Flashback!

may

	May 30, 1933 Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, is born in San Francisco.
	May 27, 1933 Burt Gillett’s Oscar-winning short Three Little Pigs hits theaters.
	May 27, 1948 Disney releases the anthology toon Melody Time, directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilford Jackson, Jack Kinney and Hamilton Luske.
	May 1983 John Canemaker’s influential short Bottom’s Dream animates the words of the Bard.
	May 20, 1994 The Return of Jafar (directed by Toby Shelton, Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove) kick-starts Disney’s direct-to-video/DVD animated sequel craze.
	May 28, 1995 Created by Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (the first show to use Squigglevision on TV) debuts on Comedy Central.
	May 14 1998 Eric Fogel’s influential claymated series Celebrity Deathmatch debuts on MTV.
	May 31, 1999 Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis’ Oscar-nominated short When the Day Breaks debuts at the Annecy Festival.
	May 18, 2001 Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jensen’s Oscar-winning feature Shrek opens in theaters, breaks box-office records and puts DreamWorks Animation officially on the map.
	May 24, 2002 Directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cooke, the 2D-animated equine-themed feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron opens in U.S. theaters. The film picks up one Oscar nom and four Annies in 2003.
	May 30, 2003 Disney and Pixar hit the jackpot once again with Andrew Stanton’s acclaimed feature Finding Nemo, which goes on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and making close to $865 billion worldwide.
	May 1, 2005 Seth McFarlane’s Family Guy returns to the Fox network after the series delivers amazing numbers on DVD.
	May 16, 2006 Disney CEO Bob Iger and Pixar chairman Steve Jobs announce a $7.4 billion deal in which Pixar Animation Studios becomes wholly owned by Disney and John Lasseter takes over as the Chief Creative Officer at Disney.

april

	April 27, 1899 Woody Woodpecker’s dad, Walter Lantz, is born in New Rochelle, NY.
	April 30, 1938 Bugs Bunny makes his first (unnamed) appearance in Ben Hardaway’s Porky’s Hare Hunt.
	April 25, 1953 Oscar-winning writer-director Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin) is born today. His next project is Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.
	April 27, 1963 Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble’s envelope-pushing abstract short Now Hear This is released.
	April 18, 1983 Disney Channel begins broadcasting today by airing one of the classic 1950s’ episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club. In those early days, the cabler only broadcast from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m.
	April 16, 1988 Isao Takahata’s influential anime classic, Grave of the Fireflies, opens in Japan.
	April 11, 1995 Don Bluth and John Goldman’s underrated feature The Pebble and the Penguin hits U.S. theaters.
	April 3, 2004 Butch Hartman’s popular series Danny Phantom premieres on Nickelodeon.
	April 11, 2005 The Monty Pythonesque British toon King Arthur’s Disasters (a Zenith and Neptuno co-production) premieres in the U.K.
	April 13, 2007 After a disastrous marketing misfire in Boston, Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis’ Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie for Theaters opens to lukewarm reviews.

march

	March 1, 1928 Universal transfers the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series from Disney to the Winkler Studio.
	March 2, 1904 Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) is born in Springfield, Mass.
	March 4, 1938 Directed by John Foster, Terrytoons’ Gandy the Goose makes its debut!
	March 20, 1943 Tex Avery’s Droopy makes his first appearance in Dumb-Hounded.
	March 4, 1945 Sylvester the Cat begins his animated life in Friz Freleng’s Oscar-nominated short Life with Feathers.
	March 31, 1945 Renderman creator and Pixar/Disney president Ed Catmull is born in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
	March 21, 1953 The Oscar-winning Tom and Jerry short Johann Mouse is released in theaters.
	March 8, 1993 Mike Judge’s disturbed duo Beavis and Butt-head begin creating havoc on MTV.
	March 30, 1994 Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, Thumbelina hits the big screen.
	March 26, 1997 Directed by Mark Dindal, the underrated 2D animated Cats Don’t Dance leaves its paw prints on the big screen.
	March 3, 1997 Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn’s smarty-pants teen Daria begins her five-year run on MTV. 1998)
	March 4, 1998 Nickelodeon’s Animation Studio opens its doors in Burbank, Calif.
	March 26, 1999 Directed by Maurice Joyce, Doug’s 1st Movie hits U.S. theaters.
	March 28, 1999 Matt Groening and David X. Cohen bring Bender and company to animated life in Futurama, which premieres on FOX TV.
	March 30, 2001 Butch Hartman’s The Fairly OddParents makes its debut on Nickelodeon.
	March 15, 2002 Director Chris Edge and his team at Blue Sky deliver the CG-animated feature, Ice Age.
	March 11, 2005 It’s another big day for Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha as their movie Robots makes its debut in theaters.
	March 3, 2007 Husband-and-wife team Sandra Equihua and Jorge R. Gutierrez’s Flash-animated toon, El Tigre, starts its run on Nickelodeon.

