Joe Ruby, best known for co-creating the cartoon Scooby-Doo, died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday Aug. 26, according to Variety. He was 87.
Ruby along with his partner Ken Spears, also made Dynomutt and Jabberjaw, and the 1988 animated Superman series, as well as making cartoons out of Pac-Man, Rubik The Amazing Cube, Donkey Kong. They masterminded Space Ace, Dink the Little Dinosaur, It’s Punky Brewster, and TV movies Bunnicula, the Vampire Rabbit and The Cabbage Patch Kids First Christmas.
Joseph Clemens Ruby was born on March 30, 1933. He grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Fairfax High School. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. Ruby trained as a music editor at the Walt Disney Studios animation program in the 1950s. He became a sound editor at Hanna-Barbera Productions, where he first partnered with Spears. They wrote a spec script and were hired as staff writers in the 1960s.
Ruby along with his partner Ken Spears, also made Dynomutt and Jabberjaw, and the 1988 animated Superman series, as well as making cartoons out of Pac-Man, Rubik The Amazing Cube, Donkey Kong. They masterminded Space Ace, Dink the Little Dinosaur, It’s Punky Brewster, and TV movies Bunnicula, the Vampire Rabbit and The Cabbage Patch Kids First Christmas.
Joseph Clemens Ruby was born on March 30, 1933. He grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Fairfax High School. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. Ruby trained as a music editor at the Walt Disney Studios animation program in the 1950s. He became a sound editor at Hanna-Barbera Productions, where he first partnered with Spears. They wrote a spec script and were hired as staff writers in the 1960s.
- 8/27/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Animation writer and executive Joe Ruby, who created cartoon series including “Scooby-Doo” along with his partner Ken Spears, died of natural causes Wednesday in Westlake Village, Calif. He was 87.
At Hanna-Barbera, Ruby and Spears created series including “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?,” “Dynomutt” and “Jabberjaw.”
“He never stopped writing and creating, even as he aged,” said his grandson Benjamin Ruby.
“Scooby-Doo” launched on CBS in 1969 after going through a number of versions. It was launched as a gentler series partly in response to complaints about violence in cartoons such as “Space Ghost.” Together with character designer Iwao Takamoto, Ruby and Spears tried a number of titles and approaches, such as making the characters part of a rock band, before settling on the now-classic combo of Freddie, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and a Great Dane named Scooby-Doo.
Ruby and Spears wrote the first five episodes, supervising and story editing the rest of the first season.
At Hanna-Barbera, Ruby and Spears created series including “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?,” “Dynomutt” and “Jabberjaw.”
“He never stopped writing and creating, even as he aged,” said his grandson Benjamin Ruby.
“Scooby-Doo” launched on CBS in 1969 after going through a number of versions. It was launched as a gentler series partly in response to complaints about violence in cartoons such as “Space Ghost.” Together with character designer Iwao Takamoto, Ruby and Spears tried a number of titles and approaches, such as making the characters part of a rock band, before settling on the now-classic combo of Freddie, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and a Great Dane named Scooby-Doo.
Ruby and Spears wrote the first five episodes, supervising and story editing the rest of the first season.
- 8/27/2020
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
The Criterion Channel’s September 2020 Lineup Includes Sátántangó, Agnès Varda, Albert Brooks & More
As the coronavirus pandemic still rages on, precious few remain skeptical about going to the movies. But while your AMCs and others claim some godlike safety from Covid, there remains a chunk of people still uncomfortable hitting up theaters. To them, we bring you the September 2020 Criterion Channel lineup.
It starts off with quite the swath of content too. Béla Tarr’s Sátántangó hits the service on September 1, and its seven-plus hours should take up a large chunk of your day. Coming soon after is a collection of more than a dozen Joan Blondell starrers from the pre-Code era, including Howard Hawks’ The Crowd Roars, three collaborations with Mervyn LeRoy, and Ray Enright & Busby Berkeley’s Dames.
For some stuff released almost a century later, the service also sees the addition of documentary bender Robert Greene. His Actress, Kate Plays Christine, and Bisbee ’17 join soon after. Janicza Bravo, director of Lemon,...
It starts off with quite the swath of content too. Béla Tarr’s Sátántangó hits the service on September 1, and its seven-plus hours should take up a large chunk of your day. Coming soon after is a collection of more than a dozen Joan Blondell starrers from the pre-Code era, including Howard Hawks’ The Crowd Roars, three collaborations with Mervyn LeRoy, and Ray Enright & Busby Berkeley’s Dames.
