Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoon Studio
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The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the
Golden Age of American animation 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 ...
. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters, which included popular cartoon characters '' Tom and Jerry'', '' Droopy'', and '' Barney Bear''. Prior to forming its own cartoon studio, MGM released the work of independent animation producer Ub Iwerks, and later the '' Happy Harmonies'' series from Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. The MGM cartoon studio was founded to replace Harman and Ising, although both men eventually became employees of the studio. After a slow start, the studio began to take off in 1940 after its short '' The Milky Way'' became the first non- Disney cartoon to win the Academy Award for Best Short Subjects: Cartoons. The studio's roster of talent benefited from an exodus of animators from the
Warner Bros. Cartoons 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 ...
and Disney studios, who were facing issues with union workers. Originally established and run by executive Fred Quimby, William Hanna and
Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...
, the creators of the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons, became the heads of the studio in 1955 following Quimby's retirement. The cartoon studio was closed on May 15, 1957, at which time Hanna and Barbera took much of the staff to form their own company, Hanna-Barbera Productions, then named H-B Enterprises. Turner Broadcasting System (via
Turner Entertainment Co. Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...
) took over the library in 1986 after Ted Turner's short-lived ownership of MGM/UA. When Turner sold back the MGM/UA production unit, he kept the pre-1986 MGM library, including the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoons, for his own company. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner, the parent company of Warner Bros., which currently owns the rights to the pre-1986 MGM library.


Background

To promote their films and attract larger theater audiences, motion picture chains in the 1930s provided many features to supplement the main feature, including travelogues, serials, short comedy subjects, newsreels and cartoons. During the late 1920s, Walt Disney Productions had achieved huge popular and critical success with their ''
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 ...
'' cartoons for Pat Powers' Celebrity Pictures (distributing for Columbia Pictures). Several other studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer among them, took note of Disney's success and began to look for ways to get Disney or compete. MGM had tried to get distribution rights to Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony shorts from Pat Powers who was distributing them to Columbia Pictures. MGM's first foray into animation was the '' Flip the Frog'' cartoon series, starring an anthropomorphic talking and singing frog. The series was produced independently for Celebrity Pictures by Ub Iwerks, formerly the head animator at the Disney studio. Celebrity Pictures' Pat Powers had hired Iwerks away from Disney with the promise of giving Iwerks his own studio, and was able to secure a distribution deal with MGM for the ''Flip the Frog'' cartoons. The first ''Flip the Frog'' cartoon, ''Fiddlesticks'', was released in August 1930, and over two-dozen other ''Flip'' cartoons followed during the next three years. In 1933, the Flip character was dropped in favor of '' Willie Whopper'', a new series featuring a lie-telling little boy. ''Willie Whopper'' failed to catch on, and MGM terminated its distribution deal with Iwerks and Powers, who had already begun distributing their ''Comi-Color'' cartoons on their own. In February 1934, MGM signed a new deal with the Harman-Ising studio, which had just broken ties with producer
Leon Schlesinger Leon Schlesinger (May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant r ...
and the Warner Bros. studio over budget concerns, to work on a new series of high-budget color cartoons.Barrier, Michael. ''Hollywood Cartoons'', p. 188. The director team brought with them much of their staff from their time with Schlesinger, including animators and storymen such as Carmen "Max" Maxwell, William Hanna, and brothers Robert and Tom McKimson. (The McKimsons would later return to Schlesinger.) Also following Harman and Ising from Schlesinger was
Bosko Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was the star of 39 ''Looney Tunes'' shorts released by Warner Bros. He ...
, a successful character the duo had created for the Warner cartoons. After learning from Disney's experiences with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Harman and Ising retained the rights to Bosko. The first entry in MGM's new '' Happy Harmonies'' cartoon series, ''The Discontented Canary'', was completed in June 1934 and released in September. The series continued for three years, moving from two-strip to three-strip Technicolor in 1935. The ''Happy Harmonies'' canon included a handful of entries starring Bosko, who by 1935 had been redesigned from an ambiguous "inkspot" character into a discernible little African-American boy. The directors worked separately on their own films, although both strived to create intricate films that would compete with Disney's award-winning '' Silly Symphonies''. However, budget problems threatened to plague Harman and Ising a second time: ''Happy Harmonies'' cartoons regularly ran over budget, and Hugh Harman paid no heed to MGM's demands that he reduce the costs of the shorts. MGM retaliated in February 1937 by deciding to open their own cartoon studio, and hired away most of the Harman-Ising staff to do so.Barrier, Michael. ''Hollywood Cartoons'', p. 192.Maltin, Leonard. ''Of Mice and Magic'', p. 283 The final ''Happy Harmonies'' short, ''The Little Bantamweight'', was released in March 1938, and Harman and Ising went on to establish a new studio to do freelance animation work for Walt Disney, only to come back. For the 1934 MGM
musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
'' Hollywood Party'', Walt Disney Productions created an animated sequence in Technicolor called ''The Hot Choc-Late Soldiers'', and is one of a few examples where Disney produced animation for other studios. The movie also contained a sequence with
Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
interacting with an animated
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 ...
. In 1936, Disney's animators were overworked with '' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' and the Harman-Ising studio provided artists to work on the feature and the '' Silly Symphonies'' short '' Merbabies'' in exchange to artist training.


