In desperation, there’s always Google & Wikipedia. (but don’t be put off by what you read there, the article was hijacked by an unknown Tom&Jerry crank. Just for one thing, note that the description of the two T&J drawings have exactly the opposite characteristics than described. It’s a blunder from start to finish!

If for some weird reason you’d like to have a career in animation yourself, be sure to check out “HOW TO SUCCEED IN ANIMATION,” at: awn.com/genedeitch

26 thoughts on “The CAST OF CHARACTERS!”

Stewart Patton on January 28, 2013 at 8:49 am said:

Gene,
I hope you are well. I thought you a couple weeks ago when I went to see Freddy Cole. He’s still great at 80 years young. I went to see him in a great Jazz Club here in Denver. Have you ever seen him? I was also wondering if things ever slowed down enough to do a couple of doodles for lil ole me. I’m gonna have me a baby pretty soon and I would love to put a couple little things on my baby’s wall….41 and I’m a Dad. Who would have thought.
Fan,
Stewart Patton
Denver

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Lea Delson on October 18, 2012 at 12:37 am said:

Gene, I just watched the amazing and adorable film of your youngest son Seth as a toddler. How precious to have those moments captured from long ago. Very charming! It is a beautiful, warm, gorgeous and sunny fall day here in the San Francisco Bay Area and I am glad to hear from you, and wish you and all your family well. Lea

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Stewart Patton on March 26, 2012 at 6:04 am said:

Gene,
I went to the local Goodwill store today and saw a wonderful childrens book by M. Sasek and it was autographed(This Is Texas). Were you friends with him? I think he spend time in Prague?
Fan,
Stewart

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Stewart Patton on March 14, 2012 at 3:12 am said:

I’m liking that new interview!!
Stew

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Stewart Patton on February 24, 2012 at 7:57 pm said:

Are you still friends with Ray Favata?

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- Gene Deitch on February 24, 2012 at 8:38 pm said:
  
  I’ve heard from Ray just once this year. I certainly feel we are friends forever!
  
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  - Stewart Patton on February 27, 2012 at 9:36 pm said:
    
    Ray sent me a real nice note via facebook in response to a note I sent him about 6 months ago. He seems like a very nice and talented man. He even offered to send me drawings, if I sent him my address, surprisingly I didn’t even ask. I hope to get little doodles from the masters that are still alive, there are fewer and fewer left. Who in your mind are a few of the greats that are still living? I know about most of the greats, but always feel I’m overlooking somebody.
    Stew
Kappa Edizioni Italy on January 25, 2012 at 10:29 am said:

Dear Mr Deitch,
could you kindly contact our publishing company?
Thank you very, very much.
Best regards,
K

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Stewart Patton on December 10, 2011 at 11:27 pm said:

