Michael Maltese

2025-10-22T19:18:37Z

2607:FEA8:761F:4600:600D:58AD:2367:1515: /* Career */

{{Short description|American screenwriter and storyboard artist (1908–1981)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael Maltese
| image = File:American_animation_story_man_Michael_Maltese.png
| caption = Maltese in 1940
| birthname =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|2|6}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|2|22|1908|2|6}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], California, U.S.
| spouse = Florence Sass
| children =
| other_names =
| occupation = {{hlist|Screenwriter|storyboard artist}}
| years_active = 1935–1981
| employer = {{ubl|[[Fleischer Studios]] (1935–1936)|[[Jam Handy]] Organization (1936–1937)|[[Warner Bros. Cartoons|Leon Schlesinger Productions/Warner Bros. Cartoons]] (1937–1953, 1954–1958)|[[Walter Lantz Productions]] (1953–1954)|[[Hanna-Barbera]] (1958–1963; 1965–1972)|[[Sib-Tower 12 Productions]] (1963–1965)|[[Chuck Jones Productions]] (1972–1981)}}
}}
'''Michael Maltese''' (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American screenwriter and storyboard artist for classic [[animated cartoon]] [[short subject|shorts]]. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoons with director [[Chuck Jones]]. This collaboration produced many highly acclaimed animated shorts, including 4 of the top 5 "greatest cartoons" as judged by 1000 animation professionals; ''[[What's Opera, Doc?]]'' tops this list as the best animated short of all time.<ref name=Beck50>{{cite book|editor-last1=Beck|editor-first1=Jerry|title=The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected By 1,000 Animation Professionals|date=1994|publisher=Turner Pub.|location=Atlanta|isbn=1-878685-49-X|edition=1st|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/50greatestcartoo00beck}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Michael Maltese papers 1907–1981 1941–1981|url=https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah07794.xml|access-date=June 22, 2021|website=rmoa.unm.edu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628104341/https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah07794.xml|archive-date=June 28, 2021}}</ref>

== Early life ==
The son of Italian immigrants, Maltese graduated from the [[National Academy of Design]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/FilmCommentMagazineJanFeb1975/page/n19/ Film Comment Magazine: Jan-Feb 1975 pg. 19-20] Retrieved December 11, 2021.</ref> He married Florence Sass in April 1936; writer [[Warren Foster]] served as best man.<ref name=comic>[http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/comics-by-michael-maltese/ "Comics by Michael Maltese"] ''Cartoon Research'' (January 25, 2017) July 12, 2017</ref>

== Career ==
Michael Maltese began his career in animation as a cel painter at [[Fleischer Studios]] in 1935. A year later, he was fired for quickly moving himself up position after being promoted to an assistant animator.{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=475}}

After a brief stint at the Jam Handy Organization, Maltese was hired by [[Leon Schlesinger Productions]] in April 1937 as an in-betweener, and later a storyman due to everyone laughing at his jokes.<ref name=comic/>{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=475}}{{Sfn|Sigall|2005|p=79}} Maltese would first appear on camera in the 1940 [[Porky Pig]] cartoon ''[[You Ought to Be in Pictures]]'' as a live-action guard at the Warner Bros. entrance gate, who winds up chasing the animated Porky around the Warners lot.{{Sfn|Sigall|2005|p=65}} The first cartoon he was credited for Warner's was ''[[The Haunted Mouse]]'' (1941) by [[Tex Avery]], although he wrote rejected gags for ''[[The Timid Toreador]]''. Maltese, typically in collaboration with [[Tedd Pierce]], would provide most of the stories for directors [[Friz Freleng]] and [[Chuck Jones]] from 1943 to 1946, following which he dissolved his partnership with Pierce and mainly worked with Jones.{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=476-477}} He and Jones collaborated on cartoons like the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]–winning ''[[For Scent-imental Reasons]]'' (1949), featuring the character [[Pepé Le Pew]], and the animated public health documentary, ''[[So Much for So Little]]'' (1949) which won that same year for "Best Documentary Short Subject".<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1950 The 22nd Academy Awards -1950]</ref> Maltese was also the voice of the [[Lou Costello]]-esque character in ''[[Wackiki Wabbit]]'' (1943) and the [[Benito Mussolini]] duck in ''[[The Ducktators]]'' (1942).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Cartoon Voices from the Golden Age, 1930-70 |last=Scott |first=Keith |publisher=BearManor Media |year=2022 |isbn=979-8-88771-010-5 |pages=51;55}}</ref>

Some of his earlier works include ''[[The Wabbit Who Came to Supper]]'' and ''[[Fresh Hare]]'', ''[[Hare Trigger]]'' (which introduced [[Yosemite Sam]]) and ''[[Baseball Bugs]]'' for Freleng{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=475}} and ''[[Bear Feat]]'', ''[[Rabbit of Seville]]'', ''[[A Pest in the House]]'', and ''[[Rabbit Fire]]'' for Jones. Some of his best-known cartoons are ''[[Feed the Kitty]]'', ''[[Beep, Beep (cartoon)|Beep, Beep]]'', ''[[Rabbit Seasoning]]'', ''[[Don't Give Up the Sheep]]'', ''[[Duck Amuck]]'', ''[[Bully for Bugs]]'', ''[[Bewitched Bunny]]'', ''[[From A to Z-Z-Z-Z]]'', and ''[[Beanstalk Bunny]]'', all of which were directed by Jones. He also wrote ''[[One Froggy Evening]]'', the first appearance of future Warner Brothers mascot [[Michigan J. Frog]].{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=486-494}}{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=539}}

