William Hanna was employed by at least one company.
In 1938 , the comic strip The Captain and the Kids ( Rudolph Dirks ' parallel version of his own strip The Katzenjammer Kids ) was adapted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , becoming the studio 's first self-produced series of theatrical cartoon short subjects , directed by William Hanna , Bob Allen , and Friz Freleng . Tom and Jerry is an American animated series of short films created in 1940 , by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera . William Hanna . During the 1930s , Hanna steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids . In 1937 , while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ( MGM ) , Hanna met Joseph Barbera .