Monday, August 08, 2005

Gene Hazelton


Gene Hazelton died in April of this year and although I don't remember his passing receiving a great deal of attention, here he is summed up in a nutshell by Local 839...

Hazelton took an entry-level job at Disney in 1939, where he animated the goat kids and cherubim in Fantasia and several sequences in Pinocchio. He moved to Warner Bros. after the 1941 strike, where he designed the infamous characters for Bob Clampett's "Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs". He worked at MGM on "Tom and Jerry" and with Tex Avery on his shorts, and he designed the "Sinbad the Sailor" sequence in Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance. Hazelton designed the animated title for I Love Lucy.

At Hanna-Barbera, Hazelton was credited with designing Pebbles and Bamm Bamm for The Flintstones. In the 1970s he took over writing and drawing the Flintstones and Yogi Bear comic strips. After he retired, he continued to draw Hanna-Barbera gallery art as well as dabbling in teaching.


Rest in peace Gene.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Growing up in Winnipeg, I can recall seeing his "Gas Genie" billboards lining various roadways. As a matter of fact, he and I made several attempts to revive the genie, but to no avail. He was, at one point, gracious enough to sketch for me an autographed picture of the Flintstones which will remain as one of my most prized possessions.

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking to him on numerous occasions and have a picture of him at his drawing board on my desk. He was a kind man...I shall miss him.

RIP, Gene.

K.B. said...

I love Gene Hazeltons work. Thanks for posting this.

Anonymous said...

Gene was my children's great grandfather. They only knew their great popi for a short time before he passed away. I did not realize how munch he contributed to the arts. My boys wanted to look him up on line and we started seeing all his wonderful works!

Unknown said...

I would love for you to see the home he bought from us in 1973, and the letter he wrote to us. The Marker children.. I didnt even realize his name was in here so much till I started research on the cartoons he had given us.

Anonymous said...

This will take you to the cartoons and the house.. I am new at blogging so please pay no attention to my misspellings..lol
I dont know how to edit real well yet. Thanks

Anonymous said...

This is it sorry. To see all of it, hopefully i have it right now.

Unknown said...

New comments on Gene Hazelton Blog. I receive an email from his son. Thought maybe you would like to see it.

Thankyou
Maggie