"I just hope they remember I was the creator of some very warm and loving, funny characters that made everybody happy and smile." 

    About This Interview

    In his three-and-a-half-hour interview, Joseph Barbera (1911-2006) discusses his start as a young animator at the Van Beuren Studios in New York, before his move to California and MGM's cartoon studio. He recalls working for executive Fred Quimby, and his eventual partnership with William Hanna at MGM. This collaboration with Hanna ultimately led to their own cartoon production company, and Barbera shares many stories about the creation of some of their more memorable characters and shows, including Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and The Smurfs. B-roll consists of a few Hanna-Barbera-related photos including an early studio still with Daws Butler, Don Messick, William Hanna, and Joe Barbera. Leonard Maltin and Sunny Parich conducted the interview on February 26, 1997 in Studio City, CA.

    All views expressed by interviewees are theirs alone and not necessarily those of the Television Academy.
    People Talking About ...
    Thumbnail of Joseph Barbera

    Joseph Barbera on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show

    06:00
    Thumbnail of Joseph Barbera

    Joseph Barbera on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons

    04:21
    Thumbnail of Joseph Barbera

    Joseph Barbara on Hanna-Barbera producing the feature film "Charlotte's Web"

    05:41
    Thumbnail of Joseph Barbera

    Joseph Barbera on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones

    04:56
    Thumbnail of Joseph Barbera

    Jospeh Barbera on career highlights, and how he'd like to be remembered

    01:39
    Thumbnail of Joseph Barbera

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of The Jetsons

    03:41
    Play Full Interview

    Chapter 1

    On his early years and education; on his early interest in drawing when he was a child; on books, comic strips, and movies he enjoyed as a child

    16:39

    On drawing cartoons for various newspapers and magazines; on how he came to be an animator; on studying drawing, and on working for animators Max and Dave Fleischer, and later for Van Beuren Studios

    13:14

    Chapter 2

    On working for a tailor; on his time at Van Beuren Studios

    10:11

    On moving to Los Angeles and working for Terrytoons as an animator; on working with Friz Freleng; on working on the MGM lot in Culver City in the 1940s

    20:20

    Chapter 3

    On the formation of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of Tom and Jerry; on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show

    15:36

    On the creation of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on creating The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show; on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons; on handling the work load for doing a daily Huckleberry Hound Show

    13:46

    Chapter 4

    On the sudden success of Hanna-Barbara Productions, and on its quick expansion; on the creation and sale of The Flintstones, and on basing the show on The Honeymooners; on the creation of Top Cat, and on the workload at Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s

    14:10

    On producing limited animation, and on the then-current state of animation on television; on training his animators at Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on the fact that Hanna-Barbra owned their characters and merchandising rights; on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones

    15:33

    Chapter 5

    On his earliest experience seeing television, and recapping the early history of Hanna-Barbera; on how the film studios reacted to television animators, on the differences between film and television animation, and on casting voices for shows like Hong Kong Phooey

    09:18

    On casting voices for Top Cat; on the creation of The Jetsons; on the creation of Jonny Quest and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

    11:26

    On how he went about selling his shows, and on Hanna Barbera being sold to Taft Broadcasting in 1966; on Hanna Barbera producing the feature film "Charlotte's Web"

    08:14

    Chapter 6

    On producing the feature film "Charlotte's Web"; on producing the live action The Gathering; on producing the ABC Afterschool Special "Cyrano"

    09:16

    On producing The Smurfs; on producing the direct-to-video "The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible"; on the live action feature version of The Flintstones, and plans for other live action versions of his animated characters

    10:00

    On his favorite animated characters, and on the key to a successful animated character; on the then-current state of animation on television, and on the changing technology of animation; on the then-future of animation on television, and how animators are trained

    10:51

    Chapter 7

    On career highlights; on how he'd like to be remembered; on various people he's worked with in his career

    11:53

    On b-roll pictures from his career- the whole cast of Hanna-Barbera characters; with William Hanna and various voice over artists; at the Television Academy Hall of Fame with Oprah Winfrey; with Tom and Jerry at Disney World; dressed up with William Hanna; at a bowling alley signing an autograph

    05:53

    ABC Afterschool Specials

    Joseph Barbera on producing the ABC Afterschool Special "Cyrano"

    00:48

    Flintstones, The

    Joseph Barbera on the creation and sale of The Flintstones, and on basing the show on The Honeymooners

