Hanna & Barbera bio

Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. (simply known as Hanna-Barbera and also referred to as H-B Enterprises, H-B Production Company and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons) was an American animation studio that dominated American television animation for nearly four decades in the mid-to-late 20th century. It was formed in 1957 by former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (creators of Tom and Jerry) and live-action director George Sidney in partnership with Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems television division. The company was sold to Taft Broadcasting in late 1966, and spent the next two decades as a subsidiary of the parent and its successors. Hanna-Barbera was known not only for its vast variety of series and characters, but for building upon and popularizing the concepts and uses of limited animation. For over thirty years, Hanna-Barbera produced many successful animated shows, including The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo and The Smurfs. In addition to winning seven Oscars, Hanna and Barbera won eight Emmy Awards,a Golden Globe Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, among other merits. The company's fortunes declined in the mid-eighties after the profitability of Saturday morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication. Hanna-Barbera was purchased from Taft (by then named Great American Broadcasting) in late 1991 by Turner Broadcasting System, who used much of its back catalog to program its new channel, Cartoon Network.