Terrytoons and Gene Deitch

I love animation. Not as much as comics, but I have favorites, too.

Let me get into Terrytoons. They are generally considered the worst of the "golden age" animation studios. I can see that. Dull characters, boring storylines, and generic animation.

There were, however, few highlights, including Jim Tyer's wacky animation, Heckle and Jeckle (which generally had better storylines), to name a few. Otherwise, they were the least progressive animation studios; their early '50s animation can be easily mistaken for their early '40s work.

However this all changed in the mid-1950s. Paul Terry sold the studio to CBS and they decided to change things up, so they hired Gene Deitch to re-imagine the studio.

Boy did he bring changes. He got rid of Mighty Mouse, Heckle & Jeckle, et al and brought in new characters, including Clint Clobber, Gaston Le Crayon, Sidney the Elephant, and, the most well-known of them all, Tom Terrific. The design work were more "modern," similar to UPA's style (Deitch was with UPA when CBS offered him a job at Terrytoons). He brought in new talents, including the then-unknown Jules Feiffer (he recieved credit as a designer in Foofle's Train Ride)

Deitch's Terrytoons work are hard to find, but here are some I found on YouTube:

Clobber's Ballet Ache


Gaston's Easel Life


The Flamboyant Arms


It's a Living


Gene Deitch writes about his Terrytoons days on his autobiography. You can read them here.