animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animation, animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales ...

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

Fanny Zilch Fanny Zilch is an animated cartoon character, part of the ''Terrytoons'' series. She made her debut in 1933. Her cartoons were musical spoofs of melodrama serials like '' The Perils of Pauline'', in which blonde sweetheart Fanny -- "the Banker's D ...

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. He is an anthropomorphic superhero mouse, originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorrow''. Th ...

Heckle and Jeckle Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow ...

Gandy Goose Gandy Goose is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1938 short ''Gandy the Goose''. He is frequently paired with Sourpuss, a cat, beginning in the 1939 short ''Hook Line and Sinker''. Sourpuss' first appearance was in the 193 ...

Dinky Duck Dinky Duck is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1939 animated short ''The Orphan Duck''. Unlike fellow Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, silly Gandy Goose and the magpie duo Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky never became popular ...

Farmer Al Falfa Farmer Al Falfa, also known as Farmer Alfalfa,
at

Clint Clobber This article contains the list of characters featured in the ''Tom and Jerry'' animated series, given in the order of the era, they first appeared in. Main Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse Tom (originally called "Jasper") is a bluish grey and whi ...

,

Tom Terrific ''Tom Terrific'' is a 1957–1959 animated series on American television, presented as part of the ''Captain Kangaroo'' children's television show. Production Created by Gene Deitch under the Terrytoons studio (which by that time was a subsidi ...

,

Deputy Dawg Deputy Dawg is a Terrytoons cartoon character, featured on the animated television series of the same name that aired from 1960 to 1964. Background The character of Deputy Dawg originated in 1959 as part of a projected series entitled ''Possible ...

,

Hector Heathcote Hector Heathcote is a Terrytoons animated cartoon character. Created by Eli Bauer and Ralph Bakshi, he first appeared on July 18, 1959, in ''The Minute and a Half Man''. He was voiced by John Myhers. Terrytoons created the character for televisio ...

,

Hashimoto-san Hashimoto-san is a fictional Japanese mouse created by the Japanese-born animator Bob Kuwahara and Eli Bauer for the Terrytoons animation company. Hashimoto is a jujutsu instructor living in Japan with his wife Hanako, son Saburo, and daughter Y ...

, Sidney the Elephant, Possible Possum, James Hound,

Astronut ''The Astronut Show'' is an animated TV series, produced by the Terrytoons animation studio. It first aired on August 23, 1965. In the late 1960s, each episode included ''Astronut'', '' Hashimoto-san'', and ''Luno the White Stallion''. In the ear ...

,

Sad Cat Sad Cat is an animated cartoon character created by director Ralph Bakshi at the Terrytoons studio in 1965. The character was the subject of 13 theatrical cartoons, which were syndicated to television in the early 1970s as part of '' The Astronu ...

,

The Mighty Heroes ''The Mighty Heroes'' is an American 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 21 episodes.

, and Sally Sargent. Also during that time,

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (; born October 29, 1938) is a Mandatory Palestine-born American retired animator and filmmaker, known for his fantastical animated films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent anim ...

got his start as an animator, and eventually as a director, at Terrytoons. Terrytoons shorts were originally released to theaters by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

from 1935 until 1973. After Terry had retired, Terrytoons was sold to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, which would later purchase the entire library.

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

would eventually take theatrical rights ownership of the Terrytoons library in 1994 (which was then already purchased by

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

), and would purchase CBS in 2000. As of 2019, Paramount Pictures has owned the rights to the studio and its library after the re-merger of Viacom and CBS.

History

Pre-Terrytoons era

Terry first worked for Bray Studios in 1916, where he created the

Farmer Al Falfa Farmer Al Falfa, also known as Farmer Alfalfa,
at

Edison Pictures Edison Studios was an American film production company, production organization, owned by companies controlled by inventor and entrepreneur, Thomas Edison. The film studio, studio made close to 1,200 films, as part of the Edison Manufacturing Comp ...

, called "Farmer Al Falfa's Wayward Pup" (1917), and some later cartoons were made for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

. Around 1921, Terry founded the Fables animation studio, named for its ''

Aesop's Film Fables ''Aesop's Fables'' (previously titled ''Aesop's Film Fables'' and ''Aesop's Sound Fables'') is a series of animated short subjects, created by United States, American cartoonist Paul Terry (cartoonist), Paul Terry. Produced from 1921 to 1934, th ...

