Hollywood Cartoons : American Animation in Its Golden Age

This authoritative account of Hollywood studio cartoons in the 1930's, 40's and 50's looks principally at the Walt Disney studio, including its full length cartoons, but also focuses strongly on Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons in this period.

In Hollywood Cartoons, Michael Barrier takes us on a glorious guided tour of American animation in the 1930s, ''40s, and ''50s, to meet the legendary artists and entrepreneurs who created Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, Wile E. Coyote, Donald Duck, Tom and Jerry, and many other cartoon favorites. Beginning with black-and-white silent cartoons, Barrier offers an insightful account, taking us inside early New York studios and such Hollywood giants as Disney, Warner Bros., and MGM. Barrier excels at illuminating the creative side of animation--revealing how stories are put together, how animators develop a character, how technical innovations enhance the "realism" of cartoons. Here too are colorful portraits of the giants of the field, from Walt and Roy Disney and their animators, to Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Based on hundreds of interviews with veteran animators, Hollywood Cartoons gives us the definitive inside look at this colorful era and at the creative process behind these marvelous cartoons. "This definitive depiction of our most American medium will leave all but the most hardened Disnophobe shouting Yabba-Dabba-Doo!"--The Boston Book Review