Joseph Barbera

Animator / Show Creator
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The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About
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 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.

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

People Talking About ...
Joseph Barbera
Highlights
Joseph Barbera on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show
06:00
Joseph Barbera on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons
04:21
Joseph Barbara on Hanna-Barbera producing the feature film "Charlotte's Web"
05:41
Joseph Barbera on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones
04:56
Jospeh Barbera on career highlights, and how he'd like to be remembered
01:39
Joseph Barbera on the creation of The Jetsons
03:41
Full Interview

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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
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

Chapter 2
On working for a tailor; on his time at Van Beuren Studios
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

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
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

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
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

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

Chapter 6
On producing the feature film "Charlotte's Web"; on producing the live action The Gathering; on producing the ABC Afterschool Special "Cyrano"
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
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

Chapter 7
On career highlights; on how he'd like to be remembered; on various people he's worked with in his career
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
Shows

ABC Afterschool Specials

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Joseph Barbera on producing the ABC Afterschool Special "Cyrano"
00:48

Flintstones, The

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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

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Joseph Barbera on producing the live action made for television movie The Gathering
03:48

Honeymooners, The

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Joseph Barbera on the creation and sale of The Flintstones, and on basing the show on The Honeymooners
08:51

Huckleberry Hound Show, The

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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

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Joseph Barbera on the creation of The Jetsons
03:41

Jonny Quest

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Joseph Barbera on the creation of Jonny Quest
02:46

Ruff & Reddy Show, The

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Joseph Barbera on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show for Screen Gems
06:00

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

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Joseph Barbera on the creation of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
03:36

Smurfs, The

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Joseph Barbera on producing The Smurfs
02:31

Tom and Jerry

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Joseph Barbera on the formation of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of Tom and Jerry
09:36

Top Cat

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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

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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
Topics

Pop Culture

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Joseph Barbera on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons
04:21

TV Theme Songs

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Joseph Barbera on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons
04:21

Television Industry

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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
Professions

Animation Executive

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Joseph Barbera on his favorite animated characters, and on the key to a successful animated character
01:43

Animation Professionals

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Joseph Barbera on his favorite animated characters, and on the key to a successful animated character
01:43
Genres

Animation

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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

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Joseph Barbera on producing the live action The Gathering
03:48
People

Tex Avery

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Joseph Barbera on Tex Avery
00:40

Mel Blanc

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Joseph Barbera on Mel Blanc
01:01

Daws Butler

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Joseph Barbera on Daws Butler
00:23

Walt Disney

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Joseph Barbera on Walt Disney
01:38

Friz Freleng

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Joseph Barbera on working with Friz Freleng at MGM
06:45

William Hanna

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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

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Joseph Barbera on Alan Reed
01:36

Fred Silverman

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Joseph Barbera on Fred Silverman
02:44

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