History


Early years (1937–1939)

In March 1937, MGM hired film sales executive Fred Quimby, a man with no experience in the animation industry, to set up and run the new MGM cartoon department. Among the holdovers from the Harman-Ising regime, William Hanna and Bob Allen were appointed as directors and Carmen Maxwell became production manager. Quimby raided every major American animation studio for talent, extracting artists, directors and writers from studios, such as
Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...
from Leon Schlesinger Productions, Emery Hawkins from
Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
and much of the top staff at Terrytoons (
Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...
, Jack Zander, Ray Kelly, Dan Gordon, George Gordon and others). After spending some time headquartered in a nearby house, the new MGM cartoon studio at Overland Ave. and Montana Ave. opened its doors on August 23, 1937. Although it boasted a brand-new facility and good directors, the MGM cartoon studio's first series was a failure. ''
The Captain and the 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).Rudolph Dirks Rudolph Dirks (February 26, 1877 – April 20, 1968) was one of the earliest and most noted comic strip artists, well known for ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' (later known as ''The Captain and the Kids''). Dirks was born in Heide, Germany, to Joh ...
' '' Katzenjammer Kids'' characters, was licensed by MGM without input from its then-forming creative staff. Freleng, Hanna, and Allen, assigned to direct the ''Captain and the Kids'' cartoons, were unable to translate the ''Katzenjammer'' humor into animation, and the series folded after fifteen episodes. Only two of the ''Captain and the Kids'' shorts were produced in Technicolor; the other thirteen were produced in black-and-white and released in sepia-toned prints.


Harman and Ising return (1938–1943)

MGM brought in established newspaper cartoonists such as Milt Gross and Harry Hershfield in an attempt to both bolster the ''Captain and the Kids'' product and create original properties for MGM, but both cartoonists' tenures at the studio were short-lived. Gross managed to complete two cartoons, ''Jitterbug Follies'' and ''Wanted: No Master'', with his characters Count Screwloose of Tooloose and J.R. the Wonder Dog, while Hershfield completed no cartoons. In October 1938, Quimby, coming full-circle, hired Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising as the new creative heads of the studio, acting as both directors and producers, and in charge of many of the employees who had defected from the Harman-Ising studio a year before. Among Ising's first new cartoons for MGM was 1939's ''The Bear Who Couldn't Sleep'', the debut appearance of Barney Bear, a lumbering anthropomorphic bear based upon both Wallace Beery and Ising himself. Barney Bear would become MGM's first original cartoon star, regularly featured in cartoons until 1953, although his popularity never rose to the level of
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 ...
or
Porky Pig Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created ma ...
. Ising focused on the ''Barney Bear'' cartoons, while Harman focused on making intricately animated one-shot cartoons, although Harman was able to establish a short-lived series of ''
Three Bears "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (originally titled "The Story of the Three Bears") is a 19th-century English fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells of an obscene old woman who enters the forest home ...
'' cartoons. At this time, Harman created his masterwork, '' Peace on Earth''. Released during the holiday season of 1939 (immediately after the outbreak of World War II in Europe), ''Peace on Earth'' was a serious work which dealt with the idea of what a post-apocalyptic world would be like. ''Peace on Earth'' was nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons), as well as for the Nobel Peace Prize.


