FIL-AM Van Partible is nothing like his alter ego. Or maybe he is.
Partible is an executive producer for Cartoon Network Asia, overseeing the network’s projects in India, Taiwan, Malaysia and Australia.
But Partible (whose full name is Efrem Giovanni Bravo Partible) is better known by a different title.
He is the creator of Johnny Bravo, the iconic muscle head, Elvis wanna-be, cartoon character and namesake series that ran for five seasons on the Cartoon Network in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The cartoon is part of the network’s “Hall of Fame” series and ranked No. 71 all time Animated series, according to IGN.
Most importantly, Partible’s cartoon, Johnny Bravo (produced by Hanna-Barbera) is credited as giving writers Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame and Butch Harman of Fairly Odd Parents their start in the multi-million dollar animation industry.
Born in Manila, Partible was raised in Salinas, California. An avid artist growing up, he didn’t pursue an animation career until he went to college at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
It was at LMU where he developed the Johnny Bravo cartoon as a Studios Art and Animation major.
Partible, in several interviews, said he created Johnny Bravo(originally known as Mess O’Blues, about an Elvis impersonator) as his senior thesis project at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 1993.
With the help of one of his animation professors, Partible submitted his thesis project to the Hanna-Barbera shorts program and the world-renowned animation studio known for long-running cartoons as Tom & Jerry, The Jetsons, The Flintstones and Scooby Doo.
They chose Mess O’Blues over hundreds of submissions they received that year. The studio asked Partible to make it into a seven-minute short and eventually, purchased its rights.
Partible and MacFarlane are known as the only animators hired directly from college, to work for Hanna-Barbera.
“Johnny Bravo is a very narcissistic man. He’s kind of a womanizer. It’s basically about him and his life,” said Partible in an article titled “Drawing from Experience.”
“I just came up with this guy who doesn’t get it. He’s kind of sleazy but he has a good heart and he listens to his Mom.”
Partible told Philippine Inquirer Entertainment recently that he was heavily influenced by Elvis growing up.
“I’m a huge fan of Elvis,” he told Inquirer reporter Marinel Cruz. “We didn’t have many records when I was growing up. (But) the first one my parents bought for us was an Elvis record. We’d go between listening to Elvis and Nora Aunor.”
Cartoon Network first aired Johnny Bravo as part of a series of shorts on “World Premiere Toons” in March 1995. It became a full series in 1997, got renewed for two seasons and had its final run in 2004, according to the Inquirer.
During its run, the Johnny Bravo cartoon was not only known for its muscle-flexing, Elvis-wannabe character.
Several stars were featured: from actors Jessica Biel, Alec Baldwin, Luke Perry and Farrah Fawcett; pop satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic; singer Rick Springfield, Mick Jagger and Richard Simmons, to other stars like basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, 70’s star Donny Osmond, and Pinay actress Tia Carrerre.
“In my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some really great actors -- Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Lemmon. They each brought a certain amount of class and professionalism to the set. Working with Johnny Bravo was not like that at all,” said Alec Baldwin from the press release of Johnny Goes To Hollywood.
Though Johnny Bravo hasn’t aired in the US since 2004, the cartoon has been featured in India and Australia.
In 2009, Partible made an 11-minute short called Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood which aired in Cartoon Network India.
The short received a nomination at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival that year. The short was then transformed into a 70-minute movie, which aired in Australia last month and will make a premier in the US in the upcoming year.
Despite the lapses, there’s a certain appeal to Johnny Bravo.
Partible told the Inquirer that the reason why Johnny Bravo appeals to so many people is because he relates with a lot of real-life people.
“People know this character because they have uncles, cousins, friends who act like Johnny Bravo,” he told the Inquirer. “It’s fun to watch, even though he’s kind of a narcissist.”
One thing is certain -- fans can’t get enough of Johnny Bravo.
“When Johnny Bravo first came out, I don’t think a lot of people didn’t have high hopes for it, and I think it was really cool that proved exactly what kind of character he was,” said said Partible in the Johnny Bravo: Season One DVD.
“No one really thought it was going to go anywhere. Not only has it gone somewhere, it’s actually still around, it’s very iconic now, 15, 16 years later.”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend Dec 24-27, 2011 Sec A pg.10)
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