RUBY-SPEARS
PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Aka
RUBY-SPEARS ENTERPRISES, RS HOLDINGS
(1977-96)
Key
People: Joe Ruby (founder, president), Ken Spears (founder,
vice president), Jerry Eisenberg (producer), Jack Kirby (production artist)
 |
| One of Ruby-Spears' former locations, just across from Hanna-Barbera. |
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
began as sound editors at Hanna-Barbera
Productions before turning into a valuable writing team; particularly with
the creation of Scooby-Doo. When their contracts were up and their desires to
advance to associate producers denied, they left Hanna-Barbera to be producers
and writers at DePatie-Freleng
Enterprises. Eventually, they were hired away by television executive Fred Silverman to supervise the
Saturday morning programming for him at CBS,
and then over at ABC. By 1977, Hanna-Barbera
was stretched pretty thin making several programs for all the major networks
and their work quality was suffering as a result. Feeling Hanna-Barbera needed
some competition, Silverman decided that Ruby and Spears should start their own
production company. ABC executive Peter Roth secured
financing from Filmways
and Silverman promised them a commitment for one series and one special. The
special, The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy, was released in 1978 as an episode
of the ABC
Weekend Specials. It was nominated for an Emmy, and got three sequel specials before
becoming an ongoing show called The Puppy’s Further Adventures. The
series was Fangface,
which was pitched as kind of a reverse Scooby-Doo, and did well enough to
run for two seasons. From there came a steady output of shows and specials,
including The
Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, Heathcliff,
Thundarr
the Barbarian, Goldie Gold and Action Jack, Mork
& Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour, Rubik,
the Amazing Cube, Mister T, Alvin
and the Chipmunks (for the first five years until the Bagdasarians wanted
to go elsewhere), Saturday
Supercade and more. By that point, their exclusivity agreement with ABC
was done, allowing them to expand to the other networks as well as syndication.
Each production allowed the company to grow from a shoestring operation to a
full-fledged one, poaching as many Hanna-Barbera talent as they could due to
the shortages at the time. One of their most notable hires was legendary comic
book artist Jack Kirby,
brought to them by writer Mark Evanier,
who reportedly enjoyed the best treatment of his entire career. In 1981,
Ruby-Spears was sold to Taft Broadcasting,
who also owned Hanna-Barbera making them sister companies (while still also
competing for the same timeslots). In 1991, Ruby and Spears spun the company
off into the independent RS Holdings, with most of their pre-1991 library being
sold along with Hanna-Barbera to Turner
Broadcasting System (excluding Rambo: The Force of Freedom
which is owned by StudioCanal),
resulting in a mix of both company’s productions populating the fledgling Cartoon Network. Ruby-Spears would
produce three more series—Wild
West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, Mega Man and
Skysurfer Strike Force—and
two more ABC Weekend Specials before finally closing up shop in 1996. Ruby
and Spears continued to work on developing new projects under the Ruby-Spears
banner for the next two decades up until the deaths of both men in 2020.
 |
| Promo image featuring some of Ruby-Spears' earliest characters. |
Fangface
ABC Weekend Specials (episodes)
Heathcliff and Dingbat/Marmaduke
Goldie Gold and Action Jack
Thundarr the Barbarian
The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour
The Puppy’s Further Adventures
Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour
Rubik, the Amazing Cube
Mister T
Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983)
Dragon’s Lair
Turbo Teen
It’s Punky Brewster
Lazer Tag Academy
Superman (1988)
Piggsburg Pigs!
Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa
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