''Tom and Jerry'' (1939–1958)

Friz Freleng, briefly assigned to work under Harman, returned to Schlesinger after his MGM contract expired in April 1939, and storyman Joseph Barbera was united with director William Hanna to co-direct cartoons for Rudolf Ising's unit. The partnership between Hanna and Barbera would last for more than six decades, until Hanna's death in 2001. The duo's first cartoon together was 1940's ''
Puss Gets the Boot ''Puss Gets the Boot'' is a 1940 American animated short film and is the first short in what would become the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon series, though neither were yet referred to by these names. It was directed by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, ...
'', featuring an unnamed mouse's attempts to outwit a house cat 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 were assigned to direct more cat-and-mouse cartoons, soon christening the characters '' Tom and Jerry''. ''Puss Gets the Boot'' did not win the 1940 Academy Award for Best Cartoon, but another MGM cartoon, Rudolf Ising's '' The Milky Way'' did, making MGM the first studio to wrestle the Cartoon Academy Award away from Walt Disney.Barrier, Michael. ''Hollywood Cartoons'', p. 300. ''Tom and Jerry'' quickly became MGM's most valuable animated property. 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 & Jerry'' shorts going on to win the Academy Award: '' The Yankee Doodle Mouse'' (1943), ''
Mouse Trouble ''Mouse Trouble'' is a 1944 American one-reel animated cartoon short and is the 17th ''Tom and Jerry'' short produced by Fred Quimby. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with music direction by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was a ...
'' (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'' (1947), '' The Little Orphan'' (1949), ''
The Two Mouseketeers ''The Two Mouseketeers'' is a 1952 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 65th ''Tom and Jerry'' short subject, short, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on March 15, 1952 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was produced by Fred Quimb ...
'' (1952) and '' Johann Mouse'' (1953). '' Tom & Jerry'' was eventually tied with Disney's '' Silly Symphonies'' as the most-awarded theatrical cartoon series. Originally barred by Quimby from making a second cat-and-mouse short until the overwhelming success of ''Puss Gets the Boot'' demanded it, Hanna and Barbera and their team of animators, who included George Gordon, Jack Zander, Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence, Ed Barge, Ray Patterson and Pete Burness, worked on nothing but ''Tom & Jerry'' cartoons from 1941 until 1955. Exceptions were half a dozen one-shot theatrical shorts, 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'' (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), ''
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 ...
'' (1955), and the last seven Tex Avery shorts featuring '' Droopy''. Key to the successes of ''Tom and Jerry'' and other MGM cartoons was the work of
Scott Bradley Scott Bradley may refer to: * Scott Bradley (composer) (1891–1977), American composer, pianist, and conductor * Scott Bradley (baseball) (born 1960), American baseball catcher * Scott Bradley (politician) (born 1952), American politician and u ...
, who scored virtually all of the cartoons for the studio from 1934 to 1957. 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'' and "Sing Before Breakfast" from ''
Broadway Melody of 1936 ''Broadway Melody of 1936'' is a musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935. In New York, the film opened at the Capitol Theatre, the site of many prestigious MGM premieres. In New York, the film opened at the Capitol Theatre, the site ...
''.


Tex Avery (1941–1953)

