Fred Quimby

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Frederick C. "Fred" Quimby (July 31, 1883[1] - September 16, 1965) was the producer in charge of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, which most notably included the Tom and Jerry team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and Tex Avery.

He was born in Minneapolis, and became first a journalist and then, in 1907, manager of a film theatre in Missoula, Montana. He then worked at Pathe, rising to become a member of the board of directors before leaving in 1921 to become an independent producer. He was hired by Fox in 1924, and then MGM in 1927. By the mid-1930s he had become head of the animated films department at MGM.[2]

In 1938 William Hanna and Joseph Barbera presented their project for a series of cartoons featuring a cat and a mouse to Quimby, who let them go ahead and complete the project.[2] The result was "Puss Gets The Boot", nominated for an Academy Award. As producer, he became a repeated recipient of the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for the Tom and Jerry films, and his name became well known due to its prominence in the cartoon credits. However, it was said of him that, "unfortunately for a cartoon producer, [he had] no sense of humor to call upon... He knew nothing of animation and cartoons "were a strange thing to him." Cast in the role of high school principal opposite the animators' boyish enthusiasms, he acted as liaisons between them and the front office, usually it seemed, turning down requests for bigger budgets, raises and special dispensations of funds."[3]

He retired from MGM in 1955, with Hanna and Barbera assuming his role as co-heads of the studio. MGM's cartoon division did not last long after; it was closed in 1957. Fred Quimby died in Santa Monica, California in 1965.

Quimby is affectionately namechecked in The Simpsons in the surname of Mayor Quimby and explicitly as his nephew Freddy Quimby. Itchy and Scratchy are also a pastiche on the exaggerated violence of Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Contents

  1. ^ A minority of sources give an alternative birth date of 1886.
  2. ^ a b http://www.lafn.org/~snakebite/tomandjerry/creators.html
  3. ^ http://www.tomandjerryonline.com/synopsis.cfm Similar opinions are expressed elsewhere, eg at http://www.animationshow.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1766.

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