Lantz, Columbia Studios, 1940

A while ago, we posted a list from 1940 of many of the male employees of Leon Schlesinger Productions based on U.S. military draft cards, most of them filled out in October 1940. Because of misspellings of poor Leon’s name, not all of them came up in a search.

We’re going to do the same thing for the Lantz, Screen Gems and Cartoon Films studios. The staffs there were much smaller.

Many of the Lantz names you’ll recognise from the cartoons. Some you won’t; maybe they were cameramen or other non-animation personel.

A few notes about people whose names were on cartoons the previous year:

● Burt Gillett was employed in a restaurant.
● James Miele was a “freelance cartoonist.”
● George Grandpre was unemployed.
● Victor McLeod went to work for J. Walter Thompson.
● Kin Platt went back to New York to work on comics.
● Frank Marsales card is from 1942. He left Lantz in 1940 to conduct a municipal band.
● Hicks Lokey has no card that I can find.
● Willie Pogany was self-employed.

RUSSELL BALDWIN, born 19 Sept. 1907, Freeley, Colo.
5740 Franklin Ave., Los Angeles. Hempstead 2074.
FRED WILLIAM BRUNISH, born 18 Dec. 1902, NYC.
727 N. Vista, Los Angeles. Whitney 5771.
DARRELL WALLACE CALKER, born 18 Feb. 1905, Washington, D.C.
7257 Willoughby Ave., Los Angeles. Gladstone 0156. Self employed.
ROBERT FLETCHER CORTEEN, born 16 Oct 1940, Burbank.
4647 Tujunga Ave N., Hollywood.
GEORGE DANE, born 2 Feb. 1913, Chicago.
5607 La Mirada, Los Angeles.
LOWELL EVERETT ELLIOTT, born 20 Dec. 1901, Independence, Kansas.
4817 Cleon Ave., North Hollywood. Sunset 2-7692.
OSMOND BILLINGE EVANS, born 18 Sept. 1910, Muskoka, Ont.
1839 N. Fairview, Burbank. Charleston 6-8663

RAYMOND MARK FAHRINGER, born 30 Nov. 1910, Omaha.
4270 Riverton Ave., North Hollywood. Sunset 2-6490.
EMMET VINCENT HALLORAN, born 24 April 1920, Syracuse, N.Y.
1815 ½ N. Wilcox Ave.., Hollywood. GL 5660.
JOSEPH BENSON HARDAWAY, born 21 May 1895, Belton, Mo.
11211 Kling St., N. Hollywood. Sunset 2-1522.
WALLACE FRANKLIN HAYNES, born 13 Feb. 1906, Ceres, Calif.
631 Caleb St., Glendale. Citrus 1-1576.
ANGEL GANDARA JIMENEZ, born 3 Oct. 1919, Denver.
450 15th St., Santa Monica.
EDGAR OTTO KIECHLE, born 24. Jan 1911, St. Louis.
4209 Bellingham Ave., N. Hollywood. Sunset 2-5731.
LESTER ROBERT KLINE, born 3 April 1906, Santa Monica, Calif.
6249 Ben Ave., North Hollywood. Hempstead 3131.
WALTER LANTZ, born 27 April 1899, New Rochelle, N.Y.
4607 Van Alden, Tarzana. ST7-1211

ALEXANDER LOVY, born 2 Sept. 1913, Passaic, N.J.
5607 La Mirada, Hollywood. HO 9551.
RICHARD WAGNER MARION, born 27 June 1910, Cincinnati.
14652 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys.
HAROLD MASON, born 6 Sept. 1917, Manchester, England.
1313 ½ N. Mariposa Ave., Los Angeles. NO1-9067.
ROBERT LEE MILLER, born 23 Oct. 1910, New Hampton, Iowa.
4165 Tujunga Ave., Los Angeles. SU2-0269.
ROBERT LEWIS MOORE, born 20 June 1908, Los Angeles.
1447 N. Orange Grove Ave., Los Angeles. HE 6944.
LANSING BALLARD NOLLEY, born 30 March 1902, Dallas.
2115 Griffith Park Blvd., Los Angeles. OL 4119.
RICHARD JAMES NELSON, born 26 April1917, Philadelphia.
929 South Lake St., Los Angeles. FI 6797 (actor).

