1940 in animation

This is a list of events related to film and television animation of 1940.

Years in animation:	1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943

Events

January

• January 13: Tex Avery's The Early Worm Gets the Bird is released, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.[1]

February

• February 10: Puss Gets the Boot, the first Tom & Jerry cartoon, is released by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera and Rudolf Ising.[2]
• February 23: Walt Disney's Pinocchio is released.[3]
• February 29: 12th Academy Awards: The Ugly Duckling by Walt Disney Animation Studios, directed by Jack Cutting and Clyde Geronimi, wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[4]

March

• March 2: Chuck Jones' Elmer's Candid Camera is released, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. In this cartoon Elmer Fudd makes his debut, though still looking more like an earlier character Egghead. An unnamed rabbit who is a prototypical version of Bugs Bunny also plays a starring role.[5]

May

• May 16: Wagorō Arai's Madame Butterfly's Illusion premiers.[6]

June

• June 7: Jack King's Donald Duck short Mr. Duck Steps Out, produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, premiers, in which Donald goes out dancing with Daisy Duck, only to be bothered by Huey, Louie and Dewey.[7]
• June 22: Rudolf Ising's The Milky Way, produced by MGM Animation, makes its debut.[8]

July

• July 27: Tex Avery's A Wild Hare premiers, which marks the official debut of both Bugs Bunny as well as Elmer Fudd. It's also the first time Bugs asks: "What's up, Doc?" and Elmer asks people to be quiet, because he's hunting "wabbits".[9][10]

August

• August 9: Jack King's Donald Duck short Donald's Vacation, produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, premiers.[11]

September

• September 20: Jack King's Donald Duck short Window Cleaners, produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, premiers.[12]

November

• November 1: Clyde Geronimi's Mickey Mouse and Pluto cartoon Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, premiers.[13]
• November 2: Bob Clampett's The Sour Puss premiers, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. It marks the first time the Acme Corporation running gag is used.[14]
• November 13: Walt Disney's Fantasia is released. It becomes a box office flop, but will gain cult film status decades later.[15]
• November 25: Walter Lantz's animated short Knock Knock premiers, which marks the debut of Woody Woodpecker.[16]

December

• December 7: Tex Avery's Of Fox and Hounds premiers, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, in which Willoughby the Dog makes his debut.[17] It also marks the first use of "Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?" in animated cartoons.[18]

Specific date unknown

• John Halas and Joy Batchelor establish the animated studio Halas and Batchelor. .[19][20][21]
• Mary Ellen Bute's Tarantella premiers.[22]
• The Jam Handy Organization makes the live-action educational short A Case of Spring Fever to promote springs and their importance. The film features some animation. Five decades later this picture will gain more cult fame as it is ridiculed in the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000.[23]
• The Walt Disney Company expands to include more than 1,600 employees[24]
• Barudda è fuggito (Barudda Has Escaped) created by Gino Parenti[25]
• Il vecchio lupo di mare norvegese e il vecchio lupo di mare americano (The Old Salt from Norway and the Old Salt from America) by Roman painter Luigi Giobbe (1907‌–1945)
• Musical Poster Number One, directed by Len Lye
• British radio comedian Harry Hemsley makes an animated advertising short where the characters from his radio show and comic strip Ovaltiney's Concert Party appear, all voiced by himself.[26]

Deaths

January

• January 21: Otis Harlan, American actor (voice of Happy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), dies at age 74.[27]

July

• July 2: Guido Seeber, German film director, cinematographer and animator (Prosit Neujahr 1910!, the first German animated film), dies at age 61.[27]

September

• September 2: Eddie Collins, American actor (voice of Dopey in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), dies at age from a heart attack.[28]
• September 28: Earl Hurd, American animator, film director and comics artist (Bobby Bumps, worked for J.R. Bray, Terrytoons, Ub Iwerks and the Walt Disney Company), dies at age 60.[29]

Notes

1. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "The Early Worm Gets The Bird (Leon Schlesinger Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
2. Adams, T. R. (1991). Tom and Jerry: Fifty Years of Cat and Mouse. New York, New York: Crescent Books. ISBN 0-517-05688-7.
3. Nugent, Frank S. (February 8, 1940). "Movie Review - Pinocchio - The Screen in Review; 'Pinocchio,' Walt Disney's Long-Awaited Successor to 'Snow White,' Has Its Premiere at the Center Theatre-Other New Films". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
4. "The 12th Academy Awards (1940) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
5. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Elmer's Candid Camera (Leon Schlesinger Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
6. Hotes, Catherine Munroe. "Wagorō Arai: His World of Silhouette Animation". Nishikata Film Review.
7. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Mr. Duck Steps Out (Walt Disney Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
8. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "The Milky Way (MGM)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
9. Barrier, Michael (2003), Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516729-0
10. Adamson, Joe (1990). Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 978-0-8050-1190-6
11. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Donald's Vacation (Walt Disney Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
12. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Window Cleaners (Walt Disney Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
13. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip (Walt Disney Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
14. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "The Sour Puss (Leon Schlesinger Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
15. "Fantasia: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
16. Stefan Kanfer (2000). Serious business: the art and commerce of animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy story. Da Capo Press. pp. 113. ISBN 0-306-80918-4.
17. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Of Fox And Hounds (Leon Schlesinger Studios)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved May 18, 2020.
18. "Tex Avery". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
19. "Biographies". Halas&Batchelor Collection. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
20. "History". Halas&Batchelor Collection. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
21. Brian McFarlane The Encyclopedia of British Film, London: Methuen/BFI, 2003, p.48
22. "Hollywood Blockbusters, Independent Films and Shorts Selected for 2010 National Film Registry". Retrieved September 1, 2012.
23. Morgan, Chris (2015). The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Twelve Classic Episodes and the Movies They Lampoon. McFarland. pp. 157–8.
24. Bendazzi, p. 66
25. Bendazzi, p. 79
26. "Harry Hemsley". lambiek.net. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
27. Herbst, Helmut. Drei Bildbeschreibungen und eine Liste. Der Filmpionier Guido Seeber. pp. 15–41 in C. Müller und H. Segeberg (ed.) Die Modellierung des Kinofilms. Munich, 1998.
28. More Magnificent Mountain Movies. W. Lee Cozad. ISBN 9780972337236. Retrieved May 18, 2020 – via Google Books.
29. <https://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/hurd_earl.htm

References

• Bendazzi, Giannalberto (1994). Cartoons: One hundred years of cinema animation. Translated by Anna Taraboletti-Segre. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-20937-4.

See also

• List of anime by release date (1939–1945)

External links

• Animated works of the year, listed in the IMDb