'' series, in conjunction with the studio of

Amedee J. Van Beuren Amedee J. Van Beuren (July 10, 1879 – November 12, 1938) was the producer of Frank Buck (animal collector), Frank Buck's first three films, as well as many cartoons and short films. He also prepared Charlie Chaplin's celebrated comedies of 191 ...

. Fables churned out a Fable cartoon every week for eight years in the 1920s. In 1928, Van Beuren, anxious to compete with the new phenomenon of

talking picture A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

s, released Terry's '' Dinner Time'' (released October 1928). Van Beuren then urged Terry to start producing actual sound films, instead of post-synchronizing the cartoons. Terry refused, and Van Beuren fired him in 1929. Almost immediately, Terry and much of his staff started up the Terrytoons studio near his former studio. One staff member during that time was

Art Babbitt Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and a ...

, who went on to become a well-known Disney animator.

Peak era

Through much of its history, the studio was considered one of the lowest-quality houses in the field, to the point where Paul Terry noted, "Let Walt Disney be the

Tiffany's Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is an American luxury jewelry and specialty design house headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Tiffany is known for its luxury goods, particularly its sterling silver and diamond jewelry. ...

of the business. I want to be the

Woolworth's Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses Australia and New Zealand * Woolworths Group (Australia), the largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand; named after the American F.W. Woolworth company, but unrelated * W ...

!" Terry's studio had the lowest budgets and was among the slowest to adapt to new technologies such as

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

(in about 1930) and

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

(in 1938). While its graphic style remained remarkably static for decades, it actually followed the sound cartoon trend of the late 1920s and early 1930s very quickly. Background music was entrusted to one man, Philip Scheib, and Terry's refusal to pay royalties for popular songs forced Scheib to compose his own scores. Paul Terry took pride in producing a new cartoon every other week, regardless of the quality of the films. Until 1957, screen credits were very sparse, listing only the writer (until 1950, solely John Foster; then Tom Morrison thereafter), director (Terry's three main directors were

Connie Rasinski J. Conrad "Connie" Rasinski (January 28, 1907 in Torrington, Connecticut – October 13, 1965 in Larchmont, New York) was an animation director who did the 1952 animated short "Hansel and Gretel" among others. Rasinski's "House of Hashimoto" wa ...

, Eddie Donnelly, and Mannie Davis), and musician (musical director Philip A. Scheib). Terrytoons' first distributor was

Educational Pictures Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational p ...

, specialists in short-subject comedies and novelties. Audio-Cinema in the early 1930s backed the production of Terrytoons, and distributed the Educational library internationally, except in the United Kingdom and Ireland where the library was distributed by Educational and

Gaumont-British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont (company), Gaumont. Film production Gaumo ...

in partnership with the

Ideal Film Company The Ideal Film Company (often known as Ideal Films or simply Ideal) was a British film production and distribution company that operated between 1911 and 1934. History The company, based in Soho, London, was started by the two Jewish brother ...

. The

Fox Film The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American independent company that produced motion pictures and was formed in 1914 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox. It was the corporate successor to his earlier Greater Ne ...

company then released Educational shorts to theaters in the 1930s, giving the Terry cartoons wide exposure. Following the merger between Fox Film and

20th Century The 20th century began on 1 January 1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December 2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the 2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of ...

, the newly formed

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

withdrew its support from Educational Pictures, and the company both backed and distributed Terrytoons. Farmer Al Falfa was Terry's most familiar character in the 1930s; Kiko the Kangaroo was spun off the Farmer Al Falfa series. Most of the other cartoons featured stock generic animal characters and designs, one of which was a scruffy dog with a black patch around one eye; Terry ultimately built a series around this character, now known as Puddy the Pup. Paul Terry may have realized that Educational was in financial trouble because he found another lucrative outlet for his product. In 1938, he arranged to release his older cartoons through home-movie distributor

Castle Films Castle Films was a film company founded in California by former newsreel cameraman Eugene W. Castle (1897–1960) in 1924. Originally, Castle Films produced industrial and advertising films. Then in 1937, the company pioneered the production and ...

