Golden age of American animation
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The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the newer medium of television animation, produced on cheaper budgets and in a more limited animation style by companies such as Hanna-Barbera, UPA,
Jay Ward Productions Jay Ward Productions, Inc. (sometimes shortened to Ward Productions) is an American animation studio based in Costa Mesa, California. It was founded in 1948 by American animator Jay Ward. The Jay Ward Productions library and rights were previou ...
, and DePatie-Freleng. Many popular characters emerged from this period, including
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's' '' Mickey Mouse'', ''
Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasiona ...
'', '' Donald Duck'', '' Daisy Duck'', '' Goofy'', and ''
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...
'';
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
' ''
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...
'', ''
Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...
'', '' Porky Pig'', ''
Tweety Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for t ...
'', and '' Sylvester'';
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
's ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
'' and ''
Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro- ...
''; Fleischer Studios' '' Betty Boop''; ''
Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon characte ...
'';
Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lant ...
's ''
Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by ...
'';
Terrytoons Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in name only). Terrytoons was founded by ...
' ''
Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorro ...
''; UPA's '' Mr. Magoo''; and
Jay Ward Productions Jay Ward Productions, Inc. (sometimes shortened to Ward Productions) is an American animation studio based in Costa Mesa, California. It was founded in 1948 by American animator Jay Ward. The Jay Ward Productions library and rights were previou ...
' ''
Rocky and Bullwinkle ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC tele ...
''. Feature-length animation began during this period, most notably with
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's "
Walt Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include: People Given name * Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record racer * Walt B ...
-era" films, spanning from ''
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...
'' in 1937 to ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
'' in 1967. Animation also began on television during this period, with the first animated series airing on television in 1948 starting with ''
Crusader Rabbit ''Crusader Rabbit'' is the first animated series produced specifically for television. Its main characters were Crusader Rabbit and his sidekick Ragland T. Tiger, or "Rags". The stories were four-minute-long satirical cliffhangers. The concept ...
''.


Movie/animation studios


The Walt Disney Company


Beginnings

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
had decided to become a newspaper cartoonist drawing political caricatures and comic strips. However, nobody would hire Disney, so his older brother
Roy Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
, who was working as a banker at the time, got him a job at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio where he created advertisements for newspapers, magazines, and movie theaters. Here he met fellow cartoonist
Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...
, the two quickly became friends and in January 1920, when their time at the studio expired they decided to open up their own advertising agency together called Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. The business however got off to a rough start and Walt temporarily left for the Kansas City Film and Ad Co. to raise money for the fleeting company and Iwerks soon followed as he was unable to run the business alone. While working there he made commercials for local theaters using crude cut-out animation. Disney became fascinated by the art and decided to become an animator. He then borrowed a camera from work and rented a book from the local library called ''Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development'' by Edwin G. Lutz and decided that
cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...
would produce better quality and decided to open up his own animation studio. Disney then teamed up with
Fred Harman Fred Charles Harman II (February 9, 1902 - January 2, 1982) was an American cartoonist, best known for his popular ''Red Ryder'' comic strip, which he drew for 25 years, reaching 40 million readers through 750 newspapers. Harman sometimes used th ...
and made their first film, ''The Little Artist'' which was nothing more than an artist (Disney) taking a cigarette break at his work desk. Harman soon dropped out of the venture, but Disney was able to strike a deal with local theater owner Frank L. Newman and animated a cartoon all by himself entitled ''Newman Laugh-O-Grams'' screened in roughly February 1921. Walt then quit his job at the film and ad company and incorporated Laugh-O-Gram Films in May 1922, and hired former advertising colleagues as unpaid "students" of animation including Ub Iwerks and Fred Harman's brother, Hugh Harman.Barrier, Michael, 1999, ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age'', p. 37, Oxford University Press, UK Throughout 1922, the Disney company produced a series of "modernized" adaptations of fairy tales including ''
Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brot ...
'', ''
The Four Musicians of Bremen This is a list of animated short films produced by Walt Disney and Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1921 to the present. This includes films produced at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio which Disney founded in 1921 as well as the animation studio now o ...
'', ''
Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Co ...
'', '' Jack the Giant Killer'', '' Goldielocks and the Three Bears'', ''
Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for ...
'', ''
Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
'' and ''
Tommy Tucker's Tooth ''Tommy Tucker's Tooth'' is a live-action short film by Walt Disney at his short-lived Laugh-O-Grams studio in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City from 1922. The format was black and white, and without sound. The film was one of two commissioned ...
'', the latter being mostly a live-action film about dental hygiene. None of these films turned a profit. The last film made by the Disney company was a short called ''
Alice's Wonderland ''Alice's Wonderland'' is a 1923 Walt Disney short silent film, produced in Kansas City, Missouri by Laugh-O-Gram Studio. The black-and-white short was the first in a series of Walt Disney's famous ''Alice Comedies'' and had a working title o ...
''. Loosely inspired by
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...
's ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...
''; the short featured a live-action five-year-old girl named Alice (
Virginia Davis Virginia Davis (December 31, 1918 – August 15, 2009) was an American child actress in films. She is best known for working with Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks on the animated short series Alice Comedies, in which she portrayed the protagonist Alic ...
) who had adventures in a fully animated world. The film was never fully complete however as the studio went bankrupt in the summer of 1923. Upon the closure of Laugh-O-Grams, Walt Disney worked as a freelance filmmaker before selling his camera for a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. Once arriving he moved in with his Uncle Robert and his brother Roy, who was recovering at a nearby government hospital from
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
he had suffered during the war. After failing to get a job as a director of live-action films he sent the unfinished ''Alice's Wonderland'' reel to short-subjects distributor
Margaret J. Winkler Margaret J. Winkler Mintz (April 22, 1895 – June 21, 1990) was a key figure in silent animation history, having a crucial role to play in the histories of Max and Dave Fleischer, Pat Sullivan, Otto Messmer, and Walt Disney. She was the fir ...
of ''Winkler Pictures'' in New York. Winkler was distributing both the ''
Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon characte ...
'' and ''
Out of the Inkwell ''Out of the Inkwell'' is an American major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929. History The series was the result of three short experimental films that Max Fleischer independently produced from 191 ...
'' cartoons at the time, but the Fleischer brothers were about to leave to set up their own distribution company, ''Red Seal Films'', and Felix producer Pat Sullivan was constantly fighting with Winkler; therefore Winkler agreed to distribute Disney's ''
Alice Comedies The ''Alice Comedies'' are a series of animated/live-action shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice (originally played by Virginia Davis) and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an ...
'' as sort of an insurance policy. Once Walt Disney received the notice on October 15, he convinced Roy to leave the hospital and help him set up his business. The next day, on October 16, 1923, Disney Bros. Cartoon Studio opened its doors at a small rented office two blocks away from his uncle's house with Roy managing business and Walt handling creative affairs.Barrier, Michael, 1999, ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age'', p. 39, Oxford University Press, UK He convinced Virginia Davis's parents which caused the first official ''Alice'' short, ''
Alice's Day at Sea ''Alice's Day at Sea'' was the first animated short film in the series of the Alice Comedies that was directed Walt Disney. It was black and white and silent, and featured live action segments paired with animated sequences. It is a historica ...
'', to be released on January 1, 1924; delayed by eleven days. Ub Iwerks was re-hired in February 1925 and the quality of animation on the ''Alice'' series improved; this prompted Hugh Harman,
Rudolf Ising Rudolf Carl Ising (August 7, 1903 – July 18, 1992) was an American animator best known for collaborating with Hugh Harman to establish the Warner Bros. and MGM Cartoon studios during the early years of the golden age of American animation. I ...
and
Carman Maxwell Carman Griffin Maxwell (December 27, 1902 – September 22, 1987) was an American animator and voice actor. Maxwell was born in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and later moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He began his career at Walt Disney, where Maxwel ...
to follow Disney west in June 1925. Around that time, Davis was replaced with Maggie Gay and the cartoons started to focus less on the live-action scenes and more the fully animated scenes, particularly those featuring Alice's pet sidekick
Julius The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...
, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Felix the Cat. In February 1926, Disney built a larger studio at 2719 Hyperion Avenue and changed the name of the company to Walt Disney Cartoons. In November 1923, Winkler married Charles Mintz and handed over the business to him when she became pregnant a few months later.Barrier, Michael, 1999, ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age'', p. 42, Oxford University Press, UKn Mintz was often described as a cold, stern and ruthless chain-smoking tyrant; one employee remembered him as "a grim-faced man, with a pair of cold eyes glittering behind the pince nez" and "never talked to the staff. He looked us over like an admiral surveying a row of stanchions." While Winkler had offered gentle critiques and encouragement, Mintz communicated to Disney in a harsh and cruel tone. In 1927, Mintz ordered Disney to stop producing ''Alice Comedies'' due to the costs of combining live-action and animation. Mintz managed to gain a distribution deal with
Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
; however it was Mintz—not Disney—that signed the deal. Disney and lead animator Ub Iwerks created ''
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is a cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1 ...
'', who debuted in ''
Trolley Troubles ''Trolley Troubles'' is a 1927 animated short subject film, produced by Charles Mintz and George Winkler and directed by Walt Disney. The cartoon is the first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character that Disney and Ub Iwerks created ...
'' short in 1927. The Oswald series was a success and became the first hit for the Walt Disney studio. In the spring of 1928, Disney travelled to New York to ask Mintz for a budget increase. His request was harshly denied by Mintz, who pointed out that in the contract Mintz had signed with Universal, it was Universal—not Disney—that owned the rights to the character. Mintz revealed to Disney that he had hired most of his staff away from the studio (except for Ub Iwerks,
Les Clark Leslie James "Les" Clark (November 17, 1907 - September 12, 1979) was an American animator and the first of Disney's Nine Old Men. Joining Disney in 1927, he was the only one to work on the origins of Mickey Mouse with Ub Iwerks. Early life L ...
and
Wilfred Jackson Wilfred Jackson (January 24, 1906 – August 7, 1988) was an American animator, arranger, composer and director best known for his work on the ''Mickey Mouse'' and '' Silly Symphonies'' series of cartoons and the ''Night on Bald Mountain''/''Ave ...
who refused to leave) and threatened that unless he took a 20 per cent budget decrease, he would drop Disney and continue the Oswald series by himself. Walt refused, and Winkler Pictures dropped its distribution.


Mickey Mouse

While Disney was finishing the remaining cartoons for Mintz, Disney and his staff secretly came up with a new cartoon character to replace Oswald — '' Mickey Mouse''. The inspiration for Mickey has never been clear. Walt Disney said that he came up with the idea on the train ride back to Los Angeles shortly after the confrontation with Mintz, but other records say that he came up with the idea after he returned to the studio. Walt Disney once said that he was inspired by a pet mouse he once had at the old Laugh-O-Grams studio, but more commonly said that he chose a mouse because a mouse had never been the central character of a cartoon series before. In 1928, ''
Plane Crazy ''Plane Crazy'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first Mickey Mouse film produced, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test sc ...
'' became the first entry into the Mickey Mouse series; however, it was not released because of a poor reaction from test screenings and failed to gain a distributor. The second Mickey Mouse cartoon ''
The Gallopin' Gaucho ''The Gallopin' Gaucho'' is the second short film featuring Mickey Mouse to be produced, following ''Plane Crazy'' and preceding ''Steamboat Willie''. The Disney studios completed the silent version in August 1928, but did not release it in orde ...
'' also failed to gain the attention of the audience and a distributor. Disney knew what was missing: sound.
Sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
had been captivating audiences since 1927 with ''
The Jazz Singer ''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolate ...
'' and Walt decided that the next cartoon ''
Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celebrity Productions. The cartoon ...
'' would have sound. ''Steamboat Willie'' was not the first sound cartoon, Max and
Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Fleischer was the ...
had produced ''
Song Car-Tunes '' Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes'', ''Song Car-Tunes'', or (some sources erroneously say) ''Sound Car-Tunes'', is a series of short three-minute animated films produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer between May 1924 and September 1927, pioneering t ...
'' since 1926. However, they failed to keep the sound synchronized with the animation and the main focus of the cartoons were the bouncing ball
sing-a-long Sing-along, also called community singing or group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing. One can use a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spiritual ...
s. The ''Song Car-Tunes'' were not a success and some staff members doubted whether a cartoon with sound would be successful. So Disney arranged a special preview screening with the music and sound effects being played live behind stage through a microphone. The ''Steamboat Willie'' test screening was a success and managed to gain a distributor, ''Celebrity Pictures'' chief Pat Powers. However, the first attempt to synchronize the sound with the animation was a disaster with the timing being all wrong. In order to finance the second recording, Walt sold his car. This time he used a click track to keep his musicians on the beat (Disney later learned that it was easier to record the dialogue, music and sound effects first and animate to the sound). Little more than a month before ''Steamboat Willies premiere, Paul Terry released his sound cartoon '' Dinner Time''; however it was not a financial success and Walt Disney described it as "a bunch of racket".


