Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animation, animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales ...

, serving as the in-house animation division of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

during the

Golden Age of American animation The golden age of American animation was a period that began with the popularization of Sound film, sound synchronized cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medi ...

. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was primarily responsible for the ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' and ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'' series of animated short films. The characters featured in these cartoons, including

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...

, and

Porky Pig Porky Pig is a cartoon 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 man ...

, are among the most famous and recognizable characters in the world. Many of the creative staff members at the studio, including directors and animators such as

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (; August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons ...

Robert McKimson Robert Porter McKimson Sr. (October 13, 1910 – September 29, 1977) was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePa ...

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (; February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of America ...

Robert Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the te ...

, Arthur Davis, and

Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator and filmmaker. He was best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' ...

, are considered major figures in the art and history of

traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawing, drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there wa ...

. Warner Bros. Cartoons was founded in 1933 by

Leon Schlesinger Leonardo 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 The gold ...

as Leon Schlesinger Productions. Schlesinger sold the studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which the Warner Bros. Cartoons name was adopted. The studio closed in 1963, and ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' were subsequently subcontracted to Freleng's

DePatie–Freleng Enterprises DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, Inc. (also known as Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng Productions when involved with the Mirisch brothers and Geoffrey Productions, and DFE Films) was an American animation studio founded by former Warner Bros. Car ...

studio from 1964 to 1967. Warner Bros. Cartoons re-opened that year, under Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, before closing again in 1969. It was succeeded by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. (abbreviated as WBA) is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Group, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation divis ...

, which was established in 1980.

History

1930–1933: Harman-Ising Productions

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 studios and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the Golden Age of American animation. ...

and

Rudolf Ising Rudolf Carl "Rudy" 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 a ...

originated the ''

'' and ''

'' series of animated short subjects in 1930 and 1931, respectively. Both cartoon series were produced for Leon Schlesinger at the

Harman-Ising Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team and company known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios. In 1929, the studio was founded under the name Harman-Ising Productions, producing ''Looney T ...

Studio on Hollywood Boulevard in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, with

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...

releasing the films to theaters. The first ''Looney Tunes'' character was the Harman-Ising creation

Bosko, The Talk-ink Kid ''Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid'' is a 1929 live-action/animated short film produced to sell a series of Bosko cartoons. The film was never released to theaters, and therefore not seen by a wide audience until 2000 (71 years later) on Cartoon Network' ...

, who competed with

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

and

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development ...

Betty Boop Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...

. In 1933, Harman and Ising parted company with Schlesinger over financial disputes, and took Bosko with them to

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

. To maintain his contract with Warner Bros., Schlesinger set up his own studio on the Warner Bros. lot on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

1933–1944: Leon Schlesinger Productions

The Schlesinger studio got off to a slow start, continuing their one-shot ''Merrie Melodies'' and introducing a non canon

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 thirty-nine ''Looney Tunes'' shorts released by Warn ...

replacement named Buddy to serve as the new star of ''Looney Tunes''. The studio then formed the three-unit structure that it would retain throughout most of its history, with one of the units headed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, and the other by Earl Duvall, who was replaced by Jack King a year later. In 1935, after Buddy proved not to be a successful character, Freleng helmed the ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon '' I Haven't Got a Hat'', which introduced the character

.Barrier, Michael (1999). Pg. 329–33. Hardaway and King departed, and a new arrival at Schlesinger's, Fred "Tex" Avery, took Freleng's creation and ran with it. Avery directed a string of cartoons starring Porky Pig that established the character as the studio's first bona fide star. Schlesinger also gradually moved the ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons from black and white, to two-strip

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

in 1934, and finally to full three-strip Technicolor in 1935. The ''Looney Tunes'' series would be produced in black-and-white for much longer, until 1943. Because of the limited spacing conditions in the Schlesinger building at 1351 N. Van Ness on the Warner Sunset lot, Avery and his unit – including animators

and

– were moved into a small building elsewhere on the Sunset lot, which Avery and his team affectionately dubbed "Termite Terrace". Although the Avery unit moved out of the building after a year, "Termite Terrace" later became a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

for the classic

animation department in general, even for years after the building was abandoned, condemned, and torn down. During this period, four cartoons were outsourced to the

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert "Ub" Iwerks ( ; March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, Invention, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and f ...

studio; however, Iwerks struggled to adapt his style to the type of humor that the Looney Tunes had developed by this time, and so Clampett took over as director (using Iwerks' staff) for the last two of these outsourced cartoons. Schlesinger was so impressed by Clampett's work on these shorts that he opened a fourth unit for Clampett to head, although for tax reasons this was technically a separate studio headed by Schlesinger's brother-in-law, Ray Katz. From 1936 until 1944,

animation directors An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated or television film, or an animated segment for a live-action film or television show. Alternatively, the animation directo ...

and

animators An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

such as Freleng, Avery, Clampett, Jones, Arthur Davis,

, and

worked at the studio. During this period, these creators introduced several of the most popular cartoon characters to date, including

(1937, '' Porky's Duck Hunt'' by Avery),

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

(1940, ''

Elmer's Candid Camera ''Elmer's Candid Camera'' is a 1940 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon short directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on March 2, 1940, and features Elmer Fudd and an early Bugs Bunny prototype. Plot Elmer is reading a book on h ...

'' by Jones),

(1940, '' A Wild Hare'' by Avery), and

Tweety Tweety is an animated character, a yellow canary bird in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. His characteristics are based on Red Skelton's famous "Junior the Mean Widdle Kid". He appeared in ...

(1942, ''

A Tale of Two Kitties ''A Tale of Two Kitties'' is a 1942 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Bob Clampett, and was released on November 21, 1942. The short features the debut of Tweety, originally named Orson until his second cartoon, who deliver ...

'' by Clampett). Avery left the studio in 1941 following a series of disputes with Schlesinger, who shortly after closed the studio for two weeks due to a minor strike similar to the better known one that occurred at Disney. A few months earlier he banished all unionized employees in what became known in retrospect as the "Looney Tune Lockout"; this time Schlesinger lost nearly all of his employees of the Avery unit, excluding its key animators. Clampett and several of his own artists took over Avery's former unit, while Clampett's own position as director of the Schlesinger-Katz studio was taken by Norm McCabe, a Clampett animator whose cartoons focused in war-related humor; McCabe, in turn, lasted barely a year before being drafted, and Frank Tashlin returned to the studio to replace him. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Productions as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States. Between 1942 and 1945, the Schlesinger studio produced a number of films for the United States military in support of its efforts in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Under the command of the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

First Motion Picture Unit The 18th AAF Base Unit (Motion Picture Unit), originally known as the First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces, was the primary film production unit of the United States Army Air Forces, U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) during World War II, and w ...

, headed from 1942 to 1944 by Major Theodor Seuss Geisel (better known as

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' Private Snafu'' and (with

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1949 and then from 1950 to 1972, and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures. The studio was originally formed as Universal Carto ...

) ''

Mr. Hook Mr. Hook (Also referred to as Seaman Hook or just Hook) is the title character of a series of American animated cartoon shorts produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II for the US Navy. The series included four shorts, with the first produ ...

'' cartoons for the servicemen's entertainment.

1944–1963: Warner Bros. Cartoons

On July 1, 1944, Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. for $700,000, which renamed the company Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc., and Edward Selzer (who by Jones' and Freleng's accounts had no sense of humor or admiration of cartoons), was appointed by Warner Bros. as the new head of the cartoon studio after Schlesinger retired. In September 1944 Frank Tashlin left, and in May 1945, Bob Clampett left. Tashlin's unit was initially taken over by

. The remaining animators of the initial Clampett's unit were assigned to Arthur Davis. Although inheriting most of their staff, these units have been the least known among the four, apart from having lower budgets than Jones and Freleng. In 1948, the studio moved to a larger building on the Sunset Boulevard lot. Davis' separate unit was dissolved in November 1947, and he became an animator for Freleng. The four units became noted by their respective styles, mostly influenced by their budgets: Jones' cartoons (having the largest budgets) featured a more visual and sophisticated art style, and focused more on unique story telling and characterization over traditional gags, Freleng's cartoons (having a smaller budget than Jones) developed a conservative directorial style which uses sharp timing, jokes and use of music for comedic effect McKimson's cartoons (also with a smaller budget) kept up the traditional screwball antics-based direction into the 50s, while trying to maintain a fully-animated style, and Davis' cartoons (having the smallest budget of the four units) prioritizes its animation and jokes over the stories, as Davis was said to had an insecurity with his story men. Among the Warner Bros. cartoon stars who were created after Schlesinger's departure include

Pepé Le Pew Pepé Le Pew is an animated character from the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons, introduced in 1945. Depicted as a French anthropomorphic striped skunk, Pepé is constantly on the quest for love and pursui ...

(1945, ''

Odor-able Kitty ''Odor-able Kitty'' is a 1945 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on January 6, 1945, and was the first appearance of the romantic skunk Pepé Le Pew. The scriptwriter was Tedd Pierce. Jones, a ...

'' by Jones),

Sylvester Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...

(1945, '' Life with Feathers'' by Freleng),

Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( ) 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 in California. His real name is ''Aloysius Bartholamew Sam''. ...

(1945, '' Hare Trigger'' by Freleng),

Foghorn Leghorn Foghorn Leghorn is an anthropomorphic 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 gol ...

(1946, '' Walky Talky Hawky'' by McKimson),

Marvin the Martian Marvin the Martian is an extraterrestrial character from the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series. He frequently appears as a villain in cartoons and video games, and wears a Roman soldier's helmet and skirt. The character has be ...

(1948, ''

Haredevil Hare ''Haredevil Hare'' is a 1948 ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. It stars Bugs Bunny and it is the debut for Marvin the Martian — who is unnamed in this film—along with his Martian dog, K-9. It is the last pre-August 19 ...

'' by Jones),

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 short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each film, the cunning, d ...

(1949, ''

Fast and Furry-ous ''Fast and Furry-ous'' is a 1949 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on September 17, 1949, and stars Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, in their debut. This w ...

'' by Jones), Granny (1950, ''

Canary Row ''Canary Row'' is a 1949 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' short directed by Friz Freleng and written by Tedd Pierce. The short was released on October 7, 1950, and stars Tweety and Sylvester. This is the first Sylvester and Tweety cartoon to ...

'' by Freleng),

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 fast ...

(1953, '' Cat-Tails for Two'' by McKimson) and The Tasmanian Devil (1954, ''

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 in ...

