Warner Bros. Cartoons From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the animation division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the golden age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short subjects. The characters featured in these cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales and Porky Pig 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, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, and Frank Tashlin, are considered major figures in the art and history of traditional animation. The Warner animation division was founded in 1933 as Leon Schlesinger Productions, an independent company which produced the popular Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated short subjects for release by Warner Bros. Pictures. Schlesinger sold the studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, who continued to operate it as Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. until 1963. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were briefly subcontracted to Freleng's DePatie-Freleng Enterprises studio from 1964 until 1967. The Warner Bros. Cartoons studio briefly re-opened in 1967 before shutting its doors for good two years later. A successor company, Warner Bros. Animation, was established in 1980.
[1] That company continues to produce Looney Tunes related works, in addition to television shows and feature films centering around other properties. The classic Warner Bros. animation studio is sometimes referred to as "Termite Terrace", a name given to the temporary headquarters Tex Avery and his animators were assigned to during Avery's first year as a Looney Tunes director. Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 1930 - 1933: Harman-Ising Productions 1.2 1933 - 1944: Leon Schlesinger Productions 1.3 1944 - 1960: Warner Bros. Cartoons 1.4 1961 - 1969: The latter days of Warner Bros. Cartoons 1.5 1970 - present 2 The "Termite Terrace" Hall of Fame: Warner Bros. Cartoons staff, 1930-1969 2.1 Studio heads 2.2 Directors 2.3 Storyboard artists/writers 2.4 Layout artists/designers 2.5 Animators 2.6 Voices 2.7 Music 3 Filmography 3.1 Short subjects 3.2 Feature-length films 3.2.1 Theatrical films 3.2.2 Live-action Warner Bros. features with animated segments 4 TV series 5 Notes 6 References 7 See also 8 External links [edit] History [edit] 1930 - 1933: Harman-Ising Productions Main article: Harman and Ising Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising originated the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short subjects in 1930 and 1931, respectively. Both cartoon series were produced for Leon Schlesigner at the Harman-Ising Studio on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California, with Warner Bros. Pictures releasing the films to theaters. The first Looney Tunes character was the Harman-Ising creation Bosko, The Talk-ink Kid. Despite the fact that Bosko was popular among theater audiences, he could never match the popularity of Mickey Mouse, or even Betty Boop. In 1933, Harman and Ising parted company with Schlesinger over financial disputes,
[2] and took Bosko with them to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. As a result, Schlesinger set up his own studio on the Warner Bros. lot on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. [3] [edit] 1933 - 1944: Leon Schlesinger Productions The Schlesinger studio got off to a slow start, continuing their one-shot Merrie Melodies and introducing a Bosko replacement named Buddy into the Looney Tunes. Disney animator Tom Palmer was the studio's first senior director, but after the three cartoons he made were deemed to be of unacceptable quality and rejected by the studio, former Harman-Ising animator Isadore "Friz" Freleng was called in to replace Palmer and rework his cartoons.[4] 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, Freleng helmed the Merrie Melodies cartoon I Haven't Got a Hat, which introduced the character Porky Pig. [5] Duvall departed, and a new arrival at Schlesinger's, Fred "Tex" Avery, took Freleng's creation and ran with it. Avery directing a string of cartoons staring Porky Pig which established the character as the studio's first bonafide star. [5] Schlesinger also gradually moved the Merrie Melodies cartoons from black and white, to two-strip Technicolor in 1934, and finally to full three-strip Technicolor in 1936. The Looney Tunes 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 Robert Clampett and Chuck Jones - were moved into a small building elsewhere on the Sunset lot, which Avery and his team