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 Inking may refer to:
*Inking (attack), act of throwing ink on other person
*Inking, a defensive activity of certain cephalopods and sea hares
* Inking (comic book production)
*Pen computing
Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using ...
and eventually animating various Betty Boop cartoons, as well as one
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Color Classics
''Color Classics'' are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphonies''. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color fo ...
, and several
Hunky and Spunky
''Hunky and Spunky'' were fictional characters, appearing in the series of animated short subjects produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1938 to 1941. Filmed in Technicolor (three-strip), the series revolves around a mother bur ...
cartoons, although she received screen credit on only six cartoons in her lifetime.
Personal life
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.
Animation career
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
Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in name only). Terrytoons was founded by ...
. She recalls animating a
Listerine
Listerine is an American brand of antiseptic mouthwash that is promoted with the slogan "Kills germs that cause bad breath", Named after Joseph Lister, who pioneered antiseptic surgery at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland, Listerine was ...
commercial with germ characters designed by
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss" '' 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
Myron Waldman (April 23, 1908 – February 4, 2006) was an American animator, best known for his work at Fleischer Studios.
Early life
Waldman was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 23, 1908. He was a graduate of the Pratt Institute, where ...
's unit, which was the opposite and had very nice young animators who accepted her as one of them.
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
''Betty Boop's Prize Show'' is a 1934 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop.
This is the second of a series of Betty Boop melodrama spoofs, which also included ''She Wronged Him Right'' (1934), '' No! No! A Thousand Times ...
Honest Love and True
''Honest Love and True'' is a 1938 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop and her erstwhile boyfriend Fearless Freddy.
This is the last in a series of Betty Boop melodrama spoofs, which also included ''She Wronged Him Righ ...
'' (1938), and the Color Classic '' Hawaiian Birds'' (1936). 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."Article from Paramount promotional booklet for "Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" 1936, se /ref>
In 1937, the employees at Fleischer 1937 Fleischer Studios strike, 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 abuse 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 Florida, which the move was designed to bust the union, which it did. When her husband finally got a job in February 1939, she quit animation and had a family.