Events in 1941 in animation.
Events
January January 4: Chuck Jones' Elmer's Pet Rabbit premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions and starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. Bugs Bunny's name was revealed in this cartoon. January 10: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Timber premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Also starring Pete.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 74–75. . Retrieved June 6, 2020.
February February 27: 13th Academy Awards: The Milky Way, directed by Rudolf Ising, produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It is the first animated cartoon not produced by Disney to win an Oscar. Pinocchio, produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, wins the Academy Award for Best Original Score, while When You Wish Upon a Star wins the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
March March 7: Wilfred Jackson's first Donald Duck cartoon Golden Eggs premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. March 15: Tex Avery's Tortoise Beats Hare premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions. It marks the first time that Bugs Bunny loses, Cecil Turtle makes his debut. March 28: Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat, directed and produced by Walter Lantz Productions, is first released. This short reel gained much controversy during its reissue in 1948 for heavy African American stereotyping as Lantz promised to never include the offensive racist content for his subsequent films after apologizing from this.
April April 11: The Fleischer Studios release an adaptation of Johnny Gruelle's children's stories, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. April 19: Tex Avery's Porky's Preview premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, starring Porky Pig.
May May 9: Dick Lundy's Donald Duck cartoon A Good Time for a Dime premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Daisy Duck makes a cameo in this short. May 24: Tex Avery's Hollywood Steps Out, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, is first released. It features caricatures of Hollywood stars. May 29: Disney animators' strike: At the Walt Disney Animation Studios a five-week strike breaks out to ask for higher payment and privileges. While the demands are eventually met, several animators are either fired by Disney or quit.
June June 7: Friz Freleng's first Bugs Bunny cartoon Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions. This short was nominated for an Academy Award."1941 Academy Awards". Infoplease.com. Retrieved February 10, 2013. June 20: The Reluctant Dragon, a live-action film with animated scenes by Jack Cutting, Ub Iwerks, Hamilton Luske and Jack Kinney, produced by Walt Disney Animation, premieres. It features three shorts within the feature film, Baby Weems, How To Ride a Horse starring Goofy, and The Reluctant Dragon. Riley Thomson's The Nifty Nineties premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, starring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.
July July 2: Tex Avery is suspended from Leon Schlesinger Productions for four weeks with no pay by Leon Schlesinger due to a quarrel over the Bugs Bunny cartoon The Heckling Hare. He then leaves for Paramount Pictures and begins a series of short films known as Speaking of Animals, beginning with Down on the Farm. July 5: Tex Avery's The Heckling Hare, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, starring Bugs Bunny & Willoughby, is first released. July 7: With Woody Woodpecker, Woody Woodpecker's second film appearance, produced by Walter Lantz, the bird becomes star of his own long-running animated series. July 11: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Early to Bed premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. July 19: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera direct The Midnight Snack, produced by MGM. This is the second cartoon to star Tom and Jerry and the first in which they are officially named.
August August 1: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Truant Officer Donald premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Also starring Huey, Dewey, and Louie. August 11: The Screwdriver, produced by Walter Lantz, is released, being the last Woody Woodpecker cartoon featuring Mel Blanc as Woody's voice. Afterwards Leon Schlesinger Productions takes an exclusivity contract on Blanc's voice. August 30: Bob Clampett's The Henpecked Duck is first released, starring Daffy Duck, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions.
September September 2: Tex Avery joins the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. September 12: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Old MacDonald Duck premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. September 13: Tex Avery's All This and Rabbit Stew, starring Bugs Bunny, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, premieres. It is the final cartoon for Warner Bros. directed by Avery and his final cartoon starring Bugs. This cartoon later became a part of the "Censored Eleven" due to the Hunter featured in this short being a stereotypical & offensive description of Blackface. September 26: Paramount Pictures launches an animated film series based on Superman, produced by Fleischer Studios, which kicks off with the first film Superman.
October October 3: Lend a Paw, starring Pluto, directed by Clyde Geronimi, produced by the Walt Disney Studios, is first released. October 23: Ben Sharpsteen, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney and Samuel Armstrong's Dumbo, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is first released. It becomes a surprise box office hit, helping Disney win back some of their financial losses caused by World War II cutting off their European market. October 24: Dick Lundy's Donald Duck cartoon Donald's Camera premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios.
November November 14: Jack Kinney's Goofy cartoon The Art of Skiing, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, premieres. This also marks the debut of the Goofy holler sound effect, provided by Hannes Schroll. November 19: In China Wan Guchan and Wan Laiming release Princess Iron Fan, the first Chinese animated feature film.Du, Daisy Yan (2012). "A Wartime Romance: Princess Iron Fan and the Chinese Connection in Early Japanese Animation," in On the Move: The Trans/national Animated Film in 1940s–1970s China, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2012. University of Wisconsin-Madison. The National Film Board of Canada releases The Thrifty Pig, a cartoon by the Walt Disney Studios about the importance of war bonds. November 24: Pantry Panic starring Woody Woodpecker, directed and produced by Walter Lantz, premieres.
