history of animation notes TV Shows

THE QUICK DRAW McGRAW SHOW

Sponsored by Kellogg's and produced by Hanna and Barbera following the success of their "Ruff and Reddy" and "Huckleberry Hound" programs. This half hour program introduced Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Snooper and Blabber and Snagglepuss. Mostly written by former Warner Bros. writer Michael Maltese.

The TV Boom

Though test broadcasts began in the 1930s, the production of TV sets had to be suspended due to the need for their components during World War II. The TV Boom is then a post-war development. TV set production stopped in 1941 and didn't begin again until mid-1946. For there to be enough work in TV several thins had to happen: the number of Viewers, Stations, and Advertisers - had to increase.

Crusader Rabbit

(1949) generally considered the .first made-for-TV animated program or cartoon. Jay Ward & Alex Anderson.

GUMBY

(1955) - Clay animation program by Art Clokey.

RUFF AND REDDY

(1957) - Dir. by Bill Hanna & Joe Barbera (former MGM). The historic first television program by Hanna & Barbera in which they introduced their technique of "limited animation" (which they called "Planned Animation") in order to tailor cartoon production to television budgets.

BOZO THE CLOWN

(1958) Based on the "Bozo the Clown" character from the Capitol Records series. Produced by Larry Harmon who voiced the character as well.

HUCKLEBERRY HOUND

(1958) Hanna & Barbera's first half-hour program that also introduced the character of Yogi Bear.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

(1959) - Produced by Jay Ward (Crusader Rabbit). Written and voiced by Bill Scott (former UPA writer) as Bullwinkle and June Foray (former Warner Bros. voice artist) as Rocky. (First U.S. production to outsource ink & paint to Mexico for inexpensive labor.) Many UPA veterans worked on this program.

BUCKY AND PEPITO

(1959) Produced by Sam Singer, considered one of the worst cartoons ever made setting a standard for awfulness that no contemporary TV cartoon has managed to surpass!

POW WOW THE INDIAN BOY

(Broadcast locally in NYC in 1949; later as a segment on the "Captain Kangaroo" children's program) Dir. Sam Singer. Written by ex-Warner & Lantz writer Ben Hardaway.

Limited Animation

Concerned with WHY and HOW things move the way they do. Hanna & Barbera initially referred to this as Planned Animation, and the Zagreb Studio called it Reduced Animation.

ASTRO BOY

FIRST JAPANESE ANIMATION ON U.S. TV (Osamu Tezuka; Mushi Prods) (1963). In 1963 the first non-U.S. animated TV show appeared on TV. That series was ASTRO BOY by Osamu Tezuka.

THE FLINTSTONES

Produced by Hanna & Barbera this was the FIRST prime-time cartoon for adults.