11 Facts About Seymour Reit

Seymour Victory Reit was an American author of over 80 children's books as well as several works for adults.

Reit claimed to be the creator of the character Casper the Friendly Ghost, and several co-workers supported his claim, though cartoonist Joe Oriolo, who drew the first Casper book, claimed that he created Casper and Reit wrote the book under his direction.

Seymour Reit started his career working for Fleischer Studios as an animator; he worked for Jerry Iger and Will Eisner as a cartoonist, for Laffboy as editor in 1965, and for Mad Magazine and several other publications as a humorist.

Seymour Reit was born in New York City on 11 November 1918.

Seymour Reit attended DeWitt Clinton High School and New York University, where he drew cartoons for humorous college magazines.

Seymour Reit worked as an in-betweener and inker on the 1939 animated film Gulliver's Travels, and later became a gag writer for the Popeye and Betty Boop cartoon series, among others.

Seymour Reit anonymously produced comic strips for Jerry Iger under the Fiction House label.

Seymour Reit attended New York University with future Captain Marvel writer William Woolfolk, and helped launch Woolfolk's career as a writer of comics by introducing him to Jerry Iger and Will Eisner.

Seymour Reit served in World War II in a US Army Air Force camouflage unit tasked with defending the West Coast from a Japanese invasion, and later served in Europe after D-Day.

Seymour Reit later wrote a book, The Amazing Camouflage Deceptions of World War II, drawing on his wartime experience.

Seymour Reit wrote over 80 books, primarily for children, on a variety of historical, technical, natural, and other subjects.