Tribute to Gene Deitch, The infamous Tom and Jerry director.

You might not be familiar with Gene Deitch’s name but if you are a kid from the second half of the 20th century and onwards to the 21st you must be familiar with his work.  

He is the guy who made millions of childhoods amazing and interesting with his animations. Gene Deitch- The guy behind Popeye the sailor man and the mischievous Tom and Jerry has passed away at the age of 95 in his apartment in Prague.

 

source- 9gag

Early Life and background

Gene Deitch was born in Chicago on August 8, 1924, to salesman Joseph Deitch and Ruth Delson Deitch.

His full name was Eugene Merrill Deitch. In 1929 the Deitch family moved to California. Where he attended school in Hollywood and graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1942.

After his graduation, he started working for the North American Aviation. Where he drew Aircrafts blueprints.

1943- He was drafted and underwent pilot training later he caught pneumonia and was honorably discharged in May 1944.

1940 t0 1951- Deitch contributed covers and art to a jazz magazine called The Record changer.

The 1950s- Deitch was the audio engineer and an early supporter for Connie Converse, one of the first American Singer-Songwriters. Who didn’t get much attention at the time and eventually abandoned music just be rediscovered later through recording that Deitch had made of her music in 1954.

Animation Career

1995- Gene Deitch took an apprenticeship at the animation studio United Productions of America (UPA).

Later Deitch became the creative director of Terrytoons. Where he created characters like Sidney the Elephant, Gaston Le Crayon, Tom Terrific, and Clint Clobber.

At the time of working at UPA, he also wrote and drew the United Feature Syndicate comic strip The Real-Great Adventures of Terr’ble Thompson!, Hero of History. Staring a courageous child going through different adventures. It ran a whole year from October 16, 1955 to April 14, 1956.

1958- Deitch’s Theatrical cartoon Sydney’s Family Tree was nominated for Academy Award. 

In August 1958 he got fired Terrytoons and set up his own studio called Gene Deitch Associates, Inc in New York.

1959-After a fallout with a client over an animated theatrical short which Deitch wanted to create but the client Rembrandt films promised to fund Munro on the same project.

He relocated to the company’s base in Prague, Czechoslovakia where he wanted to spend only ten days but in the meantime, he met his second wife Zdenka and decided to settle in the city permanently.

1960 to 1963- Deitch collaborated with Rembrandt films to direct Popeye cartoons and from 1961 to 1962 Deitch directed 13 Tom and Jerry shorts for MGM.

1962 to 1964- Deitch co-produced and directed a series of TV shorts of Krazy Kat for King Features with William L. Synder.

1966- He directed the film Alice of Wonderland in Paris. 

He also worked with a Czech animator Jiří Trnka on a feature-length animated film adaptation of The Hobbit but the producer William L. Snyder failed to secure funds for the project and in order to not let the rights for the novel expire he asked Deitch to produce a short film adaptation in 30 days.

For that purpose Deitch with the illustrator, Adolf Born made a 13 minute animated film that was never intended for distribution. 

The film was long considered lost but then it was found by Synder’s son and uploaded on youtube in 2012.

1969-2008- Deitch was the leading animation director of the Connecticut organization “Weston Woods Studios”.

Which adapts children’s picture books. Gene Deitch adapt 37 picture films for Weston Woods. All the way from Drummer Hoff in 1669 to Voyage to the bunny planet in 2008.

The studio was located in Prague near the Barrandov Studios.

2003-  Deitch was awarded the Annie Awards' Winsor McCay Award by ASIFA-Hollywood for a lifetime contribution to the art of animation. 

Personal life and death 

Gene Deitch married his first wife in 1943. He met her when they were both working at the North American Aviation. 

Marrie and Deitch have three sons Kim, Simon and Seth Deitch. All of them are artists and writers for Underground comics and Alternative Comics.

In October 1959 when Deitch came to Prague to spend some days in Prague’s office of his company he met Zdenka Najmanová and they later got married in 1964.

16th April 2020- After living a full life and touching so many lives with his films and animations Gene Deitch died in his Apartment in Prague at the age of 95.