'' by McKimson). In later years, even more minor ''Looney Tunes'' characters such as Freleng's

Rocky and Mugsy 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 Fud ...

, Jones's

Gossamer Gossamer most commonly refers to: * Fine spider silk used by spiderlings for ballooning or kiting * Gossamer (fabric), very light, sheer, gauze-like fabric Gossamer may also refer to: Technology * Gossamer Condor, the first human-powered ai ...

and Michigan J. Frog, and McKimson's Pete Puma have become significantly popular.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 187–8. After the verdict of 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 Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

case in 1948 ended the practice of "

block booking Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96. ...

", Warner Bros. could no longer force theaters into buying their features and shorts together as packages; shorts had to be sold separately. Theater owners were only willing to pay so much for cartoon shorts, and as a result, by the late-1950s the budgets at Warner Bros. Cartoons became tighter. Selzer forced a stringent five-week production schedule on each cartoon (at least one director, Chuck Jones, cheated the system by spending more time on special cartoons such as '' What's Opera, Doc?'', less time on simpler productions such as Road Runner entries, and had his crew forge their time cards). With less money for full animation, the Warner Bros. story men —

Michael Maltese Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American screenwriter and storyboard artist for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director ...

Tedd Pierce Edward Stacey "Tedd" Pierce III (August 12, 1906 – February 19, 1972) was an American screenwriter and voice actor of animated cartoons, principally from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s. Biography Pierce was the son of a stockbroker, Samuel ...

, and

Warren Foster Warren Foster (October 24, 1904 – December 13, 1971) was an American writer, cartoonist and composer. He was best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons, contributing prominently (mostly stories) towards the Looney Tunes, ''Looney ...

— began to focus more of their cartoons on dialogue. While story artists were assigned to directors at random during the 1930s and 1940s, by the 1950s each story man worked almost exclusively with one director: Maltese with Jones, Foster with Freleng, and Pierce with McKimson. With the advent of the

3-D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of Stereoscopy#3D viewers, special glasses worn by viewers. 3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in Amer ...

craze in 1953, Warner Bros. shut its cartoon studio down in June of that year, fearing that 3-D cartoon production would be too expensive (only one Warner Bros. cartoon was ever produced in 3-D, Jones' ''

Lumber Jack-Rabbit ''Lumber Jack-Rabbit'' is a 1953 3-D Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon short directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese The cartoon was released on September 25, 1953, and stars Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character cr ...

'' starring Bugs Bunny). The creative staff dispersed (Jones, for example, went to work at Disney on ''

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

'', Maltese went to

, and Freleng went into commercial work). Warner Bros. Cartoons re-opened five months after its close, following the end of the 3-D craze. In 1955, the staff moved into a brand new facility on the main Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

television took over the old studio location on Van Ness; the old Warner Sunset Studios is today called

Sunset Bronson Studios The Old Warner Brothers Studio, now known as the Sunset Bronson Studios (formerly known as KTLA Studios and Tribune Studios), is a motion picture, radio and television production facility located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Ca ...

. Also on February 19, 1955, Warner Bros. sold its library of black and white Looney Tunes to

Guild Films A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

. The package consisted of 191 cartoons which began showing on television that year. By 1958, Selzer had retired, and veteran Warner Cartoons production manager John Burton took his place. Warner Bros. also lost its trio of staff storymen at this time. Foster and Maltese found work at

Hanna-Barbera Productions Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

, while Pierce worked on a freelance basis with writing partner Bill Danch. John Dunn and Dave Detiege, both former Disney men, were hired to replace them. During Burton's tenure, Warner Bros. Cartoons branched out into television. In the fall of 1960, ABC TV premiered ''

The Bugs Bunny Show ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' is a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that is mainly composed of theatrical ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 196 ...

'', which was a package program featuring three theatrical Warner Bros. cartoons, with newly produced wraparounds to introduce each short. The program remained on the air under various names and on all three major networks for four decades from 1960 to 2000. All versions of ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' featured Warner Bros. cartoons released after July 31, 1948, as all of the Technicolor cartoons released before that date were sold to

Associated Artists Productions Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the ' ...

on June 11, 1956.The Warner Bros. cartoon in the Associated Artists Productions package with the latest release date was ''

'', released on July 24, 1948.

David H. DePatie David Hudson DePatie (; December 24, 1929 – September 23, 2021) was an American film and television producer who was the last and longest-lived executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. He also formed DePatie–Freleng ...

became the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio in 1961. The same year, Chuck Jones moonlighted to write the script for a UPA-produced feature titled ''

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 as Mewsette, a feline living in the French countryside wanting to go to Paris ...

''. When that film was picked up by Warner Bros. for distribution in 1962, the studio learned that Jones had violated his exclusive contract with Warners and he was terminated in July. Most of Jones' former unit subsequently re-joined him at

Sib Tower 12 Productions MGM Animation/Visual Arts was an American animation studio established in 1962 by animation director/producer Chuck Jones, producer Les Goldman and executive Walter Bien as Sib Tower 12 Productions. Its productions include the last series of ''T ...

to work on a new series of ''

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 ...

