Joey Drew Studios

This article refers to the in-universe location. For the real-life game development name of the same name, see Joey Drew Studios Inc.

For other uses, see Joey Drew Studios (disambiguation).

"It's simply awe-inspiring what one can accomplish with their own hands! A lump of clay can turn to meaning... if you strangle it with enough enthusiasm. Look what we've built! We created life itself, Henry! Not just on the silver screen, but in the hearts of those we've entertained with our fancy moving pictures!" — Joey Drew's "The End" audio log.

Joey Drew Studios Inc is an American corporation and an animation studio established in 1929 at Broadway, New York City. Owned by Joey Drew, this is where he, his friend Henry Stein, and all other workers collaborated for several decades before the studio's downfall, producing a series of cartoons and other media for the Bendy franchise.

Little is known about its exterior appearance, although judging by the ink realm it appears to be made out of bricks and wood.

History

Founded by Joey Drew and Henry Stein in an unknown full date other than the year of 1929, Joey Drew Studios is located on Broadway in New York City, New York. The company is known for being the place where Henry spent his time animating long ago and used to work with his friend, Joey Drew, making Bendy cartoons, along with many other animators.

During his time at the company, Henry created a cartoon character called Bendy. However, the design was rejected and a new one was used for the character. In 1930, Henry Stein left the company to presumably spend more time with his wife, Linda, and because of Joey's unethical work ethics. In 1931, to keep his company strong and alive, Joey Drew hired several workers and eventually voice talent to collaborate with Joey. An unknown amount of time after Susie Campbell was hired, Alice Angel was created and Susie was assigned as her voice actor.

By mid-1930s, the Bendy cartoons were very popular with them being the most common one in the theaters. The behind the scenes at the company however, the work schedule was quite tight, especially for the music director, Sammy Lawrence, who was frustrated with Joey's work ethics. Some of the animators were also having problems with their schedule, with one even losing his mind. Before World War II, Joey Drew hired Bertrum Piedmont to design and build an amusement park called "Bendy Land." However, this process was very tedious since Joey kept changing the concepts Bertrum came up with.

In 1940, the Bendy franchise was staple and with their toy manufacturing company, Heavenly Toys, releasing many toy, and the studio releasing comic books and many other memorabilia. During World War II, the studio re-released many of its early cartoons to sell war bonds, to keep the company going after the war caused shortcomings in supplies and staff.

At some point the studio and the Gent Corporation made a partnership. During this time, Gent supplied Joey Drew Studios with tools, machinery and even employees. Since the main reason for the partnership was to create a machine that would mold life-sized figures, Thomas Connor of Gent designed a machine and it was invented then installed to the studio sometime near 1943. A frustrated Thomas and the other Gent workers were tasked with installing the pipes across the studio. The idea was then changed as the figures were commissioned to be made alive and living.

With the first experiment, the physical version of Bendy, being a failure was locked up and it was decided that the creations needed souls for accuracy. After this, Susie Campbell, who was replaced with Allison Pendle, was used to bring Alice Angel to life. However this also failed and she turned into a "shapeless slug." This process then continued with many employees being experimented on with the Ink Machine and turned into ink-made creatures. Only the Boris clones were successful but the other cartoon characters still needed to be perfected.

Unknown amount of time after partnering with Briar Label, the studio opened a cafeteria called "Little Devil Lounge." This was where the employees ate and the kitchen staff worked at. However, this place would later be unusable as the Gent employees flooded the area. Because of the massive amounts of workers, the elevator system in the studio wouldn't support the amount of people, causing many to wait for minutes or hours and end. This caused Joey to realize that he could use this as an excuse to keep his employees at the studio at all times by building Artist's Rest, a place where the employees could sleep. However, the place was very uncomfortable since many of the employees smoked and partied at the sleeping quarters.

Joey later opened the studio to tour for the public, as he needed more money. The studio tour included; Little Devil Longue, sets of various types of rooms with mannequins inside, a glimpse at Animation Alley, the Screening room, and the Elevator Station. All of these areas, excluding Animation Alley, have a contraption that has Joey explaining their purpose. However, the tour areas were not safe as even a valve blowing out could cause wall to shatter. This annoyed the tour guide, Hudson Doyle, as he thought this was just asking for disaster.

At some point, Joey Drew Studios started experiencing financial difficulties. Presumably because of the upcoming Bendy Land project and the difficulties caused by World War II, But it's likely that the Ink Machine also had a cause in this. Gent still continued funding them, which kept the studio running. This funding also allowed Gent employees to act like they own the place and take over places such as; Little Devil Lounge, various bathrooms, and hallways to the annoyance of Lance Derby.

On September 25, 1947 it was posted in the New York World-Telegram that Joey Drew Studios is stated to be in "Dire Straights" and struggling financially.

On July 29, 1948 it is posted in the New York World-Telegram that Joey Drew Studios files for bankruptcy, it is stated to be because of Joey's mismanagement and the studio's financial issues. Ultimately, the studio was shut down. Leaving the experiments Joey and Gent created as failures that were trapped in the ink realm, the ink and paper version of the studio, created by Joey Drew as a parallel world that's stuck in a loop.

On August 16 of an unknown year (presumably 1948), the law firm known as Snooks, Spitner and Snooks sued Joey Drew, having heard the rumors of Joey's mismanaging of his own workers. 12 days later, the studio was closed down in accordance to bylaw 11 U.S Code § 1125 (which forbids the misrepresentation of legally established companies) as evident by the bankruptcy report found in Joey's apartment, as well as health and safety concerns directly by the mention of a health and safety board meeting schedule found in the appointment lobby.

On April 14, 1962 an article was posted questioning what happened to Joey Drew Studios, stating how popular it used to be, the history and the mystery on what happened to Joey Drew himself.

On February 10, 1972 the property of Joey Drew Studios and the Bendy IP is purchased by Arch Gate Pictures lead by Nathan Arch, who wanted to continue Joey Drew's legacy, after the latter died of old age in 1971. Various memorabilia from the studio was displayed in an exhibit dedicated to Joey Drew's past.

Employees

There are currently 25 known members of the studio altogether.

Art Department

• Henry Stein (Co-founder and lead animator; 1929–1930)
• Jane Todd (Artist)
• Bill Danton (Animator)
• Phil Clark (Animator)
• Emma LaMonte (Dance choreographer)
• Hank Scott (Possibly animator or artist)
• Riley Wells (Artist; unknown date–unknown date)

Audio Department

• Sammy Lawrence (Music/song director)
• Jack Fain (Lyricist and assistant music director)

Voice talent

• Susie Campbell (Voice of Alice Angel; unknown date–unknown date)
• Allison Pendle (Voice of Alice Angel; unknown date–1948)

Editing Department

• Carl (Editor)

Accounting and Finance

• Grant Cohen (Junior accountant)
• Kay Lee (Auditor)

Administration Department

• Joey Drew (CEO, lead writer and founder; 1929–1948)
• Sally Newt (Secretary)

Maintenance Department

• Wally Franks (Janitor and Ink Machine attendant)

Others

• Norman Polk (Projectionist)
• Hudson Doyle (Tour guide)

Unknown

• Telly Wester
• Muncie Dunn
• Grace Conway
• Lance Derby

Kitchen

• Chef Buck (Head chef)
• Andre (Line chef)

Subsidiaries

Establishments that are owned and controlled by the studio.

• Heavenly Toys (Toy company)
• Bendy Land (Amusement park)

Behind the scenes

Joey Drew Studios first appears in Chapter 1: Moving Pictures of Bendy and the Ink Machine, but its official name was not revealed until the initial release of Chapter 2: The Old Song, prior to the final update for Chapter 1, where its name was first seen in the Music Department's logo.

Inspirations

The workshop's design, business, and branding is influenced by real-life cartoon-manufacturing companies, such as Walt Disney Animation Studios and Fleischer Studios. Another connection is that both Joey Drew Studios and Fleischer Studios are located in New York City.

See also

• Joey Drew Studios (ink realm), the ink realm recreation of the studio.