Lillian Friedman Astor (born April 12, 1912 – July 9, 1989) was the first American female studio animator, working at for the Fleischer Brothers' studio, inking and eventually animating various Betty Boop cartoons, as well as one Popeye, some Color Classics, and several Hunky and Spunky cartoons, although she received screen credit on only six of the forty-two cartoons she animated in her lifetime.[2]
Born in New York City, Friedman started drawing at the age of 12 and later attended Washington Irving High School, where she studied commercial art and fashion design. After graduating, she worked as a fashion designer.[3][4]
Animation careerEdit
Friedman began as an inker, colorist, and inbetweener, along with a classmate named Lillian Oremland, in July 1930 in an small animation studio financed by Montrose Newman working for a pilot that was a fantasy set to Spring Song. They then became inbetweeners at Frank Goldman's Audio Cinema, in a space shared with Terrytoons. She recalls animating a Listerine commercial with germ characters designed by Dr. Seuss, which Astor expressed frustration about his inability to animate. Through Goldman's friendship with Fleischer, they were both hired as inbetweeners at Fleischer Studios in July 1931. Shamus Culhane, liked her work so much that he hired her as an animation assistant in February 1932, but in April of that same year Culhane's idea of having an assistant was abandoned and she went back to inbetweening, but Culhane continued to encourage her on her dreams of being an animator. In 1933, head of Timing Department Nellie Sanborn gave her the chance to redo a scene from a Betty Boop film and showed it to the Fleischer brothers without telling them it was done by a girl inbetweener; in July 1933, she was signed to a three-year contract as an animator, where she got paid $30 a week.[4][5] After briefly being in Seymour Kneitel's unit, where the animators were all mean to Astor and made sarcastic remarks, she went to Myron Waldman's unit, which was the opposite and had very nice young animators who accepted her as one of them.[4][5]
In 1937, the employees at Fleischer went on strike and went past the picket line, and so did Astor. Her open stand for the Commercial Artists and Designers Union, since she was hired there that year, caused direct and indirect abuse from catcalling from the company and they forced her not to get paid more unless she stayed with the union. After failing to find a job after the studio moved to Miami, Florida, which the move was designed to bust the union, which it did. When her husband finally got a job in February 1939, she put aside her animation career to raise a family.[4][5]
lillian, friedman, astor, born, april, 1912, july, 1989, first, american, female, studio, animator, working, fleischer, brothers, studio, inking, eventually, animating, various, betty, boop, cartoons, well, popeye, some, color, classics, several, hunky, spunky. Lillian Friedman Astor born April 12 1912 July 9 1989 was the first American female studio animator working at for the Fleischer Brothers studio inking and eventually animating various Betty Boop cartoons as well as one Popeye some Color Classics and several Hunky and Spunky cartoons although she received screen credit on only six of the forty two cartoons she animated in her lifetime 2 Lillian Friedman AstorBorn 1912 04 12 April 12 1912New York City U S DiedJuly 9 1989 1989 07 09 aged 77 OccupationAnimatorYears active1930 1939Children1 1 AwardsMotion Picture Screen Cartoonists Golden Award 1987 honoree Contents 1 Personal life 2 Animation career 3 References 4 External linksPersonal life EditBorn in New York City Friedman started drawing at the age of 12 and later attended Washington Irving High School where she studied commercial art and fashion design After graduating she worked as a fashion designer 3 4 Animation career EditFriedman began as an inker colorist and inbetweener along with a classmate named Lillian Oremland in July 1930 in an small animation studio financed by Montrose Newman working for a pilot that was a fantasy set to Spring Song They then became inbetweeners at Frank Goldman s Audio Cinema in a space shared with Terrytoons She recalls animating a Listerine commercial with germ characters designed by Dr Seuss which Astor expressed frustration about his inability to animate Through Goldman s friendship with Fleischer they were both hired as inbetweeners at Fleischer Studios in July 1931 Shamus Culhane liked her work so much that he hired her as an animation assistant in February 1932 but in April of that same year Culhane s idea of having an assistant was abandoned and she went back to inbetweening but Culhane continued to encourage her on her dreams of being an animator In 1933 head of Timing Department Nellie Sanborn gave her the chance to redo a scene from a Betty Boop film and showed it to the Fleischer brothers without telling them it was done by a girl inbetweener in July 1933 she was signed to a three year contract as an animator where she got paid 30 a week 4 5 After briefly being in Seymour Kneitel s unit where the animators were all mean to Astor and made sarcastic remarks she went to Myron Waldman s unit which was the opposite and had very nice young animators who accepted her as one of them 4 5 She animated for an Popeye cartoon where she was uncredited Can You Take It 1934 Her animation work also appears in Betty Boop s Prize Show 1934 Making Stars 1935 Judge for a Day 1935 Be Human 1936 The New Deal Show 1937 Pudgy Takes a Bow Wow 1937 Buzzy Boop at the Concert 1938 Pudgy and the Lost Kitten 1938 Honest Love and True 1938 and the Color Classic Hawaiian Birds 1936 6 She was also responsible for animating several scenes in Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor in 1936 specifically Popeye giving the twisker punch and the two headed giant Boola 7 In 1937 the employees at Fleischer went on strike and went past the picket line and so did Astor Her open stand for the Commercial Artists and Designers Union since she was hired there that year caused direct and indirect abuse from catcalling from the company and they forced her not to get paid more unless she stayed with the union After failing to find a job after the studio moved to Miami Florida which the move was designed to bust the union which it did When her husband finally got a job in February 1939 she put aside her animation career to raise a family 4 5 References Edit Aaron Astor Who s Who in Animated Cartoons An International Guide to Film amp Television s Award Winning and Legendary Animators by Jeff Lenburg pp 95 97 Who s Who in Animated Cartoons An International Guide to Film amp Television s Award Winning and Legendary Animators by Jeff Lenburg p 96 a b c d Deneroff Harvey March 20 2016 Lillian Friedman Astor Deneroff com Archived from the original on October 17 2020 Retrieved October 28 2020 a b c A Chat with Lillian Friedman Astor cartoonresearch com March 28 2016 Retrieved October 28 2020 Deneroff Harvey May 20 1988 Lillian Friedman Astor A Brief Biographical Sketch PDF deneroff com Retrieved October 28 2020 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Article from Paramount promotional booklet for Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor 1936 see 1 External links EditLillian Friedman Astor at Find a Grave Lillian Friedman Astor at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Lillian Friedman Astor amp oldid 1147030243, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
