Klasky-Csupo, Inc., (stylized as KLaSKY CSUPO INC., doing business as Klasky Csupo, /klæski ˈtʃuːpoʊ/ KLAS-kee CHOO-poh) is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California.[2] It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and her then-husband, Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó[3] (hence the company's name) in a spare room of their apartment and grew to 550 artists, creative workers and staff in an animation facility in Hollywood.
During the 1990s and 2000s, they produced and animated era-defining shows for the children's network, Nickelodeon, such as Rugrats (which was one of the channel's original animated series, known as Nicktoons), Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger and All Grown Up!. They also animated the first three seasons of The Simpsons for 20th Century Fox Television and Gracie Films, as well as Duckman on USA Network. In September 2011, Nickelodeon ended their long-running partnership with Klasky Csupo and its shows ceased production, resulting in the company becoming discontinued for four years. In 2012, the company reopened. In 2018, it began production on a CGI-animated reboot of Rugrats, which premiered in 2021 on Paramount+, the streaming service of Nickelodeon and its parent company Paramount Global.
History
1982–1991: early years
Klasky-Csupo, Inc., got its start in 1982.[4] It was founded in the spare bedroom of a Hollywood apartment where Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó were living during their marriage. 1 year later, Klasky-Csupo expanded and moved to a new location at 729 Seward Street,[5][6][7] (Bob Clampett's studio) opening its first facility in Hollywood.
Klasky Csupo was initially distinguished by its work on logo designs, commercials, feature film trailers, TV show titles, promos and ident spots for a wide variety of clients, in the process earning a reputation as the industry's most imaginative and innovative studio. Building on its success, the studio left Seward Street to open its second facility in Hollywood in 1988 at the corner of Fountain and Highland Avenues. The studio soon grew to include six buildings that have become well known in Hollywood—in true Klasky Csupo style, the exterior walls of the buildings are decorated with large murals of its characters.
The studio's first big break came in 1987 when James L. Brooks of Gracie Films commissioned the studio to produce the title sequence for a comedy series titled The Tracey Ullman Show. In addition to the main title, Klasky Csupo was given the opportunity to produce and animate a new series of one-minute cartoons which featured a family called the Simpsons, created by Matt Groening. Klasky Csupo produced and animated all 48 shorts, and when it became one of the most popular segments on the show, Fox began airing a weekly half-hour series entitled The Simpsons. Klasky Csupo oversaw and animated every episode of the first three seasons of the series, resulting in the studio sharing the 1989–1990 and 1990–1991 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, with Gracie Films.
In addition, Klasky Csupo produced the hit video "Do the Bartman". Klasky Csupo animator and colorist "Georgie" Gyorgyi Kovacs Peluce (Kovács Györgyike)[8][9][10][11][12][13] conceived the idea of The Simpsons characters having yellow skin, and Marge Simpson having blue hair, opting for something which "didn't look like anything that had come before."[14][15][16] Klasky Csupo was also responsible for an error during the episode "Homer's Odyssey", in which Waylon Smithers was colorized as black with blue hair.[17]
In 1992, Gracie Films switched domestic production of The Simpsons to Film Roman, which continued until 2016.[18] Csupó was "asked [by Gracie Films] if they could bring in their own producer [to oversee the animation production]," but declined, stating "they wanted to tell me how to run my business."[18] Sharon Bernstein of The Los Angeles Times wrote that "Gracie executives had been unhappy with the producer Csupo had assigned to The Simpsons and said the company also hoped to obtain better wages and working conditions for animators at Film Roman."[18] Of the 110 people he employed to animate The Simpsons, Csupó laid off 75.[18]