Rudolf Ising in the context of "Warner Bros. Cartoons"

The Laugh-O-Gram Studio (also Laugh-O-Gram Films) was an Independent American animation studio founded by Walt Disney on June 28, 1921 and closed on October 16, 1923. It was located on the second floor of the McConahay Building in Kansas City, Missouri, as a key early venture for Disney and his recruited pioneers of animation, including Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, and Friz Freleng.

The company was incorporated to produce a series of contracted animated shorts called Newman's Laugh-O-Grams. Disney was encouraged by their local popularity, and began producing his own series of modernized fairy tale cartoons, including Little Red Riding Hood. The studio secured a contract for six shorts with Pictorial Clubs, Inc., of Tennessee, but the distributor paid only a small advance before going bankrupt. The loss of income crippled Laugh-O-Gram financially, forcing Disney to live in the office and bathe weekly at Union Station. A final project, a dental hygiene film called Tommy Tucker's Tooth, funded Disney's production of Alice's Wonderland, which combines live-action and animation in a last resort to create a successful franchise.

Looney Tunes is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released theatrically as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were initially produced by Leon Schlesinger and animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising from 1930 to 1933. Schlesinger assumed full production from 1933 until he sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which it was renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons. The Looney Tunes title was inspired by that of Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. The shorts initially showcased musical compositions owned by Warner's music publishing interests through the adventures of such characters as Bosko and Buddy. However, the shorts gained a higher profile upon the debuts of directors Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Robert McKimson, and voice actor Mel Blanc later in the decade. Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featured Looney Tunes characters, while Merrie Melodies featured one-shot cartoons and minor recurring characters.

Hugh Harman (August 31, 1903 – November 25, 1982) was an American animator. He was known for creating the Warner Bros. Cartoons and MGM Cartoons studios and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the Golden Age of American animation.

Puss Gets the Boot is a 1940 American animated short film and the first short in what would become the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, though neither are yet referred to by these names. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Rudolf Ising. It is based on the Aesop's Fable, The Cat and the Mice. As was the practice of MGM shorts at the time, only Rudolf Ising is credited. It was released to theaters on February 10, 1940, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In this short, the cat is named Jasper, and appears to be a scruffy, battle-hardened street cat, more malicious than the character that Tom would develop into over time. The unnamed mouse (referred to as Pee-Wee in an official MGM magazine), is similar to who would become the Jerry character, albeit slightly thinner. The basic premise is one that would become familiar to audiences; in The Art of Hanna-Barbera, Ted Sennett sums it up as "cat stalks and chases mouse in a frenzy of mayhem and slapstick violence". Though the studio executives were unimpressed, audiences loved the film and it was nominated for an Academy Award. This short ultimately lost to The Milky Way, another MGM short about three kittens who lost their mittens and were forced to go to bed without their dinner of milk.