Jack Zander

Jack Zander
Born	Arthur Jack Zander May 3, 1908 Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.
Died	December 17th, 2007 (aged 99) Pound Ridge, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Animator
Years active	1930–1984

Arthur Jack Zander (also known as Jack Zander) (May 3, 1908 - December 17, 2007) was an animator who worked on the first Tom and Jerry shorts, and later went on to make his own animation studio in the 1970s.

History

Pre-MGM

He started his animation career in 1930 at the Romer Grey studio, then The Van Beuren Corporation in 1931, and then Terrytoons in 1936.

Terrytoons

Not much is known about his time at Terrytoons. Active at the studio for one year, he was one of the top animators prior to leaving to join MGM in their new animation unit.

MGM

Joining MGM in 1937, he worked on cartoons based on comic strips, most notably The Captain and the Kids. After a few years, he, alongside a few others, worked on the 1940 short Puss Gets the Boot. After that short, he would work on Tom and Jerry until 1942, when he left the studio; his final work on the series was in the 1943 short Baby Puss. He took a brief stint in the Signal Corps before switching entirely to animation designed for television.

Zander's Animation Parlor

After leaving theatrical animation sometime earlier, he created his own animation studio in the 1970s. There, he animated many commercials for various companies, including Pepsi, AT&T, and the U.S. Postal Service. In the 1980s, he created the character "Tippi Turtle" for the late-night comedy series Saturday Night Live.

Tom and Jerry

Style

His style can best be described as squishy, malleable, very akin to rubber. He typically gives Jerry rounded pointy ears and fuller cheeks, and he animated the more wacky, off the wall sequences. Here are some examples;

An early version of his Tom, in this version he has an elongated neck, and with a smaller head, that's more rounded.

Zander's Tom design from late 1942, the long neck has been abandoned, and he looks slightly less scruffy.

One of two 1943 designs for Zanders Tom, as you can see here he looks far more polished, and kind of similar to Pete Burness's Tom in a way.

The second 1943 design for his Tom, he now has slightly rounded ears, and a lot of the scruff on his fur is now gone.

An early example of his Jerry, a good clue to find out if Zander animated a scene is to look at his Jerry, which has; chubby cheeks, constantly changing head size, and rounded point ears.

From early 1942, another clue as to whether Zander does a scene or not is to see if the hand and foot size are exaggerated during actions.

From later in 1942, his design is slowly starting to get more polished. It doesn't really change from this point onwards.

Shorts

1940

1. Puss Gets the Boot (uncredited)

1941

1. The Midnight Snack (uncredited)
2. The Night Before Christmas (uncredited)

1942

1. Fraidy Cat (uncredited)
2. Dog Trouble (uncredited)
3. Puss n' Toots (uncredited)
4. The Bowling Alley-Cat (uncredited)
5. Fine Feathered Friend (possibly credited on original print)

1943

1. Sufferin' Cats! (possibly credited on original print)
2. The Lonesome Mouse (uncredited)
3. The Yankee Doodle Mouse (uncredited according to the original credit cel in the cartoon's gallery)
4. Baby Puss (uncredited)

Trivia

• He is largely uncredited in the series, alongside Bill Littlejohn, Cecil Surry, and George Gordon.
• Two of the shorts he worked on, "Sufferin' Cats!" and "The Yankee Doodle Mouse", were released in 1943. Although he left the studio in 1942, he likely left MGM during the production of these shorts.
• He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on 1981s "Gnomes".
  • Three years later, he won a MPSC (Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists) Golden Award, for his work in the industry.
• It is estimated that he made over 5,000 commercials in his time in the industry.