Events in 1944 in animation.
Events January January 4: Friz Freleng's Bugs Bunny short Little Red Riding Rabbit premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–61. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. January 8: Bob Clampett's Bugs Bunny short What's Cookin' Doc? premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, in which Bugs competes for an Academy Award for Best Actor. January 28: Jack Kinney's Goofy cartoon How to Be a Sailor premieres, produced by the Walt Disney Company.
February February 3: Hans Fischerkoesen's Der Schneemann premieres. February 12: Chuck Jones' Daffy Duck and Porky Pig cartoon Tom Turk and Daffy premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 70–72. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. February 18: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Trombone Trouble, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, premieres. February 26: Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, which marks the debut of The Three Bears. Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon The Zoot Cat premieres, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio.
March March 2: 16th Academy Awards: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short The Yankee Doodle Mouse, produced by MGM, wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, the first of seven Oscars the franchise will win over the years. George Pal wins the Academy Honorary Award. March 10: Jack Kinney's Goofy short How to Play Golf, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is first released. March 25: Chuck Jones' war-time cartoon The Weakly Reporter premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions. March 31: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Donald Duck and the Gorilla, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is first released. Also starring Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
April April 1: Tex Avery's Screwball Squirrel premieres, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio; marks the debut of Screwy Squirrel. April 8: Bob Clampett's Porky Pig and Daffy Duck cartoon Tick Tock Tuckered premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions. It is a remake of the 1937 short Porky's Badtime Story, with Daffy taking Gabby Goat's place. April 21: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Contrary Condor, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is first released.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 74–75. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. April 22: The classic Woody Woodpecker short The Barber of Seville premieres, produced by Walter Lantz Productions. Friz Freleng's Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, a war propaganda cartoon where Bugs Bunny fights the Imperial Japanese Army.
May May 6: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon The Million Dollar Cat premieres, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio. Frank Tashlin's Porky Pig cartoon Swooner Crooner premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pg. 126. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. Also starring caricatures of the following famous singers as Roosters: Frank Sinatra, Nelson Eddy, Al Jolson, Jimmy Durante, Cab Calloway, and Bing Crosby. May 20: Bob Clampett's Russian Rhapsody premieres, a wartime propaganda short produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, in which a group of gremlins ridicule Adolf Hitler. May 27: Friz Freleng's Daffy Duck and Porky Pig cartoon Duck Soup to Nuts premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions.
June June 2: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Commando Duck premieres, a wartime propaganda cartoon produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios where Donald fights Japanese soldiers. June 3: Chuck Jones's Angel Puss premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, a one-shot cartoon which will later become part of the Censored Eleven. June 17: Friz Freleng's Daffy Duck and Porky Pig cartoon Slightly Daffy premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions. It is a color remake of Bob Clampett's short Scalp Trouble. June 23: Charles Nichols' Springtime for Pluto, produced by the Walt Disney Company, is first released. June 24: Tex Avery's Screwy Squirrel cartoon Happy-Go-Nutty, produced by MGM, is first released. Bob Clampett's Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare Ribbin' premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions.
July Hell-Bent for Election is released, a propaganda cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and produced by UPA meant to promote presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt. July 1: Leon Schlesinger sells his cartoon studio to Warner Bros. Pictures and is renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. Schlesinger also retires and is replaced by Edward Selzer. July 15: Frank Tashlin's final Porky Pig cartoon Brother Brat premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. July 22: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon The Bodyguard premieres, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio. This short introduced what Spike's character would become in later shorts in the franchise. Friz Freleng's Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare Force premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. July 28: The Puppetoons short film Jasper Goes Hunting premieres which features a cameo by Bugs Bunny.
August August 26: Bob Clampett's Buckaroo Bugs premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, starring Bugs Bunny. This is the final cartoon produced by Leon Schlesinger before he retired. It is the first Bugs Bunny short to be labeled as Looney Tunes instead of Merrie Melodies.
September September 1: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon The Plastics Inventor premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. September 2: Friz Freleng's Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons premieres. This is the first WB cartoon not to be produced by Leon Schlesinger. September 15: Jack Kinney's Goofy cartoon How to Play Football, produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, is first released. September 16: Frank Tashlin's war-time propaganda cartoon Plane Daffy is first released, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, in which Daffy Duck fights a female Nazi spy and fools Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring.
October
October 28: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon Puttin' On the Dog premieres, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio. Bob Clampett's Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoon The Old Grey Hare premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.
November November 3: The Hungarian film Svatba v korálovém moři premieres. November 8: Hans Fischerkoesen's Das dumme Gänslein premieres. November 23: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short Mouse Trouble premieres, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio. November 25: Frank Tashlin's Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd short The Stupid Cupid premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.
