December 19, 2006
Joseph Barbera, 1911-2006
Joseph Barbera, one part of the famed cartoon duo Hanna-Barbera, has died at the age of 95. In his life, which started out in New York (Little Italy and then Flatbush), he created Tom and Jerry, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones and also worked on The Smurfs...all of your childhood favorites, over 100 cartoons in 4 decades.
While in New York Barbera attempted banking, playwriting and amateur boxing. He then sent a sketch to Collier's magazine which they purchased, but more importantly they encouraged him to become a cartoon artist. He began his career on the East Coast but eventually ended up in California at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation unit, where he met Hanna.
A career was launched and the list of cartoons the two created could go on forever. Amongst their list of achievements are their 1973 film adaptation of “Charlotte’s Web", and in 1978 they even produced a television special starring KISS, called "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park"!
In 2001, Hanna died and the company was fully absorbed by Warner Brothers’ animation division. Barbera stayed in the game and was even the writer, director and storyboard artist for the 2005 cartoon “The KarateGuard,” his first theatrical Tom and Jerry work in over 45 years. He also wrote an autobiography titled “My Life in ‘Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century”.
Remember to go visit Smurf Village, which is up until March of 2007.
Last month another legend in animation, Chris Hayward, died at the age of 81. He wrote for "Rocky and Bullwinkle" and created "The Munsters". The Times noted that Jay Ward Productions (where Hayward was employed for a time) "was no Hanna-Barbera: Mr. Hayward often worked in a freezing basement, for little compensation beyond the joy of writing deliciously bad puns for the masses."
Lastly, a memorial service for Peter Boyle was held yesterday in Manhattan. The Post notes that the service was uplifting and kept in the spirit of Boyle's humor.
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KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park was not animated.
from the Wikipedia entry you cite:
Filming for KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park began in May 1978[3], and it was produced by Hanna-Barbera, known primarily for cartoons such as Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear. Most of the movie was filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, with additional filming taking place in the Hollywood Hills.
Barbera didn't create the Smurfs, he bought the American rights for them from Peyo (he was dutch or belgian)
he did NOT create the smurfs!
Created in Belgium (or France, I'm not sure): On October 23, 1958 the Smurfs made their first appearance in a story of Johan & Peewit in “Le Journal de Spirou”. Their creator Peyo had worked previously at a number of drawing jobs.
Belgian artist Peyo created the Smurfs, NOT Barbera!!!
"On October 23, 1958 the Smurfs made their first appearance in a story of Johan & Peewit in “Le Journal de Spirou”. Their creator Peyo had worked previously at a number of drawing jobs."
Hi everybody!
Um, just a question...Did Hanna-Barbera create the Smurfs? I'm not really sure...
lol@factual error.
The post didn't say he created the smurfs, it said he "worked" on it to some ambiguous capacity. And it said he produced the KISS special, not meaning it was necessarily animated. Everyone calm down.
#2, 3, 4:
There's not one mention in this article that Barbera created the Smurfs. If you read the article with any reading comprehension skills (clearly none), it would have seen and I quote *and also worked on The Smurfs* in the first paragraph.
but he didn't work on them, he bought the US rights to them
A lifetime of memorys as a kid in the 60's and 70's. Thanks Joe. Rest in peace.
And, I swear, Gothamist edited the article after the creating-smurf uproar
is it just me or was hanna barbera also responsible for making some of the worst and cheapest mass-produced cartoons ever?
Lighten up, folks!
This guy belongs on the Mount Rushmore of cartoonists/animators with Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny) and others.
Maybe the later stuff, post 1975, was crap, but Tom & Jerry, Yogi, and Fred Flintstone were all classics!
Rest in peace, Joe . . .
This usually isn't my style, but since the article didn't bother to, um, "research" whether "Hanna" had a first name, I thought I'd invest 3.2 seconds and find out that he did. It was "William".