George Debels

Biography

George Debels originally came from Antwerp, where he studied technical drawing.

In 1914, after the German invasion of Belgium, he fled to Amsterdam. There he found work as a structural engineer for e.g. the automobile manufacturer Spijker.

In 1916, he made his first animated film, De wonderdroom van Keesje. From that moment onwards, he made many animated and advertising films. Debels worked for e.g. the KLM head Albert Plesman (for the ELTA aviation exhibition), and for the dairy factory Friesche Vlag. For Friesche Vlag, he designed for the corporate mascot Ko the Cow, who also appeared in several advertising films. Debels had its own animation studio in Amsterdam, and produced his films under the name Mac Djorski.

In 1925, he experimented with sound in the animated short De dierenmarsch. From 1931 to 1935, Debels worked for Otto Neijenhoff’s film factory IWA. He made his last films at the end of the 1930s. Debels was also active as a commercial artist and a book illustrator.