![]() Nolan was (and still is) best known for perfecting the "rubber hose" style of animation. Nolan's previous credentials included inventing the panorama background and developing a new, streamlined " Felix the Cat". Lantz inherited many of his initial staff, including animator Tom Palmer and musician Bert Fiske from the Winkler studio, but importantly he chose fellow New York animator Bill Nolan to help develop the series. As fate would have it, Lantz won the bet and Oswald was now his character. While schmoozing with Laemmle, Lantz wagered that if he could beat Laemmle in a game of poker, the character would be his. Universal president Carl Laemmle grew dissatisfied with the Mintz-Winkler product and fired them, deciding instead to produce the Oswalds on the Universal lot. Earlier that year, Mintz and his brother-in-law George Winkler had succeeded in getting several animators from the Walt Disney Studio to work for their own studio instead. Mintz as director on the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon series for Universal Pictures. He also resorted to odd jobs, one of them being a chauffeur. In the meantime, he worked briefly for director Frank Capra and was a gag writer for Mack Sennett comedies. Vignola, Lantz moved to Hollywood, California, after Bray switched to a publicity film studio in 1927, where he attempted to set up his own cartoon studio with Pinto Colvig, but their sound cartoons never got produced. Lantz soon replaced George "Vernon" Stallings as head of production at Bray in 1924. In 1924, Lantz directed, animated and even starred in his first cartoon series "Dinky Doodle", which included the popular fairy tale animated shorts Cinderella (1925) and Little Red Riding Hood (1925). Bray Studios on the Jerry on the Job series. ![]() Lantz worked at the newspaper and attended art school at night.īy the age of 16, Lantz was working in the animation department of International Film Service studio under director Gregory La Cava. Kafka also helped him land a job as a copy boy at the New York American, owned by William Randolph Hearst. Wealthy customer Fred Kafka liked his drawings on the garage's bulletin board and financed Lantz's studies at the Art Students League of New York. While working as an auto mechanic, Lantz got his first break. He was inspired when he saw Winsor McCay's animated short " Gertie the Dinosaur". Walter Lantz was always interested in art, completing a mail-order drawing class at age 12. According to Joe Adamson's biography The Walter Lantz Story, Lantz's father was given his new surname by an immigration official who anglicized it. Walter's father, Francesco, soon became physically incapacitated leaving Walter to run the grocery store at a young age. His mother, Maria, died while giving birth to Walter's younger brother, Michael Lantz. Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York, to Italian immigrant parents Francesco Paolo Lantz (formerly Lanza) from Castiglione, Cosentino, Italy and Maria Gervasi (changed to Jarvis to avoid prejudice) from Calitri. ![]() Lantz in the January 1925 edition of The American Magazine
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