December December 5: Jack King's Donald Duck cartoon Chef Donald premieres, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The Fleischer Studios release their second animated feature film Mr. Bug Goes to Town which becomes such a colossal flop that the studio goes bankrupt. The Color Rhapsody The Fox and the Grapes, produced by Screen Gems and directed by Frank Tashlin, is first released and marks the debut of the Fox and the Crow. December 6: Friz Freleng's Rhapsody in Rivets premieres, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon The Night Before Christmas premieres, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pg. 149. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. This was the first short in the series to end with the titular Cat and Mouse being on good terms with each other. December 12: The National Film Board of Canada releases Richard Lyford's 7 Wise Dwarfs, produced by the Walt Disney Animation studios, to educate audiences on war bonds.Shull, Michael S. and David E. Wilt. Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939–1945 (2nd ed.) Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2004. . December 20: Tex Avery's Wabbit Twouble, starring Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, premieres. Avery directed the short, but after he left the studio Bob Clampett finished the picture. The scene where Bugs inflates himself and imitates Elmer became a popular internet meme over 75 years later titled "Big Chungus"."Big Chungus Is The Last Great Meme Of 2018". The Daily Dot. December 28, 2018. Archived from the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019. December 26: Jack Kinney's Goofy cartoon The Art of Self Defense, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, premieres.
Specific date unknown Roberto Sgrilli creates the animated short Il Barone di Münchhausen.
Films released
January 1 - Princess Iron Fan (China) July 21 - The Reluctant Dragon (United States) October 23 - Dumbo (United States) December 5 - Mr. Bug Goes to Town (United States)
Births
January January 1: Asrani, Indian actor (Hindi dub voice of Zazu in The Lion King), (d. 2025). January 5: Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author and manga artist (co-founder of Studio Ghibli). January 8: Graham Chapman, English actor and comedian (occasional voices in Terry Gilliam's animated shorts in Monty Python's Flying Circus and the film spin-offs), (d. 1989). Star Wirth, American xerographer (Hanna-Barbera, The Pagemaster, Warner Bros. Animation), (d. 2012). January 11: Motosuke Takahashi, Japanese film director, animator, character designer and storyboard artist (Tatsunoko Productions, Studio Pierrot), (d. 2007). January 12: Long John Baldry, English-Canadian singer and voice actor (voice of Dr. Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Mistle Toad in Toad Patrol, Komplex in Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars), (d. 2005). January 21: Victoria Carroll, American actress (voice of Amelia Chronos in The Mask: Animated Series, Fortius in Izzy's Quest for Olympic Gold, Grace in the TaleSpin episode "Waiders of the Lost Treasure", Pomona in the Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers episode "Dirty Rotten Diapers", Boom Boom Beagle in the DuckTales episode "The Good Muddahs", She-Hulk in The Incredible Hulk episode "Enter: She-Hulk", Kangaroo Waitress in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo episode "Scooby in Kwackyland"). January 22: Rintaro, Japanese director (Galaxy Express 999, Metropolis). January 24: Gary K. Wolf, American author (Who Framed Roger Rabbit). January 31: Gerald McDermott, American film director, children's book writer and illustrator, (d. 2012). Ron Thompson, American actor (voice of Tony and Pete in American Pop, Cops in Last Days of Coney Island), (d. 2024).Ron Thompson Dies: Actor In ‘Baretta’ And Ralph Bakshi's ‘American Pop’ Was 83 Jessica Walter, American actress (voice of Ashley Walker-Club-Dupree in The Magic School Bus, Demoness in The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Old One in The Land Before Time, Malory Archer in Archer, Mrs. Wyatt in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Tabitha in Turbo: F.A.S.T., Miss Heinous in Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Granny Goodness in Harley Quinn, Athena in the Justice League Action episode "The Trouble With Truth"), (d. 2021).
February February 11: Sergio Mendes, Brazilian musician (voice of Samba School Director in Rio, Street Vendor in Rio 2, composed songs for both films), (d. 2024).
March March 5: Errol Le Cain, English children's book illustrator and animator (worked for Richard Williams), (d. 1989).Obituary tribute by Phyllis Hunt in Books for Keeps Issue 55 March 9: Tsutomu Shibayama, Japanese anime director (Doraemon, Ranma ½), animator (God Mazinger) and storyboard artist (Doraemon, Ranma ½), (d. 2026).‘Doraemon’ director Tsutomu Shibayama dies at 84亜細亜堂「ドラえもん」「ど根性ガエル」など国民的アニメを数多く手がけた芝山努さん死去 84歳 日刊スポーツ March 16: Chuck Woolery, American game show host and musician (voiced himself in The Cleveland Show episode "Love Rollercoaster"), (d. 2024).Chuck Woolery, Host of ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Love Connection,’ Dies at 83 March 23: Zsolt Richly, Hungarian animator (Pannonia Film Studio, A Kockásfülű nyúl), (d. 2020).