Frederick "Fritz" Siebel (December 19, 1913 – December 27, 1991) was an Austrian American illustrator, well known for his award winning World War II poster "Someone Talked" and his illustrations for the children's book Amelia Bedelia by

Peggy Parish Margaret Cecile "Peggy" Parish (July 14, 1927 – November 19, 1988) was an American writer known best for the children's book series and fictional character '' Amelia Bedelia''. Parish was born in Manning, South Carolina, attended the Univers ...

Life

Early years

Siebel was born as Friedrich Siebel in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

n parents. During his childhood he and his siblings spent summers at the family

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

farm in Czechoslovakia. He studied Illustration and stage design at the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for the ...

Vienna (now the University of Applied Arts Vienna), after which, because of his dual citizenship, he was drafted to the Czech army where he served from 1934 to 1936.

Immigration to the USA

In 1936 Siebel immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and was joined by his family in 1937, and they settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The other relatives who remained in Europe perished in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Death

Frederick Siebel died in New York City on December 27, 1991. Siebel's first marriage ended in divorce; he was survived by his second wife, seven children, 10 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

Work as a Graphic Artist

Early USA Years

In NYC, after his immigration, Siebel made a living illustrating posters and other advertising material for the

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

movie studio. He also worked as a demonstrator of Austrian skiing techniques at

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

WWII and the "Someone Talked" poster

During World War II Siebel served in the United States Army between 1941 and 1943. Before the war, in 1938, he submitted a poster to a national competition for posters on the subject of national security for which First Lady

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

was a judge. His entry, "Someone Talked", won several awards and was only published in 1942, during the war. The poster was chosen by

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

as an "ominous World War II propaganda poster" on the wall in the workplace in his 1997

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

movie " The Spanish Prisoner".

Advertising and Magazines

Following his work at Paramount Pictures and the success of "Someone Talked", there was a growing demand for Siebel's work, and he began creating illustrations for advertisements and for magazines, working among others with

Collier's Magazine } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

, Holiday Magazine and

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

. Among others, he created ads for Ballantine Beer and Schlitz beer.

Mr. Clean

In 1957, Siebel was contracted by the Tatum-Laird advertising agency to create a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

figure for the new

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

cleaning product " Mr. Clean". The result was the now world-wide familiar smiling bald man with an earring in his left ear, dubbed "Master Proper" in German-speaking countries, "Mastro Lindo" in Italy, "Monsieur Propre" in France, "Don Limpio" in Spain and "Pan Proper" in Poland. As part of the deal, he gave up all rights to this creation and thus was not credited for it, the copyright attributed solely to Procter & Gamble.

Children's book illustration

In 1958, Siebel began illustrating children's books. The first two, best-seller "A Fly Went By" and "Stop that Ball!" were written by Mike McClintock and were published in the

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

Beginner Books Beginner Books is the Random House imprint for young children ages 3–9, co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss, and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Their first book was Dr. Seuss's ''The Cat in the Hat'' (19 ...

" series that was co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' Helen Palmer Geisel Helen Marion Palmer Geisel (September 16, 1898 – October 23, 1967), known professionally as Helen Palmer, was an American children's writer, editor, and philanthropist. She was a co-founder and vice president of Beginner Books, and was mar ...

. In 1962 he illustrated

Dorothy Kunhardt Dorothy Kunhardt (née Meserve; September 29, 1901 – December 23, 1979) was an American children's-book author, best known for the baby book ''Pat the Bunny.'' She was also a historian and writer about the life of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln ...

's "Dr. Dick". This book was published by Harper and Row (now

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

), who also published his most well known children's book – Amelia Bedelia by

. From 1993 to 1996, Siebel's daughter, Barbara Siebel Thomas, worked on newly illustrated editions of ''Thank You, Amelia Bedelia'' and ''Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower'', as well as the Spanish translation of ''Amelia Bedelia'', all based on her father’s original drawings.

Design Company

In the 1960s Siebel founded the Frederick Siebel Associates company, to provide "creative design for integrated programs of packaging, store display, and other sales-related materials." The company was later renamed "Siebel Marketing Company", and in 1998 was merged with the Chicago marketing agency Upshot under Halo Industries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siebel, Fritz 1913 births 1991 deaths World War II artists 20th-century American war artists American children's book illustrators Artists from Vienna Artists from New York City Austrian emigrants to the United States American people of Austrian-Jewish descent