Arthur Davis (animator)
Arthur Davis | |
|---|---|
 Arthur Davis circa 1931 | |
| Born | Arthur Davidavitch June 14, 1905 Yonkers, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 9, 2000 (aged 94) Sunnyvale, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Art Davis Artie Davis |
| Occupation(s) | Animator, director |
| Years active | 1918–1988[1] |
| Employer(s) | Raoul Barre's studio (1918-1921) Jefferson Film Corporation (1921-1923) Out of the Inkwell Films (1923–1927) Screen Gems (1927-1941) Warner Bros. Cartoons (1941–1962) United Productions of America (1962) Walter Lantz Productions (1962–1965) DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (1963–1981) Hanna-Barbera (1960–1972; 1985–1988) |
| Spouse |
Rae Kessler
(m. 1928; died 1978) |
| Children | 2[2] |
Arthur Davis (né Davidavitch)[1] (June 14, 1905 – May 9, 2000) was an American animator and director known for his time at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. He was sometimes billed as Art Davis.
Early life
[edit]Davis was born on June 14, 1905, in Yonkers, New York to Hungarian parents.[1] He is the younger brother of animators Mannie and Phil Davis.[3] Mannie would eventually become a key director for Terrytoons while Phil worked alongside Arthur at the Screen Gems studio before he left in 1933.[3]
Career
[edit]Davis got his start as a teenager at Raoul Barre's studio in 1918. He later moved to the Jefferson Film Corporation when the Mutt and Jeff cartoons began being made there in January 1921. In 1923 he joined the Out Of The Inkwell Films (Fleischer Studios) in New York after Dick Huemer proposed him as an assistant in 1922.[4][5]
Davis is reputed to have been the first in-betweener in the animation industry. Another distinction was his part in filming the "bouncing ball" for the "follow the bouncing ball" sing-along cartoons of the 1920s. While one of the Fleischer brothers played the ukulele, Davis would keep time with a wooden stick with a white cut-out circle on the end, which was filmed and incorporated into the cartoon.[4][5]
In 1930 Davis became an assistant animator for the Charles Mintz studio, later known as Screen Gems after Columbia Pictures acquired a stake in the studio in 1933. He was soon promoted to animator. While there, he helped create and develop Toby the Pup and Scrappy with fellow animators Dick Huemer and Sid Marcus. Davis would eventually be promoted to director alongside Marcus and remained at the studio even after Mintz died in 1939.[4][5][6]
By 1941, Davis was fired from Screen Gems by Columbia and moved to Leon Schlesinger Productions, which would be renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons once Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. Initially animating for Norman McCabe's unit, Davis would soon work with Frank Tashlin when McCabe was drafted into the Army. The two men have previously collaborated with the 1941 cartoon "The Great Cheese Mystery" before Davis' termination from Screen Gems. He would animate under Tashlin's direction until late 1944, when the unit was assumed by Robert McKimson.
Later in 1945, when Bob Clampett left and went to Screen Gems, Davis took over Clampett's unit. Davis completed three cartoons left unfinished by Clampett: "The Big Snooze", "The Goofy Gophers" and "Bacall to Arms";[7][6] cartoons still in the outline or storyboarding stages at the time of Clampett's departure were allocated to other directors, with Robert McKimson ultimately directing "Birth of a Notion" and Friz Freleng directing "Tweetie Pie".
Davis directed a number of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, with a tone somewhere between those of Clampett and McKimson. He had a distinctive characteristic visual style, which can be seen as far back as Davis' Columbia shorts, in which the characters move from the foreground to the background, as well as from side to side, using all axes of the animation field. Davis was said to prioritize the animation of his shorts over the writing, as he felt insecure with the writers he was given.[1]
Davis' unit at Warners was shut down only two years later in November 1947 when the studio was having a budget problem. Davis was then taken into Friz Freleng's unit, and served as one of Freleng's key animators for many years. In 1960, shortly prior to departing the studio, Davis directed a cartoon for Warners again using Freleng's unit. There were several WB shorts released around this time, from not only Freleng's unit but Chuck Jones' as well, where the direction was credited to varying subordinates. "Quackodile Tears", which would not see release until 1962 due to the studio's extensive release backlog, was also Davis's last Warner Bros. short.