The Golden Age of Disney


Beginnings (1920s–30s)

''Steamboat Willie'' was released on November 18, 1928, and was a big success. Disney quickly gained huge dominance in the animation field using sound in his future cartoons by dubbing ''Plane Crazy'', ''The Gallopin' Gaucho'' and the nearly completed ''
The Barn Dance ''The Barn Dance'' is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on March 15, 1929, as part of the '' Mickey Mouse'' film series; it was the first of twelve shorts released during that year. It was directed by Walt Disney with Ub Iwerks a ...
''. Mickey Mouse's popularity put the animated character into the ranks of the most popular screen personalities in the world. Disney's biggest competitor, Pat Sullivan with his ''
Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon characte ...
'', was eclipsed by Mickey's popularity and the studio closed in 1932. Merchandising based on Disney cartoons rescued a number of companies from bankruptcy during the depths of the Depression, and Disney took advantage of this popularity to move forward with further innovations in animation. In 1929, he launched a new series entitled the ''
Silly Symphonies ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...
'' which was based around music with no recurring characters. However, they did not become as popular as the Mickey Mouse cartoon series. In 1930, after a falling-out with Powers, Disney switched distributors to
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
. However, Ub Iwerks left Walt Disney after an offer from Powers to be in charge of his own studio. In 1932, Mickey Mouse had become an international sensation, but the ''Silly Symphonies'' had not. Columbia Pictures had backed out of its distribution of the series and Disney was lured to move the ''Silly Symphonies'' into
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
by a budget increase. Walt Disney then worked with the
Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
company to create the first full three-strip color cartoon, ''
Flowers and Trees ''Flowers and Trees'' is a 1932 '' Silly Symphonies'' cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932. It was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full- ...
''. Another great success, it became the first cartoon to win the Academy Award for the Best Animated Short Film. Shortly afterward, Disney negotiated an exclusive, but temporary deal with Technicolor so only he could use the three-strip process in animated films—no other studio was permitted to use it. However, he withheld making Mickey Mouse in color because he thought that Technicolor might boost the ''Silly Symphonies popularity. By 1932, Walt Disney had realized the success of animated films depended upon telling emotionally gripping stories that would grab the audience and not let go. This realization led to an important innovation around 1932–1933: a "story department", separate from the animators, with
storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and mark ...
s who would be dedicated to working on a "story development" phase of the production pipeline. In turn, Disney's continued emphasis on story development and characterization resulted in another hit in 1933: ''
Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house ...
'', which is seen as the first cartoon in which multiple characters displayed unique, individual personalities and is still considered to be the most successful animated short of all time, and also featured the hit song that became the anthem in fighting the Great Depression: "
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" is a popular song written by Frank Churchill with additional lyrics by Ann Ronell, which originally featured in the 1933 Disney cartoon ''Three Little Pigs (film), Three Little Pigs'', where it was sung by Fiddle ...
". In the Mickey Mouse series, he continued to add personality to his characters; this resulted in the creation of new characters such as
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...
with '' The Chain Gang'' in 1930, Goofy with ''
Mickey's Revue ''Mickey's Revue'' is a 1932 Walt Disney cartoon, directed by Wilfred Jackson, which features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow performing a song and dance show. The film was delivered to Columbia Pictures on M ...
'' in 1932 and Donald Duck in 1934 with ''
The Wise Little Hen ''The Wise Little Hen'' is a 1934 Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon, based on the fable '' The Little Red Hen''. The cartoon features the debut of Donald Duck, dancing to the Sailor's Hornpipe. Donald and his friend Peter Pig try to avoi ...
'' (under the ''Silly Symphony'' series). When Disney's contract with Technicolor expired, the Mickey Mouse series was moved into Technicolor starting with ''
The Band Concert ''The Band Concert'' is a 1935 American animated short film produced in 3-strip Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. It was the 73rd Mickey Mouse short film to be released, and the second of that year. ''The Ba ...
'' in 1935. In addition, Mickey was partially redesigned for Technicolor later that year. In 1937, Disney invented the
multiplane camera The multiplane camera is a motion-picture camera that was used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of par ...
, which gave an illusion of depth to the animated world. He first used this on the Academy Award-winning ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon ''
The Old Mill ''The Old Mill'' is a 1937 ''Silly Symphonies'' cartoon produced by Walt Disney Productions, directed by Wilfred Jackson, scored by Leigh Harline, and released theatrically to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on November 5, 1937. The film depicts ...
''. Much of Disney's work was heavily influenced by European stories and myths, and the work of illustrators such as Doré and Busch. Also in 1937, Disney changed distributors for the ''Silly Symphonies'' to
RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
, remaining with this distributor until the early 1950s, when they were re-issued and re-released by Disney's new distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution.


''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937)

In 1937, Walt Disney produced ''
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...
'', the first American feature-length animated musical fantasy film. This was the culmination of four years of effort by Disney studios. Walt Disney was convinced that short cartoons would not keep his studio profitable in the long run, so he took what was seen as an enormous gamble. The critics predicted that ''Snow White'' would result in financial ruin for the studio. They said that the colors would be too bright for the audience and they would get sick of the gags and leave. However, the critics were proven wrong. ''Snow White'' was a worldwide box office success, and was universally acclaimed as a landmark in the development of animation as a serious art form.


''Pinocchio'' and ''Fantasia'' (1940)

After the success of ''Snow White'', Disney went on to produce ''
Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel '' The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan ...
'', which was released in 1940. However, costing twice as much to make as ''Snow White'', ''Pinocchio'' was not a financial success, since
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
(which began in Europe in 1939) had cut off 40% of Disney's foreign release market . Although it was a moderate success in the United States, the domestic gross alone was not enough to make back its production budget. However, the film did receive very positive reviews and has made millions from subsequent re-releases. Later that year, Disney produced ''
Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
''. It originally started with the Mickey Mouse cartoon ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' in an attempt to recapture Mickey's popularity, which had sharply declined due to the popularity of Max Fleischer's ''Popeye'' and Disney's ''Donald Duck''. In the ''Sorcerer's Apprentice'', Mickey Mouse was redesigned by Fred Moore. This redesign of Mickey is still in use today. The short featured no dialogue, only music which was conducted by
Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...
. When the budget for the short grew very expensive, Stokowski suggested to Disney that it could be a feature film with other pieces of classical music matched to animation. Disney agreed and production started. ''Fantasia'' would also become the first commercial film to be released in stereophonic sound. However, like ''Pinocchio'', ''Fantasia'' was not a financial success. ''Fantasia'' was also the first Disney film not to be received well, receiving mixed reviews from the critics. It was looked down upon by music critics and audiences, who felt that Walt Disney was striving for something beyond his reach by trying to introduce mainstream animation to abstract art, classical music, and "elite" subjects. However, the film would be reevaluated in later years and considered a animated masterpiece.


''Dumbo'' and ''Bambi'' (1941–42)

In 1941, in order to compensate for the relative poor box office of ''Pinocchio'' and ''Fantasia'', Disney produced a low-budget feature film, ''
Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, ...
''. Just a few days after rough animation was complete on ''Dumbo'', the
Disney animators' strike The Disney animators' strike in 1941 reflected anger at inequities of pay and privileges at the non-unionized Walt Disney Productions. Walt Disney responded to the five-week strike by firing many of his animators, but was eventually pressured i ...
broke out. This was caused by the Screen Cartoonist's Guild (which had been formed in 1938), who severed many ties between Walt Disney and his staff, while encouraging many members of the Disney studio to leave and seek greener pastures. Later that year, ''Dumbo'' became a big success, the first for Disney since ''Snow White''. The critically acclaimed film brought in much-needed revenue and kept the studio afloat. A few months after ''Dumbo'' was released in 1941, the United States entered the war after the attack on
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...
. This led to the mobilization of all movie studios (including their cartoon divisions) to produce propaganda material to bolster public confidence and encourage support for the war effort. The war (along with the strike) shook Walt Disney's empire, as the US Army had seized Disney's studio as soon as the US entered World War II in December 1941. As a result, Disney put the feature films '' Alice in Wonderland'' (1951), ''
Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...
'' (1953), ''Qind in the Willows'' (1949), '' Song of the South'' (1946), ''
Mickey and the Beanstalk ''Fun and Fancy Free'' is a 1947 American animated musical fantasy package film produced by Walt Disney and released on September 27, 1947 by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the ninth Disney animated feature film and the fourth of the package films t ...
'' (1947) and '' Bongo'' (1947) on hold until the war was over. The only feature film that was allowed to continue production was ''
Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten ...
'', which was released in 1942. ''Bambi'' was groundbreaking in terms of animating animals realistically. However, due to the war, ''Bambi'' failed at the box-office and received mixed reviews from the critics. This failure was to be short-lived as it grossed a considerable amount of money in the 1947 re-release.


Wartime Era of Disney

Disney was now fully committed to the war effort and contributed by producing propaganda shorts and a feature film entitled ''
Victory Through Air Power ''Victory Through Air Power'' is a 1942 non-fiction book by Alexander P. de Seversky. It was made into a 1943 Walt Disney animated feature film of the same name. Theories De Seversky began his military life at a young age. After serving in ...
''. ''Victory Through Air Power'' did poorly at the box office and the studio lost around $500,000 as a result. The required propaganda cartoon shorts were less popular than Disney's regular shorts, and by the time the Army ended its stay at Walt Disney Studios with the end of the war in 1945, Disney struggled to restart his studio, and had a low amount of cash on hand. Further Disney feature films of the 1940s were modestly budgeted collections of animated short segments put together to make a feature film. These began with '' Saludos Amigos'' in 1942 and continued during the war with ''
The Three Caballeros ''The Three Caballeros'' is a 1944 American live-action/animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the United States on ...
'' in 1944 and after the war with ''
Make Mine Music ''Make Mine Music'' is a 1946 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the eighth Disney feature animated film, released on April 20, 1946. During World War II, much of Walt Disn ...
'' in 1946, ''
Fun and Fancy Free ''Fun and Fancy Free'' is a 1947 American animated musical fantasy package film produced by Walt Disney and released on September 27, 1947 by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the ninth Disney animated feature film and the fourth of the package films th ...
'' in 1947, ''
Melody Time ''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action/animated musical film produced by Walt Disney. The tenth Disney animated feature film, it was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular mu ...
'' in 1948, and '' The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'' in 1949. For the feature films ''Mickey and the Beanstalk'', ''Bongo'', and ''Wind in the Willows'', he condensed them into the package films ''Fun and Fancy Free'' and ''The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'' since Walt feared that the low-budget animation would not become profitable. The most ambitious Disney film of this period was the 1946 film '' Song of the South'', a musical film blending live-action and animation which drew criticism in later years for accusations of
racial stereotyping An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nation ...
.


The Silver Age of Disney (1950–67)


=Early 1950s

= In 1950, Disney produced ''
Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
''. ''Cinderella'' was an enormous success, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1950, and became Disney's most successful film since ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' and Disney's first single-narrative feature film to be entirely animated since ''Bambi'', as films in the interim involved some live-action. Disney's company started to diversify, producing live-action feature films beginning with ''
Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
'' (1950) and nature documentaries, the first of which being '' Seal Island'' (1948). As a result, Walt Disney was needed on several different units at one time and was spending less time on animation. In 1951, he released '' Alice in Wonderland'', a project he had been working on since the late 1930s, though it was shelved during the war. ''Alice in Wonderland'' was initially moderately successful and received mixed reviews from the critics. A few decades later, the film would be hailed as one of Disney's greatest classics, making millions in subsequent theatrical and home video releases. In 1953, he released ''
Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...
'', which, like ''Alice in Wonderland'', had been in production since the late 1930s/early 1940s and was shelved during the war. However unlike ''Alice'', ''Peter Pan'' was a big success both critically and financially on its first release. When Disney's contract with RKO expired at the end of 1953, instead of renewing it as usual, Disney was concerned about the instability of RKO (due to owner
Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
' increasingly erratic control of the studio) and started distributing films through the newly created Buena Vista Distribution subsidiary. This allowed a higher budget for shorts and features than the last few years of cartoons made for RKO dictated, which made it possible to make some of the cartoons in the new CinemaScope format. However, the budget per short was nowhere near as high as it had been in the 1940s as Disney had been focusing more on live action, television, and feature animation and less on short animation. In 1953, shortly after the switch from RKO to Buena Vista, Disney released its final Mickey Mouse short, ''
The Simple Things ''The Simple Things'' is a 1953 animated short subject, part of the ''Mickey Mouse'' series, produced by Walt Disney Productions. Released by RKO Radio Pictures on March 27, 1953, the short is notable as the 126th and final regular entry in the ...
''. From there, the studio produced fewer animated shorts by the year until the animated shorts division was eventually closed in 1956. After that, any future short cartoon work was done through the feature animation division until 1969. The last Disney animated short of the golden age of American animation, the Oscar-winning ''It's Tough to Be a Bird!'', was released in 1969.


=Late 1950s–60s

= In 1955, Disney created ''
Lady and the Tramp ''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. The 15th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and ...
'', the first animated film in CinemaScope. Upon building Disneyland in 1955, Walt Disney regained a huge amount of popularity among the public, and turned his focus to producing his most ambitious movie: ''
Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...
''. ''Sleeping Beauty'' was filmed in Super Technirama
70 mm film 70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...
and in stereophonic sound like ''Fantasia''. ''Sleeping Beauty'' also signaled a change in the style of drawing, with cartoony and angular characters; taking influence from
United Productions of America United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Picture ...
(UPA). Although ''Sleeping Beauty'' was the second-highest-grossing film of 1959 (just behind '' Ben-Hur''), the film went over budget, costing $6 million, and the film failed to make back its expenditure. The studio was in serious debt and had to cut the cost of animation. In 1960, this resulted in Disney switching to
xerography Xerography is a dry photocopying technique. Originally called electrophotography, it was renamed xerography—from the roots el, ξηρός, label=none ''xeros'', meaning "dry" and -γραφία ''-graphia'', meaning "writing"—to emphasize ...
, that replaced the traditional hand-inking. The first feature film that used Xerox cels was '' 101 Dalmatians'' in 1961 which was a box-office success. However, the Xerox resulted in films with a "sketchier" look and lacked the quality of the hand-inked films. According to
Floyd Norman Floyd E. Norman (born June 22, 1935) is an American animator, writer, and comic book artist. Over the course of his career, Norman has worked for various animation companies, among them Walt Disney Animation Studios, Hanna-Barbera Productions, ...
, who was working at Disney at the time, it felt like the end of an era. On December 15, 1966, Walt Disney died of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
. The last two films he was involved in were ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
'' (1967) and ''
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is a 1977 American animated musical anthology comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It is the 22nd Disney animated feature film and was first r ...
'' (1977), since one of the shorts ''
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' is a 1966 animated featurette based on the first two chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution on February ...
'' was released during his lifetime, and he was involved in the production of ''
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' is a 1968 American animated featurette based on the third, fifth, ninth, and tenth chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters from ''The House at Pooh Corner'' by A. A. Milne ...
''. The animated musical comedy feature, ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
'', and the live-action big-screen musical, ''
The Happiest Millionaire ''The Happiest Millionaire'' is a 1967 American musical film starring Fred MacMurray, based upon the true story of Philadelphia millionaire Anthony Drexel Biddle. The film, featuring music by the Sherman Brothers, was nominated for an Academy A ...
'', were released in 1967, a year after his death, and ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' was released two years later, while ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' was released in 1977. ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' also won the 1968
Academy Award for Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...
. After Walt Disney's death, the animation department did not fully recover until the late 1980s and early 1990s with the
Disney Renaissance The Disney Renaissance was the period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films that were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, much ...
.


Paramount Pictures


Fleischer Studios


Creation

One of Walt Disney's main competitors was
Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...
, the head of Fleischer Studios, which produced cartoons for Paramount Pictures. Fleischer Studios was a family-owned business, operated by Max Fleischer and his younger brother
Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Fleischer was the ...
, who supervised the production of the cartoons. The Fleischers scored successful hits with the '' Betty Boop'' cartoons and the ''
Popeye the Sailor Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
in 1934 required animation producers to remove risqué humor. The Fleischers, in particular, had to tone down the content of their Betty Boop cartoons, which waned in popularity afterwards. The Fleischers also had produced a number of ''
Color Classics ''Color Classics'' are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphonies''. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color fo ...
'' cartoons during the 1930s which attempted to emulate Walt Disney's use of color, but the series was not a success.


Feature-length films

In 1934, Max Fleischer became interested in producing an animated feature film shortly after Walt Disney's announcement of ''Snow White'', however Paramount vetoed the idea. In 1936, Fleischer Studios produced the first of three two-reel ''Popeye'' Technicolor features: ''
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor'' is a 1936 two-reel animated cartoon short subject film in the '' Popeye Color Feature'' series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 27, 1936 by Paramount Pictures. It was ...
'' in 1936, ''
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves'' is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the '' Popeye Color Feature'' series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 26, 1937 by Paramount Pictures. It was pro ...
'' in 1937, and '' Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'' in 1939. In 1938, after Disney's success with ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', Paramount had given the Fleischers permission to produce an animated feature film and Fleischer studio relocated itself from New York to
Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
in order to avoid organized unions, which became a threat to the studio after a five-month strike occurred among Fleischer Studio workers in late 1937. Here the Fleischers produced '' Gulliver's Travels'' which was released in 1939. It was a small success and encouraged the Fleischers to produce more.


Superman and the fall of the studio

In May 1941, the Fleischers gave Paramount full ownership of the studio as collateral to pay off their debts left from the loans they obtained from the studio to make unsuccessful cartoons like ''Stone Age'', ''Gabby'', and ''Color Classics''. However, they still maintained their positions as heads of their studio's production. Under Paramount rule, the Fleischers brought Popeye into the Navy and contributed to the war effort, and would gain more success by beginning a series of spectacular ''Superman'' cartoons (the first of which was nominated for an Oscar) that have become legendary in themselves. Despite the success Superman gave the studio, a major blow to the studio would occur when the married Dave started having an adulterous affair with the Miami secretary. This led to many disputes between the Fleischer Brothers until Max and Dave were no longer speaking to each other. In 1941, they released ''
Mister Bug Goes to Town ''Mr. Bug Goes to Town'' (also known as ''Hoppity Goes to Town'' and ''Bugville'') is a 1941 American animated Technicolor feature film produced by Fleischer Studios, previewed by Paramount Pictures on December 5, 1941, and released in California ...
'', unfortunately it was released a few days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, which caused ''Mister Bug'' to fail at the box-office. Shortly after the film's poor box office, Dave Fleischer, still maintaining his position as co-chief of his studio, had left Fleischer Studios to run Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems cartoons. Due to this, Paramount Pictures had expelled Dave and Max Fleischer from their positions as the head of the cartoon studio.


Famous Studios


Conversion

Paramount took over the Fleischer studio completely and brought it under the fold of their own studio, renaming it Famous Studios and continuing the work that the Fleischers began.
Isadore Sparber Isadore Sparber (March 7, 1906 - August 29, 1958) was an American storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard ar ...
, Seymour Kneitel and Dan Gordon were promoted to directors (Disney veteran
Bill Tytla Volodymyr Peter "Bill" Tytla (October 25, 1904 - December 30, 1968) was a Ukrainian-American animator known for his work in Walt Disney Animation Studios, Paramount's Famous Studios, and Terrytoons. In his Disney career, Tytla is particularly ...
directed shorts in the mid- to late 1940s after Gordon left the studio), while Sam Buchwald was promoted to executive producer. Paramount also discontinued the expensive ''Superman'' cartoons in 1943, in favor of adapting ''
Little Lulu ''Little Lulu'' is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding ...
'' to theaters. Famous Studios continued to release Popeye shorts, which shifted to color in 1943 as well as creating '' Noveltoons'', an anthology short series similar to Fleischer's ''
Color Classics ''Color Classics'' are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphonies''. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color fo ...
''. Noveltoons introduced many notable characters such as ''Blackie the Lamb'', ''Wolfie'' (Blackie's main rival), ''
Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio. The ...
'' (adapted from a children's story book), '' Little Audrey'' (a character similar to and replacing Little Lulu), '' Herman and Katnip'' (A cat and mouse duel similar to ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
''), '' Baby Huey'' (a large though dim-witted baby duck) and many other lesser known characters. Famous also revived ''
Screen Songs ''Screen Songs'', formerly known as KoKo Song Car-Tunes, are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 1945, n ...
'', another series inherited from Fleischer's. As early as 1945, Famous continued the series all the way up to 1951, when they lost the right of the name and the “bouncing ball” term. The series was renamed '' Kartunes'' and would continue for two extra years, where it would finally be discontinued. In 1951, Sam Buchwald died from a heart attack, leaving Sparber and Kneitel as the lead producers and directors.
Dave Tendlar David Benjamin Tendlar (August 8, 1909 – September 9, 1993) was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. Tendlar was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 8, 1909. He joined Fleische ...
was promoted to director in 1953.


Decline and closure

The departure of the Fleischers had an immediate effect on the studio: the Paramount cartoons of the war years continued to be entertaining and popular and still retained most of the Fleischer style and gloss, however animation fans and historians would note the studio's diverging tone after the end of the war, as the style was criticized for its highly formulaic story telling, lack of artistic ambition, violence, and its overall appeal towards children rather than both kids and adults. By the mid-1950s, Famous Studios was still releasing shorts but with tighter budgets. This was a standard industry practice at the time, since other animation studios were also releasing short films with tighter budgets due to the popularity of television. At the same time, the studio had really drastic changes. Paramount renamed the studio to Paramount Cartoon Studios, as well as discontinuing the Popeye shorts by 1957. ''
Spooky Swabs ''Spooky Swabs'' is a ''Popeye'' theatrical cartoon short, starring Jack Mercer as Popeye, Mae Questel as Olive Oyl and Mercer, Jackson Beck, Sid Raymond and Gilbert Mack as the ghosts. Produced by Paramount Cartoon Studios (formerly Famous St ...
'' (directed by Sparber, who died the next year) was the last Popeye short in theaters. Budgets for the shorts were so tight by the late 1950s, that the studio has to use
limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...
techniques comparable to television animation at the time. In the 1960s, Paramount continue to release thatrical cartoons, as well as teaming up with King Features Syndicate TV to co-produce ''
Popeye the Sailor Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Howard Post Howard "Howie" Post (November 2, 1926 – May 21, 2010) Alternate source: "'Dropouts' cartoonist Howard Post dies in NJ at 83", Associated Press via ''The Washington Post'', May 24, 2010 was an American animator, cartoonist, and comic strip and ...
,
James Culhane James H. "Shamus" Culhane (November 12, 1908 – February 2, 1996) was an American animator, film director, and film producer. He is best known for his work in the Golden age of American animation. Career Shamus Culhane worked for a number o ...
and
Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...
were hired to directed shorts late in the studio's lifespan. Cartoons produced during this period were ''Swifty and Shorty'', ''Honey Halfwitch'', ''Comic Kings'', the ''
Modern Madcaps ''Modern Madcaps'' is an animated film series produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios animation division between the years 1958 and 1967. The series featured assorted characters that later became part of the Harvey Comics Harvey Comic ...
'' series and ''Fractured Fables'', all of which failed to revitalize the studio following the continious budget restraints. In the winter of 1968, Paramount's new owners at the time,
Gulf+Western Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. Originally, the company focused on manufacturing and resource extraction. Beginning in 1966, and continuing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the company ...
, began the process to shutdown the cartoon studio. The shutdown was completed by December.


Warner Bros.


Harman-Ising era

In 1929, former Disney animators Hugh Harman and
Rudolf Ising Rudolf Carl Ising (August 7, 1903 – July 18, 1992) was an American animator best known for collaborating with Hugh Harman to establish the Warner Bros. and MGM Cartoon studios during the early years of the golden age of American animation. I ...
made a cartoon entitled '' Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid'', and tried to sell it to a distributor in 1930.
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
who had previously tried an unsuccessful attempt to set up a cartoon studio in New York in order to compete with Disney, agreed to distribute the series. Under producer Leon Schlesinger's guide Harman and Ising created '' Looney Tunes'' (the title being variation on Disney's award-winning ''Silly Symphonies'') starring their character '' Bosko''. A second Harman-Ising series, '' Merrie Melodies'', followed in 1931. Both series showed the strong influence of the early Disney movies.


Harman & Ising break away

After disputes over the money, Harman-Ising parted company with Schlesinger (who rejected their demands for raised budgets) in 1933, taking ''Bosko'' with them to work with
Metro Goldwyn Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
. Schlesinger began his own cartoon operation under the new name
Leon Schlesinger Productions Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...
, hiring Harman-Ising animator Friz Freleng and several others to run the studio. Animator Tom Palmer created a Bosko clone known as ''
Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) *Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) *Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Amer ...
'' and answered to Walt Disney's use of color in the ''Silly Symphonies'' cartoons in 1934, and began making all future ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons in color. However, since Walt Disney had an exclusive deal with Technicolor, Schlesinger was forced to use Cinecolor and Two Strip Technicolor until 1935 when Disney's contract with Technicolor had expired. In 1935, Schlesinger fired Tom Palmer and Buddy was retired.


