Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera was an influential animation studio based in Los Angeles, California, operational from 1957 until 2001. Founded by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera after their successful tenure at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the studio became renowned for its children's television programming and iconic animated series. Among its notable creations are classics like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, and The Smurfs, which not only captivated young audiences but also attracted adult viewers. Hanna-Barbera was a pioneer in the television animation landscape, notably introducing prime-time animated shows, which was a groundbreaking shift in the genre. Throughout its history, the studio produced 249 cartoon series and generated revenue through syndication and merchandising. Following its acquisition by various media conglomerates, including Taft Broadcasting and Turner Broadcasting System, Hanna-Barbera ultimately merged into Warner Bros. animation. Despite ceasing operations as a standalone entity in 2001, the legacy of Hanna-Barbera continues to influence modern animation, with its characters and shows remaining popular in contemporary media. In recent years, the brand has been revived, signaling its enduring impact on the animation industry.
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Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera was a Los Angeles, California-based animation studio active from 1957 until 2001. It was founded by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who formed the company after working together in the animation division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios. Specializing in children’s television and cartoons, Hanna-Barbera became one of the most successful and iconic animation studios of the twentieth century. Some of the studio’s best-known programs include The Flintstones (1960–1966), The Yogi Bear Show (1961–1962), The Jetsons (1962–1963), Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969-1986), Josie and the Pussycats (1970–1971), The Smurfs (1981–1989), Johnny Bravo (1997–2004), and The Powerpuff Girls (1998–2005).
The studio generated a large percentage of its revenues by selling the syndication rights to its shows. Hanna-Barbera cartoons made up the majority of Cartoon Network programming when the channel was first launched in 1992. It also branched out into merchandising, adapting many characters and shows into toy lines and other consumer products. During its history as a standalone enterprise, Hanna-Barbera produced 249 cartoon series, totaling more than 1,200 hours of programming. Many of the studio’s original shows remain widely available through syndicated broadcasting and online streaming.
Background
William Hanna was born in New Mexico in 1910. After his family settled in California, Hanna became a skilled musician and illustrator. Though he was never formally trained in animation, Hanna’s natural talent earned him a job with Harman and Ising, a Los Angeles animation studio known for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon series. In 1937, MGM Studios hired Hanna away from Harman and Ising, and he began working with Joseph Barbera.
Born in 1911, Barbera was a Manhattan native who developed an interest in animation after seeing The Skeleton Dance (1929), an early cartoon produced by Walt Disney. He began to work as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, contributing work to high-profile publications including Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post. Barbera began his Hollywood career as a colorist and inker, initially working at various studios before joining MGM in 1937.
Hanna and Barbera became a creative team in 1939 when they conceived an idea for an animated series based on a cat and mouse duo. In 1940, Hanna and Barbera debuted their new characters in a short film titled Puss Gets the Boot, marking the official debut of Tom and Jerry. The short’s success convinced MGM’s animation chief to assign Hanna and Barbera to the leadership of a new production unit. There, they produced 114 episodes of Tom and Jerry between 1940 and 1957.
MGM closed its animation division in 1957, prompting Hanna and Barbera to find their own studio. With the theatrical market for children’s animation in decline, Hanna and Barbera elected to focus on the emerging medium of television. They found early success with The Huckleberry Hound Show and its precursor, The Yogi Bear Show, both of which proved to have crossover appeal to adults. This would become a signature of Hanna-Barbera programming. The studio emerged as the leading producer of animated television programming with the runaway success of The Flintstones, which debuted in 1960 and remains one of the most popular franchises ever created by the studio and helped popularize cartoon television shows.
