Jules Feiffer's original model sheet for The Easy Winners.

I also personally designed a new Terrytoons logo. The original Terrytoons logo, with musical notes, was part of the studio's old cornball image, and one of the first things I did was to create a logo that would reflect a new image. I think the design is self evident, a reference to the smiling, movie-screen-shaped Greek theater mask, with the word "Terrytoons" scribbled as its hair.

My overriding goal was to reinvent Terrytoons -- to create a new reputation; to win the support of the disgruntled staff; to revise, where practical, films in production, without interrupting workflow; and mainly to rebuild the story department, bringing in fresh talent such as Jules Feiffer and Al Kouzel, and to inspire Tommy Morrison, Larz Bourne, Eli Bauer and others already on the story staff; to venture into fresh territory. I spent most of my own time in there with them; it all had to start with story and characters.

Continue reading about Gene's time at Terrytoons now.

Want to hear more of Gene's wisdom on story and a thousand other topics? Then read How To Succeed In Animation (Don't Let A Little Thing Like Failure Stop You!) exclusively on AWN.

Gene Deitch is one of the last surviving members of the original Hollywood UPA studio of 1946, the instigator of the CBS-Terrytoon "renaissance" of 1956-1958, Animation Department Chief of the Detroit Jam Handy Organization, 1949-1951, Creative Chief of UPA-New York, 1951-1954, Director at John Hubley's Storyboard, Inc. New York, 1955, Creative Director of CBS-Terrytoons, 1956-1958, President of Gene Deitch Associates, Inc. New York, 1958-1960, Creative Director for Rembrandt Films, 1960-1968, star director for Weston Woods Studios, Inc., Weston, Connecticut, 1968-1993, and has worked for over 40 years with the Prague animation studio, "Bratri v Triku."