A Cast Of Friends

by Bill Hanna

For more than sixty years, Bill Hanna has made entertaining children and the young at heart his ”business.” In A Cast of Friends , he offers an engaging look at his decades in animation and at the people who helped make it all possible. Hanna shares his memories of the tough and wild years at the beginning of animation, working with such legendary colleagues as Tex Avery and Friz Freleng. He describes as only he can the hard work and determination it took to make Hanna-Barbera Productions a success, with unforgettable behind-the-scenes stories of Daws Butler, Alan Reed, Mel Blanc, Casey Kasem, and other voiceover magicians. Throughout it all, he was determined to be a family man with his wife and their two children, to live a life different from Hollywood standards—and this adds a singularly personal aspect to Hanna's very special insider's look at the history of animation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Tv, Memoir

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[Andrew Corsini · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Hanna's memoir is as wholesome as you would expect of the man behind The Flintstones, Top Cat, Tom Jerry as well as other hits. The book's chapters come with pleasing titles which have a font reminiscent of that from fifties diners. There's a small strain of conservatism evident in traditional upbringing but it stays mostly beneath the surface. He spends thousands of words on The Flintstones and begins the book likening himself to Fred the family patriarch, yet only has one chapter on Scooby-Doo. The book, while enjoyable throughout, is most interesting when Hanna touches upon the criticisms often made of the "limited imagination" his studio employed, and he comes to a rousing defence of such a format, arguing for its artistic integrity in a quiet and dignified way.
A warm and intelligent read.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Along with longtime partner Joe Barbera, William Hanna created The Flintstones, Yogi Bear and about a million interchangeable cartoons (remember Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels?) that sucked many a Saturday morning for the kiddie me. This book was a short, sometimes interesting look into the animation biz as he and Barbera adapted it to the TV age. Hanna was more of a businessman than a true creative, however, and it shows in the way he approaches this memoir. At times, his bland affirmations come across like a CEO addressing a stockholder meeting. The best segments are his early memories of working at Warner Bros. and MGM in the ’30s, developing a scruffy cat and mouse who would evolve into Tom & Jerry. By the time he gets to his time as a TV titan forty years on, he seems more content to rhapsodise about his boat or offer banal observations on family and aging. I wonder if Chuck Jones ever got this doddery in his twilight years?" - Scrubbles.net review, June 21, 2009.

[Stephen Cravak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Joe Barbera's autobiography, I was hoping for of Bill's side of the cartoon business. Unfortunately, most of the book mirrored precisely what Barbera had said, and Hanna went into vivid yet inspid details about his family and love for the outdoors. I've learned Mr. Hanna is a great human being, but now I know why Barbera was the primary story generator for Hanna-Barbera. Though, it's definitely worth the read for any animation fan.

[Judah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly focused on his personal life, there are quite a few errors within, which I will kindly credit to Hanna's age and shaky memory.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suspect this is my last book for the year. A Cast of Friends by Bill Hanna is, honestly, pretty vapid. It’s the life story of one of the founders of what was once the largest cartoon producer in the United States. Hanna-Barbera was a name and logo that many of us absorbed in our childhoods. The cartoons with household recognition (The Flintstones, The Jetsons, characters such as Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, and later, Scooby-Doo, and Johnny Quest) were Hanna-Barbera productions. Warner Bros. had the somewhat snappier Bugs Bunny and friends.

The story of Hanna’s life is here rather prosaically told. As I lament in my blog post (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World), there doesn’t seem to be much drama here. It’s a story told from success to success. There was the loss of a job when MGM closed down its cartoon department, but even this is described as not all bad.

There’s quite a bit of useful information about the early cartoon industry here, but the writing isn’t really that engaging. There are books that you sometimes pick up with a sense of resignation. You feel the need to finish it (this one’s just over 200 pages), but find it difficult to raise the enthusiasm for it. I’m sure lots of very hard work went into building Hanna-Barbera into what it was before becoming, ironically, part of Warner Bros. I feel that more of those struggles would’ve made this a more engaging life story.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading the other half of the legendary partnership, Joe Barbera's book. This is a very humble, avuncular account of Bill Hanna's life, including obviously the formation of Hanna-Barbera studios. It's truly staggering to read the filmography in the back of the book and I was left with a strong desire to rewatch the HB back catalog to revisit so many favorites of my youth. Highly recommended.

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable look into the life and work of cartoon director Bill Hanna. I would have liked more facts and history about the many Saturday morning cartoons that his company made. Overall, it's a fun look into the world of cartoon production. If you are a "toonhead" like I am, I think you will enjoy reading it.