The creation of new stars

In a 1935 ''Merrie Melodie'' directed by Friz Freleng entitled ''
I Haven't Got a Hat ''I Haven't Got a Hat'' is a 1935 animated short film, directed by Isadore Freleng for Leon Schlesinger Productions as part of the ''Merrie Melodies'' series. Released on March 2, 1935, the short is notable for featuring the first appearance of sev ...
'' was the first screen appearance of '' Porky Pig''. Also in 1935, Schlesinger hired a new animation director who proceeded to revitalize the studio:
Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...
. Schlesinger put Avery in charge of the low-budget Looney Tunes in a low run-down old building the animators named ''Termite Terrace''. Under Avery, Porky Pig would replace the Buddy series and become the first Warner Bros. cartoon character to achieve star power. Also at ''Termite Terrace'' animator Bob Clampett redesigned Porky from a fat, chubby pig to a more cute and childlike character. Unlike the other cartoon producers at the time, Avery had no intention of competing with Walt Disney, but instead brought a new wacky, zany style of animation to the studio that would increase the Warner Bros. cartoons' popularity in the crowded marketplace. This was firmly established in 1937 when Tex Avery directed ''
Porky's Duck Hunt ''Porky's Duck Hunt'' is a 1937 Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The cartoon was released on April 17, 1937, and stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, the latter making what is considered his first official appearance. Pl ...
''. During production of the short, lead animator Bob Clampett elaborated the exit of the Duck character by having him jump up and down on his head, flip around and holler off into the sunset. This created the character of ''
Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...
''. After Daffy was created, he would add even more success to Warner Bros. cartoons and replaced Porky Pig as the studio's most popular animated character, and Bob Clampett took over ''Termite Terrace'', while Tex Avery took over the ''Merrie Melodies'' department. The 1940 Academy Award-nominated cartoon ''
A Wild Hare ''A Wild Hare'' is a 1940 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short subject features Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, the latter making what is considered his first official appearance.Adamson, Joe (1990). ''Bugs Bunny: ...
'' (directed by Avery) marked ''
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...
s official debut, as well as his first pairing with '' Elmer Fudd'' (Created by Chuck Jones that year). Bugs quickly replaced Daffy as the studio's top star. By 1942, Bugs had become the most popular cartoon character. Because of the success of Bugs, Daffy and Porky, the Schlesinger studio now had risen to new heights, and Bugs quickly became the star of the color ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons, which had previously been used for one-shot character appearances. By 1942, Warners' shorts had now surpassed Disney's in sales and popularity. Frank Tashlin also worked with Avery in the Merrie Melodies department. He began at Warners in 1933 as an animator but was fired and joined Iwerks in 1934. Tashlin returned to Warners in 1936, taking over direction of Merrie Melodies department. He returned in 1943 directing Porky and Daffy cartoons. He left in late 1944 to direct live-action films.


Schlesinger sells the studio

Avery left Warner Bros. in 1941 and went to work at MGM. Avery created ''
Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro- ...
'' in 1943 and many other characters during his 12-year career at MGM. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in August 1944.
Edward Selzer Edward Selzer (January 12, 1893 – February 22, 1970) was an American film producer and publicist who served as head of Warner Bros. Cartoons from 1944 to 1958. He served in the US Navy and fought as a Golden Gloves boxer. He won a boxing exhibi ...
was in turn named the new producer. By this time, Warner cartoons' top directors of the 1940s were Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and recently Robert McKimson, who took over Frank Tashlin’s unit after he left the studio. Their cartoons are now considered classics of the medium. They directed some of the most beloved animated shorts of all time, including (for Clampett) ''
Porky in Wackyland ''Porky in Wackyland'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' animated short film, directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on September 24, 1938, and stars Porky Pig venturing out to find the last do-do bird, which he finds in Wackyland ...
'', ''
Wabbit Twouble ''Wabbit Twouble'' ("Rabbit Trouble") is a ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions and released on December 20, 1941 by Warner Bros. Pictures. This is the first of severa ...
'', ''
A Corny Concerto ''A Corny Concerto'' is a 1943 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on September 25, 1943, and stars Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck. They perform a parody of Walt Disney's ''Silly Sy ...
'', ''
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery'' is a 1946 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' theatrical cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon was released on July 20, 1946, and stars Daffy Duck. The short is Clampett's penultimate Warner cartoon, produced s ...
'', ''
The Big Snooze ''The Big Snooze'' is a 1946 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon planned by Bob Clampett and was written by him, but was ultimately completed by Arthur Davis, both being uncredited as directors. Its title was inspired by the 1939 book ''The B ...
'', (for Freleng) ''
You Ought to Be in Pictures ''You Ought to Be in Pictures'' is a 1940 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' short film directed by Friz Freleng. The cartoon was released on May 18, 1940, and stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. The film combined live-action and animation, and featu ...
'', ''
Rhapsody in Rivets ''Rhapsody in Rivets'' is a 1941 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on December 6, 1941. Plot At a busy urban construction site in a world of anthropomorphic animals, an appreciative crowd o ...
'', ''
Little Red Riding Rabbit ''Little Red Riding Rabbit'' is a 1944 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is a sendup of the Little Red Riding Hood story, and is the first time in which Mel Blanc receives a voice c ...
'', ''
Birds Anonymous ''Birds Anonymous'' is a 1957 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' animated short, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. The short was released on August 10, 1957, and stars Tweety and Sylvester. Plot The cartoon starts with T ...
'', ''
Knighty Knight Bugs ''Knighty Knight Bugs'' is a 1958 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, The short was released on August 23, 1958, and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. ''Knighty Knight Bugs'' is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win ...
'', (for Jones) ''
Rabbit Fire ''Rabbit Fire'' is a 1951 ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd. Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, the cartoon is the first in Jones' "hunting trilogy"—the other two cartoons following it ...
'', ''
Duck Amuck ''Duck Amuck'' is an American animated surreal comedy short film directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on January 17, 1953 as part of the ''Merrie Melodies'' series, and stars Daffy Duck. In the cartoon, D ...
'', ''
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century ''Duck Dodgers in the th Century'' (spoken as "twenty-fourth-and-a-half") is a 1953 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The cartoon was released on July 25, 1953, and stars Daffy Duck as space hero Duck Dodgers, ...
'', ''
One Froggy Evening ''One Froggy Evening'' is a 1955 American Technicolor animated musical short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn. The short, partly inspired by a 1944 Cary Grant film entitled '' On ...
'', ''
What's Opera, Doc? ''What's Opera, Doc?'' is a 1957 American Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on July 6, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The story features Elmer cha ...
'', (for McKimson) ''
Walky Talky Hawky ''Walky Talky Hawky'' is a 1946 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' theatrical short directed by Robert McKimson. The cartoon was released on August 31, 1946, and features Henery Hawk and Foghorn Leghorn. This is the first appearance of both Foghorn ...
'', ''
Hillbilly Hare ''Hillbilly Hare'' is a 1950 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on August 12, 1950 and stars Bugs Bunny. Plot Bugs Bunny is vacationing in the Ozarks and stumbles into the territory ...
'', ''
Devil May Hare ''Devil May Hare'' is a 1954 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on June 19, 1954, and stars Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil making his debut. Plot Bugs is spring cleaning until he is int ...
'', '' The Hole Idea'' and '' Stupor Duck''. Besides McKimson being promoted to director in the mid-1940s, Arthur Davis took over after Clampett in mid-1945, after being was fired by Selzer. Clampett went to work on ''
Beany and Cecil ''Beany and Cecil'' is a 1962 animated television series created by Bob Clampett for the American Broadcasting Company. The cartoon was based on the television puppet show '' Time for Beany'', which Clampett produced for Paramount Pictures compan ...
''. Many well known recurring characters were created by Jones, Freleng, McKimson and Clampett, and most instantly became popular at this time. This included ''
Tweety Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for t ...
'' (1942), '' Pepé Le Pew'' (1945), '' Sylvester the Cat'' (1945), ''
Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...
'' (1945), ''
Foghorn Leghorn Foghorn Leghorn is a cartoon rooster who appears in ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons and films from Warner Bros. Animation. He was created by Robert McKimson, and starred in 29 cartoons from 1946 to 1964 in the golden age of A ...
'' (1946), ''
Marvin the Martian Marvin the Martian is an extraterrestrial character from Warner Bros.' '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons. He frequently appears as a villain in cartoons and video games, and wears a helmet and skirt. The character has been voic ...
'' (1948), ''
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, ...
'' (1949), '' Granny'' (1950), ''
Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fas ...
'' (1953), '' The Tasmanian Devil (Taz)'' (1954), and among others. In 1948, Warners could no longer force theaters to buy their movies and shorts together as packages, due to the
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. ''United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.'', 334 U.S. 131 (1948) (also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, the Paramount Case, or the Paramount Decision), was a landmark United States Supreme Court antitrust case that decided the f ...
anti-trust case that year. It resulted to shorts of the early 1960s to have tighter budgets. Davis' unit was shut down in 1949 by Warners due to budget issues, causing him to move to Freleng's unit to become one of his key animators. Edward Selzer in 1958, retired, leading to production manager John W. Burton to take his place.
David DePatie David Hudson DePatie (December 24, 1929 – September 23, 2021) was an American film and television producer who was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio and the longest-living until his death. He also formed ...
assumed producer in 1960 after Burton left the studio.


DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts

After more than two decades at the top, Warner Bros. shut down the original "Termite Terrace" studio in 1963 and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises assumed production of the shorts, licensed by Warner Bros. Most of the series’ main cast of characters were retired from theaters at this time, including Warners most popular star, Bugs Bunny. Daffy Duck, however, would still appear in theatrical cartoons, mostly paired with Speedy Gonzales. Beside them, Porky Pig, Granny, Sylvester and the Goofy Gophers appeared in this era, but most appeared in just one or more shorts. 14 ''Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner'' cartoons were also commissioned, with the last 11 being outsourced to
Format Films Format Films was a television animation studio which was founded by Herbert Klynn in 1959 with Jules Engel as vice president, Bob McIntosh and Joseph Mugnaini, all of whom were animators. It was most active during the 1960s, producing episodes o ...
, under direction of former Chuck Jones animator
Rudy Larriva Rudolph Larriva (February 12, 1916 – February 19, 2010) was an American animator and director from the 1940s to the 1980s. Early life Born in El Paso, Texas, which his parents moved out at the age of two, he attended several grammar schoo ...
. These cartoons were not well received, and were criticized for its lack of spirit and charm to that of Jones’ shorts. After DePatie-Freleng ceased production of ''Looney Tunes'' in 1967, Bill Hendricks was put in charge of production of the newly renamed
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was a short-lived American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969. History Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack L. Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures for $32 million in November 19 ...
animation studio, and hired veterans such as Alex Lovy and
LaVerne Harding Emily Laverne Harding (October 10, 1905 – September 25, 1984) was an American animator and cartoonist. Early life Harding was born on October 10th, 1905 to Christians John B. Harding and Pearle W. Harding in Shreveport, Louisiana. Her fam ...
from the Walter Lantz studio, Volus Jones and Ed Solomon from Disney, Jaime Diaz who later worked on ''
The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda who grant him ...
'' as director, and David Hanan, who previously worked on ''
Roger Ramjet ''Roger Ramjet'' is a 1965–1969 American animated television series, starring Roger Ramjet and the American Eagle Squadron. The show was known for its simple animation, frenetic pace, and frequent references to pop culture which appealed to a ...
''. Hendricks brought only three of the original ''Looney Tunes'' veterans to the studio; Ted Bonniscken, Norman McCabe and Bob Givens. The studio's one-shot cartoons from this era were critically panned and are widely considered to be the worst in the studio's history: '' Cool Cat'', ''
Merlin the Magic Mouse Merlin the Magic Mouse is an animated cartoon mouse, who starred in five Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes'' shorts late in the series, from 1967 to 1969. The first cartoon was '' Merlin the Magic Mouse'', directed by Alex Lovy. In 1967, Jack L. War ...
'', '' Chimp and Zee'' and '' Norman Normal'', despite the later gaining a large cult following, were said to be witless, crudely animated as well as having poor writing and design because of the extremely low budgets the crew had to work with by this time. Alex Lovy left the studio in 1968 and Robert McKimson took over. McKimson mostly focused on the recurring characters Alex Lovy had created and two of his own creation, ''Bunny and Claude''. The last of the original ''Looney Tunes'' shorts produced was ''Bugged by a Bee'' and the last ''Merrie Melodies'' short was ''Injun Trouble'', which shares its name with another ''Looney Tunes'' short from 1938. The Warner Bros.-Seven Arts studio finally shut down in 1969. A total of 1,039 Looney Tunes shorts had been created. A decade later, after the success of the film, ''
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie'' is a 1979 American animated comedy package film directed by Chuck Jones, consisting of a compilation of classic '' Looney Tunes/ Merrie Melodies'' shorts and newly animated bridging sequences hosted by Bugs ...
'', which consisted predominantly of footage from the classic shorts by Jones, a new in-house studio to produce original animation opened its doors in 1980 named
Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...
, which exists to this day.


Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer


Ub Iwerks

At first, Mickey Mouse was drawn by Walt Disney's long-time partner and friend
Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...
, who was also a technical innovator in cartoons, and drew an average of 600 drawings for Disney on a daily basis; Disney was responsible for the ideas in the cartoons, and Iwerks was responsible for bringing them to life. However, Iwerks left the Disney studio in 1930 to form his own company, which was financially backed by Celebrity Pictures owner Pat Powers. After his departure, Disney eventually found a number of different animators to replace Iwerks. Iwerks would produce three cartoon series during the 1930s: ''
Flip the Frog Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933. The series had many recurring char ...
'' and ''
Willie Whopper Willie Whopper is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. The Whopper series was the second from the Iwerks Studio to be produced by Pat Powers and distributed through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 14 shorts were produced in ...
'' for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
, and the ''
ComiColor Cartoons The ComiColor Cartoon series is a series of 25 animated short subjects produced by Ub Iwerks from 1933 to 1936. The series was the last produced by Iwerks Studio; after losing distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, the Iwerks studio's senior co ...
'' for Pat Powers' Celebrity Productions. However, none of these cartoons could come close to matching the success of Disney or Fleischer cartoons, and in 1933, MGM, Iwerks' cartoon distributor since 1930, ended distribution of his cartoons in favor of distributing Harman and Ising cartoons, and Iwerks left after his contract expired in 1934. After his stay with MGM, Iwerks' cartoons were distributed by Celebrity Pictures, and Iwerks would answer to Disney's use of Technicolor and create the Comicolor series, which aired cartoons in two-strip Cinecolor. However, by 1936, the Iwerks Studio began to experience financial setbacks and closed after Pat Powers withdrew financial aid to the studio. After animating at
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
creating
Gabby Goat The '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of animated shorts released by Warner Bros. feature a range of characters which are listed and briefly detailed here. Major characters from the franchise include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer ...
and going to Screen Gems which was making cartoons for
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
at the time, Iwerks returned to Disney in 1940, where he worked as the head of the "
special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...
development" division until his death in 1971.


Harman and Ising

After MGM dropped Iwerks, they hired Harman and Ising away from Leon Schlesinger and
Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
and appointed them heads of the studio. They began producing ''Bosko'' and ''
Happy Harmonies ''Happy Harmonies'' is the name of a series of thirty-seven animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938. Produced in Technicolor, these cartoons were very similar to Wal ...
'' cartoons which were emulative of Disney's ''
Silly Symphonies ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...
''. However they failed to make a success in the theaters, and in 1937 the ''Bosko'' and ''Happy Harmonies'' series were discontinued and MGM replaced Harman and Ising with
Fred Quimby Frederick Clinton Quimby (July 31, 1886 – September 16, 1965) was an American animation producer and journalist best known for producing the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon series, for which he won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Films ...
. After Quimby took over, he kept a number of Harman and Ising's staff and scouted other animation studios for talent (including Warner director Friz Freleng for a short period of time). He created an animated adaptation of the comic book series ''
The Katzenjammer Kids ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949).The Captain & The Kids''. ''The Captain & The Kids'' series was unsuccessful. In 1939, however, Quimby gained success after rehiring Harman & Ising. After returning to MGM, Ising created MGM's first successful animated star named ''
Barney Bear ''Barney Bear'' is an American series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a sluggish, sleepy bear who often is in pursuit of nothing but ...
''. Harman directed his masterpiece '' Peace on Earth'' in the meantime. Despite this, both men would leave MGM in 1941 and 1943 respectively, as Harman would develop his own studio with for Disney animator
Mel Shaw Mel Shaw (born Melvin Schwartzman; December 19, 1914 – November 22, 2012) was an American animator, design artist, writer, and artist. Shaw was involved in the animation, story design, and visual development of numerous Disney animated films, ...
, while Ising quit to join the U.S. Army.


Barney Bear after Ising's departure

After Ising left MGM, his unit was left vacant until it was picked up again by animator George Gordon. He continued the '' Barney Bear '' series as well as directing other shorts such as The Storks Holiday, and a few other shorts featuring an unnamed donkey. Gordon was left uncredited for direction for most of the cartoons he directed. He later left the studio in 1943, leaving the unit vacant once again. In late 1946, animators
Michael Lah Michael Richard Lah (September 1, 1912 – October 13, 1995) was an American animator of Slovene origin. He is best remembered for his work at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, primarily as a member of Tex Avery's animation unit. He first ...
and
Preston Blair Preston Erwin Blair (October 24, 1908 – April 19, 1995) was an American character animator, best remembered for his work at Walt Disney Productions and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. A native of Redlands, California, Blair began his a ...
teamed up to exclusively direct more '' Barney Bear ''cartoons. Lah himself claimed to have finished Gordon's ''The Unwelcome Guest'', which was unfinished and also featured Barney. Both were able to give the bear a new life, as the tone of these cartoons were more familiar to the comedic slapstick from other cartoons from Hanna-Barbera and Tex Avery. In just three more years, Lah and Blair's directorial careers were abruptly halted as MGM dissolved the third unit, only leaving Hanna-Barbera and Avery's units left. By the 1950s, Tex Avery briefly departed MGM due to being overworked. Around the same time, Dick Lundy, who recently left Walter Lantz Production, was hired by MGM to fill the gap between Avery's departure. Barney Bear was once again commissioned for more cartoons, however, unlike the previous directors, Lundy changed Barney to speak full English, provided by
Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...
. The manic style of direction from Avery's shorts is also noticeable in these shorts, as he was using Avery's unit. Upon late 1951, Avery returned to the studio, however, Lundy continued to direct Barney Bear shorts with his unit until 1954, where MGM finally canceled the Barney cartoons, as the studios would not direct any more cartoons featuring him.


Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry

In 1939,
William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the anim ...
and Joseph Barbera started a partnership that would last for more than six decades until Hanna's death in 2001. The duo's first cartoon together was '' Puss Gets the Boot'' (1940), featuring an unnamed mouse's attempts to outwit a housecat named Jasper. Though released without fanfare, the short was financially and critically successful, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) of 1940. On the strength of the Oscar nomination and public demand, Hanna and Barbera set themselves to producing a long-running series of cat-and-mouse cartoons, soon christening the characters ''
Tom & Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
''. ''Puss Gets the Boot'' did not win the 1940 Academy Award for Best Cartoon, but another MGM cartoon, Rudolf Ising's ''
The Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...
'' did, making ''
MGM cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to ac ...
'' the first studio to wrestle the Cartoon Academy Award away from Walt Disney. After appearing in '' Puss Gets the Boot'', Tom and Jerry quickly became the stars of MGM cartoons. With Hanna-Barbera under their belts, ''
MGM cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to ac ...
'' was finally able to compete with Walt Disney in the field of animated cartoons. The shorts were successful at the box office, many licensed products (comic books, toys, etc.) were released to the market, and the series would earn twelve more Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons) nominations, with seven of the ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts going on to win the Academy Award: ''
The Yankee Doodle Mouse ''The Yankee Doodle Mouse'' is a 1943 American one-reel animated cartoon in Technicolor. It is the eleventh ''Tom and Jerry'' short produced by Fred Quimby, and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott ...
'' (1943), '' Mouse Trouble'' (1944), ''
Quiet Please! This is a complete list of the 164 shorts in the ''Tom and Jerry'' series produced and released between 1940 and 2014. Of these, 162 are theatrical shorts, one is a made-for-TV short, and one is a 2-minute sketch shown as part of a telethon. ...
'' (1945), ''
The Cat Concerto ''The Cat Concerto'' is a 1947 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 29th ''Tom and Jerry'' short, released to theatres on April 26, 1947. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical sup ...
'' (1946), ''
The Little Orphan ''The Little Orphan'' is a 1949 American one-reel animated cartoon and the 40th ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon, released in theaters on April 30, 1949 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Ba ...
'' (1948), '' The Two Mouseketeers'' (1951), and ''
Johann Mouse ''Johann Mouse'' is a 1953 American one-reel animated cartoon and the 75th ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon, released in theaters on March 21, 1953 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The short is directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, composed by Scott Brad ...
'' (1952). ''Tom and Jerry'' was eventually tied with '' Disney's Silly Symphonies'' as the most-awarded theatrical cartoon series. No other character-based theatrical animated series has won more awards, nor has any other series featuring the same characters. In addition to classical Tom and Jerry shorts, Hanna and Barbera also produced/directed for ''
MGM cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to ac ...
'' half a dozen '' one-shot theatrical shorts'' besides it, including ''
Gallopin' Gals ''Gallopin' Gals'' is a 1940 American one-reel Technicolor animated film directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It belonged to the screwball comedy genre. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in October 26 ...
'' (1940), ''
Officer Pooch ''Officer Pooch'' is a 1941 animated short film produced by Fred Quimby, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cartoon is mostly done in pantomime. Plot A canine officer (modeled after the Keyst ...
'' (1941), ''
War Dogs Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military ...
'' (1943) and ''
Good Will to Men ''Peace on Earth'' is a one-reel 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation, cartoon short subject, short directed by Hugh Harman, about a post-apocalyptic world populated only by animals, as it is claimed in the short that human beings have gone extinc ...
'' (a remake of Peace on Earth, 1955). Fred Quimby retired in 1955, with Hanna and Barbera replacing him in charge of the remaining MGM cartoons (including the last seven Tex Avery's '' Droopy episodes'') until 1958, when the studio shut down, ending all the animation productions, the duo started the '' Hanna-Barbera'' animated television series company afterwards. Key to the successes of ''Tom and Jerry'' and other MGM cartoons was the work of Scott Bradley, who scored virtually all of the cartoons for the studio from 1934 to 1958. Bradley's scores made use of both classical and jazz sensibilities. In addition, he often used songs from the scores of MGM's feature films, the most frequent of them being "The Trolley Song" from ''
Meet Me in St. Louis ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' is a 1944 American Christmas film, Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith famil ...
'' (1944) and "Sing Before Breakfast" from '' Broadway Melody of 1936''.


Tex Avery's Cartoons

Meanwhile,
Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...
came to ''
MGM cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to ac ...
'' in 1941 and revitalized their cartoon studio with the same spark that had infused the Warner animators. Tex Avery's wild surreal masterpieces of his MGM studio days set new standards for "adult" entertainment in Code-era cartoons. Tex Avery did not like to use recurring characters but did stay faithful to a character throughout his career at MGM with ''
Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro- ...
'', who was created in ''
Dumb-Hounded ''Dumb-Hounded'' is a 1943 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery and written by Rich Hogan. It was the first cartoon to feature Droopy. The film was released on March 20, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Plot A wolf escapes from Swing Sw ...
'' in 1943. Tex also created ''
Screwy Squirrel Screwy Squirrel (also known as Screwball Squirrel) is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic squirrel created by Tex Avery for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is generally considered the wackiest and outright most antagonistic of the screwball c ...
'' in 1944, but Tex was less fond of him and discontinued the series after five cartoons. He also created the inspired
Of Mice and Men ''Of Mice and Men'' is a novella written by John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job o ...
duo ''
George and Junior ''George and Junior'' are cartoon characters, two anthropomorphic bears created by Tex Avery for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. All of the George and Junior shorts were directed by Tex Avery in the 1940s. They appeared in four cartoons: '' Henpecked Hoboes ...
'' in 1946, but only four cartoons were produced.


The studios latter years

In 1953, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer closed down the Tex Avery unit. Avery also left the studio at the time, with MGM promoting Micheal Lah to take Avery's position to direct cartoons once again. Fred Quimby retired in 1955, with Hanna and Barbera replacing him in charge of the remaining MGM cartoons (including the last seven of Tex Avery's ''
Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro- ...
'' cartoons) until 1958, when the studio shut down the H-B unit, ending all the animation productions. The duo would eventually develop their own studio, Hanna-Barbera in 1957, inheriting most of the staff in the process.