Hugh Harman left the MGM studio in April 1942, and Rudolph Ising departed eighteen months later. George Gordon took over Ising's department, continuing work on the ''Barney Bear'' cartoons, but only completed three cartoons before he left the studio in 1943. In Harman's place, Quimby hired Tex Avery, an animation director known for his wild comedic style at the Schlesinger studio. Avery's first short for MGM was the World War II parody '' Blitz Wolf'', which was nominated for the 1942 Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons). While Avery had revolutionized cartoon humor at Schlesinger's, he went several steps further in his MGM works. Avery exaggerated his characters and situations wildly, and was noted for the precise and hard-edged timing of his gags. Among Avery's most noted cartoons for MGM were slapstick comedies such as '' Red Hot Riding Hood'' (1943), ''
Jerky Turkey ''Jerky Turkey'' is a 1945 in film, 1945 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon directed by Tex Avery. Plot In 1620, Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony), Pilgrims, riding a caricatured ''Mayflower'' with a number of World War II-era anachronisms (such as a navy gu ...
'' (1945), '' Northwest Hounded Police'' (1946), '' King-Size Canary'' (1947), '' Little Rural Riding Hood'' (1949), and '' Bad Luck Blackie'' (1949). While Avery preferred to focus on gags instead of characterization, he established several popular MGM cartoon characters, including Screwball "Screwy" Squirrel, the '' Of Mice and Men'' derived pair of George and Junior, and his best-known character, Droopy. Droopy, voiced by Bill Thompson (a.k.a. "Wallace Wimple" on NBC Radio's '' Fibber McGee and Molly'' show) debuted in 1943 with '' Dumb-Hounded''. He appeared in several more Avery cartoons (including ''Northwest Hounded Police'') before being officially given his own series in 1948 with ''Señor Droopy''. The influence of Avery's cartoons was felt across the animation industry; even Hanna and Barbera adapted their ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts to match the levels of madcap humor and violence in Avery's films. Avery's team included storymen Rich Hogan and
Heck Allen Henry Wilson "Heck" Allen (September 12, 1912 – October 26, 1991) was an American author and screenwriter. He used several different pseudonyms for his works. His 50+ novels of the American West were published under the pen names Will Henry an ...
, and animators such as Michael Lah, Ed Love, and Preston Blair, most famous for animating the sexy female singer in ''Red Hot Riding Hood'' and its follow-ups. In 1946, Quimby assigned Blair and Lah to direct a new series of ''Barney Bear'' cartoons, reversing the decision after three cartoons.


CinemaScope (1953–1957)

Tex Avery was a perfectionist: he worked extensively on his films' stories and gags, revised his animators' drawings and was even known to cut frames out of the final Technicolor answer print if he felt a gag had been animated too softly. The strain of overwork caused Avery to quit MGM in May 1950, after completing ''Rock-a-Bye Bear'' (not released until 1952 because of MGM's cartoon backlog). Former Walter Lantz and Disney director Dick Lundy was brought in to head Avery's unit. Lundy completed one ''Droopy'' cartoon and ten ''Barney Bear'' shorts before Avery returned in October 1951 and reassumed his role as director from Lundy, starting with ''Little Johnny Jet'' (released in 1953). Avery directed eleven more cartoons for MGM, many of them showing the heavy influence of the style of the newly popular UPA studio in their designs. In March 1953, MGM temporarily closed down the cartoon unit, thinking that the growing trend for
3D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pict ...
s would bring an end to the animated cartoon.Barrier, Michael. ''Hollywood Cartoons'', p. 545. Avery himself did not leave the studio until June, working with co-director Michael Lah on two more cartoons, ''Deputy Droopy'' and ''Cellbound'', which Lah completed with the Hanna and Barbera staff (working during the most part of 1953 for commercials, as a predecessor of
H-B Enterprises Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ...
) during the closure. Avery went on to join the Walter Lantz staff the following February, while Lah went on to do commercial animation work. Because of the backlog of completed MGM cartoons, the cartoons Avery completed during his second tenure at the studio were not released until after he left again; ''Cellbound'' was not released until 1955. Meanwhile, after the studio reopened in 1954, budget cuts required Hanna and Barbera to reduce the level of detail in their ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts (a precursor of what was to come), and to also begin doing one "cheater" short per year composed mostly of footage from previously released cartoons. That year, Hanna and Barbera directed ''Pet Peeve'', the first MGM cartoon in the new widescreen
CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
process, which had been was devised as a means to keep audiences attending movie theatres in the wake of the popularity of television. ''Pet Peeve'', released in late 1954, was followed by a sporadic number of CinemaScope ''Tom and Jerrys'', with several other ''Tom and Jerrys'' being dual-released in standard format and in CinemaScope. After '' Pecos Pest'' (released in 1955), all MGM cartoons were released in CinemaScope. Six previous MGM cartoons, among them Hugh Harman's ''Peace on Earth'', were remade in CinemaScope. Like the original ''Peace on Earth'' in 1939, its 1955 remake, ''Good Will to Men'', was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).


