Charles Mintz
Charles Mintz | |
|---|---|
Charles Mintz In 1931 | |
| Born | Charles Bear Mintz November 5, 1889 York, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | December 30, 1939 (aged 50) |
| Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Years active | 1923–1939 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Charles Bear Mintz (November 5, 1889[1] – December 30, 1939)[2] was an American film producer and distributor best known for producing animated cartoons at Screen Gems, leading the company from 1925 to 1939. Mintz's shrewd business decisions had led to the founding of rival studios such as Walt Disney Productions, Walter Lantz Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, all of which surpassed Screen Gems in popularity.
Life before the film industry
Charles B. Mintz was born in York, Pennsylvania to Wolf Mintz, owner of a grocery store. As a child, Mintz possessed a great skill in photography. Mintz attended York High School. Mintz later enrolled in the Brooklyn Law School and graduated.[3]
Career
Charles Mintz married his business partner Margaret J. Winkler in 1924, assuming control of her company Winkler Pictures. The couple had two children, Katherine and William. Under Mintz, the company stopped distributing films in Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks's Alice Comedies, instead sticking with production as the company found distributors in FBO and eventually Universal Pictures. Mintz and Winkler's brother George asked the two to develop what would become Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald films received critical acclaim and significant box office success, propelling Winkler Pictures to stardom.[4]
In February 1928, Mintz convinced Disney's animators to leave him after he unsuccessfully demanded a budget increase, assuming control of the series' production. However, he failed to hire Iwerks, who left with Disney to create Mickey Mouse. Without Mintz's invasive presence, Mickey Mouse achieved greater success under independent distributor Celebrity Productions.[5] At Winkler Productions, animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising wrestled for control, asking Universal boss Carl Laemmle to remove Mintz from power. Laemmle promptly terminated Winkler's contract, hiring most of their animators while handing directorial duties to Winkler employees Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan.[6]
Mintz renamed the company after himself after firing George Winkler, producing the Krazy Kat series for Columbia Pictures from 1929 to 1939, briefly sharing distributors with Walt Disney Productions which eclipsed his productions in popularity. The character was revamped to resemble Mickey Mouse instead of George Herriman's characters in a similar act of corporate sabotage. From 1930 to 1931, Mintz produced 12 Toby the Pup cartoons for RKO Radio Pictures. In 1933, Mintz's studio was renamed Screen Gems. Scrappy (1930–1941) was his biggest success which continued production after Mintz died, and Color Rhapsody which began in 1934 and continued until 1947. [7] Fables began in 1939 and continued until 1942.[8]
In 1939, Mintz became indebted to Columbia, which resulted in him selling the studio to Columbia Pictures.
After a heart attack, Mintz died on December 30, 1939. Screen Gems remained open until 1946. The name was later used for Columbia's television division, among other things.[9] Walt Disney held Mintz in low regard, though he noted that Mintz cultivated his high standards on output quality, a quality integral to both men's success.[10]
Mintz was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Short Subject. His first nomination was in 1935 for Holiday Land, and he was nominated again in 1938 for The Little Match Girl.
Charles Mintz was portrayed in the feature film Walt Before Mickey by Conor Dubin.
Selected filmography
| Release date | Title | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Mississippi Mud | Oswald the Lucky Rabbit | First Oswald short produced by Mintz |
| 1928 | Panicky Pancakes | Oswald the Lucky Rabbit | |
| 1928 | Fiery Fireman | Oswald the Lucky Rabbit | |
| 1928 | Rocks and Socks | Oswald the Lucky Rabbit | |
| 1928 | South Sea Isaacs | Oswald the Lucky Rabbit | |
| 1929 | Alpine Antics | Oswald the Lucky Rabbit | |
| 1929 | The Ratskin | Krazy Kat | First Mintz Krazy Kat short |
| 1930 | The Apache Kid | Krazy Kat | |
| 1930 | The Museum | Toby the Pup | First Toby the Pup short |
| 1931 | Yelp Wanted | Scrappy | First Scrappy short |
| 1932 | The Great Bird Mystery | Scrappy | |
| 1932 | The Treasure Runt | Scrappy | |
| 1933 | The Broadway Malady | Krazy Kat | |
| 1934 | Holiday Land | Color Rhapsodies | Nominated for an Academy Award |
| 1934 | The Dog Snatcher | Scrappy | |
| 1935 | The Garden Graft | Color Rhapsodies | |
| 1936 | The Untrained Seal | Color Rhapsodies | |
| 1937 | The Little Match Girl | Color Rhapsodies | Nominated for an Academy Award |
| 1938 | The Horse on the Merry-Go-Round | Color Rhapsodies | |
| 1939 | The House That Jack Built | Phantasies | |
| 1939 | Scrappy's Addie | Scrappy | Final Scrappy short produced under Mintz |
| 1939 | Mouse Exterminator | Krazy Kat | Final Krazy Kat short produced under Mintz |
Series Produced
As head of Winkler Pictures and Screen Gems, Mintz oversaw the following series total counts:[11]
- Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1928–1929) – 26 shorts
- Krazy Kat (1929–1939) – 102 shorts
- Toby the Pup (1930–1931) – 12 shorts
- Scrappy (1931–1939) – 84 shorts
- Color Rhapsodies (1934–1939) – 48 shorts
- Barney Google (1934–1936) – 4 shorts
- Fables (1937–1939) – 40 shorts
- Phantasies (1939) – 22 shorts
References
- ^ "In Memoriam: Charles Mintz". Scrappyland. September 24, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014. Social Security Administration.
- ^ "The York Dispatch from York, Pennsylvania". Newspapers.com. January 1, 1940. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
- ^ Gabler, Neal (2006). Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-43822-X.
- ^ Susanin, Timothy S.; Miller, Diane Disney (April 7, 2011). Walt Before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919–1928. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-960-2. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ Korkis, Jim (October 15, 2014). "The History of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Part Two". Mouse Planet. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 79. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
- ^ Dobson, Nichola (April 2010). The a to Z of Animation and Cartoons. ISBN 978-1-4616-6402-4.
- ^ Gabler, Neal (2006). Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 183. ISBN 0-679-43822-X.
- ^ "Screen Gems Cartoon List". The Big Cartoon DataBase. Retrieved May 23, 2024.