'' cartoons for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

.Barrier, Michael (1999). Pg. 562–3. In late 1962, at the height of television popularity and decline in moviegoing, DePatie was sent to a board meeting in New York, and he was informed that the cartoon studio was going to be shut down. DePatie completed the task by 1963. The final project at the studio was making the animated sequences, directed by McKimson, for the 1964 Warner Bros. feature ''

The Incredible Mr. Limpet ''The Incredible Mr. Limpet'' is a 1964 American live-action/animated hybrid comedy film produced by Warner Bros.'' Variety'' film review; January 22, 1964, page 6. and based on the 1942 novel ''Mr. Limpet'' by Theodore Pratt. It is about a ...

''. With the studio closed, Hal Seeger Productions in New York had to be contracted to produce the opening and closing credits for ''

The Porky Pig Show ''The Porky Pig Show'' is an American animated television anthology series hosted by Porky Pig, that was composed of ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' theatrical cartoons made between 1948 and 1964. The series aired on American Broadcastin ...

'', which debuted on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

on September 20, 1964. This marked one of the first times that the ''Looney Tunes'' characters were animated outside of the Los Angeles area.

1964–1967: DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Format Productions

David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng started

in 1963, and leased the old Warner Bros. Cartoons studio as their headquarters. In 1964, Warner Bros. contracted DePatie–Freleng to produce more ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'', an arrangement that lasted until 1967. The vast majority of these paired off Daffy Duck against Speedy Gonzales, and after a few initial cartoons directed by Freleng, Robert McKimson was hired to direct most of the remaining DePatie–Freleng ''Looney Tunes''. In addition to DePatie–Freleng's cartoons, a series of new shorts featuring The Road Runner and

Wile E. Coyote 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 short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each film, the cunning, d ...

was commissioned from an independent animation studio,

Herbert Klynn Herbert Klynn (November 11, 1917 – February 3, 1999) was an American animator at United Productions of America, UPA from 1944 to 1959 eventually rising to the role of Vice President and Production Chief. He worked on various Mr. Magoo cartoons ...

's Format Productions. Veteran Warner 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 school ...

, who had worked for years under Road Runner creator Chuck Jones, assumed directorial duties for these films, and a few other former associates of Jones (

Bob Bransford Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surname) * Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II *Bob th ...

, Ernie Nordli) came aboard. Even with the Jones connections, Larriva's Road Runner shorts were considered to be inferior and witless compared to Jones' by critics. McKimson also directed an additional two Road Runner shorts with the main DePatie–Freleng team, which are more highly regarded than Larriva's efforts. After three years of outsourced cartoons, Warner Bros. decided to bring production back in-house. DePatie–Freleng had their contract terminated (they subsequently moved to new studios in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

), and Format was commissioned to produce three "buffer" cartoons with Daffy and Speedy (again, directed by Rudy Larriva) to fill the gap until Warner Bros.'s own studio was up and running again.

1967–1969: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation

The new cartoon studio was to be founded and headed by studio executive William L. Hendricks, and after an unsuccessful attempt at luring Bob Clampett out of retirement, former

and Hanna-Barbera animator

Alex Lovy Alexander Lovy (September 2, 1913 – February 14, 1992) was an American animator. He spent the majority of his career as an animator and director at Walter Lantz Productions. He was later a producer at Hanna-Barbera, and also supervised the car ...

was appointed director at the new studio. He brought his longtime collaborator, Laverne Harding to be the new studio's chief animator, and brought in Disney animator Volus Jones and Ed Solomon who also started at Disney as an assistant, which contributed to make cartoons from this era of the studio stylistically quite different from the studio's "Golden Age". Lovy also brought in animator Ted Bonnicksen and layout artist Bob Givens, both veterans of the original studio. Shortly after the studio opened, Warner Bros. was bought out by Seven Arts Associates, and the studio renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Initially, Lovy's new team produced more Daffy and Speedy cartoons, but soon moved to create new characters such as

Cool Cat Cool Cat may refer to: * ''Cool Cat'' (album), an album by jazz trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker * ''Cool Cat'' (book), a picture book by Nonny Hogrogian * ''Cool Cat'' (film), a 1967 animated cartoon film * Cool Cat (Looney Tunes), a Warner Bros. cart ...

and

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. Warne ...

, and even occasional experimental works such as ''

Norman Normal ''Norman Normal'' is a 1968 animation, animated cartoon short, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons#1967–1969: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation. It was produced as a collaboration between musician Paul Stookey ...

'' (1968), the only cartoon not to be in either series. Lovy's cartoons were not well received, and many enthusiasts regard them (particularly his Daffy and Speedy efforts) as the worst cartoons ever produced by the studio. After a year, Alex Lovy left and returned to Hanna-Barbera, and Robert McKimson was brought back to the studio. He focused on using the characters that Lovy had created (and two of his own creation:

Bunny and Claude 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 Fud ...

). The studio's classic characters appeared only in advertisements (as for

Plymouth Road Runner The Plymouth Road Runner is a muscle car introduced by Chrysler in the United States for the 1968 model year and marketed under its Plymouth brand. Initially based on the Belvedere, the brand's basic mid-size model, the Road Runner combined a ...

) and cartoon show bumpers. McKimson's films of the era have more adult-oriented humor than Lovy's. However, on October 10, 1969, Warner Bros. ceased production on all its short subjects and shut the studio down for good when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was acquired by

Kinney National Company Kinney Services Inc. was an American conglomerate company that existed from 1961 to 1972. Kinney Services was established as a holding company and originated from a joint venture between a funeral business and parking company. After Mergers and ...

