George FeyerBorn in Hungary in 1921, George Feyer lived through the Nazi occupation and Stalinism until forging papers and escaping to Canada in 1948. While working in a factory he sold his first cartoon to Maclean’s magazine. From there, he became an established cartoonist, working for print and television, and creating designs for his own entrepreneurial ventures.

For television, his work on the children’s show Razzle Dazzle, featuring the cartoon adventures of Percy Kidpester, Terwilleger Topsoil, Daniel the Spaniel, and J. Tipton Teabag, are fondly remembered by Canadians who grew up in the mid-60s. As Terry Mosher and Peter Desbarats note in The Hecklers, Feyer patented “an animation process that is still in use today. Despite being highly inventive and extremely prolific, much of Feyer’s better work — reflections on religion, sex, and politics — still remains unpublished.”

In the mid-1960s, despite being celebrated in Toronto and an intimate of intellectuals like Marshall McLuhan, Feyer moved to Los Angeles to advance his career. Relatively successful, he nevertheless committed suicide there in 1967. In 2006 Feyer was inducted into The Giants of the North Hall of Fame.

Read this wonderful George Feyer Booklet – by Brad Mackay for Canada’s History magazine (April-May 2015 issue).

George Feyer on the CBC and his painting of the week

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