Jack Hannah

Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. After attending grammar school in Nogales, Arizona and high school in National City, California, he moved to Los Angeles in 1931 to study at the Art Guild Academy. One of his first jobs was designing movie posters for Hollywood theaters for the advertising firm Foster & Kleiser. In 1933, during the Great Depression, Hannah dropped off his portfolio at Walt Disney Studios, and soon afterward was hired as an in-between and clean-up artist, working on Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Silly Symphony cartoons.^[2]

Hannah's career as an animator commenced with the short Modern Inventions (released on May 29, 1937). After thirteen films in that capacity, he was assigned to the story department writing cartoon short continuities, beginning with Donald's Nephews (released on April 15, 1938). He received writing credit on 21 Disney cartoon shorts.

In 1942, he collaborated with Carl Barks on the first two comic books Barks worked on, Pluto Saves the Ship and Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold. Hannah in subsequent years did a handful of other Donald Duck comic book stories^[3] but, unlike Barks, he stayed at the studio and eventually was given a chance to be a director. The short Donald's Off Day (released on December 8, 1944) was the first of 94 films he would direct. These include most of the shorts featuring Donald Duck in the post-war era along with all starring Chip 'n' Dale and Humphrey the Bear; he also directed some shorts starring Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Pluto and some minor Disney characters such as Lambert the Sheepish Lion.

After Disney stopped producing animated shorts, Hannah did 14 episodes of the Walt Disney anthology television series (composed of footage from the classic cartoons along with new linking material) and fulfilled his ambition to direct live-action by handling Walt Disney's introductions for the episodes. Hannah hoped to segue into a career in live-action but "Walt had me pegged as an animation director so he balked at the suggestion. We had a few heated discussions and I became aware that I had come to an impasse."^[4] Hannah eventually left for Walter Lantz Productions in 1960 and directed a number of films featuring Woody Woodpecker; most of the Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy, and Dynamo Doc shorts directed by Hannah had music by former-Warner Bros. composer and songwriter Eugene Poddany, who composed the shorts from 1960 to 1962, replaced by Darrell Calker, who composed from 1961 to 1964, and Clarence Wheeler who composed for Lantz from 1950 to 1967, and one short directed by Jack Hannah had Walter Greene as composer and Charles Mintz veteran Sid Marcus as director entitled Greedy Gabby Gator (released on January 1, 1963) and some minor characters. Besides directing shorts, Hannah also was assistant director for the television series The Woody Woodpecker Show, which began airing on October 3, 1957. "I did more or less the same thing that I did with Walt Disney in directing live-action except Lantz was better at taking direction."^[4] For his final days at Lantz, his shorts needed animation by Art Davis until he left in April 1963. His last directing effort was the short Charlie's Mother in Law (released on April 16, 1963). He retired shortly thereafter and replaced by Sid Marcus, who co-directed the Woody Woodpecker short Greedy Gabby Gator, released in 1963 with Jack Hannah as co-director with Sid Marcus, who directed at Lantz until 1967.

In 1975, Hannah was one of the co-founders, along with T. Hee, of the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts.

Hannah was honored as a "Disney Legend" in 1992. Jack Hannah is often credited with developing, if not creating, the personality of the animated version of Donald Duck. It is for this reason Disney historian Jim Korkis has dubbed him "Donald Duck's Other Daddy." Despite that, Hannah has often been noted for being responsible for Donald's most formulaic period, where constantly paired Donald with pint-sized antagonists. The most famous of these antagonists are Chip 'n Dale, but other characters included Spike the Bee, Bootle Beetle and a colony of ants. These vermin became the focus of their shorts, relegating Donald to a supporting foil role with a consequent personality diminution.

Hannah died from cancer in Burbank, California on June 11, 1994, at age 81. He is survived by his wife and two children.^[1]

