Seymour Reit
Seymour Victory Reit, known as Sy Reit (1918–2001), was an American writer and cartoonist who published more than 80 books for children and several for adults. He sometimes claimed to have created Casper the Friendly Ghost, a claim others disputed or credited to Joe Oriolo. Reit worked in animation and comics for years and also wrote humor.
He was born in New York City on November 11, 1918. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and New York University, where he drew cartoons for college magazines. Early in his career he worked as an in-betweener and inker on the 1939 film Gulliver’s Travels, and later wrote gags for Popeye and Betty Boop. He also produced anonymous comic strips for Jerry Iger under the Fiction House label.
Reit served in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Force, in a camouflage unit defending the West Coast and later in Europe after D‑Day. After the war he did cartoon work for Archie and Little Lulu, and contributed gags to Casper shorts. He wrote for the TV show Captain Kangaroo.
In 1950 he began working in the publications department at the Bank Street College of Education in New York, and he scripted industrial films and radio programs. In the late 1950s he started submitting work to Mad Magazine, eventually contributing more than 60 pieces. One famous Mad piece, “The Down-To-Earth Coloring Book” (1960), helped inspire the later delight in adult coloring books.
Reit and Joe Oriolo never secured the rights to Casper, so neither earned royalties from Casper’s works or merchandise. However, the makers of the 1995 Casper film gave him a substantial honorarium.
He wrote more than 80 books, mostly for children on topics like history, science, and nature. He also wrote The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa (1981) for adults, in which he argued there are two genuine Mona Lisas in the world. A movie adaptation was planned but never made. Reit also wrote for Golden Books’ Little Golden Books and many other publishers.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:13 (CET).