Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; also known simply as Hanna Barbera, and formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.) was an American animation studio and production company that operated from 1957 until its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. The studio was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of Tom and Jerry and former MGM Cartoons employees, along with film producer George Sidney. Initially headquartered at Kling Studios in Los Angeles from 1957 to 1960, the company later moved to Cahuenga Boulevard until 1998, and finally to the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks from 1998 to 2001.
Hanna-Barbera was known for producing a vast array of animated series, including Huckleberry Hound, all iterations of The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Jonny Quest, Scooby-Doo, Super Friends and The Smurfs. However, by the 1980s, the studio's dominance declined as the market for Saturday-morning cartoons weakened, and weekday syndication grew in importance. Hanna-Barbera was acquired by Taft Broadcasting in 1966 and remained under its ownership until 1991, when Turner Broadcasting System purchased the company. Turner used Hanna-Barbera's extensive back catalog to help launch Cartoon Network in 1992, giving a new platform for the studio's classic animated properties.
After William Hanna died in 2001, Hanna-Barbera ceased to exist as an independent studio and was fully integrated into Warner Bros. Animation. Despite this, the Hanna-Barbera brand continues to be used for copyright, marketing, and branding purposes on many of its classic animated properties now managed by Warner Bros.
History Tom and Jerry and birth of a studio (1938–1957) William Denby "Bill" Hanna and Joseph Roland "Joe" Barbera met at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio in 1938, while working at its animation unit. Having worked at other studios since the early 1930s, they solidified a six-decade working partnership. Tom and Jerry came about, following the release of their very first collaborative success in 1940, centering on the madcap comical adventures of a cat and a mouse.
Hanna supervised the animation, while Barbera did the stories and pre-production for all 114 cartoons. Seven of the films won seven Oscars for "Best Short Subject (Cartoons)" between 1943 and 1953, and five additional shorts were nominated for twelve awards during this period. However, they were awarded to producer Fred Quimby, who was not involved in the development of the shorts.
Sequences for Anchors Aweigh, Dangerous When Wet and Invitation to the Dance and shorts Swing Social, Gallopin' Gals, The Goose Goes South, Officer Pooch, War Dogs and Good Will to Men were also made. With Quimby's retirement in May 1955, Hanna and Barbera became the producers in charge of the MGM animation studio's output.
In addition to continuing to write and direct new Tom & Jerry shorts, now in CinemaScope, Hanna and Barbera supervised the last seven shorts of Tex Avery's Droopy series and produced and directed the short-lived Spike and Tyke, which ran for two entries. In addition to their work on the cartoons, the two men moonlighted on outside projects, including title sequences and commercials for I Love Lucy.
MGM decided in mid-1957 to close its cartoon studio, as it felt it had acquired a reasonable backlog of shorts for re-release. While contemplating their future, Hanna and Barbera began producing additional animated television commercials. During their last year at MGM, they had developed a concept for a new animated television program about a cat and a dog.
After failing to convince the studio to back their venture, George Sidney offered to serve as their business partner and convinced Screen Gems to make a deal with the producers. Sidney, a veteran live-action producer-director, had worked with Hanna and Barbera on animated elements for several of his movies for MGM, Anchors Aweigh in particular. A coin toss gave Hanna precedence in naming the new studio. Harry Cohn, president and head of Columbia Pictures, took an 18% ownership in H-B Enterprises, and provided working capital.
Screen Gems became the new distributor and its licensing agent, handling merchandizing of the characters from the animated programs as the cartoon firm officially opened for business in rented offices on the lot of Kling Studios (formerly Charlie Chaplin Studios) on July 7, 1957, one year after the MGM animation studio closed.
Sidney and several Screen Gems alumni became members of the studio's 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—became the new production staff while Hoyt Curtin was in charge of providing the music.
Success with animated series (1957–1969) The Ruff and Reddy Show, the studio's first animated television series, premiered on NBC on December 14, 1957, then The Huckleberry Hound Show (feat. Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, Yogi Bear and Hokey Wolf) debuted one year later, in 1958, airing in most markets, and was also the first cartoon to win an Emmy. Several animation alumni joined – in particular former Warner Bros. Cartoons storymen Michael Maltese and Warren Foster as head writers, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears as film editors and Iwao Takamoto as character designer.
After reincorporating as Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., The Quick Draw McGraw Show (feat. Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy and Snooper and Blabber) and the theatrical cartoon short series Loopy De Loop followed in 1959. Walt Disney Productions laid off several of its animators after Sleeping Beauty (1959) bombed on the box-office during its initial theatrical run, with many of them moving to Hanna-Barbera shortly afterwards. In August 1960, it moved into a window-less, cinder block building at 3501 Cahuenga Boulevard West.Variety, July 20, 1960, pg. 20 Because it was too small to house the staff, some of its employees worked at home.