. Educational went out of business within the year, but 20th Century Fox continued to release Terrytoons to theaters for the next two decades. With a new emphasis on "star" characters, Terrytoons featured the adventures of Super Mouse (later renamed

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. He is an anthropomorphic superhero mouse, originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorrow''. Th ...

), the talking magpies

Heckle and Jeckle Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow ...

, silly

Gandy Goose Gandy Goose is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1938 short ''Gandy the Goose''. He is frequently paired with Sourpuss, a cat, beginning in the 1939 short ''Hook Line and Sinker''. Sourpuss' first appearance was in the 193 ...

,

Dinky Duck Dinky Duck is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1939 animated short ''The Orphan Duck''. Unlike fellow Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, silly Gandy Goose and the magpie duo Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky never became popular ...

, mischievous mouse Little Roquefort, and The Terry Bears. Despite the artistic drawbacks imposed by Terry's inflexible business policies, Terrytoons was nominated four times for the

Academy Award for Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

: ''All Out for V'' in 1942, ''My Boy, Johnny'' in 1944, ''

Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life ''Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life'' is a 1945 Mighty Mouse cartoon that was nominated for an Oscar in the 18th Annual Academy Awards and is produced by Paul Terry and directed by Connie Rasinski. This film was originally released theatrically by 20th ...

'' in 1945, and ''Sidney's Family Tree'' in 1958.

Changing hands

The studio was sold outright by the retiring Paul Terry to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

in 1955, but 20th Century Fox (TCF) continued distribution. The deal closed the following year in 1956, and it became a division of the

CBS Films CBS Films Inc. was an American film production and distribution company founded in 2007 as a subsidiary of CBS Corporation and was considered a Major film studio#Mini-majors, mini-major studio up until 2019. CBS Films originally was planned t ...

subsidiary. Later, in 1957 CBS put it under the management of UPA alumni

Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...

, who had to work with even lower budgets. Deitch's most notable works at the studio were the ''

Tom Terrific ''Tom Terrific'' is a 1957–1959 animated series on American television, presented as part of the ''Captain Kangaroo'' children's television show. Production Created by Gene Deitch under the Terrytoons studio (which by that time was a subsidi ...

'' cartoon segments for the ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

'' television show. He also introduced a number of new characters, such as Sidney the Elephant, Gaston Le Crayon, John Doormat, and

Clint Clobber This article contains the list of characters featured in the ''Tom and Jerry'' animated series, given in the order of the era, they first appeared in. Main Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse Tom (originally called "Jasper") is a bluish grey and whi ...

. Before Deitch was fired in 1959, Bill Weiss took complete control of the studio. Under his supervision, ''Heckle and Jeckle'' and ''Mighty Mouse'' went back into production. Besides the three core directors of the Terry era who were still involved as animators and directors, two

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was established as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contr ...

stalwarts joined the crew,

Dave Tendlar David Benjamin Tendlar (August 8, 1909 – September 9, 1993) was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. Tendlar was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 8, 1909, and attended Stiv ...

and

Martin Taras Martin Bernard Taras (9 August 1914 – 2 November 1994), also known as Morrie Tarasinsky, was an American cartoonist who mostly worked at Famous Studios, the New York–based animation division of Paramount Pictures. Career Taras started his an ...

. Other new theatrical cartoon series included ''Hector Heathcote'', ''Luno'' and ''Hashimoto San''. The studio also began producing the ''

Deputy Dawg Deputy Dawg is a Terrytoons cartoon character, featured on the animated television series of the same name that aired from 1960 to 1964. Background The character of Deputy Dawg originated in 1959 as part of a projected series entitled ''Possible ...

'' series for television in 1959. Another television production for the ''Captain Kangaroo'' show was ''The Adventures of Lariat Sam'', which was written in part by

Gene Wood Eugene Edward Wood (October 20, 1925 – May 21, 2004) was an American television personality, known primarily for his work as an announcer on various game shows. From the 1950s to the 1990s, he announced many game shows, primarily Mark Goodson ...

, who would later become the announcer for several TV gameshows including ''

Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. Two families compete on each episode to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, the ...

''. Phil Scheib continued as the studio's musical director through the mid-1960s when he was replaced by Jim Timmens and Elliott Lawrence. The best-known talent at Terrytoons in the 1960s was animator/director/producer

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (; born October 29, 1938) is a Mandatory Palestine-born American retired animator and filmmaker, known for his fantastical animated films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent anim ...

, who started with Terrytoons in the 1950s as an opaquer, and eventually helmed the ''

Mighty Heroes ''The Mighty Heroes'' is an American 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 21 episodes.

'' series. Bakshi left Terrytoons in 1967 for

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

's own cartoon studio, which closed its cartoon unit later that year. He would later go on to produce '' Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' for television in 1987, which was also produced by future ''

Ren & Stimpy ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', commonly referred to as simply ''Ren & Stimpy'', is an American animated comedy television series created by John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series follows the misadventures of Ren Höek, an emotionally unstable ...

'' creator

John Kricfalusi Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, and former animator and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which ...

.

Closure

After the departure of

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (; born October 29, 1938) is a Mandatory Palestine-born American retired animator and filmmaker, known for his fantastical animated films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent anim ...

, the studio petered out, and finally closed in 1973. As a result of the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

banning TV networks from owning cable television and syndication of television programs,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

created

Viacom Enterprises Viacom Productions (formerly Viacom Enterprises) was a television production arm of Viacom. Viacom Enterprises was also a movie producer, and a sports producer. The division was active from 1971 until 2004, when the company was folded into Par ...

to handle all network programs beyond TV production and network broadcasting. On July 4, 1971, Viacom Enterprises spun off from CBS; neither Viacom Enterprises nor CBS had any interest in Terrytoons. The Terrytoons film library was still regularly re-released to theaters by Fox. The studio's one of the last short was an unsold TV pilot called ''Sally Sargent'', about a 16-year-old girl who is a secret agent. Soon after ''Sally Sargent'' was completed, Viacom International ended their relationship with Fox and re-releases ceased. Terrytoons’ existence soon came to an end. Art Bartsch, who kept the studio running after Bakshi left, would soon die along with Connie Rasinski, and

Bob Kuwahara Rokuro "Bob" Kuwahara (August 12, 1901 – 1964) was a Japanese-born American animator best known for his work with Walt Disney and Terrytoons between the 1930s and 1960s. Kuwahara was born in Tokyo on August 12, 1901, and his family moved to th ...

, reducing the studio to a ghost studio with executive producer Bill Weiss and story supervisor Tom Morrison; Viacom kept the studio open until 1972. By October 1972, Viacom International announced that Terrytoons would leave New Rochelle and relocate to Viacom International's office in New York City. By December 29, Viacom sold the now abandoned New Rochelle studio, and the company's fate was forever sealed.

Post-history

Weiss continued Terrytoons production from his New York City office with the 1970s Terrytoons cartoons (especially ''Mighty Mouse'' and ''Deputy Dawg'') being syndicated to many local TV markets, and they were a staple of after-school and Saturday-morning cartoon shows for over three decades, from the 1950s through the 1980s, until the television rights to the library were acquired by

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

in 1989. However, any new cartoons of the studio's stars came from other studios. In the late 1970s,

Filmation Associates Filmation Associates was an American production company founded by Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland and Norm Prescott in 1962, before closing by Group W Productions on February 3, 1989. Located in Reseda, California, Filmation produced animated and ...

licensed the rights to make the new ''Mighty Mouse'' and ''Heckle & Jeckle'' series from Viacom International. The series was ''

The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle ''The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle'' is a 1979–1980 animated television series featuring newly produced Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle cartoons. The series was produced by Filmation, and aired from 1979 to 1980 on CBS ...

'' and aired from 1979 to 1980 on CBS. Bakshi would later produce '' Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' in 1987, which lasted for two seasons. Bakshi and his friend

John Kricfalusi Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, and former animator and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which ...

inspired the staff to try to get as much Jim Tyer-style drawing in the show as possible. Tyer, a stand-out Terry animator of the original cartoons with a unique style, became a strong influence on the artists of the Bakshi series, such as now recognizable writers, artists and animators—

Bruce Timm Bruce Walter Timm (born February 5, 1961) is an American artist, animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known for contributing to building the modern DC Comics animated franchise, most notably as the head producer behind '' Batman: ...

