HANNA-BARBERA
PRODUCTIONS
a.k.a. H-B
Enterprises, H-B Production Company, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc.
(1957-2001)
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| View of Hanna-Barbera's long-time home. |
Key People: William Hanna (founder,
director, producer), Joseph
Barbera (founder, director, producer), George Sidney (founder), Harry Cohn (minority owner, Columbia Pictures
president), Ed Benedict
(layout artist), Iwao Takamoto
(character designer, director, producer), Joe Ruby (editor, writer), Ken Spears (editor, writer), Hoyt Curtin (composer), Ted Nichols (composer)
 |
| Joe Barbera and William Hanna with some of their stars and a couple of awards. |
After MGM closed down its
animation division due to the declining demand for theatrical shorts, William
Hanna and Joseph Barbera decided to start their own studio with a focus on
cartoons for television. Live-action director George Sidney, who had worked
with the two before, managed to get them a deal with Columbia Pictures’
television unit, Screen
Gems, in exchange for an 18% ownership for the studio’s president, Harry
Cohn. Hanna and Barbera initially named the studio H-B Enterprises (a coin toss
decided whose name went first) and recruited as many of their former co-workers
from MGM as possible. To compensate for the drastically reduced budgets per
short on television, Hanna-Barbera made extensive use of limited animation by
having their characters rendered in sections, using sound to drive the
narrative over action, and by reusing as many assets as possible (walk/run
cycles, backgrounds, etc.). Their first show, The
Ruff and Reddy Show, proved a success on Saturday morning. Their next
offerings came during prime time, notably their Stone Age sitcom, The Flintstones.
Hanna-Barbera would become known for being heavily influenced by and
borrowing from many other shows and movies, such as the case of The Flintstones and its similarities to The Honeymooners that
almost resulted in a lawsuit from its creator, Jackie Gleason. In the late
1960s, they would begin to dabble in live-action production starting with The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (although
it did contain animated sequences). Their live-action division would spin-off
into its own entity, Solow
Production Company headed by Herbert
Solow. In 1966, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting
and would begin to follow the new trend of action-adventure programming. In
1969, they launched their longest-running continuous franchise with Scooby-Doo,
Where Are You!, which
has seen numerous incarnations, direct-to-video movies and film adaptations.
Based on Scooby’s success,
Hanna-Barbera churned out a slew of clones in order to duplicate it, like Goober
and the Ghost Chasers and Speed
Buggy. In 1976, after the failure of Uncle Croc’s Block, ABC-head Fred Silverman abandoned rival Filmation Associates and
gave Hanna-Barbera the majority of its Saturday morning programming; increasing
the studio’s presence on the air. In 1977, Scooby’s creators Joe Ruby and Ken
Spears left to form their own studio, Ruby-Spears Productions,
which also ended up under the ownership of Taft. In 1981, Hanna-Barbera scored another major
hit with The Smurfs, which became the
longest-running Saturday morning cartoon series and the top-rated program for
eight years. The 80s also saw the studio develop a digitized ink and paint
system to cut time and cost on the process, becoming the first studio to do so.
Unfortunately, the 80s began the studio’s downfall. New competition and the
syndication market saw a reduction in the amount of shows they had on air.
Their parent company was suffering financial trouble and was finally bought and
renamed Great American Broadcasting in 1987. Warner Bros., looking to restart their
animation division, poached a number of Hanna-Barbera staff to form their new
studio. Turner
Broadcasting System bought Hanna-Barbera along with Ruby-Spears in 1991 and
renamed it H-B Production Company, and later Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. With
a new focus on Turner stations, Dumb
and Dumber became the last show the studio made for network television.
In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) and the studio was
moved to the same facilities as Warner
Bros. Animation. The studio was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation in
2001, which continued to make new productions based on Hanna-Barbera’s
properties.
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| Hanna and Barbera caricatures among their characters. |
Saturday Credits:
The Ruff and Reddy
Show
The Atom Ant/Secret
Squirrel Show
Sinbad Jr. and his Magic
Belt
Frankenstein Jr. and the
Impossibles
Space Ghost and Dino
Boy
The Space Kidettes
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio
The Herculoids
Shazzan
Fantastic Four (1967)
Moby Dick and Mighty
Mightor
Samson & Goliath
The Banana Splits
Adventure Hour
The Adventures of
Gulliver
Wacky Races
The Perils of Penelope
Pitstop
Dastardly and Muttley
in Their Flying Machines
Cattanooga Cats
Scooby-Doo, Where Are
You!
Harlem Globetrotters
Josie and the
Pussycats
The Pebbles and
Bamm-Bamm Show
Help!...It’s the Hair
Bear Bunch!
The Funky Phantom
The Amazing Chan and
the Chan Clan
The Flintstone Comedy
Hour
The Roman Holidays
Sealab 2020
ABC Saturday Superstar
Movie (episodes)
The New Scooby-Doo
Movies
Josie and the
Pussycats in Outer Space
Speed Buggy
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kids
Yogi’s Gang
Super Friends (1973)
Goober and the Ghost
Chasers
Inch High, Private Eye
Jeannie
The Addams Family (1973)
Hong Kong Phooey
These Are the Days
These Are the Days
Devlin
Partridge Family 2200
A.D.
Valley of the
Dinosaurs
Wheelie and the
Chopper Bunch
Korg: 70,000 B.C.
The New Tom &
Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show
The
Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour
Clue Club
Jabberjaw
Fred Flintstone and
Friends
Scooby’s All-Star
Laff-a-Lympics
CB Bears
The Skatebirds
The All-New Super
Friends Hour
The All-New Popeye
Hour
Yogi’s Space Race
Challenge of the Super
Friends
The Godzilla Power
Hour
Go Go Globetrotters
The New Fred and
Barney Show
Fred and Barney Meet
the Thing
Casper and the Angels
The New Shmoo
The Super
Globetrotters
Scooby-Doo and
Scrappy-Doo (1979)
The World’s Greatest
Super Friends
Fred and Barney Meet
the Shmoo
Super Friends (1980)
Drak Pack
The Flintstone Comedy
Show
The Fonz and the Happy
Days Gang
The Richie
Rich/Scooby-Doo Show
Laverne & Shriley
in the Army
Space Stars
The Kwicky Koala Show
Trollkins
The Smurfs
The Flintstone Funnies
The Pac-Man/Little
Rascals/Richic Rich Show
Mork &
Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour
The Scooby &
Scrapy-Doo/Puppy Hour
Shirt Tales
The Gary Coleman Show
The Dukes
The Monchichis/Little
Rascals/Richie Rich Show
The Pac-Man/Rubik, the
Amazing Cube Hour
The New Scooby and
Scrappy-Doo Show
The Biskitts
Benji, Zax & the
Alien prince
Snorks
Scary Scooby Funnies
Challenge of the
GoBots
Pink Panther and Sons
Super Friends: The
Legendary Super Powers Show
Yogi’s Treasure Hunt
Galtar and the Golden
Lance
The Super Powers Team:
Galactic Guardians
The 13 Ghosts of
Scooby-Doo
Scooby’s Mystery
Funhouse
The Berenstain Bears
CBS Storybreak
The Funtastic World of
Hanna-Barbera
Teen Wolf
Pound Puppies (1986)
The Flintstone Kids
Foofur
Wildfire
Popeye and Son
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
The Completely Mental
Misadventures of Ed Grimley
Bill & Ted’s
Excellent Adventures
Tom & Jerry Kids
Rick Moranis in
Gravedale High
The Pirates of Dark
Water
Yo Yogi!
The Addams Family (1992)
Droopy, Master
Detective
Dumb and Dumber
Cave Kids
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