Rudolf Ising

Rudolf Ising (sometimes spelled as Rudolph Ising), was an American animator, working alongside Hugh Harman for almost his entire career.

Early years
Rudolf Ising was working in Kansas City for several years, working with Disney on the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons. When Charles Mintz took over Oswald, Harman and Ising went with Mintz to his own studio, where they stayed directing and animating on the Oswald shorts until 1929, when Walter Lantz and Universal Studios took over the character.

Warner Bros. and Leon Schlesinger
After Lantz's takeover of Oswald, Harman and Ising then devised a new character, Bosko, and produced a pilot film, Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid. They showed the film to several movie studios, without luck. However, Leon Schlesinger, owner of Pacific Titles and Arts, was interested in the idea. Harman and Ising then established their production company, Harman-Ising Productions, and contracted Warner Bros. for the new series of cartoons called Looney Tunes, the first, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, which was released in April 1930. One year later, in 1931, Ising created Merrie Melodies, debuted with Lady, Play Your Mandolin!. with Foxy, a Mickey Mouse look-alike. Subsequent Merrie Melodies featured Piggy, another Mickey clone, then one-shot characters from then on. The relationship with Schlesinger would continue until 1933.

Later years
In 1933, disputes from Harman and Ising resulted in them leaving the studio. Having learned from Disney's experience with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Harman and Ising made sure they kept the character of Bosko. They took him to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where they made the Happy Harmonies. After their experience with MGM, Harman and Ising did animation and story work for several other studios.

Ising died in 1992.