Topic summary
Harman and Ising
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Harman-Ising Productions.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Harman and Ising still found work at the time as animation freelancers. Harman and Ising lent their former ink-and-painters to Walt Disney while Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was behind schedule. Disney afterward commissioned Harman and Ising to produce a Silly Symphony cartoon (Merbabies), in return. Disney later reneged on a deal he had made for two other Harman-Ising cartoons to be produced for the studio, as RKO Radio Pictures, Disney's distributor, did not want to release another studio's cartoons. Harman and Ising sold the cartoons to MGM, and Quimby later agreed to hire the animators back for the in-house studio, as the Harman-Ising studio had declared bankruptcy in July 1938. Ising created the character Barney Bear for MGM at this time, basing the sleepy-eyed character partially on himself.