For some stuff released almost a century later, the service also sees the addition of documentary bender Robert Greene. His Actress, Kate Plays Christine, and Bisbee ’17 join soon after. Janicza Bravo, director of Lemon,...
- 8/25/2020
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
“Scooby-Dooby-Doo, where are you?” It’s not only the refrain from the classic cartoon theme song of what is arguably Hanna-Barbera’s crown jewel, but it’s also a question many movie fans have been asking for years. Though the franchise has had plenty of hilarious and inventive modern reinterpretations along with loads of home video movie releases, it has been 16 years since the dog detective headlined a big budget Hollywood movie. So that’s why the announcement of a new animated feature, Scoob!, was so exciting. Like pretty much every movie this year, the Covid-19 crisis derailed this film’s hopes for a theatrical release, but Scoob! is still headed to our small screens and it’s a goofy and gorgeous good time.
It’s best to go into Scoob! with your expectations in the right place. This is a Scooby-Doo movie. As in, it’s a movie about Scooby-Doo.
It’s best to go into Scoob! with your expectations in the right place. This is a Scooby-Doo movie. As in, it’s a movie about Scooby-Doo.
- 5/15/2020
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Annecy — For Hollywood, an Annecy Work in Progress sneak peek of “Scoob!” took one huge bull by the horns: How to reboot major IPs for modern audiences.
Joined onstage by “Scoob!” director Tony Cervone, production designer Michael Kurinsky at Warner Animation Group (Wag) and Bill Haller, animation supervisor at Reel FX, the panel, hosted by Wag executive vice president Allison Abbate, provided some possible answers.
Annecy’s first first look provided not only a detailed behind-the-scene look at “Scoob!’s” step by step creation over the last four years but served as a tribute to the painstaking passion and careful craft of animation. This was lapped up by a fascinated Annecy audience, made up itself mostly of animators.
Abbate provided a bigger Warner Bros. corporate picture. She began by reminding the audience that 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of Scooby-Doo. There hasn’t been any year since 1969 when a Scooby-Doo show...
Joined onstage by “Scoob!” director Tony Cervone, production designer Michael Kurinsky at Warner Animation Group (Wag) and Bill Haller, animation supervisor at Reel FX, the panel, hosted by Wag executive vice president Allison Abbate, provided some possible answers.
Annecy’s first first look provided not only a detailed behind-the-scene look at “Scoob!’s” step by step creation over the last four years but served as a tribute to the painstaking passion and careful craft of animation. This was lapped up by a fascinated Annecy audience, made up itself mostly of animators.
Abbate provided a bigger Warner Bros. corporate picture. She began by reminding the audience that 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of Scooby-Doo. There hasn’t been any year since 1969 when a Scooby-Doo show...
- 6/15/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Iwao Takamoto, animation designer for Walt Disney Co., Hanna-Barbera Studios and Warner Bros. who crafted the look of such Hanna-Barbera characters as Scooby-Doo, died Monday of a heart attack. He was 81.
Takamoto died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was being treated as an outpatient for respiratory problems when he suffered a heart attack. He had most recently served as vp special projects for Warner Bros. Animation. His recent projects for the studio included doing the storyboard for the 2005 Tom and Jerry short The Karateguard and helping to design characters for the Cartoon Network/Kids' WB! series Krypto the Superdog.
"Iwao Takamoto was not only a tremendously talented designer and artist, he was a beautiful human being," said Warner Bros. Animation president Sander Schwartz. "Iwao was always ready with a wide smile, a firm handshake and a warm welcome. Iwao's designs will be his legacy for generations to come."
A Los Angeles native, Takamoto and his family were sent to Manzanar Internment Camp during World War II.
Takamoto died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was being treated as an outpatient for respiratory problems when he suffered a heart attack. He had most recently served as vp special projects for Warner Bros. Animation. His recent projects for the studio included doing the storyboard for the 2005 Tom and Jerry short The Karateguard and helping to design characters for the Cartoon Network/Kids' WB! series Krypto the Superdog.
"Iwao Takamoto was not only a tremendously talented designer and artist, he was a beautiful human being," said Warner Bros. Animation president Sander Schwartz. "Iwao was always ready with a wide smile, a firm handshake and a warm welcome. Iwao's designs will be his legacy for generations to come."
A Los Angeles native, Takamoto and his family were sent to Manzanar Internment Camp during World War II.
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