The Flintstones premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960, becoming the first animated series airing in prime time. It is loosely based on The Honeymooners and is set in a fictionalized Stone Age of cavemen and dinosaurs. Jackie Gleason considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copyright infringement, but decided not to because he did not want to be known as "the man who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air".p.54 Brooks, Maria The American Family on Television: A Chronology of 121 Shows, 1948–2004 March 30, 2005 by McFarland & Company For six seasons, it became the longest-running animated show in American prime time at the time (until The Simpsons beat it in 1997), a ratings and merchandising success and the top-ranking animated program in syndication history, all while dawning a media franchise with several spinoffs, movies and specials. It initially received mixed reviews from critics, but its reputation eventually improved and it is now considered a classic.
The Yogi Bear Show (feat. Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle), Top Cat, The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series (feat. Wally Gator, Touché Turtle and Dum Dum and Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har) and The Jetsons soon followed in 1961 and 1962. Several animated television commercials were produced as well, often starring their own characters (including the Pebbles cereal commercials for Post) and the opening credits for Bewitched, in which animated caricatures of Samantha and Darrin appeared. These characterizations were reused in The Flintstones sixth-season episode "Samantha".
In 1963, Hanna-Barbera's operations moved to 3400 Cahuenga Boulevard West in Hollywood Hills/Studio City. This contemporary office building was designed by architect Arthur Froehlich. Its ultra-modern design included a sculpted latticework exterior, moat, fountains, and a Jetsons-like tower. The Magilla Gorilla Show (feat. Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long and Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse), Jonny Quest, The Peter Potamus Show (feat. Breezly and Sneezly and Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey), Atom Ant (feat. The Hillbilly Bears and Precious Pupp) and Secret Squirrel (feat. Squiddly Diddly and Winsome Witch) followed in 1964 and 1965.
The partnership with Screen Gems would last until 1965 when Hanna and Barbera announced the sale of their studio to Taft Broadcasting. Taft's acquisition of Hanna-Barbera was delayed for a year by a lawsuit from Cohn's family, wife Joan Perry and sons John and Harrison Cohn, who felt the studio undervalued the Cohns' 18% share in when it was sold a few years previously.Shostak, Stu (November 3, 2011). "Interview with Jerry Eisenberg, Scott Shaw!, and Earl Kress". Stu's Show. Retrieved March 18, 2013. Jerry_Eisenberg, Scott Shaw!, and Earl_Kress were all former employees of Hanna-Barbera over the years, and relate the history of the studio to host Stu Shostak
In 1966, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles and Space Ghost debuted, and by December of that year the litigation had been settled, Taft finally acquired Hanna-Barbera for $12 million and folded the studio into its corporate structure in 1967 and 1968, becoming its distributor. Hanna and Barbera stayed on while Screen Gems retained licensing and distribution rights to their previous produced cartoons and trademarks to the characters into the 1970s and 1980s.
Shazzan, The Banana Splits, Wacky Races, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop and Cattanooga Cats followed from 1967 to 1969. The studio's record and music label, Hanna-Barbera Records, was headed by Danny Hutton and distributed by Columbia. Children's records featuring its characters were released by Colpix. Hanna-Barbera teamed up with the National Catholic Office for Radio and Television to produce 26 half-hour animated films in 1970, which never materialized.
Mysteries, spin-offs, and more (1969–1979) Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! debuted on CBS on September 13, 1969; it is a mystery-based program which blended comedy, action, and elements from I Love a Mystery and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.Laurence Marcus & Stephen R. Hulce (October 2000). "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You ". Television Heaven. Retrieved on June 9, 2006.Shostak, Stu (February 5, 2012). "Interview with Joe Ruby and Ken Spears". Stu's Show. Retrieved March 18, 2013. For two seasons, it centered on four teenagers and a dog solving supernatural mysteries, and became one of Hanna-Barbera's most successful creations, spawning several new spin-offs, such as The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and many others, which were regularly in production at Hanna-Barbera into the 1990s.
Referred to as "The General Motors of animation", Hanna-Barbera produced nearly two-thirds of all Saturday-morning cartoons in a single year. Josie and the Pussycats, The Funky Phantom, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Speed Buggy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Inch High, Private Eye, Clue Club, Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels and The New Shmoo built upon the mystery-solving template set by Scooby-Doo, with further shows built around teenagers solving mysteries with a comic relief pet of some sort.
Starting in 1971, many new spin-offs, such as The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, featuring Fred and Barney's now teenaged children along with The Flintstone Comedy Hour, The Tom and Jerry Show, The New Fred and Barney Show and "all-star" shows Yogi's Gang, Laff-A-Lympics, Yogi's Space Race and Galaxy Goof-Ups came to the airwaves.
Hanna-Barbera teamed up with Avco Broadcasting Corporation in 1971, a company that was once a rival to its owner Taft at that time, who maintains rivalry in the Columbus and Cincinnati markets, to produce two holiday specials for the syndicated market by way of its syndicated division. In 1972, H-B opened an animation studio in Australia, with the Hamlyn Group acquiring a 50% stake in 1974.