Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts.
He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of Merrie Melodies cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably "What's Opera, Doc?" which is widely regarded by industry professionals as the best animated short of all time.
Biography
The son of Italian immigrants, Maltese graduated from the National Academy of Design.Film Comment Magazine: Jan-Feb 1975 pg.
19-20 Retrieved December 11, 2021.
He married Florence Sass on May 30, 1936;"Marriage Record of Michael Maltese" MooseRoots July 12, 2017"Marriage Record of Florence Sass" MooseRoots July 12, 2017 writer Warren Foster served as Best Man."
Comics by Michael Maltese" Cartoon Research (January 25, 2017) July 12, 2017 The couple moved to Los Angeles, where their first and only child, Brenda, was born on February 20, 1938."
Birth Record of Brenda Maltese" MooseRoots July 12, 2017 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.
Barrier (1999) pg.
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.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.
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.Barrier (1999) pg.
476 He would also work between Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones until 1948, where he mainly worked with the latter.
He and Jones collaborated on cartoons like the 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."
Maltese was also the voice of the Lou Costello-esque character in Wackiki Wabbit (1943) and the Benito Mussolini duck in The Ducktators (1942).
Some of his earlier works include The Wabbit Who Came to Supper and Fresh Hare, Hare Trigger (which introduced Yosemite Sam), Baseball Bugs for Freleng;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, 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.
These were all directed by Jones.
He also wrote One Froggy Evening, the first appearance of future Warner Brothers mascot Michigan J. Frog.Barrier (1999) pg.
486-494Barrier (1999) pg.
539Barrier (1999) pg.
494
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,Barrier (1999) pg.
541-543 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.
Maltese also collaborated with Jones on the 1960s Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts released by MGM.
During the years of 1954 and 1955, Maltese also worked at Walter Lantz Productions as writer of some Woody Woodpecker cartoons: 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 Tex Avery.Barrier (1999) pg.
546
From 1958Barrier (1999) pg.
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.
He briefly worked with Jones at Sib-Tower 12 Productions on writing Tom and Jerry shorts from 1963 to 1965.
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.
His last work was in Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century, released in 1980.
Death
Maltese died on February 22, 1981, at Los Angeles's Good Samaritan Hospital after a six-month bout with cancer, aged 73.Obituary, Reading Eagle, February 23, 1981.
References
External links
1940 census record
Michael Maltese Papers at the University of Wyoming – American Heritage Center
Michael Maltese Papers Document Cartoon History at the AHC blog
Category:1908 births Category:1981 deaths Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:Animators from New York (state) Category:American male screenwriters Category:American storyboard artists Category:Animation screenwriters Category:Warner Bros.
Cartoons voice actors Category:Hanna-Barbera people Category:Artists from New York City Category:Deaths from cancer in California Category:Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Warner Bros.
Cartoons people Category:National Academy of Design alumni Category:Screenwriters from New York (state) Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Walter Lantz Productions people
