^{Dave Fleischer at 1972 Annie Awards/Walter Lantz & June Foray at 1973 Annie Awards}

Writing my book(s), Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows, I didn’t want to exclusively focus on the Oscars. It was my goal for this project to be just as much about animation’s history at the Emmys and Annie Awards. In the latter’s case, this is the first book to provide a deep dive into the Annies, the premier animation award show. My research went far beyond a Google search. To get into specifics about each Annie ceremony, it tracked down numerous newspaper articles, animation fanzines, and even Annie programs. I’ll be sharing these research materials on this site in a new series called The Annie Awards Archive. Here are some of my findings for the first two Annie ceremonies from 1972 and 1973.

This Los Angeles Times article from November 17, 1972 is the earliest mention of the Annie Awards in the papers I could unearth. It’s noted that ASIFA-West (soon renamed ASIFA-Hollywood) would honor Max Fleischer, who passed away about two months earlier, and his brother, Dave. Fleischer Studios gave us Golden Age cartoons starring Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman, among others. With the event taking place at the Sportsman’s Lodge, Max’s Annie would be accepted on behalf of his son, director Richard Fleischer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Fantastic Voyage, Doctor Dolittle, Soylent Green, & Oscar-winning Design for Death).

A Valley News article from November 19, 1972 notes that Walter Lantz, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Ward Kimball planned on attending the first Annies to honor the Fleischers. Notably, the article mentions that for year two, the Annies plan to “honor contemporaries in the many and varied categories” with “awards for producers, story-men, composers, background, layout, ‘voices,’ as well as special recognition given to the best series cartoons, theatrical, and the best educational films using animation,” as well as a “best animated commercial category.” Of course, it’d be nearly two decades until the Annies became the competitive award show this article describes.

This photo from the Los Angeles Times, published on December 4, 1972, is the only one I could find of Dave Fleischer with his Annie. Noticeably, Fleischer’s statue isn’t a zoetrope. It wasn’t until 1973 that the Annies switched to the zoetrope statue, which Tom Woodward designed. The original Annie statue was designed and sculpted by Joe Messerli, although his name is misspelled Joe (N)esserli here.

The second Annie Awards were announced in a November 18, 1973 L.A. Times article, saluting Woody Woodpecker creator Walter Lantz.

Published on December 6, 1973, the L.A. Times shared a photo of Lantz with voice actress June Foray (Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale), who created the Annie Awards. Lantz can be seen holding his Annie Award, now modeled after a zoetrope. The statue still had some kinks to work out. According to Foray, Lantz accidentally dropped his Annie, causing the top to come off (via ASIFA-Hollywood).

To learn more about the history of the Annie Awards, be sure to pick up a copy of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows. Volumes 1 and 2 are available now!