The Golden Age of American animation

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The Golden Age of American animation is a period in American animation history that began with the advent of sound cartoons in 1928, peaked during the mid 1940s, and continued into the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts slowly began losing to the new medium of television animation. Many of the most memorable characters emerged from this period including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Popeye, Betty Boop, Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, Droopy Dog and an incredibly popular adaptation of Superman. Feature length animation also began during this period, most notably with Walt Disney's first films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi.

History of animation
in the United States
Felix the Cat
The Silent Era
The Golden Age
The TV Era
The Renaissance
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Contents

[edit] The early years

Closing title used on the earliest of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse shorts
Closing title used on the earliest of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse shorts

The motion picture industry was shaken to its roots with the introduction of sound film in 1927, and within two years this revolution spread to the field of animation. Walt Disney took what was seen as an enormous financial gamble by producing the first cartoon with a fully synchronized soundtrack: Steamboat Willie, featuring the third theatrical appearance of Mickey Mouse. The cartoon was a phenomenal box-office success, drawing in crowds and sparking Disney's meteoric rise to fame.

[edit] Disney’s influence

During the early 1930s, the world of animation seemed to be divided into two factions: Walt Disney and "everyone else." Mickey Mouse's phenomenal popularity put the animated character into the ranks of the most popular screen personalities in the world (ranking alongside Charlie Chaplin), and for a while it seemed that everything Disney touched turned to gold. Merchandising based on Disney cartoons rescued a number of companies from bankruptcy during the depths of the Depression, and Disney took advantage of this popularity to move forward with further innovations in animation. Disney is responsible for the development of the three-strip Technicolor process in motion pictures (the Technicolor company worked with Disney to perfect the process), and the first full-color theatrical cartoon was a Disney short, Flowers and Trees (1932). Disney also developed the idea of lifelike realism in animation to a degree that has rarely been surpassed since. His animation production staff, including technical innovator Ub Iwerks, developed the multiplane camera to provide additional depth and perception in animation (as opposed to the typical two-dimensional drawings used to produce animated film), while a continuing emphasis on story development and characterization resulted in yet another smash hit for Disney: Three Little Pigs (1933), which is seen as the first cartoon in which multiple characters displayed unique, individual personalities.

Disney did face a number of competitors, though none were able to topple his studio from the throne of animation until the 1940s. Disney's greatest competitor during the silent era, the Pat Sullivan studio, faced its downfall after an uninspired attempt at bringing Felix the Cat into the sound medium.

[edit] Fleischer’s influence

In terms of quality, Disney's closest competitor was Max Fleischer, the head of Fleischer Studios (which produced cartoons for Paramount Pictures). The Fleischers continued the innovation and creativity they had developed during the silent film era, and they scored successful hits with the sexy Betty Boop cartoons and the surreal Popeye the Sailor series. Popeye's popularity during the 1930s rivaled Mickey Mouse at times, and Popeye fan clubs sprang up across the country in imitation of Mickey's fan clubs. However, during the early 1930s public outcry over "immorality" in the movies reached its peak, prompting the motion picture industry to clean up the "indecency" of the movies and accept the authority of the Production Code in 1934. This form of voluntary censorship applied to cartoons as well and even Mickey Mouse was forced to clean up his act. The Fleischers were especially hard-hit with Betty Boop having to be desexualized among other changes, and for a while their cartoons seem to lose some of their zest and creativity. The Fleischers produced a number of forgettable cartoons during the late 1930s when they unwisely attempted to emulate Walt Disney; however, their Popeye series remained strong.

[edit] A rabbit’s roots

Meanwhile, former Disney animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising moved to the newly created Leon Schlesinger studio which had recently secured a contract to produce cartoons for Warner Bros.. Harman and Ising directed their own cartoons there. While they were successful on their own, the team of Harman and Ising lacked Disney's innovation, and many of their cartoons suffered from a "cuteness" that failed to connect with many viewing audiences. The Warner Bros. cartoons of the early 1930s by Harman and Ising (along with the earliest directorial efforts of animator Friz Freleng) were largely forgettable, formula cartoons.

Bugs Bunny, from a 1945 Looney Tunes closing title.
Bugs Bunny, from a 1945 Looney Tunes closing title.

However, in 1935, Schlesinger hired a new animation director who proceeded to revitalize the studio: Tex Avery. Avery brought a wild and wacky style of animation to the studio that would propel Warner Bros. cartoons to the top of the heap in the crowded field of animated cartoons. With Avery's influence, Warner Bros. gave birth to a new crowd of animated cartoons stars whose names are known worldwide: Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and many others.

Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. and moved to the MGM cartoon studio, where they were given much higher budgets for their cartoons. They produced a number of richly animated cartoons that often featured stunning animated sequences. But the Harman-Ising narrative style caused the MGM cartoons to lack in entertainment quality: while they were visual feasts, the stories themselves were not memorable. MGM's cartoon studio remained in this state through the 1930s, although their cartoons were often nominated for Academy Awards.

[edit] Lantz and others

In addition to these studios, a number of other cartoon studios thrived during the 1930s. Like Fleischer, Walter Lantz and his associate, Bill Nolan had both worked in New York for most of their animation career, so the early cartoons of Walter Lantz Studio showed a similar outrageous and surreal style. Lantz's main character at this time was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who was handed down from Walt Disney and Charles Mintz. In the 1933 cartoon, Confidence, Oswald pays a visit to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt walks out from behind his desk and tells the rabbit he must spread confidence in order to wipe out the Great Depression.

Former Oswald owner, Charles Mintz, meanwhile, was still in charge of his own cartoon operation producing Krazy Kat cartoons, and a new series featuring a boy named Scrappy, created by Dick Huemer in 1931. After losing his Aesop's Film Fables series to the Van Beuren Studio, Paul Terry established a new studio called Terrytoons. However, in spite of the good entertainment quality of the early Terry cartoons, they failed to achieve the success of the major competitors (especially Disney). The cartoons of the Van Beuren Studio demonstrated a similar weakness.

Disney's long-time partner and friend, Ub Iwerks eventually decided to leave the Disney studio and formed his own in 1930. There were three main series to emerge from the Iwerks studio during its short tenure. These were Flip the Frog, Willie Whopper, and the ComiColor Cartoons. Iwerks' cartoons were hits with audiences and critics alike for their off-beat style; nonetheless, his studio was short-lived.

[edit] Feature-length animation

In 1937, Walt Disney produced Snow White, the first American feature-length animated movie. This was the culmination of two years of effort by Disney studios. Walt Disney was convinced that short cartoons would not keep his studio profitable in the long run, so he took what was—yet again—seen as an enormous gamble. Disney's financial ruin was predicted as a result of Snow White, but his critics were proven wrong. Snow White was a worldwide box office success, and a landmark in the development of animation as a serious art form.

However, Disney was not the first animation producer to make an animated cartoon longer than the standard one reel. In 1936, Fleischer Studios produced the first of three two-reel Popeye Technicolor features: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936), Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937), and Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1939). After the success of Snow White, Paramount asked the Fleischers to produce a feature-length animated film of their own. Although the Fleischers were doubtful that they could make a quality feature-length cartoon, they accepted the offer. The Fleischer studio relocated from New York to Miami, Florida in 1938 and there the Fleischers produced an animated version of Gulliver's Travels in 1939. A small success, it was followed by Mister Bug Goes to Town in 1941, which proved to be a costly flop. The Fleischers were fired from their own studio, which was now completely owned by Paramount; the facility was renamed Famous Studios and moved back to New York. These two Fleischer features were the only American animated features other than Disney's until 1959, when UPA released 1001 Arabian Nights. Other non-Disney animated features made in America were not released before 1962 with Gay Purr-ee (also by UPA). The avant-garde film Heaven and Earth Magic was released the same year, although not theatrically.

As Disney began to concentrate on the production of animated feature films, he did not personally oversee his short cartoons in the manner that he had before. While the Disney short films remained inventive, entertaining, and always featured exquisite animation, the stories began to lag and become predictable. This left an opening for the up-and-coming Termite Terrace animators at Warner Bros. to burst forth with a plethora of outstanding, funny cartoons that influenced animators for generations afterwards. Warners' cartoon directors came into their own at this time, and the 1940s cartoons of Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett are now legendary.

[edit] Sound in animation

While much of the magic of the Golden Era was due to the visual artistry of the cartoons, an important part was played by the vocal talents and elaborate symphonic scores that went alongside the images.

As motion pictures drew audiences away from their radio sets, it also drew talented actors and vocal impressionists into film and animation. Mel Blanc gave voice to many of Warner Bros. most popular characters, including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Other voices and personalities from vaudeville and the radio era contributed to the popularity of animated films in the Golden Era.

Cartoons of this era also included rich orchestral scores played by studio orchestras. Carl Stalling and Scott Bradley composed numerous cartoon soundtracks, creating original material as well as incorporating familiar classical and popular melodies.

Many of the early cartoons, particularly those of Disney's Silly Symphonies series, were built around classical pieces. These cartoons sometimes featured star characters, but many had simple nature themes.

