Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons

304 Pages·2009·5.09 MB·English

by  Nichola Dobson

HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES
OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS
Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
1. Science Fiction Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2004.
2. Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes, 2007.
3. American Radio Soap Operas, by Jim Cox, 2005.
4. Japanese Traditional Theatre, by Samuel L. Leiter, 2006.
5. Fantasy Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2005.
6. Australian and New Zealand Cinema, by Albert Moran and Errol Vieth,
2006.
7. African-American Television, by Kathleen Fearn-Banks, 2006.
8. Lesbian Literature, by Meredith Miller, 2006.
9. Scandinavian Literature and Theater, by Jan Sjivik, 2006.
10. British Radio, by SeBn Street, 2006.
11. German Theater, by William Grange, 2006.
12. African American Cinema, by S. Torriano Berry and Venise Berry, 2006.
13. Sacred Music, by Joseph P. Swain, 2006.
14. Russian Theater, by Laurence Senelick, 2007.
15. French Cinema, by Dayna Oscherwitz and MaryEllen Higgins, 2007.
16. Postmodernist Literature and Theater, by Fran Mason, 2007.
17. Irish Cinema, by Roderick Flynn and Pat Brereton, 2007.
18. Australian Radio and Television, by Albert Moran and Chris Keating, 2007
19. Polish Cinema, by Marek Haltof, 2007.
20. Old Time Radio, by Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz, 2008.
21. Renaissance Art, by Lilian H. Zirpolo, 2008.
22. Broadway Musical, by William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird, 2008.
23. American Theater: Modernism, by James Fisher and Felicia Hardison
LondrC, 2008.
24. German Cinema, by Robert C. Reimer and Carol J. Reimer, 2008.
25. Horror Cinema, by Peter Hutchings, 2008.
26. Westerns in Cinema, by Paul Varner, 2008.
27. Chinese Theater, by Tan Ye, 2008.
28. Italian Cinema, by Gino Moliterno, 2008.
29. Architecture, by Allison Lee Palmer, 2008.
30. Russian and Soviet Cinema, by Peter Rollberg, 2008.
3 1. African American Theater, by Anthony D. Hill, 2009.
32. Postwar German Literature, by William Grange, 2009.
33. Modern Japanese Literature and Theater, by J. Scott Miller, 2009.
34. Animation and Cartoons, by Nichola Dobson, 2009.

Historical Dictionary of
Animation and Cartoons
Nichola Dobson
Historical Dictionaries of Literature,
and the Arts, No. 34
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham Toronto Plymouth, UK
2009
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, I~nhamM, aryland 20706
http://w\vw.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright O 2009 by Nichola Dobson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dobson, Nichola, 1976-
Historical dictionary of animation and cartoons / Nichola Dobson.
p. cm. - (Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts ; no. 34)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8108-5830-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) - ISBN 978-0-8108-6323-1
(eb ook)
1. Animated films-Dictionaries. I. Title.
PN 1997.5.D63 2009
79 1.43'3403 -dc22
2009017015
aTM
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSIINISO 239.48-1 992.
Printed in the United States of America
For my husband, Jonny

Contents
Editor's Foreword Jon WoronofS i x
Preface xi
.. .
Acknowledgments Xlll
Acronyms and Abbreviations xv
Chronology xvii
Introduction xxxv
THE DICTIONARY 1
Appendix: Academy Award Winners 219
Bibliography 223
About the Author 245

Editor's Foreword
Once upon a time animation was a relatively simple matter, using fairly
primitive means to produce rather short films of subjects that were
generally comedic and often quite childish. Much of this was just filler
for more serious stuff. Since then, things have changed-and they keep
on changing at a maddening pace that looks like a cartoon being fast-
forwarded. One new technique after another has made it easier, faster,
and above all, cheaper to produce the material. This material has taken
on an increasing variety of forms-not just drawings but also clay and
plastic bricks and other solid matter-that are now being leapfrogged
by computer-assisted techniques and other advanced technologies that
provide different and usually better viewing. Sound has also improved
phenomenally. But the real revolution has been in content. With all due
apologies to Donald Duck and friends, we now have not only feature-
length films-which is nothing really special since it is only a question
of a longer showing time- but also increasingly sophisticated stories,
many still amusing (nothing has truly replaced comedy) but others quite
serious, dealing with heavier issues like the environment, personal and
generational conflicts, warfare, and indeed, the end of life as we know
it. Wow! This is almost mind-boggling, except that there is certainly
more to come, with games and interactive animation and things we can-
not even conceive of yet.
So it is not only a pleasure but almost an obligation to include a His-
torical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons in the Literature and Arts
series. It starts by tracing the path of animation from its rather simple
beginnings about a century and a half ago to the complicated and hectic
pace it is setting at present. The introduction helps put things in perspec-
tive and not only considers the past and the present but also peers into
the future. The bulk of the information comes in the dictionary section.
Many of these entries deal with leading figures on the technical, creative,