Anton C. Loeb (31 March 1908– 10 December 1984) was a cartoonist, illustrator and theatrical animator.
Loeb illustrated children's books in the late 1940s, including a collection of
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...
in a book called ''Storytime Favorites''. Loeb worked primarily as one of
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
's lead theatrical cartoon Background Painters the 1950s, and then moved on to TV animation in the 1960s. He worked for Fleischer Studios, which produced the ''
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Wizard Of Oz'', adapted from
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...
's 1900 classic original. This
abridge
Abridge is a village in Essex, England. It is on the River Roding, southwest of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Epping Forest and in the parliamentary constituency of Brentwood and Ongar. It is part of the civil ...
d version was published in 1950 by
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
.
Loeb was born in Hungary on March 31, 1908, and raised in New York City. When he was 15 he was a scenic designer for the
Metropolitan Opera Company
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...
. He had already attended the Academy of Design in New York under the sponsorship of banker George Baker. Loeb also sang in the Brooklyn Academy of Music, moved on to Broadway and the lead in musical comedies but laryngitis robbed him of his ability to sing.
Personal life
He was married on Feb 14, 1939 to Frances Ravitz in Miami, Florida, where he was working on the Fleischer Studios cartoons. After moving back to New York when Paramount took over the Fleischer studio, he returned to Florida in 1949 and lived on Di Lido Island. He died of cancer in Miami on December 10, 1984, at the age of 76.