,

Doug Moench Douglas Moench (; born February 23, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American writer of comics, novels, short stories, newspaper feature articles, weekly newspaper comic strips, film screenplays and teleplays. He is notable for his ''Batman'' wo ...

,

Andrew Stanton Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is best known as the director and co-writer of the Pixar animated films ''Finding Nemo'' (2003), ''WALL-E'' (2008), ''Finding Dory'' (2016), and the upcoming ''Toy Story 5 ...

,

Rich Moore Rich Moore (born ) is an American film and television animation director, screenwriter and voice actor. He is best known for serving as a director on primetime animated television series such as ''The Simpsons'', ''The Critic'' and ''Futuram ...

,

Lynne Naylor Rae Naylor is a Canadian animator, artist, designer, director, and producer for television. She is best known for co-creating DreamWorks' '' The Mighty Ones'', co-founding the animation studio Spümcø with John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp, and ...

,

Jim Reardon Jim Reardon is an American animation director and screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the animated TV series ''The Simpsons''. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 t ...

,

Tom Minton Tom Minton is an American animator, producer, writer, and storyboard artist. He created and wrote the "Toby Danger" episode of '' Freakazoid!'', wrote the lyrics to the song "Brainstem" and served as the chief model for the Warner Bros. characte ...

, and

Bob Jaques Robert Jaques (born 1956) is a Canadian-American animator and animation director. He is best known for the television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', ''The Baby Huey Show'' and ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. He also was nominated for two Emmys in 1 ...

. Many of the characters (such as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky Duck, Deputy Dawg, and others) were slated to make cameos in the 1988 film ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'', but only Oscar the Timid Pig, Looey Lion, and a character resembling Gandy Goose appeared. They can all be seen during the film's finale. They were also planned to appear in the deleted scene of Marvin Acme's funeral. In 1994, Fox would sell its Terrytoons theatrical distribution to Paramount, which was then purchased by Viacom that same year, and would go on to purchase CBS six years later in 2000. However, through the years that have followed since the last Terrytoons TV series material in 1988, the rights have been scattered as a result of prior rights issues and the corporate changes involving

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

and CBS, especially in 2005. Since

CBS Corporation CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...

re-merged with Viacom to form ViacomCBS (

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...

as of February 2022), reuniting CBS with Paramount, on December 4, 2019, and

CBS Films CBS Films Inc. was an American film production and distribution company founded in 2007 as a subsidiary of CBS Corporation and was considered a Major film studio#Mini-majors, mini-major studio up until 2019. CBS Films originally was planned t ...

was folded into

CBS Entertainment Group The following is a list of major assets that are owned by Paramount Global, an American multinational media conglomerate headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Paramount Pictures Corporation * Paramount Studio Grou ...

after releasing ''

Jexi ''Jexi'' is a 2019 romantic comedy film written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It stars Adam DeVine as a man whose life is disrupted when his smartphone’s AI, voiced by Rose Byrne, becomes possessively self-aware. The cast als ...

'' on the same day, Paramount Pictures now owns the theatrical distribution on behalf of

Paramount Animation Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the critical and commerical success of P ...

and CBS Entertainment Group, while

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Television Distribution) is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, ...

(formed in 2006) owns the television distribution on behalf of

CBS Eye Animation Productions CBS Eye Animation Productions is the television animation studio division of CBS Studios, owned by Paramount Global. The studio is closely associated with the ''Star Trek'' franchise with its first projects, '' Star Trek: Lower Decks'' and '' St ...

to the Terrytoons film library. However, some Terrytoons shorts are believed to be in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

and have either been issued on low-budget

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

tapes and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s or have been uploaded on sites such as

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. On January 5, 2010, the first official release of any Terrytoons material by CBS DVD was issued in the form of the complete series of ''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures''. In 1999,

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

attempted to revive the Terrytoons characters as part of a TV series called ''Curbside''. ''Curbside'' would have been a parody of late-night talk shows with Heckle and Jeckle serving as hosts of the show, along with their assistant Dinky Duck, and would have featured new cartoons featuring Terrytoon characters like Deputy Dawg, Sidney the Elephant, and Mighty Mouse. ''Curbside'' features talented voices of

Toby Huss Tobias Huss (born December 9, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Artie in the Nickelodeon series '' The Adventures of Pete & Pete'' (1993–1996). He is also known for his voice-over work on the long-running animated series ''K ...

