The Mintz Staff, 1933

Do you know what this is? Yes, I know it’s a house. But do you know whose house?

Scrapologist Harry McCracken (or is it “Scrappologist” with two ‘p’s?) had a quiz amongst a number of us about this the other day. It’s the final home of studio mogul Charles Mintz who died on December 30, 1939. The home is at 717 North Linden Drive in Beverly Hills and was built in 1927.

But this isn’t a post about the house, nor Mintz, nor Harry McCracken for that matter. In hunting for the home address, I checked out the 1934 Los Angeles City Directory and found what amounted to a staff list for the Mintz cartoon studio. I suspect it was compiled in 1933 when Mintz was making Scrappy and Krazy Kat cartoons. See how many of the names you recognise.

ALGRE Felix artist Chas Mintz studio
BACON Frances L artist Chas Mintz studio r534 N Curson av
BLAIR Preston artist Chas Mintz studio
BLUM Blanche sten Chas Mintz studio
BONFIGLIO Thos artist Chas Mintz studio
BRINKER Frank artist Chas Mintz studio
BRONIS Jas officer mgr Chas Mintz studio
COUCH Chas artist Chas Mintz studio
CULBERTSON Ethel artist Chas Mintz studio rSanta Monica
DAVIS Arthur artist Chas Mintz studio
DeNAT Jos artist Chas Mintz Studio h1857 N Wilton pl
DUNNING Marshall artist Chas Mintz studio
ELLIS Irwin artist Chas Mintz studio
EUGSTER Alf artist Chas Mintz Studio
FORSHAY Elma artist Chas Mintz Studio
FULLER Lucille artist Chas Mintz Studio h5356 Lexington av
GARBER Sidney artist Chas Mintz Studio
GATES Marion artist Chas Mintz Studio
GOULD Allen artist Chas Mintz Studio
GRANVILLE Roy artist Chas Mintz Studio
HAWKINS Emery artist Chas Mintz Studio
HUFFINE Ray artist Chas Mintz Studio
JONES Fred artist Chas Mintz Studio
LIVERS Virginia artist Chas Mintz Studio r1400 N Serrano av
LOVE Harry artist Chas Mintz Studio
MARCUS Michl artist Chas Mintz Studio
MARCUS Sidney artist Chas Mintz Studios r8240 W 4th
McRAE Byron F artist Chas Mintz Studio r620 N Occidental blvd
MINTZ Chas pres Chas Mintz Studio r Beverly Hills
MINTZ Chas Studio pres mot pict prod 1154 N Westn av
MYERHOFER Mary artist Chas Mintz Studio
NOVAK Paul artist Chas Mintz Studio
PATIN Ray Mrs artist Chas Mintz Studio h2405 Holly dr
PATTERSON Donald artist Chas Mintz Studio r5351 Sunset blvd
PATTERSON Raymond artist Chas Mintz Studio r5351 Sunset blvd
REHBERG Edw artist Chas Mintz Studio
REIMER Otto G (Laura) artist Chas Mintz Studio h2751 Angus
ROSE Alf artist Chas Mintz Studio
ROSE Geo artist Chas Mintz Studio
ROTH John E artist Chas Mintz Studio
SHULTZ Edw artist Chas Mintz Studio
SPECTOR Irving artist Chas Mintz Studio
SUMMERVILLE Ralph artist Chas Mintz Studio
THIEDEMAN Christine artist Chas Mintz Studio h5426 Virginia av
TIMMINS Rube artist Chas Mintz Studio
WINKLER Geo genl mgr Chas Mintz Studio r West Los Angeles

Not all of these “artists” were artists. For example, Joe DeNat was the studio’s musical director. Byron McRae was a cameraman. And the list seems incomplete. There’s no mention of Ben Harrison, who came west with the studio from New York in early 1930. Is “Allen Gould” the same as Manny Gould? (Irwin Ellis is not the same as Warners’ Izzy Ellis; both are in the directory). Poor Ralph Somerville’s name is misspelled. So is Felix Alegre, and Allen Rose’s first name.

Pretty much everyone reading here knows the names of many of the Golden Age animators, so I need not say more about Preston Blair, Emery Hawkins, Artie Davis, the Pattersons and Sid Marcus (there seem to be a few Sam Singer employees here, such as Marcus, Ed Rehberg and, I think, Irv Spector).

There are names you may not recognise. One is likely Marshall Dunning. He had a very interesting career, mainly in newspaper cartooning, though he worked at the Disney studio for a time. He was living in Long Beach in 1929 when he came to Vancouver to get married. You can read about his career at this link.

Otto George Reimer wasn’t exactly a cartoonist. He was born in East St. Louis, Ill. on July 7, 1892. When he enlisted in World War One, his home was in Los Angeles and he was a litho engraver. In 1930, we find him in Chicago where he was a stone engraver. It would appear he moved to New Jersey by 1935 and New York City by 1940.

Anyone know anything about Paul Novak? Or Frank Brinker? Or Sid Garber?

As for the Mintz studio address listed in the directory? Well, you see the poor old home to the right. The aforementioned Mr. McCracken visited the site last year and wrote an excellent history of the building, complete with a drawing of it in its glory days on his Scrappyland blog. Don’t know much about Scrappy cartoons? You’ve never heard of Scrappy cartoons? Tsk. Go to Harry’s blog and learn about them.