Sunday, January 30, 2011

Bits of Brucker

Eli Brucker - whom I know nothing about other than the odd anecdote - worked for the Fleischer Studio animating in Seymour Kneitel's and Dave Tendlar's crews. After the move to Miami it looks like he disappeared from the business.

For Better Or Worser

For Better Or Worser

The 'Hyp-Nut-Tist'

I Wanna Be A Lifeguard

UPDATE: Check out the comments for some biographical information on Eli Brucker.

8 comments:

The Crazy HR said...

"Eli Brucker - whom I know nothing about other than the odd anecdote..."
What anecdote?

Mark Kausler said...

Nice post, Bob. It's interesting to see Eli Brucker's progress in these clips. His timing seems very even in For Better Or Worser, even the dialog has a puppet-like open and closed mouth feel. Bluto in The Hyp-Nut-Tist is a little better, he anticipates his hypnotic passes by nearly bending double. Best of all is Popeye's dive from I Wanna Be A Lifeguard. Popeye moves elegantly from pose to pose as he descends breaking up the action by the business with his pipe. Even the effects animation when Popeye splashes into the pool is neatly finished off. I like the overlap and well-placed arcs as Popeye vaults from the pool and flips into his "result" pose poolside.

Bob Jaques said...

Blogger Mr. Cro said...

"Eli Brucker - whom I know nothing about other than the odd anecdote..."
What anecdote?

There's a bit in Mike Barrier's book on Hollywood Cartoons (I don't have my copy with me at the moment to get a direct reference) about Brucker refusing to cross the picket line during the strike at the Fleischer Studio.

J.V. (AKA "White Pongo") said...

"The strikers were overwhelmingly from the the studio's lower lower ranks; only one animator, Eli Brucker, refused to cross the picket line for the duration of the strike." - pg.188

I love this piece of animation from The Hyp-Nut-Tist. The model for Bluto, presumably designed by Seymour Kneitel, appeared again in the 1935 'preview' ad for Sinbad - which combined elements we'd see in all three of the Color Specials! He's pretty cool.

Thad said...

Wow, I had written off "I Wanna Be a Lifeguard", but that piece by Brucker is absolutely graceful! Thanks for highlighting it.

Ted said...

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=53255812

"Birth: Jul. 28, 1897, Ukraine
Death: Aug. 6, 1982
Burbank
Los Angeles County
California, USA

Eli came to the U.S. with his family in 1906. He worked in his father's fur business in New York City. He came to Hollywood CA in the 1920s and was a movie extra. He later became a movie cartoonist for Fleischer Studios in New York and Florida and worked on a number of "Betty Boop" and "Popeye" features. Eli moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s. He had a doll factory called "Dolls of Hollywood." He sold vacuum cleaners and sewing machines in the 1950s-60s. Later on, he was a salesman for his son Don's contact lens company. "

His 1940 "reversible doll" patent:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2195127.html

Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons And Blacklisted Animators in America
By Karl F. Cohen
0159:
http://books.google.com/books?id=gIyH_DLYhoIC&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&dq=%22eli+brucker%22&source=bl&ots=GDYxf-MMsq&sig=vi8A4WLIrDTnHKAhSyVzkM1hnbo&hl=en&ei=kftJTca4CIy8sQOqwOXNCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBDgo#v=onepage&q=%22eli%20brucker%22&f=false

"Louis Appet from the inbetween department and animator Eli Brucker believed they were blacklisted for their past union activities. With the help of Chuck Jones, Appet was eventually hired in 1941 by Schlesinger. He went on to become president and business agent for the Motion Pictures Screen Cartoonists' union in Los Angeles in the 1950s and 1960s. Brucker, an experienced animator, never again found work in the animation industry. During World War II he went into the rag doll business."

Bob Jaques said...

Ted - Thanks for the info on Brucker!!

Unknown said...

Trying to do a bit more research on Eli Brucker turned up a listing on the Find a Grave Site. There's a few pictures of him as well as biographical data. It notes he started his career as an extra in the 1920s, worked for Fleischer then moved to Los Angles in the 40s. There he ran a doll factory and later sold vacuum cleaners and sewing machines. He also worked for his son's contact lens company as a salesman. His parent's names, the names of his spouse, and his children's names are there too.
The link is http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=53255812