Robert Rowe writes to ask…
Is it true that Hanna and Barbera in the later years of their partnership came to the studio on different days and worked on different floors because they seldom agreed when they discussed business matters in person?
Not to my knowledge. I wasn't around them in the last few years of their lives but when I worked there in the late seventies and early eighties, what I saw was two men who had divided up their business. Joe Barbera was the absolute monarch of selling the shows, developing the shows and getting them up to the stage of completed scripts. Then Bill Hanna was totally in charge of taking those scripts and turning them into animated cartoons to be delivered to the client.
They did have offices on different floors but that was because they headed different departments. Joe had a fancy office right near the entrance since he was the one who entertained buyers and important people. Bill was upstairs near where the animators were. Bill worked in shirt sleeves. Joe dressed like he was on his way to lunch with the head of the network. Here's a photo that was taken in Joe's office one day…
I doubt that story about coming in on different days. Bill Hanna — whatever anyone else may say about him — was a very hard worker. If there was a day when he wasn't in the building, he was probably visiting one of their subcontracting studios to check on things. Joe came and went as his meetings dictated.
I'm sure they disagreed on things — I witnessed a few discussions — but the working premise always seemed to be that each man had the final say in his area. For the most part though, they kept their arguments to themselves.
It may well have been different in the earlier days when they owned the studio along with George Sidney. They sold it in 1966 — a year some might say was a sharp dividing line in the merits of their output. Thereafter, the two men were employees — well-paid, powerful employees but still employees. When I was there, it sometimes felt like the agents and merchandising people were running the place…with the approval (usually) of Bill and Joe. At times though, it seemed more like acceptance than approval.
They were both extraordinary men. I fought with both at times and was so uncomfortable doing that because of who they were, I decided to stop working there. I respected many things about them and one was how well they made their partnership work for sixty (sixty!) years.
So no, I don't think they were enemies like the rumor made them out to be. But given how far apart their offices were in that building and how little interaction they seemed to have except for social events and photo sessions, I can see why someone might think that.
