Bobe Cannon

Robert “Bobe” Cannon (1909-1964) is somebody we don’t talk about nearly often enough on Cartoon Brew. I write about Cannon in greater depth in my upcoming book on 50s animation design, but here’s something I noticed about his work the other day. The image on the left is from a scene that Bobe Cannon animated in Tex Avery’s LITTLE RURAL RIDING HOOD (1949). The image on right is a layout drawing by Cannon from the first Columbia theatrical he directed at UPA, THE MINER’S DAUGHTER (1950). So much is made of Cannon’s dislike for Avery-style humor, but this is an interesting visual example that shows even while working with Avery’s characters and gags, he found opportunities to pursue his own unique graphic style of drawing and movement. On a sidenote, it’s worth mentioning that Italian animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi has been working on an in-depth biography of Bobe Cannon. I don’t think there’s any release date set for his book, but it promises to shed a lot of light on the life and career of this great animator-director.