Fred Ladd, a native of Toledo, Ohio, embarked on a journey of radio and television studies at Ohio State University, ultimately establishing himself in New York for the initial three decades of his illustrious career. During this period, he was affiliated with the renowned advertising agency, Cayton Inc., which was founded by the late William D. Cayton, also known as Bill Cayton. In the year 1957, Ladd drew inspiration from the 1939 Nazi propaganda film "Weltraumschiff 1 Startet" (Spaceship 1 Launches),incorporating special effect shots of the spaceship soaring through space.
This hour-long animated feature film was later repackaged into a series of six-minute feature episodes, which were released under the titles "The Space Explorers" and "The New Adventures of the Space Explorers". Throughout his career, Ladd was associated with several prominent companies, including Radio & Television Packagers (1973-75),Delphi Associates (1964-67),Color Systems Inc. (1968-75),Plaid Productions (1974-84),Greatest Tales Inc. (1975-76),and Entercolor Technologies (1984-94).