JACK RABIN, born 18 March 1914, Edmonton.
438 ½ N. Curson St., Los Angeles. Walnut 3537.
RALPH JAY SOMERVILLE, born 6 Dec 1905, Oskaloosa, Iowa.
4104 Kraft Ave., N. Hollywood. Sunset 12806 (wife is Xenia Somerville).
FRANK GEORGE TIPPER, born 19 Aug. 1909, England.
4543 Longridge, Van Nuys.
JOHN LAW WALKER, born 19 Sept. 1899, Glasgow, Scotland.
616E Providencia, Burbank. CH6-8494.
CHARLES EDWARD WHITTON, born 27 June 1906, NYC.
1410 Golden Gate Ave., Los Angeles. OL 3958.
SEYMOUR ZWEIBEL, born 20 April 1915, Newark, N.J.
871 South 11th Street, Newark. Essex 3-3131.

The list for Columbia/Screen Gems is incomplete. Some employees in 1940 don’t have draft cards until 1942 when they were no longer employees. There was a purge with 30 people let go in 1941. Ben Harrison is listed as a “self-employed cartoonist,” and Art Davis’ older brother Phil opened a liquor store. Animators Manny Gould and Allen Rose, musician Joe De Nat and managers George Winkler and Jimmy Bronis are all unemployed. The database has mistranscribed “Screen Gems” so names were missed.

Sid Marcus took some doing to track down. There is conflicting information about him on-line and, naturally, more than one Sid Marcus in Los Angeles. But having checked his marriage license, a census report and a voters list for dates and occupations, enough information matches to say that Marcus was born in New York on July 13, 1904. His draft card reads “own studio 1560 Vine St Hollywood.” Sid died September 9, 1985 in Santa Monica.

I cannot find composer Paul Worth simply because that was not his legal name and I can’t remember what it was.

CARL RICHARD ANDERSON, born 9 Sept. 1910, Auburn, Wash.
4348 Longwood Ave., Los Angeles. NO 9138.
CHESTER CALLAHAN, born 2 Feb. 1904, Lockhart, Texas.
804 East 43rd Place, Los Angeles. Adams 8035.
ARTHUR JOHN CHADWICK, born 3 Feb. 1922, Handley, Texas
5 - 1401 N. Ridgewood, Hollywood (1942).
JACK VIRGIL COSGRIFF, born 23 July 1903, Baker, Ore.
6515 Franklin Ave., Hollywood. HO 6381 (1942)
ARTHUR DAVIS, 14 June 1905, Yonkers, N.Y.
12322 Viewcrest Rd., North Hollywood. SU2-2219.
SIDNEY DAVIS, born 5 June 1900, Yonkers, New York.
6427 Radford Ave., No. Hollywood. SUnset1-3556.
REAH WENDELL EHRET, born 8 July 1907, Brea, West Virginia.
945 West 85th St., Los Angeles. TW-0705.
FRANK JEROME FISHER, born 7 Mar 1907, Oregon Ogle, Ill.
914 N. Reece Place, Burbank. Charleston 6-0473.
EDGAR FRIEDMAN, born 23 Oct. 1912, Galveston, Texas.
111 S. Mariposa Ave., Los Angeles. FEderal 1556.
BERNARD GARBUTT, born 25 Aug. 1900, Ontario, Calif.
1308 Cedaredge Ave., Eagle Rock. Albany 8919.
SIDNEY JEROME GLENAR, born 13 Sep. 1903, Amsterdam, N.Y.
2338 ½ Bev. Glen Blvd., Los Angeles. CR1-8275. (1942)
EDWARD VINCENT KILFEATHER, born 5 April 1900, Portland, Ore.
412 Spaulding Drive, Beverly Hills. CR1-3963. (1942)
HAROLD LIEBLICH (Love), born 1 April 1911 in New York City.
1525 N. Van Ness, Los Angeles. HI 5111.
LOUIE HASKALL LILLY, born 26 Feb. 1909, Henderson, Kentucky.
10501 Bradbury Rd., Los Angeles. Ardmore 8-4690.
BENJAMIN FARLEY LLOYD, born 5 Dec 1916, York, Nebraska
10615 Inglewood Ave., Inglewood. OR7-4994.
JOHN RICHARD (Pat) MATTHEWS, born 17 May 1916, Chicago.
1144 South LaPeer Drive, Los Angeles.
WILLARD HOWARD MATTHEWS, born 4 Nov. 1922, Los Angeles.
2707½ West 8th Ave., Los Angeles (1942).
EDWARD RAYMOND MOORE, born 28 Aug. 1905, Chicago.
914 Orchard Dr., Burbank. CH6-4211.
THOMAS ANTHONY PELUSO, born 19 July 1899, NYC.
6546 Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. WH 3087 (also with Hal Roach) (1942).
ROBERT RAE PETKERE, born 20 Jan. 1910, Battle Creek, Mich.
1030 Kenwood, Burbank. GH6-8597.
MILES EDWARD PIKE, born 20 May 1902, NYC.
4291 Klump St., North Hollywood. (1942)
HERBERT RICHARD ROTHWILL, born 24 Nov. 1912, Highland, Wisc.
932 S. Irolo St., Los Angeles. FEderal 8392.
BEN SCHWALB, born 15 June 1901, Riga, Latvia.
1814 N. Berendo St., Los Angeles. NO 19020.
WILLIAM SPRAGUE TILTON, born 22 Sep. 1920, Rawlins, Wyoming
800 N. Las Palmas Ave., Los Angeles. HO 9705 (1942).
EDGAR CLARK WATSON, born 5 May 1908, Montreal.
617 N. Orange Drive, Los Angeles. YO 2797.
ELMO JAMES WHITE, born 28 Aug. 1911, St Augustine, Florida.
606 N. Sycamore Ave., Los Angeles. HO-2904.
ROBERT EARL WOLFER, born 15 Nov. 1907, Cincinnati.
5734 ½ Carlton Way, Los Angeles. Gladstone 2460.

