Editing Hanna-Barbera (section)

===''Tom and Jerry'' and birth of a company (1938–1957)===
[[William Hanna|William Denby "Bill" Hanna]] and [[Joseph Barbera|Joseph Roland "Joe" Barbera]] met at the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] (MGM) studio in 1938, while working at its [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio|animation unit]]. Having worked at other studios since the early 1930s, they solidified a six-decade working partnership. ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' came about in 1941, but the title characters originally debuted in ''[[Puss Gets the Boot]]'', the team's first collaborative success, in 1940. The series centered on the madcap comical adventures of a cat and a mouse.

Hanna supervised the animation,{{sfn|Barbera|1994|p=83–84}} while Barbera did the stories and pre-production. Seven of the 114 cartoons won seven Oscars for [[Academy Award for Animated Short Film|"Best Short Subject (Cartoons)"]] between 1943 and 1953, and five additional shorts were nominated for twelve awards during this period. However, they were awarded to producer [[Fred Quimby]], who was not involved in the development of the shorts.{{sfn|Barbera|1994|p=207}}{{rp|83–84}}

Sequences for ''[[Anchors Aweigh (film)|Anchors Aweigh]]'', ''[[Dangerous When Wet]]'' and ''[[Invitation to the Dance (film)|Invitation to the Dance]]'' and shorts ''Swing Social'', ''[[Gallopin' Gals]]'', ''The Goose Goes South'', ''[[Officer Pooch]]'', ''[[War Dogs (1943 film)|War Dogs]]'' and ''[[Good Will to Men]]'' were also made. With Quimby's retirement in May 1955, Hanna and Barbera became the producers in charge of the MGM animation studio's output.{{sfn|Barrier|2003|pp=547–548}}

In addition to continuing to write and direct new ''Tom & Jerry'' shorts, now in [[CinemaScope]], Hanna and Barbera supervised the last seven shorts of [[Tex Avery]]'s ''[[Droopy]]'' series and produced and directed the short-lived ''[[Spike and Tyke]]'', which ran for two entries. In addition to their work on the cartoons, the two men moonlighted on outside projects, including title sequences and commercials for ''[[I Love Lucy]]''.<ref name="jbarberainterviewvideo">{{Cite video |people=[[Leonard Maltin]] |title=Interview with Joseph Barbera |medium=Digital |publisher=[[Archive of American Television]] |date=1997 |url=https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/joseph-barbera}}</ref>

MGM decided in mid-1957 to close its cartoon studio, as it felt it had acquired a reasonable backlog of shorts for re-release.{{sfn|Barrier|2003|pp=547–548}} While contemplating their future, Hanna and Barbera began producing additional animated television commercials.{{sfn|Barrier|2003|pp=560–562}} During their last year at MGM, they had developed a concept for a new animated television program about a cat and a dog.{{sfn|Barrier|2003|pp=560–562}}

After failing to convince the studio to back their venture, [[George Sidney]], who had worked with Hanna and Barbera on several of his movies for MGM, offered to serve as their business partner and convinced [[Screen Gems#Television subsidiary (1948–1974)|Screen Gems]] to make a deal with the producers.<ref name="HannaRuffReddy" /> A coin toss gave Hanna precedence in naming the new studio. [[Harry Cohn]], president and head of Columbia Pictures, took an 18% ownership in '''H-B Enterprises''',<ref name=" HannaRuffReddy" /> and provided working capital.

Screen Gems became the new distributor and its licensing agent, handling merchandizing of the characters from the animated programs<ref name="Rogers" /> as the cartoon firm officially opened for business in rented offices on the lot of [[Jim Henson Company Lot|Kling Studios]] (formerly [[Jim Henson Company Lot#Chaplin Studios (1919–1952)|Charlie Chaplin Studios]])<ref name="jbarberainterviewvideo" /> on July 7, 1957, one year after the MGM animation studio closed.{{sfn|Barrier|2003|pp=560–562}}

[[File:Hanna-Barbera.svg|right|thumb|Logo used from 1957 to 1959]]

Sidney and several Screen Gems alumni became members of the studio's board of directors and much of the former MGM animation staff—including animators [[Carlo Vinci]], [[Kenneth Muse]], Lewis Marshall, [[Michael Lah]] and [[Ed Barge]] and layout artists [[Ed Benedict]] and [[Richard Bickenbach]]—became the new production staff{{sfn|Barrier|2003|pp=560–562}} while [[Hoyt Curtin]] was in charge of providing the music.