DISNEY ANIMATION ON TELEVISION

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In the late 1940s and early 1950s  most of the commercials created for television were transmitted live. During the show the host or star would stop what they was doing on the set and start hawking the sponsors product.  The production costs soon increased when they turned to creating their message with filmed techniques. Animation might have been an expense and time consuming  venture on one hand, but the leading animators were also desperate for work, during the the Golden Age of Television when the medium was growing and taking business away from the movie theaters.

 

So highly respected and formerly high-paid animators like Shamus Culhane (to see interview: click here), Art Babbit, Preton Blair, Zach Schwartz, and David Hiberman among others found there future paychecks creating animated commercials. I've spent the last four decades searching for many of those lost and forgotten commercials. Most of the time they were discarded by studios, producers and networks that had no need for them.

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Growing up in the 1950s brings to mind many memorable animated characters that captured our Boomer hearts and whet appetites to urge our parents to buy their products. Boomers may recall Speedy the singing Alka Seltzer tablet, the Hamms Beer Bear, the Ajax Elf's, the Cheerios Kid, Bucky Beaver for Ipana toothpaste, Trix cereal rabbit, Kembler Elf and the list runs on.