Ballot Box Bunny
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Bugs Bunny, Merrie Melodies, Technicolor, U.S.A., Warner Bros., 1951
Producer(s): Edward Selzer
Release Date: 06/10/1951
"A political Warner Bros. cartoon in which Yosemite Sam runs a violent campaign for mayor against his challenger Bugs Bunny."
Bea Benaderet
Filed under: people, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, U.S.A., Warner Bros., Actor, Voice Actor
"Born in New York City to a Turkish-Sephardic tobacconist and an Irish-American woman, Bea Benaderet made a name for herself in the first half of the twentieth century displaying her vocal and comedic talents in animation, radio, television, and film...."
Bob Clampett Productions
Filed under: studio, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Beany and Cecil, Bob Clampett, Color, Commercials, U.S.A., Warner Bros., 1948
"Bob Clampett left Warner Bros. in 1946 to open his own studio, Bob Clampett Productions in 1948. As many writers and fans point out, Clampett was as much fascinated with animation as he was with puppetry. As part of his new studio, Clampett created a..."
Dave Fleischer
Filed under: people, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Dave Fleischer, Inkwell / Fleischer Studios, U.S.A., Director
"First generation American Jew who grew up in Manhattan. His father had emigrated from Austria in the late 1880’s. He and his brother, Max, distributed their Out of the Inkwell Series by themselves in mid-1921. Sometime in 1922 they signed with dist..."
Dick Beals
Filed under: people, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Stop Motion, U.S.A., Actor, Voice Actor
"Born in Detroit, as a child Dick Beals was too small to play sports, instead opting to be a cheerleader. He attended Michigan State University, where he began to lend his voice to radio broadcasting. In the 1940s, Beal began to do voice acting profes..."
Eisenhower for President
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Commercials, Propaganda, U.S.A., Walt Disney Studios, 1952
Producer(s): Roy O. Disney Jacqueline Cochran Citizens for Eisenhower Committee Paul Helms
Release Date: 1952
"Referred to as “Ike for President,” “We’ll Take Ike,” or “I Like Ike" was a one-minute political television advertisement for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1952 campaign for presidency of the United States. Conceived by Jacqueline Cochran, an ..."
Excerpt from Destination Moon
Filed under: animation, 1950s, George Pal, Technicolor, U.S.A., Woody Woodpecker, 1950
Producer(s): George Pal
Release Date: 27/06/1950
"In this excerpt from the film Destination Moon (1950), the physics of rockets and space travel are explained with the iconic cartoon character Woody Woodpecker. "
Feed the Kitty
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Merrie Melodies, Technicolor, U.S.A., Warner Bros., 1952
Producer(s): Edward Selzer
Release Date: 02/02/1952
"Marc Antony meets an adorable kitten, but his mistress says he can't bring anything else into the house. He struggles to hide the kitten from her. "
Foghorn Leghorn, “A Broken Leghorn”
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Animation Series, Color, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, U.S.A., Warner Bros., 1959
Producer(s): John Burton Sr.
Release Date: 26/09/1959
"The cartoon opens with three hens gossiping about Miss Prissy, who has failed to produce any eggs. Foghorn Leghorn decides to help her out by placing another hen’s egg in her nest. When the egg hatches, Foghorn Leghorn is affronted when he discover..."
Grant Munro
Filed under: people, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Canada, Documentary, National Film Board of Canada, Actor, Animator, Filmmaker, Producer
"Grant Munro was an animator, actor, producer and filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada, who was instrumental in many of the first developments of the film board and its associated studios. He was one of the board's earliest and longest ser..."
Gumby Episode Three: The Little Lost Pony
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Color, Stop Motion, U.S.A., 1957
Producer(s): Art Clokey
Release Date: 23/03/1957
"Gumby is watching television when he hears of a pony escaped from a nearby storybook. He finds the lost pony stuck to a train track while he's out playing, and learns that the pony, whose name is Pokey, is not really lost at all, just bored. Pokey ta..."
