George Gordon

George Gordon
Born	George Gordon September 2, 1906
Died	May 24th, 1986 (aged 79) Apple Valley, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Animator
Years active	1930–1984

George Gordon (September 2, 1906 – May 24, 1986) was an animator and animation director.

History

Terrytoons

In 1930, he found a job at Terrytoons as an animator on "Jesse and James" and "Farmer Al Falfa". Over the years of working there he gradually climbed up the ranks, and in 1936 got promoted to head of the animation department. He left the studio in 1937 to pursue a career at MGM.

MGM

As one of many of the people Fred Quimby poached from various studios, he started off on the failed "The Captain and the Kids" series. He would continue working on random projects until he worked on what would be the first Tom and Jerry short, "Puss Gets the Boot". After that short, and with it now being turned into a series, Gordon was moved to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's unit, where he worked on the T&J shorts from "The Midnight Snack" to "The Yankee Doodle Mouse". He left in 1943 to work on army films.

Post-MGM

In the 1950s, Gordon moved to John Sutherland Productions, he remained for a few years before going to UPA.

Hanna-Barbera

Like a lot of other veteran animators from the 30s-50s, he moved to the fledgling studio Hanna-Barbera and worked on cartoons there, until his retirement in 1984. He would pass away two years later.

Tom and Jerry

Style

His style remained virtually unchanged from 1940-1943, he was akin to a prototypical Ken Muse, not as fluent but definitely more so than the other animators. Here are some examples;

An example of an early version of his Tom, out of all the animators from 40-43 he was the one that did "pie-eyes" the most consistently.

From another short, Gordon was fond of having his mouth open with the teeth showing.

His 1942 design, notice the extra layer of polish, and the way the mouth is opened.

And here is his Jerry, his design is most notable for being the most consistent, always having pie eyes, and for its general cleanliness.

His Jerry in 1942 is more polished and finalized, though he is still consistently doing the pie eyes.

Shorts

1940

1. Puss Gets the Boot (uncredited on original print)

1941

1. The Midnight Snack (uncredited on original print)
2. The Night Before Christmas (uncredited on original print)

1942

1. Fraidy Cat (uncredited on original print)
2. Dog Trouble (uncredited on original print)
3. Puss n' Toots (uncredited on original print)
4. The Bowling Alley-Cat (uncredited on original print)
5. Fine Feathered Friend (credited on original print?)

1943

1. Sufferin' Cats! (credited)
2. The Lonesome Mouse (credited)
3. The Yankee Doodle Mouse (credited)