Some of his later Warner cartoons included ''[[Ali Baba Bunny]]'', ''[[Robin Hood Daffy]]'', the seminal ''[[What's Opera, Doc?]]'' and ''[[Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century]]'' for Jones,{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=541-543}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/in-his-own-words-chuck-jones-on-duck-dodgers/|title=In His Own Words: Chuck Jones on Duck Dodgers|date=2013-10-02|access-date=2021-12-01|website=Cartoon Research|last=Korkis|first=Jim}}</ref> ''[[Rabbit Romeo]]'' and ''[[Fox-Terror]]'' for [[Robert McKimson]] and ''[[Person to Bunny]]'' (the final occasion [[Arthur Q. Bryan]] voiced [[Elmer Fudd]]) and ''[[Here Today, Gone Tamale]]'' (the only [[Speedy Gonzales]] cartoon he ever wrote) for Freleng. Following the shuttering of Jones's unit in 1953 (at the height of the 3-D craze), Maltese was hired by [[Walter Lantz Productions]] as writer of some [[Woody Woodpecker]] cartoons: ''[[Helter Shelter (film)|Helter Shelter]]'', ''[[Witch Crafty]]'' (co-written with [[Homer Brightman]]), ''[[Real Gone Woody]]'', ''[[Square Shootin' Square]]'' and ''[[Bedtime Bedlam]]''. He also is the writer of [[Chilly Willy]]'s [[Academy Award]]-nominated theatrical short ''[[The Legend of Rockabye Point]]'', directed by fellow Warner alumnus [[Tex Avery]].{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=546}} Jones's unit would be resurrected early in 1954, with Maltese departing Lantz to rejoin his longtime collaborator several months afterwards; Maltese's first post-shutdown Warner credits by release would be on ''[[Rocket-Bye Baby]]'' and ''[[Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z]]'', a Road Runner short.

Maltese departed Jones's unit for the second and final time in 1958, with his final credit appearing on 1961's ''The Mouse on 57th Street''. From 1958{{Sfn|Barrier|1999|p=561}} until 1972, he worked at [[Hanna-Barbera]] Productions on television cartoons such as ''[[The Yogi Bear Show]]'', ''[[The Quick Draw McGraw Show]]'', ''[[The Flintstones]]'', and ''[[Wacky Races (1968 TV series)|Wacky Races]]''. He wrote for a total of 200 storyboards for Hanna-Barbera. He briefly worked with Jones at Sib-Tower 12 Productions on writing ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' shorts from 1963 to 1965.<ref name=comic/><ref>{{Cite news |title=Archives On The Air 145: Looney Tunes—Michael Maltese Papers |url=https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/show/archives-on-the-air/2019-04-12/archives-on-the-air-145-looney-tunes-michael-maltese-papers |date=2019-04-12 |access-date=2023-02-19 |work=Wyoming Public Media}}</ref>

Maltese also wrote [[comic books]] published by [[Western Publishing]], including for many of the Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera characters whose animated exploits he scripted.

== Death ==
Maltese died on February 22, 1981, at Los Angeles's [[Good Samaritan Hospital (Los Angeles)|Good Samaritan Hospital]] after a six-month bout with cancer, aged 73.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=z90hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=66AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4817,2243401&dq=michael+maltese&hl=en Obituary], [[Reading Eagle]], February 23, 1981.</ref> His last work was in ''[[Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century]]'', released in 1980.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
*{{Cite book|title=Hollywood cartoons: American animation in its golden age|last=Barrier|first=Michael|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1999|isbn=0-19-503759-6}}
*{{Cite book |title=Living life inside the lines: Tales from the Golden age of Animation |last=Sigall |first=Martha |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |year=2005 |isbn=1-57806-749-9}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|id=0540789}}
* [https://www.archives.com/1940-census/michael-maltese-ca-31976852 1940 census record]
*[https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv672200/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=maltese Michael Maltese Papers] at the [[American Heritage Center]]
*[https://ahcwyo.org/2011/10/19/michael-maltese-papers-document-cartoon-history/ Michael Maltese Papers Document Cartoon History] at [https://ahcwyo.org/ AHC blogs]

{{Winsor McCay Award 1970s}}
{{Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maltese, Michael}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:American male voice actors]]
[[Category:American people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:American storyboard artists]]
[[Category:Animation screenwriters]]
[[Category:Animators from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Artists from New York City]]
[[Category:Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in California]]
[[Category:Hanna-Barbera people]]
[[Category:National Academy of Design alumni]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Walter Lantz Productions people]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons people]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. people]]

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Michael Maltese