Robert D. Buchanan

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Robert D. Buchanan (born August 17, 1931) is a creator of several animated features in the 1950s and 1960s. He joined Soundac following the departure of Bobby Nicholson, who formed the company in 1951. [1] Buchanan relocated Soundac from its original location of Buffalo, New York to Miami, Florida in 1955; [2] he maintained a sales and distribution agent, Richard H. Ullman, in Buffalo through the late 1950s. [3]

He is most notable for co-creating the animated series Colonel Bleep , the first color cartoon produced for television, with Jack Schleh. Colonel Bleep was syndicated in 1957.

In 1965, Buchanan co-produced another animated series, Mighty Mr. Titan, which taught viewers how to exercise. [4] [5] Soundac also produced Weather Man, a series of short animated clips for stations that relied on Weather Bureau forecasts to relay the weather. [6]

Buchanan and Soundac ceased operations in the early 1970s.[ citation needed ] Master tapes of his productions were stolen during the closedown process,[ citation needed ] and as a result, only a portion of the company's productions remain: roughly a third of Colonel Bleep episodes (some in their original color and others in sepia tone prints), and one black-and-white kinescope reel of Weather Man clips (Mighty Mr. Titan is believed to be mostly intact).

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References

  1. Kempner, Marvin (1998). Can't Wait Till Monday Morning. Rivercross Publishing Inc. p.  56-57. ISBN   0944957730.
  2. McMahan, Harry (1958), "Animation from Down South" (PDF), Television Magazine, p. 33.
  3. Beck, Jerry (September 12, 2018). "The Colonel Bleep Show" . Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  4. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 549. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  5. Kempner, Marvin (1998). Can't Wait Till Monday Morning. Rivercross Publishing Inc. ISBN   0944957730.
  6. "Weather Man". 15 June 2007.