Hanna-Barbera – We’re Still Laughing

If you’re like most of us, you still cannot get enough of The Flintstones and The Jetsons to name but two popular franchises of the successful Hanna-Barbera empire. Both television cartoons were primetime adult programs that became entertainment institutions for the generations. We still watch them, and it seems we’re the only ones who really understand them.

You had to have lived the era to understand them.

Hanna-Barbera (HB) was a cartoon media company unlike any other, with its roots in the big studios and two cartoonists who chose to strike out on their own. They were William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, two gutsy talented guys with wild imaginations. There has never been anything like HB before or since. From 1957 until its absorption into Warner Brothers in 2001, HB immersed us into the world of raw imagination and humor. It remains a great means of escape for boomers who wish to hide from the woes of current times.

Turn off the news and turn on Hanna-Barbera.

Hanna-Barbera was founded in 1957 by cartoonists William Hanna and Joseph Barbera when it was headquartered at Kling Studios from 1957 to 1960. HB later moved to Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood some distance away from 1960 to 1998 – and later to the Sherman Oaks Galleria from 1998 to 2001.

It took two incredible cartoonists to get this remarkable empire off the ground. HB’s success was mind bending – beginning with The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958, then The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Wacky Races; Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and a host of others including The Smurfs. A huge inventory of shows followed giving the industry a run for its money. HB was all but unbeatable for nearly a half-century.

However, the world of animated broadcasting changed HB’s good fortunes as trends changed and the competition gained ground in the 1980s. Taft Broadcasting took control of HB and kept charge until 1991 when Turner Broadcasting acquired HB and assumed control of the company and its studios. That meant getting HB’s huge archive, which enabled Turner to create The Cartoon Network in the 1990s. When Bill Hanna passed in 1991, HB became a standalone company and was absorbed into Warner Brothers Animation. HB remains a division of Warner Brothers to this day.

To understand Hanna-Barbera, you have to know the creators. William Denby Hanna was an incredible animator, voice actor, and musician best known for co-creating Tom & Jerry. He did a lot of voiceover work. Working shoulder to shoulder with Joseph Barbera, he co-founded Hanna-Barbera. Joseph Roland Barbera, like Bill Hanna, was a terrific animator and cartoonist. In 1937, Barbera came to California and joined MGM where he would meet Bill Hanna. Their meeting was cosmic and set the tone for cartoon production for decades.

In 1957, MGM dissolved its animation department, which put Hanna and Barbera among the ranks of the unemployed. This turn of events inspired them to join forces and launch Hanna-Barbera, which swiftly became the most successful television animation studio in history. These guys produced and directed seven Academy Award-winning films and won eight Emmy Awards for television. Their efforts during their time together were life changing.

Joseph Barbera (left) and Bill Hanna (right)

You could never produce great cartoons without an inventory of terrific voice actors – and Hanna-Barbera had the lion’s share. Alan Reed, whom you’ve seen in countless television shows and movies, did the immortal voice of Fred Flintstone. Mel Blanc, the man of a thousand voices, did Barney Rubble and other HB characters. Allan Melvin, better known as Sam the Butcher in The Brady Bunch and Barney Heffner in All In The Family did Magilla Gorilla. Jean Thurston Vander Pyl did Wilma Flintstone. Bea Benaderet did Betty Rubble. Actor/Director Howard Morris, also known as Ernest T. Bass in The Andy Griffith Show, did a wide variety of HB voices including Jet Screamer.

It can be safely said Hanna-Barbera’s fabulous works will be with us for a long time to come and keep us widely entertained until that long-anticipated dirt nap.