In 1929 former Disney animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising made a cartoon entitled "Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid", and tried to sell it to a distributor in 1930. Warner Bros. who had previously tried an unsuccessful attempt to set up a cartoon studio in New York in order to compete with Disney, agreed to distribute the series. Under producer Leon Schlesinger's guide Harman and Ising created "Looney Tunes" (the title being variation on Disney's award-winning "Silly Symphonies") starring their character Bosko. A second Harman-Ising series, "Merrie Melodies", followed in 1931. Both series showed the strong influence of the early Disney movies.