Seasons Drawings! (Part 1)

Have some holiday cards from different collections to share, in the spirit of re-gifting. This first one was sent to Howard Beckerman from Pablo Ferro. The return address is Pablo’s mother’s Hell’s Kitchen apartment, so I figure it’s from 1953, Pablo’s first year at Tempo Productions.

These next half-dozen were done by Phil Kimmelman. In the first, note the influence Phil and Pablo had upon each other.

Always the prankster, Phil parodied himself relentlessly.

Another batch came from the Dazzo Family collection. One done by Jack.

Something from a bin of commercial stuff. I have no idea who did this piece.

And one to the Dazzos from Doug Crane.-The Three Wise Men are the Freak Brothers.

Doug Crane was born in Bronxville. Upon graduating high school in 1957 he started at Gene Deitch’s version of Terrytoons, then off to the Army the next year. After two years of drawing for the Army’s Training Aids Department, Crane returned to Terrytoons.

Crane mostly worked on THE DEPUTY DAWG SHOW. In 1963 he was on one episode of THE MIGHTY HERCULES for Joe Oriolo. Crane went to Paramount Cartoons for THE MIGHTY THOR and stuck around for the Bakshi shorts. 1967 took him over the bridge to Bill Ackerman’s shop in New Jersey. Early 1968 brought Crane to Pelican Films. Later that year he was with Krantz for SPIDERMAN. In autumn 1969 he joined Perpetual Motion Pictures and drew teleblurbs. Doug Crane also worked for Maurice Sendak at Sheriss Productions, for John Paratore on some SESAME STREET bits, for Richard Williams on the Raggedy Ann musical, and Shamus Culhane on KING OF THE BEASTS. Crane also participated in Farmhouse Films’ abysmal Muhammad Ali series.

Circa 1977 Hanna-Barbera decided to open a New York branch at 1 East 57th Street. East coast artists Doug Crane, Red Auguston, and Dave Tendlar contributed to SUPER FRIENDS there. At H-B Crane animated a season of GODZILLA, then went to Zander’s Animation Parlour for GNOMES, and worked on a sequence of HEAVY METAL for Columbia Pictures. What followed was a lot of uninspired shows for H-B, Filmation, and finally winding down as a layout artist with MTV.

An interesting piece among Jack Dazzo’s stuff was a model sheet of Santa that Rowland Wilson hsd done as an invitation to a Phil Kimmelman & Associates Christmas Party.

The bulk of the cards I have are from a box stored in Shirley Creazzo’s basement.

A card from Mildred Hado. All that Top Cel tells us is that she had a child in 1952 and worked at Sturgis-Grant Productions in 1960.

A holiday invitation from Famous Studios stalwart Bill Hudson and his wife Teddie.

There are five in Creazzo’s collection from Frank Napoleon, who joined Fleischer Studios just in time to go down to Miami.

As an inbetweener Frank Napoleon contributed to the two feature films at Fleischer and returned to New York with Famous Studios. He was drafted and stationed at the Guthkara, India animation unit. After the war Frank Napoleon returned to Famous Studios. He settled in to raise a family, showing up at Pelican Films during 1962. .

Frank Napoleon spent his later years at Buzzco Associates as an Inbetweener.

There is only one card from Fred Eng, drawn by his wife Anne Yula Eng.

Born in China, Fred Eng migrated to New York at age thirteen. His art career started as a sign painter in Chinatown, before attending art school in San Francisco. Fred started lettering comic books in 1941, The Army sent Fred Eng to Morocco to make maps for the North African campaign.

Returning to NYC, Eng illustrated for top-brand magazines. In 1952 he placed an ad in the Top Cel newsletter, resulting in his being hired by Carlton Reiter Associates. In 1954 Eng moved to Screen Gems as an Assistant Animator, working on animated television commercials alongside Ken Walker, Vince Cafarelli, Fred Mogub, and Keith Robinson.

Screen Gems closed near the end of 1955. Vince Cafarelli and Keith Robinson went to UPA. Fred Mogub took a job bellhopping at the Wentworth Hotel. Ken Walker and Fred Eng went to the Bill Sturm Studio. Eng reunited with Cafarelli and Mogub in 1958 at Gifford Animation.

Fred Eng’s Christmas-themed art shows up on an ESQUIRE cover.

The Creazzox also preserved eight cards sent to them by Pepe Ruiz.

When the New York crew organized a union local the Hollywood chapter sent Pepe Ruiz east to be their Business Agent. He held the post for more than two decades, advocating for those on the labor force while keeping management in line. The often blurry parameters of those two sides inherent in the animation world made Pepe a controversial figure, both beloved and despised. His Riverside Drive apartment, crammed with filing cabinets full of Screen Cartoonist Guild documents, hosted many a union debate. Ever vigilante, most weekdays Pepe would be found roaming the Times Square studios, or camped out at the Rustic Bar dispensing advice.

The remaining piece in the Creazzo box is a card they seem to have created with their children.

NEXT MONDAY: More cards – from Fleischer, Dave Tendlar, Howard Beckerman – among others!