Filmography: Happy Birthday Ruff And Reddy!

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 7 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great cartoons to study.

Today was a Hanna Barbera day at the Archive!

Archive supporter, Jerry Beck stopped by with a copy of his new book to contribute to our library. If you haven't seen it yet, put it on your Christmas list... The Hanna-Barbera Treasury. It's the definitive book on the classic Hanna Barbera cartoons. Then, I spotted a posting by Keith Paynter to the Animation Show history forum announcing that today, December 14th, 2007, marks the fiftieth anniversary of Hanna-Barbera's landmark TV series, Ruff And Reddy.

For a history of this series and the talented artists who made it, see our earlier post... Ruff And Reddy In Pinky The Pint Sized Pachyderm


In honor of this auspicious date, here is a complete sequence of Ruff and Reddy cartoons from 1958!


Ruff and Reddy EPISODE ONE: Pinky The Pint Sized Pachyderm (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE TWO: Last Trip Of A Ghost Ship (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE THREE: The Irate Pirate (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE FOUR: Dynamite Fright (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE FIVE: Marooned In Typhoon Lagoon (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE SIX: Scarey Harry Safari (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE SEVEN: Jungle Jitters (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
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Ruff and Reddy EPISODE EIGHT: Bungle In The Jungle (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
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Ruff and Reddy EPISODE NINE: Miles Of Crocodiles (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE TEN: A Creep In The Deep (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.




Ruff and Reddy EPISODE ELEVEN: Hot Shot's Plot (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be downloaded, duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.





Ruff and Reddy EPISODE TWELVE: The Gloom Of Doom (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
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Ruff and Reddy EPISODE THIRTEEN: The Trapped Trap The Trapper (Hanna-Barbera/1958) (Quicktime 7 / 9 megs)
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If you found this post interesting, see also... Ruff And Reddy In Pinky The Pint Sized Pachyderm, John K on Flintstones Animators, The Greatest Cartoon Writer Of All Time, Carlo Vinci, John K Interviews Bill, Joe and Friz Part One and Part Two

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Filmography: Ruff and Reddy and Pinky, the Pint-Sized Pachyderm

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 7 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great cartoons to study.


In 1957, MGM shut down their animation department, but Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were prepared. They immediately went into production on a low budget cartoon series designed for television. It was the seed that went on to grow into a television empire, yet the series hasn't been distributed in years and few kids today know Ruff and Reddy the way they know other Hanna-Barbera creations like Yogi Bear and Fred Flintstone.


Hanna and Barbera knew that they had to make Ruff and Reddy quickly and cheaply. Within the space of a few months, their first airdate on NBC loomed. The tight budget and quick turnaround didn't allow for much animation. The focus was put on the voices, layout and background styling. They designed the episodes as sequential cliffhangers- similar to the serials that played movie theaters in the thirties and forties. (The basic structure of the series was the same as the earlier TV cartoon series, Crusader Rabbit.)


The cartoons were designed to plug into a live action puppet show hosted by Jimmy Blaine, known for his characters Rubarb the Parrot and Jose the Toucan. Ruff and Reddy ended production in 1960. It continued in reruns on NBC in the Captain Bob Cottle show until 1964. After that, it was syndicated to local kiddie shows around the country.


The two key voice actors who worked on Ruff and Reddy went on to become the core cast members of the Hanna Barbera team throughout the coming years... Don Messick and Daws Butler.


Daws Butler was well established as a voice actor by the time Hanna and Barbera formed their TV studio. He had been an integral part of Bob Clampett's Time For Beany, as well as providing voices for many Lantz and MGM cartoons. Butler was skilled at ad libbing and vocal impressions, which led to an association with Stan Freberg on Freberg's popular comedy records like "St. George and the Dragon-Net".


Through the late forties and early fifties, Don Messick was a ventriloquist. In the late fifties, Tex Avery was looking for a voice for Droopy to replace Bill Thompson, who had left MGM to work for Disney. Daws Butler, who had been recording for Avery for some time, suggested his friend Messick for the job. As performers, Messick and Butler were perfectly matched. They became a team in a long string of cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera... Boo Boo and Yogi, Pixie and Dixie, etc.


