Posted on 12/18/2006 3:37:09 PM PST by Borges
LOS ANGELES - Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, died Monday, a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95.
Barbera died of natural causes at his home with his wife Sheila at his side, Warner Bros. spokesman Gary Miereanu said.
With his longtime partner, Bill Hanna, Barbera first found success creating the highly successful Tom and Jerry cartoons. The antics of the battling cat and mouse went on to win seven Academy Awards, more than any other series with the same characters.
The partners, who had first teamed up while working at MGM in the 1930s, then went on to a whole new realm of success in the 1950s with a witty series of animated TV comedies, including "The Flintstones," "The Jetsons," "Yogi Bear," "Scooby-Doo" and "Huckleberry Hound and Friends."
Their strengths melded perfectly, critic Leonard Maltin wrote in his book "Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons." Barbera brought the comic gags and skilled drawing, while Hanna brought warmth and a keen sense of timing.
"This writing-directing team may hold a record for producing consistently superior cartoons using the same characters year after year - without a break or change in routine," Maltin wrote.
"From the Stone Age to the Space Age and from primetime to Saturday mornings, syndication and cable, the characters he created with his late partner, William Hanna, are not only animated superstars, but also a very beloved part of American pop culture. While he will be missed by his family and friends, Joe will live on through his work," Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer said Monday.
Hanna, who died in 2001, once said he was never a good artist but his partner could "capture mood and expression in a quick sketch better than anyone I've ever known."
The two first teamed cat and mouse in the short "Puss Gets the Boot." It earned an Academy Award nomination, and MGM let the pair keep experimenting until the full-fledged Tom and Jerry characters eventually were born.
Jerry was borrowed for the mostly live-action musical "Anchors Aweigh," dancing with Gene Kelly in a scene that become a screen classic.
After MGM folded its animation department in the mid-1950s, Hanna and Barbera were forced to go into business for themselves. With television's sharply lower budgets, their new cartoons put more stress on verbal wit rather than the detailed - and expensive - action featured in theatrical cartoon.
For me the animation is only part of it. I know full well there was/is much better animation. But it was entertaining and funny for me. It still doesn't take away from their contribution to Saturday morning fun.
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Merry Christmas
SZ
I loved Hanna-Barbera cartoons! The Flintstones, Tom & Jerry, Jabberjaw, Quick Draw McRaw, Snagglepus ... the list goes on.
Rest in peace, Mr. Barbera!
He was the runt of a family of five sons from L.A. By the time Lance was 8, his parents were divorced and his mother had met his future stepfather, actor and jazz musician Ettimore James. Worried about Lance and brother Blaine (now 20, and Lance’s James stand-in) growing up in status-conscious Laurel Canyon, the then struggling family moved to rural Hattertown, 100 miles south of Little Rock, seven years ago. Lance chopped wood, gathered eggs and helped renovate a palatial nine-bedroom ranch house that’s still their home. “This wasn’t busy work. It was survival,” says his mother, Lois, a former booking agent. “It was a real family effort and it drew us together.” Lance turned on to acting before he could read properly—which proved to be the keystone to his sudden success.
BTTT
Did you post that to the wrong thread?
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