#frank webb

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞!!! 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐟𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝟑𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲!!! 𝐓𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟑𝟔𝟎° 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐲'𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥!!!

Pop-culture and animation historian/blogger Don Yowp recently launched a new blog called Old TV History, which illustrates and eludicates on the very early days of television (i.e., from the first experimental broadcasts out of Schenectady, NY in 1928, during its early electro-mechanical phase and its "trial by fire," so to speak, starting in 1939 and continuing through World War II).

I bring this up because a couple items from that particular blog best illustrate some rather primitive ideas on what television cartoons were like in television's early stages, even considering wartime restrictions and limitations on television broadcasting complicated by equipment and manpower shortages owing to "the war effort."

In effect, flicktoonry before Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera revolutionised flicktoonry to make such TV-friendly.

The first item of note quotes from the April 24, 1944 issue of the trade magazine Broadcasting:

A WEEKLY experimental tele-toon series, a cross between the newspaper comic strip and the motion picture cartoon especially adapted for television, has been started on W6XYZ Hollywood, owned and operated by Television Products Inc. Character voices using off-stage microphones are synchronized with the camera focused on a screen where each pencil move of Frank Webb, cartoonist, is projected. Franklin Lacey and Shelly Mitchell [Shirley Mitchell?] portray the character voices.

The other such of note came by way of the August 19th issue of Billboard:

HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 12.—First move on the part of cartoon makers to study the forthcoming television market is under way here, with announcement that Robert Clampett, director for Warner's cartoon division, will step into the Patrick Michael Canning video set-up. Clampett will retain his position with Warners, but will work with Cunning on ideas for slanting cartoons expressly for television.