developed at Fleischer Studios.

"Little Swee' Pea" 7 minutes....click on video to enlarge for viewing
*All occurrences of Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Bluto are © 2011 King Features Syndicate, Inc. TM Hearst Holdings, Inc.

Anyone on staff could submit a cartoon story idea, and if it was used a staffer could earn a few extra dollars.  Here’s a story idea (below) from Izzy Klein, who in this case was in the story department (many ideas came from animators and other staff).  His story concept is so similar to the story in “Lil Swee’ Pea” that I wonder if it might have inspired this film. One can see just how thin the plot is (this is typical), and how dependent the final story would be on a series of ‘gags.’  You can click on the text to enlarge...

Since anyone could submit story ideas, some are handwritten, some typed… any form was acceptable. They’re really fun—sometime later I’ll post a big group of these ‘story ideas.’

*During the time of Fleischer Studios film credit for direction always went to Dave Fleischer. In reality, Dave acted more as Producer and Production Supervisor. The actual ‘direction’ of each film was handled by the Head Animator… who was the first animator name listed in a film’s credits.

Popeye card and Popeye typed story idea: Collection: Virginia Mahoney