Here are a couple of “The Cat” cartoons from Gene Deitch. “The Cat” ran in a jazz collectors’ magazine from the 1940s called The Record Changer. Later Deitch went on to become the art director of UPA (the studio of Gerald McBoingBoing) and created Tom Terrific for Captain Kangaroo. Deitch’s son is Kim Deitch, a well-known underground cartoonist.
I had the pleasure of meeting Gene a few years ago when he was in San Francisco (he and his wife visit the US from their home in Prague every year). One of these days I’ll transcribe my long and fascinating interview with him. Now in well into his seventies, Deitch is still working on a lot of projects, and has taken to the Web like a natural. Look at his latest project, The Unknown John Lee Hooker. He is also selling his autobiography on this site.