WALTER LANTZ Autographed Signed Document Check Woody Woodpecker Animation 1977

Description

WALTER LANTZ Signed Check
Bank check dated November 8, 1977 for .00 and made out to DMV Renewal. Check has been signed by Walter Lantz in black ink and is in FINE condition.
#002272
Walter Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York, Apr. 27, 1899. At 12 years old he took his first mail-order cartoon drawing course which affected his entire life and career. He began working as a copyboy for the Hearst Newspaper, New York American, where he was recommended to Gregory LaCava. From that point he started his career as a cartoonist drawing characters such as the Katzenjammer Kids, Happy Hooligan, Krazy Kat, and Mutt and Jeff. He began directing animated cartoons at the John R. Bray Studios in New York City in 1922 and created his first original series, Dinky Doodle, in 1924.
In 1927, Lantz went to Hollywood where he first worked for Frank Capra and then went on to write Mack Sennett comedies. In 1928, he returned to animation and became a director on the Universal-distributed Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series, now under the supervision of Charles Mintz and his brother-in-law George Winkler, who just earlier that year snatched Oswald from Walt Disney. In 1929, however, Universal decided to get rid of Mintz and Winkler and instead produced the Oswalds under direct studio management. Lantz assumed control of the new studio in 1929 after supposedly winning a bet with Universal's founding father Carl Laemmle in a poker game. Though Mintz took Oswald from Disney, and Walt Disney no longer owned the Oswald name, Walter Lantz confronted Disney about his aquiring of Oswald. Disney gave Lantz his blessing to continue to the Oswald series (seeing as his Mickey Mouse shorts had became so successful) and the two became close friends.
In 1930, Lantz's studio produced the animated sequence for the musical feature The King of Jazz, the first technicolor animated cartoon ever made. In 1935, the Lantz studio became independent from Universal and, in 1940, Lantz introduced his most successful creation to the screen --- Woody Woodpecker. A year later, he married Grace Stafford, the woodpecker's future voice. The studio continued producing cartoons almost uninterrupted until 1972. Lantz received an Honorary Academy Award in 1978 and passed away on March 22, 1994, in Burbank, California.
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