Fritz Siebel

Frederick "Fritz" Siebel (December 19, 1913 – December 1991) was an Austrian American illustrator, well known for his award winning World War II poster "Someone Talked"[1][2] and his illustrations for the children's book Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish.[3]

Fritz Siebel
Born
Frederick Siebel

1913-12-19
Vienna
Died1991-12
New York City
Known forillustration, design

Life

Early years

Siebel was born in Vienna to a father from Bohemia and mother from Louny.[4] During his childhood he and his siblings spent summers at the family hops farm in Czechoslovakia.[5] He studied Illustration and stage design at the Kunstgewerbeschule Vienna (now the University of Applied Arts Vienna), after which, because of his dual citizenship, he was drafted to the Czech army where he served from 1934 to 1936.[6][5]

Immigration to the USA

In 1936 Siebel immigrated to the United States and was joined by his family in 1937, and they settled in New York City. The other relatives who remained in Europe perished in the Holocaust.[4]

Death

Frederick Siebel died New York City in December 1991.[4]

Work as a Graphic Artist

Early USA Years

In NYC, after his immigration, Siebel made a living illustrating posters and other advertising material for the Paramount Pictures movie studio. He also worked as a demonstrator of Austrian skiing techniques at Saks Fifth Avenue.[5]

WWII and the "Someone Talked" poster

During World War II Siebel served in the United States Army between 1941 and 1943. In 1942, he submitted a poster to a national competition for posters on the subject of national security for which First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a judge.[1][7]His entry, "Someone Talked", won several awards.[8]

Advertising and Magazines

Following his work at Paramount Pictures and the success of "Someone Talked", there was a growing demand for Siebel's work, and he began creating illustrations for advertisements and for magazines, working among others with Collier's Magazine, Holiday Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post.[5] Among others, he created ads for Ballantine Beer[9][10] and Schlitz beer[11]

Mr. Clean

In 1957, Siebel was contracted by the Tatum-Laird advertising agency to create a mascot figure for the new Procter & Gamble cleaning product "Mr. Clean". The result was the now world-wide familiar smiling bald man with an earring in his left ear, dubbed "Master Proper" in German-speaking countries, "Mastro Lindo" in Italy, "Monsieur Propre" in France, "Don Limpio" in Spain and "Pan Proper" in Poland. As part of the deal, he gave up all rights to this creation and thus was not credited for it, the copyright attributed solely to Procter & Gamble.[4][5]

Children's book illustration

In 1958, Siebel began illustrating children's books.[4][5] The first two, best-seller "A Fly Went By"[12] and "Stop that Ball!"[13] were written by Mike McClintock and were published in the Random House "Beginner Books" series that was co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Dr. Seuss, and Seuss' wife Helen Palmer Geisel. In 1962 he illustrated Dorothy Kunhardt's "Dr. Dick".[14] This book was published by Harper and Row (now HarperCollins), who also published his most well known children's book – Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish.

Design Company

In the 1960s Siebel founded the Frederick Siebel Associates company, to provide "creative design for integrated programs of packaging, store display, and other sales-related materials."[15] The company was later renamed "Siebel Marketing Company", and in 1998 was joined by John Caggiano to form "Caggiano & Siebel Advertising".[16]

References
  1. Pelkofsky, Julia (December 18, 2014). "LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS". Cooper Hewitt. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  2. "Someone talked! / Siebel". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  3. "Fritz Siebel". HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  4. Bergmann, Hubert. "Meister Propers Wiener Wurzeln: Fritz Siebel, Schöpfer der Werbe-Ikone Mr. Clean". Austrian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  5. Peng, Leif (October 11, 2012). "Fritz Siebel: "never felt that he needed to be recognized... but he was always proud."". Today's Inspiration. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  6. "Original U.S. WWII 1942 Someone Talked OWI Propaganda Poster by Frederick "Fritz" Siebel". International Military Antiques.
  7. "Fritz Siebel". Penguin Random House. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  8. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. "Poster, Someone Talked!, 1942". Cooper Hewitt. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  9. "Magazine Ad For Ballantine Beer, Cut Away View of Ski Lodge illustration, Frederick Siebel, 1954". Magazines, Ads & Books Store.
  10. "Magazine Ad For Ballantine Beer, Bottle in Tub, Illustration People Bowling Frederick Siebel, 1953". Magazines, Ads & Books Store.
  11. "Magazine Ad For Schlitz Beer, Bowling Night, Schlitzframe, Be A Schlitzer, 1957, Double Page Ad". Magazines, Ads & Books Store. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  12. "A Fly Went By". Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  13. "Stop that Ball!". Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  14. "Dr. Dick". Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  15. "News". Industrial Design. 16: 28. 1969.
  16. Dougherty, Philip H. (September 7, 1988). "Advertising; New Agency Formed As Caggiano & Siebel". New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.