Hugh Harman (August 31, 1903 - November 25, 1982) was a director and producer for Happy Harmonies and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoons. He focused on creating elaborate one shots cartoons for MGM, including Peace on Earth. He also co-founded Harman-Ising Productions with Rudolf Ising.
Biography[]
Hugh Harman began working for Walt Disney in 1922 on the early Laugh-O-Gram Cartoons. When the studio went bankrupt, he and partner Rudolf Ising attempted to launch a new series based on the Arabian Nights, but they failed to secure funding. Disney later brought them back to help produce the Alice Comedies and the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts for Charles Mintz. When producer Charles Mintz took over the Oswald series, Harman and Ising followed him to a new Winkler-run studio, where the Oswald shorts they produced in 1928–1929 displayed the style that would define their later Warner Bros. work. Universal soon replaced Mintz with Walter Lantz, leaving the pair jobless.
Warner Bros.[]
As they were out of work, Harman and Ising were trying to seek a new contract to produce more animated shorts. They created a pilot film titled Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid which featured the character Bosko, who Harman had been drawing since 1928. After viewing the pilot film, Producer Leon Schlesinger was impressed with the short which earned them a contract with Warner Bros where they produced cartoons for him. Harman and Ising launched Looney Tunes in 1930 and Merrie Melodies in 1931, with Harman directing the Looney Tunes entries, and continued until 1933. After repeated budget disagreements with Schlesinger, they left the studio, taking the copyrighted Bosko with them. During this period, their company also produced several Cubby Bear cartoons under contract for the Van Beuren Corporation.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[]
In early 1934, Harman and Ising were hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce their new animated shorts, replacing Ub Iwerks. During this period, Harman and Ising produced Happy Harmonies, a series including one shots and shorts starring Bosko, who would recieve a redesign as a more realistic black child. While these shorts were successful, they caused tension with MGM for going overbudget which lead to Harman Ising productions to be dropped by MGM in 1937. After ending their contract, MGM opened a new in-house animation department led by Fred Quimby where they produced shorts based on popular comics at the time such as The Captain and the Kids and Count Screwloose.
That same year, Harman and Ising would outsource their ink-and-paint staff to Disney to help finish Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In exchange, Disney would produce three cartoons intended for the Silly Symphonies series, though Disney ultimately accepted only Merbabies due to issues with RKO Radio Pictures, Disney's distributor. The remaining films were released by MGM in early 1938, and after early difficulties with its new animation unit, Fred Quimby would rehire Harman and Ising as production supervisors and give them both their own units. Harman continued creating elaborate one shots, with one of his most notable works being Peace on Earth in 1939. The short was widely praised for its dramatic storytelling and anti-war message as well as its detailed animation and lush backgrounds. He would also create The Bear Family series who appeared in three shorts. Another one shot his unit made, The Alley Cat is well remembered for being the first appearances of Butch Cat and Toodles Galore, who would later be intergrated into the Tom and Jerry shorts directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Hugh Harman would leave the studio in early 1941 to found Hugh Harman Productions with Disney veteran Mel Shaw. His unit was taken over by a recently hired Tex Avery.
Later career[]
In 1943, Harman secured a deal with Orson Welles to produce an animated adaptation of The Little Prince, with Welles set to play the aviator and a child actor cast as the prince. However, the project collapsed after Welles became gravely ill with hepatitis while recovering in Florida, and the film was ultimately abandoned. Between 1945 and 1947, Harman's studio produced various training and educational films for the U.S. Army.
Following a two-year break from animation, Harman had reunited with Rudolf Ising and they both produced industrial and commercial films, with the studio being renamed back to Harman Ising Productions. Harman would work on The Littlest Angel, created in partnership with Coronet Films. Around this time, Harman also freelanced the story for the Woody Woodpecker short Convict Concerto. In 1960, Harman and Ising created an unsold TV pilot, The Adventures of Sir Gee Whiz on the Other Side of the Moon, later featured on Cartoon Dump. Harman's final project—though left unfinished by him—was Tom Thumb in King Arthur's Court. Developed extensively with Mel Shaw, the film had actually begun in the 1940s under the working title King Arthur's Knights. Unable to complete the production himself, Harman turned the project over to Coronet, where Gordon A. Sheehan oversaw its completion. Harman Ising Productions would later close down in 1960 too.
After the studio shut down, Harman would fall under poverty and was relocated to a small low quality house and also wasn't able to afford a car anymore. He would constantly borrow money from his brother Fred Harman, as well as Ising, Friz Freleng and Roy O. Disney. He would disguise his poor state by frequently having breakfast at a Beverly Hills restaurant. On November 25, 1982, Harman died after a long illness in his home. He was survived by his son Michael. Harman was married twice, but both marriages sadly ending in a divorce.