Just back from a lovely lunchtime birthday bash for Joe Barbera (of "Hanna and…) who turned at least 92 a week or two ago. The "at least" is because a couple of animation historians in the back were quietly making the case that J.B. is actually older than his official bio ever claimed. I don't know that it matters. There couldn't have been any more reverence and respect in the hall than there was. The place was packed with associates, long-time and recent, who came to celebrate the life and longevity of the man who helped invent TV cartoons.
(By the way: In the photo above, that's Barbera on the left, Hanna on the right. I'm guessing 1965 or so.)
Present were folks who've known and worked with Barbera for years (Jerry Eisenberg and Iwao Takamoto both spoke) and a bevy of cartoon voice people: June Foray, Gary Owens, Lucille Bliss, John Stephenson, Casey Kasem, Janet Waldo, Frank Welker, Alan Oppenheimer and others. Most interesting to me was the vast quantity of writers and artists whose debt to Mr. Barbera was less direct. Yeah, he hired a lot of them or ran the company that did — but before that, his shows inspired them to want to be in the business and to develop their creative impulses into actual talents. The place was full of us.
In any case, it was an even grander turnout than they had for Mr. Barbera's alleged 91st birthday party last year. Tune in next year for a report on the 93rd, and the year after for the 94th. And the year after and the year after…