MGM Animation/Visual Arts

MGM Animation/Visual Arts was an American animation studio established in 1962 by animation director/producer Chuck Jones, producer Les Goldman and animator Ken Harris as Sib Tower 12 Productions. Its productions include the last series of Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts, the TV specials Horton Hears a Who! and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth, all released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

For the 1937–1958 studio, see Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. For the studio established in 1993, see Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation.

MGM Animation/Visual Arts
FormerlySib Tower 12, Inc. (1962–1964)
IndustryAnimation
Short films
PredecessorMGM Cartoons
Founded1962 (1962)
FoundersChuck Jones
Les Goldman
Ken Harris
DefunctDecember 1970 (1970-12)
FateClosed
SuccessorsStudio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation
Library:
Warner Bros.
(through Turner Entertainment Co.)
Headquarters
Culver City, California
,
U.S.
ParentMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer

History

The studio was founded in 1960 as "S I B Productions, Inc.",[1] which in 1962 had hired the just developing Filmation Associates to animate a syndicated series called Rod Rocket.[2] It afterward evolved into "Sib Tower 12, Inc.", being taken over by Chuck Jones after he was fired from Warner Bros. Cartoons, because he was in violation of his contract[3] where he had served for over 30 years directing the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. A number of animators who had worked under Jones during his Warner Bros. career followed him to Sib Tower 12, as did voice actor Mel Blanc and storyman and writer Michael Maltese. Sib Tower 12 Productions received a contract from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce a new series of Tom and Jerry cartoons, which proved successful. As a result, MGM purchased the Sib Tower 12 studio and renamed it MGM Animation/Visual Arts in 1964.[4] This studio continued with Jones' Tom and Jerry shorts until 1967.

In addition to the Tom and Jerry cartoons, Jones worked on the short, The Dot and the Line (1965), an abstract piece based upon a children's book by Norton Juster, which won that year's Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

The studio also turned to television, producing two highly acclaimed TV specials based on books by Dr. Seuss. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, which aired in 1966, and Horton Hears a Who! in 1970.

The studio's most ambitious work was its 1970 feature film The Phantom Tollbooth, adapted from another Norton Juster book.

After the studio closed in late 1970, Chuck Jones went on to found Chuck Jones Film Productions which produced television specials based on the stories of Rudyard Kipling and of The Cricket in Times Square series. In 1993, MGM opened a new animation studio, MGM Animation.

Filmography

Theatrical releases

Majority of studio's output were Tom and Jerry cartoons, but the studio also produced standalone shorts.

Tom and Jerry shorts

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

One-shot shorts

Feature films

Television shows
  • Tom and Jerry (1965) (bumpers, and reanimation of sequences from the original Hanna-Barbera shorts.)
  • Off to See the Wizard (1967–1968)

Television specials

See also

Notes
  1. "Business Search - Business Entities - Business Programs | California Secretary of State". businesssearch.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  2. Scheimer, Lou (2012). Creating the Filmation Generation. Raleigh, North Carolina: Two Morrows Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-60549-044-1.
  3. "What's Up Doc: Paying Homage To The Man Who Brought Bugs Bunny To Life - The Late Chuck Jones". George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. CBC. September 21, 2012. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  4. Lemay, Brian. "History of Animation: 1961 - 70". Retrieved from http://www.brianlemay.com/History/timeline1961-1970.html on September 10, 2006.

References
  • Maltin, Leonard, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, New York: NAL Books, 1987, ISBN 0-452-25993-2
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