Events in 1953 in animation.
Events
January January 3: Chuck Jones's Don't Give Up the Sheep premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, which marks the debuts of Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog. January 10: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short The Missing Mouse, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The encyclopedia of animated cartoons. Internet Archive. New York : Facts on File. p. 150. . January 17: Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoon Snow Business premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pg. 152. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. Also starring Granny. January 31: Friz Freleng's Sylvester cartoon A Mouse Divided premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pg. 141 . Retrieved 6 June 2020 – via Archive.org.
February February 5: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske's Peter Pan, produced by the Walt Disney Company, is first released. It marks the debut of Disney's version of Tinker Bell, who will later become one of their mascots. February 14: Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny cartoon Forward March Hare premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. February 21: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short Jerry and Jumbo, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres. Chuck Jones' cartoon Kiss Me Cat premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Starring Marc Antony and Pussyfoot. February 28: Chuck Jones' iconic Daffy Duck cartoon Duck Amuck premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs Bunny makes an appearance at the end of the short.
March March 14: Robert McKimson's Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoon Upswept Hare premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. March 19: 25th Academy Awards: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short Johann Mouse, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. It is the seventh and final Tom and Jerry cartoon to win an Oscar. The animated short receives its official public premiere on 21 March. March 27: Karel Zeman's first animated feature Poklad ptačího ostrova (The Treasure of Bird Island) premieres.Peter Hames: Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition. Edynburg: Edinburgh University Press, 2009, s. 196. March 28: Robert McKimson's cartoon A Peck o' Trouble premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Starring Dodsworth the cat.
April April 4: Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoon Fowl Weather premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Granny and Hector the Bulldog. April 8: Jiří Trnka's Old Czech Legends premieres. April 15–29: 1953 Cannes Film Festival: Walt Disney receives a Legion of Honour during the opening ceremony. The Romance of Transportation in Canada by Colin Low wins the Short Film Palme d'Or. April 25: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short That's My Pup!, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres.
May May 2: Friz Freleng's short Southern Fried Rabbit premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.
June
June 19: Warner Bros. Cartoons is shut down due to a heavy backlog of releases until the following year and fearing that 3D cartoon production would be too expensive. June 20: Friz Freleng's Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam cartoon Hare Trimmed premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Granny. June 27: Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoon Tom Tom Tomcat premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Granny. This short has rarely been aired on TV or re-released on home media due to its offensive stereotypes towards Native Americans.
July July 2: Carl Urbano's animated documentary film A Is for Atom received a theatrical release, opening at the Pantages and Hillstreet Theatres in Los Angeles on July 2, 1953.The Hollywood Reporter, July 3, 1953, pg. 13 The distributor was Al O. Bondy, who made the short available for free.Boxoffice Barometer, Jan. 30, 1954, pg. 145 The short documentary, which is now in the public domain, explains what an atom is, how nuclear energy is released from certain kinds of atoms, the peacetime uses of nuclear power, and the by-products of nuclear fission. The film is Sutherland's most-decorated film of the film producer John Sutherland, having won numerous honors at film festivals. July 11: Chuck Jones' Pepé Le Pew cartoon Wild Over You premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 117. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. July 25: Chuck Jones' iconic cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century premieres; starring Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, & Marvin the Martian; produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.
August August 8: Chuck Jones' iconic cartoon Bully for Bugs premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. In the film, Bugs Bunny becomes a bullfighter. August 22: Robert McKimson's cartoon Plop Goes the Weasel premieres, produced Warner Bros. Cartoons, starring Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg.Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 252. . August 29: Robert McKimson's Cat-Tails For Two is first released, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. It marks the prototype debut of Speedy Gonzales, the character's final design would be introduced 2 years later.
September September 5: Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoon A Street Cat Named Sylvester premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Granny and Hector the Bulldog. Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short Just Ducky, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres. September 10: Chuck Jones' Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short Zipping Along premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pg. 129 . Retrieved 6 June 2020 – via Archive.org. September 11: Jiří Trnka's Old Czech Legends premieres. September 23: The Unicorn in the Garden premieres, a United Productions of America production. September 25: Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny short Lumber Jack-Rabbit premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, a cartoon made in 3D.
