Hanna-Barbera: A History

With careers spanning eight decades, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were two of the most prolific animation producers in American history. In 1940, the two met at MGM and created Tom and Jerry, who would earn 14 Academy Award nominations and seven wins. The growth of television led to the founding of Hanna-Barbera’s legendary studio that produced countless hours of cartoons, with beloved characters from Fred Flintstone, George Jetson and Scooby-Doo to the Super Friends and the Smurfs. Prime-time animated sitcoms, Saturday morning cartoons, and Cartoon Network’s cable animation are some of the many areas of television revolutionized by the team. Their productions are critical to our cultural history, reflecting ideologies and trends in both media and society. This book offers a complete company history and examines its productions’ influences, changing technologies, and enduring cultural legacy, with careful attention to Hanna-Barbera’s problematic record of racial and gender representation.

Jared Bahir Browsh is a cultural historian whose research examines U.S. media industries, the history of mass communication, and representation in popular culture, focusing on animation, television, and sports. He is currently the director of student media and and an instructor in the College of Media, Communication, and Information at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He lives in Broomfield, Colorado.