Barré Studio was, in all probability, the first film studio dedicated to animation (the rival for this honor is Bray Productions

Bray Productions

Bray Productions was the dominant animation studio based in the United States in the years before World War I.- History :The studio was founded in December 1914 by J. R. Bray, perhaps the first studio entirely devoted to animation, and series animation at that...

). It was founded by Raoul Barré

Raoul Barré

Raoul Barré was a Canadian and American cartoonist, animator of the silent film era, and artist.Barré was born in Montreal, Quebec, the only artistic child of an importer of communion wine...

 and William Nolan

Bill Nolan (animator)

William "Bill" Nolan was an Irish-American animated cartoon writer, animator, director, and artist. He is best-known for creating and perfecting the rubber hose style of animation and for streamlining Felix the Cat. From 1925 to 1927, he worked on a loose animated adaptation of George Herriman's...

 in 1914. They began with advertising films (among the first animated films used to sell something), then got a series with Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

 called the Animated Grouch Chaser. The series was mostly live-action with a few animated inserts, not really all that bad in quality for the time they were made. The studio also put out the Phables and The Boob Weekly cartoons. Animators included Frank Moser, Gregory La Cava

Gregory La Cava

Gregory La Cava was an American film director best known for his films of the 1930s, including My Man Godfrey and Stage Door....

, George Stallings, Tom Norton and Pat Sullivan

Pat Sullivan

Patrick Sullivan may refer to:* Pat Sullivan , Australian film producer and animator* Pat Sullivan , American football coach and former player...

, all of whom got their starts here. Rube Goldberg

Rube Goldberg

Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...

 was the writer for The Boob Weekly.

In 1916, William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...

 founded International Film Service

International Film Service

International Film Service was an American animation studio created to exploit the popularity of the comic strips controlled by William Randolph Hearst.- History :...

, and hired all of Barré's animators to work for him, including Bill Nolan. Soon afterward, Barré was contacted by Charles Bowers

Charles Bowers

Charles R. Bowers was an American cartoonist and slapstick comedian during the silent film and early "talkie" era. He was forgotten for decades and his name was notably absent from most histories of the Silent Era, although his work was enthusiastically reviewed by André Breton and a number of...

, who had been animating Mutt and Jeff for a year. The series was doing so well that it had outgrown Bowers' studio. A partnership was formed: Bowers' animators and series worked on in Barré's studio. The result was the Bud Fisher Film Corporation, named for the originator Bud Fisher

Bud Fisher

Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher was an American cartoonist who created Mutt and Jeff, the first successful daily comic strip in the United States....

 of the Mutt and Jeff comic strip. It was known in the industry as the Barré-Bowers Studio. Fisher took all public credit for the cartoons, while Barré supervised the animators and Bowers handled the books. He "handled" the books so well, in fact, that he ruined the company: Barré quit in 1918 to avoid getting charged as an accomplice; Bowers was fired in 1919 and 1921. Once Fisher was in charge, he proved his financial abilities by completely bankrupting Barré-Bowers in 1923. (C Revelation Films)
Besides Barré and Bowers, directors at their studio included Manny Gould

Manny Gould

Manny Gould was an American animated cartoonist from the 1920s to the 1970s.-Career:Gould was employed by the Barré Studio in the early 1920s under the direction of William Nolan. When the studio closed, Nolan went to work for Charles Mintz on the Krazy Kat cartoons, distributed first by Paramount...

 and Dick Friel. Animators included C. T. Anderson, Clarence Rigby, George Stallings, Ted Sears

Ted Sears

Ted Sears was an American animator during The Golden Age of American animation. Sears worked for the Fleischer Studios in the late-1920s and early-1930s, and was hired away from Max Fleischer to work at the Walt Disney studio in 1931.As the first head of Disney's story department, Sears did...

, Mannie Davis, Burt Gillett, Dick Huemer

Dick Huemer

Dick Huemer was an animator in the Golden Age of Animation.- Career :...

, Ben Sharpsteen

Ben Sharpsteen

Ben Sharpsteen was an American film director and producer for Disney. He directed 31 films between 1920 and 1980....

, Bill Tytla

Bill Tytla

Vladimir Peter "Bill" Tytla was one of the original Disney animators and is considered by many to be the best character animator to work during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation...

, Albert Hurter, Carl Lederer, F. M. Follett, Isadore Klein, Milt Gross, Walter Lantz

Walter Lantz

Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, and director, best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.-Early years and start in animation:...

and George Ruffle.

Filmography

Series

• Animated Grouch Chasers (1915)
• The Boob Weekly (1916)
• Mutt and Jeff (1913-1926).

One-Shots

• Cartoons On A Yacht (1915).