Big studios had adjunct animation studios
Disney-
Steamboat Willie(1928)
success of sound feature The Jazz singer inspired Walt to make Steamboat a synchronized sound film
The Skeleton Dance (1929)
Following Steamboat, Disney released Silly Symphonies
Doesn't focus on a central character
Three Little Pigs (1933)
most successful of all the Silly Symphonies
won Oscar for best short film
theme song came to express hope and resilience of American people during the Depression
The Wise Little Hen (1934)
Silly Symphonies series, notable for first appearance of Donald Duck (who overtook Mickey Mouse's popularity)
The Old Mill 1936
used to test out techniques in establishing realism in animation with natural sounding effects
Feature films
Snow White and hte 7 Dwarves
Pinocchio
dumbo
Bambi
fantasia
cinderella
peter pan
Alice in wonderland
Fleischer studio
rotoscope enabled animators to draw figures, frame by frame, over filmed action, making them more lifelike
Betty Boop
Popeye the Sailor (1933)
started as newspaper comic strip
intro'd in Betty Boop
by 1935 was beating Mickey Mouse in popularity polls
Gulliver's Travels (1939)
Fleischer's first feature film
used rotoscope to create Gulliver
moderate success
Superman 1941
gave Superman power of flight and coined famous phrase "faster than a speeding bullet..."
first in a series, nominated for an academy award
1940s style heavy influence on 1990s Batman animated series
Warner Bros.
Daffy Duck
created by Tex Avery 1937 in Porky's Duck Hunt
had starring roll in Dafffy Duck and Egghead
Avery preferred Egghead character (who became Elmer Fudd) and dropped Daffy
Daffy picked up by animator bob Clampett
Bugs Bunny
First design by Ben Hardaway who gave him his nickname "Bugs"
Porky's Hare Hunt 1938
appearanced changed over time
Walter Lantz
ran own studio 1939-1972
1940 Ben Hardaway joined Lantz Studio
Created Cartoon knock knock 1940 with Woody Woodpecker
MGM
Hanna Barbera for MGM: Willian Hanna and Joseph Barbera
"Puss Gets the Boot" 1940 first intro of Tom and Jerry
names changed to Tom and Jerry with some design change for Tom
Terrytoons
Paul Terry's approach was to make money churned out cheap cartoons with minimum effort and attention to detail
most successful was Mighty Mouse
blog research:
choose an animator from Golden age of American animation and answer the following
what characters did they create?
What studio/studios did they work for?
what changes to character were made over time?
animation director Ben Hardaway gave Bugs his nickname
Bob Givens redesigned Bugs into the rabbit we know today. Mel Blanc became his voice in 1940's "Wild Hare"
Animator, gag writer, storyboard artist and director Ben Hardaway is fondly remembered for his important contributions to Warner Brothers cartoons and as co-creator (with Walter Lantz) and voice (1941-49) of Woody Woodpecker. Hardaway started out as a cartoonist for the Kansas City Star in 1910. He saw military service as an artillery sergeant under the command of Captain Harry S. Truman during World War I. During this time he acquired the nickname 'Bugs'. After demobilisation, he resumed working for various mid-West newspapers. In 1922, Hardaway was hired by the Kansas City Film Ad Company and became closely acquainted with the famous pioneer animator Ub Iwerks. Iwerks eventually moved to Hollywood, and, in 1931, employed Hardaway as a story writer. He stayed on for two years, then had a brief spell with Disney. Eventually, he settled at Leon Schlesinger's animation factory at Warner Brothers, a studio which permitted artists substantially greater artistic freedom.
The superb humour and satirical quality of his writing (for example, Confederate Honey(1940), a hilarious send-up of Gone with the Wind (1939), featuring Elmer Fudd as 'Nett Cutler' romancing 'Crimson O'Hairoil') ensured Hardaway's rapid advancement to head of the story department. He also filled in as co-director of several Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies episodes during Friz Freleng's three-year long stint at MGM. Many of these featured Porky Pig. One of them, Porky's Hare Hunt (1938), had as chief protagonist an unnamed white rabbit created by Robert Clampett. It looked nothing like Bugs Bunny and sounded and acted rather like Daffy Duck. Before long, the rabbit reappeared inHare-um Scare-um (1939) -- now in familiar colours, but with relatively short ears, wide buck teeth (and still sounding suspiciously like Daffy). On a corner of the model sheet with the original drawing by Charles Thorson, Hardaway wrote the name 'Bugs'. It stuck ,and thus the famous rabbit got its name -- albeit officially only after the release of A Wild Hare (1940). Hardaway found himself demoted after Freleng's return from MGM and departed Warner Brothers to head up the story department for Walter Lantzworking on Andy Panda and Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
The superb humour and satirical quality of his writing (for example, Confederate Honey(1940), a hilarious send-up of Gone with the Wind (1939), featuring Elmer Fudd as 'Nett Cutler' romancing 'Crimson O'Hairoil') ensured Hardaway's rapid advancement to head of the story department. He also filled in as co-director of several Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies episodes during Friz Freleng's three-year long stint at MGM. Many of these featured Porky Pig. One of them, Porky's Hare Hunt (1938), had as chief protagonist an unnamed white rabbit created by Robert Clampett. It looked nothing like Bugs Bunny and sounded and acted rather like Daffy Duck. Before long, the rabbit reappeared inHare-um Scare-um (1939) -- now in familiar colours, but with relatively short ears, wide buck teeth (and still sounding suspiciously like Daffy). On a corner of the model sheet with the original drawing by Charles Thorson, Hardaway wrote the name 'Bugs'. It stuck ,and thus the famous rabbit got its name -- albeit officially only after the release of A Wild Hare (1940). Hardaway found himself demoted after Freleng's return from MGM and departed Warner Brothers to head up the story department for Walter Lantzworking on Andy Panda and Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
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