Cal Dalton (December 2, 1908 – June 1974) was an American

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

and director at

Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...

Work

Dalton's first commercial animation work was in 1930 at the ill-fated Romer Grey Studios. He later worked on an animated short version of '' The Wizard of Oz'' that was produced by

Ted Eshbaugh Ted Eshbaugh (February 5, 1906 – July 4, 1969) was an American animation filmmaker who first worked at Van Beuren Studios directing '' Goofy Goat'' in 1931. He then formed his own studio, Ted Eshbaugh Studio, in 1932 directing and/or producing ...

's independent animation studio in 1933. Afterwards, Dalton left to work at Leon Schlesinger Productions, with his first project being 1934's '' Viva Buddy''. All together, Dalton worked on 33 Warner Bros. cartoons as part of their animation department. In 1938, following

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ...

's departure, Dalton was promoted to director; for unknown reasons, he was never allowed to be sole director, and shared his duties initially with

Cal Howard Calvin Henry Howard (March 24, 1911 – September 10, 1993) was an American cartoon story artist, animator and director mostly remembered for his work at Walter Lantz Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons. He was also the voice actor of Gabby Goat i ...

, and then

Ben Hardaway Joseph Benson Hardaway (May 21, 1895 – February 5, 1957) was an American storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer and director for several American animation studios during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He was someti ...

. Dalton later admitted feeling aggrieved about the fact that while he was meant to be nominally in charge of Freleng's former unit, he tended to be overshadowed by the presence of the more experienced Hardaway. Cal Dalton's major contribution to the legacy of Warner Bros. animation was having co-directed '' Hare-um Scare-um'' in 1939 with Hardaway. The short featured a gray and white

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

that served as the prototype for

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merr ...

. Dalton directed or co-directed a total of 17 Warner Bros. cartoons from 1938 through 1940. He spent the rest of his years at Warner Bros. doing strictly animation work before leaving the studio in 1947. Dalton's last project was '' The Goofy Gophers'' (1947), which was the first cartoon to feature those characters. He also did some uncredited animation in the

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...

cartoon called ''

Mexican Joyride ''Mexican Joyride'' is a 1947 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Arthur Davis and written by Dave Monahan. The cartoon was released on November 29, 1947, and stars Daffy Duck. Plot Daffy Duck drives to Mexico for a vacation, and after ...

'' (1947).

References

External links

* 1908 births 1974 deaths American animated film directors Warner Bros. Cartoons directors {{Animator-stub