Harold Seeger (May 16, 1917 – March 13, 2005) was an American animated cartoon 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'' comic strip and '' Leave It to Binky''.

Biography

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York, Seeger began working as an animator for

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 ...

in the early 1940s. His credits included "A Kick in Time" for the '' Color Classics'' 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 Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocali ...

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

Moms Mabley Loretta Mary Aiken (March 19, 1894 – May 23, 1975), known by her stage name Jackie "Moms" Mabley, was an American stand-up comedian and actress. Mabley began her career on the theater stage in the 1920s and became a veteran entertainer of th ...

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

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

''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'' 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'' 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 Bumpkin may refer to: *Country bumpkin, a synonym for the term yokel; a foolish, poorly educated person from a rural region *Boomkin, also known as a bumpkin, part of a sailboat See also * Bumpkin Island, Boston Harbor, Massachusetts * "Country B ...

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

* '' Out of the Inkwell'' *

Muggy-Doo Muggy-Doo is a talking animal character created by Hal Seeger. Originally appearing in comic books, this character soon went on to animated cartoons as part of the 1965 '' Milton the Monster Show'', but did not last long in either venue. History ...

* '' Batfink'' * '' The Porky Pig Show'' * '' The Milton the Monster Show'' (1965–66)

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