'There Wasn't Five Minutes of Free Time'

Chatting with illustrator R. O. Blechman about his early years in animation.

Terrytoons’ The Juggler of Our Lady

Happy Thursday! In this issue of the Animation Obsessive newsletter, we’re talking to a legend.

R. O. Blechman is one of the most important American illustrators of the 20th century. His loose, squiggly style has appeared in countless books and issues of The New Yorker over the past 70 years. He’s a key figure in animation history, too, thanks to his advertising work and his classic films like The Soldier’s Tale.

During the ‘50s, modern illustrators like Jules Feiffer and Saul Steinberg were getting pulled into animation — and Blechman was among them. He got his start at the New York branch of Storyboard, working under John Hubley. From there, he moved to Gene Deitch’s newly revitalized Terrytoons and got involved in one of our favorite works of animation, The Juggler of Our Lady, based on his book of the same title.

Blechman is 91 years old. On Tuesday, he was generous enough to speak about his animation career by phone with our teammate John. Blechman was kind and self-effacing throughout, and quick to give credit to others. Below is a condensed and edited section of their chat about his work in ‘50s animation.

We’ll publish the rest of their conversation, which covers Blechman’s animation through the ‘60s and beyond, next month. For now, we hope you’ll enjoy!