History Creator / Terrytoons

** '''Jim Tyer''': Formerly an animator and (uncredited) director for Creator/FamousStudios dismissed for the tonal incompatibility his work wielded relative to Famous' increasingly conversative and slow-paced output, Tyer arrived at Terrytoons circa 1947 and, due to the studio's more offhanded directing style, was largely left to his own resources. The ensuing creative freedom produced several sequences hailed as among the wildest of UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, typically featuring characters moving in a rapid, furiously rubbery manner while routinely lurching OffModel as if unintentionally tearing their bodies apart, marking an oft-jarring shift from the more sluggishly routine animation of surrounding scenes.

** '''Bill Tytla''': Among Disney's most acclaimed draftsmen and animators in the late 1930s, Tytla's brief soujourn at Terrytoons in the mid-1940s produced several of the studio's most fluid and visually-detailed scenes by a significant margin, most notably the titular feline's transformation in 1944's "Mighty Mouse Meets Frankenstein Cat".

* ArtEvolution: The studio initially stuck to a drawing and timing style similar to cartoons from the Silent Age of Animation, but by the mid to late 30's, the studio gradually began upgrading its animation (partially due to formal complaints from Fox), resulting in a peculiar mix of west coast style animation drawing and movement with rough, staccato techniques held over from the Silent Age. This art style, effectively frozen in formaldehyde by approximately 1940, continued for over a decade until the Gene Deitch era, commencing in 1957, abruptly converted the studio's house style into a heavily stylized, geometric art direction (abundant in abstract color palettes and flat forms) in tune with the then-hot artstyle employed by [[Creator/ColumbiaCartoons UPA]].

* BoringButPractical: While Paul Terry's conservative approach to animation, harsh quotas and tendency to threat his studio as nothing more than a business has commonly been lambasted today. It did allow Terrytoons to achieve something even Disney failed to do: remain profitable and (until he sold the studio) never have any close brushes with bankruptcy.

* DerangedAnimation: Any scene done by Jim Tyer, arguably Terry's top animator. The other animators could do this do, such as Connie Rasinski, and their work tends to get mistaken for Tyer's own animation as a result.

* LongRunner: Despite the low budgets, total reliance on formula, and rushed animation, the Terrytoons enjoyed a ''very'' long, healthy lifespan, lasting from 1929 all the way up to 1968, where they were finally forced to close up shop on account of theatrical cartoons becoming all but completely unprofitable by that point--only the Creator/WalterLantz and Creator/DePatieFrelengEnterprises was able to outlast Terrytoons with their shorts. And even that wasn't enough to kill them--the Terrytoons enjoyed an equally healthy lifespan on TV for decades, with Mighty Mouse Playhouse pioneering the concept of [[AnimatedAnthology recycling old theatrical cartoons for reairing on TV.]]

* {{Retool}}: After Paul Terry sold the studio to CBS they hired Gene Deitch to take over as the creative director. Deitch, who himself had very low opinion of Terry's outputs, proceeded to change everything, from getting rid of the old characters in favor of the new (removing the likes of ''Mighty Mouse'' and ''Heckle and Jeckle'' in favor of ''Clint Clobber'' and ''Sidney the Elephant''), changing the design style to a more contemporary UPA style, hiring new personnel (WITHOUT firing old ones, amazingly enough), and more. It's agreed that the cartoons produced during this era are genuinely good.
** It didn't last long. Bill Weiss took over the studio after Terry sold it to CBS, and he wasn't warm to the idea of Terrytoons becoming a renaissance animation house. It was said he wanted Deitch fired from day one, so after Deitch did leave, Weiss chose to fall back on the same old same old, only on TV budgets.

This was the debut studio of ''six'' major animation stars: [[UsefulNotes/NoteworthyDisneyStaff Bill Tytla, Art Babbitt and Norm Ferguson]] of Creator/{{Disney}} fame, Creator/FrankTashlin before he became a director on WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, Joseph Barbera of Creator/HannaBarbera before he went to Creator/{{MGM}}, and Creator/RalphBakshi, who joined the studio in [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation its twilight years.]]

* ArtEvolution: The studio initially stuck to a drawing and timing style similar to cartoons from the Silent Age of Animation, but by the mid to late 30's, the studio gradually began upgrading its animation, resulting in a peculiar mix of west coast style animation drawing and movement with rough, staccato techniques held over from the Silent Age. The Gene Deitch era, commencing in 1957, abruptly converted the studios house style into a heavily stylized, geometric art direction (abundant in abstract color palettes and flat forms) in tune with the then-hot artstyle employed by [[WesternAnimation/ColumbiaCartoons UPA]].

** '''BillTytla''': Among Disney's most acclaimed draftsmen and animators in the late 1930s, Tytla's brief soujourn at Terrytoons in the mid-1940s produced several of the studio's most fluid and visually-detailed scenes by a significant margin, most notably the titular feline's transformation in 1944's "Mighty Mouse Meets Frankenstein Cat".

* ArtEvolution: The studio initially stuck to a drawing and timing style similar to cartoons from the Silent Age of Animation, but by the mid to late 30's, the studio gradually began upgrading its animation, resulting in a peculiar mix of west coast style animation drawing and movement with rough, staccato techniques held over from the Silent Age. The Gene Deitch era took the studios house style into a heavily stylized art direction in tune with the then-hot UPA style of the 50's.

* AnimationBump: Scenes animated by Carlo Vinci, Jim Tyer and Bill Tytla tended to have much better, distinct animation than the rest of the cartoons.

One of the more obscure yet prolific studios from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, Terrytoons was an animation studio with a close relationship with [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]], who handled distribution of the cartoons throughout much of its history[[note]]20th and Creator/{{RKO Pictures}} were the only studios in Hollywood who did not have in-house cartoon departments, relying solely on the third-party Terrytoons and Creator/{{Disney}}, respectively, to fill the holes[[/note]]. It was founded by former Creator/{{Van Beuren|Studios}} employee Paul Terry. It produced classic cartoon serials such as WesternAnimation/MightyMouse and WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle.

* OffModel: Terrytoons turned this into an art form, especially when Jim Tyer was at the studio. The characters rarely stayed consistent in appearance and movement. Fortunately, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this ends up adding to the eccentric, fun nature of the cartoons.]]

This was the debut studio of ''five'' major animation stars: [[UsefulNotes/NoteworthyDisneyStaff Bill Tytla and Art Babbitt]] of Creator/{{Disney}} fame, Creator/FrankTashlin before he became a director on WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, Joseph Barbera of Creator/HannaBarbera before he went to Creator/{{MGM}}, and Creator/RalphBakshi, who joined the studio in [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation its twilight years.]]