Jerry Eisenberg

Last updated
Jerry Eisenberg
Born (1937-12-14) December 14, 1937 (age 86)
Alma mater CalArts
Occupations
  • Animator
  • storyboard artist
  • character designer
Years active1956–present
Parent

Jerry Eisenberg (born December 14, 1937) [1] is an American television producer, animator, storyboard artist, and character designer, primarily known for his work at Hanna-Barbera Productions and Ruby-Spears Productions. [2]

Eisenberg was the son of Harvey Eisenberg, an animator and comic book artist associated with Tom and Jerry and the other characters from the MGM cartoon studio. They were of German descent. Jerry Eisenberg quit art school to take his first job, as an inbetweener for MGM, in 1956. [2] The studio closed seven months after Eisenberg's hire, and he went on to work as an assistant to Ken Harris at Warner Bros. Cartoons. [1]

In 1961, Eisenberg was hired at Hanna-Barbera Productions, run by former MGM cartoon producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Here, Eisenberg co-created The Peter Potamus Show , designed the characters on Wacky Races and Super Friends , and worked in layout on programs such as The Jetsons , The Huckleberry Hound Show , Jonny Quest , and Wacky Races . [2] In 1977, Hanna-Barbera alumnae Joe Ruby and Ken Spears started their own studio, Ruby-Spears Productions, and hired Eisenberg as producer and character designer for Fangface , The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show , and Thundarr the Barbarian . [2]

Eisenberg later worked as a writer, storyboard artist, and/or designer and layout artist for a number of productions at various studios, including Muppet Babies at Marvel Productions, House of Mouse at Walt Disney Television Animation and Dilbert (Idbox/Columbia TriStar Television). He has also worked on a number of productions for Hanna-Barbera and its successor, Warner Bros. Animation, including Johnny Bravo , Tom & Jerry Kids , and a number of Scooby-Doo direct-to-video films. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Scooby-Doo</i> American animated media franchise

Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera. The series features four teenagers: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps, while traveling using a brightly colored van called the "Mystery Machine". The franchise has several live-action films and shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanna-Barbera</span> American animation studio

Hanna-Barbera was an American animation studio and production company, which was active from 1957 until its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. Founded on July 7, 1957 by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, it was headquartered on Cahuenga Blvd from 1960 to 1998, then subsequently at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks.

<i>The Perils of Penelope Pitstop</i> Animated television series

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969. The show ran for one season with a total of 17 half-hour episodes, the last first-run episode airing on January 17, 1970. Repeats aired on CBS until September 4, 1971; and in syndication as Fun World of Hanna-Barbera from 1976 to 1982. It is a spin-off of Wacky Races, reprising the characters of Penelope Pitstop and the Ant Hill Mob.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby-Spears</span> Entertainment production company

Ruby-Spears Productions was an American entertainment production company that specialized in animation based in Burbank, California, with another branch in Rome, Italy. The company was founded in 1977 by veteran writers and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hanna</span> American animator (1910–2001)

William Denby Hanna was an American animator, voice actor, and occasional musician who is best known for co-creating Tom and Jerry and providing the vocal effects for the series' title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Animation</span> American animation studio owned by Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation division and label of Warner Bros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Barbera</span> American animator and cartoonist (1911–2006)

Joseph Roland Barbera was an American animator and cartoonist, best known as the co-founder of the animation studio Hanna-Barbera.

<i>The Ruff and Reddy Show</i> American animated television series

The Ruff and Reddy Show is an American animated television series produced by H-B Enterprises for NBC. It is one of the earliest Saturday-morning cartoons, and the first series made by Hanna-Barbera. The series follows the adventures of Ruff and Reddy. It was presented by Screen Gems, the television arm of Columbia Pictures. It premiered in December 1957 and ran for 156 episodes until April 1960, comprising three seasons total. It was repeated on NBC Saturday mornings from 1962 to 1963. In the late 1950s, it was sponsored by Post Consumer Brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Ruby</span> American animator, writer, television producer, and music editor (1933–2020)

Joseph Clemens Ruby was an American animator, writer, television producer, and music editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the animated Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Ken Spears. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions. Ruby would work with Spears and would co create Fangface, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder and Jabberjaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Spears</span> American animator, writer, television producer, and sound editor (1938–2020)

Charles Kenneth Spears was an American animator, writer, television producer and sound editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Joe Ruby. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions. Spears along with Ruby would create many other shows such as Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Fangface. Spears would also work on the shows Sectaurs, Mister T and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

<i>The Yankee Doodle Mouse</i> 1943 film by directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna

The Yankee Doodle Mouse is a 1943 American one-reel animated cartoon in Technicolor. It is the eleventh Tom and Jerry short produced by Fred Quimby, and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley and animation by Irven Spence, Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse and George Gordon. Jack Zander was credited on the original print, but his credit was omitted in the 1950 reissue. It was released to theaters on June 26, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. The short features Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse chasing each other in a pseudo-warfare style, and makes numerous references to World War II technology such as jeeps and dive bombers, represented by clever uses of common household items. The Yankee Doodle Mouse won the 1943 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, making it the first of seven Tom and Jerry cartoons to receive this distinction.

Daniel Campbell Gordon was an American storyboard artist and film director who was best known for his work at Famous Studios and Hanna-Barbera Productions. Gordon was one of the first famous film directors. He wrote and directed several Popeye the Sailor and Superman cartoons. Later in his career, he worked on several cartoons featuring Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and many others. His younger brother, George Gordon, also worked for Hanna-Barbera.

A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of animation who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation layout artist. The methods used can either be through traditional painting or by digital media such as Adobe Photoshop. Traditional methods involved painting entire production scenes for a television program or film. Current methods may involve painting primarily background keys or the establishing shot while production background artists paint the corresponding background paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Ortiz</span>

Phil Ortiz is an American animator. He has worked for more than 30 years as a professional artist, ranging from daily newspaper comic strips to animated cartoons.

Richard Sebast is an American director, story director, animator, and television producer known for working at companies such as Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros., Marvel, MGM, and Universal Animation Studios.

Bob Singer is an American animation artist, character designer, layout and background artist and storyboard director of animated television programs, most memorably of several Hanna-Barbera productions such as The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Droopy, Tom and Jerry, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Super Friends, Richie Rich and the Harlem Globetrotters cartoons.

Harvey Eisenberg was an American animator and comic book artist. Best known for his work with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio and later at their own Hanna-Barbera Productions, Eisenberg illustrated a large number of comic book stories and comic strips starring characters such as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, and The Flintstones, while also working as an animation layout artist and character designer on the cartoons themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gil Turner (animator)</span> American animator

Gilbert H. Turner was an American animator, comic book artist and producer.

Richard Frederick Bickenbach was an American animator who worked for Warner Bros. Cartoons and as a layout artist and character designer for MGM and Hanna-Barbera Productions. He worked on animation for many cartoons, and drew the art for several comic book adaptations of Hanna-Barbera's shows, including Yogi Bear and The Flintstones.

References

  1. 1 2 "Jerry Eisenberg interview (parts one through six)". YOWP: Stuff About Early Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Shostak, Stu (03-11-2011). "with Jerry Eisenberg, Scott Shaw!, and Earl Kress [ permanent dead link ]". Stu's Show. Retrieved 03-18-2013. Jerry Eisenberg, Scott Shaw!, and Earl Kress were all former employees of Hanna-Barbera over the years, and relate the history of the studio to host Stu Shostak