See also: Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, Silly Symphonies, Fantasia

[edit] The wartime era

After the success of Snow White, Disney invested heavily into three additional animated feature films, all of which have been widely acclaimed as among the greatest animated productions of all time: Pinocchio, Bambi, and Fantasia. However, none of these films were box-office hits that came anywhere near the level of Snow White. Fantasia in particular was looked down upon by literary critics and audiences, who felt that Walt was striving for something beyond his reach by trying to introduce mainstream animation to abstract art, classical music, and "elite" subjects, although later generations would hail Disney for the artistic ambition of doing precisely that. To compensate for the relative failure of these projects, Disney produced a low-budget feature film (Dumbo) that brought in much-needed revenue and kept his studio afloat.

Frame of Der Fuehrer's Face
Frame of Der Fuehrer's Face

With the advent of the 1940s, two major events evoked change in the status quo of the Hollywood cartoon studios. The first was the entry of the United States into World War II, and the mobilization of all the studios (including their cartoon divisions) to produce material to bolster public confidence and encourage support for the war effort (in other terms, propaganda). The second was the Disney animators' strike of 1941, which severed many ties between Walt Disney and his staff, while encouraging many members of the Disney studio to leave and seek greener pastures. Some of these ex-patriates went on to form UPA, a studio which was to have a tremendous impact on the look of cartoons throughout the 1950s. Other Disney staff members found a warm welcome at competing cartoon studios, including MGM, Paramount, and Warner Bros.

Tom and Jerry, the MGM animation studio's most important property.
Tom and Jerry, the MGM animation studio's most important property.

After the United States' entry into World War II, most of the resources used to create animated shorts were redirected towards producing war-related material and propaganda. The major Hollywood studios contributed greatly to the war effort, and their cartoon studios pitched in as well with various contributions. Over at the Fleischer studios, Popeye the Sailor joined the Navy and began fighting Nazis and "Japs"; while the Warner Bros. studio produced a series of Private Snafu cartoons especially for viewing by enlisted soldiers.

The war was the second of two major blows to shake Walt Disney's empire; but while Disney lagged, it didn't fall. Disney contributed heartily to the war effort with a famous propaganda film entitled Victory Through Air Power, though his further feature films of the 1940s were modestly-budgeted collections of animated short films, with titles such as Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, and The Three Caballeros. The most ambitious Disney film of this period was Song of the South in 1946, which found acceptance with critics and audiences but was accused of "racism" in later years.

The Warner Bros. studio, meanwhile, hit its stride and saw a surge in popularity that would propel its animation studio through the next fifteen to twenty years. These years are seen as the time when Friz Freleng and Bob Clampett reached the peak of their creativity. In particular, Clampett brought the six-minute animated cartoon to a level of wild surrealism that has rarely been equalled, directing such mini-masterpieces as Porky in Wackyland, Tortoise Wins By A Hare, The Big Snooze, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, and The Old Grey Hare. In 1946, a dispute with the studio led Clampett to leave Warner Bros. and strike out on his own. He worked as one of the pioneers of children's programming in the newly-born field of television, where he created the popular Time for Beany television show.

A scene from the opening prologue to a Fleischer Studios Superman cartoon. The series was the studio's most successful late period project.
A scene from the opening prologue to a Fleischer Studios Superman cartoon. The series was the studio's most successful late period project.

Meanwhile, after a decade of trying to topple Disney from its throne, the MGM studio was suddenly blessed with a stroke of good fortune, in fact two strokes. Resident MGM animators Will Hanna and Joe Barbera scored a hit with their short film Puss Gets The Boot, which was nominated for an Oscar, and they then set themselves to producing a long-running series of Tom and Jerry cartoons that won accolades for MGM, as well as a string of Academy Awards that was unmatched by any other studio save Disney. Meanwhile, Tex Avery left Warner Bros. after a dispute with Leon Schleisinger, and he came to MGM and revitalized their cartoon studio with the same spark that had infused the Warner animators. Between the Tom and Jerry series and Tex Avery's wild, surreal masterpieces of his MGM days (including a saucy, sexy Red Hot Riding Hood series that set new standards for "adult" entertainment in cartoons), MGM was finally able to compete with Disney (and now Warner Bros.) in the field of animated cartoons.

Another thriving studio in the 1940s was the Walter Lantz studio. Since Oswald had worn out his welcome, Lantz and his staff worked on several ideas for possible new cartoon characters (among them Meany, Miny and Moe and Baby-Face Mouse). Eventually one of these characters clicked - his name was Andy Panda. However successful Andy was, it was not until the character's fifth cartoon, Knock Knock that a real breakthrough character was introduced. This was none other than the great Woody Woodpecker.