affectionately dubbed "Termite Terrace" [6] Although the Avery unit moved out of the building after a year, "Termite Terrace" later became a metonym for the classic Warner Bros. animation department in general, even for years after the building was abandoned, condemned, and torn down. From 1936 until 1944, animation directors and animators such as Freleng, Avery, Clampett, Jones, Arthur Davis, Robert McKimson, and Frank Tashlin worked at the studio. During this period, these creators introduced several of the most popular cartoon characters to date, including Daffy Duck (1937, Porky's Duck Hunt by Avery), Elmer Fudd (1940, Elmer's Candid Camera by Jones), Bugs Bunny (1940, A Wild Hare by Avery), and Tweety Bird (1942, A Tale of Two Kitties by Clampett). Avery left the studio in 1941 following a series of disputes with Schlesinger. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Productions as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States. [7] [edit] 1944 - 1960: Warner Bros. Cartoons In 1944, Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros., who renamed the company Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. By 1946, Tashlin, and Clampett had left, and the remaining directors - Jones, Freleng, McKimson, and Art Davis - carried on the Warner Bros. cartoon legacy. Edward Selzer, who by Jones' and Freleng's accounts had no sense of humor or appreciation of cartoons, was appointed by Warner Bros. as the new head of the cartoon studio, which moved to a larger building on the Sunset Blvd. lot in 1948. Schlesinger died in 1949. Among the Warner Bros. cartoon stars who were created after Schlesinger's departure include Yosemite Sam (1945, Hare Trigger by Freleng), Sylvester (1945, Life with Feathers by Freleng), Foghorn Leghorn (1946, Walky Talky Hawky by McKimson), Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (1949, Fast and Furry-ous by Jones), and Speedy Gonzales (1953, Cat-Tails for Two by McKimson). In later years, even more minor Looney Tunes characters such as Freleng's Rocky and Mugsy, Jones' Marvin the Martian and McKimson's Tasmanian Devil have become significantly popular.[8] After the verdict of the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust case ended the practice of "block booking", 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 mid-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. storymen — Michael Maltese, Tedd Pierce, and Warren Foster — 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, Pierce with Freleng, and Foster with McKimson. Art Davis' separate unit was dissolved in 1949, and he became an animator for Freleng. With the advent of the 3-D film 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 starring Bugs Bunny). The creative staff dispersed (Jones, for example, went to work at Disney on Sleeping Beauty, Maltese went to Walter Lantz Productions, 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 television took over the old studio location on Van Ness. By 1957, Selzer had retired, and 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, 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. The Bugs Bunny Show 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 three decades, finally ending its long broadcast run on ABC in 2000. All versions of The Bugs Bunny Show included edited versions of Warner Bros. cartoons made after 1948, as all of the Technicolor cartoons produced before that year were sold to Associated Artists Productions in 1956. [edit] 1961 - 1969: The latter days of Warner Bros. Cartoons David H. DePatie 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. 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. Animator Phil Monroe supervised the completion of The Iceman Ducketh, the last cartoon Jones had been working on; the remainder of the Jones unit was laid off after its completion. Most of Jones' former unit subsequently re-joined him at Sib Tower 12 Productions to work on a new series of Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM. [9] In mid-1962, DePatie was sent to a board meeting in New York, and he was informed that the studio was going to be shut down, due to low-budget cartoons and low theatre attendance. DePaite completed the task by spring 1963. [9] The final cartoon to be compelted was the Bugs Bunny cartoon False Hare, while Señorella and the Glass Huarache (1964), directed by Freleng's former layout artist Hawley Pratt, was the final cartoon be released. Before the studio closed for good, McKimson directed the animated sequences for the 1964 Warner Bros. feature The Incredible Mr. Limpet.
