Cartoon King Joseph Barbera Dead At 95
With Partner William Hanna, He Created The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo
-
Play CBS Video Video Matthew Lillard On 'Scooby'
Actor Matthew Lillard dropped by The Early Show to talk about his role as Shaggy in the box-office topping 'Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.'
-
-
Hanna-Barbera's beloved cartoon characters "The Flintstones." Shown here, from left are Pebbles, Wilma and Fred Flinstone, with their pals Betty and Barney Rubble in the back seat. Bam Bam Rubble is on top of the car, and the Flintstones' dinosaur Dino sits at right. (AP Graphics Bank)
-
Joe Barbera, shown here in an undated publicity photo, died on Dec. 18, 2006. He and partner William Hanna created many of our most popular cartoon characters. (WARNER BROS.)
-
Joseph Barbera poses with famed Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, from left, Scooby Doo, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, after he received a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles Saturday, Sept. 21, 1996. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
-
-
Photo Essay Family-Friendly TV Jennifer Love Hewitt, Howie Mandel and Emmitt Smith among honorees at Family TV Awards
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.
The Jetsons, which debuted in 1962, were the futuristic mirror image of the Flintstones.
"It was a family comedy with everyday situations and problems that we window-dressed with gimmicks and inventions," Barbera once said. "Our stories were such a contrast to many of the animated series that are straight destruction and blasting away for a solid half hour."
The show ran just one season on network TV but was often rerun, and the characters were revived in the 1980s in a syndicated show. Barbera said he liked the freedom that syndication gave the producers, with none of the meddling from network executives.
"Today, Charlie Chaplin couldn't get his material by a network," he once said.
Even so, the influence of Hanna-Barbera was felt for decades. In 2002 and again in 2004, characters from the cartoon series "Scooby-Doo" were brought to the big screen in films that combined live actors and animation.
Hanna-Barbera, meanwhile, received eight Emmys, including the Governors Award of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1988.
"Joe Barbara was a passionate storyteller and a creative genius who, along with his late partner Bill Hanna, helped pioneer the world of animation," said friend, colleague and Warner animation President Sander Schwartz. "Joe's contributions to both the animation and television industries are without parallel — he has been personally responsible for entertaining countless millions of viewers across the globe."
Neither Hanna, born in 1910, nor Barbera, born in 1911, set out to be cartoonists. Barbera, who grew up in the New York borough of Brooklyn, originally went into banking. However, he soon turned his doodles into magazine cartoons and then into a job as an animator.
Hanna, who had studied engineering and journalism, originally went into animation because he needed a job.
Although not the hit factory it was in the '50s and '60s, the Hanna-Barbera studio remained active through the years. It eventually became a subsidiary of Great American Communications Co., and in 1991 it was purchased by a partnership including Turner Broadcasting System, which used the studio's library when it launched cable TV's Cartoon Network in 1992. Turner is now part of Time Warner.
Funeral arrangements were pending, Miereanu said. In addition to his wife, the animator is survived by three children from a previous marriage, Jayne, Neal and Lynn.
By Sue Manning
©MMVI The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
- If they aired these same cartoons today I might just sit down and watch them, they were the best, the garbage that they air today is just plain awful. My kids loved watching the older cartoons and now these cartoons are gone, I did however foresee the future many years ago and recorded on VHS about a 100 hours of cartoons. I will giving them away to the little neighbor kids in the near future
- Reply to this comment
- Joe,
You & Bill gave us babyboomers many hours of tv enjoyment...THANK YOU - Reply to this comment
- such a a great cartoon legend!
www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable - Reply to this comment
- I agree with Stezzer, they entertained my 50s& 60s childhood and made it delightful. Thank You.
Bobster23 - Reply to this comment
- To olebd
I agree with you 100%
There are only a few children's shows that are worth mentioning. I for one think "Little Bear" is exceptional work.
The anti-talent animation fall into the range that I call "Poki-puke" for good reason ... - Reply to this comment
- Thank you Mr Barbera. You were a part of my wonderful childhood.
You will be remembered. - Reply to this comment
- These guys were brilliant. They offered children much better quality shows than the trash that is offered today.
- Reply to this comment




