Steven Spielberg Bop Bag by Bruce Timm

Here's a caricature of Steven Spielberg as drawn with markers by Bruce Timm on the back of a Yogi Bear Bop Bag.  Circa 1992, back in the Tiny Toons/Batman era.   

The inflated version...it has been inflated since '92!

And below, the deflated version. 

 ....and signed by Bruce Timm. 

 

On the Lot -- Warner Bros. Animation --1993

Here's a group shot taken in early 1993.  

Following the success of Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz-Mania and Batman: the Animated Series, Warner Bros. Animation was embarking on its second collaboration with Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment:  Animaniacs. 

Pictured above are just a few of the people involved in these productions.   From left to right:  Bruce Timm (producer, designer -- Batman: the Animated Series), Terry Semel (Warner Bros. Co-Chairman & Co-CEO) , Kathleen Helppie (producer, Warner Bros. Classic Animation), Bob Daly (Warner Bros. Co-Chairman & Co-CEO),  Eric Radomski (producer, designer -- Batman: the Animated Series), Steven Spielberg (executive producer -- Tiny Toon Adventures & Animaniacs), Art Vitello, (director -- Tiny Toon Adventures; writer/producer -- Taz-Mania),  Jean MacCurdy (President of Warner Bros. Animation & executive in charge of production), Rich Arons (director -- Tiny Toon Adventures; producer -- Animaniacs), Sherri Stoner (writer/producer -- Tiny Toon Adventures & Animaniacs), Alan Burnett (writer/producer -- Batman: the Animated Series), and some guy named Tom Ruegger (writer/senior producer,  Tiny Toons & Animaniacs; writer/executive producer -- Batman: the Animated Series.)

Please note:  Many hundreds of other people -- not pictured above -- helped to make these shows successful.  

The People Who Made "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" -- Part One

Here's Part One in a gallery of some of the very talented people responsible for making Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.


Barry Caldwell

Barry Caldwell, director, designer and storyboard artist on both Animaniacs and Tiny Toons, is pictured here in his office at Warner Bros. Television Animation in Sherman Oaks, California, circa 1994. 

Among Barry's many achievements, his story board designs breathed new life into the personalities of Babs Bunny, Shirley the Loon, Fifi LaFume and Elmyra in many of the best Tiny Toon episodes, including "Prom-ise Her Anything" and "Fields of Honey."  

And Barry's boards and direction gave us some of our funniest and most memorable Animaniacs segments, including "Bumbie's Mom," "Sir Yaksalot," "Ragamuffins," "The Flame Returns" and "Puppet Rulers."  

 

Also on Animaniacs, Barry directed both the first Minerva Mink cartoon produced ("Meet Minerva") and the first Mindy and Buttons cartoon produced ("Cat on a Hot Steel Beam").


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The People Who Made "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" -- Part Two

Sherri Stoner

Sherri Stoner served as a writer, story-editor and producer on Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.  Here, she holds up one of the segment cards from Tiny Toons.

Sherri started writing cartoons with Babs Bunny's very first Tiny Toons script, "Debutante Devil," and Sherri hasn't stopped since.  She wrote a bunch of Tiny Toon episodes that have become fan-favorites, including "Hollywood Plucky," "Fields of Honey" and "Thirteen Something."  

In the photo above, Sherri stands in front of the Wall of Cards, which we used to build half-hour shows from various segments, each segment written up on an index card.  Sherri is holding up the card for the Tiny Toons segment "Milk It Makes A Body Spout."

By the way, directly behind Sherri is a Steven Spielberg Bop-Bag, drawn by Bruce Timm (on the back of a Yogi Bear Bop-Bag™.)   This sits in my office to this day, still fully inflated with 1992 air!  

On Animaniacs, Sherri not only helped write and produce the series, but provided the voice for one of the show's stars, the cranky octogenarian, Slappy Squirrel.  

Above, Sherri and fellow Tiny Toons story-editor Paul Dini  celebrate Easter 1991 by posing with the Easter Bunny at the Sherman Oaks Galleria.  Apparently, Paul was traumatized by the bunny and had a meltdown.  

"Batman: The Animated Series" Christmas Card -- 1992

This was the 1992 Christmas card sent out by Warner Bros. Animation.  "Batman:  the Animated Series" had premiered just a few months earlier.  This beautiful and funny holiday scene was created by Bruce Timm.   I had a few copies matted then sought out the autographs of some of the directors, writers and producers on the series.  

Tiny Toon Adventures vs. Batman: the Animated Series

Both "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Batman: the Animated Series" have won their fair share of Emmy Awards.  On a couple of occasions, the two shows wound up in competition for the same award.  After one of those skirmishes when the toons prevailed over the superhero, Bruce Timm drew up this beautiful piece, below.  

At Warner Bros. Animation ( and most other studios)  many artists would celebrate birthdays, holidays, major events, studio politics and other humorous moments of life by drawing up cartoons and caricatures of fellow workers.  Batman producer/director/designer Bruce Timm was and is one of the very best at these works of comic art, and his caricatures have always been brilliant.  His cartoons of Eddie Fitszgerald and Tom Minton were used as the initial rough facial models for Pinky and the Brain.  (We just added ears, white furry bodies and pink tails to Bruce's drawings of Eddie and Tom.)