The winds of change also blew in the direction of the Fleischer studios, though the results were not as beneficial and inspiring as the events at MGM. While the Fleischers brought Popeye into the Navy and contributed to the war effort, they also began a series of spectacular Superman cartoons (the first of which was nominated for an Oscar) that have become legendary in themselves. However, in the early 1940s, Paramount Pictures suddenly expelled the Fleischers from their position at the head of the cartoon studio. In a move that remains controversial to the present day (though it has not been heavily examined by film historians), Paramount took over the Fleischer studio and brought it under the fold of their own studio, renaming it Famous Studios and continuing the work that the Fleischers began. The departure of the Fleischers had an immediate effect on the studio: while the Paramount cartoons of the war years continued to be entertaining and popular, a decline in story quality began that would become more and more evident as the decade came to a close.

[edit] Stop motion and special effects

For a great part of the history of Hollywood animation, the production of animated films was an exclusive industry that did not branch off very often into other areas. The various animation studios worked almost exclusively on producing animated cartoons and animated titles for movies. Only occasionally was animation used for other aspects of the movie industry. The low-budget Superman serials of the 1940s used animated sequences of Superman flying and performing super-powered feats were used in the place of live-action special effects, but this was not a common practice.

The exclusivity of animation also resulted in the birth of a sister industry that was used almost exclusively for motion picture special effects: stop motion animation. In spite of their similarities, the two genres of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation rarely came together during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Stop-motion animation made a name for itself with the 1933 box-office hit King Kong, where animator Willis O'Brien defined many of the major stop motion techniques used for the next 50 years. The success of King Kong led to a number of other early special effects films, including Mighty Joe Young, which was also animated by O'Brien and helped to start the careers of a several animators, including Ray Harryhausen, who came into his own in the 1950s.

George Pál was the only stop-motion animator to produce a series of stop-motion animated cartoons for theatrical release, the Puppetoon series for Paramount, some of which were animated by Ray Harryhausen. Pál went on to produce several live-action special effects-laden feature films.

Stop motion animation reached the height of its popularity during the 1950s. The exploding popularity of science fiction films lead to an exponential development in the field of special effects, and George Pál became the producer of several popular special-effects laden films. Meanwhile, Ray Harryhausen's work on such films as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms drew in large crowds and encouraged the development of "realistic" special effects in films. These effects used many of the same techniques as cel animation, but still the two media did not often come together. Stop motion developed to the point where Douglas Trumbull's effects in 2001: A space Odyssey seemed lifelike to an unearthly degree.

Hollywood special effects continued to develop in a manner that largely avoided cel animation, though several memorable animated sequences were included in live-action feature films of the era. The most famous of these was a scene during the movie Anchors Aweigh, in which actor Gene Kelly danced with an animated Jerry Mouse (of Tom and Jerry fame). But except for occasional sequences of this sort, the only real integration of cel animation into live-action films came in the development of animated credit and title sequences. Saul Bass' opening sequences for Alfred Hitchcock's films (including Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho) are legendary, and he had several imitators.

[edit] The 1950s, 1960s and the end of the Golden Age

[edit] UPA’s new style

However, all of this activity among the major studios caused them to turn a blind eye to still another development taking place. A former Disney animator named John Hubley had left Walt's nest during the animator's strike, and he founded a newer, smaller animation studio in order to pursue his own vision: trying out newer, more abstract and experimental styles of animation. Hubley and his colleagues set out to form a new studio called United Productions of America or UPA. Artistically, UPA used a style of animation that has come to be known as limited animation. The first short from the newly-formed studio was Hell-Bent for Election (directed by Warners veteran Chuck Jones), a cartoon made for the re-election campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although this new film was a success, it did not break the boundaries that Hubley and his staffers had hoped. It wasn't until the second short, Bob Cannon's Brotherhood of Man, that the studio began producing shorts so aggressively stylized in contrast the films of the other studios. Cannon's film even preached a message that, at the time, was looked down upon – racial tolerance.

A scene from Rabbit Fire, a 1951 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones.
A scene from Rabbit Fire, a 1951 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones.

UPA eventually found a home for itself at Columbia Pictures and earned itself two Academy Award nominations during its first two years of production. From there, the UPA animators began producing a series of cartoons that immediately stood out among the crowded field of mirror-image, copycat cartoons of the other studios. The success of UPA's Mr. Magoo series made all of the other studios sit up and take notice, and when the UPA short Gerald McBoing-Boing won the Oscar, the effect on Hollywood was immediate and electrifying. The UPA style was markedly different from everything else being seen on movie screens, and audiences responded to the change that UPA offered from the repetition of usual cat-mouse battles.

