Biography: Dan Gordon

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Birth/Death

Death: 1969

Occupation/Title

Director,Producer,Storyboard Artist, Writer,Sketch Artist,Layout Artist

Bio Summary

Daniel Gordon is best known for being a Storyboard Artist, director, and producer. His most well known work is with Famous Studios and Hanna-Barbara Productions. While working with famous in the 1930’s and 40’s, he wrote and directed many stories for such animations as “Popeye the Sailor” and the “Superman” serials. While working on ‘Popeye,’, instead of having Bluto and Olive Oyl, Popeye dealing with his nephews, a suicidal sailor, and the hungry goat. In the Gordon cartoons, the characters were more manic, energetic and frenzied, with Popeye usually being the bad guy instead of the protagonist in the Gordon cartoons.
Dan Gordon was also an illustrator/comic book artist. He produced many titles for the ACG that included ‘Anglepuss,’ ‘Blunderbunny,’ ‘Bungle of the Jungle,’ ‘Jitterbuck,’ ‘Hep,’ ‘Snooper,’ and the more famous works, ‘SuperKatt,’ and ‘Cookie.’ Gordon worked on these titles until 1953, which is perhaps the explanation for gaps in the timeline of his animation career, where he did not work for any major companies or on any popular titles for a few years.
Dan Gordon’s career had him work for Terrytoons, Fleischer, Van Beuren, Famous, and MGM in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. Then, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Gordon moved on to work for Hanna-Barbara Productions, where he worked on Storyboards and as a story director for the first Flintstones Episodes, and worked on other titles, such as ‘Hey There Yogi Bear,’ ‘The Adventures of Johnny Quest,’ and ‘The Huckleberry Hound Show.’
Dan Gordon also worked on stories for two live action movies, ‘The Showdown,’ and ‘The Mutineers.’

Early Life/Family

Education/Training

Career Outline

Writer (Famous Studios, Hanna-Barbara, Fleischer Studios)
Producer (Famous Studios)
Director (Famous Studios, Van Beuren Studios)
Story Director (Hanna-Barbara Productions)
Sketch Artist (Hanna-Barbara Productions)
Storyboard artist (Hanna-Barbara Productions)
Layout Artist (Hanna-Barbara Productions)
Character Designer (Van Beuren Studios)

Comments On Style

He has a very loose, cartoony style. This is something you do not see very often amongst new artists today. He makes his drawings fun, and loose, while maintaining an excellent understanding of perspective (in regards to his comic serials). His poses are full of mayhem and very lively, not stiff. His exaggeration and understanding of the human figure is unique, rare, and something that may reside only in the golden age of animation.

Influences

Personality

Anecdotes

Miscellaneous

Gordon developed stories for two live action movies, one western, ‘The Showdown’ and a Pirate Adventure ‘The Mutineers.’

Filmography

Writer:

Gulliver’s Travels (1939) (writer)
Way Back When a Razzberry Was a Fruit (1940) (writer)
Springtime in the Rock Age (1940) (writer)
Popeye Meets William Tell (1940) (story)
The Dandy Lion (1940) (writer)
The Constable (1940) (writer)
Popeye Meets Rip Van Winkle (1941) (story)
Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941) (adaptation) (story)
… aka Bugville (USA: alternative title)
… aka Hoppity Goes to Town (UK)
Fleets of Stren’th (1942) (story)
The Magnetic Telescope (1942) (writer)
Terror on the Midway (1942) (writer)
The Mutineers (1949) (story)
… aka Pirate Ship
The Showdown (1950) (story)
“Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks” (1958) TV series (writer)
“The Huckleberry Hound Show” (1958) TV series (unknown episodes)
“The Yogi Bear Show” (1961) TV series (unknown episodes)

Producer:

You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
Alona on the Sarong Seas (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
Japoteurs (1942) (producer)
Showdown (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
A Hull of a Mess (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
Scrap the Japs (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
Eleventh Hour (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
Me Musical Nephews (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
Destruction Inc. (1942) (producer) (uncredited)
Seein’ Red, White ‘n’ Blue (1943) (producer) (uncredited)
Too Weak to Work (1943) (producer) (uncredited)
Jungle Drums (1943) (producer) (uncredited)
The Underground World (1943) (producer) (uncredited)
The Hungry Goat (1943) (producer) (uncredited)
Happy Birthdaze (1943) (producer) (uncredited)
Secret Agent (1943) (producer) (uncredited)
The New Casper Cartoon Show(1963) TV series (producer) (1940’s theatrical cartoons)

Director:

It’s a Greek Life (1936)
You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap (1942)
Eleventh Hour (1942)
Seein’ Red, White ‘n’ Blue (1943)
Jungle Drums (1943)
A Jolly Good Furlough (1943)
The Hungry Goat (1943)
Happy Birthdaze (1943)
Moving Aweigh (1944) (uncredited)
“The New Casper Cartoon Show” (1963) TV series

“The Flintstones” (story director) (4 episodes, 1960-1961)
– The Flintstone Flyer (1960) TV episode (story director)
– Hot Lips Hannigan (1960) TV episode (story director)
– Love Letters on the Rocks (1961) TV episode (story director)
– Fred Flintstone: Before and After (1961) TV episode (story director)

“Jonny Quest” (story director) (2 episodes, 1964-1965)
… aka The Adventures of Jonny Quest
– The Invisible Monster (1965) TV episode (story director)
– Turu the Terrible (1964) TV episode (story director)

Art Department:

Cupid Gets his Man (1936) (character designer) (uncredited)
Little Bo Bopped (1959) (story sketches)
The Flintstone Flyer (1960) TV episode (storyboard artist)
Two Faced Wolf (1961) (story sketches)
“The Flintstones” (storyboard artist) (1 episode, 1960)
Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear (1964) (story sketches)

Animation Department:

Whatcha Watchin’ (1963) (layout artist)

Honors

Bibliographic References

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0330106/#artX20department1950
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Gordon_(animator)

Contributors To This Listing
Brandon Lane
Son Lane

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