and

Bobcat Goldthwait Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter. He is known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched ...

as Heckle & Jeckle,

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

as Dinky Duck, Mighty Mouse and Sidney the Elephant,

Billy West William Richard Werstine (born 1952), known professionally as Billy West, is an American voice actor, comedian, radio personality, impressionist and musician. His voice roles include Bugs Bunny in the 1996 film ''Space Jam'', the title characte ...

as Deputy Dawg,

Haley Joel Osment Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American actor. Beginning his career as a child actor, Osment's role in the comedy-drama film ''Forrest Gump'' (1994) won him a Young Artist Award. His breakthrough came with the psychological thr ...

as Tom Terrific, and additional voices of Baker, West,

Charlie Adler Charles Michael Adler (born October 2, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', the Bigheads on ''Rocko's Modern Life'', Ickis on ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters'', Doc ...

, and

Rob Paulsen Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Pro ...

. However, it was never picked up, making it the only Terrytoons show that was never officially released. Between 2001 and 2002, the Terrytoons characters returned to television in original commercials for Brazilian blue cheese (for what is now America's Dairy Farmers) and fine wine. One such infamous commercial was the Mighty Mouse ad (entitled "Dining With Cheese") dining calmly on cheese in a restaurant, utterly unconcerned with a scene of chaos and terror visibly unfolding in the street outside. That said commercial was then pulled from airing following the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. In 2004, a supposed live-action/animated hybrid Mighty Mouse

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

was announced for

Nickelodeon Movies Nickelodeon Movies Inc. is an American Filmmaking, film production company based in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California and owned by Paramount Global. Originally founded in 1995, it serves as both the film production division of Nickelodeon Pro ...

and Paramount Pictures with

Steve Oedekerk Steven Brent Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American filmmaker, actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for his collaborations with actor and comedian Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (particularly the '' Ace Ventura'' franc ...

of

Omation Animation Studio Steven Brent Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American filmmaker, actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for his collaborations with actor and comedian Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (particularly the ''Ace Ventura (franchise) ...

to produce and direct, but was cancelled and has been in

development hell Development hell, also known as development purgatory or development limbo, is media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic ...

since then. However, development later revived in April 2019 for Paramount Animation with Jon and Erich Hoeber to write the screenplay and both

Karen Rosenfelt Karen Rosenfelt is American media proprietor, film producer and television producer. She received production credits on the ''Twilight'' and ''Percy Jackson'' film franchises, as well as the 2008 film '' The Devil Wears Prada''. She has al ...

and Robert W. Cort to produce. It was later announced that in November 2024, Paramount Animation was associated with

Maximum Effort Maximum Effort Productions, Inc. is an American film production company and digital marketing agency founded by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds alongside George Dewey in 2018. The company's name is a reference to a catchphrase from Reynolds' 2016 ...

, with its co-founder

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the List of highest-paid film actors, world's second-highest-paid actor in 202 ...

as a producer and

Matt Lieberman Matt Lieberman is an American screenwriter. He wrote the films ''Scoob!'', ''The Addams Family'', ''The Christmas Chronicles'' and its sequel, and ''Free Guy''. Early and personal life Lieberman was born in Belleville, Illinois on Scott Air Fo ...

as a writer.

Comic books

Among the many licensed Terrytoons products are comic books, mainly published throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The company's characters — including Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky Duck, Gandy Goose, and Little Roquefort — were initially licensed to Timely, a predecessor of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

, in 1942. St. John Publications took over the license from 1947 to 1956,

Pines Comics Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in ...

published Terrytoons comics from 1956 to 1959,

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

made an attempt from 1959 to 1962 (and again later from 1966 to 1967), and finally

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was an American company founded in 1907 in Racine, Wisconsin, best known for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also ...

