Rudolf Ising
Photo: Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons12

Rudolf Ising

American animator, film producer, film director (1903–1992)

Rudolf Carl Ising ( EYE-zing; August 7, 1903 – July 18, 1992) was an American animator, film producer, film director, voice actor, and United States Army major. An early collaborator of Walt Disney and a key figure in the golden age of American animation, Ising and his longtime collaborator Hugh Harman founded Harman-Ising Pictures in 1929.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Rudolf Ising (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Aug 7, 1903, died Jul 18, 1992.1

About

Harman-Ising created the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon series for Warner Bros. Pictures, and Warners' first cartoon star, Bosko, setting the foundation for what would later become the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio.

Moving the distribution of their cartoons to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, Harman and Ising started the Happy Harmonies series. This led, after the 1938 termination of their contract, to the creation of the MGM cartoon studio, where Harman and Ising would both work as producer/directors. At MGM, Ising created and initially voiced Barney Bear, and in 1940 produced William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's first cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, which introduced the cat and mouse characters later known as Tom and Jerry.

Ising left MGM in 1942 to join the United States Army Air Forces, where he ran the animation unit of the Army's First Motion Picture Unit – producers of animated training films for use by the military during World War II.

From Wikipedia’s article on Rudolf Ising, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Career

Occupation: manufacturer, voice actor, screenwriter, film producer, film director, animator, director.5

Early career with Walt Disney

Rudolf Carl Ising was born in Kansas City, Missouri on August 7, 1903.

Ising spent his teenage years working at a photographic studio before joining Walt Disney's Laugh-O-Gram Studio alongside other Kansas City youths. He soon became close friends with one of his Laugh-O-Gram colleagues, Hugh Harman, with whom he attempted to start a new animation business after the Laugh-O-Gram Studio went bankrupt and Walt Disney moved to Los Angeles in 1923.

Ising and Harman's plans for a series of Arabian Nights-inspired cartoons via their own Arabian Nights Studio fell through, and in 1924 they moved to Hollywood to rejoin Disney, who'd started a new cartoon studio to produce the live-action/animation hybrid Alice Comedies. Several other Laugh-O-Gram alumni such as Ub Iwerks, Carman Maxwell and Isadore "Friz" Freleng would also make the move from Missouri to California.

By 1927, Disney's team was animating the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon series for producer Charles Mintz's Winkler Pictures and distributor Universal Pictures. Ising, Harman, and many of their colleagues became disgruntled working for the mercurial Disney. When they were approached by Mintz's brother-in-law George Winkler to start a new studio under Mintz - who intended to fire Disney and make the Oswalds himself - they accepted. Of their Kansas City colleagues, only Ub Iwerks stayed with Walt Disney after the latter finally fell out with Mintz in February 1928. Iwerks and Disney would move on to launch a new cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, by the end of the year.

From Wikipedia’s article on Rudolf Ising (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornAug 7, 1903, Kansas City6
  • DiedJul 18, 1992, Newport Beach7
  • CitizenshipUnited States8

Rudolf Ising was married twice. His first wife was Maxine Jennings, whom he married in 1936 and divorced in 1940. In 1941, he married Cynthia Westlake, with whom he remained until his death. Ising and Westlake had one child, their son Rudolf Ising Jr.

Ising died of cancer in Newport Beach on July 18, 1992. He is buried at Pacific View Memorial Park in California.

From Wikipedia’s article on Rudolf Ising (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 1976Winsor McCay Award9

Sources

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