Terrytoons - The Story of Paul Terry and His Classic Cartoon Factory

During his forty-year career in animation, Paul Terry animated, directed, and produced over 1,100 cartoons. Yet despite his prodigious output he remains one of animation's unsung legends. 'Terrytoons' chronicles the fascinating life of one of the animation industry's cartoon giants, from his humble beginnings on a family farm in San Mateo, California, to his rise as one of the leading super producers of cartoon shorts during the golden age of American animation. Walt Disney admitted that one of his earliest ambitions was to produce cartoons of comparable quality to Paul Terry.
Terry's story is one of survival in the face of natural disasters, economic collapse and bitter rivalries. With biographies on all of the key Terrytoons staff and hundreds of lavish illustrations and photographs, many of which are in color, this biography is a long overdue homage to the legendary producer and invaluable addition to any cartoon lover's book collection.

List of contents

Part One: Chronicle of the Terry Family

1. From the Mayflower to Market Street: The Terry Family Saga, 1613-1864

2. In Old San Francisco: The Terry Family Saga, 1864-1887

Part Two: The Young Life and Early Animation Career of Paul Terry

3. Birth of an Animation Pioneer: The Childhood and Young Life of Paul Terry, 1887-1902

4. Explorations in Photography: Paul Terry's Start in the San Francisco Newspaper Industry, 1902-1906

5. The Tremor that Shook the World: The San Francisco Earthquake, April 18, 1906

6. A Tour of the West: The Anaconda Standard, Portland Oregonian, Evening Standard and Return to the Bay City, 1906-1911

7. The Move to Metropolis: Barron Collier, Park Row and the Winsor McCay Dinner, 1911-1914

8. A Spark Ignites: Little Herman and the Beginnings of a New Career in Animation, 1914-1915

9. Animated Antics: Cartoon Burlesques, Phrenology, and Paul Terry's Early Adventures in the Cartoon World, 1915-1917

10. You're in the Army Now: George Washington University, the Spanish Influenza Epidemic, and Work for Paramount Pictures, 1917-1920

11. A Barnyard of Animal Friends: Farmer Al Falfa and Fables Pictures Studios, Part One, 1921-1925; 12. A Decade of Drawing Mice: Fables Pictures Studio, Part Two, 1925-1929

Part Three: Terrytoons: The Story of a Classic Cartoon Studio

13. Sweat Equity is the Best Start-up Capital: The Founding and Early Development of the Terry-Toons Studio, 1929-1932

14. Enduring Adversity: The Early Struggles at the Studio, 1932-1935

15. A Rising Storm and a Studio in Distress: The Search to Improve the Entertainment Value of the Cartoon Product, 1935-1936

16. Cartoons Go to Court: A House Divided, the Moser-Terry Trial, and Terry Takes Control, 1936-1938

17. A Studio Transformed: Gandy Goose, Dinky Duck and New Directions for Terrytoons, 1938-1942

18. Here I Come To Save The Day!: The Mouse that Saved a Cartoon Studio, 1942-1945

19. Those Magnificent Mischievous Magpies: Heckle and Jeckle and the Terrytoons Labor Strike, 1946-1947

20. Rounding Out the Cast: Little Roquefort, The Terry Bears and the Glory Years of Terrytoons, 1948-1951

21. Relinquishing the Reins: The New Challenge of Television, the Sale of Terrytoons to CBS, and the Retirement of Paul Terry,1952-1956

22. Paul Terry's Cartoon Legacy: A Comparative Analysis of Golden Age Animation

Part Four: Terrytoons: Life after the Retirement of Paul Terry

23. A Studio in Transition: The Gene Deitch Years and the Animation Renaissance, 1956-1958

24. A New Cast of Characters: Hashimoto Mouse, Hector Heathcote, Deputy Dawg, Luno, and Astronut, 1959-1964

25. L'Enfant Terrible and the Twilight of Terrytoons: Ralph Bakshi, the Adventures of Sad Cat, The Mighty Heroes, Possible Possum, and James Hound, and the Studio Closure, 1965-1968

26. Cartoon End Credits: The Retirement and Death of Paul Terry, 1956-1971

27. The Terrytoons Retrospective: A Meeting of Old Friends, 1982

Part Five: Appendices; Index; Biography

About the author

Gerald Hamonic is a noted film and animation scholar whose interests span the golden age of American animation (1930-1955), the accurate use of science within apocalyptic cinema and representations of supernatural forces in horror films.
Jerry Beck is author or editor of several books on classic animation including 50 Greatest Cartoons (1994) and The Animated Movie Guide (2005). Beck is an animation producer and a professor of animation history at Cal Arts. He blogs at CartoonResearch.com

Product details

• Authors: Gerald Hamonic, Hamonic Gerald
• Publisher: John Libbey & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2017
• EAN: 9780861967292
• ISBN: 978-0-86196-729-2
• No. of pages: 422
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 231 mm x 27 mm
• Weight: 773 g
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet