Carman Maxwell : From Siloam Springs to Hollywood

Carman Griffin Maxwell, born in Siloam Springs, was an American cartoon animator and voice actor that worked for some of the most influential animation studios of the 20th century.

Before he hit the big time, Maxwell, an already talented artist, illustrated a drawing in honor of his graduating class, which was featured in the 1920 Siloam Springs yearbook.

He began his career with Walt Disney at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio where he worked with established animators Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Friz Freleng. While at Disney, he animated for the cartoon Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

After Universal took control of Oswald's character in 1928, Disney created a new character similar in appearance to Oswald as a replacement: Mickey Mouse, who went on to become the most famous cartoon character in the world.

Maxwell, along with Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, and Friz Freleng, was part of the unit that eventually broke away from Disney to form the nucleus of what later became the Warner Bros. animation studio (under contract with Leon Schlesinger).

He also originally voiced the animated character Bosko, which was the star of thirty-nine Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Brothers.

Here is the pilot of Bosko, featuring Rudolf Ising as the animator, and Carman Maxwell as the voice of Bosko.

Maxwell was also later a production manager in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, working on such titles as Tom and Jerry, and working with famous voice actors such as Tex Avery, Mel Blanc, working there as late as 1956.