Columbia Pictures


Charles Mintz and Screen Gems

After Charles Mintz was fired from Paramount & Universal he was still in charge of his own cartoon operation producing '' Krazy Kat'' cartoons for Columbia Pictures. After the failure of ''
Toby the Pup Toby the Pup is an animated cartoon character created by animators Sid Marcus, Dick Huemer, and Art Davis. He starred in a series of early sound shorts produced by Charles B. Mintz for RKO Radio Pictures. The series lasted from 1930 to 1931. Twel ...
'', which RKO Pictures discontinued in favor of
Van Beuren Studios The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936. History In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...
, He created a new series featuring a boy named ''
Scrappy Scrappy is a cartoon character created by Dick Huemer for Charles Mintz's Screen Gems Studio (distributed by Columbia Pictures). A little round-headed boy, Scrappy often found himself involved in off-beat neighborhood adventures. Usually paired ...
'', created by
Dick Huemer Richard Huemer (January 2, 1898 – November 30, 1979) was an American animator in the Golden Age of American animation, Golden Age of Animation. Career While as an artist-illustrator living in the Bronx, New York City, Huemer first began his ...
in 1931. Scrappy was a big break for Mintz and was also his most successful creation, but his studio would suffer irreparable damage after Dick Huemer was fired from the Mintz Studio in 1933. In 1934, Mintz, like most other animation studios at the time, also attempted to answer Disney's use of Technicolor, and began making color cartoons through the ''
Color Rhapsodies ''Color Rhapsody'' is a series of usually one-shot animated cartoon shorts produced by Charles Mintz's studio Screen Gems for Columbia Pictures. They were launched in 1934, following the phenomenal success of Walt Disney's Technicolor ''Silly Symp ...
'' series; the series was originally in either Cinecolor or two-strip Technicolor, but moved to three-strip Technicolor after Disney's contract with Technicolor expired in 1935. However, the series failed to garner attention, and by 1939, Mintz was largely indebted to Columbia Pictures. As a result, Mintz sold his studio to Columbia. Columbia renamed the studio, which Mintz still managed, Screen Gems; Mintz died the following year. Frank Tashlin and
John Hubley John Kirkham Hubley (May 21, 1914 – February 21, 1977) was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer known for his work with the United Productions of America (UPA) and his own independent studio, Storyboard, Inc. (late ...
, were Disney animators who left during the strike, and obtained jobs at Screen Gems, where Tashlin served as head producer while Hubley acted as director for studio.
Tashlin helped Screen Gems gain more success by introducing '' The Fox and the Crow (animated characters), The Fox and the Crow'', Screen Gems' biggest stars. Tashlin maintained his position until Columbia Pictures released him from the studio in favor of Dave Fleischer in 1942. The Screen Gems cartoons were only moderately successful and never gained the artistic talent of Disney, Warner Bros. or MGM. Columbia Pictures closed the studio in 1949 and started looking for a new cartoon production company.


United Productions of America

In 1941, John Hubley left Screen Gems and formed a studio with former Disney animators Stephen Bosustow, David Hilberman, and Zachary Schwartz, who—like Hubley—had left Walt's nest during the animator's strike. The studio Hubley founded was a newer, smaller animation studio that focused on pursuing Hubley's own vision of trying out newer, more abstract and experimental styles of animation. Bosustow, Hilberman, and Schwartz named the new studio as Industrial Film and Poster Service, or IFPS. Artistically, the studio used a style of animation that has come to be known as ''
limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...
''. The first short from the newly formed studio was ''
Hell-Bent for Election ''Hell-Bent For Election'' is a 1944 two-reel (thirteen minute) animated cartoon short subject film. The short was one of the first major films from United Productions of America (then known as "Industrial Films"), which would go on to become ...
'' (directed by Warners veteran Chuck Jones), a cartoon made for the re-election campaign of
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
. Although this new film was a success, it did not break the boundaries that Hubley and his staffers had hoped. It wasn't until the third short, Bobe Cannon's ''Brotherhood of Man'', that the studio began producing shorts aggressively stylized in contrast to the films of the other studios. Cannon's film even preached a message that, at the time, was looked down upon—racial tolerance. By 1946, the studio was renamed as
United Productions of America United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Picture ...
(UPA), and Hilberman and Schwartz had sold their shares of the studio stock to Bosustow. In 1948, UPA also found a home for itself at
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
and began producing theatrical cartoons for the general public, instead of just using propaganda and military training themes; UPA also earned itself two Academy Award nominations for new cartoons starring ''The Fox and the Crow'' during its first two years in production. From there, the UPA animators began producing a series of cartoons that immediately stood out among the crowded field of mirror-image, copycat cartoons of the other studios. The success of UPA's '' Mr. Magoo'' series made all of the other studios sit up and take notice, and when the UPA short ''
Gerald McBoing-Boing ''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. ...
'' won an Oscar, the effect on Hollywood was immediate and electrifying. The UPA style was markedly different from everything else being seen on movie screens, and audiences responded to the change that UPA offered from the repetition of usual cat-mouse battles. Mr Magoo would go on to be the studio's most successful cartoon character.
However, UPA would suffer a major blow after John Hubley was fired from the studio during the McCarthyism, McCarthy Era in 1952, due to suspicions of his having ties to Communism; Steve Bosustow took over, but was not as successful as Hubley, and the studio was eventually sold to Henry Saperstein. By 1953, UPA had gained great influence within the industry. The Hollywood cartoon studios gradually moved away from the lush, realistic detail of the 1940s to a more simplistic, less realistic style of animation. By this time, even Disney was attempting to mimic UPA. 1953's shorts '' Melody'' and ''
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom ''Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom'' is a 1953 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Ward Kimball and Charles A. Nichols. A sequel to the first ''Adventures in Music'' cartoon, the 3-D short '' Melody'' ( ...
'' in particular were experiments in stylization that followed in the footsteps of the newly formed studio. Around 1952,
Eric Porter Eric Richard Porter (8 April 192815 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television. Early life Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, to bus conductor Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth (née Spall). His parents ho ...
proposed two cartoons to Columbia, but these were rejected and both cartoons are currently in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.


Feature-length films and Decline

In 1959, UPA released ''
1001 Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
'' starring Mr Magoo, however, this was proved to be a failure, as this cost UPA their distribution deal with
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
. they tried once more in 1962, UPA released ''
Gay Purr-ee ''Gay Purr-ee'' is a 1962 American animated musical film produced by United Productions of America and released by Warner Bros. It features the voice of Judy Garland in her only animated-film role, as well as Robert Goulet in his first feature ...
'' with the voice talents of
Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
, this time, with a distributor in
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
. In 1964, UPA decided to abandon animation and simply become a distribution company, where they would go on to distribute some of the ''
Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films prod ...
'' movies to America.


Hanna-Barbera

Prior to UPA's termination, Columbia struck a 10-year distribution deal with Hanna-Barbera, which had just left the freshly shut down
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoon Studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to ...
. This deal would mostly be involved with Columbia's TV division, Screen Gems, which ironically borrowed the name from the animation studio. In 1959, Hanna-Barbera produced the only theatrical series for Columbia, ''
Loopy De Loop ''Loopy De Loop'' is a theatrical cartoon short series produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera after leaving MGM and opening their new studio, Hanna-Barbera Productions. Loopy De Loop Profile 48 cartoons were produced between 19 ...
''. This series was a success, and ran until 1965. Hanna-Barbera also produced 2 movies for Columbia, which was ''
Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'' is a 1964 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. The film stars the voices of Daws Butler, Don Messick, Julie Bennett, Mel Blanc, and J. Pa ...
'' and ''
The Man Called Flintstone ''The Man Called Flintstone'' is a 1966 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The second film by Hanna-Barbera following ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'' (1964), it was dir ...
''. Columbia's 10-year contract with Hanna-Barbera expired in 1967, and was not renewed, thus ending Columbia's association with Hanna-Barbera in every way.


Universal Pictures/Walter Lantz Productions


Beginnings

In 1928,
Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lant ...
replaced Charles Mintz as producer of Universal Studios cartoons. Walter Lantz's main character at this time was ''
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is a cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1 ...
'', whose earlier cartoons had been produced by both Walt Disney and Charles Mintz. Lantz also started to experiment with color cartoons, and the first one, called Jolly Little Elves, was released in 1934. In 1935, Walter Lantz made his studio independent from Universal Studios, and the studio was now only the distributors of his cartoons, instead of the direct owners. After seeing Disney's success of their first film ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', Lantz planned to produce a full-length animation film based on the story '' Aladdin'', and should’ve starred the famous comedy duo Abbot and Costello. However, due to the financial bomb of ''
Mr. Bug Goes to Town ''Mr. Bug Goes to Town'' (also known as ''Hoppity Goes to Town'' and ''Bugville'') is a 1941 American animated Technicolor feature film produced by Fleischer Studios, previewed by Paramount Pictures on December 5, 1941, and released in California ...
'', Lantz pulled the idea and the film was never produced.


New Stars and

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...

In the 1940s, Oswald began to lose popularity. Lantz and his staff worked on several ideas for possible new cartoon characters (among them '' Meany, Miny, and Moe'' and ''
Baby-Face Mouse Baby-Face Mouse is an animated character created by Walter Lantz, who made his first appearance in the cartoon ''Cheese-Nappers'' in 1938. He starred in nine cartoons over two years, with his final appearance in 1939, in ''Snuffy's Party'' as a ca ...
''). Eventually one of these characters clicked; his name was '' Andy Panda'', who aired in Technicolor. However successful Andy was, it was not until the character's fifth cartoon, ''
Knock Knock Knock Knock may refer to: * Knock-knock joke, a type of joke Film and television * Knock Knock (1940 film), ''Knock Knock'' (1940 film), an animated short film noted for the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker * ''Knock Knock'' (2007 film), a ...
'' that a real breakthrough character was introduced. This was none other than ''
Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by ...
'', who become Lantz's most successful creation. For most of the studios life at the time, Lantz and Alex Lovy directed most of the cartoons until 1942, when
Shamus Culhane James H. "Shamus" Culhane (November 12, 1908 – February 2, 1996) was an American animator, film director, and film producer. He is best known for his work in the Golden age of American animation. Career Shamus Culhane worked for a number of ...
(a former Disney animator who recently had a brief stint at Fleischer Studios and Warner Bros.) took Lantz' and Lovy's role of director. As a result, the cartoons had a more denser and surreal direction, similarly more in line to the MGM Cartoons. Due to negotiation issues between Lantz and Universal Studios (renamed as Universal-International), Lantz withdrawals from his parent company and contracted to distribute shorts under
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
between 1947 and 1949. The shorts in this period were noticeable for having better animation from the shorts released under Universal. This was due to being influenced by director and Disney Veteran Dick Lundy, as well as the arrival of more professional animations, such as
Ed Love Edward H. Love (May 24, 1910 – May 6, 1996) was an American animator who worked at various studios during the Golden age of American animation. He is well known for animating Walt Disney Animations' shorts ''Mickey's Trailer'' and '' Fan ...
, Fred Moore and Ken O'Brien. This was also the era where ''Andy Panda'' was officially discontinued due to his waning popularity. In total, 12 shorts were released under United Artists.


The 1950s, and Later Years

Due to a plethora of issues between distributors and exceeding loans from
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
, Lantz was forced to close down his studio in 1949 in order to reduce said loans. It opened again in 1950 with a downsized staff, mainly because Lantz was able to sign a deal with Universal (known as Universal-International in this period) for more Woody Woodpecker cartoons, starting with 1951's ''
Puny Express This is a list of animated cartoons that star Woody Woodpecker, who appeared in 203 cartoons (196 Woody shorts and 7 miscellaneous shorts) during and after the Golden age of American animation. All the cartoons were produced by Walter Lantz Prod ...
''. Woody would continue to appear in cartoons until the early 1970s. Paul J. Smith, a Disney veteran who worked for Lantz in the 40s, returned to work for the studio for the majority of the studio's lifespan at this time as an animator, and later a director. Paul created ''
Chilly Willy Chilly Willy is a cartoon character, a diminutive penguin. He was created by director Paul Smith for the Walter Lantz studio in 1953, and developed further by Tex Avery in the two subsequent films following Smith's debut entry. The character ...
'', who first appeared in 1953, and became Lantz' second most popular character besides Woody. He would later be refined by
Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...
in the following year, who left MGM earlier that decade. Avery himself would direct only 4 shorts during his time at Walter Lantz Productions, until finally leaving his career of directing animated shorts in 1956. Additional directional contributions included Don Patterson,
Jack Hannah John Frederick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts. Biography Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. He moved to Los Angeles in 1931 to study at the Art ...
, and Sid Marcus. Alex Lovy also returned as role of director since the early 40s. Walter Lantz finally shut down the studio in 1973, saying that continuing to produce shorts would be impossible due to rising inflation, which seemed to have tightened his cartoons budgets by the late 1950s. However, for Walter Lantz, Woody Woodpecker's survival was lengthened when he started appearing in ''
The Woody Woodpecker Show ''The Woody Woodpecker Show'' is a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of the animated cartoon shorts of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, The Beary Family and Inspe ...
'' from 1957 to 1987, from which it entered syndication until 1990. NBC revived the show twice—in 1991 and 1992, and finally in 1997, Lantz sold all of the ''Woody Woodpecker'' shorts to
Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...
, then part of MCA.


