Joe Ruby
{{Short description|American animator (1933–2020)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
|birth_name = Joseph Clemens Ruby
|image = Joe Ruby animator.jpg
| caption = Ruby in 2010
|birth_date = {{birth date|1933|3|30}}
|birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|2020|8|26|1933|3|30}}
|death_place = Westlake Village, California, U.S.
|occupation = Animator, writer, television producer, music editor
|yearsactive = 1959–2002
|spouse = {{marriage|Carole Ruby|1957}}
|children = 4
}}
Joseph Clemens Ruby (March 30, 1933 – August 26, 2020){{Cite web|url=https://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/joseph_clemens_ruby_born_1933_1634949|title=Joseph Clemens Ruby, Born 03/30/1933 in California | CaliforniaBirthIndex.org|website=www.californiabirthindex.org}} was an American animator, writer, television producer, and music editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the animated Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Ken Spears. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/movies/13kirby.html|title=Jack Kirby's Heroes in Waiting|first=Dave|last=Itzkoff|work=The New York Times|date=April 12, 2010}} Ruby would work with Spears and would co-create several other shows including, Fangface, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder and Jabberjaw among others.
Ruby would meet Spears in 1959 at Hanna-Barbera, when the studio was being interviewed by Life Magazine{{Cite web |title=ScoobyAddicts.com |url=https://scoobyaddicts.com/ |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=ScoobyAddicts}} and the two would start working together on animated shows. Before Ruby founded Ruby-Spears he would work with at several studios including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and with Sid and Marty Krofft.
In 1996, the Ruby-Spears studio closed, and Ruby would keep working with Spears until his retirement in 2002.
Ruby died on August 26, 2020. Spears died three months later of natural causes. He was 87 years old.
Biography
Ruby was born on March 30, 1933, in Los Angeles, the son of Mildred (née Fineberg) and Carl Ruby, a doctor. His family was Jewish, and his parents were Canadian.{{cite news|title=Joe Ruby Dies: 'Scooby Doo' Co-Creator Was 87|url=https://deadline.com/2020/08/scooby-doo-creator-joe-ruby-dead-1203025176/|first=Alexandra|last=Del Rosario|date=August 27, 2020|access-date=August 27, 2020|magazine=Deadline Hollywood}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/sep/01/joe-ruby-obituary|title=Joe Ruby obituary | Anthony Hayward|date=September 1, 2020|website=the Guardian}}{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/culture/453486/how-scooby-doo-became-tvs-most-jewish-cartoon-dog/|title=How Scooby-Doo became TV's most Jewish cartoon dog|first=Warner|last=Bros|website=The Forward|date=August 28, 2020 }} He attended Fairfax High School. After graduating, he joined the United States Navy and worked as a sonar operator on a destroyer during the Korean War.{{cite news|title=Joe Ruby, Co-Creator of Scooby-Doo, Dies at 87|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/joe-ruby-co-creator-of-scooby-doo-dies-at-87|first=Mike|last=Barnes|date=August 27, 2020|access-date=August 27, 2020|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter}}{{cite news|title=Scooby-Doo creator Joe Ruby dies, aged 87|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12360463|date=August 28, 2020|access-date=August 28, 2020|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald|location=Auckland}}
Ruby studied art and began his career in animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios in the inbetweening department. He began as a music editor, knowing it would take a long process to become an experienced animator, but nonetheless pursued his passion at the side as a freelance comic book artist and writer. He later worked for a short time in live-action television editing before moving to Hanna-Barbera, where he met Ken Spears, when Life Magazine was interviewing members of the studio, Joe Barbera would introduce the two to the writers at Life Magazine, Spears was also ex-Navy. The two men teamed up to become writers for several animated and live-action television programs, both freelance and as on-staff writers, starting at Hanna-Barbera in 1959,{{Cite web|url=https://scoobyaddicts.com/|title=ScoobyAddicts.com|website=ScoobyAddicts}} before leaving the studio due to a wish to become associate producers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqDi77RnNAQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/HqDi77RnNAQ| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Ruby & Spears : WonderCon 2012|website=YouTube|date=April 2, 2012 }}{{cbignore}} They also worked as writers for Sid and Marty Krofft Television Productions and DePatie–Freleng Enterprises.
For Hanna-Barbera, Ruby and Spears created the Scooby-Doo franchise and its main characters: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers, and the eponymous title character. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, debuted on CBS on September 13, 1969.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53944780|title=Scooby-Doo co-creator Joe Ruby dies aged 87|work=BBC News|date=28 August 2020|access-date=10 November 2020}} After Fred Silverman, then head of daytime programming at CBS, concluded that, after about 15 drafts, a Great Dane was the star of the project,{{cite news|last=Green|first=Penelope|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/arts/television/ken-spears-dead.html|title=Ken Spears, Partner in an Animation Powerhouse, Dies at 82|work=The New York Times|date=November 19, 2020|access-date=December 31, 2021}} Ruby and Spears tried multiple ideas before settling on a cowardly dog who solves mysteries. For H-B, they also created Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, Jabberjaw, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, among other programs. At DePatie–Freleng, they created The Barkleys and The Houndcats. In the early 1970s, Silverman hired Ruby and Spears to supervise the production of CBS's Saturday morning cartoon lineup, a position they assumed at ABC when Silverman defected to that network.Shostak, Stu (February 5, 2012). "[https://www.stusshow.com/archives.php Interview with Joe Ruby and Ken Spears]". Stu's Show. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
Wanting to create competition for Hanna-Barbera, ABC set Ruby and Spears up with their own studio in 1977, as a subsidiary of Filmways.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2020/08/27/joe-ruby-r-i-p/|title=News From ME - Mark Evanier's blog|website=www.newsfromme.com}} Ruby-Spears Productions produced animated series for Saturday mornings, among them Fangface, The Plastic Man Comedy-Adventure Hour, Thundarr the Barbarian, Saturday Supercade, Mister T, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Superman, among others.Shostak, Stu (01-16-2013). "[https://www.stusshow.com/archives.php Tribute To Joseph Barbera". Stu's Show. Retrieved 05-9-2019.] Ruby-Spears was bought by Hanna-Barbera's parent company, Taft Entertainment, in 1981, and its back catalog was sold along with the Hanna-Barbera library and studio in 1991 to Turner Broadcasting. Current reissues of Ruby-Spears shows on DVD and digital platforms are therefore copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera Productions.
Death
Ruby died of natural causes at his home in Westlake Village, California, on August 26, 2020, at the age of 87.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/joe-ruby-dies-dead-scooby-doo-1234750948/|title=Scooby-Doo Co-Creator Joe Ruby Dies at 87|work=Variety|date=August 27, 2020|access-date=August 27, 2020}} His widow, Carole, specified that he died of complications from a fall.{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/joe-ruby-scooby-doo-dead/2020/08/30/273f4e8a-eacb-11ea-b4bc-3a2098fc73d4_story.html| title = 'Scooby-Doo' co-creator Joe Ruby dies at 87 - The Washington Post| newspaper = The Washington Post}} Dan Haskett made a dedication poster for Ruby's contribution to Scooby-Doo five days after his death.{{cite tweet|number=1300529607666479105|user=WB_Animation|title=Forever our pal, Joe Ruby.|date=August 31, 2020}} In November 2020, three months after Ruby passed, Ken Spears would die at the age of 82.{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Penelope |date=2020-11-19 |title=Ken Spears, Partner in an Animation Powerhouse, Dies at 82 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/arts/television/ken-spears-dead.html |access-date=2024-07-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
- {{IMDb name|0748445|Joe Ruby}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Joe}}
Category:Animators from California
Category:American television writers
Category:American male television writers
Category:Television producers from California
Category:American animated film producers
Category:Military personnel from California
Category:Writers from Los Angeles