“Is There A Style In The House?”

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Among the many amazing accomplishments of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera is the fact that, in their late forties, after years of doing Tom & Jerry cartoons at MGM, they created a new studio with a distinct house style.  The vivid Hanna-Barbera color palette, character designs, layout, background art, sound effects and music are unique and instantly recognizable.  How many other studios can make that claim? (Answer:  Only two—and they both feature rodents with big ears.) 

What’s more, when Bill and Joe opened their studio doors in the late fifties, the Hanna-Barbera style emerged pretty much full-blown.  It bore no resemblance to the work these two cartoonists had done in the past. And yet, there was next to no transition time, no period of trial and error.  Certainly the style improved over the years. But a Huckleberry Hound from the fifties could wander into a frame next to Magilla Gorilla in the sixties and not feel out of place. 

Imagine a musician, or a novelist, or a fine artist totally reinventing themselves that late in life.  It’s almost unheard of.  And yet Hanna and Barbera pulled it off, and in the process created the largest cartoon library in the world!

“Is There A Style In The House?”
Essay #2 (of 15)
Original essay written by Bill Burnett, Creative Director, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, 1993-1996