Wilbur Streech

Art Brokerage: Wilbur Streech American Artist: b. 1914-1986. Film-maker, Printmaker and Disney artist Wilbur J. Streech, was born in Fullerton California in 1914. A 1937 graduate of UCLA, Streech felt destined to pursue the film arts. After graduation, he worked as an animation artist for Walt Disney Studios. There he worked on such legendary Disney classics as "Bambi" and "Fantasia". These films were no longer "cartoons", but true works of film art. He continued working with Disney until he was drafted into the Army Signal Corps during World War II. The Army recognized his communication and film skills, and made full use of them. He animated U.S. Army training films during World War II and eventually rose to the rank of captain. Later, for TV he produced Brylcreem's "A little dab will do you" television commercial. After Disney he and some friends formed Triangle Films, later Wilbur Streech Productions, which specialized in television commercials, among them promotional clips featuring Carl Reiner and Imogene Coca for their program "Show of Shows." During the mid-1960's, he won two international awards for an abstract art film called ''Moving Visuals.'' In 1967, as a result of severe arthritis of the hip, he sold the company and enrolled at the Pratt Institute to study screen printing. He later opened a studio in Palisades. He also produced an abstract art film, "Moving Visuals," which won first prize at the San Francisco and Atlanta international film festivals. Streech retired in 1967 but then studied printmaking with David Finkbeimer at the Pratt Graphic Center and produced highly regarded serigraphs, many in private collections and galleries. Listings wanted.