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William Hanna Dead at 90
shaniber writes "Animation pioneer William Hanna, co-creator of such classic cartoons as
The Jetsons and
The Flintstones, has
passed away this week. ABCNEWS is also carrying
the story." Besides giving me Tom and Jerry and The Jetsons, I think the thing that I respect most about Hanna is the fact that a show like Space Ghost Coast to Coast was allowed to take their characters and do something truly unique with them. He even lent his voice to the show in one episode. Not a lot of people would be willing to allow one of their creations to be twisted like that, but the original Space Ghost was one of my childhood staples, and C2C stands in a class all its own proving that creativity isn't dead on TV.
but if you look at the cartoons revolving around the time HB made most of his cartoons, the other cartoons REALLY sucked. I mean really. They're terrible.
So, in your opinion, the classic Chuck Jones Warner Brothers cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc.) were terrible? *Those* were HB's competition in the early days.
Back in the late 1970s I worked at the NYIT Computer Graphics laboratory on Long Island. At the time the Graphics Lab was among the world's best CG research facilities (its founding director, who I still work for, is now president of Pixar.)
The main focus of our research was a system for doing cartoon animation. In 1978 or '79 Bill Hanna, then approaching 70 years old, came out to see what we were up to, and seeing exciting possibilities for his cost-driven business, put together a team led by Mark Levoy, a Cornell graduate student (who I believe we recommended to him, and who is now a CS professor at Stanford) to build what would be the first commercially successful computer animation system, which Hanna-Barbera used to produce The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, etc. throughout the '80s and '90s.
-Tom Duff
You might want to re-read that, sport. It says "Educational Division", meaning that there was a animation group that made short films for classroom use.
Widely distributed? Probably not.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
See my user info for links.
Fred: That's right, and then Daphne and I found a wooden trapdoor in the old abandoned mine
Daphne: Yes, but there was nothing under the trapdoor, except some circles in the dust.
Fred: Circles like... spools of film.
Sheriff: But what does it all mean?
Fred: Well, officer, it means that if you pull the hood off the lizard monster here, you'll find it's...
Sheriff removes lizard monster's hood. It's the old man from the derelict motel.
Shaggy, Velma, Fred and Daphne: Old Mr Hannah!
Sheriff: But didn't he die??
Velma: Mr Hannah must have been planning to sell the film spools which were, in fact, old episodes of The Jetsons. He knew that, with the entire series being nothing more than a boring animated sitcom, they would be worthless unless they had historical value, and faked his own death to make them look valuable!
Old Mr Hannah: And I'd have got clean away with it too if it wasn't for you meddlin' kids!
Daphne: Hey, I liked The Jetsons!
Shaggy: Wait. Why did he dress up as a lizard monster?
Sheriff: Well, that about wraps this one up. Old Mr Hannah, you're going to jail.
Scooby steals Shaggy's giant sandwich. Everyone laughs. The End
--
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Bill Hanna was an amazing man. This comes from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bbshop/message/4774 from a listserv for America's oldest male singing society.
***
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 11:40:49 -0600 (CST)
From: Gary Stamm
Subject: [bbshop] Bill Hanna (1910-2001) A Barbershopper's Perspective
Most of you did not have the opportunity to personally know Bill Hanna, the
SPEBSQSA Honorary Life Member who passed away on Thursday, March 22. But
it's safe to say that he touched all of your lives through his "children":
Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, George Jetson, Huckleberry Hound, Scooby-Doo,
Tom and Jerry, and many, many more.
I had the priviledge of working for Mr. Hanna from 1977-1982, an experience
I would not trade for anything. I was director of the educational division
of Hanna-Barbera Productions. We used the classic studio characters to make
educational filmstrips and films for schools. I had the priviledge of
working with top notch artists and voice actors on these projects. You all
know the thrill of perfectly locking a chord and producing a couple of
overtones -- a real goose-bump producer. Well, directing a recording
session with the "human" voices of Fred Flintstone and Yogi Bear produced
even larger bumps for a guy in his 30s who had grown up with these icons.
But my six years at the studio had an additional benefit. During that time
I became well acquainted with Bill Hanna. It had been his idea to use the
characters in the classroom, and although this venture produced a very small
stream of revenue in comparison with the Saturday morning productions, his
personal interest in the project kept him in close contact with me. Mr.
Hanna was a tough business man. It was his role to keep projects on
schedule and on budget. It was not uncommon to pass his office and hear him
barking out orders to someone, or even chewing someone out. But, I learned
that these were always justified, and I also learned that he was generous
and warm to those who did their job well and truly cared about what they
were doing.
Mr. Hanna had a number of interests. He loved boating and had a beautiful
cruiser that he took out on the ocean as often as he could. He loved to
take several days and cruise to Baja California where he would fish and
trade with the local residents. He was also a very staunch supporter of the
Boy Scouts. He himself was an Eagle Scout and credited Scouting with much
of his early development. Like anyone who was faithful to him, Bill Hanna
never forgot Scouting and repaid the organization in many ways.
Mr. Hanna was also a singer. He loved to sing the songs from his childhood,
so when he was introduced to SPEBSQSA and barbershopping in the 1960s, he
became enamored with it. Although he was a member of the Reseda, California
Chapter for a few years, his very hectic work schedule did not permit him to
be an active member.
