Ben Hardaway
| J. B. Hardaway | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Joseph Benson Hardaway May 21, 1895 Missouri |
| Died | February 5, 1957 (aged 61) Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer, director |
| Years active | 1933–1957 |
Joseph Benson "Ben/Bugs" Hardaway (May 21, 1895 – February 5, 1957) was an American storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer and director for several American animation studios during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He was sometimes credited as J. B. Hardaway, Ben Hardaway, Buggsy Hardaway and B. Hardaway.
He started his animation career working for the Kansas City Film Ad Service. He later worked for the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the Ub Iwerks Studio. He was hired by the Leon Schlesinger studio as a gagman for the Friz Freleng unit. He was promoted to director for seven Buddy animated shorts. Afterwards he resumed working as a gagman and storyman. Storymen started receiving film credits in 1937. His writing credits include Daffy Duck & Egghead and The Penguin Parade.
While at the Schlesinger/Warner Bros. studio during the late 1930s, Hardaway served as a storyman, and co-directed several Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts with Cal Dalton during Friz Freleng's three-year exodus to MGM. Leon Schlesinger needed a replacement for Freleng, and Hardaway's previous experience in the job resulted in his promotion. In 1938, Hardaway co-directed Porky's Hare Hunt, the first film to feature a rabbit. This as yet unnamed, embryonic rabbit was later named in an early model sheet as "Bugs' Bunny".
A new drawing of a redesigned rabbit had been requested by the story department as described by Virgil Ross, the animator of A Wild Hare in an interview published in Animato magazine issue #19.
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