Following his departure from Warners, Davis joined Hanna-Barbera, where he worked briefly as an animator and was a story director for The Flintstones and The Yogi Bear Show. He continued to work on and off with the studio as a consultant or a timing director until his retirement.[1]
After leaving H-B in 1962, Davis went to Walter Lantz Productions as an animator. He left Lantz in 1965, later joining DePatie-Freleng Enterprises to direct Pink Panther shorts and other cartoon series.[1][8]
Death
[edit]Outliving most of his peers, Davis died peacefully on May 9, 2000, aged 94 in Sunnyvale, California after humming a tune. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.[9][10]
Selected Filmography
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2025) |
As a Director
[edit]| Title | Release date | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Babes at Sea | Color Rhapsody | |
| 1935 | The Gloom Chasers | Scrappy | |
| The Shoemaker and the Elves | Color Rhapsody | ||
| A Cat, a Mouse and a Bell | |||
| The Puppet Murder Case | Scrappy | ||
| Monkey Love | Color Rhapsody | ||
| Let’s Ring Doorbells | Scrappy | ||
| 1936 | Scrappy’s Boy Scouts | ||
| Football Bugs | Color Rhapsody | ||
| The Untrained Seal | |||
| Dizzy Ducks | Scrappy | ||
| 1937 | Puttin’ Out the Kitten | ||
| Scrappy’s Music Lesson | |||
| The Clock Goes Round and Round | |||
| 1938 | The New Homestead | ||
| Scrappy’s Playmates | |||
| Hollywood Graduation | Color Rhapsody | ||
| The Early Bird | Scrappy | ||
| 1939 | Scrappy’s Added Attraction | ||
| A Worm’s Eye View | |||
| The Millionaire Hobo | Phantasy | ||
| 1940 | Barnyard Babies | Fables | |
| Mr. Elephant Goes to Town | Color Rhapsody | ||
| 1941 | The Streamlined Donkey | Fables | |
| The Way of All Pests | Color Rhapsody | Davis is caricatured in this short as the Home Owner.[11] | |
| There’s Music in Your Hair | Phantasy | ||
| The Cute Recruit | |||
| The Great Cheese Mystery | Fables | Last cartoon Davis directed at Screen Gems. | |
| 1946 | Bacall to Arms | Merrie Melodies | Left unfinished by Bob Clampett |
| The Big Snooze | Looney Tunes | ||
| Mouse Menace | |||
| 1947 | The Goofy Gophers | Left unfinished by Clampett. | |
| The Foxy Duckling | Merrie Melodies | ||
| Doggone Cats | Original release was processed through Cinecolor. | ||
| Mexican Joyride | Looney Tunes | ||
| Catch as Cats Can | Merrie Melodies | ||
| 1948 | Two Gophers from Texas | Original release was processed through Cinecolor. | |
| What Makes Daffy Duck | Looney Tunes | ||
| A Hick a Slick and a Chick | Merrie Melodies | ||
| Nothing But the Tooth | |||
| Bone Sweet Bone | Original release was processed through Cinecolor. | ||
| The Rattled Rooster | Looney Tunes | ||
| Dough Ray Me-ow | Merrie Melodies | Original release was processed through Cinecolor. | |
| The Pest That Came to Dinner | Looney Tunes | ||
| Odor of the Day | Original release was processed through Cinecolor. | ||
| The Stupor Salesman | |||
| Riff Raffy Daffy | Original release was processed through Cinecolor. | ||
| 1949 | Holiday for Drumsticks | Merrie Melodies | |
| Porky Chops | Looney Tunes | ||
| Bowery Bugs | Merrie Melodies | ||
| Bye, Bye Bluebeard | |||
| A Ham in a Role | Looney Tunes | Uncredited, finished by Robert McKimson.[11] | |
| 1962 | Quackodile Tears | Merrie Melodies | Last cartoon directed for Warner Bros. Cartoons. |
