Animated Pictures Corp., Ltd.^[1] (informally coined as theIwerks Studio) was ananimation studio based inBeverly Hills, California, headed by animatorUb Iwerks. The studio was best known for producing cartoon series withFlip the Frog andWillie Whopper, as well as itsComiColor cartoon series, and was in operation between 1930 and 1937.

Ub Iwerks was the director and head animator of the increasingly successfulMickey Mouse andSilly Symphony cartoons forWalt Disney, serving at Disney's right hand man with production. In early 1930, Iwerks accepted a contract with Disney's distributor,Pat Powers, to resign from the studio and produce cartoons under his own name. Iwerks brought along other Disney talent, like musical composerCarl Stalling and animators Merle Gilson andBen Clopton.

Financial backers, led by Powers, suspected Iwerks was responsible for much of Disney's early success, and Powers'New York-based film company, Celebrity Productions, Inc.,^[2] cut ties with Disney to support Iwerks' production venture. The studio was formally incorporated as Animated Pictures Corp., Ltd, with its original location based inLos Angeles, California.^[3][4]

Iwerks' first cartoon character,Flip the Frog, was announced as early as February 1930. Flip's first few cartoons, starting withFiddlesticks in May,^[5] were released both in black-and-white and in Harriscolor,^[6][7] making them arguably the first sound cartoons released in color. Animated Pictures made a sales record in May after their first press announcement, even before the cartoons' release, as the European rights to the films were sold out before ten days.^[8] By early July, the studio signed a contract fromMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer to handle distribution of the series.^[9] As the Flip cartoons progressed, the studio saw moderate success and expanded operations, hiring new staff and moving their production facility toBeverly Hills.^[10][11]

Several key creative personnel and trainee artists employed by Iwerks were later prominent figures inanimation history.Grim Natwick, already a seasoned animator and creative force atMax Fleischer'scartoon studio for designingBetty Boop, was hired in 1931 to lead Animated Pictures' creative output, a position he held until late 1934. Natwick also hired animatorsShamus Culhane,Al Eugster, andBerny Wolf, as well as musical composer Art Turkisher, all formerly with the Fleischer studio. One of Iwerks' first hires, an animator named Fred Kopietz, recommended Iwerks employ a friend from theChouinard Art Institute.^[12] This friend,Chuck Jones, was hired and put to work as a cel washer in one of his first jobs before becoming a prominent cartoon director atWarner Bros. Despite the influx of talent from both Disney and Fleischer, Iwerks failed to rival either studio in terms of commercial success.

Flip the Frog, much like his cartoon contemporaries, bore various resemblances toMickey Mouse in both his visual design, personality, and mannerisms. As the series progressed and with the new hired animators, the appearance of Flip gradually became less frog-like. Flip evolved into more of a down-and-out,Chaplin-esque character who always found himself in everyday conflicts surrounding the poverty-stricken atmosphere of theGreat Depression.

In 1933,Flip the Frog was phased out and replaced with two new cartoon series, one featuringWillie Whopper, and the other a series of color cartoons calledComiColors. The character Willie Whopper was a young boy who told of his many outlandish adventures. His fantastic accounts were as depicted on-screen as outright lies or "whoppers", and were usually preceded by his memorable catchphrase, "Say, did I ever tell ya this one?" TheComiColor cartoons mostly focused onfairy tales with one-off characters. Both series were started in 1933, withWillie featured in 14 cartoons through 1934, and theComiColors produced until 1936.

