The Roadrunner Story

Martha Goldman Sigall worked at the Termite Terrace, Leon Schlesinger's Studios in 1949 when the Roadrunner was created by Mike Maltese.
He had seen roadrunners around the pool at Desert Hot Springs and was inspired.
The first Roadrunner cartoon was Fast and Furry-ous (1949). Background artist Paul Julian was known to say "beep, beep" when trying to get around people in the hallway. Maltest thought that would be a good sound for the Roadrunner. Julian was recorded but never paid or credited for saying beep beep.
Martha Sigall worked in animation for 53 years and when she was 88, published Living Life inside the lines: Tales from the golden age of animation. It's available from Amazon.com. In 2005, she was given a Lifetime Achievement Annie award.
Martha passed away in 2014 at the age of 97. Contact her son Bob at [e-mail].
Her son, Bob Sigall, recorded this in her home studio in Culver City California in June of 2009.

[@sigall]

Yes, Martha is my mother. I spoke with her today. She worked in animation from 1936 until 1989.

[@sigall]

I talked to Martha today about this. She said the idea for Roadrunner was Michael Maltese's. However, Chuck Jones was the director and played a role in the production of all the cartoons he directed. It was standard practice for the director to get ALL the credit. This video, she feels, sets the record straight. Bob Sigall

[@Storystein]

Thanks for uploading this, it's cool to hear the story behind the classical Road Runner! It's crazy to think that Paul Julian never even got paid for that iconic line.

[@scootscootriot1020]

Martha kind of looks like Granny from the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons.

[@tinoking]

great lady great story

[@tracks6984]

The road runner was my childhood

[@Bixfan78]

Thank you so much for sharing this.

[@superleviathan]

@sigall Chuck Jones did designs and all layouts for his unit's cartoons (like Robert McKimson, and unlike Friz Freleng, who had Hawley Pratt do layout for his unit). He did artwork for the cartoons (that you can find on various blogs online) that looks virtually identical to the drawings that showed up onscreen.
Chuck fully deserves at the bare minimum co-creator credit, IMO.

[@2degucitas]

This is a gem.

[@NOCBCloutic]

very nice

[@kennethfb1978]

Great story ! thanks for share

[@NikkiRoesslerBFDIFan64]

That's an excellent story :)

[@hellorodney]

excellent,,,thanks,,,,beep beep

[@robbiefarabee6954]

That's a really cool origin story about the road runner. One time saw a real road runner in Texas and it was shorter than the road runner in the looney tunes.

[@MortenEng]

AMAZING!!
I love Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote!
Beep beep!

[@robcat2075]

Great story. May you continue to tell them for another 88 years, Martha!
You should add an "annotation" link near the end of these TH-cam videos that leads to the Amazon page for the book. Just an idea.

[@wildstein22]

u are EPIC!!!!!!!!

[@indraadityaprayoga9656]

I Like Cartoon The Road Runner Show .I am Indonesian

[@superleviathan]

I don't feel at all comfortable with stripping Chuck Jones of all creation credit for the Road Runner. At the very least, wouldn't it be fair to give creation to both Jones and Maltese?