For the love of Prague

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For thirty years during the Stalinist regime in Czechoslovakia, Gene Deitch was the only American living there without control from the government. His love for the country and its cartoon films kept him rooted, allowing him to experience life in these isolated lands firsthand. Unlike fleeting reporters who only interacted with a few dissidents, Deitch's insights and personal adventures offer a unique perspective. His memoir blends love story, history, and accounts of national absurdity and terror, featuring real names, people, and incidents. The New York Times praised it as a spicy, funny memoir. Gene Deitch is an Oscar-winning animation director and scenarist, and a voting member of the Motion Picture Academy. In the early 1950s, he served as Creative Director at UPA's New York studio, creating award-winning films, including the iconic Bert & Harry Piels beer commercials, which were the first TV ads showcased at the New York Museum of Modern Art. In 1956, after CBS acquired Terrytoons, Deitch became its Creative Director, leading the studio to produce 18 CinemaScope cartoons annually for 20th Century-Fox and achieving its first Oscar nomination. He also created the Tom Terrific series for CBS's Captain Kangaroo, marking the first animated serial for network television. In 1958, he established his own studio, Gene Deitch Associates, Inc., in New York.