The legendary animator who along with William Hanna entertained generations--including us children of the 80s--has left us at 95. Barbera joined MGM in 1937 and became a de facto partner with Hanna almost immediately, which led to the creation of Tom and Jerry 3 years later. In 17 years of almost exclusively doing cartoons with the cat and mouse, they won a record 7 Oscars. Despite the misery of much lower budgets on television, they successfully switched mediums in the late 50s and reigned as TV's supreme animators for almost 30 years, before the advent of higher-budgeted syndicated cartoons and the rise of cable in the late 80s sank them (they were formally bought out in 1992). Barbera continued producing cartoons, including new Tom and Jerry's, up to the end. While animation experts may have panned H-B television work as crude and terrible, I always had a soft spot for them (and I loved every studio logo, the CGI Swirling Star used from 1986-1991 being my favorite), and he will be deeply missed.
What's your favorite Hanna-Barbera moments?
Posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess (Member # 1877) on :
