Age, Biography and Wiki

Otto Messmer was born on 16 August, 1892 in Union City, New Jersey, USA, is a director,miscellaneous,animation_department. Discover Otto Messmer's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 91 years old?

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Occupation director,miscellaneous,animation_department
Age 91 years old
Zodiac Sign Leo
Born 16 August, 1892
Birthday 16 August
Birthplace Union City, New Jersey, USA
Date of death 28 October, 1983
Died Place Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 16 August. He is a member of famous Director with the age 91 years old group.

Otto Messmer Height, Weight & Measurements

At 91 years old, Otto Messmer height not available right now. We will update Otto Messmer's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Otto Messmer's Wife?

His wife is Anne Mason (1912 - 1971) ( her death)

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Anne Mason (1912 - 1971) ( her death)
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Otto Messmer Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Otto Messmer worth at the age of 91 years old? Otto Messmer’s income source is mostly from being a successful Director. He is from United States. We have estimated Otto Messmer's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income Director

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Timeline

1892

Cartoonist Otto Messmer was born in Union City (then known as West Hoboken), NJ, on Aug. 16, 1892. He showed an aptitude for drawing as early as grammar school, and his teachers encouraged him to follow that path. After graduating he took a correspondence course in art and attended the Thomas School of Art in New York City. He took a job with an advertising agency, illustrating fashion catalogs, but never lost his passion for drawing. One day his brother took him to a vaudeville act that showed the films of pioneering animator Winsor McCay and Messmer knew what career path he was going to follow. He began drawing his own comic strips and submitting them to newspapers. He also applied to several animation studios in New York for work as a set painter. Producer Jack Cohn at Universal saw Messmer's comic strips, however, liked them and hired him as an animator. Messmer devised a character called "Motor Mat", a daredevil race driver, and brought it to Cohn. Cohn showed it to well-known animators Pat Sullivan and Henry 'Hy' Mayer, who were so impressed with it that they both asked Messmer to work with them. Messmer chose Mayer and helped him animate his series "The Travels of Teddy", based on the exploits of Mayer's friend Theodore Roosevelt. After Messmer finished that project he went to work for Pat Sullivan.

1917

Unfortunately for both of them, Sullivan was arrested for rape in 1917, convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.

1919

Messmer went back to Hy Mayer, but was soon drafted into the army and fought in World War I, returning to the US in 1919. By that time Sullivan was out of prison, and the two went back to making animated films. Later that year Sullivan and Messmer received an order from Paramount Screen Magazine, which made news, travelogue and cartoon shorts, to create a cartoon character (the animator it had originally contracted with was late turning it in) and Sullivan told Messmer to do it on his own. Messmer made the character a sassy, all-black cat and called the cartoon "Feline Follies". It was quite successful and Paramount ordered an entire series of the cat's adventures. Messmer originally called the character "Master Tom" but by the third entry in the series the name had changed to Felix (a combination of "feline" and "felicity").

1921

In 1921 Paramount Pictures decided to close down its Screen Magazine division, and Sullivan managed to get back the rights to Felix the Cat, which had actually belonged to Paramount (even though Sullivan's studio had created it). He then went to Warner Bros. to try to get a distribution deal, but the studio wasn't interested. However, M. J. Winkler, the secretary to Harry Warner, was interested and she and Sulivan eventually signed a production/distribution deal for the Felix the Cat series.

1922

The first entry under the deal was Felix Saves the Day (1922), and it wasn't long before the series was an even bigger hit than it was under Paramount, even managing to secure distribution in Canada. The Messmer/Winkler Felix cartoons were praised for their imagination, humor, puns and intelligence.

The success of the series resulted in the company securing an international distribution deal in 1922 that required more than double the number of entries from the previous year, with the resultant expansion of the studio. Felix was a huge hit with the public, which took him to heart.

1923

In 1923 the company turned Felix into a comic strip, which ran until 1943. The strip was popular, but never achieved the status of the cartoons. In addition, the international distribution made the character a worldwide hit. Felix's popularity began to wane with the coming of sound. Rather than jump wholeheartedly into sound cartoons, as Walt Disney did, Sullivan simply added sound effects to some new Felix films (and went back and did the same to some older entries). The result was shoddy and not up to the standards of the Disney sound cartoons.

1931

By 1931 Felix had been eclipsed by a new character, which incorporated both sound effects and dialogue as integral parts of the film, and not just add-ons: Mickey Mouse. Television revived Felix's career, and new cartoons were created especially for that medium. This time he didn't carry the films alone--he was accompanied by his bulldog Rock Bottom, the eccentric Professor, his somewhat nerdy nephew Poindexter and his "Magic Bag of Tricks".

1937

From 1937-73 he worked for Douglas Leigh, creating many of the massive animated electrical signs that lit up Times Square in New York City.