Tropes/Creator/Argosy



Argosy Media, Argosy Pictures, or just Argosy, started out as a fiction magazine, but is now better known as a rival to Disney.

In 1882, Frank A. Munsey, a Seattleite, in partnership with Swedish immigrant Erich von Sharpsteen, started a magazine known as the "Golden Argosy", later shortened to "Argosy". This magazine eventually ended up in the hands of the Calathriner family, who under the leadership of Philip Calathriner, Sr., performed a hostile takeover of the Edison Trust in 1913.

Until the 1930s, Argosy was a B-movie studio, headed by Carmen Dile (one of the few female film moguls at the time) and mainly specializing in monster films and European imports. Despite being a minor studio, it was still a pioneer, having adopted colour and sound long before any of its Hollywood or Studio Row contemporaries.

In 1930, the Argosy Avenue series of theatrical short cartoons premiered. Carmen and the Calathriners took a gamble on animation, and it paid off. Along with existing film companies (Warner Bros' Looney Tunes, MGM's Tom & Jerry, AoFM's Daniel & Cindy, Paramount's Popeye, Universal's Woody Woodpecker, Johnson's Ludicrous Limericks) and upstart studios (Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies, Dorothy Wilson's DreamToons), Argosy defined the Golden Age of American Animation. The producers of the cartoons were credited under the pseudonym "Aldo Boomer", to mask that the process was a massive team effort. In reality, Michael Shires (creator of the Gum Girl comics) was responsible for much of the Argosy Avenue characters. Also in 1930, Argosy took another gamble, with the first television station in the Pacific Northwest, K7XBY channel 3 (now KMTM). The station is still on air today, and although divested from Argosy in 1949, returned to common ownership with the MTM merger in 1983.

In 1948, the Shires family, with help from British investors, spun off the Argosy film and TV business under Marcus-EMI Systems. Meanwhile, the Calathriners kept the print media division, which included Argosy Comics and Popular Publications (later Brookside Publications).

In 1977, the Argosy company was reunited when Binney and Smith (which had acquired Hughes+Coleman in 1974, which had acquired Marcus-EMI Systems in 1966) was merged with Andrews McMeel (parent of Brookside Publications), forming Argosy Media Affiliates. However, this started a period of mismanagement, with the Shires family being relegated to minor roles, and the unpopular Olaf Vonkaslo becoming head of Argosy Media Entertainment.

In 1983, Vonkaslo led Argosy Media Affiliates to bankruptcy. It was purchased by Tandy Corporation, which had just acquired rival MTM Enterprises/Field Communications the previous year, to form Argosy Entertainment. However, Argosy and MTM remained separate corporate entities within the conglomerate. Michael Shires' son, Michael Shires Jr., wanted to rejuvenate the company - so he hired indie zine comic artist Paul Lopez and his understudies Ellen Peck and Nathan Blake.

Lopez was much of the same as Vonkaslo. He had several DUIs, and also groomed Peck into a relationship with him. However, this was when the seeds of the 90s "Argosy Renaissance" started to form. In December 22, 1992, as Ellen was about to file for divorce from Paul, Lopez died in a car crash. This was around the same time as then-owner TVS was in the midst of plans to revitalize its struggling television animation unit.

Lopez's death was a blessing in disguise; it meant Ellen had full control of the animation unit. She hired genius inventor Robert Stainton, creator of the Rotanimation machine and head of Sony Wonder's small animation studio in Chicago, as well as a glut of recent art school graduates; Terry Ward, James Clayton, Jeremy McAbee, and Andrew Auld. The result was the "Argosy Renaissance".

In 1993, 5 new shows premiered in Argosy's children's block (syndicated to ADTV stations across the country): The Aaron Show, Mercy's Meeting, AuldTopia Kids, Foxy, and Greeny Phatom. All of them made use of Rotanimation. These shows catapulted Argosy from a struggling company, back to the rival to Disney and DreamWorks it had been during the Golden Age. In 1995, Argosy started a unit in Puerto Rico, headed by Elijah "Taino" Cintron; this unit was responsible for Snuffy and Juline's Tree. During the 90s, Argosy's interactive unit developed a close relationship with Peter Bullard and Jihee Nam's North Carolina Data Input, eventually leading to the first Mitchell van Morgan game in 1998.

In 2006, Argosy merged with UWN, and the company was, yet again, reorganized. Ellen Peck was Kicked Upstairs, and all of the 90s series except for Phatom were wrapped up. Crystal Stainton, Robert's daughter, was now in control of the animation unit. Kayla Greene (Zippy) came onto the scene, and (through UWN's connections to ClarkeCorp) British animator Morgan "Reloaxa" Jordan (heir to the Barry Charles and Michael Hill legacy) was now a close associate of Argosy. During this period, Argosy also invested heavily into improving the Children's ADTV preschool lineup, leading to the Phelan/Ousky stewardship of Argosy Junior.

In 2011, the parent company was reorganized yet again, into the ArgosyMTM Group, and Ellen, Nathan, and Robert returned to creative roles. They brought with them their understudies: Katherine Russo, Alasy Bakery, and Blake Kenimeir. In 2013, The New Aaron Show premiered, kicking off the Argosy Revival. Since then, things have been on the up. The company is doing well; the shows from 2006 like Zippy and Lu continue, as well as Phatom (known as the "Cartoon that Can't Die"); and other 90s characters (most notably Mercy) have received reboots as well. The interactive unit is still in business, and Mitchell has managed to avoid the fates of other 90s game mascots (Sonic, Crash, Spyro, etc.); Jihee Nam is now in charge of anything to do with video games in the larger ArgosyMTM conglomerate.

Just because Argosy is mainly focused on animation, doesn't mean that they don't do live-action; however, their live-action content is mostly under the UWN brand nowadays. Peck and Stainton are "Chief Animation Officer" and "Vice-President of Animation" respectively, while the head of UWN is Vietnamese-American Ben Tran.