December December 8: Jack Hannah's first Donald Duck cartoon Donald's Off Day premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Also starring Huey, Dewey, and Louie. December 21: The Walt Disney Company releases The Three Caballeros, directed by Norman Ferguson, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts and Harold Young. It marks the debut of Panchito Pistoles. During its initial release, the film was infamous for its depictions of Donald Duck's sexuality towards women. Storyline relations to bestiality were against the regulations of the Hays Office Code at the time. The film would become a cult classic in later years. December 30: Friz Freleng's Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoon Stage Door Cartoon premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.
Films released
December 21 - The Three Caballeros (United States)
Births
January January 2: Vincent Davis, Australian-American animator (Fred Wolf Films, Gallavants, The Wuzzles), storyboard artist (DIC Entertainment), character designer (The Mouse and His Child), lip sync artist (Camp Candy), sheet timer (Fluppy Dogs, DuckTales, DIC Entertainment, The Mask, Life with Louie, Warner Bros. Animation, Holly Hobbie & Friends), art director (The Real Ghostbusters), production designer (The Mouse and His Child), writer (Cow and Chicken, Grim & Evil), director (Fred Wolf Films, The Little Clowns of Happytown, DuckTales, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Film Roman) and producer (Garfield and Friends, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Grim & Evil), (d. 2009). January 3: Albert Jelenic, Croatian-born American voice actor and father of Michael Jelenic (voiced himself in the Teen Titans Go! episodes "The Self-Indulgent 200th Episode Spectacular", "The Power of Shrimps", and "Where Exactly on the Globe Is Carl Sanpedro"), (d. 2019). January 5: J.R. Horne, American actor (voice of Stan of the Swamp in Wallykazam!, additional voices in Courage the Cowardly Dog), (d. 2016). January 10: Frank Sinatra Jr., American singer, songwriter, actor and conductor (voiced himself in the Family Guy episodes "Brian Sings and Swings", "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing" and "Bookie of the Year"), (d. 2016). William Sanderson, American actor (voice of Karl Rossum in Batman: The Animated Series, J.S. Ibsen in Jumanji, Perkalus in the Bravest Warriors episode "Mexican Touchdown"). January 11: Maciej Damięcki, Polish actor (Polish dub voice of Doc Brown in Back to the Future), (d. 2023).Nie żyje Maciej Damięcki. O śmierci aktora poinformował jego syn January 12: Joe Frazier, American professional boxer (voiced himself in The Simpsons episodes "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" and "Homer's Paternity Coot"), (d. 2011). January 19: Shelley Fabares, American actress (voice of Martha Kent in the DC Animated Universe and Superman: Brainiac Attacks), (d. 2026). January 22: Pamela Salem, British actress (voice of the Queen in Hellsing Ultimate), (d. 2024).Pamela Salem 1944-2024 January 28: Bobby Ball, British comic, actor, singer and television host (voice of Wayne the Zebra in the Rex the Runt episode of the same name), (d. 2020).
February February 2: Geoffrey Hughes, English actor (voice of Paul McCartney in Yellow Submarine), (d. 2012). February 6: Barry Bruce, American animation director and designer (Will Vinton Studios, Return to Oz, Sesame Street), (d. 2021). February 13: Jerry Springer, English-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, and politician (portrayed himself in the Happy! episode "What Smiles Are For", voiced himself in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror IX"), (d. 2023). Stockard Channing, American actress (voice of Lydia Waterman in The Cleveland Show episode "A Cleveland Brown Christmas", Mrs. Holloway in the King of the Hill episode "The Company Man", first voice of Barbara Gordon in Batman Beyond). Sal Bando, American former professional baseball player (voiced himself in The Simpsons episode "Regarding Margie"), (d. 2023). February 18: Anthony Jackson, English actor (voice of Dai Station, Evans the Song, Mr. Dinwiddy in Ivor the Engine, Nug and Mr. Blossom in The Dreamstone), (d. 2006). February 19: Donald F. Glut, American writer (Hanna-Barbera, Marvel Productions). February 25: Kristina Holland, American actress (voice of April Stewart in The Funky Phantom, Stephanie in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Alice Boyle in Wait Till Your Father Gets Home), (d. 2023).https://www.myfarewelling.com/memorial/kristina-holland#obituary February 29: Dennis Farina, American actor (voice of Frank Russo in The Looney Tunes Show episode "Daffy Duck, Esquire", Wildcat in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Cat and the Canary", himself in the Family Guy episode "The Most Interesting Man in the World"), (d. 2013).
March March 16: Granville Van Dusen, American actor (voice of Race Bannon in The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, Jonny's Golden Quest, and Jonny Quest vs. The Cyber Insects, Dash O'Pepper in the Freakazoid! episode "Toby Danger in Doomsday Bet").