Otto Messmer

Born: Otto James Messmer
Birthday: August 16, 1892
Location: West Hoboken, NJ, U.S.
Alma mater: Thomas School of Art
Occupation: Animator, Director
Years active: 1915-1983
Died: October 28, 1983

Otto Messmer drew his own comics for local papers by the age of 20, but he really wanted to explore the emergent new artform; animation. Otto was mesmerized by the early cartoons like Winsor McCay’s.

In 1915, Messmer signed a deal to create a character called Motor Mat for Universal Studios. He made a test film and although it was never released, it garnered the of attention of professionals like cartoonist and animator Henry Mayer, and animator/film producer Pat Sullivan.

Messmer collaborated with Mayer on an animated series “The Travels of Teddy,” based on the life of Teddy Roosevelt. Their series was successful, leading Otto to collaborate with Pat Sullivan, who ran the business while letting Messmer lead the creative work. In 1919, Messmer created a cartoon called Feline Follies at Pat Sullivan’s animation studio. It was innovative because it was the first to use captions for dialogue and sound effects like those used comics, instead of the usual title screens expected in silent films.

The star of Feline Follies, Master Tom evolved and grew eventually becoming Felix the Cat. As Felix’s star ascended in popularity, he got his own newspaper comic strip In 1923, which also drawn by Messmer initially, and later by Joe Oriolo running until 1966.

Otto’s Felix animated cartoons began to lose popularity in the late 1920s as they competed with the sound cartoons of other studios like Walt Disney’s and Fleischer’s. Sullivan was slow to get with the times. By the time Pat Sullivan incorporated sound, the damage was done. The studio shut down in 1932.

Messmer went on to produce Felix comic books through the ‘40s and ‘50s for as Dell Comics, Toby Press, and Harvey Comics. Otto also animated for Famous Studios before retiring.

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Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.

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