Later years (1955–1957)

Quimby retired in 1955, and Hanna and Barbera became the new heads of the studio. Michael Lah returned to the studio in 1955 to direct an animated sequence for the MGM feature '' Invitation to the Dance'', and stayed on to supervise a new series of CinemaScope ''Droopy'' cartoons to accompany the new CinemaScope ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons. Lah's '' One Droopy Knight'' was nominated for the 1957 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). However, for the most part, both the 1955–1957 CinemaScope ''Droopy'' and ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons had lost their appeal in the eyes of critics due to weaker stories and simplistic animation, which were the result of the budget cuts. To keep the studio alive, MGM had begun reissuing previously released cartoons since the 1940s, but later decided in late 1956 that, due to the reissued shorts bringing in as much revenue as the new shorts, it could save $600,000 a year by shutting down production on new shorts. Most of the reissued cartoons were Tom and Jerry, Droopy and shorts featuring Tex Avery's showgirl, Red. None of Tex Avery's Screwy Squirrel and George and Junior cartoons were reissued."MGM to Drop Production of Cartoons" (April 1, 1959). ''Daily Variety'', Vol. 95, No. 19.Interviews with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. (2004) ''How Bill and Joe Met Tom and Jerry''. Bonus feature from ''Tom and Jerry: Spotlight Collection, Vol. 1''. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Entertainment. The studio was closed on May 15, 1957 (though the last cartoon made by the studio was released in 1958), and Hanna and Barbera took most of their unit and began producing television cartoons with their company Hanna-Barbera Productions. Hanna-Barbera first approached MGM to distribute their cartoons for television, but were turned down.Maltin, Leonard. ''Of Mice and Magic'', p. 306. Columbia Pictures'
Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
picked up Hanna-Barbera's product, and the studio soon became the most successful producers of television animation in the world. MGM would later have
Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...
create a series of ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons before contracting
Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
and Les Goldman's Sib Tower 12 studio to create more ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts. Sib Tower 12 was absorbed by MGM in 1964, and was renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts.


Legacy

Many MGM cartoons have become fan favorites throughout the years due to their animation style, plot, humor, cartoon violence (specifically the Tom and Jerry shorts), music and (at times) sexual innuendos (with regards to shorts starring Red). Individual shorts such as ''
To Spring ''To Spring'' is a 1936 animated musical short produced by Harman and Ising for the MGM cartoon studio's ''Happy Harmonies'' series. Although the production credit goes to Harman and Ising this short was actually the first cartoon to be directed ...
'' (1936) and ''
The Dot and the Line ''The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics'' is a 1965 animated short film directed by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Maurice Noble, based on the 1963 book of the same name written and illustrated by Norton Juster. The film was narrat ...
'' (1965) have been acclaimed for their artistic designs while others such as '' Screwball Squirrel'' (1944) and '' King-Size Canary'' (1947) are celebrated for their sheer lunacy. Though not as popular with the general public as the Disney or Warner Bros. cartoons, MGM cartoons are heavily studied and praised by film historians and members of the animation industry. As of 2009, nearly all of the Hanna and Barbera-produced ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts are available on DVD under the '' Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection'', a series of three DVD box sets that were released from October 2004 to September 2007 (however, two cartoons are missing due to politically incorrect scenes, and several of the released ones are edited). Warner Home Video would later release the ''Tom & Jerry'' shorts as part of the'' Tom and Jerry Golden Collection'' series of DVD and Blu-ray boxsets, which started with the first volume being released October 25, 2011, with the shorts being presented uncut, restored, remastered, in chronological order, and for the Blu-ray version, in
1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vert ...
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
. Moreover, a two-disc collection of all of Droopy's cartoons was released in May 2007. Rumors have floated around for years of a box set consisting of Tex Avery's MGM work, but nothing has been released besides the ''Spotlight'' and ''Golden'' box sets for ''Tom and Jerry'' and the ''Droopy'' collection in the United States, although all of Tex Avery's cartoons were released on DVD in France through Warner Home Video. However, in 2020, Tex Avery cartoons finally started being released on Blu-ray, when Warner Archive Collection made ''Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1'' this February with 19 of the cartoons. A second volume was announced in March, and was released on December 15, 2020.