. The back catalog of ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts would remain a popular broadcast and syndication package for

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

well into the 2000s, by which time it had reacquired the distribution rights to the pre-August 1948 shorts it sold to

(known as a.a.p.) on June 11, 1956.

Warner Bros. Cartoons staff: 1933–1969

Studio heads

(1933–1944) *

Eddie Selzer Edward Selzer (January 12, 1893 – February 22, 1970) was an American film producer who served as head of Warner Bros. Cartoons from 1944 to 1958. Personal life The son of German Jewish immigrants, Selzer was raised in New York City with hi ...

(1944–1958) * John Burton (1958–1961) *

(1961–1963) * William L. Hendricks (1967–1969)

Directors

(1935–1942) (credited as Fred Avery) *

Ted Bonnicksen Ted may refer to: Names A shortened form of the following: * Edmund * Edward * Thaddeus * Theodore (given name) Art, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Ted, a character in the post-apocalyptic short story ''I Have No Mouth, a ...

(1963) * Bernard B. Brown (1934) *

Gerry Chiniquy Germain Adolph Chiniquy (pronounced "chin-a-KEE"; June 23, 1912 – November 22, 1989) was an American animator known for his work with Friz Freleng at both Warner Bros. Cartoons and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. Chiniquy joined Freleng's ani ...

(1964) *

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the te ...

(1937–1946) (credited as Robert Clampett) * Cal Dalton (1938–1940) * Arthur Davis (1946–1949, 1962) * Earl Duvall (1933–1934) *

(1934–1938, 1940–1965) (credited (until late 1935) as Isadore Freleng and (until late 1955) as I. Freleng) *

Ben Hardaway Joseph Benson Hardaway (May 21, 1895 – February 5, 1957) was an American storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer and director for several American animation studios during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He was sometim ...

(1934–1935, 1938–1940) *

Ken Harris Karyl Ross "Ken" Harris (July 31, 1898 – March 24, 1982) was an American animator best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons under the supervision of director Chuck Jones. Life and career Ken Harris was born in Tulare County, Califor ...

(1959) *

(1965-1967) * Cal Howard (1938) *

(1937) *

(1938–1964) (credited (until late 1940) as Charles Jones and (until late 1955) as Charles M. Jones) * Jack King (1934–1936) *

Abe Levitow Abraham Levitow (July 2, 1922 – May 8, 1975) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and MGM Animation/Visual Arts. He is best known for his work under Chuck Jones' direction. Career Levitow was born in Los Angele ...

(1959–1962) *

(1950-1954, 1967–1968) *

Norman McCabe Norman Hildreth McCabe (February 10, 1911 – January 17, 2006) was an American animator who enjoyed a long career that lasted into the 1990s. Early life and Warner Bros. McCabe was born in England and raised in the United States. He wor ...

(1940–1943) *

(1946–1969) * Phil Monroe (1963–1964) *

Maurice Noble Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand ma ...

(1961–1964) * Tom Palmer (1933) *

Hawley Pratt Hawley B. Pratt (June 9, 1911 – March 4, 1999) was an American film director, animator, designer and illustrator. He is best known for his work for Warner Bros. Cartoons and as the right-hand man of director Friz Freleng as a layout artist and ...

(1961–1964) *

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 ...

(1955-1956) *

(1936–1938, 1943–1946) *

Richard Thompson Richard Thompson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Thompson (animator) (1914–1998), Warner Bros. cartoon animator in the 1950s * Richard Thompson (cartoonist) (1957–2016), cartoonist who also worked as an illustrator * Richard Tho ...

(1963) *

Bill Tytla Vladimir 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 ...

(1964) * (1965)

Storyboard artists/writers

Howard Baldwin Howard Lapsley BaldwinRose Weld Baldwin obituary
ccgfuneralhome.com; acce ...

Nick Bennion Nick may refer to: People and fictional characters * Nick (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Désirée Nick, German actress and writer Places * Nick, Hungary, a village * Nick, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, a v ...

* David Detiege * John Dunn *

* George Hill * Cal Howard * Rich Hogan *

Lew Landsman Lew or LEW may refer to: People * Lew (given name) * Lew (surname) Places * Lew, Oxfordshire, England * River Lew, in Devon, England Transport * LEW Hennigsdorf, a rail vehicle factory in Hennigsdorf, Germany * Lew (locomotive), a British narro ...

Lou Lilly Louie Haskall Lilly (February 26, 1909 – August 9, 1999) was an American animator, screenwriter and director best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Awards *1985 Golden Awa ...

* *

* George Manuell *

* Melvin "Tubby" Millar * Jack Miller * Dave Monahan *

Fred Neiman Fred Neiman (October 1860 – 25 December 1910) was an English ventriloquist, music hall performer, and variety agent. He was born in Brighton; his father was a tailor, born in Hungary. After touring with a company presenting a panorama of t ...

* Bill Scott *

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' Lloyd Turner James Lloyd Turner (August 9, 1884 – April 7, 1976) was a Canadian ice hockey manager and executive. He was born in Elmvale, Ontario. Career Turner's first real experience with hockey began in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He played on an amateu ...

Sid Sutherland Sidney E. Sutherland (August 7, 1901 – April 20, 1968) was an American animator, screenwriter, and sound editor who is best known as the animator of many classic Warner Bros. cartoons. Career Sutherland's professional life was varied across ...

