Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1203639
D E PA R T M E N T 35 KEYFRAME In the late 1960s, parents watch groups were protesting the extreme violence in children's cartoons. This resulted in a number of shows going off the air and a need to fill slots. CBS daytime programming executive Fred Silverman approached William Hanna and Joe Barbera—the powerhouses behind The Flintstones and The Jetsons—and the threesome came up with a basic concept: A cartoon featuring teens in a band, like The Archies, who solved mysteries between gigs. Throw in a dog, and the pitch was ready. But CBS execs in New York turned it down, saying the artwork was too scary. The story of Silverman taking a red-eye back to L.A., stressed out because this new show was supposed to anchor his Saturday morning lineup, is now legend. As the plane began to land, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" came over the speakers. The song ended with a scat, "dooby-dooby- doo," and the lightbulb went on. Bring the dog forward, name him Scooby- Doo and reshape the concept toward Abbott and Costello meets Frankenstein. Comedy and horror in a single cartoon. Enter writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, who developed the storylines, and renowned animator Iwao Takamoto, who designed a bow-legged Great Dane. With the mystery of how to make this show work now solved by Fred, his gang and their loveable dog, the suits in New York bought it. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? debuted in the fall of 1969. The original series has been followed by more than a dozen rebooted series, as well as a wide variety of Direct-to-TV movies. Over the decades Scooby-Doo moved from CBS to ABC to Kids' WB to Cartoon Network to Boomerang. Silverman, Hanna, Barbera, Ruby, Spears and Takamoto were often along for this ride from studio to studio, and through it all, an overflowing stream of artists and animators made sure that "those meddling kids" and a cowardly canine continued to unmask villains and save the day. But what makes Scooby-Doo appeal to audiences across the decades? A CLEVER GANG, LED BY A DAPPER GUY NAMED FRED, TEAMS UP WITH A LOVEABLE DOG TO SOLVE A MYSTERY. IT'S THE TRIED-AND-TRUE FORMULA BEHIND HUNDREDS OF SCOOBY-DOO TV EPISODES AND MOVIES. IT'S ALSO THE FORMULA BEHIND THE SUCCESS OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS GREAT DANE. SPRING 2020 35 Left: Courtesy of Warner Bros. This page: Carlos Cardetas / Alamy Stock Photo left: Scooby gets a CG makeover in the feature, Scoob!