As I began to compose this month’s column there were 256 legends ensconced in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Basketball Hall of Fame held only ten fewer enshrinees. The Pro Football Hall of Fame boasts 150 busts representing the greatest who ever played the game. The Animation Hall of Fame, on the other hand, is graced with nary a hallowed name. This is primarily because there is no Animation Hall of Fame in existence. It is true that as of this writing a Cartoon Hall of Fame is being designed by ASIFA Hollywood. This is a most worthy project that deserves our accolades, but preliminary plans appear to indicate that enshrinement is being limited to cartoon characters. What about the people behind the toons? Are they not part of the story as well? Where there should be monuments to the magnificent men and women who made animation one of the most popular cinematic art forms on the planet, there are only informal listings and varying opinions on far-flung Websites.

It's a foregone conclusion that animation pioneer Winsor McCay, seen here drawing Gertie the Dinosaur in an undated photo, would be in the Hall of Fame.

The Ground Rules
A Hall of Fame for animation greats does appear in Jerry Beck’s classic book The 50 Greatest Cartoons. Mr. Beck, one of our premier animation historians, writers and producers, came up with an unofficial list of those to be enshrined in a hypothetical Hall of Fame. It is difficult indeed to quibble with his choices. To wit: Winsor McKay, Max Fleischer, Otto Messmer, Walter Lantz, Walt Disney, Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett. Any dissent? I wouldn’t think so. Still, these exalted names are only 11 in number, and so many more are deserving of a place in the animation hall of heroes. Therefore, taking Mr. Beck’s estimable list as a starting point I humbly propose, for the enjoyment of my readers, an Animation Hall of Fame.

Other shoo-ins include Bob Clampett (left), shown here in the mid-1950s, and Bill Hanna, along with his partner Joseph Barbera.

Where to put this monument? Hollywood is a fine choice, as the industry thrived there, and so is New York, as the birthplace of what is likely the first animated film (Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, 1906). However, the coasts have their share of cultural glory and film history, so I propose putting the Hall of Fame in the Heartland — Chicago, which also claims the birthplace of Walt Disney. Having cleared space in the Windy City for the Hall, I then consulted another Hall of Fame for rules of procedure and protocol — The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Their rules for enshrinement are as follows: The Baseball Writers Association of America selects a screening committee of six members (two new members are voted in every three years). The committee prepares a ballot of no more than ten nominees for the Hall, and these candidates must have been nominated by at least two of the six committee members. The ballots are distributed to eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America; one must have been a baseball writer for at least ten years. Any nominee garnering 75% of their vote then joins the hallowed Hall. No write-ins are permitted. There are separate rules for a veteran's (or, “old-timer’s”) enshrinement, but to keep things simple I dispensed with them.

Let’s substitute the entire professional animation community for the Baseball Writers Association of America, including animation writers as well as artisans. To keep the number reasonable, the same ten-years-as-a-pro rule applies. (This leaves me out; I’ve only been writing since 1997. I obviously need more flexible rules!) Since I can’t contact America’s entire animation community and make a deadline, I give you my version of the ideal screening committee: Mike Barrier, Jerry Beck, John Canemaker, Karl Cohen, Leonard Maltin and Charles Solomon. I am going to usurp their jobs just for this year and present...19 stellar nominees for the Animation Hall of Fame. If there is disagreement with my picks, well...there’s always next year!