A Musical Up-Roar: The Last Years
After MGM closed their home grown animation department, they chose Gene Deitch, and later Chuck Jones, to keep Tom & Jerry alive on the big screen.
After MGM closed their home grown animation department, they chose Gene Deitch, and later Chuck Jones, to keep Tom & Jerry alive on the big screen.
Fred Quimby departed from the reins, and Hanna and Barbera were forced to take over production on much tighter budgets.
The MGM cartoon division’s response to television was mostly derisive. Scott Bradley was now more willing to mine the classics – via the public domain.
The early 50s saw Scott Bradley increasingly writing his own scores, and not incorporating MGM’s own published songs.
I have attached the most representative images of Avery’s output to some of Poe’s best-remembered sentences. The results speak for itself.
MGM’s cartoon unit was humming during this period – including continuing to use tunes from various MGM musicals.
During the period covered by these cartoons, the Second World War came to an end.
The MGM cartoons of the 1940s were no longer 30s cutesie-poo – being replaced by the fast-paced, gag oriented style of Avery, Hanna and Barbera.
During the 1940-41 season, MGM celebrated a match made in cartoon heaven – the teaming of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
The cartoons were starting to retreat from the ooey-gooey style of the early Happy Harmonies. And at times, they could create an unexpected classic.