MGM Cartoon Studio Staff; 1937–1957


Producers

*
Hugh Harman Hugh Harman (August 31, 1903 – November 25, 1982) was an American animator. He was known for creating the Warner Bros. Cartoons and MGM Cartoons and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the golden age of American animation. Career He ...
(1939–1943) * Rudolph Ising (1939–1943) * Tex Avery (1942–1956) * Fred Quimby (1937–1955) * William Hanna and
Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...
(1937–1958) * Michael Lah (1955-1958)


Directors

* Tex Avery (1942–1957) * Preston Blair (1947–1950) *
Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...
(1937–1939) * George Gordon (1942–1945) * Milt Gross (1937–1939) * Michael Lah (1947–1950, 1954–1958) * Dick Lundy (1952–1954) * William Hanna (1938-1958) *
Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...
(1940-1958) * Rudolf Ising (1939-1943) *
Hugh Harman Hugh Harman (August 31, 1903 – November 25, 1982) was an American animator. He was known for creating the Warner Bros. Cartoons and MGM Cartoons and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the golden age of American animation. Career He ...
(1939-1942)


Writers

*
Heck Allen Henry Wilson "Heck" Allen (September 12, 1912 – October 26, 1991) was an American author and screenwriter. He used several different pseudonyms for his works. His 50+ novels of the American West were published under the pen names Will Henry an ...
*
Homer Brightman Homer Brightman (October 1, 1901 – January 30, 1988) was an American screenwriter who worked for Walt Disney Productions, Walter Lantz Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, UPA, Larry Harmon Pictures, Cambria Productions and DePa ...
*
Jack Cosgriff Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
*
Rich Hogan Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling **Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated commun ...
* Cal Howard * Carman Maxwell * William Hanna *
Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...


Animators

* Ray Abrams * Ed Barge * Robert Bentley *
Richard Bickenbach Richard Frederick Bickenbach (August 9, 1907 – June 28, 1994) was an American animator who worked for Warner Bros. Cartoons and as a layout artist and character designer for MGM and Hanna-Barbera Productions. He worked on animation for many ...
* Preston Blair * Pete Burness * Jack Carr * George Gordon * Emery Hawkins * Michael Lah * Bill Littlejohn * Ed Love *
Kenneth Muse Kenneth Muse (July 26, 1910 – July 26, 1987) was an American animator best known for his work on the ''Tom and Jerry'' series at MGM. Biography Muse worked briefly at Walt Disney Productions, where he was Preston Blair's assistant on '' Fa ...
* Bill Nolan * Don Patterson * Ray Patterson *
Ken Southworth Ken Southworth (September 22, 1918 – December 6, 2007) was an English animator, cartoonist and animation instructor who worked for a number of major animation studios throughout his nearly 60-year career, including Walt Disney Studios, Hann ...
* Irven Spence *
Gil Turner Gil Turner (born Gilbert Strunk; May 6, 1933 – September 23, 1974) was an American folk singer-songwriter, magazine editor, Shakespearean actor, political activist, and for a time, a lay Baptist preacher. Turner was a prominent figure in th ...
* Bill Tytla * Carl Urbano * Carlo Vinci * Carman Maxwell * Rudy Zamora *
Jack Zander Arthur Jack Zander (May 3, 1908 – December 17, 2007) was an American animator whose career lasted from the "golden age" of theatrical animation into the 1980s. Biography Jack Zander was born on May 3, 1908, in Kalamazoo, Michigan as Arthur ...


Layout and background artists

* Ed Benedict *
Harvey Eisenberg Harvey Eisenberg (February 11, 1911 – April 22, 1965) was an American animator and comic book artist. Best known for his work with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio and later at their own Hanna-Barbera ...
* Bob Kuwahara * Gene Hazelton


Voice actors

* William Hanna * Sara Berner *
Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...
* Billy Bletcher * Lucille Bliss * Daws Butler *
Red Coffey Merle Herman Coffman, better known by his stage name Red Coffey (April 24, 1923 – August 1, 1988), was an American voice actor and comedian known for playing Quacker in the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio f ...
* Pinto Colvig * Hans Conried * June Foray * Paul Frees * Frank Graham * Harry Lang *
Patrick McGeehan Patrick McGeehan (March 4, 1907 – January 3, 1988) was an American actor. Early life Patrick Joseph McGeehan was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on March 4, 1907. He left home at age 14 when he went to sea, later working in vaudeville, and wa ...
*
Cliff Nazarro Clifford Nazarro (January 31, 1904 – February 18, 1961) was an American double-talk Double-talk is a form of speech in which inappropriate, invented, or nonsense words are interpolated into normal speech to give the appearance of knowledg ...
*
Lillian Randolph Lillian Randolph (December 14, 1898 – September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. She worked in entertainment from the 1930s until shortly before her death. She appeared in hundreds of radi ...
* Kent Rogers * Bill Thompson * Thea Vidale * Martha Wentworth *
Gayne Whitman Gayne Whitman (born Alfred D. Vosburgh; March 19, 1890 – August 31, 1958) was an American radio and film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1904 and 1957. In some early films he was credited under his birth name. He was born ...


