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Kenneth Muse | |
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| Born | (1910-07-26)July 26, 1910 North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | July 26, 1987(1987-07-26) (aged 77) Templeton, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Animator |
| Employer(s) | Walt Disney Productions (1939–1941) MGM Cartoons (1941–1957) Hanna-Barbera Productions (1957–1987) DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (1969–1974) |
| Known for | AnimatingTom and Jerry cartoons and former Disney animator |
Kenneth Muse (July 26, 1910 – July 26, 1987) was an Americananimator, best known for his work on theTom and Jerry series atMGM Cartoons.
Muse worked briefly atWalt Disney Productions, where he wasPreston Blair's assistant onFantasia (he helped animate "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" scenes).[1] He also provided animation forPinocchio ("I've Got No Strings" sequence),Fantasia and various Mickey Mouse cartoons such asMr. Mouse Takes a Trip (1940),Mickey's Birthday Party (1942) andSymphony Hour (1942). He was paid $22 a week to draw Mickey Mouse.[2]
Muse left Disney following the1941 strike there and joinedMGM'sanimation department in 1941, along with fellow animatorsPreston Blair,Ed Love, Walter Clinton, Claude Smith, andBerny Wolf. He was assigned to theHanna –Barbera unit, where he remained for 17 years. He first provided animation for the eighth Tom and Jerry short,Fine Feathered Friend (1942), and would remain an animator on the series until its final Hanna-Barbera-directed entry,Tot Watchers, in 1958. Muse also animated Jerry Mouse dancing with a live-actionGene Kelly in the 1945 musicalAnchors Aweigh, withRay Patterson andEd Barge[2][3] (and became archive footage as Jerry's visible inFamily Guy episode, "Road to Rupert").
In the Tom & Jerry short,Little School Mouse (1954), he wasn't credited. The reason for this was he very briefly worked for fellow MGM employee Gene Hazelton on a short calledMr. Winkle Returns (1954), with Irv Spence, before moving back to MGM.[4]
When MGM closed their animation studio in 1957, Muse joined his former bosses at their new company,Hanna-Barbera. He was one of the most prolific animators working for Hanna-Barbera's classic period of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He animated many important shows and sequences, including all of the short pilotThe Flagstones, from whichThe Flintstones series was sold, as well as the original opening and closing titles of the series (the instrumental "Rise and Shine" titles, seen in the first two seasons, rather than the later, more familiar "Meet the Flintstones" titles). Muse also animated all of the first-produced episode of the series, "The Swimming Pool" (during the first season, episodes were assigned to one animator, who had only about four weeks each to complete them). Other early episodes animated entirely by Muse include "Hot Lips Hannigan","No Help Wanted", "The Monster From The Tar Pits", and "The Tycoon" (the J.L. Gotrocks episode). Muse also animated the opening and closing titles forTop Cat (1961). Aside from a sojourn atDePatie-Freleng Enterprises, he provided animation for nearly all of Hanna-Barbera's animated television series over a period of three decades, includingThe Huckleberry Hound Show (1958),The Yogi Bear Show (1961),Top Cat (1961),The Jetsons (1962),Wacky Races (1968),Hong Kong Phooey (1974),Jabberjaw (1976), andChallenge of the Superfriends (1978).
Muse was the stepfather of singer-songwriterJudee Sill, with whom he had a strained relationship.
Muse died on July 26, 1987, his 77th birthday, inTempleton, California.
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