Ted Petok

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Ted Petok , actually Theodore M. Petok , (born April 4, 1917 in Detroit , † April 20, 2010 in Rockville , Maryland ) was an American cartoonist , illustrator , animator and film producer .

Life

After graduating from high school in 1934, Petok attended an art college in Chicago , but stayed there only six months and then worked as a cartoonist for various New York newspapers. In 1935 he returned to Detroit, where he worked as an advertising artist for a local advertising company. After the end of World War II - from 1942 to 1946 he was in the US Army Signal Corps and most recently held the highest rank of captain - Petok opened a studio for advertising graphics in Detroit and specialized in animated advertising.

Petok soon turned completely to animation, initially working at Earl Klein's animation studio, Animation Inc., and eventually joining Ernest Pintoff's Pintoff Studios. In 1969, Petok founded his own animation film studio, Ted Petok Studios, which he renamed Crunch Bird Studios in 1971. He concentrated on traditional hand-drawn animation and, in addition to commercials, also made humorous short cartoons. Together with Len Maxwell (dubbing) and Joe Petrovich (animation), the three-minute animated film The Crunch Bird was created , which Petok submitted to the Oscar competition as a producer on the advice of a cinema operator from Detroit . The film won the award for Best Animated Short Film in 1972 . In 1975, Crunch Bird II was a sequel; In 1981 numerous other short films about the Crunch Bird were released.

Petok produced and animated over two dozen cartoons, created animations for Sesame Street and The Electric Company, and numerous commercials. In 1989 he gave the Crunch Bird Studios to his eldest son. Petok died of heart failure in 2010 and was buried in Beth El Memorial Park in Livonia , Michigan.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1971: The Crunch Bird
  • 1974: The Mad Baker
  • 1975: Crunch Bird II
  • 1975: Yeecch
  • 1975: Stash
  • 1976: The Golfer
  • 1981: Yetta the Yenta
  • 1981: The Geneticist
  • 1981: The Hospital
  • 1981: Parrot
  • 1981: Charm School
  • 1981: You Dirty Bird
  • 1981: The Execution
  • 1981: The Guru
  • 1981: Indians
  • 1981: Kink Konk
  • 1981: Love
  • 1981: Missing You
  • 1981: Pet Shop
  • 1981: Pollution
  • 1981: The Psychiatrist
  • 1981: Little Red Riding Hood
  • 1981: The Russians
  • 1981: Talking Bird
  • 1981: Zoo

Awards

For The Crunch Bird , Petok received the 1972 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. Crunch Bird II won bronze medal at the International Film Festival, US Virgin Islands in 1975.

literature

  • Theodore (Ted) Petok . In: Jeff Lenburg: Who's who in animated cartoons . Applause, New York 2006, pp. 284-285.
  • Joe Rossiter: Ted Petok: Cartoonist won Oscar in '71 for short film . In: Detroit Free Press April 22, 2010, p. 17.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Petok, Ted
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Petok, Theodore M. (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cartoonist, illustrator, animator, and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 2010
Place of death Rockville