Jam Handy Organization
Filed under: studio, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Color, Commercials, Early Sound, Educational films, Max Fleischer, Propaganda, Silent, Technicolor, Training films, U.S.A., World War 1 ( WW1 ), World War 2 ( WW2 ), 1914
"Jam Handy Organization was founded by Jam Handy just before the First World War. The company produced educational, advertising, and training films. During the First and Second World Wars, Jam Handy Organization animated and produced training and inst..."
John Whitney, Sr.
Filed under: people, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, U.S.A., Animator, Composer, Inventor
"John Whitney attended school at Pomona College, and in 1937, took a year in Paris to study twelve-tone composition under conductor René Leibowitz. Upon returning to America, he and his brother, James, began to make experimental films, initially work..."
Lambert the Sheepish Lion
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Color, Technicolor, U.S.A., Walt Disney Studios, 1952
Producer(s): Walt Disney
Release Date: 08/02/1952
"Lambert, a lion cub mistakenly delivered to a lonely ewe by a stork, struggles to fit in with a flock of sheep. Despite his ferocious appearance, the other lambs bully him, and he grows up shy, sensitive, and easily frightened. But his temperament is..."
Laverne Harding
Filed under: people, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Color, Daffy Duck, Early Sound, Hanna-Barbera Studios, Joe Barbera, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, Oswald, Speedy Gonzales, Technicolor, The Road Runner, U.S.A., Walter Lantz, Walter Lantz Productions, Warner Bros., Woody Woodpecker, Animator, Cartoonist, Comic Strip Artist
"Laverne Harding was the second female studio animator in history, and one of the first to receive onscreen credit for her work. She started out as an inker for the Walter Lantz Productions, moving on to do animation work for several of the Lantz Prod..."
Leo D. Sullivan
Filed under: people, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, Bob Clampett, Color, Educational films, Hanna-Barbera Studios, Racial representation, U.S.A., Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Animation Designer, Animator, Art Director, Director, Educator, Producer
"Leo D. Sullivan began his career in 1959 after graduating from the Chouinard Art Institute. He first worked as an assistant to Warner Bros. producer Bob Clampett on the television show, Beany and Cecil. In 1965, Sullivan met fellow animator Floyd Nor..."
Little School Mouse
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Technicolor, Tom and Jerry, 1954
Producer(s): Fred Quimby William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Release Date: 29/05/1954
"With a diploma in outwitting cats in his arsenal, Jerry attempts to teach a younger mouse who keeps finding other means to achieve the tasks he is given."
Martin Arnold Films
Filed under: resource, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, Color, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Website
"Martin Arnold's films use segments of old American cartoons, from which he has obscured and deleted features in order to focus viewer attention on the sound, repetition and movement of specific and recurring forms.His work has been shown at 168 inter..."
Mary Blair
Filed under: people, 1950s, U.S.A., Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Animator, Artist, Color Stylist and Designer, Illustrator
"Mary Blair was an American animator, best known for her work with Disney Studios."
Masahiko Satoh
Filed under: people, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, Japan, Composer
"Born in Tokyo in 1941, Masahiko Satoh is a pianist whose career has spanned six decades and over a hundred albums. His style is known for blending influences from American jazz with traditional Japanese music. Satoh's interest in music began at the ..."
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio
Filed under: studio, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, Barney Bear, Bill Hanna, Bosko, Droopy, Hanna-Barbera Studios, Joe Barbera, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Tom and Jerry, U.S.A., Ub Iwerks, 1929
"Active from 1929 to 1957, MGM produced some of the most well-known and well-liked cartoons syndicated all over the world, featuring characters such as Barney Bear, Droopy, and the now-iconic Tom and Jerry. MGM's first foray into animation was thr..."
Michael Maltese
Filed under: people, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Looney Tunes, Tasmanian Devil, U.S.A., Warner Bros., Writer
"Born in New York City to Italian immigrants, Michael Maltese studied at the National Academy of Art and Design, before landing his first animation job working as a colourist for Betty Boop cartoons, in 1935. He and his wife, Florence Sass, later move..."
