William hanna
William Denby "Bill" Hanna (Melrose, New Mexico, July 14, 1910-Los Angeles, California, March 22, 2001) was an American cartoonist, director, animator, and film and television producer.
After working various odd jobs during the economic crisis, he joined the Harman-Ising animation studio in 1930. His participation in cartoons such as Captain and the Kids allowed him to gain further experience and industry notability. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), he met Joseph Barbera. Both began to collaborate together, resulting in productions such as Tom and Jerry or some live-action films. In 1957 they founded Hanna-Barbera, which would become the most successful television animation studio at the time, producing series such as The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, Mr. Cat, Leoncio and Triston, Pepepotamo and Yogi Bear Show. In 1967 Taft Broadcasting acquired Hanna-Barbera for USD 12 million, although its creators continued to run the company until 1991. In that year Turner Broadcasting System bought the company, which merged in 1996 with Time Warner, owner of Warner Bros.; Hanna and Barbera continued as advisors.
The duo won seven Oscars and eight Emmys, and their cartoons became cultural icons: the protagonists of these series have appeared in other media such as movies, books, and toys. The shows created by Hanna-Barbera they were seen by more than 300 million people in the 1960s, and have been translated into more than 20 different languages.
Biography
William Hanna was born on July 14, 1910 in Melrose, New Mexico, the son of William John and Avice Joyce (Denby) Hanna from Ireland. He was the third of seven children, the only boy, his father worked as a superintendent of construction of railways, as well as sewerage and drainage systems in the western regions of the United States, so he had to move with the family of he constantly.
When Hanna was three years old, they settled in Baker City, Oregon, where John helped build the Balm Creek Dam. It was there that Hanna became interested in nature. The Hannas later moved to Logan, Utah, before settling in San Pedro, California in 1917. Over the next two years they moved several times, finally settling in Watts, California in 1919. While living in Watts, in 1922, he joined the Scouting movement. He attended Compton High School from 1925 to 1928, where he was part of a dance band in which he played the saxophone. His passion for music would be reflected in later writing the theme songs for his own cartoons, as is the case with The Flintstones. Hanna obtained the highest degree of scouting ("Eagle Scout") some time later; he continued to practice scouting for the rest of his life.
Already in his adulthood, he worked as a Scoutmaster, for which the Boy Scouts of America organization recognized him, in 1985, with the award for "Distinguished Scoutman". Despite his numerous awards obtained for his his career as an entertainer, the previous Boy Scout award became his "highest pride". Other activities in his youth included boating, and singing in a barbershop quartet.
He studied journalism and structural engineering at Compton City College, however he dropped out due to the Great Depression. He married Violet Blanch Wogatzke on August 7, 1936, with whom he had two children: David William and Bonnie Jean; in addition to being the grandfather of seven grandchildren. In 1996 with the help of writer Tom Ito, he published his autobiography.
Trajectory
Cinema
After he dropped out of college, Hanna got a job as a construction engineer and was involved in building the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. However, he had to find another job when he was fired from his job due to the impact of the economic crisis. He got a temporary job at a car wash. At this stage, the boyfriend of one of his sisters encouraged him to seek a job opportunity at the Pacific Title and Art company, which produced intertitles for films. While working there, he began to stand out for his talent for drawing, and in 1930 he joined the animation studio Harman-Ising, responsible for the cartoons Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Despite lacking animation training, he went on to head the department studio coloring. However, his work went beyond just coloring the drawings, as he also wrote some lyrics for the songs that served as the opening and closing themes of those shows. In his early years there, the studio was associated with Leon Schlesinger, of Pacific Title and Art, which aired Harman-Ising material through Warner Bros. However, once Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising decided to drop their association with Schlesinger and instead begin producing their cartoons Independently for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), in 1933, Hanna chose to continue collaborating with Harman and Ising.
In 1936, Hanna directed her first cartoon series, To Spring, which was part of Harman-Ising's Happy Harmonies collection. MGM ended its association with Harman-Ising and began producing its own cartoons. Hanna became one of the first employees to be hired by MGM for its new animation studio. In the 1938-39 season, he worked as chief director of the MGM series Captain and the Kids, based on the comic strip of the same name (a modified version of The Katzenjammer Kids, which had resulted from a lawsuit in 1914). However, the show was not as successful as expected, so Hanna was reassigned as the studio's writer, following the cancellation of the cartoons. The desk where Hanna worked was right next to that of Joseph Barbera, who had previously worked at Terrytoons. Soon after, both agreed that they could collaborate together on some projects. In this way, by 1939 they had already established a solid partnership, which would last for more than six decades. Hanna and Barbera worked at that time together with the director animator Tex Avery, creator of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny for Warner Bros., and director of Droopy at MGM. In 1940, Hanna and Barbera directed the animated short film Puss Gets the Boot, which earned a nomination for "Best Animated Short Film". Despite the success of the project, the studio wanted a more diversified offering of cartoons under its belt, and the supervisor of Hanna & Barbera, Fred Quimby, did not want to produce any more cat and mouse cartoons. Surprised by the impact caused by Puss Gets the Boot, the creators ignored Quimby and went ahead with the cat and mouse concept. mouse. Back then, Hanna expressed a desire to work with Ising again, to whom he was very loyal. Hanna and Barbera met with Quimby, who discovered that Ising had not collaborated on the short and had still taken credit for producing it. Quimby then decided to allow Hanna and Barbera to pursue the idea of him, and as a result Tom and Jerry was born.
