Chronology of Animation 1940
Return to 1939
United States The Americas (excluding U.S.) Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
Japan
 
Australasia (excluding Japan)


January
Run Adolf Run (ss), Joe Noble /Pathe.
(drawn animation)

John Hurt (January 22, 1940- ) (voice actor) born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. (Great Britain)

January
Ippei Kuri (Kuri Ippei, 九里一平, Toyoharu Yoshida, Yoshida Toyoharu, 吉田豊治) (January 1, 1940- ) (producer, director) born in Tokyo.


February
Pinocchio (f), Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske /Disney.
(drawn animation)

Puss Gets the Boot (ss), William Hanna and Joseph Barbera /MGM.
(drawn animation)
first appearance of the characters who shortly became Tom and Jerry (1940-1967 from MGM)







March
Paul Driessen (March 30, 1940- ) (director, animator, writer) born in Nijmegen. (Netherlands)

March
Nobutaka Nishizawa (Nishizawa Nobutaka 西沢 信孝) (March 8, 1940- ) (director, producer, planner, writer) born in Kumamoto.




May
John Halas and Joy Batchelor found the Halas & Batchelor Animation Studio in London. (Great Britain)



June
The Milky Way (ss), Rudolph Ising /MGM.
(drawn animation)
Academy Award: Best Short Subjects, Cartoons

The Milky Way imageThe Milky Way
René Auberjonois (René Murat Auberjonois) (June 1, 1940- ) (voice actor) born in New York, New York.





United States The Americas (excluding U.S.) Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
Japan
 
Australasia (excluding Japan)
July
A Wild Hare (ss), Tex Avery /Schlesinger.
(drawn animation)
first named Bugs Bunny series (1940-1964)


July
Adolf's Busy Day (ss), Lance White /Lance White Productions. (Great Britain)
(drawn animation)

Musical Poster No.1 (ss), Len Lye /Crown Film Unit. (Great Britain)
(direct-on-film animation)

Patrick Stewart (July 13, 1940- ) (voice actor) born in Mirfield, Yorkshire. (Great Britain)





August
Co Hoedeman (Jacobus-Willem Hoedeman) (director, animator) born in Amsterdam. (Netherlands)

August
Gisaburo Sugii (Sugii Gisaburo) (August 20, 1940- ) (director, animator, writer) born in Numazu City, Shizuoka.


September
The Dandy Lion (ss), Dave Fleisher /Fleisher.
(drawn animation)
first Animated Antics series (1940-1941)

Earl Hurd (February 14, 1880-September 28, 1940) (inventor, animator, director, character designer, writer, producer) dies in Los Angeles, California.





October
King for a Day (ss), Dave Fleischer /Fleischer.
(drawn animation)
first Gabby series (1940-1941)

Prehistoric Porky (ss), Robert Clampett /Schlesinger.
(drawn animation)





November
Fantasia (f), Ben Sharpsteen (production supervisor) /Disney.
(drawn animation)
contains: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (ss), Samuel Armstrong; Nutcracker Suite (ss), Samuel Armstrong; The Sorcerer`s Apprentice (ss), James Algar; Rite of Spring (ss), Bill Roberts and Paul Satterfield; "Pastoral" Symphony (ss), Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley and Ford Beebe; Dance of the Hours (ss), T. Hee and Norm Ferguson; Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria (ss), Wilfred Jackson

Knock, Knock (ss), Walter Lantz /Lantz.
(drawn animation)
first Andy Panda series (1939-1949); first appearance of Woody Woodpecker

Poopdeck Pappy (ss), Dave Fleischer /Fleischer.
(drawn animation)





United States The Americas (excluding U.S.) Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
Japan
 
Australasia (excluding Japan)
no date
A Busy Day (ss), Ub Ibwerks /Cartoons Films Limited.
(drawn animation)
first Gran' Pop Monkey series (1940)

Tarantella (ss), Mary Ellen Bute.
(drawn animation)

Ub Iwerks closes his studio and returns to the Disney studio to work on various technical processing problems. He also did some animating for the studio on special projects.

no date
La caza del puma ("Hunting the Puma") (ss), Juan Oliva /Compana Argentina. (Argentina)
(drawn animation)

Compana Argentina goes out of business. (Argentina)

no date
Dokdok (ss), Antoine Selim Ibrahim. (Egypt)
(drawn animation)

El diablo oportuno (ss), Salvador Mestres /Hispano Grafic Films. (Spain)

SOS Doctor Marabu (ss), Eric Diban Ferran /Dibsono. (Spain)
(drawn animation)

Der Störenfried ("The Troublemaker") (ss), Hans Held. (Germany)
(drawn animation)

Train Trouble (ss)/(adv), John Halas and Joy Batchelor /Halas & Batchelor. (Great Britain)
(drawn animation)

The Washing On the Siegfried Line (ss), Kimberley. (Great Britain)
(drawn animation)
first Follow Me Sing-Song Series

Pino Van Lamsweerde (animator, director) born. (Italy)

Alejandro Fernandez de la Reguera founds Dibsono Films. (Spain)

William Larkins founds the Larkins studio. (Great Britain)

no date
Kintaro Taiiku Nikki [キンタロー体育日記] ("Kintaro's Physical Education Diary") (ss), Hiromasa Suzuki /Hiromasa Manga Eiga.
(drawn animation)

no date
Bertie the Airplane (ss)/(adv), Eric Porter /Porter. (Australia)
(drawn animation)


Note: Unfortunately I lack the time or resources to help people find copies of animated films and television programs. I have put together a web List of Online Video and Book Stores that will be useful to find copies in the United States. There are other similar stores on the Internet around the world that might be able to supply the DVDs, LDs, or video tapes that are desired. Check my Animation on the World Wide Web pages for links to animation studios and other Internet resources that may have further information. I am not involved in trading materials from my own collection. I am still waiting to see most of the programs in this Chronology and would be happy to find sources for many of them.

Because of these circumstances I will not respond to requests for help to find these types of materials.


Continue to 1941 Last update: July 3, 2011
Comments to: Richard Llewellyn
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