American animator Joseph Barbera: biography, cartoons

American animator, artist, director and producer Barber Joseph was born in 1911, December 18 in New York. His parents, Italians from Sicily, lived in a small area called Little Italy.

Walt Disney

Joseph Barbera from childhood discovered the ability to paint, and at a young age got a job as a newspaper artist-designer. One day a young man visited a movie theater and saw there a Walt Disney cartoon called "Dance of Skeletons". The plot of the cartoon was simple - four skeletons dance an uncomplicated choreographic picture for ten minutes. But Joseph saw the scene with the eyes of a professional artist and was shocked by the smoothness of character movements and the way Disney animators managed to put as much expression into a simple ten-minute cartoon. The impression was so strong that he decided at all costs to meet with the creator of the masterpiece.

The beginning of a creative career

And although the rendezvous with the master did not take place, Joseph Barbera was determined to devote himself to animation cinema. In 1930, a young artist went to work in Max Fleischer's studio, a well-known animator, where he started cleaning celluloid blanks. Soon, having shown diligence and certain abilities, Barbera became a stage installer and a storyboard.

Two years later, the animator moved to Beuren's animation studio, where he began working as a screenwriter. However, here he was unlucky: the owner barely made ends meet, and his company had to close in the end. The next place of work for Joseph was the animation department of Terry Tunes, where he also had to write scripts.

Studio "Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer"

Full-length cartoons at that time were produced mainly only at the Walt Disney film studio, but for a simple artist the legendary production was not available, it was necessary to be satisfied with what was offered.

In 1937, Joseph Barbera was admitted to the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, where he met William Hannah, the animated director who became a friend and companion of the artist for the rest of his life.

"Tom and Jerry"

The first significant project, carried out by Joseph Barbera and William Hannah at the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer studio, was a multi-series cartoon about the adventures of a malevolent cat and a defenseless mouse.

Animation series was launched in 1940 and was created continuously for six years. The stories were extremely witty and informative. The popularity of two "friends" - a cunning and absolutely unprincipled cat on the one hand, and a mouse, which at first sight can not even stand up for itself - began to go off scale as soon as the show came out on the screen.

The project "Tom and Jerry" was so successful that the creators received seven "Oscar" prizes. In 1957, the animators established their own studio under the auspices of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, which was called Hanna-Barbera ("Hannah-Barbera"). A new creative education produced several serials at once, among which instantly became popular "Flintstones", "Jetsons", "Johnny Quest", "Scooby-Doo" and others.

"Flintstones"

He is the second most popular after the series "Tom and Jerry," it's all a favorite multi-series film about two married couples living near each other. Fred and Wilma, Barney and Betty. The characters are so colorful that the audience genuinely sympathizes with what happens to the characters. The unlucky Fred always gets into an extreme situation, then he calls his faithful wife Vilma to help. It feels like he will simply be lost without it.

Flintstones, Wilma and Fred, live through a fence from their neighbors Rabblov. Therefore, when Fred is at work, Betty often comes to his wife, and sometimes Barney, when he is free from business. Neighbors live together, celebrate celebrations together, go on vacation, help each other in everything. The impression is as if it were one family.

The protagonist of the animated series Fred Flintstone works in career development - he is the driver of a huge excavator. A powerful machine is a kind dinosaur that never tires and loves its owner very much.

A small town called Bedrock never misses: then Fred Flinstone will be detained by the police, then Barney will be mistreated. And always their wives will come to the rescue. Plots of the film are really good, the characters liked moviegoers once and for all.

America's Best Animation Studio

The list of animated masterpieces by 1971 at the studio "Hannah-Barbera" exceeded three hundred films. Such unprecedented productivity attracted experts-multipliers from all over the Americas. Everyone wanted to work with Joseph and Williams. Many of them managed to take part in the creation of certain projects. Multipliers admitted that the work gave them real pleasure, quarrels and conflicts never arose, the whole process took place in an atmosphere of complete mutual understanding.

In 1955, Joseph Barbera replaced the full-time producer Fred Quimby, who led all the films from the series "Tom and Jerry", forced to leave his post for health reasons. The success of the multiplier on the new post was unquestionable.

Until 1990, Joseph Barbera, whose series had already watched the world, tried together with William Hannah to improve the quality of animation. The technologies for creating hand-drawn pictures are considered to be the most complex, but the laborious process is more than offset by the colorfulness of the image. Artists made a bet on the contrast of the outline, and this technique justified itself.

Full-length cartoons began to be produced less often, the creators of the series tried to limit themselves to twenty-minute animated pictures, which were the most popular among spectators. Short films were also more profitable.

Longevity of the creative workshop

Studio Hanna-Barbera successfully functioned for forty-five years, its activity decreased only after the death of one of the founders, William Hannah. The death of a friend and partner was a heavy blow to Joseph: he fell into depression and for several years the production of cartoons was done by assistants and assistants. Thanks to the established process, the series were rolled out on time, and this was one of the main conditions for success.

In 1992, the studio "Hannah-Barbera" was renamed the Cartoon Network, "Animation Network".

Death multiplier

Joseph Barbera survived his friend and colleague for only five years. The legendary animator died in Los Angeles in his own home at the age of 91, he was buried in the Forest Lawn cemetery, where celebrities such as the Hollywood star Clark Gable, the King of Pop Michael Jackson and Walt Disney are buried.