[9] 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, which debuted on ABC in 1964. [10] This marked one of the first times that the Looney Tunes characters were animated outside of the Los Angeles area. DePatie and Friz Freleng started DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in 1963, and leased the old Warner Bros. Cartoons studio as their headquarters. In 1964, Warners contracted DePatie-Freleng to produce more Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, an arrangement which lasted until 1967. DePatie-Freleng moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1967, and Warner Bros. Cartoons re-opened for business at its old studio. In addition to DePatie-Freleng's cartoons, a series of new shorts featuring The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote was commissioned from an independent animation studio, Herbert Klynn's Format Films. Veteran Warner animator Rudy Larriva, who had worked for years under Road Runner creator Chuck Jones, assumed directorial duties for these films, but even with the Jones connection Larriva's Road Runner shorts are considered to be mediocre by critics. For two years, Warner Bros. Cartoons, with William L. Hendricks as production head and Bob McKimson and Alex Lovy as lead directors, produced cartoons starring Speedy Gonzales, Daffy Duck, and new characters such as Bunny and Claude, Cool Cat, and Merlin the Magic Mouse. These shorts were released without much fanfare, and in 1969 Warners ceased production on all its short subjects and shut the studio down for good. The back catalog of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts would remain a popular broadcast and syndication package for Warner Bros. Television well into the 2000s, by which time it had reacquired the pre-1948 shorts it sold to a.a.p. in 1956. [edit] 1970 - present See also: Warner Bros. Animation With Warners' own animation studio closed, the studio had to resort to outside producers whenever new Looney Tunes-related animation was required. In 1976, Chuck Jones, by this time the head of his own Chuck Jones Productions studio, began producing a series of Looney Tunes specials, the first of which was Carnival of the Animals. In 1979, Jones produced new wraparound footage for a compilation feature of Looney Tunes shorts entitled The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. The success of this film spurred Warner Bros. to establish its own studio to produce similar works, and Warner Bros. Animation opened its doors in 1980. Under the supervision of Friz Freleng, three new compilation features were produced: The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island. Later in the decade, the concept of compilation films was revived by writer-directors Greg Ford and Terry Lennon, and new short subjects were produced for theatres. Warner Bros. Animation continues sporadic production of Looney Tunes-related specials and TV series to this day, the most recent being the Saturday morning action series Loonatics Unleashed. The studio's main focus is on original and licensed television programming; in this field, Warner Bros. Animation has had major successes with Looney Tunes-esque shows such as Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs, DC Comics-licensed shows such as Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and shows based upon other properties such as ¡Mucha Lucha! and Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo. The studio briefly delved into feature animation production from 1994 to 2003, although Space Jam (1996), a live-action/animation combination film starring National Basketball Association star Michael Jordan opposite the Looney Tunes characters, remains the studio's only financially successful feature. [edit] The "Termite Terrace" Hall of Fame: Warner Bros. Cartoons staff, 1930-1969 [edit] Studio heads Leon Schlesinger (1930-1944) Eddie Selzer (1944-1956) John Burton (1957-1961) David H. DePatie (1961-1963) William L. Hendricks (1967-1969) [edit] Directors Tex Avery Bernard Brown Bob Clampett Cal Dalton Arthur Davis Earl Duvall Friz Freleng Ben "Bugs" Hardaway Hugh Harman Cal Howard Rudolf Ising Chuck Jones Rudy Larriva Abe Levitow Alex Lovy Norm McCabe Robert McKimson Frank Tashlin Ken Harris Phil Monroe Hawley Pratt Tom Palmer Jack King Ub Iwerks Gerry Chiniquy [edit] Storyboard artists/writers Warren Foster Tedd Pierce Michael Maltese John W. Dunn Dave Monahan Ben Hardaway Lew Landsman George Manuell Melvin Millar Fred Neiman Jack Miller Rich Hogan Robert Givens Dr. Seuss Lou Lilly George Hill Lloyd Turner Bill Scott Chuck Jones Friz Freleng David Detiege [edit] Layout artists/designers Pete Alvarado Philip DeGuard Robert Givens Robert Gribbroek Paul Julian Thomas McKimson John McGrew Maurice Noble Erni Nordli Tom O'Loughlin Hawley Pratt Richard H. Thomas Cornett Wood Irv Wyner [edit] Animators Ken Harris Robert Cannon Rod Scribner Richard Thompson Ben Washam Lloyd Vaughan Gerry Chiniquy Phil Monroe Friz Freleng Max Maxwell Paul Smith Norm Blackburn Rollin Hamilton Robert Edmunds Larry Martin Tom McKimson Robert McKimson Larry Silverman Robert Stokes Bill Mason Jack King James Pabian Don Williams Ben Clopton Bob Clampett Frank Tipper Sandy Walker Chuck Jones Cal Dalton Volney White Elmer Wait Robert Bentley Joe D'Igalo Sid Sutherland Virgil Ross Cal Howard A.C. Gamer Robert Cannon Herman Cohen John Carey Norman McCabe Vive Risto Rudy Larriva Manuel Perez Izzy Ellis Bill Meléndez
[edit] Voices Bea Benaderet Mel Blanc Billy Bletcher Arthur Q. Bryan Daws Butler Joe Dougherty June Foray Stan Freberg Margaret Hill Kent Rogers Billy Booth Abe Lyman Robert C. Bruce Dick Beals Trust Howard [edit] Music Milt Franklyn William Lava William Loose Norman Spencer Eugene Poddany John Seely Carl Stalling Frank Marsales Gus Arnheim Bernard Brown Dean Elliot Clark Terry [edit] Filmography [edit] Short subjects Further information: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography Further information: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1929-1939) Further information: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940-1949) Further information: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1950-1959) Further information: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1960-1969) Further information: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1970-present and miscellaneous) [edit] Feature-length films [edit] Theatrical films The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1963, animation/live-action) [edit] Live-action Warner Bros. features with animated segments Two Guys From Texas (1947) My Dream Is Yours (1949) It's a Great Feeling (1949) [edit] TV series The Bugs Bunny Show and various spin-offs (1960-2000) The Adventures of the Road Runner - produced as a pilot, not sold (1962) Philbert - produced as a pilot, not sold (1963) [edit] Notes ^ Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Of Mice and Magic. New York: Plume/Penguin Books. Pg. 273. ^ Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg. 164. ISBN 0-19-516729-5. ^ Barrier, Michael (1999). Pg. 323. ^ Barrier, Michael (1999). Pg. 324-328. ^ a b Barrier, Michael (1999). Pg. 329-333. ^ Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Penguin Books. Pg.s. 229-230 ISBN 0-452-25993-2. ^ "Warner Bros. Studio biography". AnimationUSA.com. Retrieved June 17, 2007. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 187-188. ^ a b c Barrier, Michael (1999). Pg. 562-563. ^ The Porky Pig Show [edit] References Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, Leonard Maltin, Revised Edition 1987, Plume ISBN 0-452-25993-2 (Softcover) ISBN 0-613-64753-X (Hardcover) Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516729-5. Chuck Amuck : The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist by Chuck Jones, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, ISBN 0-374-12348-9 [edit] See also Harman and Ising DePatie-Freleng Enterprises Warner Bros. Animation Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies The Golden Age of American animation [edit] External links Warner Bros. official site Leon Schlesinger Productions at the Internet Movie Database Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. at the Internet Movie Database Warner Bros. Animation Chronology: 1930 to the Present