Michael Sasanoff Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

John Elliotte John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

Webb Smith A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process ...

Layout/Background artists/designers

Pete Alvarado Peter J. Alvarado Jr. (February 22, 1920 – December 27, 2003) was an American animation and comic book artist. Alvarado's animation career spanned almost 60 years. He was also a prolific contributor to Western Publishing's line of comic books. ...

Philip DeGuard Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularized the n ...

Gene Fleury In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

Nic Gibson Nic is a gender-neutral given name, often short for Nicole, Nicholas, Nicola, or Dominic. It is also a component of Irish-language female surnames. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Nic Dalton (born 1964), Australian musician * Nic Endo ...

Robert Givens Robert Herman Givens (March 2, 1918 – December 14, 2017) was an American animator and character designer, responsible for the creation of Bugs Bunny. He was the leading character designer for Leon Schlesinger, creating over 25 successful ch ...

Robert Gribbroek Robert Gribbroek (March 16, 1906 – October 13, 1971) was a layout artist and background painter at the Warner Bros. Cartoons from 1945 until 1964. He was first credited in Chuck Jones' ''Lost and Foundling'' (1944), and he worked mainly for Jones ...

Alex Ignatiev Alex Ignatiev (born 1945) is an American physicist, currently distinguished professor at University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was establ ...

John Didrik Johnsen John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

Willie Ito Willie Katsutoshi Ito Jr. (born July 17, 1934) is an American animator. He worked for Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1950s, moved to Warner Bros. Cartoons and Hanna-Barbera Productions as a character designer, and later returned to Disney. ...

* Paul Julian *

Earl Klein Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

* John McGrew * Tom McKimson *

* Ernie Nordli *

Tom O'Loughlin Thomas O'Loughlin (born 1958, Dublin) is Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham. He earned a BA, MPhil, PhD (NUI), STB (Maynooth) and DD hon.c (Bangor). Career Tom studied for his BA in Philosophy and Medieval Histo ...

* David Rose *

Micheal Sasanoff Micheal is a masculine given name. It is sometimes an anglicized form of the Irish names Micheál, Mícheál and Michéal; or the Scottish Gaelic name Mìcheal. It is also a spelling variant of the common masculine given name '' Michael'', and is ...

* Don Smith * William Butler *

Richard H. Thomas Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and i ...

Cornett Wood Cornett Wood (September 12, 1905 – May 16, 1980) was an American animator and layout artist. Along with other Disney animators Harry Reed and John A. Waltz, Wood was a graduate of the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis. He served as an ...

Irv Wyner Irv Wyner (September 4, 1904 – November 8, 2002) was a background artist who was most associated with the theatrical Looney Tunes animated shorts, in Friz Freleng's unit. His first credited work was on the 1952 animated short Gift Wrapped, a ...

* Gene Hazelton

Animators

Fred Abranz Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

Art Babbitt Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and a ...

* Warren Batchelder * 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 ca ...

* Norm Blackburn *

Jack Bradbury John Morin "Jack" Bradbury (December 27, 1914 – May 15, 2004) was an American animator and comic book artist. Bradbury began working for Disney at age 20 and was responsible for key scenes in films like ''Pinocchio'', ''Fantasia'' and ''Bambi' ...

Pete Burness Wilson David "Pete" Burness (June 16, 1904 – July 21, 1969) was an American animator and animation director. He was perhaps best known for his work on the Mr. Magoo series. He also contributed to the ''Tom and Jerry'' series, ''Looney Tunes'' ...

* George Cannata * Robert "Bobe" Cannon * John Carey * Jack Carr * Ken Champin *

* Ben Clopton *

Herman Cohen Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 – June 2, 2002) was an American producer of B-movies during the 1950s, and helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic '' I Was a Teenage Werewolf''. Career Born in Detroit ...

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 ...

* Cal Dalton * Keith Darling *

Basil Davidovich Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variet ...

* Arthur Davis * Jim Davis *

Phil DeLara Philip DeLara (1911–1973) was a Warner Bros. Cartoons animator and Disney comics, MGM and Hanna-Barbera artist. As an animator, he worked on Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck and later on Speedy Gonzales, and The Tasmanian Devil, among ot ...

* Jaime Diaz *

Joe D'Igalo Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage, based on the novel ''Joe'' (1991) by Larry Brown * Joe (2023 film), an Indian film * ''Joe'' (TV ser ...

Russ Dyson Russ is a masculine given name, often a short form of Russell (given name), Russell, and also a surname. People Given name or nickname * Russ (rapper) (born 1992), American rapper, real name Russell James Vitale * Russ Abbot (born 1947), Britis ...

* Robert Edmunds * Izzy Ellis * Paul Fennell * John Freeman * Ed Friedman * Ace "A.C." Gamer (Effects Animator) * John Gibbs *

George Grandpre George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorg ...

Manny Gould Emanuel Gould (May 30, 1904 – July 19, 1975) was an American animated cartoonist from the 1920s to the 1970s, best known for his contributions as a director, writer and animator for Screen Gems, and solely an animator for Warner Bros. Cartoon ...

* Lee Halpern * Rollin Hamilton * Laverne Harding *

Emery Hawkins Emery Otis Hawkins (April 30, 1912 – June 1, 1989) was an American animator, best known for his work during the Golden age of American animation, working in various studios in the industry. Early life and career Emery Hawkins was born in Jerom ...

