The Toons of Ub and Joe - March 24, 2010

Fame's a funny thing. As the noted philosopher Heidi Klum has observed, "One day you're in, the next day you're out." Or vice versa. Consider the cases of animation directors Joe Barbera and Ub Iwerks, whose birthdays we celebrate today. Joe Barbera toiled in anonymity as an animator and writer for such studios as Van Beuren and Terrytoons before settling in at MGM, where he was teamed with Bill Hanna, and the rest was movie history.  Their first picture together was Puss Gets the Boot, which introduced Tom and Jerry to the world -- and garnered the team the first of their 13 Oscar nominations. When MGM closed down its animation department in 1957, the team simply began producing shows for television, creating such megahits as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, and Scooby-Doo. Ub Iwerks, on the other hand, started at the top. A childhood friend of Walt Disney, he was the animator and director for Disney's Alice and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pictures, and is credited with the creation of the most famous cartoon star of all: Mickey Mouse.  Walt and Ub eventually had a falling out, and Iwerks left to head his own studio. Despite the high quality of his cartoons, though, he was unsuccessful. He returned to Disney to mastermind the studio's technical innovations in relative anonymity until his death in 1971. Iwerks has been rediscovered in recent years, but one wonders how entertainment history would have changed if the world had "flipped" for a frog instead of a cat and mouse. Suggested Sites... Disney Legends: Ub Iwerks - official corporate biography for the creator of Mickey Mouse. Wikipedia: Joseph Barbera - biography of the animator, producer, and director. Ub Iwerks: The Disney Years - biography of Iwerks, concentrating on his early year working with Walt. Wikipedia: Hanna-Barbera Studios - home of Huckleberry Hound, Fred Flintstone, and George Jetson. You Tube: Ub Iwerks - watch some of the most innovative cartoons ever made.