Fritz Siebel
{{Short description|American illustrator (1913–1991)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Fritz Siebel
| image = Fritz Siebel, 1940s.jpg
| caption = Siebel in 1941
| birth_name = Frederick Siebel
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|12|19}}
| birth_place = Vienna
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|12|27|1913|12|19}}
| death_place = New York City
| field = illustration, design
}}
Frederick "Fritz" Siebel (December 19, 1913 – December 27, 1991) was an Austrian American illustrator, well known for his award winning World War II poster "Someone Talked"{{Cite web|last=Pelkofsky|first=Julia|date=December 18, 2014|title=LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS|url=https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2014/12/18/loose-lips-sink-ships/|access-date=October 16, 2020|website=Cooper Hewitt}}{{Cite web|title=Someone talked! / Siebel.|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/93500969/|access-date=October 3, 2020|website=Library of Congress}} and his illustrations for the children's book Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish.{{Cite web|title=Fritz Siebel|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/fritz-siebel|access-date=October 3, 2020|website=HarperCollins Publishers}}
Life
=Early years=
Siebel was born in Vienna to Czechoslovakian parents.{{Cite web|title= Fritz Siebel Papers, Children's Literature Research Collection, University of Minnesota Libraries.|url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/4/resources/3160|access-date=March 23, 2021|website=University of Minnesota}} During his childhood he and his siblings spent summers at the family hops farm in Czechoslovakia.{{Cite web|last=Peng|first=Leif|date=October 11, 2012|title=Fritz Siebel: "never felt that he needed to be recognized... but he was always proud."|url=http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/10/fritz-siebel-never-felt-that-he-needed.html|access-date=October 3, 2020|website=Today's Inspiration}} 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.
=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.{{Cite web|last=Bergmann|first=Hubert|title=Meister Propers Wiener Wurzeln: Fritz Siebel, Schöpfer der Werbe-Ikone Mr. Clean|url=https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/Institute/INZ/Bio_Archiv/bio_2013_12.htm|access-date=October 16, 2020|website=Austrian Academy of Sciences}}
=Death=
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.
=WWII and the "Someone Talked" poster=
During World War II Siebel served in the United States Army between 1941 and 1943.{{Cite web|title=Fritz Siebel|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/60002/fritz-siebel|access-date=October 16, 2020|website=Penguin Random House}}
Before the war, in 1938, 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.{{Cite web|date=October 15, 2009|title=Equilibrium Records to Release "Someone Talked! Memories of World War II" with Grammy winner William Bolcom, Joan Morris, Robert White, Hazen Schumacher (under "About the Cover Art: 'Someone Talked!' by Frederick Siebel")|url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/worldwarii/bolcom/prweb3045694.htm|access-date=March 24, 2021|website=Cision PRWeb}}{{dead link|date=August 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} His entry, "Someone Talked", won several awards and was only published in 1942, during the war.{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18612741/ |title=Poster, Someone Talked!, 1942 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |access-date=16 October 2020 |publisher=Cooper Hewitt}}
==Trivia==
The poster was chosen by David Mamet as an "ominous World War II propaganda poster"{{Cite web|last=Kevin|first=Curtis|date=November 2019|title=The Code of the Con {{!}} The Spanish Prisoner (1997)|url=https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/11/11/the-spanish-prisoner-1997/|access-date=27 March 2021|website=Bright Wall/Dark Room}} on the wall in the workplace in his 1997 neo-noir movie "The Spanish Prisoner".
=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. Among others, he created ads for Ballantine Beer{{Cite web|title=Magazine Ad For Ballantine Beer, Cut Away View of Ski Lodge illustration, Frederick Siebel, 1954|url=http://magazinesadsandbooks.com/Magazine-Ad-For-Ballantine-Beer-Cut-Away-View-of-Ski-Lodge-illustration-Frederick-Siebel-1954-P3027413.aspx|website=Magazines, Ads & Books Store}}{{Cite web|title=Magazine Ad For Ballantine Beer, Bottle in Tub, Illustration People Bowling Frederick Siebel, 1953|url=http://magazinesadsandbooks.com/Magazine-Ad-For-Ballantine-Beer-Bottle-in-Tub-Illustration-People-Bowling-Frederick-Siebel-1953-P3026197.aspx|website=Magazines, Ads & Books Store}} and Schlitz beer.{{Cite web|title=Magazine Ad For Schlitz Beer, Bowling Night, Schlitzframe, Be A Schlitzer, 1957, Double Page Ad|url=http://magazinesadsandbooks.com/Magazine-Ad-For-Schlitz-Beer-Bowling-Night-Schlitzframe-Be-A-Schlitzer-1957-Double-Page-Ad-P3031580.aspx|access-date=October 3, 2020|website=Magazines, Ads & Books Store}}
=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.
=Children's book illustration=
In 1958, Siebel began illustrating children's books. The first two, best-seller "A Fly Went By"{{Cite web|title=A Fly Went By|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/980501.A_Fly_Went_By|access-date=October 17, 2020}} and "Stop that Ball!"{{Cite web|title=Stop that Ball!|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1174077.Stop_that_Ball_|access-date=October 17, 2020}} 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".{{Cite web|title=Dr. Dick|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10893112-dr-dick|access-date=October 17, 2020}} 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."{{Cite journal|date=1969|title=News|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y8Q_AQAAIAAJ&q=Fredrick+Siebel+Associates|journal=Industrial Design|volume=16|pages=28}}
The company was later renamed "Siebel Marketing Company", and in 1998 was merged with the Chicago marketing agency Upshot under Ha-Lo Industries.{{Cite web|last=Elliot|first=Stuart|date=December 22, 1998|title=THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING -- ADDENDA; Siebel Group Sold To Ha-Lo Industries|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/22/business/the-media-business-advertising-addenda-siebel-group-sold-to-ha-lo-industries.html|access-date=March 23, 2021|website=New York Times}}
References
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Category:20th-century American war artists
Category:American children's book illustrators