During my years at the studio, however, I was able to help bring a little
barbershop back to his ears and voice. Once, his staff staged an impromptu
birthday party and invited my quartet to sing Happy Birthday. Mr. Hanna was
not content with one song, nor with simply listening. He insisted on
pushing out our lead and singing his favorite song, "Sweet Sixteen." We
ended up singing far longer than planned. We were surprised when he invited
us to dinner. We were all escorted to one of Hollywood's finer restaurants
where we were regaled with stories of the early days of the studio and how
"The Flintstones" had evolved.
Perhaps the greatest barbershop experiences with Mr. Hanna, however,
occurred on his boat. Mr. Hanna belonged to the South Long Beach Yacht
Club. Every Christmas season the club would have a parade of boats in the
harbor. The boat owners would cover their vessels with lights and
decorations and cruise the harbor for an assembled "audience" and judges.
One year Mr. Hanna had the idea of adding some live entertainment. Many of
the boats would hook up a tape player to a loudspeaker and play Christmas
music. Mr. Hanna went them one better. He had my quartet on board, as well
as a professional actor by the name of Frank Welker. Frank was the voice of
Freddy in the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons, but is also a wonderful impressionist.
Frank and the quartet took turns in front of the microphone. We would sing
a carol and he would do an impression of George C. Scott as Patton, Cary
Grant or dozens of other. At the end of the parade, Mr. Hanna's boat was
awarded the prize as the most entertaining boat.
The other real treat was the Big Billfish Tournament. I mentioned that Mr.
Hanna was a great supporter of Boy Scouts. In 1981 the Los Angeles Boy
Scout Council approached Mr. Hanna with a fund raising idea. Mr. Hanna's
friends at the yacht club would donate boats for a three day marlin fishing
contest off the coast of Catalina Island. The Boy Scouts would find
companies or individuals to sponsor a fisherman for $1,000. Since the
boats, meals and other ammetities were donated by the boat owners the
sponsorships would be pure donations for Scouting. Each boat was to carry
four fisherman. This magic number sparked an idea with Mr. Hanna. He came
to me and asked if I could get a quartet to agree to make the trip if he
would sponsor it. I had no trouble recruiting three of my barbershop
buddies to take a three-day, all expenses paid vacation around beautiful
Catalina Island. We were able to make the trip two years in a row, before I
moved to Kenosha. Both years, five boats (20 fishermen) caught no fish --
but who cared? We had fun, food, drink and beautiful weather. At night,
all the boats would moor together and everyone would gather on one of the
boats for a party. We were the hit of these nights, performing, leading
sing-alongs, and, of course, having Mr. Hanna step in the quartet for a few
numbers, including "Sweet Sixteen".
I left the studio in 1982 and moved to Kenosha to begin another dream job --
working for SPEBSQSA. A few years later, I suggested considering Mr. Hanna
for Honorary Life Membership in the Society. Mr. Hanna had been very
supportive of the Society in the 60s and 70s. He hosted Far Western
District board meetings on his boat and contributed money to buy a series of
administrative training films for the Society. He also had a long
background in music. He dabbled with background music for his first job in
the animation industry at the Harman-Ising Studio. (How foreshadowing that
he was at Harman-Ising even before he was a harmonizer.) Mr. Hanna also
wrote the lyrics for many of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon shows, such as the
"Flintstones", "Yogi Bear" and others. In the 1960s the studio produced a
number of phonograph records. One of these was the story of how Fred
Flintstone put together a quartet to go to the national contest. Also, a
barbershop quartet appeared in the animated film, "Charlotte's Web".
Although the original story did not contain a foursome, Mr. Hanna thought
that the county fair scene deserved one. The committee liked the idea of
honoring Mr. Hanna and the Society Board approved. Mr. Hanna was delighted
at this accolade, and he and his wonderful wife Vi were forever grateful for
the honor bestowed on him by SPEBSQSA.
Just this past February two barbershoppers, Jim Graham who had served on the
Honorary Member Committee and Larry Gilhousen of the Harmony Foundation
staff, arranged to have a Singing Valentine delivered to Mr. and Mrs. Hanna.
Mutual Fun quartet made the call. Even though Mr. Hanna was suffering from
late stages of Alzheimer, he was smiling and attentive to the music. When
the quartet asked if he would like to sing one with them, Mr. Hanna's son
quickly explained that Mr. Hanna really was incapable. At that point Mr.
Hanna rose, gently pushed his son aside and began a clear rendition of
"Sweet Sixteen" as the quartet joined right in.
The Hannas made several generous contributions to Harmony Foundation over
the past 10 years. Last year the Foundation Trustees voted to name the
SingAmerica Endowment Fund in Mr. Hanna's honor. Hopefully, the
SingAmerica, SingCanada-Bill Hanna Endowment Fund will grow and help keep
singing alive in our culture far into the future. He would have loved that.
For those of you who wish to honor a very fine Barbershopper, a truly great
humanitarian, and a man who made us laugh at animals, cavemen and future
space-dwellers, please join me in making a contribution to Harmony
Foundation (6315 Harmony Lane, Kenosha, WI 53143 or through our website
www.harmonyfoundation.org). The first $250 will go to place Bill Hanna's
name on the Keep a Melody Ringing Memorial which hangs in Harmony Hall. The
rest will be placed in SingAmerica, SingCanada-Bill Hanna Endowment Fund so
that future generations can enjoy their voices singing, "Sweet Sixteen" and
perhaps hear an echo from the heavens.
Sing... for life,
Gary Stamm, Executive Director
Harmony Foundation
6315 Harmony Lane, Kenosha, WI 53143