Thad Komorowski
11-27-2001, 05:43 PM
http://www.cartoonresearch.com/casper.jpg
From Jerry Beck's newspage (http://www.cartoonresearch.com/news.html):
Mark Arnold of The Harveyville Fun Times reports: "Sad news as the co-creator of Casper, Seymour Reit, has passed away. Reit was the one who created the story of the friendly ghost, while partner Joe Oriolo created the character design."
Reit was a storyman for Famous Studios in the 1940s, but went on to become a successful writer of books - novels, non-fiction, childrens books - as well as comic books and satirical pieces for Mad magazine.
In a 1996 article in USA TODAY Reit recalled creating the friendly ghost: "The basic concept is good, and the first cartoon is great. . . well, maybe not great, but absolutely valid entertainment, a beautiful-looking cartoon."
Reit remembers writing The Friendly Ghost as a children's story over one weekend in the 1940s. He and partner Oriolo sold the rights for "something like a couple hundred dollars."
"All I have is some nice memories and a little nostalgic sadness that I am not part of the movie," says Reit, 76, who went on to serve in World War II and write for Archie Comics, Golden Books, Disney and Mad magazine.
"My career went on in all sorts of interesting, fun ways," says Reit. "I'm not mourning or grieving over what I might have lost with Casper. It was fun. I did the story. It has a lot of cachet."
-Thad
From Jerry Beck's newspage (http://www.cartoonresearch.com/news.html):
Mark Arnold of The Harveyville Fun Times reports: "Sad news as the co-creator of Casper, Seymour Reit, has passed away. Reit was the one who created the story of the friendly ghost, while partner Joe Oriolo created the character design."
Reit was a storyman for Famous Studios in the 1940s, but went on to become a successful writer of books - novels, non-fiction, childrens books - as well as comic books and satirical pieces for Mad magazine.
In a 1996 article in USA TODAY Reit recalled creating the friendly ghost: "The basic concept is good, and the first cartoon is great. . . well, maybe not great, but absolutely valid entertainment, a beautiful-looking cartoon."
Reit remembers writing The Friendly Ghost as a children's story over one weekend in the 1940s. He and partner Oriolo sold the rights for "something like a couple hundred dollars."
"All I have is some nice memories and a little nostalgic sadness that I am not part of the movie," says Reit, 76, who went on to serve in World War II and write for Archie Comics, Golden Books, Disney and Mad magazine.
"My career went on in all sorts of interesting, fun ways," says Reit. "I'm not mourning or grieving over what I might have lost with Casper. It was fun. I did the story. It has a lot of cachet."
-Thad