published Mighty Mouse comics from 1962 all the way up to 1980. The lead title, ''Terry-Toons Comics'', was published by Timely from Oct. 1942–Aug. 1947. With issue #60 (Sept. 1947), publication of the title was taken over by St. John Publications, which published another 27 issues until issue #86 (May 1951). The series continued in 1951 (with duplicate issues #85–86) as ''Paul Terry's Comics'', publishing another 41 issues until May 1955, when it was canceled with issue #125. Timely launched the Mighty Mouse series in 1946. The first St. John Terrytoons comic was ''Mighty Mouse'' #5 (Aug. 1947), its numbering also taken over from the Timely run. That series eventually ran 71 issues with St. John, moving to Pines for 16 issues from Apr. 1956 to Aug. 1959, to Dell for 12 issues from Oct./Dec. 1959–July/Sept. 1962, and Western for 17 issues from Oct. 1962 to Jan. 1980 (with a hiatus from Sept. 1965 to Mar. 1979), finally ending with issue #172. St. John's Terrytoons comics include the field's first 3-D comic book, ''Three Dimension Comics'' #1 (Sept. 1953 oversize format, Oct. 1953 standard-size reprint), featuring Mighty Mouse. According to

Joe Kubert Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Poland, Polish-born Americans, American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawk ...

, co-creator with the brothers

Norman Maurer Norman Albert Maurer (May 13, 1926 – November 23, 1986) was an American comic book artist and writer, and a director and producer of films and television shows. He is best known for his longtime professional and personal association with Th ...

and Leonard Maurer, it sold an exceptional 1.2 million copies at 25 cents apiece at a time when comics cost a dime. Dell Comics published eight issues of a ''New Terrytoons'' title from June/Aug. 1960 to March/May 1962.

Terrytoons comic book titles

* ''Adventures of Mighty Mouse'' (18 issues, November 1951 – May 1955) — St. John * ''Dinky Duck'' (19 issues, November 1951 – Summer 1958) — launched by St. John, continued by Pines * ''Gandy Goose'' (4 issues, March 1953 – November 1953) – St. John * ''Heckle and Jeckle'' (32 issues, October 1951 – June 1959) — launched by St. John, continued by Pines * ''Heckle and Jeckle'' (4 issues, November 1962 – August 1963) — Western Publishing * ''Heckle and Jeckle'' (3 issues, May 1966 – 1967) — Dell * ''Little Roquefort Comics'' (10 issues, June 1952 – Summer 1958) — launched by St. John, continued by Pines * ''Mighty Mouse / Paul Terry's Mighty Mouse Comics'' (172 issues, Fall 1946 – January 1980) — launched by Timely; continued by St. John, Pines, Dell, and Western * ''Mighty Mouse Album'' (3 issues, October – December 1952) — St. John * ''New Terrytoons'' (8 issues, June/August 1960 – March/May 1962) — Dell * ''Terry Bears Comics / Terrytoons, the Terry Bears'' (4 issues, June 1952 – Summer 1958) — launched by St. John, continued by Pines * ''Terry-Toons Comics'' / ''Paul Terry's Comics'' (125 issues, Oct. 1942 – May 1955) — launched by Timely Comics, continued by St. John * ''TerryToons Comics'' (9 issues, June 1952 – November 1953) — St. John; separate from ''Terry-Toons Comics'' / ''Paul Terry's Comics''

Filmography

: ''See List of Terrytoons animated shorts for complete filmography''

Theatrical short film series

* ''Aesop's Fables'' (1945–1960) * ''

Astronut ''The Astronut Show'' is an animated TV series, produced by the Terrytoons animation studio. It first aired on August 23, 1965. In the late 1960s, each episode included ''Astronut'', '' Hashimoto-san'', and ''Luno the White Stallion''. In the ear ...

'' (1964–1971) * ''

Clint Clobber This article contains the list of characters featured in the ''Tom and Jerry'' animated series, given in the order of the era, they first appeared in. Main Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse Tom (originally called "Jasper") is a bluish grey and whi ...

'' (1957–1959) * ''

Deputy Dawg Deputy Dawg is a Terrytoons cartoon character, featured on the animated television series of the same name that aired from 1960 to 1964. Background The character of Deputy Dawg originated in 1959 as part of a projected series entitled ''Possible ...

'' (1960–1964) * ''Dimwit'' (1953–1957) * ''Dingbat'' (1950) * ''

Dinky Duck Dinky Duck is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1939 animated short ''The Orphan Duck''. Unlike fellow Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, silly Gandy Goose and the magpie duo Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky never became popular ...

