Paul Terry (cartoonist)
| Paul Terry | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Paul Houlton Terry February 19, 1887 San Mateo, California, U.S. |
| Died | October 25, 1971 (aged 84) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Years active | 1915–1955 |
| Spouse(s) | Irma Terry |
Paul Houlton Terry (February 19, 1887 – October 25, 1971) was an American cartoonist, screenwriter, film director and one of the most prolific film producers in history. He produced over 1,300 cartoons between 1915 and 1955 including the many Terrytoons cartoons.
Terry was raised in San Francisco and in 1904 he began working as a news photographer and began to draw cartoons for newspapers. He contributed, along with his brother John Terry, to a weekly comic strip about a dog titled "Alonzo" for the San Francisco Call. He later transferred to the New York Press, a newspaper in New York City.
In 1914, Terry became interested in animation after seeing Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur. While still working for the newspaper, he made his first film, Little Herman, which he completed and sold to the Thanhouser film company of New Rochelle, New York in 1915. Later that year, he completed his second film Down on the Phoney Farm. There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that Terry attempted to sell his cartoon to a producer who made a small offer for the film. When Terry told him that the offer was less than his production costs, the producer supposedly replied, "I'd had paid more if you hadn't put those pictures on there!"
In 1916, he began working at the J. R. Bray Studios, directing and producing a series of eleven Farmer Al Falfa films. Before the end of the year, Terry left Bray, taking the rights to Farmer Al Falfa with him.
In 1917, Terry formed his own production company, "Paul Terry Productions" and produced nine more animated films, including one Farmer Al Falfa film. Paul Terry closed his studio to join the United States Army and fought in World War I.
In 1920, Terry entered into a partnership with Amadee J. Van Beuren, and started the "Fables Studios." During this time, he began producing a series of Aesop's Film Fables as well as new Farmer Al Falfa films under that banner. Terry experimented with sound process in a Fable Cartoon called Dinner Time after pressure from Van Beuren, released in September 1928, two months before Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie was released in November 1928. Terry's partnership with Van Beuren lasted until 1929, when Terry and Van Beuren disagreed over the switch to producing films with sound. Terry started up the Terrytoons studio in the "K" Building in downtown New Rochelle, New York, where the Thanhouser film company, purchasers of Terry's first films, was also located. Van Beuren retained "Fables Studios" and renamed it "Van Beuren Studios."
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