Robert D. Buchanan

Last updated

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).

Related Research Articles

<i>Looney Tunes</i> Cartoon media franchise of Warner Bros.

Looney Tunes is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 to 1969, along with an accompanying series, Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. The two series introduced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, Tweety, Sylvester, Granny, Yosemite Sam, the Tasmanian Devil, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales and many other cartoon characters.

Mighty Mouse American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse

Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short The Mouse of Tomorrow. The name was changed to Mighty Mouse in his eighth film, 1944's The Wreck of the Hesperus, and the character went on to star in 80 theatrical shorts, concluding in 1961 with Cat Alarm.

Animation in the United States in the television era was a period in the history of American animation that slowly set in with the decline of theatrical animated shorts and the popularization of television animation during the late 1950s to 1960s, and ended in the late 1980s. This era is characterized by low budgets, limited animation, and an emphasis on television over the theater. Due to the perceived cheap production values, poor animation, and mixed critical and commercial reception, this era is sometimes referred to as the dark age of American animation by critics. The period came to an end in the late 1980s as many entertainment companies revived their animation franchises and went back to making high budget, successful works.

Terrytoons Animation studio

Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1972. Terrytoons was founded by Paul Terry, Frank Moser, and Joseph Coffman, and operated out of the "K" Building in downtown New Rochelle. The studio created many cartoon characters including Fanny Zilch, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Little Roquefort, the Terry Bears, Dimwit, and Luno; Terry's pre-existing character Farmer Al Falfa was also featured often in the series.

<i>Super Friends</i> American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1986

Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.

Don Messick American voice actor (1926–1997)

Donald Earle Messick was an American voice actor. He was best known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Herman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters, Herman the Mouse and Katnip the Cat, that starred in theatrical animated shorts produced by Famous Studios in the 1940s and 1950s. Arnold Stang and Allen Swift were the regular voices of Herman, while Sid Raymond was the regular actor for Katnip, although one or both of the characters would occasionally be voiced by Jackson Beck and Jack Mercer, respectively.

<i>Colonel Bleep</i> First color cartoon series on television

Colonel Bleep is a 1957 American animated TV series, which was the first color cartoon series made for television. It was created and written by Robert D. Buchanan and Jack Schleh in 1956, and was animated by Soundac, Inc. of Miami. The show was originally syndicated in 1957 as a segment on Uncle Bill's TV Club. One hundred episodes, of varying length of between three and six minutes each, were produced. Of these episodes, 44 episodes are known to exist in some form, eight of which are only available in monochrome.

The Mighty Heroes is a Saturday morning animated television series created by Ralph Bakshi for the Terrytoons company. The original show debuted on CBS, on October 29, 1966, and ran for one season with 20 episodes.

<i>Clerks: The Animated Series</i> American animated sitcom

Clerks is an American adult animated sitcom that was first broadcast on ABC in 2000. Based on Kevin Smith's 1994 comedy film of the same name, it was developed for television by Smith, Smith's producing partner Scott Mosier and former Seinfeld writer David Mandel with character designs by Stephen Silver, known for character designs in Disney's Kim Possible and Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom. It is the first television show to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse.

Joseph Oriolo was an American cartoon animator, writer, director and producer, known as the co-creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost and the creator of the Felix the Cat TV series.

<i>The Marvel Super Heroes</i>

The Marvel Super Heroes is an American animated television series starring five comic book superheroes from Marvel Comics. The first TV series based on Marvel characters, it debuted in syndication on U.S. television in 1966.

<i>The Duck Factory</i>

The Duck Factory is an American sitcom produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on NBC from April 12 until July 11, 1984. It was Jim Carrey's first lead role in a Hollywood production. It was also the only time when Don Messick appeared in live-action, although he also voiced a cartoon character in the sitcom as well. The show was set at a small independent animation studio, and was co-created by Allan Burns and Herbert Klynn. It won two Emmy Awards.

The Lone Ranger is an American animated television series that ran 26 episodes Saturday mornings on CBS from September 10, 1966, to September 6, 1969. The series was produced by Herb Klynn and Jules Engel of Format Films, Hollywood, and designed and made at the Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Film studios in London, England & Artransa Park Studios in Australia.

Events in 1957 in animation.

Robert Albert Nicholson, also known as "Bobby Nicholson" and "Nick Nicholson" was an American actor and musician.

Events in 1956 in animation.

References

  1. ↑ Kempner, Marvin (1998). Can't Wait Till Monday Morning. Rivercross Publishing Inc. p.  56-57. ISBN   0944957730.
  2. ↑ https://americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-Television-Magazine-IDX/IDX/50s/1958/Television-1958-Dec-OCR-Page-0031.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  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.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.