Leon Schlesinger

Pictures throughout his career.

• Name — Leon Schlesinger • Born — 20 May 1884 • Birthplace — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Died — 25 December 1949 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Years Active — 1919–1944 • Occupation — Producer

Leon Schlesinger was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 20, 1884. On June 9, 1909, Schlesinger married Bernice K. Schlesinger (Leona Katz, September 15, 1882 – May 8, 1966). After Schlesinger worked in theatres as an usher, songbook agent, actor, and manager, including at the Palace Theatre in Buffalo, New York, he founded Pacific Title & Art Studio in 1919, where most of his business was producing title cards for silent films. As talking pictures ("talkies") replaced silents in 1929 and 1930, Schlesinger looked for ways to capitalize on the new technology and stay in business. Some film historians, like Tom Sito, claim that he helped finance Warner Bros.'s first talkie, The Jazz Singer (1927). He then secured a contract with the studio to produce its brand-new Looney Tunes series, and he signed a group of former Winkler Pictures animators led by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising to create these cartoons, with their Bosko character as the star.

In 1932 and 1933 Leon Schlesinger produced six B-movie Westerns for Warner Bros. starring John Wayne. • Ride Him, Cowboy (1932) • Haunted Gold (1932) • The Big Stampede (1932) • The Telegraph Trail (1933) • Somewhere in Sonora (1933) • The Man from Monterey (1933) Schlesinger spent under $30,000 each because he did not need elaborate action sequences. Instead, he used silent action footage of cowboy star Ken Maynard and his horse Tarzan. "I later thought Leon's cartoons were better than the horse operas he put me in," Wayne recalled in later years. "Those westerns I made at Warner Bros. were remakes of old Ken Maynard films, and all the big scenes like cattle herds and Indian attacks were taken straight from the original Maynard films. So I had to dress up to look like Ken Maynard because a lot of the old footage they inserted had shots of Maynard in the distance. I really hated that." A few years later, Warners remade these budget Westerns with singing cowboy Dick Foran.

Schlesinger was a shrewd businessman with a keen eye for talent. When Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. with the rights to Bosko and Foxy in 1933, Schlesinger set up his own studio on the Warner Bros. Sunset Boulevard lot at the corner of Van Ness and Fernwood. He wooed animators away from other studios, including some of those who had once worked for Harman and Ising. One of these was Friz Freleng, whom Schlesinger promoted to oversee production of Looney Tunes and to develop the sister series, Merrie Melodies. Former Harman-Ising animator Bob Clampett was also hired. Schlesinger's recruiting of Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and Frank Tashlin further increased the quality of the studio's output. Schlesinger later hired composer Carl W. Stalling and voice actor Mel Blanc, and collectively these men created such famous characters as Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny. Schlesinger largely took a "hands off" approach to the animation unit, allowing his directors freedom to create what they wished, provided that the resulting films were successful. Schlesinger sold Pacific Title & Art Studio in 1935 to concentrate on his animation studio.

Schlesinger remained head of the animation studio until 1944 when he sold his assets to Warner Bros. Eddie Selzer assumed Schlesinger's position as producer. He continued to market the characters and headed Warners's Theater Services unit. Schlesinger was an avid racehorse fan and was a director of the Western Harness Racing Association. Schlesinger died from a viral infection on Christmas Day, 1949. He is interred in the Beth Olam Mausoleum inside the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Leon Schlesinger is recorded as film producer, television producer and actor.