* Fred Jones *

Volus Jones Volus Carson Jones (November 17, 1913 – May 3, 2004) was an American animator. He was best known for his work at the Disney cartoon studio, but amassed credits at numerous other studios during the Golden age of American animation, including Wa ...

* Jack King * Anatolle Kirsanoff *

* Art Leonardi *

* Harry Love (Effects Animator) * Bob Matz * Max Maxwell *

* Tom McDonald * John McGrew *

Charles McKimson Charles Edson McKimson Jr. (December 20, 1914 – April 16, 1999) was an American animator, best known for his work at Warner Bros. studio. He was the younger brother of animators Robert and Thomas McKimson. His father was a newspaperman who later ...

Thomas McKimson Thomas Jacob McKimson (March 5, 1907 – February 14, 1998) was an American animator and comic book artist, best known for his work at the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. He was the older brother of animators Robert and Charles McKimson. Tom McK ...

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American animator, director, producer, and voice actor. Melendez is known for working on the ''Peanuts'' animated specials, as well as providing the voices of Sno ...

* Phil Monroe * Al Pabian * Jim Pabian *

Ray Patin Ray or RAY may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), the bony or horny spine on ray-finned fish Science and mathematics * Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an ...

* Manuel Perez *

Tom Ray Thomas Archer Ray (August 2, 1919 – April 6, 2010) was an American animator. Career Ray was born in Williams, Arizona. He began work at Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1937, working under Tex Avery for six months. He applied for a job at MGM and was ...

* Bob Richardson *

Vive Risto Vive may refer to: *Vive, viva, and vivat, a Romance language expression * ''Vive'' (José José album), 1974 * ''Vive'' (Lucía Méndez album), 2004 *Vive (a cappella group), a cappella group from England, United Kingdom *ViVe, a state-owned Vene ...

Phil Roman Philip Roman (born December 21, 1930) is an American animator and the director of the ''Peanuts'' and ''Garfield'' animated specials. He is the founder of the animation studios Film Roman and Phil Roman Entertainment. Early life Philip Roman w ...

Virgil Ross Virgil Walter Ross (August 8, 1907 – May 15, 1996) was an American artist, cartoonist, and animator best known for his work on the Warner Bros. animated shorts including the shorts of legendary animator Friz Freleng. Biography Early year ...

Rod Scribner Roderick Henry Scribner (October 10, 1910 – December 21, 1976) was an American animator. He was best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons. He worked during the Golden ...

Larry Silverman Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

* Hank Smith *

Paul Smith Paul Smith is the name of: Music * Paul Smith (composer) (1906–1985), American film music composer * Paul Smith (pianist) (1922–2013), Los Angeles jazz pianist * Paul Smith (English singer) (born 1979), vocalist and songwriter of British in ...

Ed Solomon Edward James Solomon (born September 15, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He wrote the screenplays to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989), ''Men in Black (1997 film), Men in Black'' (1997), and ''Now You See Me (film), Now You See Me'' ( ...

Irven Spence Irven LeRoy Spence (April 24, 1909 – September 21, 1995) was an American animator. He is best known for his work on MGM's ''Tom and Jerry'' animated shorts. Spence has been credited variously as Irven Spence, Irvin Spence, and Irv Spence. Care ...

* Robert Stokes *

Cecil Surry Cecil Hays Surry (April 19, 1907 – September 19, 1956) was a cartoonist at various film studios in the Golden Age of Animation. Biography Surry was born to Bert F. and Lydia or Lida B. (Knoblock) Surry in Chelan, Washington, where his father and ...

* Bob Taylor *

Riley Thomson Riley A. Thomson Jr. (October 5, 1912 – January 26, 1960) was an American animator and comics artist who spent most of his career working with Walt Disney films and characters. He directed six Disney short films including '' The Nifty Nineties' ...

* Frank Tipper *

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 the G ...

* Lloyd Vaughan * Sandy Walker * Elmer Wait *

Ben Washam Benjamin Alfred Washam (March 17, 1915 – March 28, 1984) was an American animator who is best known for working under director Chuck Jones for nearly 30 years. According to his World War II draft registration, he was born in Newport, Jackson Co ...

* Volney White * Bob Wickersham *

Don Williams Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame. He began his solo career in 1971, singing p ...

Voices

Carl Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by War ...

* John Burton *

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 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 come ...

Dave Barry David McAlister Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist who wrote a nationally Print syndication, syndicated humor column for the ''Miami Herald'' from 1983 to 2005. He has written numerous books of humor and parody, as we ...

Dick Beals Richard Beals (March 16, 1927 – May 29, 2012) was an American actor and radio performer, who performed many voices in his career, which spanned the period from the early 1950s into the 21st century. Beals voiced "dozens of children, both male an ...

Bea Benaderet Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that s ...

Julie Bennett Julie Bennett (January 24, 1932 – March 31, 2020) was an American actress. Early years Bennett was born in Manhattan, New York, on January 24, 1932. By the time she was 18, she had been living in Hollywood, Los Angeles for so long that she was ...

Sara Berner Sara Berner (born Lillian Ann Herdan; January 12, 1912 – December 19, 1969) was an American actress. Known for her expertise in dialect and characterization, she began her career as a performer in vaudeville before becoming a voice actress for ...