| 1968 | The Pink Package Plot | Pink Panther | |
| Pinkcome Tax | |||
| 1969 | In the Pink of the Night | ||
| Sweet and Sourdough | Roland and Rattfink | ||
| A Pair of Sneakers | |||
| Dune Bug | The Ant and the Aardvark | ||
| A Pair of Greenbacks | Tijuana Toads | ||
| 1970 | Say Cheese, Please | Roland and Rattfink | |
| A Taste of Money | |||
| Bridgework | |||
| War and Pieces | |||
| The Land of the Tiger Moo | Doctor Dolittle | ||
| Mumbo Jumbo | The Ant and the Aardvark | ||
| High Flying Hippo | Doctor Dolittle | ||
| A Girl for Greco Gorilla | |||
| The Barnyard Rumble | |||
| Don't Hustle an Ant with Muscle | The Ant and the Aardvark | ||
| 1971 | Rough Brunch | ||
| The Bird from O.O.P.S | Doctor Dolittle | ||
| Trick or Retreat | Roland and Rattfink | ||
| Mud Squad | Tijuana Toads | ||
| The Great Continental Overland Cross-Country Race | Roland and Rattfink | ||
| From Bed to Worse | The Ant and the Aardvark | ||
| A Fink in the Rink | Roland and Rattfink | ||
| Cattle Battle | |||
| Pink Tuba-Dore | Pink Panther | ||
| Psst Pink | |||
| Pink-In | |||
| Croakus Pocus | Tijuana Toads | ||
| 1972 | Flight to the Finish | ||
| Support Your Local Serpent | The Blue Racer | ||
| Punch and Judo | |||
| Camera Bug | |||
| Blue Racer Blues | |||
| 1973 | Wham and Eggs | ||
| 1978 | Pink Trumpet | Pink Panther | |
| Pink Press | |||
| The Pink of Bagdad | |||
| Pink Bananas | |||
| Pinktails for Two | |||
| Star Pink | |||
| 1979 | Pink Suds | ||
| 1980 | The Yolk's on You | Looney Tunes | Part of the TV special Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-citement before being issued separately. Last cartoons directed for DePatie-Freleng. |
| The Chocolate Chase | |||
| Daffy Flies North | Merrie Melodies |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Animator Profiles: ARTHUR DAVIS |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
- ^ "Warner Club News (1947) |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
- ^ a b "Farewell to Phil Davis: A Scrapbook from the Artists at Charles Mintz |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
- ^ a b c Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age. Oxford University Press. pp. 24, 28, 56. ISBN 978-0-19-503759-3.
- ^ a b c Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age. Oxford University Press. pp. 171, 379. ISBN 978-0-19-503759-3.
- ^ a b Mallory, Michael (July 7, 2011). "Disney Wins By a Head". Animation Magazine.
- ^ Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age. Oxford University Press. p. 469. ISBN 978-0-19-503759-3.
- ^ Baxter, Devon (June 21, 2021). "An Art Davis Scrapbook". Cartoon Research. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television's Award-winning and Legendary Animators. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 60. ISBN 1-55783-671-X.
- ^ DeMott, Rick. "Warner Bros. Director Arthur Davis Passes". Retrieved December 5, 2018.
- ^ a b "Robert McKimson's "A Ham In A Role" |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
External links
[edit]- Arthur Davis at IMDb
- 1905 births
- 2000 deaths
- American animated film directors
- American comedy film directors
- American people of Hungarian descent
- Animators from California
- Animators from New York (state)
- Fleischer Studios people
- Hanna-Barbera people
- People from Sunnyvale, California
- Screen Gems
- Walter Lantz Productions people
- Warner Bros. Cartoons people