Events in 1958 in animation.

Events

January

January 3: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon Happy Go Ducky, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The encyclopedia of animated cartoons. Internet Archive. New York : Facts on File. p. 150. . January 4: Robert McKimson's cartoon Don't Axe Me premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Starring Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, & Barnyard Dawg (named Rover in this short). January 18: Robert McKimson's Speedy Gonzales cartoon Tortilla Flaps, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, premieres.Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 305. .

February

February 1: Friz Freleng's Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare-Less Wolf premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 61-62 . Retrieved June 6, 2020. February 22: Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoon A Pizza Tweety-Pie premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Granny.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pg. 152. . Retrieved June 6, 2020.

March March 7: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon Royal Cat Nap, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres. March 8: Chuck Jones' Robin Hood Daffy, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, is first released. It stars Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. This is Jones' final short starring Porky. March 26: 30th Academy Awards: The Tweety and Sylvester cartoon Birds Anonymous by Friz Freleng wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. March 29: Chuck Jones' Hare-Way to the Stars, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, premieres. It stars Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian.

April

April 12: Chuck Jones' Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon Whoa, Be-Gone!, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, is first released.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pg. 129. . Retrieved 6 June 2020 – via Archive.org.

May

May 2: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon The Vanishing Duck, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres. This is Quacker's final appearance in the golden age of animation. May 10: Robert McKimson's cartoon Feather Bluster premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, starring Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 81–82. . Retrieved June 6, 2020. The short features footage from McKimson's previous Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, such as: Henhouse Henery,The High and the Flighty, & All Fowled Up. May 31: Robert McKimson's Bugs Bunny cartoon Now Hare This, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, premieres.

June

June 6: Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoon Robin Hoodwinked, produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio, premieres. This is Tuffy's final appearance in the golden age of animation. June 28 Chuck Jones' cartoon "To Itch His Own" premieres produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, It marks the final cartoon scored by Carl Stalling before his retirement.

August August 1: Les Clark's Paul Bunyan, produced by the Walt Disney Company, premieres. William Hanna & Joseph Barbera's final Tom and Jerry cartoon short Tot Watchers premieres, it is also the last animated short overall to be produced by MGM's Cartoon Studio as it has closed down the previous year. August 22: Karel Zeman's The Fabulous World of Jules Verne premieres. August 23: Friz Freleng's Knighty Knight Bugs premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons and starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. It is the only Bugs Bunny short to win an Academy Award.

September September 6: The first episode of The Adventures of Spunky and Tadpole is broadcast. Robert McKimson's cartoon Weasel While You Work premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, starring Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg. September 27: Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoon A Bird in a Bonnet premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Also starring Granny. September 29: The first episode of The Huckleberry Hound Show is broadcast, produced by Hanna-Barbera. It marks the debut of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Hokey Wolf and Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks (their segment debuts on 2 October).

October October 11: Chuck Jones' Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon Hook, Line and Stinker, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, is first released. October 22: Taiji Yabushita and Kazuhiko Okabe's The White Snake Enchantress is first released. It is Toei Animation's feature debut and the first anime feature film in color. The film pushed Japanese animation technology to the limit. The film was a large scale major project, involving a total of 13,590 staff; surprisingly, it only took eight months to finish."Masterpiece of last 50 years ." Japanese Animated Film Festival. Retrieved on 2006-12-08. The film is an adaptation of the Chinese tale Legend of the White Snake."Chinese Mythology." Bilingual Book Explanation of Legend of the White Snake. Retrieved on 2006-12-08. The decision of a Chinese story being used as the concept blueprint came from Toei's president Hiroshi Ōkawa, who wanted to strike a tone of reconciliation with the Asian neighbors."Anipages Daily." Anipages Daily. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.

November

November 1: Robert McKimson's Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoon Pre-Hysterical Hare premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Elmer is voiced by Dave Barry in this short instead of Arthur Q. Bryan. November 15: Robert McKimson's cartoon Gopher Broke premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Starring the Goofy Gophers and Barnyard Dawg.Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 87–88. . Retrieved June 6, 2020.

December December 6: Chuck Jones' Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon Hip Hip-Hurry!, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, is first released. December 19: The Disney Christmas special, From All of Us to All of You, is first broadcast. In the Nordic countries (Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) it will become an annual Christmas TV tradition from 1959 onwards. December 20: Chuck Jones' cartoon Cat Feud premieres, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. Starring Claude Cat and the final appearances of Marc Antony and Pussyfoot in the Golden Age of Animation.

Specific date unknown The first episode of Bozo: The World's Most Famous Clown is broadcast, an animated TV series based on Bozo the Clown.Bozo: The World's Most Famous Clown at The Big Cartoon DataBase French editorial cartoonist Jean Bosc collaborates with Claude Choubli and Jean Vautrin on the animated short Le Voyage en Boscavie.

Films released

April 4 - The Creation of the World (France and Czechoslovakia) August - The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (Czechoslovakia) October 22 - The White Snake Enchantress (Japan) Specific date unknown: Beloved Beauty (Soviet Union) The Picchiatelli (Italy)

Television series

September 6 - The Adventures of Spunky and Tadpole debuts in syndication. September 29: The Huckleberry Hound Show, Yogi Bear, and Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks debut in syndication. Specific date unknown Bozo: The World's Most Famous Clown debuts in syndication. The Space Explorers debuts on WWOR-TV.

Births

January January 3: Simon Greenall, English actor (voice of Captain Barnacles in Octonauts, Eemak and Thongo in Early Man, Terry in Thunderbirds Are Go). January 4: Matt Frewer, Canadian actor, singer and comedian (voice of Panic in the Hercules franchise and House of Mouse, the title character in The Pink Panther, The Leader in The Incredible Hulk, The Exterminator in The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mac Duff in Tiny Toon Adventures, Sidney Debris in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Man Who Killed Batman", Chaos in the Aladdin episode "When Chaos Come Calling"). Julian Sands, English actor (voice of Valmont in Jackie Chan Adventures, Lancelot in the Biker Mice from Mars episode "Knights of the Round Table", Henry in the Adventures from the Book of Virtues episode "Responsibility", Creed in The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest episode "Race Against Danger"), (d. 2023). January 20: Lorenzo Lamas, American actor (voice of Cale Oosha in Invasion America, Meap in Phineas and Ferb, Security Guard in the American Dad! episode "Big Stan on Campus"). January 21: Jean-Yves Raimbaud, French animator and screenwriter (creator of Space Goofs and Oggy and the Cockroaches), (d. 1998). Michael Wincott, Canadian actor (voice of Scroop in Treasure Planet). January 26: Ellen DeGeneres, American comedian, television host, actress (voice of Dory in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, herself in The Simpsons episode "Judge Me Tender"), writer and producer (Green Eggs and Ham, Little Ellen). January 28: Chris Ledesma, American music editor (The Simpsons, The Critic, Annabelle's Wish, Mission Hill), (d. 2022). January 29: Alastair Duncan, Scottish actor (voice of Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman and Batman Unlimited, Vulture in Avengers Assemble and Spider-Man).

February February 1: William Dufris, American actor and audiobook narrator (American dub voice of the title character in Bob the Builder), (d. 2020). February 5: Christopher Shea, American former child actor (voice of Linus Van Pelt in A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown's All Stars!, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, You're in Love, Charlie Brown and He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown), (d. 2010). February 7: Kevin Schon, American actor (voice of Timon in Timon & Pumbaa, House of Mouse, and The Lion Guard, Pongo in 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Otto in the Ben 10: Omniverse episode "OTTO Motives"). February 13: Donal Gibson, American actor and brother of Mel Gibson (voice of John Smith in Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, Captain Boomerang in Justice League Unlimited). February 14: Kelly Armstrong, Canadian-American animator (The Care Bears Family, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, Dennis the Menace, The Wild Puffalumps, The Ren & Stimpy Show), storyboard artist (2 Stupid Dogs, The Baby Huey Show, The New Woody Woodpecker Show, The Proud Family, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Pretzel and the Puppies), art director (The Baby Huey Show), writer (The Baby Huey Show, Space Goofs, My Life as a Teenage Robot), sheet timer (What a Cartoon!, Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", Robotboy), producer (The Baby Huey Show, Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", The Haunted World of El Superbeasto) and director (The Ren & Stimpy Show, 2 Stupid Dogs, The Baby Huey Show, The Oblongs, co-founder of Carbunkle Cartoons). February 16: Ice-T, American rapper and actor (voice of Peggy in UglyDolls, Garbage Khan in the Bubble Guppies episode "A Load of Litterbugs!", Ramrod in the Batman Beyond episode "Splicers"). February 19: Gary Sperling, American television writer (Disney Television Animation), (d. 2003). February 21: Denise Dowse, American actress and director (voice of Officer Shirley in Rocket Power, Sheila Swann in the Rugrats episode "Tommy for Mayor"), (d. 2022). Jake Steinfeld, American actor, fitness personality, entrepreneur, and producer (voice of Farmyard Bully and Max the Bouncer in Rock-a-Doodle, Git in Ratatouille, Fish Seller in From Up on Poppy Hill, Thunder in the King of the Hill episode "Dia-BILL-ic Shock"). Kim Coates, Canadian-American actor (voice of Hector in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, Biker in the Corner Gas Animated episode "Pots and Plans"). February 23: Norm Spencer, Canadian actor (voice of Cyclops in X-Men: The Animated Series), (d. 2020). February 24: Chris Buck, American film director (Surf's Up, Walt Disney Animation Studios). February 26: Chris Phillips, American voice actor and musician (voice of Face for the Nick Jr. Channel, continued voice of Roger Klotz in Doug, announcer for Cartoon Network). Greg Germann, American actor (voice of the Agent in Bolt).

March