Cartoon King Joseph Barbera Dead At 95

With Partner William Hanna, He Created The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo

(AP) 
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.

2Like "The Simpsons" three decades later, "The Flintstones" found success in prime-time TV by not limiting its reach to children. The program, a parody of "The Honeymooners," was among the 20 most popular shows on television during the 1960-61 season, and Fred's shout of "yabba dabba doo!" entered the language.

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.

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

[paviles394]

Joe,
You & Bill gave us babyboomers many hours of tv enjoyment...THANK YOU

[themartyred]

such a a great cartoon legend!

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[yamuttya]

I agree with Stezzer, they entertained my 50s& 60s childhood and made it delightful. Thank You.
Bobster23

[phil-in-fin]

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 ...

[stezzer]

Thank you Mr Barbera. You were a part of my wonderful childhood.

You will be remembered.

[olebd]

These guys were brilliant. They offered children much better quality shows than the trash that is offered today.