Warner Bros. Cartoons Scribner started as an assistant animator for
Friz Freleng's unit in 1935, then as a animator for
Ben Hardaway and
Cal Dalton (and, briefly,
Chuck Jones). Following the dissolution of Hardaway and Dalton's unit in 1939, he joined
Tex Avery's unit and worked with
Robert McKimson,
Charles McKimson,
Virgil Ross, and
Sid Sutherland. and Robert McKimson, with the loose Lichty style that Scribner proposed. It also features some
stereotypes of Japanese people, which was common during the war. In late 1941, after Tex Avery left to direct
Speaking of Animals series for
Jerry Fairbanks Productions, he was replaced as the unit director by
Bob Clampett. Scribner's animation matched Clampett's expansive and energetic cartoons. This was caused by Scribner animating in ink with a pen or a brush, and since Scribner's animation, in Bill Melendez's words, was "very bold and kind of dirty", it would cause crises in the Ink and Paint Department, and the women had to choose which lines to trace. Clampett classics such as
A Tale of Two Kitties (1942),
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943), and
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) showcase some of his trademark "
Lichty style" of animation, which he proposed to Clampett. Clampett left Warner Bros. in 1946 to pursue a career in
puppetry and television. Following Clampett's departure, Scribner was transferred to the unit of recently-promoted fellow Clampett alumnus Robert McKimson, although Scribner would only animate on a small number of shorts prior to being hospitalized in late 1946. He briefly was a cartoonist on Happy Comic's Rowdy Runner and a January 1945 issue of a military magazine called "Service Ribbin". After three years of hospitalization due to
tuberculosis, Scribner returned to Warner Bros. in 1950 under Robert McKimson's unit. His animation became noticeably more subdued during this period owing to both McKimson's more rigid directorial standards and Scribner's own deteriorated physical state, but he still got away with energetic scenes, like in
Hillbilly Hare (1950),
Hoppy Go Lucky (1952) and
Of Rice and Hen (1953). According to Warner Brothers animator Lloyd Turner in an interview, Scribner frequently engaged in behavior perceived as "crazy", recollecting Scribner to have burned his house down, and that he had a disdain towards his colleague
Arthur Davis, potentially because Davis replaced Clampett after his departure. Resultantly, Scribner played a lot of pranks on Davis at McKimson's unit, inclusive of a notable incident Turner recounted within the interview in which Scribner, sighting Davis on a telephone line in a phone booth, elbowed Turner with a "watch me fix Davis", ran to the other side of the booth and tipped the telephone into a 45-degree angle, leading it to emit a booming sound disconcertingly similar to a bomb. Having successfully alarmed Davis, Scribner tipped the phone back, ran and, according to Turner "laughed like he was possessed", inciting Davis' wrath when he emerged from the booth. Clampett described him as a mischievous elf.
Later career Scribner was laid off from Warner's in 1953 and worked for
UPA, Cascade Studios,
Jay Ward and
Storyboard Inc. from the 50's to the mid 60's. In his later years, Scribner worked with former colleague
Bill Melendez on various
Charlie Brown movies and
television specials that worked in
Snoopy Come Home (1972), ''
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown (1973) and It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974), eventually starting at a studio called Playhouse Pictures, which produced commercials for over 45 years. His only completed work not associated with UPA or his former colleague Melendez is a 1968 training video for IBM called A Computer Glossary'' and two credits on the first two episodes of
Yogi's Gang. Scribner went to work on
Fritz the Cat at Bakshi Studios, but eventually sat down with Bakshi and tearfully proclaimed that he "can't do this anymore". Scribner's deteriorated mental state had rendered his work unusable (with Bakshi describing his drawings as "absolutely hideous"), and most of his animation was thrown out or overhauled as a result. Scribner died a few months after leaving the studio, and Bakshi regarded his departure as the saddest experience of his life. == Death and legacy ==