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

animator An animator is an artist who creates 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. Animat ...

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 complicate ...

, children's-book author,

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

ist and

editorial cartoon A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...

ist 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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

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 A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

for

Alka-Seltzer Alka-Seltzer is an effervescent antacid and pain reliever owned by Bayer since 1978. First marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company of Elkhart, Indiana, United States, Alka-Seltzer contains three active ingredients: aspirin (acetylsalicylic ac ...

(1967) and other products, the animated

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

special ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member statio ...

The Soldier's Tale ', or ''Tale of the Soldier'' (as it was first published), is an hour-long 1918 theatrical work to be "read, played and danced ''()''" by three actors, one or more dancers, and a septet of instruments. Its music is by Igor Stravinsky, its librett ...

''; a minute-long CBS Christmas greeting (1966); and numerous covers for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' 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 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 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 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and attended the High School of Music and Art and

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, 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 Graduate student journal, produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related new ...

, ''

The Oberlin Review ''The Oberlin Review'' is a student-run weekly newspaper at Oberlin College that serves as the official newspaper of record for both the College and the city of Oberlin, Ohio. The publication became the only newspaper of record for Oberlin afte ...

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

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

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

Terrytoons Terrytoons, Inc. was an American animation studio headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, which was active from 1929 until its closure in December 1972 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in-name only). Founded by Paul Te ...

animated short 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 ...

by Al Kouzel and

Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...

, narrated by

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...

. The short earned a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

nomination for Best Animated Film. After being drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and serving in

Asbury Park, New Jersey Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 15,188, a decr ...

, he was invited by

John Hubley John Kirkham Hubley (May 21, 1914 – February 21, 1977) was an American Animation, animated film director, art director, Film producer, producer, and Screenwriter, writer, known for his work with the United Productions of America, United Product ...

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'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'', ''

Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

'', '' Punch'', ''

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 gentleman ...

'', ''

Humbug A humbug is a person or object that behaves in a deceptive or dishonest way, often as a hoax or in jest. The term was first described in 1751 as student slang, and recorded in 1840 as a "nautical phrase". It is now also often used as an exclamat ...

'', ''

Theater Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

'' 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 th ...

shoes; and drawings for

Irving Trust The 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. Betwee ...

bank,

The New School The New School is a Private university, 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 p ...

, and D'Orsay perfumes, among others. His 1967

TV commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

for

, for which he created the

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

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

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

editorial cartoons for the liberal alternative weekly ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

''. That same decade, he produced the

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 en ...

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

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Send ...

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 moth ...

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 1948 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 ''

'', 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 and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

's and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

C. F. Ramuz's theater piece ''

L'Histoire du Soldat ', or ''Tale of the Soldier'' (as it was first published), is an hour-long 1918 theatrical work to be "read, played and danced ''()''" by three actors, one or more dancers, and a septet of instruments. Its music is by Igor Stravinsky, its libret ...

''. The special won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

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 Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

''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, lived on

Central Park West Eighth Avenue is a major north–south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, ...

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 ...

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

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

, who at various points was the art editor of

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

and the creative director of ''

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

Awards and honors

* '' Adweek'' Illustrator of the Year, 1983 *

AIGA The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. The ...

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 that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

and Title Sequences: ''

Nicholas Nickleby ''Nicholas Nickleby'', or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'', is the third novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839. The character of Nickleby is a young man who must support his ...

'' (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'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

'' *
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) Primetime Emmy Award winners American editorial cartoonists American political artists American magazine cartoonists American animated film directors American graphic designers American children's writers American children's book illustrators The New Yorker cartoonists The High School of Music & Art alumni Oberlin College alumni