Designed on the characters from Puss Gets the Boot, albeit with minor differences, the series follows Jerry, the annoying rodent who often outwits his feline enemy, Tom. About In choosing the concept, Hanna commented, “We knew we needed two characters. We thought that there should be a conflict, persecutions and action. And a cat chasing a mouse was seen as a good, basic concept." Tom and Jerry first appeared in The Midnight Snack (1941). Hanna and Barbera would continue to collaborate on an almost ongoing basis. exclusive to this series for the next 17 years, going on to direct more than 114 cat-and-mouse short films. In World War II, they continued to animate films with an educational focus. From the beginning, they conceived that Tom and Jerry was meant to have more action than dialogue between the leads. Despite its popularity, it has subsequently been criticized as "extremely violent". The show won its first Academy Award in its 11th installment, The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943), whose plot is based on the war period. In total, Tom and Jerry had 14 nominations in said awards, of which it won in seven times. No other animated series has won more awards, nor has another that contained the same characters. The characters also appeared in other MGM live action films, including Anchors Aweigh (1945) and Invitation to the Dance (1956) with Gene Kelly, and Dangerous When Wet (1953) with Esther Williams.
Quimby received every Oscar that Tom and Jerry won, without inviting Hanna and Barbera on stage to address the audience, in their roles as creators of the show. Quimby was even listed in the credits as the only producer, in an identical way to what Ising had done at the time, and who had criticized the first so much. Once he retired in 1955, Hanna and Barbera took over. the animated division of MGM. As the studio began to generate more and more financial losses due to television competition, MGM concluded that it would be more profitable to relaunch old cartoons, rather than produce new ones. Thus, in 1957, the business manager of the creating duo of Tom and Jerry ordered the studio's animated division shut down, laying off all employees. This was baffling to Hanna and Barbera given the previous success of Tom and Jerry.
Television
In her senior year at MGM, Hanna broke into television, establishing the company Shield Productions with animator Jay Ward, who had by then created the series Crusader Rabbit. Their partnership soon ended, however, and in 1957 Hanna again collaborated with Barbera to produce cartoons for television as well as short films for the movies. Barbera was most distinguished as the audacious writer of jokes., as well as the artist, while Hanna had more of an affinity for directing, handling timing and plotting, and hiring the artists. Business decisions were made between the two of them, and each year they alternated the title of president at their new animation studio. To choose the name of the company, they flipped a coin and Hanna won, so Hanna decided to name it. H-B Enterprises, although it would later change to Hanna–Barbera Productions.
Hanna-Barbera's first project was The Ruff & Reddy Show, a series that revolves around the friendship between a cat and a dog. Despite a mixed reception with Loopy De Loop, his first film production, the studio He soon began to gain popularity in the industry by creating the hit series The Huckleberry Hound Show and the Yogi Bear Show. A poll conducted in 1960 showed that half the audience for Huckleberry Hound was adults. Therefore, they created a new animated series: The Flintstones. As a parody of The Honeymooners, this new show would follow the adventures of a typical Middle Ages family. of stone. Hanna-Barbera's audience expanded to the children's market after The Flintstones, which became the first successful prime-time animated series. It should be added that the expression of Fred Flintstone, "yabba dabba doo", entered the popular lexicon, and the success of the show made the studio even more popular. Later, they produced the space version of The Flintstones, called The Jetsons. Although both shows aired in the 1970s and 1980s at the same time, The Flintstones proved more popular with the audience.
By the late 1960s, Hanna-Barbera was the most successful television animation studio in the industry. In total, he produced more than 3,000 half-hour animated episodes of 138 television series. Some of his most notable programs are La Hormiga Atómica, Canuto y Canito (a knockoff of one of his other shows, Spike and Tyke, for MGM), Jonny Quest, Josie and the Pussycats, Magilla Gorilla, Pixie, Dixie and Jinks the Cat, Wacky Shot McGraw, Inspector Squirrel and Mister Cat. The latter was based on Phil Silvers' character Sergeant Bilko, although there have been erroneous reports that Sergeant Bilko was the inspiration for Yogi Bear, rather than for Don Gato. Other productions by Hanna-Barbera include Scooby-Doo (1969–1970) and The Smurfs (1981–1989), and animated specials inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Magic Beans, Cyrano de Bergerac and Charlotte's Web.