february

	February 26, 1908 Frederick “Tex” Avery was born in Taylor, Texas.
	February 23, 1935 Wilfred Johnson’s The Band Concert—the first Disney color short starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck—hits theaters.
	February 7, 1936 The first of the Felix series, Felix the Cat and the Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs is released.
	February 9, 1940 Directed by Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen, Disney’s Pinocchio brings Carlo Colodi’s beloved fairy tale to animated life.
	February 20, 1940 Tom and Jerry make their first appearance in William Hanna and Joseph Barbera’s MGM short Puss Gets the Boot. Short received an Oscar nomination the following year.
	February 11, 1944 Mighty Mouse saves the day in his first Terrytoons short Wreck of the Hesperus.
	February 15, 1950 Disney’s Cinderella (directed by Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske and Clyde Geronimi) first hits the big screen today.
	February 5, 1953 Walt Disney’s adaptation of J. M. Barrie’s play Peter Pan (directed by Geronimi, Jackson and Luske) makes it to the big screen.
	February 26, 1967 Gene Kelly does the tango with some weird animated birds in the Hanna-Barbera TV special Jack and the Beanstalk.
	February 22, 1973 E.B. White’s children’s classic Charlotte’s Web becomes an animated movie directed by Charles A. Nichols and Iwao Takamoto. Debbie Reynolds, Paul Lynde, Henry Gibson and Agnes Moorhead provide some of the voices.
	February 18, 2003 The first episode of Jackson Publick’s (aka Christopher McCulloch) offbeat show The Venture Bros. debuts on Cartoon Network.
	February 2005 It’s a big year for new animated series on TV as Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, FOX’s American Dad, Warner Bros.’ Krypto the Superdog and [adult swim]’s Robot Chicken all hit the small screen this month.

january

	January 1, 1963 Osamu Tezuka’s influential anime Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) is first broadcast in Japan.
	January 5, 1941 Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki was born.
	January 6, 1945 Directed by Chuck Jones, The Odor-Able Kitty (the first in the Pepe Le Pew series) hits the big screen.
	January 10, 1930 Writer and producer Roy Edward Disney (Destino, Fantasia 2000) is born in Los Angeles, Calif.
	January 10, 1999 Warner Bros. Animation’s Batman Beyond pushes the design envelope on Kids’ WB!
	January 12, 1957 Today is Oscar-winning animation maverick and Pixar/Disney topper John Lasseter’s birthday!
	January 12, 1997 Hank Hill and his colorful family and friends are introduced in Mike Judge and Greg Daniel’s King of the Hill on FOX-TV.
	January 14, 1964 Hanna-Barbera’s popular The Magilla Gorilla Show premieres on TV (syndication and ABC).
	January 25, 1951 Directed by Robert Cannon, UPA’s Gerald McBoing Boing short is released which wins the Oscar in 1952.
	January 25, 1961 Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske and Clyde Geronimi, Disney’s 101 Dalmatians is released in theaters.
	January 29, 1915 Bill Peet, one of Disney’s famous Nine Old Men, was born today.
	January 29, 1951 Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Disney’s lushy animated Sleeping Beauty brings the famous Grimm fairy tale to the big screen. It’s the first Disney feature to be shot in 70 mm.

december

	December 6, 2002 Tom Warburton’s Codename: Kids Next Door pops up on Cartoon Network.
	December 9, 1965 Directed by Bill Melendez, A Charlie Brown Christmas debuts on CBS.
	December 14, 1957 Ruff and Ready, Hanna-Barbera’s first TV show, arrives on TV.
	December 17, 1989 The Simpsons, Matt Groening zeitgeist-defining TV toon brightens up the airwaves on FOX-TV.
	December 21, 1937 Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres in U.S. theaters.
	December 27, 1987 Cosgrove-Hall’s BAFTA-winning TV Special The Reluctant Dragon premieres on ITV in the U.K.

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