Milton (Milt) Kahl
Filed under: people, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Color, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Silly Symphonies, U.S.A., Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Winnie the Pooh, Animation Supervisor, Animator, Director
"Milt Kahl was an renown animator and director who was a part of Disney's group of “Nine Old Men”, who created and designed many Disney characters, and whose distinctive style had a large influence within the history of the studio. "
Motor Mania
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Goofy, U.S.A., Walt Disney Studios, 1950
Producer(s): Walt Disney
Release Date: 30/06/1950
"In this Goofy cartoon from the 50's, a Jekyll and Hyde dynamic illustrates how Mr. Walker, who is friendly and normally mild tempered turns into Mr. Wheeler, a crazed maniac who experiences road rage when behind the wheel of an automobile. An intere..."
Neighbours
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Canada, National Film Board of Canada, Norman McLaren, Pixilation, Stop Motion, 1952
Producer(s): Norman McLaren
Release Date: 01/01/1952
Nikolai Khodataev
Filed under: people, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Propaganda, Russia, Stop Motion, Animator, Artist, Writer
"Born in the village of Konstantinovsk in 1892, the son of a wealthy tsarist official, Nikolai Khodataev took painting lessons in his youth, eventually enrolling in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, at the age of twenty. In ..."
Oliver Wallace
Filed under: people, 1940s, 1950s, Early Sound, U.S.A., Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Composer
"Born in England, Wallace studied music widely, in London as well as in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. First relocating to Canada in 1904, Oliver eventually settled in the United States, becoming a citizen 10 years later in 1914. After compl..."
Paramount Cartoon Studios/Famous Studios
Filed under: studio, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Al Eugster, Animation Series, Baby Huey, Betty Boop, Carl Meyer, Cartoon Characters, Casper the Ghost, Color, Dave Fleischer, David Tendlar, Felix the Cat, Herman and Katnip, Howard Post, Inkwell / Fleischer Studios, Isadore Sparber, Jack Mercer, Koko the Clown, Little Audrey, Little Lulu, Max Fleischer, Noveltoons, Paramount Pictures, Popeye, Ralph Bakshi, Sam Buchwald, Seymour Kneitel, Shamus Culhane, Superman, Technicolor, Tom Johnson, U.S.A.
"Famous Studios, renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956, was the animation division of Paramount Pictures. The studio was formed in 1942 after Paramount took over Fleischer Studios in 1941, when the Fleischer brothers were not able to repay their..."
Payut Ngaokrachang
Filed under: people, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Commercials, Propaganda, Toei Animation Studio, Animator, Educator, Studio Head
"Payut Ngaokrachang was a Thai animation pioneer and creator of Thailand’s first animated feature film. He is known as “Thailand’s Walt Disney.”"
Romance of Transportation in Canada
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Canada, Color, National Film Board of Canada, 1952
Producer(s): Tom Daly
Release Date: 1952
""A light-hearted animated short about how Canada's vast distances and great obstacles were overcome by settlers. The story is told with a tongue-in-cheek seriousness and takes us from the intrepid trailblazers of long ago to the aircraft of today and..."
Rooty Toot Toot
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Jazz, John Hubley, Racial representation, United Productions of America (UPA), 1952
Producer(s): Stephen Bosustow John Hubley
Release Date: 24/06/1951
">This cartoon depicts with transfiguring lines and shapes a courtroom-style musical drama. Characters are called up to the stand, each telling their side of the story, flashing back to each scene punctuated by the musical script. The opening sequ..."
Sadie Friedlander Bodin
Filed under: people, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Color, Inkwell / Fleischer Studios, U.S.A., Van Beuren Corporation, Animation Supervisor, Animator, Background Artist, Colorist, Inker, Union Activist
"Sadie Bodin was an extremely influential animator, being the first to picket an animation studio during the fight for animation workers' rights in the 1930s. Bodin was also one of the few women animators to move up into managerial positions, becoming..."
Seymour Kneitel
Filed under: people, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Baby Huey, Betty Boop, Betty Boop series, Bray Productions, Casper the Ghost, Color, Dave Fleischer, Herman and Katnip, Inkwell / Fleischer Studios, Isadore Sparber, Koko the Clown, Max Fleischer, Noveltoons, Paramount Pictures, Popeye, Sam Buchwald, Seymour Kneitel, Superman, U.S.A., Animation Supervisor, Animator, Director, Executive Producer, Studio Head
"Seymour Kneitel was an early American animator, most well known for his work with Fleischer Studios. After the studio closed, he headed its successor, Famous Studios."
Sterling Holloway
Filed under: people, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, U.S.A., Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Winnie the Pooh, Actor, Voice Actor
"Born in Cedartown, Georgia to a grocer, Sterling Holloway's acting career began in his teens, when he enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where his classmates included Spencer Tracy and Pat O'Brien. After graduation, h..."
Storyboard Studios/Hubley Studios
Filed under: studio, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Commercials, HUAC, John Hubley, Research Subjects, Sesame Street, U.S.A., United Productions of America (UPA), 1953
"After John Hubley was blacklisted by HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) for not testifying before the committee, he had to leave his position at United Productions of America (UPA) in 1952 and as a result founded his own independent animat..."
Terrytoons
Filed under: studio, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Casper the Ghost, Color, Early Sound, Paul Terry, Terrytoons Animated Shorts, U.S.A., 1929
"Paul Terry opened his own animation studio, called Terrytoons, in 1929. Paul Terry is known in the animation industry for producing his cartoons quickly, and for resisting improvements. Terry’s goal was to produce cartoons at the lowest cost po..."
The Banyan Deer
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Color, Films Division, India, 1957
Producer(s): Claire Weeks Ezra-Mir
Release Date: 1957
The Children and the Bear
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Color, Propaganda, Toei Animation Studio, 1959
Producer(s): Payut Ngaokrachang United States Information Agency Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)
Release Date: 1959
"An anti-communist allegory about a bear (meant to represent Russia) that escapes from his keeper. The bear encounters a group of children, consuming several of them. The remaining children (representing Southeast Asian countries) join together and sc..."
The Grasshopper and the Ant
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Animation technology, Germany, 1954
Release Date: 1954
""A musical Grasshopper continues to play his violin while the Ant works hard to prepare for the winter. Later as winter arrives Grasshopper realizes he is not ready for winter and falls ill.""
The Tell-Tale Heart
Filed under: animation, 1950s, Technicolor, U.S.A., United Productions of America (UPA), 1953
Producer(s): John Hubley Stephen Bosustow
Release Date: 27/12/1953
"Based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name. The caretaker of an old man suffers paranoid delusions surrounding his employer's blind eye. In a fit of rage, he murders the old man and hides his body under the floorboards. Facing police inv..."
Vladimir William (“Bill”) Tytla
Filed under: people, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Casper the Ghost, Color, Inkwell / Fleischer Studios, Little Lulu, Musical, Popeye, Terrytoons Animated Shorts, U.S.A., Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Animator, Artist
"Vladimir Tytla worked as an animator for several studios, including his own. His happiest times, and best work, were done at Disney Studios where he felt a certain atmosphere of artistry and care for the animated product, which fed his deep interest ..."
Walt Disney Studio
Filed under: studio, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Silly Symphonies, U.S.A., Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, 1923
"Walt Disney's Studio first found its headquarters in Burbank, California. A personal winner of of twenty Academy Awards within his lifetime, with a total of 63 total nominations, as well as 4 Special or Honorary Oscars, Disney is remembered as an ico..."
Ward Walrath Kimball
Filed under: people, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Color, Musical, U.S.A., Walt Disney, Walt Disney Studios, Animator, Artist, Character Designer
"Ward Kimball was a prolific animator for Walt Disney, part of the earliest team of core animators known as "Disney's Nine Old Men." While extremely influential, his importance in the early days of Disney has meant that biographers have encountered se..."
What’s Opera, Doc?
Filed under: animation, 1950s, All Music, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Looney Tunes, Technicolor, U.S.A., Warner Bros., 1957
Producer(s): Edward Seizer
Release Date: 06/07/1957
"In this parody of Wagner's The Ring Cycle, Elmer Fudd plays a viking endowed with a spear, magic helmet, and undying drive to kill the rabbit."