cartoon films on TV

Heinz Tischmeyer was born in 1913.
He started his training as an animation artist at the age of 16 at the trickfilm studio Waechter in Berlin, where he worked between 1928 and 1931. Likewise he designed humorous promotion animation films since 1928 and learnt the making of technical animation films for industrial companies. At evening class he attended the academy of arts for letter and commercial art in Berlin.

From 1931 to 1933 he was worked as an animation artist for the trickfilm studio Pál in Berlin. This production endeavoured to adapt the American style of drawings. The company was liquidated in 1933 as a result of the political transition of power in Germany.

Because of his acquired specialized knowledge he got a job at the same year at the Ufa animation film studio, which was the most important promotion film enterprise in Germany in this time and produced sound movies since 1929 and color films since 1932. Tischmeyers scope of duties comprised the design of complete movies in his own drawing style and the making of promotion films.
He interrupted his working relation for the Ufa in 1934 and emigrated to Switzerland because he didn't want to stay in a National Socialist Germany. He hoped for a job for the film production "Pnschewer" in Bern, but the company itself emigrated briefly before that from Berlin to Switzerland. Therefore the company had financial difficulties at the beginning and a new contract wasn't signed. Therefore Heinz Tischmeyer was forced to come back to Germany and to take up his activity for the Ufa. He closed his activity for the Ufa in 1936.

After his voluntary retirement from the Ufa trickfilm studio he founded his own trickfilm studio where he worked self-employed for different companies from 1936 to 1942. His clientele comprised the Schongerfilm Berlin for youth and children fairy tales, the Kinomatfilm Wuppertal for promotion animation films and the Bayer I.G. Farben Leverkusen for medical technological animation films.

Heinz Tischmeyer drew among others the fairyfilm "Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten" and the color film "Vom Bäumlein, das andere Blätter hat gewollt" (1940). It narrates the story of a conifer which longs for leafs. Finally the tree stays proud with golden leafs in the forest. But then a thief approaches who steals the leafs. The fairy tale was written by the German poet Friedrich Rüchert (1788-1866) and the film was provided with his original text.

The "Deutsche Zeichenfilm GmbH was founded in Berlin in 1942. Because of his well-known name in the line of business, Heinz Tischmeyer was engaged for assistance. For the first film of this company called "Armer Hansi - Poor Hansi", one of the five groups was entrusted to Heinz Tischmeyer.

Heinz Tischmeyer was engaged for a state-owned film department in Berlin in 1944 in the course of the declaration of total war of the NS regime. But till the end of the war he wasn't active in this department.

Gerhard Fieber was born in 1916.
His passion for drawing already started in his school days where he caricatured his teachers. He studied art and print in Berlin and worked as a draftsman for advertising and humor for the press. In the 30's he worked for the publicity film department of the Universum Film AG (Ufa) and got in touch with the most important creators of promotional films.

Between 1942 and 1945 he was head drawer and art director for the Ufa subsidiary "Deutche Zeichenfilm GmbH". There he realised together with other artists the animation film "Armer Hansi - Poor Hansi" (1943). First Fieber already worked on illustrations for the Olympic Games of Berlin and for boxing matches of the legendary Max Schmeling.

Gerhard Fieber's job was to manage the German animation film to Disney level.
He moved with the animation film studio to Dachau/Munich because of the bombardement of Berlin.

Gerhard Fieber told in a later interview: "This was a bad time. During the working hours you were busy with trickfilm figures, at the same time you could see prisoners on the street who were harnessed in front of waggons as a replacement for horses. Nevertheless you had to draw funny figures - it was horrible".

After the war Fieber became an employee for the newfounded DEFA and presented "Purzelbaum ins Leben - Forward Roll into Life" (1946) for the East German cinemas. For the weekly show "Der Augenzeuge - The Eyewitness" of DEFA he drew the first German post-war animation object: "Der U-Bahn-Schreck - The Subway Fright". Beside it he also drew promotion films for the SED.

Fieber founded the EOS Film Production in Bad Sachsa in 1948 which grew into the biggest German animation studio during the years of economic miracle. With "Tobias Knopp, Abenteuer eines Junggesellen" - after a book by Wilhelm Busch - he realised in 1949 the first full-lenght animation film ot the post-war time. The voices were spoken by well-known German actors like Erich Ponto, Günter Lüders, Grethe Weiser and René Deltgen.
The EOS film production concentrated on the up-and-coming promotion film. Fieber created works for authorities, labor unions, parties and economic companies.
Gerhard Fieber attended to television in the 60's with the rise of this medium and got several awards (among others the "Filmband in Gold").

A cooperation with Franz Thies (Neue Filmproduktion Wiesbaden) started and offered Gerhard Fieber those animation works, which are still "alive" and extreme popular - "Die Mainzelmännchen" (by Creator Wolf Gerlach).

Today Gerhard Fieber he counts to "the last Mohicans" from a time where animation films were completely produced by hand.
His creativity and his ideas are unbroken till today. He still designs caricatures or spontaneous special works.