Just as his cartoons were popular with television viewers in the 1960s and 1970s, other cartoonists disliked his productions. TV shows had lower budgets than movie animations, and this led to the bankruptcy of many studios. animation in the 1950s and 1960s. Hanna–Barbera became crucial in the development of limited animation, which made television animation more profitable, even if it meant that artistic quality was often sacrificed in production. the process. The duo had first experimented with this technique in the early days of Tom and Jerry. To reduce the cost of each episode, shows often focused more on dialogue than detailing animation. From 14,000 drawings being created at Hanna-Barbera for a seven-minute cartoon series, the number dropped to 2,000, in addition to innovative techniques such as c quick background changes to improve tuning. Some reviewers disliked these changes, especially for the transition from lush, detailed animation to flat characters with repetitive motions. Barbera once said that the options at that time were to adapt to television budgets, or to change careers. The new style of animation had no negative effect on the success of its shows, allowing the studio to prevail in business, and provide employment to several people who were unemployed as a result. of this situation. With the passage of time, limited animation became the standard format for the production of television animation, and has continued to be used since then in series such as The Simpsons and South Park.
In 1966, Taft Broadcasting (renamed Great American Communications in 1987) acquired Hanna-Barbera for $12 million, though Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera continued to run the company until 1991. That year, Turner Broadcasting System purchased the studio for an estimated $320 million, which merged with Time Warner, owners of Warner Bros., in 1996. From then on it was associated with Cartoon Network. Hanna and Barbera continued as consultants to the company, and became involved in some new shows such as The Cartoon Cartoon Show and live-action film productions such as The Flintstones (1994) and Scooby-Doo (2002).
Death
Hanna died of esophageal cancer on March 22, 2001 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and was buried in Ascension Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery in Lake Forest, California. Following Hanna's death in April that year, Cartoon Network put online a micro-website with the cartoonist's biography as a tribute, and the channel's logo turns its white squares with black lettering into black squares with white lettering in mourning. Bros. gave a private memorial at the Steven J. Ross Theater that same month.
Legacy
Most of the cartoons that Hanna and Barbera created had stories that revolved around a friendship, or partnership, between their main characters, such as Tom the cat and Jerry mouse, Yogi bear and Boo Boo, Fred Flintstone and Pablo Mármol, Ruff and Reddy, the Jetsons as well as the Scooby-Doo team. This could represent a reflection of Hanna and Barbera's friendship, which persisted for over 60 years. Even though their "talents, weaknesses, and professional personalities meshed seamlessly", the two interacted in a circle different social for each case. As for Hanna, her other friends were also entertainers, while Barbera used to surround herself with Hollywood celebrities. They rarely spoke outside of work, whereas when they worked they barely spoke to each other. About how little communication there was between them, Barbera said: "We understood each other perfectly, and each had a deep respect for the other's work." As a result of their collaboration, they created more than 2,000 animated characters.
Hanna is considered one of the best animators, along with Tex Avery. Along with Barbera, he was one of the first animators to test the potential of television animation, where he was highly successful. Critic Leonard Maltin added that Hanna-Barbera "[might] hold the record for producing outstanding cartoons, featuring the same characters, year after year, without deviating from their routine. Her characters are not just animated superstars, but also a beloved part of American pop culture." Noell Wolfgram of the Digital Media Fx website commented that Hanna had been "one of the few characters whose work had not only been to entertain or influence his time, but one whose importance had no specific time." They have been conceived of as Walt Disney's only rival for cartoon production.
The duo had a notable impact on television animation. Their cartoons are often considered some of the best in the industry. Many of their characters have appeared in movies, books, toys, and other media, including while the series have been seen by more than 300 million people, and translated into more than 20 different languages. Another aspect that has been praised over time is the musicalization of its programs; in particular, the shorts The Cat Concerto (1946) and Johann Mouse (1952) were hailed as "animation masterpieces", due in part to their incorporation of music classic in its plot.
In total, the Hanna-Barbera team won seven Oscars and eight Emmys, including the 1960 award for The Huckleberry Hound Show, the first Emmy ever given to a series in the history of such awards. Other awards include the Golden Globe for "Achievement in Television" (1960), the Golden IKE in the category "Pioneers of Broadcasting" (1983), the Broadcast Music Incorporated Award in the category of "Pioneers" (1987), the Iris for "Men of the Year" (1988), the award of the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association for "Lifetime Achievement Recognition" (1988), the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1988), the Jackie Coogan Award for "Outstanding Contribution to Youth Through Youth Entertainment in Motion Pictures" (1988), the Frederic W. Ziv Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Telecommunications" from the Broadcasting Division College, University of Cincinnati (1989), plus a star each on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1976), several Annie's, and other recognitions regarding environmental care, among other awards, coupled with his induction into the Television Hall of Fame, in 1994. In March 2005, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Warner Bros. Animation dedicated a wall sculpture to them in the Television Academy's Hall of Fame Plaza in North Hollywood.
Awards and distinctions
- Oscar Awards
| Year | Category | Movie | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Best animated short film | One Droopy Knight | Nominee |