October October 3: Chuck Jones' cartoon Duck! Rabbit, Duck! premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, the third & final short in the "hunting season" trilogy starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. October 10: Winky Dink and You, the first interactive television series which invites viewers to use a special crayon to draw on the screen, is first broadcast. October 17: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short Two Little Indians, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres. October 30: Jean Image's Bonjour Paris premieres. October 31: Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoon Catty Cornered premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Rocky the gangster.
November November 10: Hamilton Luske's Ben and Me, produced by the Walt Disney Company, is first released, a cartoon about Benjamin Franklin. It was adapted from the book of the same name written by the author and illustrator Robert Lawson and first published in 1939. Though both book and film deal with the relationship between a mouse and American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, the book, with illustrations by Lawson, focused more heavily on actual historical events and personages, and included incidents from Franklin's French career at Versailles. This short was also notable for being the second release on the Buena Vista Distribution label, with the first being Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, released on the same day. On its release, Ben and Me was packaged with the feature-length True-Life Adventures nature documentary film The Living Desert. When Disney's regular distributor RKO Radio Pictures resisted Disney's idea of releasing a feature-length True-Life Adventures nature documentary film, Disney formed his own distribution company to handle future Disney releases.Mosley, Leonard. The Disney Films. Bonanza Books, 1978, pg. 115. Ward Kimball and Charles A. Nichols' Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, produced by the Walt Disney Company, premieres. It is the first Disney cartoon to be filmed and released in widescreen Cinemascope.Beck, Jerry (ed.) (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Atlanta: Turner Publishing. p. 130Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom won the 1954 Oscar for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). November 14: Robert McKimson's cartoon Of Rice and Hen premieres, produced Warner Bros. Cartoons. Starring Foghorn Leghorn, Miss Prissy, and Barnyard Dawg.Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 254. . November 21: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short Life with Tom, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres. The short features footage from the previous Tom and Jerry cartoons: Cat Fishin', The Little Orphan, and Kitty Foiled. November 28: Robert McKimson's Sylvester and Hippety Hopper cartoon Cats A-Weigh! premieres, produced Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Sylvester Jr.
December December 12: Friz Freleng's Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoon Robot Rabbit premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. December 17: Ted Parmelee's The Tell-Tale Heart, produced by UPA, premieres. The film was the first cartoon to be rated X, indicating it was suitable only for adult audiences, by the British Board of Film Censors. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film but lost to Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom from Walt Disney Productions.1953 at The Oscar Site December 19: Chuck Jones's cartoon Punch Trunk premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. December 21: Walter Lantz productions releases Chilly Willy, directed by Paul J. Smith which marks the debut of Chilly Willy the penguin.
Films released
February 5 - Peter Pan (United States) March 27 - The Treasure of Bird Island (Czechoslovakia) April 8 - Old Czech Legends (Czechoslovakia) October 30 - Bonjour Paris (France) Unknown - Amazon Symphony (Brazil)
Television series
October 10 - Winky Dink and You debuts on CBS.
Births
January January 14: Bonita Pietila, American casting director and producer (The Simpsons). January 17: Mark Jones, American director, screenwriter (Super Friends, Saturday Supercade, Skysurfer Strike Force, Mister T, Heathcliff, Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, James Bond Jr., Rubik, the Amazing Cube, The Puppy's Further Adventures) and producer (Rubik, the Amazing Cube, The Puppy's Further Adventures), (d. 2026). January 20: Kent Butterworth, American animator (Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, An American Tail, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, This Is America, Charlie Brown, Denver, the Last Dinosaur, Christmas in Tattertown, Tiny Toon Adventures), storyboard artist (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, DIC Entertainment, The Flintstone Kids, The Smurfs, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Spiral Zone, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Robotech II: The Sentinels, The Butter Battle Book, The Simpsons, Mr. Bogus, Twinkle, the Dream Being, Superbook), lip sync artist (Danger & Eggs, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge), sheet timer (DIC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Mighty Max, Dino Babies, Adventures from the Book of Virtues, FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue, Sitting Ducks, Chicago Party Aunt), writer (Spiral Zone), producer (DIC Entertainment, Saban Entertainment) and director (Filmation, Marvel Productions, Fred Wolf Films, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, DIC Entertainment, The Butter Battle Book, The Simpsons, Tiny Toon Adventures, Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories, Batman: The Animated Series, The Mouse and the Monster, The Zula Patrol).