The Jam Makers
A little silent animated film, probably from 1919, featuring two mischievous children in search of a treat
Today’s hed gif features a segment from an early Bud and Susie silent film cartoon, The Jam Makers. Bud and Susie was created by Frank Moser (1886-1964) for Paramount as part of their package of shorts for their weekly screen magazine.
Frank Moser was one of the America’s earliest professional animators. Born in Kansas, he had been working as a comic strip and editorial cartoonist for the Des Moines Register and Leader but sensing the financial opportunities of working in moving pictures, he relocated to New York City in 1916 to pursue a career as an animator at William Randolph Hearst’s International Film Service. His instincts were rewarded: within a year, he was said to be one of the highest-paid animators in the industry and by 1918 he was recruited by Paramount Pictures. Written information on the edge of the film strip indicate that The Jam Makers was created and released in 1919, making it one of the first Bud and Susie shorts.
Bud and Susie was dropped by Paramount after a two-year run. Moser left to work a stint at Paul Terry’s Fables Pictures. In 1929 Moser and Terry would go on to form the studio that would become Terrytunes. With the stated goal of being the “Woolworth’s of the cartoon industry,” the studio focused on quantity over quality, a direct response to the fiddy artistic demands and long production times of Disney. Moser, a rapid draughtsman, was well suited to the Terrytunes way, with about half of the footage of the cartoons he directed being created by his hand. He is credited with directing 202 films during his animation industry career.
In 1936 Moser sold his interests in Terrytown and returned to the presumably more leisurely-paced endeavors of landscape painting. He became an exhibiting member of the Allied Artists of America and the American Watercolor Society. He was also a founding member of the prestigious Hudson Valley Art Association and he acted as the group’s historian until his death. He died in Dobbs Ferry Hospital at the age of 78.
You may watch the entirety of The Jam Makers below.
Wikipedia: Frank Moser (artist)
National Film Preservation Foundation (New Zealand): The Jam Makers (1919?)
Awesome! Tapas of cinema history and the yummy artwork itself! Thank you!
Love it! Do you know any cats that lick your chin?