'' (1939–1957) * ''Duckwood'' (1964) * ''

Fanny Zilch Fanny Zilch is an animated cartoon character, part of the ''Terrytoons'' series. She made her debut in 1933. Her cartoons were musical spoofs of melodrama serials like '' The Perils of Pauline'', in which blonde sweetheart Fanny -- "the Banker's D ...

'' (1933-1938) * ''

Farmer Al Falfa Farmer Al Falfa, also known as Farmer Alfalfa,
at

Gandy Goose Gandy Goose is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1938 short ''Gandy the Goose''. He is frequently paired with Sourpuss, a cat, beginning in the 1939 short ''Hook Line and Sinker''. Sourpuss' first appearance was in the 193 ...

'' (1938–1955) * ''

Gaston Le Crayon Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston I ...

'' (1957–1959) * ''Good Deed Daily'' (1955–1956) * ''Half Pint'' (1951) * '' Hashimoto'' (1959–1963) * ''

Heckle and Jeckle Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow ...

'' (1946–1966) * ''

Hector Heathcote Hector Heathcote is a Terrytoons animated cartoon character. Created by Eli Bauer and Ralph Bakshi, he first appeared on July 18, 1959, in ''The Minute and a Half Man''. He was voiced by John Myhers. Terrytoons created the character for televisio ...

'' (1959–1971) * ''James Hound'' (1966–1967) * ''John Doormat'' (1957–1959) * '' Kiko the Kangaroo'' (1936–1937) * '' Little Roquefort'' (1950–1955) * ''

Luno The White Stallion ''Luno the White Stallion'' is a Terrytoons cartoon character (1963 to 1965). The series of cartoons centered on a little boy, Tim, who had a toy horse of marble white, Luno. Luno would come alive and whisk him off on adventures in far off lands ...

'' (1963–1964) * '' Martian Moochers'' (1966) * ''

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. He is an anthropomorphic superhero mouse, originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorrow''. Th ...

'' (1942–1961) * '' Nancy'' (1942) * '' Possible Possum'' (1965–1971) * '' Puddy the Pup'' (1935–1942) * ''

Sad Cat Sad Cat is an animated cartoon character created by director Ralph Bakshi at the Terrytoons studio in 1965. The character was the subject of 13 theatrical cartoons, which were syndicated to television in the early 1970s as part of '' The Astronu ...

'' (1965–1968) * '' Sidney the Elephant'' (1958–1963) * ''The Terry Bears'' (1951–1956)

TV series

* ''

Barker Bill's Cartoon Show ''Barker Bill's Cartoon Show'' was the first network television weekday cartoon series, airing on CBS from 1953 to 1955. The 15 minute show was broadcast twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 5pm Eastern Time Zone, Eastern, although some local ...

'' (1953–1956) * '' Mighty Mouse Playhouse'' (1955–1967) * ''CBS Cartoon Theatre'' (1956) * ''The Heckle and Jeckle Show'' (1956) * ''

Tom Terrific ''Tom Terrific'' is a 1957–1959 animated series on American television, presented as part of the ''Captain Kangaroo'' children's television show. Production Created by Gene Deitch under the Terrytoons studio (which by that time was a subsidi ...

'' (1957) * ''Easy Winners'' (1958) (unaired pilot) * '' The Deputy Dawg Show'' (1959–1964) * ''The Adventures of Lariat Sam'' (1962) * ''

The Hector Heathcote Show Hector Heathcote is a Terrytoons animated cartoon character. Created by Eli Bauer and Ralph Bakshi, he first appeared on July 18, 1959, in ''The Minute and a Half Man''. He was voiced by John Myhers. Terrytoons created the character for television ...

'' (1963) * ''

The Astronut Show ''The Astronut Show'' is an animated TV series, produced by the Terrytoons animation studio. It first aired on August 23, 1965. In the late 1960s, each episode included ''Astronut'', '' Hashimoto-san'', and ''Luno the White Stallion''. In the ear ...

'' (1965) * ''

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. He is an anthropomorphic superhero mouse, originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorrow''. Th ...

, &

The Mighty Heroes ''The Mighty Heroes'' is an American 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 21 episodes.

'' (1966–1967) * ''Sally Sargent'' (1968) (pilot)

References

External links

*
Post Paul Terry era filmography
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