Today in Comics History, March 30: Happy birthday, Joe Ruby!

Born on this very animated day in 1933, television animator, writer, producer, and editor Joe Ruby, who with partner Ken Spears co-created the great Scooby-Doo characters and franchise at Hanna-Barbera, and later formed their own studio Ruby-Spears Productions (where worked comics great Jack Kirby)!

You might remember one week ago when I featured a birthday salute to animator Joe Barbera of Hanna-Barbera with a visit to their studios by Josie and the Pussycats! Well, America's second-greatest girl group (after the Go-Go's, of course) also got to meet Bill Spears and birthday boy Joe Ruby! (I'm only guessing, but by the way Hanna's introducing them, Ruby's on the right in the checked shirt.)


from Josie and the Pussycats (1969 series) #50 (Archie, September 1970), script by Dick Malmgren, pencils by Dan DeCarlo, inks by Rudy Lapick, letters by Bill Yoshida
While Josie and Melody stay on the tour, Valerie has clearly caught sight of the cute intern on the other side of the studio.


Alexandra flirts with Ruby and Spears to feature her in the cartoon at the expense of Josie. Curious bit of trivia: Earlier issues of Josie featured Alexandra as a magic-usin' witch, always casting spells to get the advantage on Josie and her pals. (Spoiler: it never worked. Magic is evil, kids!). However, that part of the character was dropped when the comic was turned into a cartoon (to avoid confusion with Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch, on another network's Saturday morning cartoons), so this is the exact issue that Alexandra begins to not 't have magic powers anymore. (She regains them for a short period in the '80s comics, after the end of the animated cartoon.)


Cue the nelsonmuntz.gif: here's what the animators work into the cartoon as a result of all Alexandra's pestering. For this Ruby and Spears are personal heroes to me.


Happy birthday, Joe Ruby! Make Jack Kirby take you out to lunch today. I'm sure he'll treat and he's got a lotta great stories.