Daffy: "I'm a fiddler crab, shoot me it's fiddler crab season." As a kid, I was cracking up laughing thinking that hunters were storming the beaches shooting Fiddler Crabs.
It feels like no coincidence that most of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons I remember watching as a kid were from this era. People like Friz Freling, Robert McKimson, and especially Chuck Jones created material that was so incredible and funny that it'll always stand the test of time.
Big part of the reason for that is that these shorts were the ones most frequently in rotation on the Bugs Bunny (& Road Runner, later & Tweety) Show, as these were among the shorts Warner Bros. never sold off the rights to. If you're principal exposure to Looney Tunes growing up was watching that block on Saturday mornings, then they would definitely stick in your mind as the defining era of the series.
Yes, you are so right!! These will ALWAYS stand the test of time. My father, my sister and I have always watched and cherished these cartoons. My father is now deceased, but my sister and I, 66 and 62 respectively, STILL watch these ‘toons and can quote the lines.
The late 90s was the BEST time for a young artist to get into the animation business! After the Lion King, Disney was hiring all kinds of new staff to work on their films, TV was booming, and all the new networks and studios were opening up and hiring! I was lucky enough to get into Disney Feature Animation while Hercules was in production, and they invited all kinds of living legends to come in and talk for an hour or so. Chuck Jones was one of these! Back then, the Warner Bros. Store was alive and well, and I used to have this beautiful pink sweater with Penelope knitted all over the front. At the end of his talk, Chuck kissed my hand as PePe LePew might've and it was hilarious and also such an honor! Those were such golden years to be in that business (while the money was flowing, big time), and I feel so fortunate to have been a part of it those good times!.....the bad times are another story, of course. ;) I will always treasure that memory of Mr. Jones - and yeah - he was always my favorite Looney Tunes director. His design style and perfect cartoon posing, while still maintaining the disciplines that would be required of Disney feature animators (watching volumes, staying on model, fluid animation) were just ideal to me as a young prospective designer and animator.
I don't think people quite understand JUST how influential Chuck Jones' unit was in terms of comedy and timing. Legit, the timing of Chuck Jones golden era is something that's so deeply engrained into comedy now that it's hard to think it's relatively new in terms of tempo and speed. Thanks a billion for the video man!
Yeah, Chuck Jones brought in a new era fast comedy via the animation techniques and art style that he brought.... his sense of timing, and incredibly funny one-liner gags were something unseen before - good as those earlier shorts had been; and some of those were pretty bloody amazing! Chick just seemed to bring a newer, fresher style to the artwork, and to the characters, both visually and vocally that I've always loved above all other cartoons..... even some of his work on the later 60s Tom & Jerry cartoons was incredible: Some of it....not all of it! Sadly many are pretty dire, but there are one or two examples that just have that classic Chuck Jones Looney Toons brilliance behind them... ;-)
Charles M. Jones was a talented superstar! I still remember his on camera cameo on "InnerSpace", his brief handiwork on an episode "Night Court" and interview on The Sci-Fi Channel.
@@stevesstuff1450 I'd argue Tex Avery created the fast-era comedy YEARS before Chuck did. Compare The Blow Out in 1936 (Tex's 3rd at WB) to The Dover Boys/Draft Horse in 1942 (5 Years after he started directing on his own)
What I find interesting about Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones that not only were they different in terms of how they viewed comedic animation, But also that these were two guys that couldn't see eye to eye because of such and yet were rebellious renegades and their own respective manner in the industry at the time and instead of doing things quote by the book, They just wrote their own books.
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this documentary series. Robert McKimson seems to be my favourite director besides Clampett. The characters in his cartoons are not just subtle little tricksters but they are loud, ignorant, pushing pests. His Foghorn Leghorn cartoons are timeless. He definitely put the LOON in Looney Tunes during the 50s. His art style is also the best I've seen from any unit.
It's really sad Mckimson is not well known as Clampett, Jones, Avery or Freleng, he was one of the best animators around the studio and his shorts were always cartoony
I have some sort of admiration for some of Robert McKimson's cartoons, especially his earlier ones from the late 1940s that have wonderfully energetic and bouncy animation. In fact, some of my favorite and the most underrated Looney Tunes shorts are his, like Crowing Pains, The Up-Standing Sitter, and The Windblown Hare. Sadly, due to the cutback budgets of the 50s and 60s, his later cartoons didn't look as "looney" as before.
Watching this part of the series reminded me of the childhood days spent watching Looney Tunes on VHS and on Cartoon Network. When we were kids, we never once thought about cartoons being by different directors and all having different styles, whether it be straight up crazy slapstick, careful and cautious in regards to time or budget, or straight up experimental and surreal, like what Chuck Jones created. This is what "Merrie History" does so well here. It attracts the cartoon lovers who grew up on the shorts 20 to 30 years ago, if not more, and it makes us look at the cartoons as adults, in a whole new creative way, and we see things in ways we never could have imagined as kids.
