''Nudnik'' was a

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

series directed by

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 ...

, produced by William Lawrence Snyder, and distributed by

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...

. Twelve shorts were released during 1965 and 1967. The character's tagline is "Whatever can go wrong with Nudnik, will go wrong." The first cartoon of the series, ''Here's Nudnik'', was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

in 1965, losing to ''

The Dot and the Line ''The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics'' is a 1965 animated short film directed by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Maurice Noble, based on the 1963 book of the same name written and illustrated by Norton Juster. The film was narrat ...

''. Nudnik was based on a previous

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 ...

character, Foofle, who appeared from 1959 to 1960.

Synopsis

''Nudnik'' contains only one major character, simply named Nudnik. He cannot do anything right; when he does something, it usually ends with disastrous results, and usually gets him in trouble. At first the idea was for each short to be scored with melancholy jazz music, which was done for the first cartoon. However, the studio wasn't pleased with the musical choice, and they made Deitch use more upbeat music. The song that was used most often was " Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams", used both for the opening sequence and as a general theme of sorts for the character himself. Though there were other characters, they were unnamed, such as the fat woman, the dog, the cop, and the thief. There was something of an unspoken rule that everything in the world hates Nudnik, further adding to the mayhem.

Shorts

TV series

A 'new' animated series, ''The Nudnik Show'', was created in 1991, which showed the 12 classic shorts in syndication, and it also had one brand new Nudnik short, "Nudnik Impossible", however it was mostly made using left over clips from old promotional material from when the shorts were original being produced in the 60s, bringing the number of Nudnik shorts from 12 to 13. It also had 11 bumpers with all new animation, each one being about 30 seconds long, according to the IMDb listing,

Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer (born January 26, 1929)''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; Page 107 is an American cartoonist and author, who was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 as North- ...

was a writer for the series, so it is most likely that he wrote for the bumpers. The production companies were

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

and

Rembrandt Films Rembrandt Films is a Czech production company founded by American film producer William L. Snyder in 1949. It began as an importer of films from Europe and expanded into animated film production. Gene Deitch directed for the company both his own f ...

. The shorts were featured on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

's animated anthology series ''

ToonHeads ''ToonHeads'' is an American animation anthology series consisting of Hanna-Barbera, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., and ''Popeye'' cartoon shorts, with background information and trivia, prominently about animators and voice actors of the shor ...

'' in 1996.

References

External links

* * * Translation of the name/wor
"Yaramaz"
Czech animated television series Animated comedy films Animated film series Film series introduced in 1965 Male characters in animation {{animation-tv-prog-stub