A few words from Jan Klos

Readers of this blog should already be familiar with Czech animation legend Jan Klos and his work on the series in 1981-85. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned how I believe Klos' work on three episodes in 1984 and 1985 was credited with a pseudonym. In its conclusion, I stated: Jan Klos is still with us and, hopefully, somebody will ask him about this peculiarity someday, as there is probably more to this story. I am not one to sit around and wait, so already then I was trying to reach out to Jan myself. In the end, I was able to do so thanks to the great folks from Memory of Nations and the Post Bellum organization, for which Mr Klos had given an interview. I especially must thank A. Poláková, who gave me Klos' e-mail contact in the end.

There are couple of interviews with him online already (for instance, this one, where he talks for three hours), but they mostly concern his life before animation. In my e-mail to Mr Klos then, I presented my posts on the blog and asked him about several things: the altered titles, the way he animated the characters and so on. After about 15 days, responses started coming in.

Jan Klos about 20 days ago in a candid photo made by his son-in-law,
which he included in his e-mail

As you know, Jan Klos is 79 years old, so once again I must say: Thank you very much, sir, for taking the time to write to me! I know Jan will not read this, but in case members of his family do, give my best to Jan yet again. Jan stated that he cannot spend much time at the computer and has to "ram" his thoughts into it (he's, in his own words, a simple, old, too old man), so he provided answers to my questions in the form of chapters chronologically speaking about his work (of course, in Czech) and he didn't mind me sharing them on this blog. He really took the time and effort to write them over a period of a few weeks, so here I present them to you translated into English. You will notice that Jan openly discusses his life and work, often with self-biting irony As he noted: producing "humor and folk entertainment" is an ambition and an ideal profession for me. Unfortunately, it rarely succeeds.

Jan Klos:

CHAPTER 1

By profession a puppeteer, I became an employee of Krátký film Praha in 1973 by a combination of lucky coincidences and I began to animate in the Jiří Trnka Studio (puppet film) in director Břetislav Pojar’s staff. Those were my apprenticeship years in animation. DIFFICULT years - but BALANCED with a good feeling that I can be part of creation ON A CERTAIN LEVEL. The production process, dramaturgy, direction, collaboration with the experienced deaf-mute, ingenious animator Boris Masník, these were standard professional conditions - simply HAPPINESS (the studio's address then was Čiklova 13 A).

Břetislav Pojar in the studio's yard in 1974 (photo: Ivan Vít)

At the beginning of 1982, the management of Krátký film Praha banned Pojar from working (comrade director "was unable to fulfill the production plan") and Pojar's staff was scattered around. In order to be able to continue to animate puppets (it is the simplest and my favorite animation discipline), an average director, a skilful, hardworking man and also an employee of Kr. film Luboš Beneš offered me work on his films in a new four-member team. A space he discovered was adapted for shooting puppet films with cameraman Miler, animator Chocholín and one graphic artist. So I moved to the SECOND DIVISION, and there were five of us (address: Wenzigova 5). We called ourselves "Benešfilm". Here I worked on five or up to seven parts of PAT and MAT (I don't remember anymore), which belonged to the First series - it was 21 parts. Now I remember that the series was then called A JE TO.

Here I will interrupt with some of my notes. It was not a translation mistake; Boris Masník was indeed deaf-mute, which didn't stop him being one of the most extraordinary animators at the studio. Jan talks more about him in this article. Jan animated on a couple more episodes than he remembered, and, of course, seven episodes were already made in the first batch for ČST from 1979 - Jan worked on the next three. The credits list his first two episodes, Grill (1981) and Sťahovanie (1982) as being shot by Vladímir Malík with assistance from Ivan Vít. As such, they would have still been made in "Čiklovka". I asked Jan about this later and he confirmed:

You're right: the first A JE TO - GRILL I did animate in "Čiklovka", that was when I was "Pojar's horse". Benešfilm was created only after they "cancelled" Pojar and also transferred V. Malík to another studio.

Klos' first entry was the very memorable Grill

Even though Jan didn't remember it, I then presume that Sťahovanie was shot at "Čiklovka" as well. Interestingly, the first episode to credit Jan Müller with camerawork, Maľovanie, was almost completely animated by Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly as a one-off job. Presumably, that's what the first two episodes by Klos were also inteded to be.

CHAPTER 2

The then monopoly on the production of animated films in the ČSSR (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic) was controlled by the already mentioned company Krátký film Praha, which, by administrative regulations, did not allow for decent and professional work on the so-called "custom-made films" [the original term is zakázkový filmy; essentially, commissioned]. Beneš's films A JE TO were just that, "commissioned". They were ordered by the Slovak Bratislava company Telexport (I’m not sure, I don't remember anymore), which offered CZK 250,000 for one part of the series (about 200 meters of film) and sold it to the world for about CZK 1,000,000. The management of Kr. film allocated CZK 85,000 for the realization of one episode.