Gene,
I’m writing to you from my kitchen table on a snowy day in the land of Denver Colorado. I work as a Doorman at the oldest hotel, the Oxford. I’ve been standing in front of the place for 15 years and can’t believe how fast time flies, recently I turned 40. I love animation and have enjoyed seeing more of your stuff recently, thanks to the magical world of the internet. I guess you could say I’m a fan from way back. I first discovered you when I was about 3 years old. I used to go shopping with my mom at Sears and she would always give me a quarter to put in the Kiddierama Theatre Booth. I would sit in this little booth, which had a 16 mm projector inside, and it would play cartoons, once you added the quarter of course. The first cartoon character I recall seeing, maybe ever, was Sidney The Elephant. I thought he was swell and every time we went to Sears, Sidney was my mission. I know I drove my mom crazy with all the elephant noises on the car ride home, but she indulged me. I’ve spent my life loving animation, but Sidney was right there at the start and is dear to my heart. I have also become a big fan of Tom Terrific as well, oh and Manfred the Wonder Dog. I was a big fan of Captain Kangaroo, but in the 70′s after your connection, thanks to the internet I’ve seen as many Tom Terrific shorts as there are on YouTube. It doesn’t matter what year you were born you can enjoy many things from other time periods thanks to technology. I watched Tom and Jerry religiously when I was a kid and knew there was something unique about the shorts made in Prague, especially the music. I think I had few nightmares scared by your Tom and Jerry shorts, were definitely spooky at times. I spend a lot of time listening to music and watching classic cinema and cartoons. I’m not in the best of shape, got some stupid autoimmune disorder, which keeps me pooped a lot. I love jazz and enjoy researching new people all the time. I’m stuck on Johnny Smith right now, what a guitarist. I can’t believe he lives close to me, about an hour away. He doesn’t play the guitar anymore and is slowly losing his eye site, but he’s almost 90. I’m going to see Bill Frisell and Dale Bruning pretty soon for a cool evening of jazz guitar, can’t wait. I have truly enjoyed reading about some of your musical interest and connections with musicians, what a life you’ve had. I love, the Connie Converse stuff….wow!! Thanks for making that available to a young whipper snapper like me. Oh, I’ve also been working my way through genedeitchcredits, so many interesting stories and facts. By the way, I watched a video of you filmed recently and I truly can’t believe your 87. You appear to smarter and mentally quicker than most of my friends. I guess that’s what passion does for you. I am also writing to ask a favor. Is there anyway you would do a little doodle of Sidney, or Tom Terrific, or both for me. I would be happy to send you some money, or some music for trade? Please, please let me know. I hope this letter finds you happy and healthy. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Fan and Friend, Stewart Patton

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- genedeitch on January 25, 2012 at 2:09 pm said:
  
  I’ll be happy to send you a drawing or two, Stew!
  
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  - Stewart Patton on February 19, 2012 at 9:42 am said:
    
    I went to see a documentary on Bill Plympton tonight and he was nice enough to do a caricature of me. Are you familiar with Bill? Do you like his style? Can you believe that he draws every one of his frames himself, that’s up to 30,000 for a feature length, he’s real passionate. He represents someone who truly has creative control over his art and his characters. Disney even offered him a million dollars to sell his soul to them multiple years ago, he turned them down.
    Fan and Friend,
    Stewart Patton
    Denver
    P.S. I hope you’re having an easier time getting up and down in your chair.
  - genedeitch on February 19, 2012 at 11:07 am said:
    
    I agree with you about Bill Plympton. He goes where few men dare to tread! So far, I have no offers for my soul; these are hard times. But thankfully, I can still get up from my chair! XXX Gene
PixelPUSHERZ.eu on November 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm said:

Well Gene,

I do my best to – as you adequately put it – put my problems aside and help out with the blog. Unknown to us, the mortals watching the silver lining on the iCloud as it looms over our heads, events remain shrouded. Such as the disappearance of the first seven credits PLUS number twelve at the beginning of this week. And I loved the ‘error message’ from WP – “This is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?” Yes, it was

http://pixelpusherz.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/dark-side-blog-eater.jpg

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- genedeitch on November 26, 2011 at 6:06 am said:
  
  I hereby reveal who this mysterious “Pixel Pusher” actually is:
  He’s a dextrous dude named Zachary “Hary” (1-R) Jordanov,
  without whom, this blog would be befogged. Gene
  
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FM Hansen (@fmhansen) on October 18, 2011 at 6:05 am said:

Thank you for keep on giving so much information, history and inspiration in you art and life to all of us.

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- genedeitch on October 18, 2011 at 12:57 pm said:
  
  Hang with me, FM. I’m not even half-way through my rant !
  
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genedeitch on September 26, 2011 at 5:15 am said:

A First-Class Story

Our next door neighbor in our Hellichova Street apartment house, and close friend, Prof. Ivan Lefkovits, a Czech/Swiss immunologist, and reader of my book, “For The Love of Prague,” and my new internet blog/book, “Roll The Credits,” made a very polite comment to me:

“1st class people attract 1st class stories. 2nd class people attract 3rd class stories.”

