Dan Gordon (animator)

Dan Gordon
Died	1970
Nationality	American
Area(s)	animator, artist
Pseudonym(s)	Dang
Notable works	Popeye the Sailor cartoons Superman (1940s cartoons) Superkatt Cookie O’Toole

Dan Gordon (died 1970) was an American storyboard artist and film director, best known for his work at both Famous Studios and Hanna-Barbera Productions. Gordon was one of Famous' first directors, and he wrote and directed several Popeye the Sailor and Superman cartoons. Later, at Hanna-Barbera, Gordon worked on several cartoons featuring Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and others.

In the late 1940s, “funny animals” and “teen humor” were two of the most popular categories in the ever growing world of comic books. Gordon specialized in both genres and combined the two in the world’s first funny-animal teen-humor title. When he created comic books, he used the pen name "Dang."

Dan Gordon began his animation career as a story man at New York’s Van Beuren Studios, and by 1936 he was receiving a director’s credit there. When Van Beuren went under, Gordon and many of his colleagues went to work for Paul Terry’s Terrytoons. It was here that Gordon worked with Joe Barbera (another Van Beuren alum) on Pink Elephants, a cartoon that Barbera described as one of "... the first cartoons I had a hand in actually creating from the beginning.”

Gordon and Barbera headed out west to MGM in 1937, but Gordon bolted back to the East shortly thereafter to help re-write the troubled Gulliver’s Travels animated feature film at Fleischer Brothers Studios. Gordon’s rewrites couldn’t save much of Gulliver, but Gordon was instrumental in the success of the Fleischer Studios’ next hit: the 1941 Superman theatrical animated shorts.

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