Charles Mintz

Charles Bear Mintz (November 5, 1889 – December 30, 1939) was an American film producer and distributor best known for producing animated cartoons at Screen Gems, leading the company from 1925 to 1939. Mintz's shrewd business decisions had led to the founding of rival studios such as Walt Disney Productions, Walter Lantz Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, all of which surpassed Screen Gems in popularity.

Life before the film industry Charles B. Mintz was born in York, Pennsylvania to Wolf Mintz, owner of a grocery store. As a child, Mintz possessed a great skill in photography. Mintz attended York High School. Mintz later enrolled in the Brooklyn Law School and graduated.

Career Charles Mintz married his business partner Margaret J. Winkler in 1924, assuming control of her company Winkler Pictures. The couple had two children, Katherine and William. Under Mintz, the company stopped distributing films in Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks's Alice Comedies, instead sticking with production as the company found distributors in FBO and eventually Universal Pictures. Mintz and Winkler's brother George asked Walt and Ub to develop what would become Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald films received critical acclaim and significant box office success, propelling Winkler Pictures to stardom.

In February 1928, Mintz convinced Disney's animators to leave him after he unsuccessfully demanded a budget increase, assuming control of the series' production. However, he failed to hire Iwerks, who left with Disney to create Mickey Mouse. Without Mintz's invasive presence, Mickey Mouse achieved greater success under independent distributor Celebrity Productions. At Winkler Productions, animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising wrestled for control, asking Universal boss Carl Laemmle to remove Mintz from power. Laemmle promptly terminated Winkler's contract, hiring most of their animators while handing directorial duties to Winkler employees Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan.

Mintz renamed the company after himself after firing George Winkler, producing the Krazy Kat series for Columbia Pictures from 1929 to 1939, briefly sharing distributors with Walt Disney Productions which eclipsed his productions in popularity. The character was revamped to resemble Mickey Mouse instead of George Herriman's characters in a similar act of corporate sabotage. From 1930 to 1931, Mintz produced 12 Toby the Pup cartoons for RKO Radio Pictures. In 1933, Mintz's studio was renamed Screen Gems. Scrappy (1930–1941) was his biggest success which continued production after Mintz died, and Color Rhapsody which began in 1934 and continued until 1947. Fables began in 1939 and continued until 1942.

In 1939, Mintz became indebted to Columbia, which resulted in him selling the studio to Columbia Pictures.

After a heart attack, Mintz died on December 30, 1939. Screen Gems remained open until 1946. The name was later used for Columbia's television division, among other things. Walt Disney held Mintz in low regard, though he noted that Mintz cultivated his high standards on output quality, a quality integral to both men's success.

Mintz was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Short Subject. His first nomination was in 1935 for Holiday Land, and he was nominated again in 1938 for The Little Match Girl.

Charles Mintz was portrayed in the feature film Walt Before Mickey by Conor Dubin.

Selected filmography

Release dateTitleSeriesNotes 1928 Mississippi Mud Oswald the Lucky Rabbit First Oswald short produced by Mintz 1928 Panicky Pancakes Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 1928 Fiery Fireman Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 1928 Rocks and Socks Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 1928 South Sea Isaacs Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 1929 Alpine Antics Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 1929 The Ratskin Krazy Kat First Mintz Krazy Kat short 1930 The Apache Kid Krazy Kat 1930 The Museum Toby the Pup First Toby the Pup short 1931 Yelp Wanted Scrappy First Scrappy short 1932 The Great Bird Mystery Scrappy 1932 The Treasure Runt Scrappy 1933 The Broadway Malady Krazy Kat 1934 Holiday Land Color Rhapsodies Nominated for an Academy Award 1934 The Dog Snatcher Scrappy 1935 The Garden Graft Color Rhapsodies 1936 The Untrained Seal Color Rhapsodies 1937 The Little Match Girl Color Rhapsodies Nominated for an Academy Award 1938 The Horse on the Merry-Go-Round Color Rhapsodies 1939 The House That Jack Built Phantasies 1939 Scrappy's Addie Scrappy Final Scrappy short produced under Mintz 1939 Mouse Exterminator Krazy Kat Final Krazy Kat short produced under Mintz

Series Produced As head of Winkler Pictures and Screen Gems, Mintz oversaw the following series total counts: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1928–1929) – 26 shorts Krazy Kat (1929–1939) – 102 shorts Toby the Pup (1930–1931) – 12 shorts Scrappy (1931–1939) – 84 shorts Color Rhapsodies (1934–1939) – 48 shorts Barney Google (1934–1936) – 4 shorts Fables (1937–1939) – 40 shorts Phantasies (1939) – 22 shorts