Well, Zdenka and I have certainly accumulated many first-class stories. Zdenka is certainly a first-class person, and I’m working on it. But both my book and my blog are collections of stories about our past. Now I can tell you one that took place this month of September, 2011, that is 100% true. (Hmm.. Why do I have to say “100% true?” Something is either true, or it isn’t true…. This story is true!)

In August this year, I was surprised to hear from Gary Groth, that he was coming to visit us. Gary runs Fantagrahics Books of Seattle, Washington, publishers of books of comics art, Gary had put out two books of my cartoon work, “the CAT on a Hot Thin Groove, a compendium of my Jazz cartoons and cover art in the 1940s and 50s for the jazz record collector’s magazine called “The Record Changer,” a reprint of the entire run of my comic strip, “Terr’ble Thompson,”
and a fat book of interviews of my three sons and me, “The Deitch Interviews.”

He was coming with his brilliant son Conrad; it would be their first trip to Prague, and so a big event for me. I immediately went about scouting the right hotel for them, and planning some special things to see in “The Golden City.”
Their arrival would be on October 16th, for just a three-day visit. I made dinner reservations at the most special Prague restaurants, and planned three days crammed with must-see sights in this wondrous town.

Just two days before their arrival I received this mysterious email:

“Gary’s plane will be late, so we are changing our dinner date to the 17th.
We hope this won’t inconvenience you. Lindsay.”

What dinner date? Who is Lindsay? Is this email actually for me? Just days before I’d had an email from Lindsay Bernal, the daughter of my long-time best friend, the late Bill Bermal. But I hadn’t seen her for at least 40 years, and she hadn’t mentioned any trip to Prague, and surely didn’t know Gary Groth!

A closer look at the emaiI showed that it was from Lindsay Kaplan. Aha! She is the wife of the new U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Norman Eisen.
She is Dr. Lindsay Kaplan, a distinguished scholar of English, who uses her maiden name on all correspondence. We had recently gotten on a first-name basis with Norm and Lindsay, but had no invitation to dinner with them on September 16th. Any dates on the 16th, 17th or 18th would conflict with our
long-planned dates with Gary Groth!

The day after receiving Lindsay Kaplan’s message a formal printed invitation arrived in the regular mail: “The Ambassador of The United States of America
and Dr. M. Lindsay Kaplan request the pleasure of the company of Mr. & Mrs. Gene Deitch at a Shabbat dinner on Friday, September 16, 2011 at 8:00 o’clock p.m.
R.S.V.P….etc.”

Arriving the day after the email message, it seemed to clear up the mystery….partly. The remaining mystery was who is the “Gary” Lindsay referred to??? The ambassadorial couple couldn’t possibly know Gary Groth, purveyor of books about comics!

I checked my 1,000-plus email list, and sure enough there is a Gary Kaplan of
San Francisco! “That could be Lindsay’s brother!” I told Zdenka. “He’s probably flying to Prague to join them for a Shabbat dinner.” Norman and Lindsay are devout Jews, and as far as I know the only Jewish ambassadorial couple in the history of the Czech land, nominally a catholic country. So there happened to be two Garys in the mix-up. All clear…

Not! I learned later that Lindsay has no idea who Gary Kaplan is; there are zillions of Kaplans in America!

It wasn’t until Gary Groth actually arrived on the evening of the 16th, that he told me a fellow cartoonist, the famous Arnold Roth, is distantly related to
Lindsay Kaplan. When Gary Groth mentioned to him that he was flying to Prague to visit me, Arnold told him he should surely notify Norman Eisen he was coming, because Norman Eisen was a major collector of Comics art! What?
I knew that Norm was a great jazz fan, but somehow we had never discussed comics. This was a totally new revelation! Who would believe that I would have
two common interests with a United States ambassador?

