Alexander Lovy (September 2, 1913 – February 14, 1992) was an American

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple 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 ...

. He spent the majority of his career as an animator and director at

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

. He was later a producer at

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 ...

, and also supervised the cartoon unit at Warner Bros. during its final days.

Life and career

Born in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...

, Lovy's early career was spent as a comic artist at

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

. Later, he became an animator at the Lantz studio in the late 1930s. His first credit as a director was for ''Feed the Kitty'' in 1938. Studio head

Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lant ...

was taking a hiatus from directing at this time, this gave Lovy an opportunity to direct many of the studio's shorts in the 1938–1940 period. He stepped down to become an animator in 1940 after Lantz reverted to being director. However, he continued to play an important role in the production of the shorts, and stepped up to being the studio's lead director of

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by ...

shorts when Lantz retired from directing in 1942. The following year, however, Lovy was drafted into the US Navy and left the studio; Shamus Culhane in the meantime replaced Lovy. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Lovy worked briefly for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

' cartoon unit,

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 ...

, directing five shorts before it was closed down, and in 1955 made his return to the Lantz studio, initially to finish some cartoons that

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

had produced during a brief stint as director there. He carried on directing at the Lantz studio until the end of the decade, at which point he moved over to Hanna-Barbera. There, he worked mainly as a producer and storyboard artist, and often supervised the studio's voice recording sessions. In 1967, Lovy moved to the newly re-opened Warner Bros. cartoon studio, where he created the characters Cool Cat 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. Warn ...

,Toonopedia: Merlin the Magic Mouse
in addition to directing cartoons with classic characters

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

and

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fas ...

. After just over a year at Warner Bros., Lovy returned to Hanna-Barbera, and worked there in various capacities until shortly before his death on Valentine's Day, 1992. According to

, Lovy was

ambidextrous Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...

, and could draw two storyboards at the same time, one with each hand.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovy, Alex 1913 births 1992 deaths Animators from New Jersey American comics artists American television directors American storyboard artists American voice directors American television writers American screenwriters American male television writers Golden Age comics creators Hanna-Barbera people Warner Bros. Cartoons directors People from Passaic, New Jersey Walter Lantz Productions people 20th-century American screenwriters Television producers from New Jersey