Harold Seeger (May 16, 1917 – March 13, 2005) was an American

animated cartoon Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

producer and director who owned his own studio, the Hal Seeger Studio (Hal Seeger Productions). He is most famous as the creator of the 1960s animated series '' Batfink'', '' Milton the Monster'' and ''Fearless Fly''. During the 1930s and 1940s he was also active as a comics writer and artist, most famously for the ''

Betty Boop Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...

'' comic strip and '' Leave It to Binky''.

Biography

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, Seeger began working as an animator for

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () was 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 in 1942, the parent company and the distri ...

in the early 1940s. His credits included "A Kick in Time" for the ''

Color Classics ''Color Classics'' are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's '' Silly Symphonies''. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color for ...

'' series and a sequence for the feature film '' Mr. Bug Goes to Town''. During the later part of the 1940s, he worked as a screenwriter for a series of movies featuring well known Black performers, including the 1947

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

musical '' Hi-De-Ho'' and two films featuring

Dusty Fletcher Clinton "Dusty" Fletcher (July 8, 1900 – March 15, 1954) was an African-American vaudeville performer and comedian, who was best known for the comedy routine which became a hit record in 1947, "Open the Door, Richard". Routine "Open the Door ...

and Moms Mabley, '' Killer Diller'' and '' Boarding House Blues''". In 1950 he wrote and directed a

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

short subject A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film or ...

''Hands Tell the Story'' featuring a story told with only human hands. In 1962, his studio produced and syndicated 100 new ''

Out of the Inkwell ''Out of the Inkwell'' is an American animated film series of the silent era. It was produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929 and was called ''The Inkwell Imps'' at the end of that period. History The series was the result of three short ...

'' cartoons, based on the Koko the Clown character, originally created by

. Seeger then took control of animating the opening & ending sequences for ''

The Porky Pig Show ''The Porky Pig Show'' is an American animated television anthology series hosted by Porky Pig, that was composed of ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' theatrical cartoons made between 1948 and 1964. The series aired on American Broadcastin ...

'' in 1964. He is best known for having produced the animated programs '' Milton the Monster'' (1965–66) and '' Batfink'' (1966–67). He also produced '' Fearless Fly'' (1965), the adventures of a bumpkin fly who is physically helpless and practically blind without his trademark oversize rectangular glasses, but on putting them on he is invincible. This cartoon was a feature of ''The Milton the Monster Show''.

Production list

* ''

'' * '' Muggy-Doo'' * '' Batfink'' (1966-67) * ''

'' * '' The Milton the Monster Show'' (1965–66) * '' Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter'' (1972)

References

External links

*
Fearless Fly at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Animators from New York (state) American animated film directors American animated film producers Television producers from New York City American comics writers American comics artists 1917 births 2005 deaths Fleischer Studios people {{US-animator-stub