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

• "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

1. Elliott, Alan C.; Summey, Patricia K.; Kokel, Gayla Brooks (September 15, 2009). Oak Cliff. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738570686 – via Google Books.
2. Amidi, Amid (2006-08-17). Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-4731-5.
3. "Roderick Keitz Obituary - Dallas, TX". Dignity Memorial.
4. "Lawrence Fred Herndon Obituary (1926 - 2014) The Dallas Morning News". Legacy.com.
5. "Commercial Studios". Billboard. December 17, 1955. pp. 26, 35. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
6. "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. October 29, 1955. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
7. "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. May 5, 1956. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
8. "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard (magazine). Nielsen Business Media, Inc. June 24, 1957. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
9. Inc, Nielsen Business Media (March 9, 1957). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
10. "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.
11. "Dallas Producers Assn. to Honor and Roast Area Pros' Moving Images Oct. 16 with '...It Came From Dallas!...' Fundraiser for TXMPA". PRWeb. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.
12. "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.
13. 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.
14. Lyman, Brian (February 10, 2019). "'State of Alabama:' The racist anti-Selma film, and the secret state commission that funded it". Montgomery Advertiser.
15. 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.
16. Elliott, Alan C. (2016). Texas Ingenuity: Lone Star Inventions, Inventors & Innovators. Arcadia Publishing. p. 159. ISBN 9780738503561 – via books.google.com.
17. "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series". Library of Congress Copyright Office. September 15, 1974 – via Google Books.
18. "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. April 27, 1957. ISSN 0006-2510 – via books.google.com.
19. Elliott, Alan C.; Summey, Patricia K.; Kokel, Gayla Brooks (2009). Oak Cliff. Arcadia Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 9780738570686 – via books.google.com.
20. "TV Commercials in Production". Billboard. December 1, 1956. p. 13. ISSN 0006-2510 – via books.google.com.
21. "Atmosphere for Learning (1965)". texasarchive.org.