Arthur Davis
Arthur Davis circa 1931
Born	Arthur Davidavitch (1905-06-14)June 14, 1905 Yonkers, New York, U.S.
Died	May 9, 2000(2000-05-09) (aged 94) Sunnyvale, California, U.S.
Other names	Art Davis Artie Davis
Occupations	Animator,director
Years active	1918–1988[1]
Employer(s)	Raoul Barre's studio (1918-1921) Jefferson Film Corporation (1921-1923) Out of the Inkwell Films (1923–1927) Screen Gems (1927-1941) Warner Bros. Cartoons (1941–1962) United Productions of America (1962) Walter Lantz Productions (1962–1965) DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (1963–1981) Hanna-Barbera (1960–1972; 1985–1988)
Spouse	Rae Kessler ​ ​ (m. 1928; died 1978)​
Children	2[2]

Arthur Davis (néDavidavitch)^[1] (June 14, 1905 – May 9, 2000) was an American animator and director known for his time at theWarner Bros. cartoon studio. He was sometimes billed asArt Davis.

Davis was born on June 14, 1905, inYonkers, New York toHungarian parents.^[1] He is the younger brother of animators Mannie and Phil Davis.^[3] Mannie would eventually become a key director forTerrytoons while Phil worked alongside Arthur at theScreen Gems studio before he left in 1933.^[3]

Davis got his start as a teenager atRaoul Barre's studio in 1918. He later moved to the Jefferson Film Corporation when theMutt and Jeff cartoons began being made there in January 1921. In 1923 he joined theOut Of The Inkwell Films (Fleischer Studios) in New York afterDick Huemer proposed him as an assistant in 1922.^[4][5]

Davis is reputed to have been the firstin-betweener in the animation industry. Another distinction was his part in filming the "bouncing ball" for the "follow the bouncing ball" sing-along cartoons of the 1920s. While one of theFleischer brothers played the ukulele, Davis would keep time with a wooden stick with a white cut-out circle on the end, which was filmed and incorporated into the cartoon.^[4][5]

In 1930 Davis became an assistant animator for theCharles Mintz studio, later known asScreen Gems afterColumbia Pictures acquired a stake in the studio in 1933. He was soon promoted to animator. While there, he helped create and developToby the Pup andScrappy with fellow animatorsDick Huemer and Sid Marcus. Davis would eventually be promoted to director alongside Marcus and remained at the studio even after Mintz died in 1939.^[4][5][6]

By 1941, Davis was fired from Screen Gems by Columbia following a mass discharge of its Mintz-era animators. After attempting to obtain a job fromWalt Disney Productions,^[7] Davis would be hired byLeon Schlesinger Productions, which would be renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons onceSchlesinger sold his studio toWarner Bros. Initially animating forNorman McCabe's unit, Davis would soon work withFrank Tashlin when McCabe was drafted into the Army. The two men have previously collaborated with the 1941 cartoon "The Great Cheese Mystery" before Davis' termination from Screen Gems. He would animate under Tashlin's direction until late 1944, when the unit was assumed byRobert McKimson.

Later in 1945, whenBob Clampett left and went to Screen Gems, Davis took over Clampett's unit. Davis completed three cartoons left unfinished by Clampett: "The Big Snooze", "The Goofy Gophers" and "Bacall to Arms";^[8][6] cartoons still in the outline or storyboarding stages at the time of Clampett's departure were allocated to other directors, withRobert McKimson ultimately directing "Birth of a Notion" andFriz Freleng directing "Tweetie Pie".

Davis directed a number ofLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies shorts, with a tone somewhere between those of Clampett and McKimson. He had a distinctive characteristic visual style, which can be seen as far back as Davis' Columbia shorts, in which the characters move from the foreground to the background, as well as from side to side, using all axes of the animation field. Davis was said to prioritize the animation of his shorts over the writing, as he felt insecure with the writers he was given.^[1]

Davis' unit at Warners was shut down only two years later in November 1947 when the studio was having abudget problem. Davis was then taken intoFriz Freleng's unit, and served as one of Freleng's key animators for many years. In 1960, shortly prior to departing the studio, Davis directed a cartoon for Warners again using Freleng's unit. There were several WB shorts released around this time, from not only Freleng's unit butChuck Jones' as well, where the direction was credited to varying subordinates. "Quackodile Tears", which would not see release until 1962 due to the studio's extensive release backlog, was also Davis's last Warner Bros. short.

Following his departure from Warners, Davis joinedHanna-Barbera, where he worked briefly as an animator and was a story director forThe Flintstones andThe Yogi Bear Show. He continued to work on and off with the studio as a consultant or a timing director until his retirement.^[1]

After leaving H-B in 1962, Davis went toWalter Lantz Productions as an animator. He left Lantz in 1965, later joiningDePatie-Freleng Enterprises to directPink Panther shorts and other cartoon series.^[1][7]

Outliving most of his peers, Davis died peacefully on May 9, 2000, aged 94 inSunnyvale, California after humming a tune. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.^[9][10]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(March 2025)

• Arthur Davis atIMDb

• 1905 births
• 2000 deaths
• American animated film directors
• American comedy film directors
• American people of Hungarian descent
• Animators from California
• Animators from New York (state)
• Fleischer Studios people
• Hanna-Barbera people
• People from Sunnyvale, California
• Screen Gems
• Walter Lantz Productions people
• Warner Bros. Cartoons people

• Use mdy dates from October 2021
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using infobox person with multiple employers
• Articles with hCards
• Articles to be expanded from March 2025
• All articles to be expanded