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| Joe McDoakes | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Richard Bare |
| Written by | George O'Hanlon Various |
| Screenplay by | Richard L. Bare |
| Produced by | Richard Bare Gordon Hollingshead Cedric Francis |
| Starring | George O'Hanlon Jane Harker Phyllis Coates Jane Frazee Rodney Bell Fred Kelsey Ted Stanhope Clifton Young |
| Narrated by | Art Gilmore Knox Manning |
| Cinematography | Ted Keefer |
| Edited by | Rex Steele |
| Music by | William Lava |
Production company | Richard L. Bare Productions |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date | November 14, 1942 – July 14, 1956 |
Running time | 10 minutes (per short) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Joe McDoakes is an American short-film comedy series produced and directed by Richard L. Bare for Warner Bros. A total of 63 black-and-white, live-action, one-reel films were produced and released between 1942 and 1956. The Joe McDoakes shorts are also known as the Behind the Eight Ball series (for the large eight ball Joe appeared behind in the opening credits) or the So You Want... series (as the film titles began with this phrase). The character's name derives from Joe Doakes, which was a popular American slang term for the average man.
The theme song of the series is "I Know That You Know" by Vincent Youmans from his Broadway musical Oh, Please! (1926), used later in the MGM musical Hit the Deck (1955).
George O'Hanlon, who would later provide the voice of George Jetson in Hanna-Barbera's animated sitcom The Jetsons, starred as the series' title character, Joe McDoakes. These one-reel shorts were written by Bare and O'Hanlon, although Bare usually received sole screen credit as the writer. Art Gilmore served as the narrator through 1948. Gordon Hollingshead, who won five Academy Awards for producing other short subjects for Warner Bros., was also credited as a producer on the series until his death in 1952, although his role on this series was primarily as liaison between the studio and the director.