Billy Bletcher William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's ''Mickey Mouse'' short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Di ...

Lucille Bliss Lucille Theresa Bliss (March 31, 1916 – November 8, 2012) was an American actress, known in the Bay Area and in Hollywood as the "Girl With a Thousand Voices". A New York City native, Bliss lent her voice to numerous television characters, in ...

* Billy Booth * Robert C. Bruce *

Arthur Q. Bryan Arthur Quirk Bryan (May 8, 1899 – November 30, 1959) was an American actor and radio personality. He is best remembered for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr. Gamble on the radio comedy ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' and f ...

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 and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera ...

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), known professionally as Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Co ...

Joe Dougherty Joseph Tapley Dougherty (November 4, 1898 – April 19, 1978) was an American actor, who provided the original voice of the Warner Bros. animation character, Porky Pig, starting with the character's debut in '' I Haven't Got a Hat'' in 1935 throu ...

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American Voice acting, voice actress and radio personality, best known as the voice of such animation, animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha F ...

Stan Freberg Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, puppeteer, radio personality and advertising creative director. His best-known works include " St. George and the Dragonet ...

Joan Gerber Joan Gerber (July 29, 1935 – August 22, 2011) was an American voice actress who provided voices for a variety of cartoons. Her most challenging voice role was "all the children in a Japanese train wreck" for a ''Godzilla'' television episode ...

* Frank Graham * Bernice Hansen * Margaret Hill-Talbot * Cal Howard * Paul Julian *

Abe Lyman Abe Lyman (born Abraham Simon; August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including '' Your Hit Parade''. Biography Bo ...

Alan Reed Alan Reed (born Herbert Theodore Bergman; August 20, 1907 – June 14, 1977) was an American actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on ''The Flintstones'' and various spinoff series. He also appeared in many films, includin ...

Marian Richman Marian may refer to: People * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places * Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensland, a town in Australia * Marian, a village in toe c ...

Kent Rogers Kent Byron Rogers (July 31, 1923 – July 9, 1944) was an American actor who appeared in several live-action features and shorts, and a voice actor for Warner Bros. Cartoons and Walter Lantz Productions. Career For Warner Bros. Cartoons, Roger ...

* Hal Smith * John T. Smith *

Larry Storch Lawrence Samuel Storch (January 8, 1923 – July 8, 2022) was an American actor and comedian known for his comic television roles, including voice-over work for cartoon shows such as Mr. Whoopee on '' Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' and his li ...

* Bill Thompson * Danny Webb *

Nancy Wible Nancy may refer to: Places France * Nancy, France, a city in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle and formerly the capital of the duchy of Lorraine ** Arrondissement of Nancy, surrounding and including the city of Nancy ...

Music

Musical Directors * Bernard B. Brown (1933–1936) * Norman Spencer (1933–1936) *

Carl W. Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by War ...

(1936–1958) (credited (until late 1946) as Carl W. Stalling)Barrier (1999) pg.338 * Eugene Poddany (1951) *

Milt Franklyn Milton J. Franklyn (born Milton Julius Frumkin; September 16, 1897 – April 24, 1962) was an American musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoons, working alongside and later succeeding Carl Sta ...

(1954–1962) * John Seely (1958) *

William Lava William "Bill" Benjamin Lava (March 18, 1911 – February 20, 1971) was a composer and arranger who composed and conducted music for feature films as well as Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' animated cartoons from 1962 to ...

(1962–1969) (credited (until 1967) as Bill Lava) *

Walter Greene Walter Greene (January 23, 1910 – December 23, 1983) was a film and television composer who worked on numerous productions for over 30 years. Career Born and raised in Tarkio, Missouri, Greene attended Tarkio College and the Horner Institut ...

(1966–1967) * Frank Perkins (1967) Orchestrations *

(1936–1962)

Film (Sound effects) editors

Treg Brown Tregoweth Edmond "Treg" Brown (November 4, 1899 – April 28, 1984) was an American motion picture sound editor who was responsible for conceiving, recording and selecting the sound effects library in Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Mer ...

Irvin Jay Irvin is a male given name of Indo-European origin. In Old Gaelic, the meaning of the name is "freshwater" or "friend of the sea." It can also be used as a variant of Ervin, the Eastern European version of the German name Erwin, which means "fr ...

Lee Gunther Lee Gunther (May 30, 1935 – August 25, 1998) was a co-founder of Marvel Productions and a film editor (which, in animation parlance, means sound effects editor) on more than 85 animated shorts in all. Career Starting at Warner Bros. in the ...

* Hal Geer

Filmography

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Warner Bros. official site

{{Authority control American animation studios Entertainment companies based in California Film studios in Southern California Companies based in Los Angeles Mass media companies established in 1933 1933 establishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Articles containing video clips American companies established in 1933 American companies disestablished in 1964 Companies based in California Warner Bros. 1944 mergers and acquisitions Warner Bros. Pictures franchises Warner Bros. franchises

History

1930–1933: Harman-Ising Productions

1933–1944: Leon Schlesinger Productions

1944–1963: Warner Bros. Cartoons

1964–1967: DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Format Productions

1967–1969: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation

Warner Bros. Cartoons staff: 1933–1969

Studio heads

Directors

Storyboard artists/writers

Layout/Background artists/designers

Animators

Voices

Music

Film (Sound effects) editors

Filmography

See also

Notes

References

External links