This MINIMUM investment (other "orders" were made with several times larger financial backing) was intended to discourage the creator from making such inferior "junk". However, the currency profit for the sale of such "junk" was very attractive for the Bratislava production company and it politically argued: Good money for the people of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

map: Wikipedia

CHAPTER 3

The money for the "people of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic" was GOOD! However, everything BAD fell on the shoulders of the production team "Benešfilm" - as we called ourselves. It was up to us to produce a semi-amateur, fast and even faster sold low-paid "work" for which I was EMBARRASSED, and that's why I didn't want to be on the titles! But I seldom got to be present when they were shot (already the graphic level!) so I could "alter" them. That's how Keks and the like came about.

the sloppily edited animation credit on 1984's Korčule -
now we know the perpetrator!

Five years of working with Lubomír Beneš taught me how to work on contracts quickly, carelessly, to make a living, to help feed co-workers, to SIMPLIFY my life. For example, "phasing through two frames" (each second contains only 12 phases) or producing details in slow motion with real hands and real props when the camera is operating on a so-called series and the like. With all the disappointments and criticisms of working with Beneš, I am ultimately GRATEFUL to him for the opportunity to make puppet films - not everyone will be able to deal with such undemanding and fun "production" and a genius director, playwright, cinematographer, etc. etc. few animators meet.

a scene from 1985's Porucha

My actual hands are in the photo you sent (where the hands take out the "insides" of the TV). It's one of those shots with which we avoided laborious animation (and laborious production of props). "Handmade" it was easier.

CHAPTER 4

The collaboration with L. Beneš was interrupted by the reorganization of the J. Trnka studio (where "Benešfilm" still belonged). In 1987(?), all detached workplaces were concentrated in a newly built studio in Barrandov - a large complex of all possible workplaces in the southern part of Prague (new buildings were also there for cartoon studio Bratři v triku as well as for Krátký film’s directorate). Director B. Pojar received the opportunity to shoot again in Czechia after many years from Kr. film’s new management and he remembered the collaborators who worked for him until 1981-82. After five years, it was for myself again a return to professional conditions. For a year and a half I worked on the animation for a combined animation and live-action feature film (I think it was called Motýlí čas or something like that [indeed it was, The Flying Sneaker being the English title] and I was reunited with the genius Boris Masník after years - a return to the family nest from Čiklovka).

photo: Krátký film

After the 1989 "revolution" that dissolved Krátký film Praha, Beneš offered me a job in his new private studio, but I acknowledged that my colleague, the ingenious animator Alfons Mensdorff, works with ease and at least two and a half times faster than me, and that it is for a private studio much cheaper than having some Keks. That was the last time I spoke with Beneš face-to-face. 30 years to it!

CHAPTER 5

I have not regularly followed the fate of Pat and Mat since (1989), but I know that after various struggles for property rights after Luboš's death, these were won by his son and his company (?) produced them now. I read on the billboards that even two full-length movies had already been made with Pat and Mat. I don't know anything about the present in 2020, except for connections to some animators.

In 1988(?), after returning from Canada (where he worked until 1987), Pojar initiated the establishment of the Department of Animation at the Prague FAMU (Film School - Faculty of Fine Arts - Academy of Performing Arts). He became the first professor, and I his technical (disgusting) assistant [to illustrate what kind of man he is, here Jan used a pun: odborný - technical, odporný - disgusting]. I don't remember when I had to leave my beloved animation department, where instead of "WHAT WILL IT BE ABOUT", it was constantly said in English "WHICH PROGRAM" would be realized. 

Jan Klos and Ondřej Zika, October 2014 (photo: homeforawhile.tumblr.com)

Note: the year of production indicated in the titles of a film may not correspond to the actual year. Various business or bureaucratic manipulations play a role (for example, fulfilling a plan or participating in festivals, where only a work created last year can participate and so on).

A je to! At least for now. The last thing I want to do is bother Jan, so I will not send him more e-mails for a few weeks. However, I believe he was eager and happy to answer my questions just from the sheer amount of recollections he sent back. If you have some questions you would like to ask, post them in the comments and I may include them in one of my next e-mails.

I'm sure there will be some as Mr Klos' tales are fascinating. It's interesting how the studio tried to dissuade Beneš from producing the series and actually really ironic how one of KF's best-selling products was one they severly underfunded. Jan's memories of working in poor conditions give an insight into how he had to change and adapt his animation style due to the circumstances, sacrificing fluidity to choppiness when needed. The real-life "interventions", which, I believe, added charm to the series, only came about in 1983 with Pračka.

It's sad that Jan was not very proud of his work on the series. As I wrote back to him, he was the best animator on the series and probably did the best possible work in those conditions. It is also evident how much higher he rates Pojar than Beneš, but, then again, Pojar was one of the all-time greats. Beneš obviously valued Klos' work as he cast him as his only animator on two theatricals (Muzikant a Smrt, Rohy) and invited him to work for aiF. Had Klos accepted the offer, who knows how things would have worked out! I believe it was for the better this way. He also confirmed my suspicion that Mensdorff-Pouilly is an extremely fast animator. According to this digital repository, Klos still worked as an advisor at FAMU in 2015. This would have been around the time he left. Nowadays, he is happily retired.

Thanks for sticking with me through this interview and thanks again to Jan Klos for his openness and willingness to send out so much to me. I will always be grateful to him.