OCALA, Fla.—Cartoonist, visual artist, photographer, and Golden Age XXX filmmaker Ed Seeman has passed away. He was 93.
In the 1970s, Seeman was a well-known glamour photographer for classic men’s magazines including Cheri, Penthouse, Oui, Genesis and Puritan. It was during this era that he also made several adult films and shorts, under the screen pseudonym Eduardo Cemano. According to film archive IMBD, his adult film credits include Millie's Homecoming (1971) and The Weirdos and the Oddballs (1971), “followed by the gloriously bizarre troika of The Healers (1972), Fongaluli (1973) and Madame Zenobia (1973).”
“When I was a young porn star in the 1970s, Ed Seeman’s exceptional erotic photography work in Puritan magazine was greatly inspiring to me,” Golden Age adult film star and social activist Annie Sprinkle told AVN.
“His glossy photo spread of a young, Jewish mensch having sex with the elder rabbi’s wife, was so well done and the talk of the town. The location, the costumes, the angles, the eroticism ... he had it all in that shoot. To me, it is one of the most outrageous, successful, tongue in cheek (and vagina), artistic erotic photo spreads ever published, and the greatest, earliest MILF shoot ever made,” she described.
“Ed was a talented artist, and pornographer, and hey, he worked with Frank Zappa to boot! He made one of my pin-up photos into a psychedelic artwork and he generously sent me a print. Later when I was doing a performance art project with my partner, Beth Stephens, when we married the Sun, he made a special gift—a cool graphic for our invitation and the cover of our printed program. Ed loved making cartoons and porn both. Ed Seeman was a blessing to porn stars and porn fans alike,” Sprinkle recalled.
“While I never personally worked with Ed, we had a wonderful online relationship,” late ‘70s XXX star “Long” Jeanne Silver told AVN. “Ed did a series on the Golden Age crew and was sweet enough to include me. His art—starting during the war, working with Frank Zappa, commercials—was nothing but spectacular. Venturing into the adult business with Puritan magazine and with [Puritan co-founder] Dian Hanson. True and genuine artist.”
Seeman was born in New York City in 1931 and attended both Manhattan’s High School of Music & Art and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. His career as an animator started at Paramount Pictures in New York, where he drew animation cels for shows including Popeye the Sailorman and Casper, the Friendly Ghost—characters that would later become iconic.
He also was an accomplished fine artist whose oil paintings were represented by East Hampton Galleries in Manhattan, with work exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
His civilian career was interrupted when Seeman was drafted by the U.S. Army, serving from 1952 to 1954, in 4th Infantry Division stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, during the Korean War. While enlisted, Seeman produced informational cartoons and re-enlistment ads for the Army. He served as an Information and Entertainment Non-Commissioned Officer, with the rank of corporal and was awarded an Army Commendation Medal for his work.
After his time in the military, Seeman returned to New York and founded Gryphon Productions with business partner Ray Favata, producing animated commercials from 1960 to 1969. The studio’s brand portfolio included Cocoa Puffs, Sugar Bear (16 years), Flintstones Vitamins, Bullwinkle, and Trix Rabbit, among others.
In 1967, Seeman hired prog rock musician Frank Zappa to create the music for a Luden’s cough drops commercial. The resulting ad won a Clio Award for Best Use of Sound. He also worked with Zappa and his band, The Mothers of Invention, on other projects including a 14-hour film montage titled Uncle Meat (1987), which won a Cine Golden Eagle Award at the Venice Bienalle arts festival.
Seeman would eventually win several Clio and ADDY Awards for his work in advertising. He also earned an Emmy with Favata for animation in the children’s show The Great Space Coaster. Five of his experimental films are in the U.S. Library of Congress.
“The artist Ed Seeman put his heart and his libido into what he created, and he viewed both his life and his work with humor and enthusiasm,” recalled ‘80s XXX screen star Veronica Vera. “I met Ed circa 1980. He was already highly esteemed as a filmmaker and his erotic photographs raised the bar on that medium.
“We became friends and occasionally more than friends, partying in a menage a trois with his lovely partner. He was a master at art and love-making, but Ed was humble, a servant of his muse,” she reminisced. “He never took himself too seriously. But what he accomplished was serious. He filled the world with pleasure, using ballet and emotion as his most important tools. I interviewed Ed in 1986. His stories were amazing, especially when he described his super sexy and sincere casting process. I just let him do all the talking.
“He said, ‘Porn was for me like shooting the other side of the moon—showing people something they had never seen before and showing it to them through my eyes,’” Vera added. “He adored women and showed us all powerful—floating guardians of the galaxies. The world through the eyes of Ed Seeman was a magical Eden. Rest in pleasure, Ed Seeman.”
In 1989, Seeman moved from New York to South Florida, and continued commercial work at his own Animation Productions. His clients there included Publix Supermarkets, the Florida Lottery, and the Florida Oceanographic Society, creating an informational campaign on endangered manatees for the organization featuring cartoon manatees Mumphrey, Mindy and Max.
A resident of Ocala, Florida, Seeman was profiled in 2017 by the Ocala Star Banner on his long career and ongoing interest in digital art. "My home is basically an art gallery displaying my digital art on huge canvases and prints. Bring your sunglasses because you will be blinded by my brightly colored Giclées,” he told the reporter at the time.
Seeman’s death was announced on his Facebook page by his daughter, who said that he had passed away at home on February 4, with his wife Amy at his side.
