For over four decades of collaboration, the pair's efforts have cranked out an impressive 350 different series which are now syndicated in over 80 countries.
The partnership began 20 years prior when Barbera, a New York banker with a penchant for doodling and dreaming, started submitting gag drawings to leading magazines and eventually became a regular contributor. With repeated success he dabbled in animation and moved to Hollywood to work at MGM Studios - where William Hanna happened to be employed.
Hanna had worked as a structural engineer until losing his job during the Depression and turned to his love of cartooning. The two worked together on several projects, but found their first hit with a cartoon entitled "Puss Gets the Boot" involving the misadventures of a cat and mouse conflict which would soon evolve into the "Tom and Jerry" series and earn them a record-breaking seven Academy Awards between 1943 and 1953.
When MGM closed down their animation department in 1957, the team founded their own production company to create cartoons for the young but rapidally growing television industry. Original animated fare for television at the time was almost unheard of, and without the expansive budget enjoyed today by the makers of "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" Hanna and Barbera developed an animation style that would have both its advantages and drawbacks...
By going the route of the limited animation technique, which relied on the use of fewer cells and drawings that made for less action than standard cartoons, it was left for the plot to be carried along on the strength of witty dialogue. Lip movements were reduced to simple cycles, vowel-to-vowel, while ignoring consonants entirely, and body movements were held to a minimum. It was the emphasis on humor and plot, rather than slap-stick action, that endeared Hanna-Barbera's creations to the public.
By developing a cheaper method in the production of cartoons, Hanna-Barbera quickly dominated the market with their sheer amount of output and an almost limitless cast of characters.
The first series to come from Hanna-Barbera Productions was The Ruff and Reddy Show in 1957 which met with little success, but their second effort, "Huckleberry Hound," became an immediate hit and was the first cartoon to receive an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Childrens Programming.
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