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Paul Terry

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Animator

The Resume

    (February 19, 1887-October 25, 1971)
    Born in San Mateo, California
    King Features cartoonist (ca. 1913)
    Founder of Paul Terry Productions (1917)
    Founder of Terrytoons animation studio (1929-1968, division of 20th Century Fox)
    Terrytoon characters include Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, and Gandy Goose

Why he might be annoying:

    His Aesop’s Film Fables were the inspiration for Jay Ward's Fractured Fairy Tales.
    He was more interested in single-shot films than marketable characters — though he ultimately relented.
    He was nominated for only three Academy Awards (Best Short Subject, Cartoons; 1942, 1944, 1945).
    In the early 1960s, he sold Terrytoons to the CBS network — just so he could pursue his retirement.
    He considered Disney the Tiffany’s of animation and himself the Woolworth. (Curious, since Walt himself claimed to be inspired by the guy’s primitive-looking works.)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was inspired to become an animator by watching Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur.
    When he left the J.R. Bray Studios after about a year, he secured the rights to the 11 Farmer Al Falfa films he directed.
    He began experimenting with sound process in a Fable Cartoon that beat Disney’s Steamboat Willie to the punch by two months (1928).
    He favored simplicity that would increase output with minimal fatigue over complexity that would reduce output and increase fatigue. This kept his lower-standard studio profitable while higher-standard companies flamed out.
    He was the first producer of animated shorts to package his works for television (and preserve them for new generations).

Credit: Cool It All Right?


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 14 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 17 Votes: 41.18% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying