Stockbridge, MA, February 17, 2017—In conjunction with its current exhibition Hanna-Barbera: The Architects of Saturday Morning, Norman Rockwell Museum will present a talk with former Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert on Saturday, March 11, starting at 5:30 p.m.

An award-winning television and film producer, Seibert served as the last president of Hanna-Barbera from 1992 to 1996. While there, he reinvigorated the company’s creative reputation with the establishment of the animation incubator, What a Cartoon!, and launched a series of animated hits, including Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and The Powerpuff Girls. Mr. Seibert’s leadership at Hanna-Barbera and MTV Networks, rebranding Nickelodeon, and creating cartoons for a new generation will be discussed during this Q&A with Norman Rockwell Museum curator Jesse Kowalski. A live streaming of the event is also planned on the Museum’s Facebook page. The event is free for members, or included with regular Museum admission.

Fred Seibert is the founder of Frederator Networks, the Chief Creative Officer of WOW! Unlimited Media, and a serial media entrepreneur. He was the first creative director of MTV and the last president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. Fred founded Next New Networks (acquired by YouTube). He’s on the board of directors of Sawhorse Media, and was the first investor in Tumblr.

Frederator Networks is Channel Frederator, the leading online cartoon network, Frederator Studios, an independent production company with hits on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, Cartoon Hangover, the home of Bravest Warriors and Bee & PuppyCat (the most funded web series Kickstarter in history), and Frederator Books. Frederator distributes hundreds of independently owned, animator operated, YouTube channels. WOW! Unlimited Media is the merger of Frederator, Rainmaker Entertainment, and Ezrin Hirsh (founded by veteran producer Bob Ezrin and animation pioneer Michael Hirsh).

This event will be live streamed on Facebook

Hanna-Barbera: The Architects of Saturday Morning

On view through May 29, 2017

Before the rise of basic cable, Saturday mornings for many children in America were spent watching cartoons on one of three available television channels. From 1958 through the 1980s, a majority of those cartoons bore the imprint of Hanna-Barbera. Creating scores of popular series such as The Yogi Bear Show, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, and Scooby-Doo, Hanna-Barbera was an animation powerhouse and its bountiful creativity is beloved to this day.

Hanna Barbera: The Architects of Saturday Morning focuses primarily on the golden years of the studio—from the premiere of their first cartoon, The Ruff and Reddy Show, in 1957 and The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958 to the debut of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! in 1969. Hanna and Barbera’s early work on Tom and Jerry will be explored, in addition to the scores of TV and film animation and live-action projects created by the studio between 1970 and 2001. Included within the exhibition will be original animation art, sketches, model sheets, photographs, and archival materials that detail the process of bringing the studio’s creations to life. Also included in the exhibition, Hanna-Barbera-related toys and other commercial products, and an interactive installation that will draw from the vast library of sound effects created by the studio. The exhibition was developed in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products and has been sponsored, in part, by Keator Group, LLC.