In 1966, Hanna-Barbera was acquired by Taft Broadcasting, a media conglomerate owned by the family of former US President William Howard Taft. Adjusted for inflation, the studio’s $12 million sale price would equal approximately $116 million in 2024. Under the terms of the sale, Hanna and Barbera remained in charge of the studio until it was acquired by the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in 1991 for $320 million (about $736 million in 2024). Following the TBS acquisition, Hanna and Barbera remained active only in advisory capacities. Hanna-Barbera ceased to function as a standalone enterprise in 2001 when it was absorbed into the Warner Bros. animation division after America Online (AOL) and Time Warner completed a merger. Hanna died later that year, and Barbera passed away in 2006. In 2021, Warner Media revived the brand by retitling a London-based Cartoon Network animation studio with the Hanna-Barbera name. In 2023, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. Animation, and Cartoon Network announced a long line-up of animated shows in production.
Impact
Hanna-Barbera occupies a prominent position in twentieth-century animation history. The company’s early decision to focus on the television market was a major reason for its success. When Hanna-Barbera cartoons made their popular breakthrough in the early 1960s, most animated shows were broadcast on Saturday mornings, when their intended audience of children was off from school. Only three major networks operated at this time: ABC, CBS, and NBC. These networks held a functional monopoly over US television programming, guaranteeing that Hanna-Barbera cartoons would be delivered to a large and essentially captive audience.
One notable exception to the Saturday morning broadcast slotting was The Flintstones. This widely popular Hanna-Barbera product was the first animated show in television history to be broadcast in prime time, during weekday middle-evening hours. Its unusual positioning reflected its appeal to both children and adults, with Hanna-Barbera innovating by consciously cultivating a wider audience as part of its strategic marketing. Several other Hanna-Barbera shows went on to air in prime time, including The Jetsons, Johnny Quest, and The Powerpuff Girls. This groundbreaking approach matured in the 1990s when a popular culture-changing run of highly successful animated prime-time shows, including The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, and King of the Hill, earned large adult audiences.
Hanna-Barbera also created several of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time, enabled by a near-continuous run of major successes that began with the 1940 launch of the Tom and Jerry cat and mouse team. The studio’s intellectual property includes The Flintstones, which follows the titular family in a modernized Stone Age setting; The Yogi Bear Show, about the misadventures of a hungry bear who constantly poaches picnic baskets; The Jetsons, a quasi-spinoff of The Flintstones that substitutes a future setting for the Stone Age; Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, which follows a ghost-hunting dog and his teenage friends; and The Smurfs, adapted for US television from a Belgian comic series about of tiny blue forest-dwelling creatures seeking to evade their unfriendly wizard nemesis, Gargamel.
Hanna-Barbera had a lasting impact on modern animation, producing cost-effective cartoon shows with wide audience appeal. Their animation technology, ability to package franchise characters for immediate viewing, syndication, and merchandising, and willingness to foster future talent paved the way for the modern culture of animated television shows.
Bibliography
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“Hanna-Barbera.” Norman Rockwell Museum of Illustration History,2020, www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/hanna-barbera. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.
“Hanna-Barbera Building.” Los Angeles Conservancy, www.laconservancy.org/locations/hanna-barbera-building. Accessed 16 May 2024.
“Hanna-Barbera: The Architects of Saturday Morning.” Norman Rockwell Museum of Illustration History,Apr. 2017, www.nrm.org/2017/04/hanna-barbera/. Accessed 17 Sept. 2021.
Hopewell, John, and Sam Register. “WBA, Cartoon Network, Hanna-Barbera Studio Focus: Details.” Variety, 16 June 2023, variety.com/2023/film/global/warner-bros-animation-cartoon-network-studios-1235647101. Accessed 16 May 2024.
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Ramachandran, Naman. “Warner Media Reinstates Iconic Hanna-Barbera Brand with London-Based European Studio.” Variety, 7 Apr. 2021, variety.com/2021/tv/global/warnermedia-hanna-barbera-studio-europe-1234945602. Accessed 16 May 2024.
Valinoti, Raymond Jr. Hanna-Barbera’s Prime Time Cartoons. BearManor Media, 2020.