[show]v • d • eTime Warner Inc. Board of directors Herbert Allison · Jim Barksdale · Steve Bollenbach · Jeffrey Bewkes · Frank Caufield · Robert Clark · Mathias Döpfner · Jessica Einhorn · Reuben Mark · Michael Miles · Ken Novack · Richard Parsons · Deborah Wright AOL AIM · Bebo · CompuServe · In2TV · MapQuest · Mirabilis (ICQ) · Moviefone · Netscape · Nullsoft (Winamp) · Singingfish · Sphere · TMZ.com · Weblogs, Inc. Home Box Office HBO (Multiplex) · HBO Films · Max (Multiplex) Time Inc. Entertainment Weekly · Essence · Fortune · In Style · IPC Media · Life · Money · NME · People · People en Español · Real Simple · Sports Illustrated · Southern Living · Sunset · Time · Wallpaper* Time Warner Cable Road Runner · Capital News 9 · Metro Sports · News 8 Austin · News 10 Now · News 14 Carolina · NY1 · R News · SportsNet New York (part ownership) · Time Warner Sports (Upstate NY} · Time Warner Cable Sports 32 Turner Broadcasting Related articles Warner Bros. Related articles Annual Revenue: $43.6 billion USD (▲4% FY 2005) · Employees: 87,850 (▲2,950 FY 2005) · Stock Symbol: NYSE: TWX · Website: timewarner.com [show]v • d • eWarner Bros. animation and comics Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Primary Bugs Bunny · Daffy Duck · Porky Pig · Elmer Fudd · Sylvester · Tweety Bird · Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner · Foghorn Leghorn · Pepé Le Pew · Yosemite Sam · Speedy Gonzales · Marvin the Martian · Tasmanian Devil Secondary Babbit and Catstello · Bosko · The Barnyard Dawg · Clyde Rabbit · Buddy · Goopy Geer · Foxy · Piggy · Beans · Michigan J. Frog · Petunia Pig · Rocky and Mugsy · Granny · Hector the Bulldog · Henery Hawk · Mrs. Daffy Duck · Melissa Duck · Goofy Gophers · Cecil Turtle · Sylvester, Jr. · Gossamer · Spike and Chester · Hippety Hopper · Marc Antony and Pussyfoot · Witch Hazel · The Three Bears · Hatta Mari · Hubie and Bertie · Claude Cat · Sniffles · Ralph Phillips · Beaky Buzzard · Willoughby · Charlie Dog · Pete Puma · Crusher · Count Blood Count · Private Snafu · Wolf and Sheepdog · Egghead Jr. · Slowpoke Rodriguez · K-9 · Blacque Jacque Shellacque · Nasty Canasta · Jose and Manuel · Bunny and Claude · Merlin the Magic Mouse and Second Banana · Quick Brown Fox and Rapid Rabbit · Cool Cat · Penelope Pussycat · Benny · Conrad the Cat · Playboy Penguin · Candy Croak · Miss Prissy Comics and TV shows Honey Bunny · Wendell T. Wolf · Digeri Dingo · Daniel and Timothy Platypus · Lola Bunny · I.Q. Hi · Star Johnson · Queen Tyr'ahnee Television animation Tiny Toon Adventures Babs and Buster Bunny · Plucky Duck · Hamton J. Pig ·
Montana Max · Elmyra Duff · Dizzy Devil · Furrball · Calamity Coyote · Little Beeper · Gogo Dodo · Sweetie Pie · Shirley the Loon · Fifi Le Fume · Li'l Sneezer · Concord Condor · Byron Basset · Bookworm · Fowlmouth · Arnold the Pit Bull · Barky Marky · Mary Melody Animaniacs Yakko, Wakko, and Dot · Ralph the Guard · Thaddeus Plotz · Dr. Otto Scratchansniff · Pinky and the Brain · Snowball the Hamster · Baloney the Dinosaur · Slappy Squirrel · Skippy Squirrel · Walter Wolf · Buttons and Mindy · The Goodfeathers · Rita and Runt · Flavio and Marita · Minerva Mink · Chicken Boo · Katie Ka-Boom · Mr. Skullhead · Minor characters Other cartoons Taz-Mania · The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries · Freakazoid! · Road Rovers · Histeria! (Characters) · Baby Looney Tunes · Duck Dodgers · Loonatics Unleashed (Characters) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Cartoons" Categories: Time Warner subsidiaries | Warner Bros. Cartoons | Looney Tunes | Hollywood history and culture | Companies established in 1933 | 1969 disestablishments
