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 Nogales (English: or , ; ) is a city in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The population was 20,837 at the 2010 census and estimated 20,103 in 2019. Nogales forms part of the larger Tucson–Nogales combined statistical area, with a total population ...

. He moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1931 to study at the Art Guild Academy. One of his first jobs was designing movie posters for Hollywood theaters. In 1933, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Hannah dropped off his portfolio at Walt Disney Studios, and soon afterward was hired as an in-between and clean-up artist, working on Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Silly Symphony cartoons. Hannah's career as an animator commenced with the short '' Modern Inventions'' (released on May 29, 1937). After thirteen films in that capacity, he was assigned to the story department writing cartoon short continuities, beginning with ''

Donald's Nephews ''Donald's Nephews'' (1938) is a Donald Duck animated cartoon which features Donald being visited by his three nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. This cartoon is Huey, Dewey, and Louie's first appearance in animation. Al Taliaferro, the artist f ...

'' (released on April 15, 1938). He received writing credit on 21 Disney cartoon shorts. In 1942 he collaborated with

Carl Barks Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck ...

on the first two comic books Barks worked on, ''

Pluto Saves the Ship "Pluto Saves the Ship" is a 51-page black-and-white comic book story scripted by writers Carl Barks, Jack Hannah and Nick George from a plot devised possibly by a publisher, and drawn by Disney animation layout artist Bruce Bushman. It was origina ...

'' and ''

Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold" is a Disney comics story starring Donald Duck that was originally printed in ''Four Color'' #9 (the first ''Four Color'' issue titled "Donald Duck") in October 1942. The script was by Bob Karp and illustrated by ...

''. Hannah in subsequent years did a handful of other Donald Duck comic book storiesJack Hannah
/ref> but, unlike Barks, he stayed at the studio and eventually was given a chance to be a director. The short ''Donald's Off Day'' (released on December 8, 1944) was the first of 94 films he would direct. These include most of the shorts featuring

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

in the post-war era along with all starring

Chip 'n Dale Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company. Concept The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short ''Private P ...

and

Humphrey the Bear Humphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created in 1950 at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He first appeared in the 1950 Goofy cartoon '' Hold That Pose'', in which Goofy tried to take his picture. After that he appeared in four classic Donald ...

; he also directed some shorts starring

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

and some minor

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 ...

characters such as ''

Lambert the Sheepish Lion ''Lambert the Sheepish Lion'' is a Disney animated short film that was released in 1952. It was directed by Jack Hannah. Plot A stork (the same stork from ''Dumbo'') delivers a flock of newborn lambs to their expectant mothers, but finds that ...

''. After Disney stopped producing animated shorts, Hannah did 14 episodes of the

Walt Disney anthology television series The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 to the present. The p ...

(composed of footage from the classic cartoons along with new linking material) and fulfilled his ambition to direct live-action by handling Walt Disney's introductions for the episodes. Hannah hoped to segue into a career in live-action but "Walt had me pegged as an animation director so he balked at the suggestion. We had a few heated discussions and I became aware that I had come to an impasse."Donald Duck's Other Daddy (PART TWO)
/ref> Hannah then went to

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios. The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative o ...

and directed a number of films featuring

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 Lan ...

and some minor characters. Besides directing shorts, Hannah also was assistant director for the television series ''

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 ...

'', which began airing on October 3, 1957. "I did more or less the same thing that I did with Walt Disney in directing live-action except Lantz was better at taking direction." His last directing effort was the short ''Charlie's Mother-In-Law'' (released on April 16, 1963). He retired shortly thereafter. In 1975, Hannah was one of the co-founders, along with

T. Hee Thornton Hee (March 26, 1911 – October 30, 1988) was an American animator, director, and teacher. He taught character design and caricature. Career Hee worked at Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1935–36 as a character designer. He de ...

, of the Character Animation program at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

. Hannah was honored as a "

Disney Legend The Disney Legends Awards is a Hall of Fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1987, the honor was traditionally awarded annually during a speci ...

" in 1992. Jack Hannah is often credited with developing, if not creating, the personality of the animated version of Donald Duck. It is for this reason Disney historian Jim Korkis has dubbed him "Donald Duck's Other Daddy." Despite that, Hannah has often been noted for being responsible for Donald's most formulaic period, where constantly paired Donald with pint-sized antagonists. The most famous of these antagonists are Chip 'n Dale, but other characters included Spike the Bee, Bootle Beetle and a colony of ants. These vermin became the focus of their shorts, relegating Donald to a supporting foil role with a consequent personality diminution. Hannah died from cancer in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

on June 11, 1994, at age 81.

Filmography

Films

TV series

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

(1954–79) ** The Donald Duck Story (director and story; 1954) ** Adventures of Mickey Mouse (director; 1955) ** At Home with Donald Duck (director; 1956) ** The Great Cat Family (segment director; 1956) ** Where Do the Stories Come From? (director; 1956) ** On Vacation (director; 1956) ** A Day in the Life of Donald Duck (director;1956) ** Duck for Hire (director; 1957) ** Donald's Award (director; 1957) ** All About Magic (sequence director; 1957) ** Your Host, Donald Duck (director;1957) ** From All of Us to All of You (director; 1958) ** Four Tales on a Mouse (director: Christmas sequence; 1958) ** Donald's Weekend (director; 1958) ** Highway to Trouble (director;1959) ** Duck Flies Coop (director; 1959) ** Two Happy Amigos (director;1960) ** This Is Your Life Donald Duck (director;1960) ** Kids Is Kids (segment director; 1961) ** A Square Peg in a Round Hole (segment director; 1963) ** The Ranger of Brownstone (sequence director; 1968) ** Baseball Fever (director; 1979) *

(1957–58) *

Matty's Funday Funnies ''Matty's Funday Funnies'' is a 1959—1961 American animated anthology television series. Broadcast history The original ''Matty's Funday Funnies'' was broadcast from 1959 to 1961 by American Broadcasting Company, scheduled during Sunday after ...

(TV Series) (1962; story)

References

External links

* *
Jack Hannah Remembers ''Pirate Gold''
at Mouse Planet
Donald Duck's Other Daddy (Part One)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannah, Jack 1913 births 1994 deaths Walt Disney Animation Studios people Animators from Arizona American male writers American animated film directors American film directors American screenwriters Animation screenwriters Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) California Institute of the Arts faculty Deaths from cancer in California People from Nogales, Arizona Walter Lantz Productions people 20th-century American screenwriters