Revision 40025028 of "Jerry Beck" on enwiki

'''Jerry Beck''' (born [[February 9]], [[1955]]) is a well known [[Animated cartoon|animation]] historian, with ten books and numerous articles to his credit. He is also an animation producer, an industry consultant, and has been an executive with [[Nickelodeon (TV channel)|Nickelodeon]] and [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]].

==Biography==
After high school, Beck studied at The [[School of Visual Arts]] in [[New York City]] intent on becoming a great animator. But his interest in animation's history led him to working with [[Leonard Maltin]], becoming his 'research associate' on the landmark book, ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. In the course of doing this work, Beck became well versed in the histories and films of every Hollywood cartoon studio.

===Early Career===
Beck began his career in the film industry at [[United Artists]] in [[1978]], working with the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM/UA]] film library as a salesman in the non-theatrical division.

In [[1981]], Beck teamed with colleague Will Friedwald to produce the filmography ''The Warner Bros. Cartoons''. In [[1984]] Beck joined [[Orion Pictures|Orion Classics]], becoming an expert at theatrical distribution.

===Expanded Entertainment===
His interest in animation and knowledge of film distribution brought him to the attention of Terry Thoren's [[Expanded Entertainment]] in [[1986]]. With Beck's expertise, Expanded began distributing ''The International Tournee of Animation'', ''The Festival of Claymation'' and ''The Puppetoon Movie'' to theatres across the U.S.

At Expanded, Beck helped organize two animation festivals ([[Los Angeles Animation Celebration]] [[1987]] & [[1989]]) and was instrumental in the creation of [[Animation Magazine]]. In addition to his writing for Animation Magazine, Beck has contributed to [[Variety]], [[Hollywood Reporter]], Video Business, The Whole Toon Catalog, Animation Blast, [[Animato]], Wild Cartoon Kingdom and the on-line Animation World Magazine.

===Warner Brothers===
Beck reteamed with Will Friedwald to update and revise their [[Warner Bros.]] cartoon history as ''Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons'' in [[1989]]. Beck has also written ''I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat: 50 Years of Sylvester and Tweety'', ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons'', and co-authored (again with Will Friedwald) ''Warner Bros. Animation Art'' in 1997. Beck is also a contributing editor to ''Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide'' and Maltin's ''Family Film Guide''

===Teacher===
Recognized as an authority on animation, Beck taught a nine week course at the UCLA Extension on "Animation: The State Of The Art" in [[1992]] and conducted seminars on "The History of the Hollywood Cartoon" for the [[American Film Institute]] in [[1994]]. In [[1995]] Beck taught "The History of Animation" at NYU and in the spring of [[1996]] taught "Promotion for Animation" at the [[School of Visual Arts]]. He was a founding member of the [[Cartoon Network]] advisory board in [[1993]], and serves on the board of directors of ASIFA-Hollywood (The [[International Animated Film Society]]).

===The 1990s===
In the 1990s, Beck co-produced a successful series of laser disc compilations for MGM/UA Home Video, which included ''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'', ''The Complete Tex Avery'' and ''The Art of Tom & Jerry''; and he has programmed over 100 video tape collections. He has been an animation consultant to [[Walt Disney Home Video]], [[Warner Home Video]], [[Rhino Records]] and [[Republic Entertainment]] (curating the best-selling ''[[Betty Boop]]: The Definitive Collection'').

More recently, Beck compiled the 15 volume sets of ''Looney Tunes: The Collector’s Edition'' and ''Woody Woodpecker and Friends: The Collectors Edition'' for Columbia House. He also co-produced ''Somewhere in Dreamland: The Definitive Max Fleischer Color Classics'' for VCI Entertainment. He is now a consulting producer for the annual DVD compilation ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection''.

===Streamline Pictures===
In [[1989]], Beck partnered with producer Carl Macek to form [[Streamline Pictures]]. Streamline was the first company devoted to importing Japanese animation and distributing anime to North American theatres, television and home video. Among Streamline's many titles were ''[[Akira (film)|Akira]]'', ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'', ''[[Nadia]]'', ''[[Wicked City]]'', ''[[Robotech]]'', and ''[[Robot Carnival]]''. Beck also co-produced the [[1993]] Fox English language version of ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'' and compiled ''[[Speed Racer|Speed Racer: The Movie]]'' for Family Home Entertainment.

Beck parted with Streamline in [[1993]] to pursue other areas of animation. He became Executive Producer of ''[[The Baby Huey Show]]'' for [[Harvey Entertainment|The Harvey Entertainment Co.]] Beck then joined [[Nickelodeon Movies]] as Vice President of Animation, under a three year contract. At Nickelodeon, Beck was instrumental in developing ''[[The Rugrats Movie]]'', ''[[Mighty Mouse]]'' and ''[[The Stinky Cheese Man]]''.

===Late 1990s===
From September [[1997]] through April [[1998]], Beck had an exclusive consulting and development deal with [[Walt Disney Television Animation]]. Also in [[1997]], Beck formed [[Cartoon Research Co.]] to write books, consult on animation projects, compile [[Compact disc|CD]]'s, [[DVD]]'s and home video products, supply cartoon stock footage and develop new features and TV series.

In [[1999]], Beck produced ''Totally Tooned In'' for [[Columbia TriStar Television|Columbia Tri-Star International Television]], a 65 episode series that restored the Columbia theatrical cartoon library; and for [[Cartoon Network]] wrote and co-produced the special ''Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons''.

Beck was co-Creator, co-Producer and co-writer of [[Karen and Kirby]] for Warner Bros. TV Animation. 13 Karen & Kirby interstitials were produced and were shown on Kids WB's ''The Big Cartoonie Show''.

===Writer===
Beck was the West Coast Bureau Chief for ''[[KidScreen]]'' magazine for one year (July [[2000]] through July [[2001]]), and co-wrote the Cartoon Network special ''Toonheads: The Wartime Cartoons'' (which aired 7/1/01 and recieved a huge 2.3 rating). Beck also co-wrote ''Toonheads: The 12 Missing Hares'' and ''Toonheads: The Worst Cartoons Ever'' (both projects were shelved). In 2002, Beck became a writer/producer for Rubberbug Animation, which produced an award winning educational DVD project named ''algebra'school''.

Beck had two more books published in [[2003]]: ''Outlaw Animation'' and ''Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide''.

In [[2004]], Beck was General Editor of Animation Art, and wrote two more books which were published in 2005: ''The Animated Movie Guide'' and ''Pink Panther: the Ultimate Visual Guide''.

===Current activities===
Beck is currently producing an animated pilot, ''[[Hornswiggle]]'', for [[Frederator Studios]] and Nickelodeon; is a programming consultant to Warner Bros. Home Video; and has resumed writing and producing for [[Rubberbug Animation]].

Jerry Beck married Marea Boylan on [[June 15]], [[2003]]. They reside in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]], [[Los Angeles]], [[California]].

==External links==
* [http://www.cartoonresearch.com Jerry Beck's website Cartoon Research.com] 
* [http://www.cartoonbrew.com Jerry Beck's blog]

[[Category:1955 births|Beck, Jerry]]
[[Category:Living people|Beck, Jerry]]
[[Category:Disney executives|Beck, Jerry]]