1944

1944 continued Warner Brothers' work in the war effort with continued output of their shorts of lead characters and Private Snafu, as well as Bugs Bunny appearing outside the studio for the first time, the final departure of Frank Tashlin and, more significantly, producer Leon Schlesinger taking a step back and retiring after 15 years of support of the studio's animation department. Twenty-two shorts were released this year.
== Notes ==
* The Color Rings change from red rings black background to blue rings red background starting with "Meatless Flyday". The two cartoons before it were in the 1942-43 season, however, were postponed to release in 1944.
* Leon Schlesinger retires and sells his cartoon studio to Warner Bros.http://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2014/06/cartoons-of-1944-part-1.html in July.https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-life-and-death-of-looney-tunes-producers-schlesinger-and-selzer/ His final cartoon credited as producer is "Buckaroo Bugs". Eddie Selzer takes over starting with "Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears" which is the final cartoon in the Censored Eleven.
* Starting with this year, all cartoons are in 3-hue color. In addition, starting with this year, all cartoons are currently still under copyright. All cartoons starting this year until August 1948 are also part of the Associated Artists Productions package.
* "Produced by LEON SCHLESINGER" changes to "Produced by WARNER BROS. CARTOONS INC." starting with "Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears". After a short time it changes to "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" for the openings only. The closings would still have "Produced by WARNER BROS. CARTOONS INC."
* The finalized closing Merrie Melodies logo starts appearing in "Meatless Flyday", which would be used until 1955, when Warner Bros. changed it due to using "newer" style bullet title sequences.
* Starting with "Hare Ribbin'", Bugs Bunny's head appears after the WB shield. This variation would have the WB shield zoom in, then WARNER BROS., the copyright notice, the production code and "Present" would fade in. At the same time, the WB shield changes to Bugs' head. This head was used in Bugs Bunny shorts in mid-1944 to early-1945, and again from late-1949 to the end of 1953. A new Bugs' head was designed in 1954 until the studio's original closure in 1964 when Warner Bros. changed it due to using "newer" style bullet title sequences.
* Starting with "Stage Door Cartoon", the opening titles adds "PICTURES INC." under "WARNER BROS." to the bottom of every cartoon until 1964.
* Frank Tashlin leaves the studio in September to direct stop-motion puppet films at the John Sutherland studio.
* Robert McKimson, who was in Bob Clampett's unit at the time, is promoted to a director and takes over Tashlin's unit.
* Bugs Bunny makes a cameo in the Puppetoon "Jasper Goes Hunting" which is the first time a Looney Tunes character appears in a non-Warner Bros. production.
== Warner Club News Stories ==
WCN - September 1944.jpg|Sept. 1944
WCN - October 1944.jpg|Oct. 1944
WCN - November 1944.jpg|Nov. 1944
WCN - December 1944.jpg|Dec. 1944
== Theatrical Shorts ==
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=== Private Snafu shorts ===
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== Blue Ribbon Reissues ==
=== 1943-44 Season ===
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=== 1944-45 Season ===
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==Character Debuts==
*Three Bears
*Russian Dog
*Schnooks
== People ==
=== Births ===
* 29 February - Dennis Farina
* 12 July - Pat Woodell
* 16 September - B.J. Ward
* 17 November - Danny DeVito
* 31 December - Neil Ross
=== Deaths ===
* 9 July - Kent Rogers, voice actor, aged 20
== References ==
es:1944
Category:Timeline