As a cartoon, Ruff and Reddy really doesn't stand up too well. The stories are directionless, the animation is almost non-existent and the cartoons are excessively talky with way too much narration. They really aren't a very good model for animators today to follow... except in one respect.


Ruff and Reddy had remarkable design, layout and background styling. It set the standard for the great Hanna Barbera series that followed. I don't know the names of the entire crew that worked on these early cartoons, but a few key artists stand out


No one is more responsible for the look of the early Hanna-Barbera series than Ed Benedict. Benedict began his career at Disney and Lantz in the 1930s. In 1952, he joined Tex Avery at MGM to design the modernist cartoons, Field And Scream, The First Bad Man, Deputy Droopy and Cellbound. Benedict was one of the first artists hired by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera to work on their television cartoons. He was the principle designer on Ruff and Reddy, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw and The Flintstones. Ed passed away last year. Read John K's tribute on his blog, "All Kinds of Stuff".


Dick Bickenbach was a skilled draftsman with a strong sense of composition. He animated at Lantz, Warner Bros and MGM before joining Bill and Joe at their TV studio. Because of his tight construction and clean line, his drawings were often used as models. In addition to design and layout duties on The Flintstones and Yogi Bear, he drew the comic book adaptations as well.


Art Lozzi was one of H-B's main background painters. His use of color and texture in this particular cartoon is remarkable. John K has been interviewing Lozzi on his blog, "All Kinds of Stuff" See the following posts... Good Color Without A Lot of Money, Art Lozzi's Technique on Skooter Looter and Art Lozzi on the Early Days of H-B


Carlo Vinci doesn't have as much to do on Ruff and Reddy as he did on later H-B series like Huckleberry Hound and The Flintstones, but his hand is still evident in the animation. Vinci worked at Terry-Toons in New York for twenty years before moving west at the request of Joe Barbera. He was one of the first artists hired to work for the new TV studio, and he remained with H-B for twenty years.



If you found this post interesting, see also... John K on Flintstones Animators, The Greatest Cartoon Writer Of All Time, Carlo Vinci, John K Interviews Bill, Joe and Friz Part One and Part Two

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Animation Art: MGM Animation Drawings

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see the bonus reason on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts featuring animation art.



Today, we digitized a collection of animation drawings from MGM. Can anyone out there name all the cartoons represented here? Post your guesses to the comments below. Have fun!


















If you found this post to be interesting, see also... Cartoons: Tail of Two Bulldogs

For more sketches to study, see... Reluctant Dragon and Pinocchio Model Sheets, Two Disney Concept Artists, Mice & Duck Models and More Disney Model Sheets.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

1.20.09
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Comics: Harvey Eisenberg's Foxy Fagan 1946

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about comics.



Here is a vintage funny animal comic by cartoonist, Harvey Eisenberg. Eisenberg started out in New York at the Fleischer and Van Beuren studios, but he is best known for his work with Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera as a layout artist on the Tom & Jerry series. He went on to work at Hanna-Barbera as a character designer, layout artist and story man.

This comic is particularly interesting because it is a collaboration between Eisenberg and Joe Barbera, with Barbera providing the story sketches and Eisenberg creating the finished art. (This is very similar to the way they worked together as director and layout artist on the Tom & Jerry cartoons at MGM.) This story is from Foxy Fagan No. 1, published by Eisenberg and Barbera's DIY comic book company, Deerfield in 1946.

John Kricfalusi recently posted an insightful article on Eisenberg's Tom & Jerry comics that you definately shouldn't miss. Mark Evanier has an interesting article on Foxy Fagan too and a link to more scans of it on the web. Thanks to Archive supporter, Kent Butterworth for sharing this great comic with all of us.














See also Harvey Eisenberg and Al White's Huck Hound Builds A House.

For more great golden age funny animal comics, see... Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics No. 4, Milt Stein's Supermouse (Coo Coo Comics No. 7) Dan Gordon's Superkatt, Jim Tyer's Comic Books and Boodi Rogers' Babe Comics

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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