R. O. Blechman (born October 1, 1930) is an American

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complic ...

, children's-book author,

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

ist and editorial cartoonist whose work has been the subject of retrospectives at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

and other institutions. He was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame in 1999. Blechman's best-known works include the book '' The Juggler of Our Lady'' (1953), television commercials for

Alka-Seltzer Alka-Seltzer is an effervescent antacid and pain reliever first marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company of Elkhart, Indiana, United States. Alka-Seltzer contains three active ingredients: aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) (ASA), sodium bicarbo ...

(1967) and other products, the animated PBS special '' Great Performances: The Soldier's Tale''; a minute-long CBS Christmas greeting (1966); and numerous covers for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine.

Life and career

Oscar Robert Blechman, whose professional name transposes the initials of his first two given names, was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York, and attended the High School of Music and Art and

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

, where he drew cartoons for the

student newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also rep ...

, '' The Oberlin Review''. Additiona
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retrieved on December 8, 2010. Henry Holt published his first book, ''The Juggler of Our Lady'', a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

retelling of the medieval legend, in 1953. Five years later, it was adapted into a nine-minute Terrytoons

animated short Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

by Al Kouzel and Gene Deitch, narrated by

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

. The short earned a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Animated Film. After being drafted into the

United States 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, ...

and serving in Asbury Park, New Jersey, he was invited by

John Hubley to join the advertising studio Storyboard Inc., where Blechman learned animation. He expanded into spot illustration and sequential-panel illustration for such magazines as ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the ...

'', '' Trump'', ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pu ...

'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', '' Humbug'', '' Theater Arts'' and '' Show''; a humorous print campaign for

Capezio Capezio is the trade name of Capezio Ballet Makers Inc., an American manufacturer of dance shoes, apparel and accessories. History In 1887, Salvatore Capezio, an Italian cobbler emigrated to the United States, opened a shoe repair shop near the ...

shoes; and drawings for

Irving Trust Irving Trust was an American Commercial bank headquartered in New York City that operated between 1851 and 1988 when it was acquired by Bank of New York. From 1965 the bank was the principal subsidiary of the Irving Bank Corporation. Between 191 ...

bank,

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, and D'Orsay perfumes, among others. His 1967 TV commercial for

, for which he created the

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in t ...

and drawings, "remains a classic of American advertising". During the 1970s, Blechman penned

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

editorial cartoons for the liberal alternative weekly ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

''. That same decade, he produced the PBS Christmas

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of e ...

''Simple Gifts'' (1977), which used his segment "No Room at the Inn", along with segments by fellow illustrators Maurice Sendak,

James McMullan James McMullan (born June 1934) is an Irish-Canadian illustrator and designer of theatrical posters. Born in Tsingtao, Republic of China, where his grandparents had emigrated from Ireland as missionaries for the Anglican Church, he and his mo ...

Seymour Chwast Seymour Chwast (born August 18, 1931) is an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer. Biography Chwast was born in the Bronx, New York City and in 1949 graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn where he was intr ...

, and Charles B. Slackman. In 1978'R. O. Blechman and The Ink Tank: A Celebration"

, January 17, 2003
WebCitation archive
or 1979, Blechman founded the commercial-animation studio The Ink Tank. Blechman directed the 1984 PBS special '' The Soldier's Tale'', an animated, one-hour adaptation of

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

's and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

C. F. Ramuz's theater piece '' L'Histoire du Soldat''. The special won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Animated Programming. The Museum of Modern Art mounted the retrospective "R. O. Blechman and The Ink Tank: A Celebration", beginning January 17, 2003. Blechman wrote and illustrated the 2007 children's book ''Franklin the Fly''; and wrote the book ''Dear James: Letters to a Young Illustrator''. His graphic stories are collected in ''Talking Lines''. The French publisher Delpire published a collection of his artwork for the series "Poche Illustrateur", and his

''Georgie''.

Personal life

Blechman and his wife, Moisha Kubinyi, the daughter of painters Doris Hall and

Kálmán Kubinyi Kálmán Mátyás Béla Kubinyi (June 29, 1906 Cleveland – September 3, 1973 Stockbridge, Massachusetts) was an influential etcher, engraver and enamelist and a member of the so-called Cleveland School, a number of relatively prominent artis ...

, lived on Central Park West in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

through 2003, moving that year to their weekend home in Ancram, New York. They have two sons:

Nicholas Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...

, who at various points was the art editor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Book Review and the creative director of ''

'', and Max, who edited the collection ''Revolutionary Romanticism: A Drunken Boat Anthology''.

Awards and honors

* ''

Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

'' Illustrator of the Year, 1983 * AIGA Design Archives: ''The Soldier's Tale'' poster in category Promotional Design and Advertising, 1984 * Inductee, Art Director's Hall of Fame, 1999 * National Cartoonists Society Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011

Primetime Emmy Awards and nomination

*1983 Nomination: Outstanding Individual Achievement -

Graphic Design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

and Title Sequences: '' Nicholas Nickleby'' (syndicated), R.O. Blechman,

, Andy Ewan, graphic designers *1984 Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement - Animated Programming: ''The Soldier's Tale'' (PBS), R.O. Blechman, director

References

External links

Official blog
at ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' *
R.O. Blechman
at Reactor Art & Design ;Video
"The Hand of R.O. Blechman"
on Animation World Network Television {{DEFAULTSORT:Blechman, R. O. Living people 1930 births Animators from New York (state) Emmy Award winners American editorial cartoonists American graphic designers The New Yorker cartoonists The High School of Music & Art alumni Oberlin College alumni