Animation studio Traum & Maier
The animation studio Traum & Maier in Vienna was one of the most important Austrian advertising film productions from the 1950s to 1970s, specializing in cartoon and puppet films.
Walter V. Maier (born October 26, 1927 in Vienna) studied chemistry and optics and after the war began to work first as a camera assistant and later as a reporter for the French newsreel. In 1948 he founded the film studio Traum und Maier with Kurt Traum . The starting equipment was an old Ernemann wooden camera with single image recording and a hand crank for film transport. Kurt Traum and Walter V. Maier organized their first orders themselves by offering their services to various businesses. The slides were then washed off after completion of the film for cost reasons, to be able to again use it.
At the beginning of the 1950s, the company developed into one of the most important film companies in Vienna. Walter V. Maier was one of the youngest among the initiators of post-war animated films at the age of 21 and later reported on various dangerous actions when it came to realizing spectacular recordings for real commercials. He describes the working style of the development period as family teamwork, in which the exact allocation of functions was not always desirable. The technical and artistic possibilities were discussed and solved in the group for the various problems.
Annual production was very high in the heyday with around 15 cartoons per year. Another specialty in animation that the film studio dedicated itself to was the production of puppet films.
Walter V. Maier has won awards over the years, such as the Austrian State Prize for Advertising Film and the Advertising Industry Prize for the best commercial animation film. In 1985 his son Mario EK Maier took over the company and won the Austrian State Recognition Award for advertising film.
Advertisers included Anchor Bread, Smart Cigarettes, Benco's Adventure, Hustinetten Bear and Eagle Owl Kleber.