The staff was doubled to meet the demand,^[13] and the studio was reorganized into different animation units so both series could be produced in tandem.^[14][15] TheComiColors were initially co-directed by Shamus Culhane andAl Eugster, and theWillie Whopper cartoons handled by two units: one with co-directors Grim Natwick andBerny Wolf, and another led by ex-Harman-Ising animatorsRobert Stokes and Norman Blackburn. Only theWillie Whopper cartoons were picked up by MGM for a distribution deal through 1933 and 1934, while eachComiColor cartoon was individually sold by Celebrity Productions to a wide variety of distributors who were interested.^[16][17][18] TheComiColor cartoons enjoyed some success overseas, with eleven countries closed for foreign distribution rights of cartoons in 1934^[19] and as many as 17 foreign versions of individual films completed for distribution.^[20]

Walt Disney had exclusive rights to use the full-colorTechnicolor process for his studio's cartoons, so Iwerks opted for the cheaper two-colorCinecolor process for allComiColor cartoons and twoWillie Whopper cartoons, Davy Jones' Locker and Hell's Fire. In some instances, Iwerks also opted to cut costs for music production by utilizing cheaper canned music from commercial records in place of more expensive custom orchestrated scores by Carl Stalling or Art Turkisher.^[21] Examples of such could be heard throughout theWillie Whopper andComiColor series.

In 1934, financiers and staff of Iwerks' cartoons were starting to see the lackluster output of Iwerks' Animated Pictures studio in comparison to Disney, and were dropping support. MGM did not renew their contract with Iwerks for 1934-35 season, instead favoring the production ofHappy Harmonies cartoons forHarman-Ising Productions, thus leaving Iwerks with only the independently-distributed ComiColor shorts in the studio's roster. The same year, Grim Natwick resigned from his supervisory role to work for Walt Disney on his first feature-length animated film,Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and many other key animators followed suit soon after.

Despite these dropouts, Animated Pictures, under Celebrity Productions, persisted to find opportunities for additional work. They collaborated with English companies Revelation Films and Boots, Ltd. on a short educational film titled "See How they Won," a film depicting the battle of a character named "John Careless" who falls victim to the "Bad Health Brigade."^[22] The concept and story were done inEngland, with Animated Pictures working on the film's production.^[23] After release, Revelation Films signed a deal with Celebrity Productions to produce a series of cartoons for a promotional campaign.^[24]

In addition, as early as June 19, 1935,^[25] Iwerks and Celebrity Productions discussed a deal of producing a cartoon series for the 1936-37 season, based on theReg'lar Fellers comic strip by arrangement with comic creatorGene Byrnes.^[26] Meetings between Iwerks and Celebrity Productions took place to discuss the prospects of expanding or entirely moving Iwerks' animation studio toNew York to start the series.^[27][28] These plans all ultimately fell through, as the only cartoon to come out of the deal was "Happy Days" in 1936, ironically the final cartoon to be produced by Iwerks for Pat Powers. Even with the deals with Byrnes and Revelation, and another season ofComiColors proposed by Pat Powers for the 1936-37 season,^[29] Powers and Celebrity Productions, Inc. withdrew all financial support from Iwerks' studio, for unknown reasons.

Later in 1936, despite all Powers' support and deals taken away from Iwerks, he managed to keep Animated Pictures afloat by findingfreelance work, utilizing his own Beverly Hills^[1] studio and animation staff.^[30] Iwerks began producing and directing cartoons forColumbia Pictures'Screen Gems animation studio^[31][32] to help fill their schedule on a subcontract basis.^[33] At the beginning of 1937, Iwerks signed a contract with Caravel Distributing Co. to produce animation for a promotional film sponsored by various advertisers, featuring cartoon characters likeOtto Soglow'sLittle King.^[34]

Later in 1937,Leon Schlesigner enlisted Iwerks to directLooney Tunes cartoons at his studio. Schlesinger brought his own employed animators Bobe Cannon,Bob Clampett, andChuck Jones (previously with Iwerks) to Iwerks' studio to collaborate with his staff. Two cartoons came out of Iwerks' deal,Porky and Gabby andPorky's Service Station. Running behind schedule on the cartoons, Iwerks left his studio in mid-May and Clampett temporarily took over Iwerks' unit to direct otherLooney Tunes cartoons before production moved back toLeon Schlesinger Productions a month later.^[33]

