Keitz & Herndon
Keitz and Herndon was an American television production company that made cartoons, advertisements, short educational films, and commercials founded in 1952 in Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas.[1][2] Most notably they created the "Frito Kid" mascot for Fritos; and the animated television series, JOT.
History
The partnership was formed by Rod Keitz (né Roderick Keith Keitz; 1927–2016),[3] and Larry Herndon (né Lawrence Fred Herndon; 1926–2014).[4] The firm was established in Oak Cliff in 1952;[1] and later worked from their 4409 Belmont Avenue office in Belmont Park, Dallas.[5]
Keitz and Herndon represented various national and Texas-based brands.[5] They produced advertising in 1955 for Lone Star Gas;[6] by 1956 the company worked on car sales, bus transportation, and oil ads;[7] and in 1957 they produced ads for various food companies.[8] Donald E. Wills joined the firm as an animation artist.[9]
One of the former employees filmed President John F. Kennedy's visit to Texas on November 22, 1963, when Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade.[10]
The company partnership was honored by the Dallas Producers Association in 2008.[11]
Filmography
![An animatronic vending machine featuring Frito Kid at Disneyland's Casa De Fritos](../I/Frito_Kid.jpeg.webp)
- "State of Alabama" (1965) a propaganda film made for the Alabama State Sovereignty Commission on the 1965 civil rights march in Alabama (ASSC project)[12][13][14]
- Animation short for the theater snack bar Dr Pepper advertisements[15]
- JOT, a television cartoon series sponsored by Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission that ran from 1965 to 1974, and 1980 to 1981[1][16][17]
- Burleson Honey advertisements[16]
- Lone Star Brewing Company ads[18]
- "Frito Kid", the official mascot of Fritos corn chips[16][19]
- Quality Dairy Company ads[20]
- Atmosphere for Learning (1965) for Austin College[21]
References
- Elliott, Alan C.; Summey, Patricia K.; Kokel, Gayla Brooks (September 15, 2009). Oak Cliff. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738570686 – via Google Books.
- Amidi, Amid (2006-08-17). Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-4731-5.
- "Roderick Keitz Obituary - Dallas, TX". Dignity Memorial.
- "Lawrence Fred Herndon Obituary (1926 - 2014) The Dallas Morning News". Legacy.com.
- "Commercial Studios". Billboard. December 17, 1955. pp. 26, 35. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
- "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. October 29, 1955. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
- "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. May 5, 1956. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
- "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard (magazine). Nielsen Business Media, Inc. June 24, 1957. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
- Inc, Nielsen Business Media (March 9, 1957). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. – via Google Books.
{{cite web}}
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has generic name (help) - "The Warren Commission Report: Findings of President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy". President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. U. S. Government. July 3, 2020 – via Google Books.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - "Dallas Producers Assn. to Honor and Roast Area Pros' Moving Images Oct. 16 with '...It Came From Dallas!...' Fundraiser for TXMPA". PRWeb.
- "Invoice from Keitz & Herndon, Inc., for work done on a film about the Selma-to-Montgomery march, which was produced by the Alabama Sovereignty Commission". Alabama Textual Materials Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
- Katagiri, Yasuhiro (January 6, 2014). Black Freedom, White Resistance, and Red Menace: Civil Rights and Anticommunism in the Jim Crow South. LSU Press. ISBN 9780807153147 – via Google Books.
- Lyman, Brian (February 10, 2019). "'State of Alabama:' The racist anti-Selma film, and the secret state commission that funded it". Montgomery Advertiser.
- Gordon, Wallace J. (June 29, 2006). The Grant Years, 1958 -: Writing My Way Through Chicago, Detroit and New York. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781467070515 – via Google Books.
- Elliott, Alan C. (2016). Texas Ingenuity: Lone Star Inventions, Inventors & Innovators. Arcadia Publishing. p. 159. ISBN 9780738503561 – via books.google.com.
- "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series". Library of Congress Copyright Office. September 15, 1974 – via Google Books.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. April 27, 1957. ISSN 0006-2510 – via books.google.com.
- Elliott, Alan C.; Summey, Patricia K.; Kokel, Gayla Brooks (2009). Oak Cliff. Arcadia Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 9780738570686 – via books.google.com.
- "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. December 1, 1956. p. 13. ISSN 0006-2510 – via books.google.com.
- "Atmosphere for Learning (1965)". texasarchive.org.