Argentine “Commercial” Animation, From The 50’s Onwards

In spite of having an internationally recognized tradition of comics (“historieta” is the local term, and perhaps the most appropriate, for the same reasons that a bande desinée is not exactly a manga), Argentina does not seem to have an equally powerful equivalent in animation. One could argue economic reasons, but it is true that with a publishing industry in retreat, the Argentine historieta continues to be drawn, to the point where it’s now almost an export product. One could argue organizational reasons, because, like cats, artists can be great on their own but it’s trickier to have more than one in the room; and yet, some Argentine animators rank among the sweetest creatures of Creation. To argue budget reasons and the lack of entrepreneurs willing to invest in such an enterprise -even at the times when cinema was still a possible venture- is a little closer to the core of the issue.

But in order to have a recognized tradition of creators we must first have a creator at hand. It may not necessarily be the specific author of the work but just a name to relate it to. This is easy in the case of comics, even when the creators did not own the property of their creatures: Popeye was by Segar and Superman was by Siegel and Shuster. In the case of animation, with its armies of cartoonists and technicians, things are not so simple; Disney multiplied its name wherever he could, and not without good reasons. I suspect that the Argentine animation of the last decades was much more prolific than one might think, and if it didn’t seem so, it was because its efforts were scattered in a multitude of different continents and contents, rarely related to the specific name of its authors. It was in the air and was taken for granted. Its trunk was the great school of animators who devoted themselves to advertising, but the ramifications were often surprising and at times unpredictable. This is the story of just a few cases, which by no means pretends to cover the whole picture.

How to define “commercial animation” in a place where its creators often work on a freelance basis? A broad answer (and not as obvious as it seems, in the Argentine case) is the one that allows its creators and technicians to make a living. That is not to say that some of these creators do not produce animation for their own enjoyment, occasionally touring that strange cult that combines movies and holy pilgrimage in something called Cinema Festivals. But this is for most of them almost a personal weakness. Our “commercial animator” is first and foremost a professional who lives from the production of specific seconds of animation and who has a “client”. That is to say, something like a figure of the past in a planet of youtube solopreneurs.

Luckily these professionals are far from being figures of the past and several are willing to talk about their work. The story they tell serves to begin the arduous task of naming names. Some of them can be related to a certain type of production, or to a specific company, but it should be noted that this linkage is arbitrary. The Argentine animator did a little bit of everything everywhere. That is his strength and perhaps – pardon my predictability – his weakness.

Although in Argentina there were small producers focused on advertising animation such as Juan Oliva, Burone Bruché or the already visited Quirino Cristiani since the big screen, the development of Argentine television in the 50’s generated a variety of studios and professionals that could be considered as a whole new world. The company that started with filmed television advertising was Kinevisión, in 1952, created by Leonardo Goilenberg, who had withdrawn from the Cinepa film production company due to the refusal of the directors to produce material for the new medium. In 1955, cartoonist José Zalnero set up his own advertising studio. Marcos Socio did the same, setting up his Publifilm. In 1956, Marcos Casado Sastre’s production company M. C. Films appeared, whose animation section was in charge of Oscar Desplats. In turn, the Lowe production company extended its scope to television advertising.

Early Argentine TV advertising:

As of 1959, a true explosion of companies was unleashed: Maherlandia (owned by Mario and Eduardo Maher); CITECO SRL (owned by Tiberio Adam and Mauricio Jakab); Producciones Constantini (owned by Carlos Constantini); Producciones Manuel García Ferré, Producciones Lambert (owned by Oscar Desplats and Néstor Córdoba); and Yuyo’s Film (owned by Mario and Aquiles Bertiller). In 1960, came Producciones Csecs (owned by Hugo Csecs), Mepa (where Jorge Martín, better known as Catú, made his appearance) and Avance, owned by Alberto and Enrique del Castillo, Osvaldo García and Matías Domínguez. In 1962, the latter incorporated, among others, Carlos Ceretti and the famous cartoonist Oscar Blotta (from Lowe), thus forming Printer Avance.

Carlos Constantini’s Mac Perro (around 1970):

Not all Argentine animation was limited to Buenos Aires. The director Luis Bras (1923-1995) developed an important career as an advertising animator and author of experimental shorts in Rosario, a city that today has a famous school of animators, directed by Juan Pablo Jaúregui.

TV advertising made in Rosario (likely by Luis Bras):

Some highlights of Argentine animated TV ad should include alcoholic chipmunks:

The hard science of the soccer ball:

For a short time, old people were also a fad:

For the next entry in this series, tomorrow, I will focus on a few names, principally Manuel García Ferré, and, as a privileged witness, one of his star animators: Alberto Grisolía.