Walter Lantz Studio was an American animation studio. It was in operation in from 1929 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios, now part of the media conglomerate NBC Universal. Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Universal Studios logo This article is about the Universal Studios movie studio and Universal Hollywood Amusement park. ... NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ...

The studio was formed originally as Universal Studio Cartoons on the initative of Universal movie mogul, Carl Laemmle who was tired of the continuous company politics he was dealing with concerning contracted outside animation studios. Walter Lantz, who was Laemmle's part time chauffer and a veteran of the John R. Bray Studios with considerable experience in all elements of animation production, was selected to run the department. Carl Laemmle ( January 17, 1867, Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany – September 24, 1939, Beverly Hills, California) was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios. ... Walter Lantz (April 27, 1900 – March 22, 1994) was an animator and cartoonist, best-known for the Walter Lantz Studio founding. ... Bray Productions was the dominant animated series studio in the years before World War I. History The studio was founded in December of 1914 by J. R. Bray, perhaps the first first studio entirely devoted to animation, and series animation at that (he was probably beaten a few months earlier...

In 1935, the studio was severed from Universal and became Walter Lantz Studio under Lantz's direct control and in 1940 Lantz managed to gain the copyright for his characters. 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The biggest characters for the studio were Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Woody Woodpecker in the 1948 short Wacky-Bye Baby, directed by Dick Lundy. ... Andy Panda was a series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz and released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1949. ... Chilly Willy is a fictional cartoon penguin. ... Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was an animated cartoon character who starred in a series of cartoon motion pictures of 1920s and 1930s released by Universal Studios. ...

Throughout the studio's history, it maintained a reputation of an animation house of medium quality. Its films were considered superior to Famous Studio and Terrytoons, but they never gained the artistic acclaim of The Walt Disney Company, Warner Brothers or UPA. However, the studio benefitted from gaining talent from the other studios who were tired of the current management and usually found Walter Lantz's affable nature combined with his deep love for and intimate knowledge of animation a refreshing change from either Walt Disney's iron grip or Fred Quimby and Ed Selzer's boorishly ignorant interference. Tex Avery was just one of the many talents Walter Lantz Studio benefitted from on the rebound. Famous Studio was the animation studio owned by Paramount Pictures after the company foreclosed on Fleischer Studios and ousted Max and Dave Fleischer in 1942. ... Mighty Mouse, the signature character of the studio. ... The Walt Disney Company (most commonly known as Disney) (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ... Warner Bros. ... The UPA opening title card from How Now Boing Boing (1954) The legacy of the United Productions of America animation studio, better known as UPA, has largely been forgotten in the wake of the animation renaissance of the 1990s; it has been overshadowed by the commercialization of Warner Bros. ... Walt Disney Walter Elias Walt Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. ... Frederick C. Quimby (November 14, 1883 - September 16, 1965) was the producer of the MGM animated cartoon division, which most notably included the Tom and Jerry team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. ... Frederick Bean Tex Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an animator, cartoonist, and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during the Golden Age of Hollywood. ...

Outside of Disney, Walter Lantz Studio lasted the longest in the theatrical shorts business until 1972. Since then, the characters of the studio have still proven popular with licensing and TV series. 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ...

External links

• The Big Cartoon DataBase entry for Walter Lantz Studios Cartoons
• The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia