Serious Business ─ The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story

As Roger Rosenblatt put it, ”What makes Serious Business a special treat is that it is like the best of the cartoons itself?funny, touching, and infused with thoughtful joy.” This generously illustrated history of animation looks at the creation and celluloid careers of such American icons as Felix the Cat, Jiminy Cricket, Mickey and Minnie, Popeye and Olive Oyl, Goofy, Yogi Bear, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry, and the Pink Panther. Art and commerce collide again and again as Stefan Kanfer wittily probes the origins of such diverse cartoon families as the Flintstones, the Jetsons, and the Simpsons and looks at the phenomenal success of feature-length animated films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Lion King. Serious Business is itself a classic of animation, bringing to life an art and an industry whose creations have now worked their way into every corner of American life.

Stefan Kanfer is the author of six previous books. His articles and reviews have appeared in many major magazines, particularly Time, for which he was a writer and editor for more than twenty years. He lives in Westchester County, New York.