Larry Schwarz (born January 20, 1970) is an American animation producer, entrepreneur, writer, and photographer. He was the founder and CEO of now-defunct cartoon studio Animation Collective. He is best known for creating ''

Kappa Mikey ''Kappa Mikey'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Larry Schwarz for Nicktoons Network. Despite airing on the channel, it was not a Nicktoon, being produced by Schwarz's production company Animation Collective. The ser ...

''.

Early life

Schwarz was born in 1970. He was a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

and

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

and enjoyed playing with puppets. In fourth grade, Schwarz "had a filmmaking club" wherein friends created live-action movies on

Super 8 film Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The formal name for Super 8 is 8-mm Type S, distinguishing it from the ...

which Schwarz's father would edit. One of these was an unfinished remake of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

''. In 1992, Schwarz graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

with a political science degree. He then visited Vietnam and launched the ''Vietnam Business Journal'' to connect American entrepreneurs with the country''.'' He graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in an unknown year.

Career

Rumpus Toys

After attending law school, Schwarz realized that he wanted more playfulness in his career causing him to start a toy brand. In 1996, while living with his parents, Schwarz began designing his own plush toys under the Rumpus Toys brand, an online-only toy company. According to ''

Animation World Network Animation World Network (often just "AWN") is an online publishing group that specializes in resources for animators, with an extensive website offering news, articles and links for professional animators and animation fans. Content Specifically ...

'', Rumpus became "a company selling character-based plush toys online, backed up by Flash-animated segments featuring chwarz'scharacters." The corporation was headquartered on 24th street in Chelsea,

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. By winter of 1997, Schwarz was able to produce a small lot of his toys in China. Shortly before a toy fair in 1997 Rumpus toys were insulted by representatives of Toys R Us, who did not return Schwarz's phone calls. However, specialty toy chain

FAO Schwarz FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and Toy store, retail chain. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, Interactivity, interactive experiences, Product placement, brand integrations, and games. FAO Schwarz clai ...

expressed interest for the unique toys and ordered 60 dolls for their flagship store in Manhattan. Demand for Rumpus toys increased when TV host

Kathie Lee Gifford Kathryn Lee Gifford (Given name, née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress, and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show ''Live with Kelly and Mark, Live! wi ...

displayed organ-themed plush toy Gus Gutz on her show, after which Noodle Kidoodle and

eToys.com eToys.com was a retail website that sold toys via the Internet. It was established by a startup company of the same name on November 3, 1997. After an initial public offering on January 4, 1999, the company quickly shot up in value, becoming emb ...

began to invest in the brand. At this point, the Rumpus company was worth $1 million and had 9 employees. In 1998, Rumpus participated in the New York International Toy Fair. By 1999, the Rumpus toy brand was worth $15 million. With a staff of 36 in a polka-dotted company headquarters in the

Flatiron District The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan of New York City, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally ...

, Schwarz founded the Rumpus website, which housed toy sales as well as original Flash animations produced in-house. Toys designed by Schwarz included friendly Monster in My Closet, organ-displaying Gus Gutz, programmable alarm clock toy Wake Me Willy and cat toy Harry Hairball. Schwarz's goal was for Rumpus to become an entertainment brand that created animated films alongside toy sales, "like Disney." By April 2002, however, the Rumpus website had shut down, and the new domain holder announced that Rumpus Toys has "closed its doors."

Animation Collective

Larry Schwarz was the CEO of now-defunct animation studio based in New York City, Animation Collective. The studio produced ''

'' (and its spin-off '' Dancing Sushi''), ''Thumb Wrestling Federation'', ''Leader Dog: The Series'', ''Tortellini Western: The Series'', ''

Three Delivery ''Three Delivery'' (also known as ''Chop Suey Trio'') is an animated television series inspired by kung-fu movies. It was created by Larry Schwarz, who also created similar series, '' Kappa Mikey'' and '' Speed Racer: The Next Generation''. It ...

'', and '' Speed Racer: The Next Generation'' for Nicktoons Network and '' Ellen's Acres'', ''HTDT'', and '' Princess Natasha'' for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

. In addition, Schwarz served as producer of '' Wulin Warriors'' for

and the first season of '' The Incredible Crash Dummies'' for the FoxBox. Animation Collective also created games and

webisode A webisode (portmanteau of "web" and "episode") is an episode of a series that is distributed as part of a web series or on streaming television. It is available either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cab ...

cartoons for AOL, including '' Princess Natasha''.

Larry Schwarz and his Band

Schwarz is the CEO of Larry Schwarz and His Band, which produced '' Alien Dawn'' (2013-2014) for Nicktoons Network and ''Team Toon'' (2006-2013) for

. Both series, produced in partnership with Fremantle Media Kids and Family Entertainment, were created by Schwarz. In February 2020, Schwarz announced that he is producing ''Dinosaur, Mermaid, Racecar, Pufferfish'' along with Believe Entertainment Group.

Publications

In 2017, Schwarz co-wrote the young adult trilogy ''Romeo, Juliet and Jim'' along with Elise Allen. It includes "homages to Shakespeare and Truffaut." In 2023, he co-wrote and published young adult adventure ''The

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

Prophecy'' with Iva-Marie Palmer. He is also a photographer who has published male photography work in books and online.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarz, Larry 1970 births American animated film directors American animated film producers Horace Mann School alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people)