Joseph Barbera

Born: 24-Mar-1911
Birthplace: New York City
Died: 18-Dec-2006
Joseph Barbera was a banker who doodled. He sent drawings to magazines, collecting rejection slips until Collier's Magazine published one and sent him a check. With a few more sales, Barbera decided to change career paths.

 He was hired to do sketches and storyboards for Van Beuren Studio (home of "Felix the Cat"). He later jumped to Terrytoons (remembered mostly for "Mighty Mouse") before being hired by MGM's animation department. There Barbera met another recent hire, William Hanna. Their first effort together, Puss Gets the Boot, was the debut of Tom & Jerry (though Tom was called Jasper), and it was nominated for an Oscar.

In 1957, though, the studio announced it was quitting the cartoon business, so Hanna and Barbera started Hanna-Barbera Productions. Until then, cartoons shown on TV were the same cartoons that had run in movie theaters years before, but Hanna-Barbera wanted to make original cartoons for the small screen.

When that was successful, they were able to launch an entirely original half-hour show, Huckleberry Hound, in 1958. And after that they introduced Yogi Bear, Pixie and Dixie, and Quick Draw McGraw.

With that success, Hanna-Barbera decided to try prime time TV, and The Flintstones debuted on ABC in 1960. It ran six seasons, and was recycled for generations of Saturday morning and after-school reruns and spin-offs. Hanna-Barbera ruled animation for decades, with The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Scooby Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, Top Cat, The Smurfs, Captain Planet, and many more.