August 1, 1949…The First Made For TV Cartoon Debuts
August 1, 1949…The First Made For TV Cartoon Debuts
“Crusader Rabbit” was the first animated series produced specifically for television. The limited animation concept was test marketed in 1948, while the initial episode (below), aired on KNBH (now KNBC) in Los Angeles on August 1, 1949.
“Crusader Rabbit” was the brainchild of Alex Anderson, the nephew of animator Paul Terry. Terry, a former newspaper cartoonist, founded animation studio Terrytoons, where he created “Mighty Mouse” in 1942. More importantly, Terry pioneered the techniques of limited animation for television, allowing his studio to compete with better-funded rivals like Disney.
When Anderson saw a television for the first time, he realized his uncle’s cheap, fast techniques might make it feasible to move animation into the new medium. Terry was uninterested with Anderson’s pitch of an animated TV show…or, more accurately, worried that Terrytoons’ theatrical distribution partner Fox would drop them if they started doing business in the threatening new medium, so Anderson returned to Berkeley and set out on his own.
While working with his uncle at Terrytoons, Anderson had pitched a character called “Donkey Hote” that was passed on by animators who didn’t want to draw donkeys. Anderson changed the character to an easier-to-draw rabbit, but kept the idea of Quixote, and “Crusader Rabbit” was born.
Since the character was unnaturally bold for a rabbit, he paired him with an unnaturally cowardly tiger named Rags. His uncle let him keep the characters for his new venture.
To get Crusader and Rags on television, he teamed up with Jay Ward, a classmate and friend of his going back to grammar school. Ward had returned West from Harvard Business School with plans to get into real estate but was hit by a truck on his new venture’s first day. Anderson approached him while he was convalescing with the idea that they could form an animation studio together, Ward handling the business and Anderson handling the animation.
The studio they formed was Television Arts Producers. Producer Jerry Fairbanks originally landed the show at NBC, but the network eventually passed, which meant Fairbanks sold it piecemeal to affiliates. The first one to bite was KNBH in Los Angeles (now KNBC), and on Aug. 1, 1949, audiences were introduced to Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger.
Of course, Anderson couldn’t afford the kind of animation that made the Disney shorts work. Each episode is no more than five minutes long, with 10 to 15 episodes making up a single crusade, and, frame to frame, looks more like a comic strip than motion animation.
In some markets, “Crusader Rabbit” was dropped into shows like Romper Room, so, because there was no guarantee that audiences would see the episodes in order, each episode begins with gradually longer and longer recaps, and by the end of a crusade, more than half of the show is recaps. Which, of course, means that half of the show was already animated.
After 195 episodes, the show collapsed in lawsuits: Jerry Fairbanks had borrowed production money from NBC and not repaid it; NBC foreclosed on the show without letting Anderson or Ward know. Another studio bought Television Arts and, with it, the rights to the character, producing more episodes (in color, this time) in 1956.
As Crusader Rabbit collapsed, Anderson and Ward created two new characters that would later meet with lasting success: “Rocky and Bullwinkle”.
Rocky and Bullwinkle’s future, like Crusader Rabbit’s, was litigious: Ward registered them for copyright in his name alone, and Anderson had to sue his heirs to be recognized as the co-creator.
“Rocky and Bullwinkle”, like many shows to follow, was hailed for being ahead of its time in its use of sophisticated jokes, but “Crusader Rabbit” got there first. Without it, animated shows aimed entirely at adults, might never have come about. -Bobby Ellerbee
Jay Ward’s Crusader Rabbit – Crusade 1 / Episode 1. Like to see more?
Rhino Records “ALMOST” had the entire Crusader Rabbit series ready for video tape release because they thought that it had fallen into public domain. But somebody popped up claiming they had the current copyrights for the series and put a stop to it. But not before three of the Crusader stories were already out in the market place. So to the people that bought those first episodes on VHS tape have a collector item for sure. The current Crusader copyright holder’s are hording them, for what! I don’t know. All the people that would be interested in collecting them are all close to check out time. They could’ve made a nice piece of change on releasing them. Never understand the thinking behind the way some people do that kind of stuff.
Thanks Bobby….great read…
I remember the music but I cannot remember anything of this cartoon. Unlike “Cecil and Beany”
“wipe out the entire state of texas”
Never missed it
One of my favorites.
Thanks for posting this – pre-Internet, I’d try to tell people (even my own age) about having seen re-runs on TV, and they’d ask me what I’d been smoking. Also great for a trivia question answer
I visited The Bullwinkle Emporium shortly before Jay Ward died. It was a fantastic place. Some of the earlier artists were still there turning out cell art for willing customers like myself. What fun.
I remember watching Crusader Rabbit when. I was a kid in the 1950s. Rocky and Bullwinkle have always been my favorites.
Really great story
And the VJ was born.
I’ve never seen a more artistic use of gate weave. Makes it look almost alive!
Used to have several complete shows on 16mm film. Early Jerry Fairbanks prints. The jokes were really corny, but they got laughs!
16mm varable density soundtrack. You can tell the way the bass breaks up on the video.
Loved the series with Rags the Tiger!
Does anyone know who did the voice for Crusader? I have heard it many times on old time radio shows and for some reason I’ve always wondered if it was a real kid. Or for that matter male or female lol
Three Cheers For Ragland T. Tiger!
One of my favorites……..