    08:51

    Joseph Barbera on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones

    04:34

    Joseph Barbera on the live action feature version of The Flintstones, and plans for other live action versions of his animated characters

    01:40

    Gathering, The

    Joseph Barbera on producing the live action made for television movie The Gathering

    03:48

    Honeymooners, The

    Joseph Barbera on the creation and sale of The Flintstones, and on basing the show on The Honeymooners

    08:51

    Huckleberry Hound Show, The

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on selling shows like The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show

    04:26

    Joseph Barbera on selling The Huckleberry Hound Show to Kellogg's to sponsor

    03:54

    Joseph Barbera on handling the work load for doing a daily Huckleberry Hound Show

    01:03

    Jetsons, The

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of The Jetsons

    03:41

    Jonny Quest

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Jonny Quest

    02:46

    Ruff & Reddy Show, The

    Joseph Barbera on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show for Screen Gems

    06:00

    Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

    03:36

    Smurfs, The

    Joseph Barbera on producing The Smurfs

    02:31

    Tom and Jerry

    Joseph Barbera on the formation of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of Tom and Jerry

    09:36

    Top Cat

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Top Cat, and on the workload at Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s

    02:53

    Joseph Barbera on casting voices for Top Cat

    01:23

    Yogi Bear Show, The

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on selling shows like The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show

    04:26

    Joseph Barbera on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons

    04:21

    Pop Culture

    Joseph Barbera on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons

    04:21

    Television Industry

    Joseph Barbera on the formation of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of Tom and Jerry

    09:36

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on creating The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show

    04:26

    Joseph Barbera on the sudden success of Hanna-Barbara Productions, and on its quick expansion

    02:25

    Joseph Barbera on producing limited animation, and on the then-current state of animation on television

    03:29

    Joseph Barbera on training his animators at Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on the fact that Hanna-Barbera owned their characters and merchandising rights

    04:19

    Joseph Barbera on how he went about selling his shows, and on Hanna-Barbera being sold to Taft Broadcasting in 1966

    02:33

    TV Theme Songs

    Joseph Barbera on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons

    04:21

    Animation Executive

    Joseph Barbera on his favorite animated characters, and on the key to a successful animated character

    01:43

    Animation Professionals

    Joseph Barbera on his favorite animated characters, and on the key to a successful animated character

    01:43

    Animation

    Joseph Barbera on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show

    06:00

    Joseph Barbera on The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show

    13:46

    Joseph Barbera on producing limited animation, and on the then-current state of animation on television

    03:29

    Joseph Barbera on the creation and sale of The Flintstones, and on basing the show on The Honeymooners

    08:51

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Top Cat, and on the workload at Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s

    02:53

    Joseph Barbera on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones

    04:56

    Joseph Barbera on how the film studios reacted to television animators, on the differences between film and television animation, and on casting voices for shows like Hong Kong Phooey

    05:02

    Joseph Barbera on casting voices for Top Cat

    01:23

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of The Jetsons

    03:41

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Jonny Quest

    02:46

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

    03:36

    Joseph Barbera on the then-current state of animation on television, and on the changing technology of animation

    04:48

    Joseph Barbera on the then-future of animation on television, and how animators are trained

    04:20

    Joseph Barbera on producing the ABC Afterschool Special "Cyrano"

    00:48

    Joseph Barbera on producing The Smurfs

    02:31

    TV Movies/Miniseries/Dramatic Specials

    Joseph Barbera on producing the live action The Gathering

    03:48

    Tex Avery

    Joseph Barbera on Tex Avery

    00:40

    Mel Blanc

    Joseph Barbera on Mel Blanc

    01:01

    Daws Butler

    Joseph Barbera on Daws Butler

    00:23

    Walt Disney

    Joseph Barbera on Walt Disney

    01:38

    Friz Freleng

    Joseph Barbera on working with Friz Freleng at MGM

    06:45

    William Hanna

    Joseph Barbera on the formation of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of Tom and Jerry

    09:36

    Joseph Barbera on his partnership with William Hanna, and on their collaborators and employees

    02:49

    Joseph Barbera on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones

    04:34

    Alan Reed

    Joseph Barbera on Alan Reed

    01:36

    Fred Silverman

    Joseph Barbera on Fred Silverman

    02:44

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