Around December 1937, Iwerks struck a deal withUK-owned British Independent Exhibitors Association, a merger between distributors British Independent Exhibitors Co, Ltd. and Sound City,^[35] to produce a series of color cartoons. These cartoons featured a character of British cartoonistLawson Wood's, a monkey named Gran'pop.^[36] To accommodate work on these cartoons, Iwerks' Animated Pictures was reorganized into a new venture under the same studio address, named Cartoon Films, Ltd., with producerLawson Harris serving as president of the new establishment.^[37] In a deal with another representative of Iwerks' studio, David Biedermann,Educational Pictures signed distribution rights for the series to replace their contract withPaul Terry'sTerrytoons.^[38] A deal for 24Gran'pop cartoons was initially projected for the series,^[39] reportedly moved up to 50 cartoons a couple days later,^[40] and distribution deals with Grand National were discussed, but only three cartoons were completed in 1938 under Iwerks' supervision.^[33] In the interim, the studio produced advertising shorts for businesses likeShell Oil Company,W. K. Kellogg Co.,Lever Brothers, andKraft Cheese, which were released around 1940 and sometimes promoted as "Minitoons".^[41][42]

As early as July 1939,^[43] Cartoon Films made a deal with a color film company, Dunningcolor, to introduce their newest three-strip color process of the same name in a series of animated shorts to be released byColumbia Pictures.^[44] However, on September 9, 1940, Ub Iwerks resigned from his studio to rejoinWalt Disney Productions as a technical developer,^[33] so the studio was turned over to Lawson Harris and animator Paul Fennell, including production of the Dunningcolor shorts. Two historical cartoons came out of the Dunningcolor contract, titledHow War Came andBroken Treaties, which were completed and released in 1941. They were both narrated byRaymond Gram Swing, and the former of them was nominated anAcademy Award for Best Cartoon Subject.^[45]

The same year, Cartoon Films completed Ub Iwerks' initial contract with Columbia's Screen Gems, with a final cartoon titledThe Carpenters. In 1942, the studio opened up facilities inChicago, IL andNew York, NY.^[46] The studio moved to animating for warpropaganda films for a time, as they contributed animation to a 1943 short for theUnited States Department of Agriculture, titledSix Legged Saboteurs.^[47] Not much is known about what happened to Cartoon Films, Ltd. after then, but in 1944, the studio'sBeverly Hills address was occupied by animation studioHugh Harman Productions.^[48]

Throughout most of the studio's existence, Iwerks' cartoons produced under Celebrity Productions' auspices utilized Pat Powers' own Cinephone system forsound recording, which was formerly used forWalt Disney's early sound cartoons, and the animation studio was supplied with its own sound equipment to utilize the technology.^[13]

Iwerks also experimented withstop-motion animation in combination with themultiplane camera. Although first developed in the 1920's byLotte Reiniger, Iwerks made many substantial improvements in multiplane animation.^[49] This technology allowed for a three-dimensional look, separating layers of the background, resulting in a greater feeling of depth.^[49] He made a short called "The Toy Parade", which was never released in public. The 1934 animated short "The Headless Horseman" was the first time Iwerks used the multiplane effect,^[49] and it was utilized in both theComiColor andWillie Whopper cartoons.

According to the recollections of various former Iwerks employees, management at Animated Pictures under Powers was harsh. Particularly, Iwerks'general manager and one ofPat Powers' right-hand men, Emil Offeman, demanded harsh work environments and footage quotas for the employed artists. Offeman's often misinformed work expectations caused Jim Pabian, a neophyte animator at the studio, to quit the studio and cancel his contract with Iwerks.^[10]

According to animatorShamus Culhane's autobiography, the last straw was when Offeman constantly harassed an ailing animator, Godfrey Bjork, about work quotas to the point of his hospitalization and death in 1933. Afterwards, meetings calling for unionization of animation studios were allegedly held byGrim Natwick, with dozens of animation workers in attendance and considered some of the first union meetings in the business.^[50]

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  "Jack Frost" (1934)
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  "Little Black Sambo" (1935)
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  "Balloon Land" (1935)

• Defunct American animation studios
• Mass media companies established in 1930
• Mass media companies disestablished in 1936
• American companies established in 1930
• American companies disestablished in 1936

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