If you wanted to work in animation in the silent era, the place to go was New York City. Well, that was until Walt Disney opened a studio in Los Angeles. New York and its environs still provided a home for animators after sound came in—Fleischer, Terrytoons (originally Terry-Moser-Coffman) and, until 1936, Van Beuren.
There were numerous commercial animation studios in New York through the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s and so on. Like on the West Coast, many animators had long careers in New York, with some beginning in the silent era.
One was Mannie Davis.
Davis began animating well before cartoons had sound. But you won’t learn that from his brief obituary in the New Rochelle Star-Standard of Oct. 11, 1975.
Emanuel "Mannie" Davis, a longtime resident of New Rochelle and Larchmont and an original animator for the "Mighty Mouse' cartoon, died Thursday [Oct. 9] at New York Hospital. He was 81.
Davis worked for Terrytoons, a cartoon studio once located on Center Avenue in New Rochelle. He was associated with the original "Mighty Mouse," "Hekyl and Jekyl" [sic] and "Deputy Dawg" cartoons.
Born in Yonkers on Jan. 22, 1894, he was the son of the late Samuel and Sarah Davis. He was married to the former Florence Goodstein, from whom he later was divorced. Davis retired in 1960, when Terrytoons, Inc. was bought out by CBS Television. He lived at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Manhattan for several years before his death.
He was a graduate of Cooper Union Art School in New York City and served as a cartographer for the Army during World War I.
Survivors include a son, James Davis of Hastingson-Hudson; a daughter, Susan Mandelker of New York City; and one grandson.
His wedding story in the Yonkers Herald of July 23, 1929 adds a bit more:
Let’s back up a little and peer at our newspaper clipping file and a few other sources.
Davis was born on January 23, 1894. His father Sam was a hatter who came to the U.S. from Hungary. The 1910 U.S. Census gives Manny’s occupation as “clerk, broker’s office.” The family was still using the surname Davidavitch then. It was changed by 1912 as the Standard Union of Brooklyn published Oct. 5, 1912 reports Emanuel Davis was the High Chief Skull of the Curiosity Club, a fraternal group. The Collector of Bones was “A. Davis.” This could be Manny’s younger brother Art, best-known for his directing and animating at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio.
Manny was involved in different clubs and fraternal groups over the years. In 1915, he was elected Treasurer of the Arista Society, which met at the Terrace City Young Men’s Hebrew Association. States the Yonkers Statesman, June 19, 1915:
Mr. Davis, artist, has finished a drawing on which appears the name Arista Society, beneath which are Grecian figures representing the objects of the Society, which are literature, art and science; these are supported by colonnades, with which are photographs of the eight charter members. Appropriate pen-and-ink work completes this artistic work.
He was a member of the Majestic and Gridiron Clubs, which seems to have been associated with Yonkers Lodge No. 707, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Many of the active members were Jews. Every year for a number of years, they put on a minstrel show. Manny was in the chorus. Despite being amateurs, in 1919, they were booked into the local Proctor’s Theatre. They also entertained convalescent soldiers and for a servicemen’s homecoming celebration fund, according to the Statesman of March 25, 1919, and raised money for a Christmas Fund for poor children with three performances at the Warburton Theatre, reported the Statesman of March 12, 1923.
Manny was also a member of the Freemasons. He joined Dunwoodie Lodge No. 863 on South Broadway in Yonkers, receiving his three degrees on Oct. 29, Nov. 5 and Nov. 19, 1919, and was installed as Senior Steward on Dec. 1, 1920. Jews made up the membership of this lodge. He doesn’t appear to have held a higher office, but he was involved in “jollifications” of the lodge’s Fellowcraft Club, which was (or maybe still is) a social group appended to the lodge which had (or maybe still has) some kind of silly, frat-like initiation ceremony, far different than the serious mien of the symbology of Masonic degrees. (A 1925 newspaper clipping lists Cliff Friend as a member but it’s unknown if it is the composer of that name). In May 1925, he was in a contingent of 200 members from eight lodges that journeyed to Washington to meet President Calvin Coolidge and view the uncompleted George Washington Masonic Memorial. He was suspended for non-payment of dues on Dec. 31, 1932.
Enough of his fraternal life. Art was always an interest of Davis. He designed the cover for the second issue of the Courier, published by the Y.M.H.A. (Statesman, July 13, 1916).
Then the war got in the way. Davis almost stayed out of the service, but then the ground rules were changed on him. Reported the Statesman of Oct. 9, 1917:
As a result of changes made in the requirements as to weight made since they were examined for the draft among the first 300, seven men of the First Local District will be obliged to submit to another examination to ascertain if they are now fit, according to new orders, to join the National Army.
