The Barber of Seville (1944 film) Culhane later called "The Barber of Seville" "one of my most satisfying achievements as a director". By 1944, Rossini's opera was a staple of American cartoon humor, with a noted earlier use in the "Looney Tunes" short "Notes to You" (1941) starring Porky Pig. Later cartoons to parody Rossini's music include "Rabbit of Seville" (Warner Bros.), "Kitty Foiled" (MGM), and "Magical Maestro" (MGM). In 1994, "The Barber of Seville" was voted #43 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time, as voted by 1000 animation professionals and edited by Jerry Beck. It is the only "Woody Woodpecker" entry included in
Benjamin Barber at Albert Schweitzer College (1959) and the London School of Economics (1957). Barber's father, Philip W. Barber, directed the New York City unit of the Federal Theatre Project, which produced plays including "Macbeth" and the Living Newspaper. His mother, Doris Frankel, was a playwright and wrote for television. Barber was also active as a playwright, lyricist (libretto for George Quincy's opera "Home and the River") and film-maker ("The Struggle for Democracy", with Patrick Watson, and "Music Inn", with Ben Barenholtz). Barber died on April 24, 2017, after a four-month battle with cancer. Barber was a Senior Research Scholar at The