I absolutely agree! Except, I watched them before VHS or Cartoon Network 40-50 years ago on black n white TV with an actual "dial"! 😄 In all that time, I never stopped to think about them in this context. Well done!
True; I rarely paid attention to the cartoon credits when I was a kid. When I was a teenager in the 80s, Tom & Jerry cartoons were aired on a local station at 4:00 PM. Even at the time, most of the T&J cartoons were what I thought of as "regular" T&J cartoons, which ran for, let's say 6 weeks, and there were others that I thought of as "weird" or "surreal" T&J cartoons, which ran for, let's say 3 weeks, then they'd start over (time periods above are just examples, not realistic). I enjoyed the "surreal" ones more than the "regular" ones; plus, the "surreal" part of the T&J cartoons included "The Dot and the Line," which is still one of my favorite animated shorts. ETA: "Feed the Kitty" and some shorts with the overgrown Baby Bear were also part of the whole T&J package. It wasn't until the mid-aughts, when PBS' "American Masters" showcased Chuck Jones' career, that I learned that Chuck Jones had done those "surreal" T&J cartoons and "The Dot and the Line." 💖
Looking at the mobile game called "Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem", I can definitely see the similarity. People had their minds blown when Big Chungus, of all characters, was announced for the game!
I've worked in animation for well over a decade and I've come to really cherish stylistic diversity. The KaiserBeamz channel gives me exactly that by covering both obscure 80s and 90s anime and extensive features of classic Western animation. Please keep going, I'll keep watching!
The scary part of Jone's dominance of this era is 1. He had major hits in several different genres (Feed the Kitty and Froggy Evening are legendary stories with one-off characters). 2. He and Maltese hit several different tones (Chow Hound is an EC horror tale with funny animals). And 3: Freeling still won more Oscars. Heck we barely see Marvin Martian and we never see a Sam Sheepdog cartoon in the whole mix, and we barely see the 3 bears. Freeling was holding his own (though three little bops is about his only adventurous bit design wise) but man McKinson kinda fell off a cliff, granted losing your staff is going to hurt any creator. And man UPA, they were so special, until they were a victim of their own (or Magoo's) success.
@@teddyfurstman1997 Yeah, I liked one of their first ones with Fox and Crow when rabbits replaced musical instruments. You could REALLY tell they were making fun of Disney there.
The big take away for me was Eddie Selzer. That you could be so massively WRONG so many times and still hold a job boggles the mind. I wonder what might have been without him (especially given Warner Brothers were arguably at their creative peak).
@@quintessenceSL Maybe less. Eddie was the manager, not a "creative" if nothing else, he gave the crew someone to unite against. Jones in particular seems to have taken major inspiration from fooling him and proving him wrong.
I'm glad that you saw through the Chuck Jones mythos while acknowledging his talent. He wrote an autobiography that is just incredible, full of shameless credit grabbing and factual errors. That said, I had dinner with him once, and he was truly a nice guy, very chatty and lively. A complicated person!
It's really funny that chuck got really mad at clampett for doing the exact same things he did (though in fairness Jones also never said something as dumb as claiming to be the sole creator of bugs bunny)
@@felixleidig8307 better person sure, much better... ehh. See there's a great moment on the freleng documentary that came with the looney tunes golden collection where all of the people that worked with friz or knew him went "ya we based yosemite sam on friz cause he was also a short redheaded guy who yelled at people constantly" and then it cuts to friz who goes "I don't actually remember who we based sam on"
@@anonymouskaiju9101 I know about that but in my eyes he was the better Person i even saved a lot of his staff from being without a Job thanks to Depatie Freleng Enterprises
It's funny how this episode both soothes and reinforces my frustrations with Jones' work at WB. The fact that the other Tunes' formulas were wearing thin was something I had no idea about, which makes sense why he wanted to break the mold with more character-driven stories...it's just that his takes later became the mold so many, especially Daffy, suffered for with a lack of willing to experiment arguably until Pete Browngardt's shorts. That and he still basically had overwritten previous personalities to fit his molds rather than try and adapt them to his style. The man made many classic shorts and many masterpieces of animation...I just have issues with his insistence on following his archetypes. The ego remarks make sense honestly when you consider he thought very poorly about Roger Rabbit.
@@Gondarth I wouldn't know but I'd be surprised considering I'd take his Coyote and Road Runner over ANY Tom and Jerry like...that'd be quite a hill to die on considering there are much more reasonable hills he has access to.
@@Gondarth No, he was actually kinda modest about them (as modest as he generally ever got). There is something different between and Tom and Jerry and Road Runner cartoon, and he thought he'd never quite crossed that gap..