Among the seven was Mannie Davis. This time, he passed his physical and the Herald of March 26, 1918 said he was on his way to Camp Upton in six days. A report in the same newspaper on Aug. 19th said he was engaged in map drawing and had been transferred to the Officers Training School for the Engineer Corps in Washington, D.C. He was back from war service by Dec. 27, as the Herald reported the Gridiron Club was able to return to life and Davis was invited to come to the Club’s rooms when they reopened in Getty Square on New Year’s Day. The group continued with its minstrel shows and Davis drew a number of posters depicting past shows (Statesman, Apr. 26).
He was rising in the world of animation. We read in the Herald of Jan. 17, 1921:
Emanuel Davis, of 119 Ludlow street, who is an accomplished artist of the city, has been placed in charge of the studio of the Bud Fisher Film Corporation, 2555 Webster avenue, Fordham. Mr. Davis, who has been with the corporation for four years, is also chief animator of the famous Fisher cartoons. Prior to his present employment, Mr. Davis was connected for several years with New York daily newspapers.
But he wouldn’t be in charge for long. The Corporation went bankrupt that year. Bob Coar on Cartoon Research sorted through the mess of the Fisher animation operations and stated the business was transferred to the Jefferson Film Company, with more morphing within the next year. A bio by the National Cartoonists Guild says Davis worked for the Fleischer studio from 1922 to 1924, but Davis also opened his own studio in 1923, based out of his home at 105 Morris Street (Herald, June 18).
This venture evidently didn’t last long, for Variety of Nov. 11, 1925 has him at Fables Pictures, Inc., owned by Amedee Van Beuren and run by Paul Terry, and named in two patent-infringement lawsuits by Bray-Hurd Pictures. Charlie Judkins in Cartoon Research helpfully tells us that by 1926 Davis wrote, directed and animated his own Fables. Terry was bounced by Van Beuren in 1929, John Foster promoted in his place, and the studio name changed to the Van Beuren Film Corporation. Says Charlie:
Mannie Davis and Harry Bailey were chosen as Foster’s initial two directors, therefore a cartoon credited “By John Foster and Mannie Davis” is actually de-facto directed by Davis. Foster’s creative role during this time would’ve mostly been reserved to story work and working with the musical director, although he also contributed animation to a fair amount of the cartoons.
The Van Beuren cartoons have been dismissed over the years as poorly-drawn with disjointed stories. You can’t really deny it. But they got some respect when they first appeared. Billboard’s review of The Haunted Ship on May 10, 1930 contained this praise:
Waffles Kat and Buddy Kit [Don Dog] have been launched on another of their ever-interesting adventures in this comedy cartoon created by John Foster and Manny [sic] Davis. And this is by far the best of the similarly themed cartoons viewed by this writer recently. The reel is packed with a laugh in each foot. [. . .]
The cartoon is a guarantee for laughs on any program. Book it in one of yours.
Several trade papers in 1930 mentioned that Davis was among the people at Van Beuren working on a new system to synchronise animation with music. One of Davis’ other accomplishments at Van Beuren was the creation of Cubby Bear (according to a DVD of the Cubby cartoons) in 1933.
Despite whatever charms or laughs (intentional or otherwise) the Van Beuren cartoons have today, Charlie goes on to reveal:
RKO executives were displeased with Van Beuren, who put the blame on Foster. According to Mannie Davis, “Bunny” Brown, a nephew of a top RKO shareholder, was appointed business manager of the studio in 1933 and butted heads with Foster.
John Foster was fired and Davis was out the door later in the year. The Film Daily reported that year that Davis had moved to Terrytoons, where he settled in for a long career. The same trade paper announced on April 4, 1936:
Mannie Davis, who has been associated with Paul Terry for 15 years, has been promoted to head the story department of Terry-Toons as the latest step in the re-organization and enlargement of the staff making Educational's cartoon series.
“Re-organization” means Frank Moser was eased out by Terry.
One of the Davis-directed Terrytoons was nominated for an Oscar—All Out for ‘V’ (1942).
The Terry studio was embroiled in a strike by the Screen Cartoonists Guild in 1947. Historian Harvey Deneroff says Davis told him Terry persuaded him and other directors to cross the picket line by promising them a share of the proceeds when he sold Terrytoons. CBS bought the studio in late 1955 for almost $5,000,000. Davis was double-crossed. In 1970, he said of Terry: “He got all the money, he got all the glory, he had everybody's talent—he inherited all that for himself. He kept it, he's going to take it with him when he dies. I might sound a little bitter, but I am.”
After the sale, Davis stayed on, and he continued to work at the studio after Gene Deitch was brought in as the creative supervisor in June 1956. I haven't been able to find any comment by Deitch about Davis. Deitch got ousted not long afterward, but Davis remained at the studio through the 1960s.
Despite the reputation of the Van Beuren and Terrytoons cartoons, Davis certainly deserves some respect for a 50-year career in animation.
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