Films

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Credits	Notes
1934	Servants' Entrance	animator
	Gulliver Mickey	animator
1936	Toby Tortoise Returns	animator
	Donald and Pluto	animator
	The Country Cousin	animator
1937	Don Donald	animator
	Woodland Café	animator
	Modern Inventions	animator
	The Old Mill	animator
	Donald's Ostrich	animator
1938	Self Control	animator
	Donald's Better Self	story and animation
	Donald's Nephews	story and animation
	Donald's Golf Game	animator
	Good Scouts	animator
1939	Sea Scouts	animator
	Donald's Penguin	animator
	Donald's Lucky Day	story and animation
	The Hockey Champ	story and animation
	Donald's Cousin Gus	story
	Beach Picnic	story
1940	Mr. Duck Steps Out	story
	Donald's Vacation	story and animation
	Window Cleaners	story
	Fire Chief	story
1941	Timber	story
	Golden Eggs	story
	Early to Bed	story
	Truant Officer Donald	story
	Old MacDonald Duck	story
	Chef Donald	story
1942	Sky Trooper	story
	The Army Mascot	story
	Donald Gets Drafted	story
	Donald's Snow Fight	animator
	Bellboy Donald	story
	Donald's Garden	animator
	Out of the Frying Pan and into the Firing Line	animator
1943	Home Defense	story
	The Old Army Game	story
1944	Trombone Trouble	story
	Donald Duck and the Gorilla	story
	Commando Duck	story	Last WWII Donald Duck cartoon.
	The Plastics Inventor	story
	Donald's Off Day	director	The first theatrical cartoon to be directed by Jack Hannah.
1945	The Eyes Have It	director
	No Sail	director
1946	Double Dribble	director
	Squatter's Rights	director
	A Knight for a Day	director
	Lighthouse Keeping	director
	Frank Duck Brings 'em Back Alive	director
1947	Clown of the Jungle	director
	Bootle Beetle	director
	Straight Shooters	director
	Chip an' Dale	director
	Foul Hunting	director
1948	They're Off	director	Last Goofy cartoon to be directed by Jack Hannah.
	Daddy Duck	director
	Inferior Decorator	director
	Soup's On	director
	Three for Breakfast	director
	Tea for Two Hundred	director
1949	All in a Nutshell	director
	Slide, Donald, Slide	director
	Honey Harvester	director
	Donald's Happy Birthday	director
	Winter Storage	director
	The Greener Yard	director
	Sea Salts	director
	Toy Tinkers	director
1950	Lion Around	director	Debut of Louie the Mountain Lion.
	Crazy Over Daisy	director	Jack Hannah's only such cartoon to feature Daisy Duck.
	Trailer Horn	director
	Hook, Lion and Sinker	director
	Bee at the Beach	director
	Out on a Limb	director
1951	Chicken in the Rough	director
	Dude Duck	director
	Test Pilot Donald	director
	Corn Chips	director
	Lucky Number	director
	Out of Scale	director
	Bee on Guard	director
1952	Two Chips and a Miss	director
	Lambert the Sheepish Lion	director
	Donald Applecore	director
	Let's Stick Together	director
	Uncle Donald's Ants	director
	Trick or Treat	director
	Pluto's Christmas Tree	director
1953	Don's Fountain of Youth	director
	The New Neighbor	director
	Rugged Bear	director	Jack Hannah's first cartoon starring Humphrey the Bear.
	Working for Peanuts	director
	Canvas Back Duck	director
1954	Spare the Rod	director
	Dragon Around	director
	Grin and Bear It	director	Debut of Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore.
	The Flying Squirrel	director
1955	No Hunting	director and voice (of Moose)	Jack Hannah's first cartoon in CinemaScope, as well as his only CinemaScope cartoon without Humphrey involved.
	Bearly Asleep	director
	Beezy Bear	director	Final pairing with Donald and Humphrey in the Golden age of American animation.
	Up a Tree	director	Last Donald Duck cartoon to be directed by Jack Hannah, as well as Jack Hannah's last Disney cartoon not filmed in CinemaScope. Jack Hannah's last cartoon starring Chip 'n' Dale.
1956	Hooked Bear	director	First solo Humphrey cartoon.
	3D Jamboree	director	the "Working for Peanuts" short
	In the Bag	director	Jack Hannah's last Disney cartoon, as well as his last one to be filmed in CinemaScope. Second and last solo Humphrey cartoon.
1959	Bric's Stew	story	Only UPA cartoon ever written by Jack Hannah.
1960	Donald Duck and his Companions	story and animation
	Freeloading Feline	director and story	Jack Hannah's first cartoon made at Walter Lantz Productions. First solo Doc cartoon ever produced.
	Hunger Strife	director	Debut of Fatso the Bear. Jack Hannah's first cartoon to feature Inspector Willoughby, though he was characterized as a park ranger.
	Southern Fried Hospitality	director	First Woody Woodpecker cartoon to be directed by Jack Hannah. Debut of Gabby Gator.
	Jungle Medics	director and story
1961	Poop Deck Pirate	director
	Eggnapper	director	Last time that Inspector Willoughby was defined as a park ranger. Jack Hannah's last cartoon starring Inspector Willoughby.
	Gabby's Diner	director
	Clash and Carry	director	First Chilly Willy cartoon to be directed by Jack Hannah. Jack Hannah's first cartoon starring Wally Walrus.
	Bear and the Bees	director	Last appearance of Fatso the Bear. The only time that Fatso appeared without Inspector Willoughby.
	Franken-Stymied	director	Jack Hannah's second and last Woody Woodpecker cartoon without Gabby Gator in it.
	Tricky Trout	director	Jack Hannah's last cartoon starring Wally Walrus.
	Tin Can Concert	director and story	Only Doc cartoon without Champ in it.
	Doc's Last Stand	director
	Woody's Kook-Out	director
1962	Rock-a-Bye Gator	director
	Pest of Show	director
	Mackerel Moocher	director	Jack Hannah's first Chilly Willy cartoon without Wally Walrus in it.
	Fowled-Up Birthday	director
	Rocket Racket	director
	Mother's Little Helper	director
	Voo-Doo Boo-Boo	director	Last Woody Woodpecker cartoon to be directed by Jack Hannah.
	Punchy Pooch	director
	Corny Concerto	director	Last time where Doc appeared in.
1963	Fish and Chips	director	Jack Hannah's last theatrical cartoon, as well as his only one to feature Smedley Dog.

Close

TV series

• Disneyland (1954–79)
  • The Donald Duck Story (director and story; 1954)
  • Adventures of Mickey Mouse (director; 1955)
  • At Home with Donald Duck (director; 1956)
  • The Great Cat Family (segment director; 1956)
  • Where Do the Stories Come From? (director; 1956)
  • On Vacation (director; 1956)
  • A Day in the Life of Donald Duck (director;1956)
  • Duck for Hire (director; 1957)
  • Donald's Award (director; 1957)
  • All About Magic (sequence director; 1957)
  • Your Host, Donald Duck (director;1957)
  • From All of Us to All of You (director; 1958)
  • Four Tales on a Mouse (director: Christmas sequence; 1958)
  • Donald's Weekend (director; 1958)
  • Highway to Trouble (director;1959)
  • Duck Flies Coop (director; 1959)
  • Two Happy Amigos (director;1960)
  • This Is Your Life Donald Duck (director;1960)
  • Kids Is Kids (segment director; 1961)
  • A Square Peg in a Round Hole (segment director; 1963)
  • The Ranger of Brownstone (sequence director; 1968)
  • Baseball Fever (director; 1979) (archive footage only)^[5]
• The Woody Woodpecker Show (1957–58)
• Matty's Funday Funnies (TV series) (1962; story)