Terrytoons


Before Terrytoons

Before Paul Terry created his own studio, he was employed by
Bray Productions Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...
, where he created his first popular character, ''
Farmer Al Falfa Farmer Al Falfa (also known as Farmer Alfalfa),
at
Amedee J. Van Beuren. Beuren however became anxious in the late 1920s due to the phenomenon of a new film format of pre-synchronized sound in film. Beuren urged Terry to produce films in this format, but refused, forcing him to fire Terry in 1929.


Terrytoons is formed

After losing his ''Aesop's Film Fables'' series to Van Beuren Studios in 1929, Terry established a new studio called
Terrytoons Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in name only). Terrytoons was founded by ...
. Most of the staff of Fables Animation moved with him to the new studio, including Art Babbitt, who later became one of Disney's most known animators. Terrytoons produced 26 cartoons a year for E.W. Hammons'
Educational Pictures Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational pr ...
, which in turn supplied short-subject product to the
Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...
. Terry's cartoons of the 1930s were mainly black-and-white musical cartoons without recurring characters, except for ''
Farmer Al Falfa Farmer Al Falfa (also known as Farmer Alfalfa),
at
Gandy Goose Gandy Goose is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1938 short ''Gandy the Goose''. He is frequently paired with Sourpuss, a cat, beginning in the 1939 short ''Hook Link and Sinker''. Sourpuss' first appearance was in the 193 ...
'' beginning in 1938, ''
Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorro ...
'' beginning in 1942, and ''
Heckle and Jeckle Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow-bi ...
'', developed by combining what was originally a husband-and-wife pair of mischievous
magpies Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...
from the 1946 ''Farmer Al Falfa'' cartoon ''The Talking Magpies'' with Terry's notion that twin brothers or look-alikes had comic possibilities. Other characters include ''
Dinky Duck Dinky Duck is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1939 animated short ''The Orphan Duck''. Unlike fellow Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, silly Gandy Goose and the magpie duo Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky never became popular, ...
'' in 1939, Dimwit the Dog (originally paired with Heckle and Jeckle), ''Sourpuss'' (usually paired with Gandy Goose) and among others. Terrytoons was also nominated four times for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film: ''All Out for V'' in 1942, ''My Boy, Johnny'' in 1944, '' Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life'' in 1945, and ''Sidney's Family Tree'' in 1958. Despite the success, Terry's cartoons are known to have the lowest-budgets out of any major studio at the time. Popular music for example was not used for the majority of the studio's life, as Terry refused to pay royalties, making music director Philip A. Scheib to compose original scores. Credits were also sparse. Until 1957, the cartoons only credited the director, the story writer and the music director. The cartoons were also experimental and lacked quality control, leading to animators animating in a very inconstant style (animator James "Jim" Tyer is well known for animating in a very loose and off-model style).


Terry sells the studio to CBS

Terry sold his company and its backlog to
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
in 1953 and retired. CBS continued to operate the studio for nearly 15 years afterward, with the studios now under management by Gene Deitch. The output divided between theatrical short cartoons and television series, as well as creating new characters such as ''
Tom Terrific ''Tom Terrific'' is a 1957–1959 animated series on American television, presented as part of the ''Captain Kangaroo'' children's television show. Created by Gene Deitch under the Terrytoons studio (which by that time was a subsidiary of CBS, ...
'', ''Lariat Sam'', and ''
Deputy Dawg Deputy Dawg is a Terrytoons cartoon character, featured on the animated television series of the same name that aired from 1960 to 1964. Background The character of Deputy Dawg originated in 1959 as part of a projected series entitled ''Possible ...
'', ''Sidney the Elephant'', ''Gaston Le Crayon'', ''John Doormat'', and ''Clint Clobber'' (who would be used again as Tom's human owner in Deitch's ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
''). Around this time, Terrytoons also began producing cartoons in CinemaScope. New staff members were also joined the crew, including former Famous Studios animators
David Tendlar David Benjamin Tendlar (August 8, 1909 – September 9, 1993) was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. Tendlar was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 8, 1909. He joined Fleis ...
and
Martin Taras Martin Bernard Taras (9 August 1914 – 2 November 1994), also known as Morrie Tarasinsky, was an American cartoonist who mostly worked at Famous Studios, the New York-based animation division of Paramount Pictures. Career Taras started his anima ...
, and
Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...
, who is considered Terrytoons most talented member of the studio. Terrytoons finally closed its doors in 1972, in which Bakshi moved to Famous Studios as a director, though it also closed that year.


Van Beuren Studios

In 1928, producer Amadee J. Van Beuren formed a partnership with Paul Terry and formed the "Aesop's Fables Studio" for the production of the '' Aesop's Film Fables'' cartoon series. In 1929, Terry left to start his own studio and was replaced by John Foster who took over the animation department, and renamed the studio
Van Beuren Studios The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936. History In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...
. Van Beuren continued the Aesop's Fables series, and unsuccessfully tried a cartoon adaptation of
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
blackface comedians ''
Amos 'n Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio sho ...
''. Other Van Beuren cartoons featured ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
'' (not the cat and mouse, but a ''
Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newspape ...
''-like human duo,) and
Otto Soglow Otto Soglow (December 23, 1900 – April 3, 1975) was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''The Little King ''The Little King'' is a 1930-1975 American gag-a-day comic strip created by Otto Soglow, telling its stories in a ...
's comic strip character ''
The Little King ''The Little King'' is a 1930-1975 American gag-a-day comic strip created by Otto Soglow, telling its stories in a style using images and very few words, as in pantomime. Publication history Soglow's character first appeared on June 7, 1930, i ...
''. Frank Tashlin and Joseph Barbera were among animators who worked briefly for the studio during its short life. In 1934, as other studios were putting cartoons in Technicolor to answer to Disney's ''Silly Symphonies'' cartoon series, Van Beuren Studio abandoned its remaining cartoons and answered Disney's use of Technicolor by creating the ''
Rainbow Parade ''Rainbow Parade'' was a series of 26 animated shorts produced by Van Beuren Studios and distributed to theaters by RKO between 1934 and 1936. This was the all-color series and final series produced by Van Beuren. History Many of the ''Rainbow Pa ...
'' series, which was all color. However, the series was not a success, and by 1936, RKO Pictures, the owner of the Van Beuren Studio, closed the studio as RKO chose to instead distribute Disney cartoons.


Republic Pictures

In 1946, Republic Pictures incorporated a piece of animation by Walter Lantz into '' Sioux City)'', a western starring Gene Autry. That same year, Bob Clampett, who had just left Warner Bros., got to direct one cartoon with the title ''It's a Grand Old Nag'' before the company cancelled a potential animated series. In 1949, Republic started a new cartoon series called ''Jerky Journeys'', led by Art Heineman. The cartoons were not fully animated (only used for quick-paced sequences), but featured layouts and background designs by Robert Gribbroek, Peter Alvarado and Paul Julian, all of which were from Warner Bros. Republic discontinued the series after four cartoons were made.


Jay Ward Productions

Founded in 1948 by animator
Jay Ward Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bu ...
, Jay Ward Productions aired the first cartoon made for television, ''
Crusader Rabbit ''Crusader Rabbit'' is the first animated series produced specifically for television. Its main characters were Crusader Rabbit and his sidekick Ragland T. Tiger, or "Rags". The stories were four-minute-long satirical cliffhangers. The concept ...
'' and is also remembered for ''
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...
'' (1959–1964), as well as several iconic advertisements, such as those for breakfast cereals. Employing a
limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...
style, the success of Jay Ward cartoons laid in its densely-packed visual gags and wordplay.


Trends


Sound in animation

While much of the focus in an animated cartoon is on the visuals, the vocal talents and symphonic scores that accompanied the images were also very important to the cartoons' success. As motion pictures drew audiences away from their radio sets, it also drew talented actors and vocal impressionists into film and animation. Mel Blanc gave voice to most of Warner Bros. more popular characters, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig (starting in 1937), and Daffy Duck. Other voices and personalities from
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
and
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
contributed to the popularity of animated films in the Golden Era. Some of these (generally uncredited) actors included
Cliff Edwards Clifton Avon "Cliff" Edwards (June 14, 1895 – July 17, 1971), nicknamed "Ukulele Ike", was an American singer, musician and actor. He enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standar ...
(also known as Ukulele Ike), Arthur Q. Bryan, Stan Freberg, Bea Benaderet, Bill Thompson, Grace Stafford,
Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...
,
June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...
, and
Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry H ...
. Cartoons of this era also included scores played by studio orchestras. Carl Stalling at Schlesinger/Warner Bros., Scott Bradley at MGM and
Winston Sharples Winston Singleton Sharples (March 1, 1909 – April 3, 1978) was an American composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures. In his 35-year career, Sharples s ...
at Paramount composed numerous cartoon soundtracks, creating original material as well as incorporating familiar classical and popular melodies. Many of the early cartoons, particularly those of Disney's ''
Silly Symphonies ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...
'' series, were built around classical pieces. These cartoons sometimes featured star characters, but many had simple nature themes.


Stop motion and special effects

For a great part of the history of Hollywood animation, the production of animated films was an exclusive industry that did not branch off very often into other areas. The various animation studios worked almost exclusively on producing animated cartoons and animated titles for movies. Only occasionally was animation used for other aspects of the movie industry. The low-budget '' Superman serials'' of the 1940s used animated sequences of Superman flying and performing super-powered feats which were used in the place of live-action special effects, but this was not a common practice. The exclusivity of animation also resulted in the birth of a sister industry that was used almost exclusively for motion picture special effects:
stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
animation. In spite of their similarities, the two genres of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation rarely came together during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Stop-motion animation made a name for itself with the 1933 box-office hit ''
King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'', where animator
Willis O'Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," ...
defined many of the major stop motion techniques used for the next 50 years. The success of ''King Kong'' led to a number of other early special effects films, including '' Mighty Joe Young,'' which was also animated by O'Brien and helped to start the careers of several animators, including
Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Mi ...
, who came into his own in the 1950s.
George Pal George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...
was the only stop-motion animator to produce a series of stop-motion animated cartoons for theatrical release, the ''
Puppetoon Puppetoons is a series of animated puppet films made in Europe (1930s) and in the United States (1940s) by George Pal. They were made using replacement animation: using a series of different hand-carved wooden puppets (or puppet heads or limbs) for ...
'' series for Paramount, some of which were animated by Ray Harryhausen. Pal went on to produce several live-action special effects-laden feature films. Stop motion animation reached the height of its popularity during the 1950s. The exploding popularity of
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
films led to an exponential development in the field of special effects, and George Pal became the producer of several popular special effects-laden films. Meanwhile, Ray Harryhausen's work on such films as '' Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' is a 1958 Technicolor heroic fantasy adventure film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, and Alec Mango. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and pr ...
'', and ''
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' is a 1953 American science fiction monster film directed by Eugène Lourié, with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film stars Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, and Kenneth Tobey. The screen ...
'' drew in large crowds and encouraged the development of "realistic" special effects in films. These effects used many of the same techniques as cel animation, but still the two media did not often come together. Stop motion developed to the point where
Douglas Trumbull Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters ...
's effects in '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' seemed lifelike to an unearthly degree. Hollywood special effects continued to develop in a manner that largely avoided
cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...
, though several memorable animated sequences were included in live-action feature films of the era. The most famous of these was a scene during the movie ''
Anchors Aweigh "Anchors Aweigh" is the fight song of the United States Naval Academy and unofficial march song of the United States Navy. It was composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmermann with lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles. When he composed "Anchors Aweigh", Zim ...
'', in which actor Gene Kelly danced with an animated
Jerry Mouse Gerald Jinx "Jerry" Mouse is a fictional character and one of the two titular characters in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of ''Tom and Jerry'' theatrical animated short films and other animated media, usually acting as the protagonist opposite his ...
(of ''Tom and Jerry'' fame). But except for occasional sequences of this sort, the only real integration of cel animation into live-action films came in the development of animated credit and title sequences.
Saul Bass Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. During his 40-year career, Bass wor ...
' opening sequences for Alfred Hitchcock's films (including ''
Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
'', ''
North by Northwest ''North by Northwest'' is a 1959 American spy thriller film, produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture ...
'', and '' Psycho'') are highly praised, and inspired several imitators.