By 1953, UPA had gained great influence among the industry. The Hollywood cartoon studios gradually moved away from the lush, realistic detail of the 1940s to a more simplistic, less realistic style of animation. By this time, even Disney was attempting to mimic UPA. 1953's Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom in particular was an experiment in stylization that followed in the footsteps of the newly-formed studio.

The Pink Panther.
The Pink Panther.

[edit] Theatricals Win Awards

Prior to the UPA revolution, both the Warner Bros. and MGM cartoon studios were at the peak of their creativity during the early 1950s. In particular, the cartoons of Chuck Jones at Warner Bros. reached a peak that has rarely been equalled in the entire history of animation. While Jones did produce a number of mediocre-quality cartoons (that were occasionally cruel and violent), much of his output of the 1950s consisted of one classic cartoon after another, with such unforgettable titles the highly popular Road Runner series, the "Bugs Bunny vs. Daffy Duck" cartoons, and the great classics Duck Amuck, What's Opera, Doc?, Rabbit of Seville, Feed the Kitty, and many others. Duck Amuck and What's Opera, Doc? are considered "culturally significant" by the United States government, and thus have been added to the U.S. National Film Registry.

The MGM cartoons of the 1950s also continued the award-winning streak that began in the 1940s. The Tom and Jerry series won two more Oscars for the studio, and Tex Avery's legendary stint continued up until the studio closed its cartoon division in 1957. MGM closed its cartoon unit because of high production costs; the cartoons had literally become too expensive to continue to make.

[edit] Later trends

The Paramount cartoon series did not fare as well, however. The Famous Studios cartoons saw a rapid decline in quality in the later half of the 1940s after World War II ended, and the cartoons became more dependent on formulas and violence. The 1950s saw the introduction of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Herman and Katnip, while even the Popeye the Sailor series lost much of its creativity and originality. The Paramount cartoons sank to the level of theater time-fillers, and by the time the 1960s began they were largely forgettable.

Disney's animated feature films continued to draw in large crowds through the 1950s. After a series of feature films in the late 1940s that were essentially series of short cartoons strung together, the studio saw a return to the successful formula of adapting fairy tales and children's stories to animation. Disney produced a number of classic films in the 1950s, including Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Sleeping Beauty, though even Disney found it impossible to reproduce the stunning realism of Fantasia, Pinocchio and Bambi. In 1960 Disney (soon followed by other studios) replaced traditional hand-inking with Xerography, a technique that resulted in films where the drawings had a "sketchier" look. Films like 101 Dalmations, The Sword in the Stone, and The Jungle Book in the 1960's had that sketchy animation.

[edit] Depatie-Freleng in the 1960s

The 1960s saw some creative sparks in the theatrical film medium, in particular from DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. When the Warner Bros. cartoon department closed in 1964, DFE picked up where it left off. Most of the post-1964 Warner shorts produced by the studio paired Daffy Duck with Speedy Gonzales (a character devised by Robert McKimson for Warner Bros. in 1953) and varied in quality. By far, however, DFE's most successful endeavor was animating the opening titles for the 1964 film, The Pink Panther with Peter Sellers. The film and its animated sequences were so successful that United Artists commissioned the studio to produce a Pink Panther cartoon series. The first short, The Pink Phink won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film of 1964. The studio also produced other successful cartoon series such as The Inspector and The Ant and the Aardvark. Meanwhile, Chuck Jones, who had been fired from Warner Bros., moved to MGM to produce thirty-four theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoons, animated in his distinctive style, but never quite matched the popularity of the Hanna and Barbera originals of the 1940s and 1950s heyday.

[edit] Moving to the small screen

Despite strides such as these, the industry began to shift again and the future of the theatrical animated cartoon seemed bleak. The medium of television was beginning to gain more momentum. At the head of this change were the duo William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of Tom and Jerry. The new Hanna-Barbera studio utilized the limited animation style UPA pioneered as an artistic form. Except now, it was being used largely to shortcut budgets. With television's growing popularity, there began a decline in moviegoing. The Golden Age was over and the state of American animation was changed forever.

[edit] Partial list of noteworthy shorts from the Golden Age of animation

[edit] Walt Disney Productions

[edit] Warner Bros.

[edit] Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios

[edit] MGM

[edit] Walter Lantz

[edit] Charles Mintz/Screen Gems (Columbia)

[edit] UPA

[edit] Others

[edit] References

  • Barrier, Michael (1999): Hollywood Cartoons. Oxford University Press.
  • Maltin, Leonard (1987): Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Penguin Books.
  • Solomon, Charles (1994): The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings. Outlet Books Company.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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