Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. (/ˈbɑːrbərə/ BAR-bər-ə), also variously known as H-B Enterprises, H-B Production Co., and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., was an American animation studio and production company founded on July 7, 1957, by Tom and Jerry creators and former MGM cartoon studio staff William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. For five decades, it produced a variety of animated series, including Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Wacky Races, Scooby-Doo, and The Smurfs and was awarded with eight Emmys and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Taft Broadcasting bought the company in 1966 and retained ownership until 1991. Hanna-Barbera's fortunes had declined by the 1980s, as the profitability of Saturday-morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication. In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System purchased it from Great American Broadcasting (renamed from Taft in 1988), and used its back catalog as programming for Cartoon Network. Turner Broadcasting later merged with Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) in 1996. After Hanna died in 2001, Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation. Since the studio's closure, Warner Bros. has continued to produce new programming and material based on Hanna-Barbera's classic properties, with their logo still occasionally appearing in select projects. William "Bill" Debney Hanna, a native of Melrose, New Mexico and Joseph "Joe" Roland Barbera, born of Italian heritage in New York City, first met at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio in 1937, while working at MGM's animation division. With both having worked at other studios since the early 1930s, the two solidified a partnership that would last for six decades. Their first cartoon together, the Oscar-nominated Puss Gets the Boot, featuring a cat named Jasper and an unnamed mouse, was released in 1940 and served as the first entry in the long-running theatrical short subject  series Tom and Jerry. As directors of the shorts for 20 years, Hanna supervised the animation, while Barbera did the stories and pre-production. Seven of the cartoons won 7 Oscars for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) between 1943 and 1953, and five additional shorts nominated for 12 awards during this period. However, they were awarded to producer Fred Quimby, who was not involved in the development of the shorts. New projects done by the duo include sequences for Anchors Aweigh, Dangerous When Wet and Invitation to the Dance and one-shot shorts Gallopin' Gals, The Goose Goes South, Officer Pooch, War Dogs and Good Will to Men, a 1955 remake of 1939's Peace on Earth. With Quimby's retirement in 1955, Hanna and Barbera became the producers in charge of the MGM animation studio's output. In addition to continuing to write and direct new Tom & Jerry shorts, now in CinemaScope, Hanna and Barbera supervised the last seven shorts of Tex Avery's Droopy series, and produced and directed a short-lived Tom and Jerry spin-off series, Spike and Tyke, which ran for two entries. In addition to their work on the cartoons, the two men moonlighted on outside projects, including the original title sequences and commercials for I Love Lucy. With the emergence of television, MGM decided in mid-1957 to close its cartoon studio, as it felt it had acquired a reasonable backlog of shorts for re-release. While contemplating their future, Hanna and Barbera began producing additional animated television commercials. During their last year at MGM, they had developed a concept for a new animated TV program about a dog and cat duo in various misadventures. After they failed to convince the studio to back their venture, live-action director George Sidney, who had worked with Hanna and Barbera on several of his theatrical features for MGM, offered to serve as their business partner and convinced Screen Gems, a television production subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, to make a deal with the producers. A coin toss determined that Hanna would have precedence in naming the new studio. Harry Cohn, president and head of Columbia Pictures, took an 18% ownership in Hanna and Barbera's new company, H-B Enterprises, and provided working capital. Screen Gems became the new studio's distributor and its licensing agent, handling merchandizing of the characters from the animated programs. The duo's cartoon firm officially opened for business in rented offices on the lot of Kling Studios (formerly Charlie Chaplin Studios) on July 7, 1957, one year after the MGM animation studio closed. Sidney and several Screen Gems alumni became members of the studio's board of directors and much of the former MGM animation staff—including animators Carlo Vinci, Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall, Michael Lah and Ed Barge and layout artists Ed Benedict and Richard Bickenbach—became the new production staff. Hoyt Curtin was in charge of providing the music while many voice performers came on board, such as Penny Singleton, Paul Winchell, Janet Waldo, Alan Reed, Henry Corden, Jean Vander Pyl, Frank Welker, Arnold Stang, Marvin Kaplan, Allen Melvin, Bea Benaderet, June Foray, Gerry Johnson, Lucille Bliss, Casey Kasem, Gary Owens, Scatman Crothers, George O' Hanlon, Daws Butler, Don Messick, Julie Bennett, Mel Blanc, Howard Morris, John Stephenson, Hal Smith, Tim Matheson and Doug Young.