Cartoon Films, Ltd. started out as the Iwerks studio in 1930 and changed its name when Ub worked out a deal with Lawson Haris to make Gran’ Pop Monkey cartoons to be screened in England. Former Harman-Ising animator Paul Fennell took over when Iwerks returned to Disney. It made commercial films with a small staff.

EDWARD ALLAN BENEDICT, born 23 Aug. 1912, Cleveland.
107 ½ S. Flores St., Los Angeles. Webster 9615.
CARL FERDINAND BUETTNER, born 26 May 1903, Minneapolis.
912 Shenandoah Street, Los Angeles. CR1-0696.
CHARLES BYRNE, born 24 Dec 1909, New York City.
826 S. Hibart Blvd., Los Angeles. DR 4576.
JOHN WILLIAM CANNON, born 17 Mar 1907, Terre Haute, Ind.
4875 Hartwick Street, Los Angeles. CI6-5698.
GEORGE JOSEPH DARNEILLE, born 29 May 1916, Needles, Calif.
159 Corlies Ave., Pelham West, N.Y. Pelham 2729.
EDWARD CLARK DAVIS, born 10 Sept. 1902, Paris, Miss.
444 N. Norton St., Los Angeles. Gladstone 9507 (1942).
JOSEPH PATRICK FENNELL, born 20 Mar. 1914, Grafton, Neb.
1341 Seward St., Los Angeles. HI-2741.
PAUL JOHN FENNELL, born 9 Nov. 1909, Grafton, Neb.
13910 Davana Terrace, Van Nuys. ST4-0205.
WILLIAM LAWSON HARRIS, born 30 Jun 1897 in Evansville, Ind.
14501 Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades. SM5-3015.
ANDREW SLOANE LITTLEJOHN, born 8 Feb. 1916, Newark, N.J.
2523 Kenilworth Ave., Los Angeles. MO1-6935 (brother is Bill Littlejohn).
THOMAS JACOB MCKIMSON, born 5 March 1907, Denver.
108 S. Harper Dr., Los Angeles. WH 8971.
NICHOLS MILBANK, born 23 Mar 1903, Montclair, N.J.
10637 Ashton Ave., Los Angeles. AR3-4675 (1942).
GORDON MAXWELL NUNES, born 1 Aug. 1914, Porterville, Cal.
3513 Clarington, Los Angeles.
GILBERT PARMELEE RUGG III, born 9 Nov. 1910, Minneapolis.
729½ N. Formosa St., Los Angeles.
EDWARD R. SMITH, born 22 Aug. 1908, West Lafayette, Ind.
401 Seaside Terrace Hotel, Santa Monica. Santa Monica 5-7209.
ALMON RICHARD TEETER, born 26 May 1913, Jasper, Miss.
141 S. Swall Dr., Los Angeles. CR1-4216.
DONALD HAROLD WILLIAMS, born 21 April 1906, Rochester, Minn.
2666 Carleton Ave., Los Angeles. Capitol 8461.
BONG JIN WONG, born 26 Nov. 1908, Hoy Sun, Canton, China.
846 Lookout Drive, Los Angeles.
JOAQUIN RUDOLPH ZAMORA, born 26 Mar 1910, Mexico City.
6720 Franklin Place, Los Angeles.

My thanks to Devon Baxter who marched forward past mis-transcriptions and found several more names.