Herman Schultheis

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Herman Schultheis
Born(1900-02-11)February 11, 1900[1]
Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
DisappearedMay 21, 1955 (aged 55)
Petén, Guatemala
StatusMissing for 66 years, 3 months and 21 days
EducationPh.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering.
OccupationTechnician
EmployerWalt Disney Studios
Spouse(s)
Ethel Wisloh
​
(m. 1936)​

Herman Schultheis (11 February 1900 – disappeared 21 May 1955) was a Walt Disney Studios photographer and technician in the Special Effects Department best known for his work on the feature films Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi.[2][3]

Career[]

Schultheis emigrated to New York City from his native Germany in 1927 working jobs in sound-recording. He married Ethel Wisloh in 1936, and the pair moved to Los Angeles in 1937. In February 1939, Schultheis joined The Walt Disney Company in the Special Effects department, at the old Hyperion Avenue Studios in Silver Lake,[4] where he worked on a number of films, most notably on the animated features Fantasia and Pinocchio. He left Walt Disney in June 1940.[5] In 1949, he started employment with Librascope as a patent engineer.

Disappearance[]

Schultheis was an avid amateur photographer who traveled the world with his cameras. It was on one of these photographic expeditions, on May 21, 1955, that Schultheis disappeared near Petén while on a trip to the Mayan temples at Tikal in Guatemala.[6][7] His remains were discovered 18 months later.

Schultheis notebook[]

Schultheis documented advanced special effect techniques used in Disney films in a notebook titled Special Effects.[5] It is on display at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California.[8] His detailed notebook, documenting the special effects for Fantasia, is the subject of a 14-minute short-subject included on the film's DVD. The notebook, once offered to Disney for the sum of $400 in 1939 (equivalent to $7,442 in 2020), was discovered by Disney historian Howard Lowery hidden away in a Murphy bed in his Los Angeles residence upon his widow's death in the early 1990s.[9]

John Canemaker's book, The Lost Notebook: Herman Schultheis and the Secrets of Walt Disney’s Movie Magic is a partial reproduction of the notebook. Canemaker called Schultheis' book "the Rosetta Stone of Disney animation."[5]

The Herman J. Schultheis Collection of International Photographs, 1927-1950[]

The Schultheis Collection is composed of original photographic prints documenting Schultheis' various travels to the Mediterranean region, South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the eastern half of the United States,[10] as well as many photos that document a wide swath of life in Southern California. Following the death of Ethel in 1990, conservators found a trove of thousands of photographs in the Schultheis home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles.[11] The collection was deeded to the Los Angeles Public Library, and nearly 6,000 are available in their Digital Collections.[12]


See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Mills, Chris (21 January 2013). "Herman J. Schultheis (1900 - 1955) - Find A Grave Memorial". Find a Grave. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  2. ^ Canemaker, John (11 March 2014). The Secrets of Disney's Visual Effects: The Schultheis Notebooks Hardcover. Walt Disney Family Foundation Press. p. 256. ISBN 978-1616286125.
  3. ^ Rice, Christina (2 May 2012). "The Los Angeles of Herman Schultheis: One Photographer's Look at a Depression-Era City". Huffington Post. Huffington Post. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  4. ^ Boba, Eleanor (31 March 2018). "Water and Power: the 1938 Los Angeles Flood". Photo Friends. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Herman J. Schultheis and His Lost (And Found) Notebook". d23. The Walt Disney Company. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  6. ^ Jacobs, Horace (July 1955). "Schultheis Disappears in Guatemala Mystery" (PDF). Librazette. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  7. ^ "Preview: "The Lost Notebook: Herman Schultheis & the Secrets of Walt Disney's Movie Magic". cartoonbrew. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  8. ^ "The Schultheis Notebook - Second Story". archive.secondstory.com. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Michael Sporn Animation – Splog » Search Results » Schultheis". www.michaelspornanimation.com. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Finding aid for the Herman J. Schultheis collection of international photographs, 1927-1950". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  11. ^ Boba, Eleanor (16 January 2019). "Mr. and Mrs. Schultheis go to Santa Barbara". Photo Friends. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Schultheis Collection Photographs". Los Angeles Public Library Digital Collections. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
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