Musical directors

*
Scott Bradley Scott Bradley may refer to: * Scott Bradley (composer) (1891–1977), American composer, pianist, and conductor * Scott Bradley (baseball) (born 1960), American baseball catcher * Scott Bradley (politician) (born 1952), American politician and u ...
(1937–1958) * Bert Lewis (1937–1939) * Edward Plumb (1953)


Sound department

* Fred McAlpin (1937-1948) * Jim Faris (1948-1952) * Lovell Norman (1952-1957)


Productions

; Series * ''
The Captain and the 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).Count Screwloose Count Screwloose is a character in the comic strip ''Count Screwloose from Tooloose'' by Milt Gross, introduced on February 17, 1929. The count is portrayed as a mentally ill man who frequently leaves Nuttycrest Sanitarium, the insane asylum where ...
'' (1939; directed by Milt Gross) * '' Barney Bear'' (1939–1944, 1947–1949, 1952–1954; directed by Rudolf Ising, George Gordon, Preston Blair, Michael Lah and Dick Lundy) * ''Three Bears'' (also known as ''The Bear Family'', 1939–1940; produced and directed by
Hugh Harman Hugh Harman (August 31, 1903 – November 25, 1982) was an American animator. He was known for creating the Warner Bros. Cartoons and MGM Cartoons and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the golden age of American animation. Career He ...
) * '' Tom and Jerry'' (1940–1958; produced and directed by Hanna and Barbera, 1961-1962; produced and directed by
Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...
and William L. Synder, 1963-1967; produced and directed by
Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
) * ''Homer Flea'' (1940, 1948; directed by Rudolf Ising and Tex Avery) * '' Droopy'' (1943–1958; directed by Tex Avery, Dick Lundy and Michael Lah) * '' Red Hot Riding Hood & The Wolf'' (1943–1949; directed by Tex Avery) * ''Ol' Doc Donkey'' (1944-45; directed by George Gordon) * '' Screwy Squirrel'' (1944–1946; directed by Tex Avery) * '' George and Junior'' (1946–1948; directed by Tex Avery) * '' Spike'' (1949–1952, 1955, 1957; directed by Tex Avery) * '' Spike and Tyke'' (1957; produced and directed by Hanna and Barbera) ; Live-action films with animated sequences * '' Anchors Aweigh'' (1945; "The Worry Song" sequence with
Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...
and Jerry Mouse with a cameo by Tom Cat) * ''
Holiday in Mexico ''Holiday in Mexico'' is a 1946 Technicolor musical directed by George Sidney and starring Walter Pidgeon, Jane Powell, and Ilona Massey. Plot The film starts with a brief cartoon of telephone wires from Washington, DC trying to call Mexico. Je ...
'' (1946; Animated title sequence) * ''
Dangerous When Wet ''Dangerous When Wet'' is a 1953 American live-action/animated musical comedy film starring Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas and Jack Carson, directed by Charles Walters and featuring an animated swimming sequence starring Williams with the cat-a ...
'' (1953; Animated swimming sequence with
Esther Williams Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...
and Tom & Jerry) * '' Invitation to the Dance'' (1956; "Sinbad the Sailor" sequence)


See also

* The Golden Age of American animation *
Turner Entertainment Co. Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...
* Warner Bros. Animation **
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
* MGM Animation/Visual Arts * Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation


Notes


References

* Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . * Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987) ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons'', New York: Plume Books. * Adams, T.R. (1991), Tom and Jerry: Fifty Years of Cat and Mouse, {{DEFAULTSORT:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoon Studio American companies established in 1937 American companies disestablished in 1957 Entertainment companies established in 1937 Mass media companies established in 1937 Mass media companies disestablished in 1957 American animation studios Film studios in Southern California Companies based in Culver City, California Entertainment companies based in California 1937 establishments in California 1957 disestablishments in California Cartoon Studio Defunct American film studios Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Articles containing video clips