The wartime era

The major Hollywood studios contributed greatly to the war effort, and their cartoon studios pitched in as well with various contributions. At the Fleischer studios, Popeye the Sailor joined the Navy and began fighting
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
and "Japs"; while the Warner Bros. studio produced a series of ''
Private Snafu Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional adult animated shorts, ironic and humorous in tone, that were produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The films were designed to instruct servi ...
'' instructional film cartoons especially for viewing by enlisted soldiers. Even Disney was involved in the war effort, producing both satirical comedies such as '' Der Fuhrer's Face'', and commentaries such as ''
Education for Death ''Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi'' is an animated propaganda short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released on January 15, 1943, by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by Clyde Geronimi and principally animated by Milt Kahl, W ...
''.


Decline of theatrical shorts


DePatie–Freleng Enterprises

The 1960s saw some creative sparks in the theatrical film medium, in particular from
DePatie–Freleng Enterprises DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (also known as Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng Productions when involved with the Mirisch brothers and Geoffrey Productions; and DFE Films) was an American animation production company that was active from 1963 to 1 ...
. Their first and most successful project was animating the opening titles for the 1964 film, ''
The Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film '' The Pi ...
'', starring
Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...
. The film and its animated sequences were so successful that
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
commissioned the studio to produce a Pink Panther cartoon series. The first short, ''
The Pink Phink ''The Pink Phink'' is a 1964 American animated short comedy film directed by Friz Freleng. It is the first animated short starring the Pink Panther. The short won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short at the 37th Academy Awards. Plot The Pi ...
'', won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film of 1964. The studio also produced other successful cartoon series such as ''
The Inspector ''The Inspector'' is a series of 34 theatrical cartoon shorts produced between 1965 and 1969 by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released through United Artists. The cartoons are dedicated to an animated version of Inspector Clouseau comical ...
'' and ''
The Ant and the Aardvark ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, originally released by United Artists and currently distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1969 to 1971. Plot The cartoon se ...
''. Meanwhile, Chuck Jones, who had been fired from Warner Bros., moved to MGM to produce thirty-four theatrical ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons in late 1963. These cartoons were animated in his distinctive style, but they never quite matched the popularity of the Hanna-Barbera originals of the 1940s and 1950s heyday. However, they were more successful than the Gene Deitch ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts, which were produced overseas during 1961 and 1962. From 1964 to 1967, DePatie–Freleng produced ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts under contract with Warner Bros. These cartoons can be recognized easily because they use the modern abstract WB logos instead of the famous bullseye WB shield concentric circles. The studio also subcontracted 11 ''
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, ...
'' cartoons to Format Films. DePatie–Freleng ceased production of ''Looney Tunes'' and moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1967 to continue production of their ''
Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film ''The Pin ...
'' cartoons producing the final original theatrical cartoon in 1977. The subsequent Pink Panther shorts 1978–1981 were originally produced for television and then released into theaters. In 1967, WB would resume production on their own cartoons, before shutting down the theatrical cartoon department altogether in 1969. In 1981, the studio was purchased by
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
and was renamed
Marvel Productions New World Animation Ltd., formerly known as Marvel Productions, was the television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It later became a subsidiary of New World Entertainment ...
.


Hanna–Barbera

In 1946, the animation union of the time negotiated a pay increase of 25%, making the cartoons more expensive to produce on a general basis. After the 1948 verdict following the Hollywood Antitrust case, there was no longer a booking guarantee on the theatres for cartoons from any of the studios, making it a more risky business and because of this less resources were invested in the theatrical shorts, causing a gradual decline. By the beginning of the 1950s, the medium of television was beginning to gain more momentum, and the animation industry began to change as a result. At the head of this change were the tandem of
William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the anim ...
and Joseph Barbera, the creators of ''Tom and Jerry.'' The new Hanna-Barbera utilized the
limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...
style that UPA had pioneered. With this limited animation, Hanna and Barbera created several characters including ''
Huckleberry Hound Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue anthropomorphic coonhound that speaks with a North Carolina Southern drawl. He first appeared in the series ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to ...
'', ''
The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...
'', ''
Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in '' The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...
'' and ''
Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season of ...
''. With television's growing popularity, which included the Saturday morning cartoons, a much more significant decline began in movie-going in the 1960s. To face the competition from TV, the theaters did what they could to reduce their own costs. One way of doing so was booking features only and avoiding the expenses of shorts, which were considered unnecessary and too expensive. Those few shorts that found their way to the theaters despite this are often viewed by critics as inferior to their predecessors.


Timeline

This is a timeline of American animation studios' active production of regularly released cartoon shorts for theatrical exhibition. Some studios continue to release animated shorts to theaters on an infrequent basis. The colors correspond to the animation studio's associated theatrical distributor. ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:210 bottom:120 top:0 right:30 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1911 till:1977 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:4 start:1913 ScaleMinor = increment:4 start:1915 Colors = id:BuenaVista value:darkblue legend:Buena_Vista id:Fox value:yellow legend:Fox_Films/20th_Century_Fox id:Columbia value:purple legend:Columbia_Pictures id:Educational value:black legend:Educational_Pictures id:MGM value:pink legend:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer id:RKO value:green legend:RKO_Radio_Pictures id:Paramount value:blue legend:Paramount_Pictures id:Pathe value:brightgreen legend:Pathé_Exchange id:UA value:skyblue legend:United_Artists id:Universal value:orange legend:Universal_Studios id:WB value:red legend:Warner_Brothers id:Winkler value:lightpurple legend:Winkler_Pictures id:Other value:gray(0.8) legend:Other_Distributors id:time value:gray(0.9) BarData = bar:McCay text:"Winsor McCay" bar:Barre text:"Barré Studio" bar:Bray text:"Bray Productions" bar:IFS text:"International Film Service" bar:Sullivan text:"Pat Sullivan Studio" bar:Aesop text:"Aeasop Fables Films" bar:VanBeuren text:"Van Beuren Studios" bar:Terry text:"Terrytoons" bar:Inkwell text:"Inkwell Studio" bar:Fleischer text:"Fleischer Studios" bar:Famous text:"Famous Studios" bar:Rembrandt text:"Rembrandt Films (Nudnik)" bar:Disney text:"Walt Disney Productions" bar:Mintz text:"Screen Gems" bar:UPA text:"United Productions of America (UPA)" bar:HB text:"Hanna-Barbera Productions" bar:Lantz text:"Walter Lantz Productions" bar:HI text:"Harman-Ising Productions (at WB)" bar:WB text:"Warner Bros. Cartoons Inc." bar:DePatie/Format text:"DePatie-Freleng/Format Films (WB-subcontract)" bar:DePatie text:"DePatie-Freleng Enterprises" bar:Iwerks text:"Ub Iwerks Studio" bar:HII text:"Harman-Ising Productions (at MGM)" bar:MGM text:"Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoon Studio (MGM)" bar:RembrandtI text:"Rembrandt Films (Tom & Jerry)" bar:VA text:"MGM Animation/Visual Arts" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:McCay from:1911 till:1921 color:Other bar:Barre from:1913 till:1916 color:Pathe bar:Barre from:1916 till:1918 color:Other bar:Barre from:1918 till:1923 color:Fox bar:Barre from:1923 till:1926 color:Other bar:Bray from:1913 till:1919 color:Paramount bar:Bray from:1919 till:1926 color:Other bar:IFS from:1915 till:1916 color:Other bar:IFS from:1916 till:1917 color:Pathe bar:IFS from:1917 till:1919 color:Educational bar:Sullivan from:1916 till:1919 color:Universal bar:Sullivan from:1919 till:1922 color:Paramount bar:Sullivan from:1922 till:1925 color:Winkler bar:Sullivan from:1925 till:1928 color:Educational bar:Sullivan from:1928 till:1930 color:Other bar:Aesop from:1921 till:1929 color:Pathe bar:Inkwell from:1921 till:1921 color:Winkler bar:Inkwell from:1922 till:1922 color:WB bar:Inkwell from:1922 till:1924 color:Winkler bar:Inkwell from:1924 till:1927 color:Other bar:Inkwell from:1927 till:1929 color:Paramount bar:Fleischer from:1929 till:1942 color:Paramount bar:Famous from:1942 till:1967 color:Paramount bar:Rembrandt from:1960 till: 1967 color:Paramount bar:Disney from:1921 till:1923 color:Other bar:Disney from:1923 till:1926 color:Winkler bar:Disney from:1926 till:1927 color:Other bar:Disney from:1927 till:1928 color:Universal bar:Disney from:1928 till:1929 color:Other bar:Disney from:1929 till:1932 color:Columbia bar:Disney from:1932 till:1937 color:UA bar:Disney from:1937 till:1956 color:RKO bar:Disney from:1956 till:1962 color:BuenaVista bar:Mintz from:1925 till:1928 color:Winkler bar:Mintz from:1928 till:1929 color:Universal bar:Mintz from:1929 till:1949 color:Columbia bar:UPA from:1948 till:1959 color:Columbia bar:HB from:1959 till:1965 color:Columbia bar:VanBeuren from:1929 till:1936 color:RKO bar:Terry from:1930 till:1968 color:Fox bar:Lantz from:1929 till:1947 color:Universal bar:Lantz from:1947 till:1949 color:UA bar:Lantz from:1950 till:1972 color:Universal bar:HI from:1930 till:1933 color:WB bar:WB from:1933 till:1964 color:WB bar:WB from:1967 till:1969 color:WB bar:DePatie/format from:1964 till:1967 color:WB bar:Iwerks from:1930 till:1934 color:MGM bar:Iwerks from:1934 till:1936 color:Other bar:HII from:1934 till:1937 color:MGM bar:MGM from:1937 till:1958 color:MGM bar:RembrandtI from:1961 till: 1962 color:MGM bar:VA from:1962 till: 1967 color:MGM bar:DePatie from:1964 till:1977 color:UA LineData = at:1915 color:time layer:back at:1920 color:time layer:back at:1925 color:time layer:back at:1930 color:time layer:back at:1935 color:time layer:back at:1940 color:time layer:back at:1945 color:time layer:back at:1950 color:time layer:back at:1955 color:time layer:back at:1960 color:time layer:back at:1965 color:time layer:back at:1970 color:time layer:back at:1977 color:time layer:back


Legacy

Seven animated features from Disney (''Snow White'', ''Pinocchio'', ''Fantasia'', ''Dumbo'', ''Bambi'', ''Cinderella'' and ''Sleeping Beauty'') and several animated shorts (''Steamboat Willie'', Betty Boop's take of ''Snow White'', ''Three Little Pigs'', ''Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor'', ''Porky in Wackyland'', ''Gerald McBoing Boing'', ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', ''Duck Amuck'' and ''What's Opera Doc?'') were each inducted into the
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
. They were also part of animation historian's
Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including '' The 50 Greates ...
's 1994 book survey of ''
The 50 Greatest Cartoons ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck. Criteria It consists of articles about 50 highly regarded animated short films made in North America and other notable ca ...
''.


Depictions in popular culture

The 1988 film ''
Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 19 ...
'' has honored both the golden age of American animation and
classical Hollywood cinema Classical Hollywood cinema is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking which became characteristic of American cinema between the 1910s (rapidly after World War I) and the 1960s. It eventually b ...
.Classic Hollywood: On the case of 'Roger Rabbit' - Los Angeles Times
/ref> The film featured cameos of various characters from multiple studios, such as Disney, Warner Bros., Fleischer Studios, and Universal, among others. The film also contains the only time in cinematic history that Disney's '' Mickey Mouse'' and '' Donald Duck'' cross over with Warner Bros. Studios' ''
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...
'' and ''
Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...
'', respectively, onscreen. The 2017 video game ''
Cuphead ''Cuphead'' is a run-and-gun video game developed and published by Studio MDHR. The game follows the titular Cuphead who, in a deal with the Devil after losing a game at the Devil's casino, is sent on a quest to repossess the souls of runaway ...
'' features an animation style inspired by the works of Disney and Fleischer from this period.


See also

*
History of animation While the history of animation began much earlier, this article is concerned with the development of the medium after the emergence of celluloid film in 1888, as produced for theatrical screenings, television and (non-interactive) home entertai ...
* Animated cartoon *
List of animation shorts The following is a list of animation shorts. Walt Disney Productions *''Steamboat Willie'' (1928), Walt Disney *''Plane Crazy'' (1928), Walt Disney *''The Skeleton Dance'' (1929), Walt Disney *''Flowers and Trees'' (1932), Walt Disney *''Mickey's ...


References


Sources

* Barrier, Michael (1999): ''Hollywood Cartoons''. Oxford University Press. * Maltin, Leonard (1987): ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. Penguin Books. * Solomon, Charles (1994): ''The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings''. Outlet Books Company. {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Age Of American Animation 20th century in animation American animation Articles which contain graphical timelines
American animation American animation is animation created in the United States or by American animators. History * Animation in the United States during the silent era * Golden age of American animation * World War II and American animation * Animation in the Unit ...
Nostalgia in the United States History of animation 1920s in animation 1930s in animation 1940s in animation 1950s in animation 1960s in animation