The merry mix-up, like an old-time farce comedy, where no character knew what the others were doing, was played out right here. Each one of us assumed the others understood what was happening. I got an email referring to an invitation I had not yet received. Gary Groth had a conversation with Arnold Roth, each of them thinking the other has written me about it, and the completely un-connected Gary Kaplan to this day knows nothing about any of it!

However, all farce comedies end on an “All’s Well That Ends Well” note, and the six of us, Gary & Conrad Groth, Norm & Lindsay Eisen/Kaplan, and Zdenka & Gene Deitch, had a marvelous dinner together, plus a private tour of the ambassador’s Mansion… all evening talking about nothing else than comics!

Further backup info:

Soon after his arrival in Prague to take up his duties, the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Norman Eisen, sent us a surprise official invitation to visit him and his wife in the American ambassadorial mansion here. The ambassador had read my book, “For The Love of Prague,” which recounts our life and adventures here during 30 years of the Soviet imposed Communist Party rule. Ambassador Eisen wanted to meet us, us to fill him in more on how we managed to do what we did in those dark years.
He also knew from my book that I was a long-time traditional jazz fan, and revealed his own passion for jazz and blues, but somehow never mentioning his equal passion for adventure comics!

Almost immediately he and his wife wanted to be on a first-name basis with us. She was a distinguished professor of English, who officially uses her maiden name and title, Dr. M. Lindsay Kaplan, but immediately to us, just “Lindsay.”

So right off, we became pals of the ambassadorial couple, and were invited to several events at the mansion, both large gatherings, a jazz band concert in the vast garden, and for just private coffee chats. It’s super to have such an ambassador here! We hope he’ll be here a long time, but he’s actually in threat of expulsion, still lacking official approval of the relevant Senate committee, by the stubborn refusal of Republican Senator Charles Grassley to vote for him.

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Michael Riley on September 12, 2011 at 8:35 pm said:

Gene, you are an inspiration! Your works are amazing to me. Best wishes from everyone here in LA.

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Pavel Rak on September 3, 2011 at 10:24 am said:

Hi, Gene, I am looking forward to winter when I will have quiet time to enjoy your interesting and funny writing; now, in summer, I have to repair broken wall and have other urgent household duties and in the evening I leave PC to my wife…

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Lesley Keen on August 28, 2011 at 11:32 am said:

Treating myself to your bloggyBook on a Sunday morning – wonderfully evocative and atmospheric!!! So great that you put it all out there….am reading on

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- Bill Focht on September 1, 2011 at 9:30 pm said:
  
  re the CAT and your love and involvement in the jazz scene, I can relate. As a jazz lover since birth, and a sometimes jazz pianist, I wish I had known about this when I worked for you at TERRYTOONS. I was blown away by your collection of drums and remember
  a film in the works called ” The Uglyville Blues” that you and Todd Dockstetter were kicking around. It had this wonderful dixieland track by Turk Murphy ( I THINK )
  Don’t know if the film ever got made…pity if it didn’t. I still remember the story line.
  Wish I had known more of your love fro jazz at the time. Ernie Pintoff was the resident musiciian and I was new on the block and kept a low profile.
  
  regards, Bill Focht
  
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John Machine on August 21, 2011 at 11:56 am said:

I learned a lot from this post, much appreciated!

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Larry Goodsite on August 20, 2011 at 9:44 pm said:

And me too, Gene! And I am just a few minutes away here in Prague!!!

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Joe Fournier on August 10, 2011 at 5:45 pm said:

Can’t wait to dig in here, jazz cat! Congrats on the compilation!

Joe Fournier

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Brendan McNally on August 8, 2011 at 7:48 pm said:

Hi Gene

You’re looking Keen! What’s the scene?

Hope all is well, Happy Birthday. Give my love to Dejvicka! I keep telling folks about you and especially Tom Terrific and Mighty Manfred! Laska a Rakety brendan

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Lea Delson on August 8, 2011 at 3:58 pm said:

Gene, What a great project. I salute your ever creative spirit and gaze upon you with admiration, far away in Berkeley, California.

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