Hanna-Barbera
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(Redirected from Hanna-Barbera Productions)
 | |
| Former type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Animation Live-action |
| Fate | Absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation and spun off into Cartoon Network Studios |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Founder(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Defunct | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Products | Television shows Theatrical films Television specials Direct-to-video films Television films Television commercials |
| Parent | Independent (1957–67) Taft Broadcasting (1967–87) Great American Broadcasting (1987–91) Turner Broadcasting (1991–96) Time Warner (1996–present) |
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Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. (pronounced /ˌhænə bɑrˈbɛrə/) (formerly Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., and originally H-B Enterprises, Inc.) was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century. The company was originally formed in 1957 by former Metro Goldwyn Mayer animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in partnership with Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems television division, as H-B Enterprises, Inc..[1]
Established after MGM shut down its animation studio in 1957, H-B Enterprises, Inc. was renamed Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. in 1959. Over the next three decades, the studio produced many successful cartoon shows including The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The Yogi Bear Show, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Top Cat, Wacky Races, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Space Ghost, The Smurfs and The Magilla Gorilla Show. In addition to their animated projects, the studio also made live-action productions (with or without animation) for television and film as well. Hanna-Barbera's television productions have earned the company eight Emmy Awards .[2] In the mid-1980s, the company's fortunes declined somewhat after the profitability of Saturday morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication. In 1991, the company was purchased by Turner Broadcasting System, who began using much of the H-B back catalog to program the Cartoon Network the following year.[3] [4]
Both Hanna and Barbera went into semi-retirement, continuing to serve as ceremonial figureheads for and sporadic artistic contributors to the studio. In 1994, the company was renamed Hanna-Barbera CartoonsTime Warner. By the time of the merger, Turner had turned Hanna-Barbera towards primarily producing new material for Cartoon Network, including successful Cartoon CartoonsDexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and The Powerpuff Girls. and in 1996, Turner merged with shows such as
With William Hanna's death in 2001, Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation, and Cartoon Network Studios assumed production of Cartoon Network output. Joseph Barbera remained with Warner Bros. Animation until his death in 2006. The Hanna-Barbera name and studio is today used only to market properties and productions associated with Hanna-Barbera's "classic" works such as The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear.
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[edit] History
[edit] The beginnings of Hanna-Barbera
Melrose, New Mexico native William Hanna and New York City-born Joseph Barbera first teamed together while working at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1939. Their first directorial project was a cartoon entitled Puss Gets the Boot (1940), which served as the genesis of the popular Tom and JerryTom and Jerry shorts for seventeen years, winning seven Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons)[5] Outside of their work on the MGM shorts, Hanna and Barbera periodically moonlit to work on outside projects, including the original title sequences and commercials for the television sitcom I Love Lucy[6] and the intro sequence for The Mickey Mouse Club. MGM decided in early 1957 to close down its cartoon studio, as it felt it had acquired a reasonable backlog of shorts for re-release.[5] series of cartoon theatricals. Hanna and Barbera served as the directors and story men for the between 1943 and 1953 for their work. By 1956, they had become the producers in charge of the MGM animation studio's output.
Hanna and Barbera, mulling over what to do next while completing the final Tom and Jerry and Droopy[7] During their last year at MGM, they developed a concept for an animated television program entitled The Ruff & Reddy Show, about a dog and cat pair who found themselves in various misadventures.[7] After Hanna and Barbera failed to convince MGM to back their venture, live-action director George Sidney, who'd worked with Hanna and Barbera on several of his features (most notably Anchors Aweigh in 1945), offered to serve as their business partner and convinced Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, to set up a deal with the animation producers.[1] cartoons on the production schedule, began producing animated television commercials.
Screen Gems took a twenty percent ownership in Hanna and Barbera's new company, H-B Enterprises,[1]Ruff & Reddy. H-B Enterprises opened for business in rented offices on the lot of Kling Studios (formerly Charlie Chaplin Studios) [6] on July 7, 1957, two months after the MGM animation studio closed down.[7] Sidney and several Screen Gems alumnae became members of H-B's original board of directors, and much of the former MGM animation staff - including animators Carlo Vinci, Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall, Michael Lah, and Ed Barge and layout artists Ed Benedict and Richard Bickenbach - as H-B's production staff.[7] Their first cartoon series for television, The Ruff and Reddy Show, featuring live-action host Jimmy Blaine and several older Columbia-owned cartoons as filler, premiered on NBC in December 1957. In 1958, H-B had their first big success with The Huckleberry Hound Show, a syndicated series aired in most markets just before primetime. The program was a ratings success, and introduced a new crop of cartoon stars to audiences, in particular Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear. The Huckleberry Hound Show won the 1960 Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming. and provided working capital to produce
The studio began to expand rapidly following the success of Huckleberry Hound, and several animation industry alumnae - in particular former Warner Bros. Cartoons storymen Michael Maltese and Warren Foster, who became H-B's new head writers - joined the staff at this time.[7] By 1959, H-B Enterprises was reincorporated as Hanna-Barbera Productions, and was slowly becoming a leader in television animation production. After introducing a second syndicated series, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, in 1959, Hanna-Barbera migrated into network primetime production with the animated ABC sitcom The Flintstones in 1960. Loosely based upon the popular live-action sitcom The Honeymooners yet set in a fictionalized stone age of cavemen and dinosaurs, The Flintstones ran for six seasons in prime time on ABC, becoming a ratings and merchandising success.
It was the longest-running animated show in American prime time television history until being beaten out by The Simpsons in 1996. Hanna-Barbera moved off of the Kling lot in 1963 (by then renamed the Red Skelton Studios), when the Hanna-Barbera Studio, located at 3400 Cahuenga Blvd. in Studio City, California, was opened. This California contemporary office building was designed by architect Arthur Froehlich, its ultra-modern design included a sculpted latticework exterior, moat, fountains, and after later additions, a Jetsons-like tower. The Columbia/Hanna-Barbera partnership lasted until 1967, when Hanna and Barbera sold the studio to Taft Broadcasting while retaining their positions there
