Rick Reinert

## Frederick George Reinert Jr.

Frederick George Reinert Jr.

**Frederick George Reinert Jr.** (September 14, 1925 – November 5, 2018), known as **Rick Reinert**, was an American animator and the founder of the defunct studio Rick Reinert Productions. He directed intros for *After School Special* and *ABC Weekend Special*. He was also a producer of Cap'n O. G. Readmore.[1]

## Career

### Beginnings

Beginning in 1945, Reinert began working at MGM's cartoon department and ended up at the Army Photo Center Animation Department in New York two years later. He was removed from both companies, but in 1960 he opened his own studio in Cleveland, Rick Reinert Productions, producing animation for TV ads; *The Dipsy Doodle Show*, a 1974 TV special (now considered lost); ABC's Saturday morning bumpers; intros for *After School Special* (1972) and the children's series *ABC Weekend Special* (1977).

In 1980 Reinert relocated his studio to southern California as he was contracted by Disney Studios. He later produced educational featurettes such as *Foods and Fun: A Nutrition Adventure* (1981), *Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons* (1981), and *Winnie the Pooh and a Day For Eeyore* (1983).[2]

### *Cap'n O. G. Readmore* and later

In 1983, after the success of the Library of Congress's *Read More About It*, the Library's Center for the Book created Cap'n O. G. Readmore in association with ABC. During that period, Reinert created 30- or 60-second spots to promote reading for young viewers. In 1985, he began making 21-minute specials plotting the character, starting with *Cap'n O. G. Readmore's Jack and the Beanstalk*. He made four more until 1992 when *Read More About It* ended.

Reinert also produced other specials such as *The Bollo Caper* (1985) and *The Kingdom Chums: Original Top 10* (1990),[3] a direct-to-video movie that is a sequel to *The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure* (1986). In the early 1990s, after moving on from doing *Cap'n O.G. Readmore*, he produced specials based on Precious Moments figurines, like *Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas* (1991) and *Little Sparrow: A Precious Moments Thanksgiving* (1996), which is his last project he produced and directed. In 1997 he served as an animation supervisor on a half-hour *Peanuts* special, *It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown*.

### Later years

Years after working on the *Peanuts* special as a animation supervisor while suspending his career as an animator, Reinert was producing comic art for a kid-unfriendly project called *Family Trees*, which its marketing had yet come to pass. However in 2008, Reinert briefly return to animate for the Pebbles cereal advertisements. This led to a downfall for Reinert as he ended his career in the animation business in 2010 after Post got sued for plagiarizing the use of a Hulk Hogan caricature.[4]

### Death

Sadly, years after his retirement, Reinert passed away in Annandale, Virginia on November 5, 2018 at the age of 93 years.[5][6]

## Filmography

### Television

* *After School Special* (1972; introduction sequence)
* *The Dipsy Doodle Show* (1974)
* *ABC Weekend Special* (1977; introduction sequence)
* *Foods and Fun: A Nutrition Adventure* (1981)
* *Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons*^ (1981)
* *Winnie the Pooh and a Day For Eeyore*^ (1983)
* *The Bollo Caper* (1985)
* *Cap'n O. G. Readmore's Jack and the Beanstalk* (1985)
* *Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* (1986)
* *Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Little Red Riding Hood* (1988)
* *Cap'n O. G. Readmore's Puss in Boots* (1988)
* *The Kingdom Chums: Original Top 10* (1990; direct-to-video)
* *Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas*^ (1991)
* *Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Chicken Little* (1992)
* *Timmy's Special Delivery: A Precious Moments Christmas*^ (1993)
* *Precious Moments presents: Simon the Lamb*^ (1994)
* *Precious Moments presents: Who's Who in the Zoo?*^ (1995)
* *Little Sparrow: A Precious Moments Thanksgiving*^ (1996)
* *It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown* [7] (1997; supervisor)

The symbol (^) means that this program does not have its own page due to content issues.

### Film

* *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993; animation background sequence)

## Trivia

* Rick Reinert is considered one of the few least-known animators by most companies today, as many of his projects have never been surfaced on DVD.
	+ The only projects of Reinert’s ever survived on DVD are *Winnie the Pooh and a Day For Eeyore* and The Precious Moments Series, especially the animation sequences in *After School Special* and *Mrs. Doubtfire*.