Alfred Julius Eugster (February 11, 1909 – January 1, 1997) was an American animator, writer, and film director. He worked for a number of American animation studios, including

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

, the

Iwerks Studio Iwerks Studio was an animation studio headed by animator Ub Iwerks. Financing Iwerks was working for Walt Disney when he accepted a contract with Disney's former distributor, Pat Powers, to leave Disney and start an animation studio under his o ...

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

, and

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized control ...

.Baxter, Devon
"Animation Profiles: AL EUGSTER."
www.cartoonresearch.com, April 10, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2021.

Personal

Al Eugster was born on February 11, 1909, in New York City. His parents were musician Julius Eugster and Hedwig Fiegel, both were from German descent. Between 1915 and 1919, his dad died when he was just a child. At the age of 16, he got paid $10 dollars a week for doing jobs and the

American Radiator Company The American Radiator Company was established in 1892 by the merger of a number of North American radiator manufacturers. The company expanded in the early 20th century into Europe under the brand National Radiator Company. In 1929, it amalgama ...

. Al Eugster was married to his wife Hazel, also known as Chick, for 61 years. The two had no children, and Hazel died in 1995.Mayerson, Mark
"Remembering Al."
''www.awn.com'', February 11, 1997. Retrieved May 15, 2017.

Career

Eugster began his career in animation in April 1925 where he worked at the Pat Sullivan studio. He would blacken in the drawing of

Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon characte ...

. During his time working for the Pat Sullivan studio, he worked under

Otto Messmer Otto James Messmer (August 16, 1892 – October 28, 1983) was an American animator known for his work on the Felix the Cat cartoons and comic strip produced by the Pat Sullivan studio. The extent of Messmer's role in the creation and popula ...

. Eugster attended

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

at nighttime to study art while also working. Al Eugster then left Sullivan's Studio in April 1929 and moved to

Fleisher Studios Fleischer (or Fleisher) is a common German and Yiddish family name. Its literal meaning is "butcher". Other German family names with the same meaning include Metzger, Mezger, Fleischman, and Fleischmann. People * Amy Fleischer, American mechanic ...

. Eugster would return to Fleischer in 1939. In 1932, Eugster went to work for Mintz. He worked with

Preston Blair Preston Erwin Blair (October 24, 1908 – April 19, 1995) was an American character animator, best remembered for his work at Walt Disney Productions and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. A native of Redlands, California, Blair began his a ...

on many films, most notably,

Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an American newspaper comic strip, by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Evening Journal'', whose owne ...

cartoons. Just a year later, he went on to work for Ub lwerks where he co-animated several

ComiColor The ComiColor Cartoon series is a series of 25 animated short subjects produced by Ub Iwerks from 1933 to 1936. The series was the last produced by Iwerks Studio; after losing distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, the Iwerks studio's senior com ...

shorts with

Shamus Culhane James H. "Shamus" Culhane (November 12, 1908 – February 2, 1996) was an American animator, film director, and film producer. He is best known for his work in the Golden age of American animation. Career Shamus Culhane worked for a number o ...

. Eugster worked at

until 1935, when he joined

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

. His specialty while at Disney studio was the animation of

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American Pekin, white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shi ...

as well as the works of

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as ...

. Eugster left Disney on March 18, 1939, due to an offer from

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...

in Miami for a higher salary. Eugster re-joined Fleischer in 1939 and stayed with them until the studio closed down in 1942. He would work briefly at

but left for the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

. After his release from the Army, he returned to Famous in 1945. Here he was the head animator and worked on a number of Screen Songs and

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

working for various commercial studios. In 1964, he joined Paramount where he worked for Shamus Culhane and

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatri ...

until the studio closed in 1967. The following year, he joined Kim and Gifford, where he began his longest stay at a single studio. In September 1987, Eugster retired from Kim and Gifford, ending his 62-year career.

References

External links

"Al Eugster – Cartoon Animator."
Contains a partial list of scenes animated by Eugster and photos from his personal files.

Contains notes from Eugster's ledger and the only known clip of his Popeye animation.
Al Eugster filmography from the British Film Institute
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eugster, Al American film directors American animated film directors American animators 1909 births 1997 deaths Fleischer Studios people Walt Disney Animation Studios people American people of German descent Famous Studios people