Harman and Ising

Hugh N. Harman ( born August 31, 1903 in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, † November 25, 1982 in Chatsworth, California ) was an American animator, director and film producer. Along with Rudolf Ising production duo he formed the Harman - Ising, which has influenced the development of American animated film at the beginning of the sound film era. Harman's career began in the 1920s as an employee of Walt Disney. The early 1930s, Harman and Ising developed for Warner Bros. cartoon series Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Harman and Ising left Warner in 1933 and founded in 1934, the animation film studio Metro-Goldwyn -Mayer. 1941 Harman left MGM to produce an independent producer training and promotional films. Harman served as producer for more than 100 animated films at Warner Bros. and MGM. He was twice nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Animated Short Film.

Biography

Early years

Hugh Harman grew up the son of a lawyer in Colorado. Both Hugh and his older brother Fred and his younger brother Walker, both of which should act also as animators were as children talented draftsman. 1916 the family moved after Harman Kansas City, Missouri, where Hugh completed his school career at West Point High School and the Kansas City Art Institute. He followed his brother Fred in 1922 for the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he met Rudolf Ising and Walt Disney. When Walt Disney left the advertising agency to produce their own animated films, followed him, the Harman and Ising and worked as animators at Disney's Laugh- O- Grams.

Disney's Laugh- O -Gram studio went bankrupt after only a few months. Disney then went to Hollywood to venture there with his Alice Comedies a fresh start. Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and the artist Carman Maxwell initially remained in Kansas City back to work on their own cartoon series, but was followed in June 1925 Disneyland to California. Harman and Ising worked until 1927 as animators at the Alice films, then at the movies with Oswald the funny bunnies, had invented the Disney, together with Ub Iwerks, whose copyright but the film studio Universal Pictures owned. When Disney was released in the spring of 1928 surprise from producer Charles Mintz Universal, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising Mintz responsible for the preparation of further Oswald cartoons. Responsible for the production were Winkler Pictures, which as a Production Manager Harman took over the artistic direction. After just one year, but separated by Universal Pictures Winkler and transferred the production of the Oswald films to Walter Lantz.

Looney Tunes

Harman and Ising then tried to interest the studios for your own cartoon series. During his time at Disney, Hugh Harman Bosko had designed with a new character, which he had filed in January 1928 Copyright. Harman and Ising produced with this figure, the short film Bosko, The Talk -Ink Kid, which was completed only a few months after Disney's Steamboat Willie and the first animated film contained spoken dialogue. The pilot found the interest of the producer Leon Schlesinger, who won Warner Bros. as a lender. On January 28, 1930 Harman, Ising and Schlesinger signed a three-year continuous production contract, which did an animated short film per month. As a title for the new film series, the Star should be Bosko, the title Looney Tunes was chosen on the basis of Disney's Silly Symphonies.

Especially Hugh Harman was unhappy with the technical quality of the films and demanded Schlesinger higher budgets. Harman was obsessed surpass Disney, but failed, according to Friz Freleng regularly on the implementation of his ambitious ideas. In early 1933, there was finally a break between Schlesinger and the Harman - Ising. After they had fulfilled its contractual obligations in August 1933, Harman and Ising left Schlesinger. They took a lot of their employees and also had to continue the rights to the character, Bosko. In Schlesinger only the names Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies and the sentence remained "That's all, folks". But Schlesinger succeeded with new directors and animators of the new beginning, the beginning of the 1940s included, among other things, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny to the stars of Warner Bros cartoons.

MGM

After her departure from Warner Bros. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising first worked for a few months at the Van Beuren Studios. Early in 1934 concluded Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer with Harman - Ising a production contract from, the Harman conceded that denied at Warner financial resources and him for the first time the production of cartoons in color allowed, even if only in the two-color method of Technicolor and not in the new three-color process, with Disney celebrated its successes. Harman and Ising started the series Happy Harmonies, for the most part, they created one-shot movies with no recurring characters as already in the Merry Melodies. Harman and Ising again led alternately directed, with Harman again began the character Bosko with his directorial work.

Middle of 1935 were able to use Technicolor's three-color method, which allowed continuous natural colors Harman and Ising. Although films rarely by film historian Michael Barrier 's view had a successful action, especially Harman's directing credits were graphically compelling. Harman's The Old Mill Pond was nominated in 1937 for an Oscar in the category " Best Animated Short Film ", a year earlier had already Isings In the Land of Stuffed Animals received a nomination ( nominated were both Harman and Ising as producers of both films ).

The escalating cost of production of ambitious films but led to the fact that MGM in February 1937 announced the contract with Harman - Ising. Harman and Ising were initially able to continue to operate their studio as an independent producer. Ironically, Harman's rival Walt Disney, they asked for help, he borrowed many illustrator for the production of his first feature-length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and instructed Harman - Ising with the production of the short film Merbabies for the Silly Symphonies series. After the completion of this film Harman and Ising had to file for bankruptcy in July 1938.

At the same time, MGM had set up its own animation studio, but had great difficulty starting. First studio manager was Fred Quimby, as directors were other William Hanna, who had worked under Harman, and the abgeworbene Warner Friz Freleng used. As the success of the newly designed MGM cartoons forthcoming, Harman and Ising took in October 1938 at the offer to return to MGM and to work as a producer under Quimby. Harman and Ising worked from then separated at MGM. While Ising films such as the Oscar-winning The Milky Way produced and the character Barney Bear invented, Harman specializing in musical and sophisticated short films. As Harman's masterpiece applies Peace on Earth, which was published shortly after the outbreak of World War II and earned another Oscar nomination MGM.

After one and a half years, Hugh Harman let his contract expire with MGM. His successor was Tex Avery, who joined Warner Bros. to MGM. Rudolf Ising remained until 1942 at MGM before then the United States Army Air Forces offered his services.

Later years

In the 1950s, Hugh Harman slowly withdrew from the film business. In the following years he was a popular guest at film festivals, where the forgotten early animated films found a new audience. 1976 were awarded to the animated film with the Winsor McCay Award from the Asifa Harman and Ising's merits. Harman died six years later at the age of 79 years.