That's my big issue with Jones as a Looney Tunes fan. Going on a strict cartoon by cartoon basis, he's my definite favorite as he made more of my favorites than any other with 36 in my top 100. But while every other director was focused on the wacky go for broke style that made the LT/MM series stand out, Jones was obsessed with personality animation and comedy that stemmed from predictability. In Jones' cartoons, the comedy comes from the lack of surprise at his characters' actions and their consequences. You definitely couldn't say that about Avery or Clampett or Freleng at their peaks. That leads to series like the Road Runner cartoons where part of the whole joke is that you can never tell any of them apart from another. And while Jones was a genius who can make that predictability work, WB's repeated failed attempts to revive the characters using his work as a template shows why no else should try. When you know exactly how Bugs or Daffy are going to respond to something, it's not only inessential, it's not funny.
Chuck's influence lives on the most unlike Friz Freleng or Robert McKimson, because he had a unique sense of brilliance in his characters. That is why Chuck's influence was completely brilliant with his cartoons, and in regards to comedic cartoons, his legacy has the greatest legacy. Even after he left Warner Brothers in the 1960's, his shorts like Dot & The Line and Tom & Jerry with MGM worked better in the end.
Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, and others who worked on and created some of the most iconic, amazing, hilarious, and unique animated characters of all-time have given so many laughs, smiles, and memories to kids, teenagers, young adults, adults, and even older folks. I can remember back in the 70's when I was growing up. Saturday🌄mornings🌄 were the highlight of the week.⏰Waking⏰⏰up⏰early, getting your bowl of cereal(Alpha Bits, Fruity Pebbles, Lucky Charms, or Fruit Loops) ready, grabbing your Mego Superheroes action figures, getting everything ready on the 🛋couch🛋 and at 7am it would start! I used to love the classic DC Superfriends show, but my all-time favorite show was The Bugs Bunny/Road-Runner Show. That usually came on at either 9am or at 10am, closing put the morning cartoons. Merry Melodies, Bugs Bunny and friends have so many unbelievably amazing "shorts". They had the most amazing and incredibly talented people working on them as well. So many unique and bizarre characters. From the Tasmanian Devil to Pepe Le` Pew, Marvin the Martian to one of Daffy Duck's alter egos, Duck Dodgers. From Speedy Gonzalez to Slow Poke Rodriguez, to the battle between Tweety and Sylvester, and Foghorn Leghorn and the "Dog", I forgot his name. Every one of them was completely unique in their own way. Each had their own personality and each one while all voiced by one unbelievably talented person, Mel Blanc, all were completely different from one another, and THAT is because of the other incredibly talented people who created them. No offense to Disney. They are also very iconic with their animation studio. Donald Duck is a LEGEND! However to me NOBODY can top or beat the WB's creativeness with the Merry Melodies, and Looney Tunes. The 30's, 40's, and 50's are truly the "Golden Age" for cartoons. The 60's and 70's had some decent ones as well but nowhere near what the forementioned men did in the three previous decades. Every one of these men are legendary, incredibly talented, and phenomenal. The memories that I have that came directly from their creations will never ever leave my thoughts. They are so special, so fun, and so amazing. To this day I have picked up about 20-25 📀Blu-Ray📀 and 💿DVD's💿 from the WB collections. Also Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Scooby-Doo, and my 2nd favorite, the entire complete collection of the Flintstones series! I still want to get Mr.Magoo and Felix the Cat, and maybe the Jetsons? Cartoons are for everyone!
One thing I especially love about Chuck Jones cartoons are the backgrounds, especially in the more surreal ones like "What's Opera, Doc," they're just beautiful. And for me, the real difference between Bugs and Daffy, is that you want to cheer *for* Bugs but *against* Daffy.
Eh.....to be honest I believe it’s difficult who to choose too cheer for. Like, you feel bad for Daffy, and you empathize with him. But, you know his intentions aren’t pure. As said from Daffy, he is a greedy slob.
Maurice Noble had a very specific and visionary approach to the layouts and backgrounds working with Chuck Jones. His contributions are major high points to animated film.
Darn, they did Mckimson wrong. I always view him as the underdog of the big 3 directors at WB Cartoons. The ironically about them firing him in the 1954 layoff of the animation unit is he would be the last director standing when they finally shut it down for good in 1963 ("False Hare" was the last completed cartoon from WB Cartoons) Given his love for Looney Tunes, have his not died in 1977, McKimson most likely would had followed Freleng to the then newly opened WB Animation.
And that was during that time, the Beatles arrived in the US in February 1964 where they performed on the “Ed Sullivan Show”, and of course, the arrival of the British Invasion.
Something sadly foreshadowing happened before Robert McKimson died. He went to the doctor a few days before his death, but the doctor said he would live for a few more years, but not a week later, his film reel ended.
I would really like to learn more about the Looney Tunes documentary history. How Looney Tunes was sold to Warner Brothers during the 1930s and 1940s. The second World War outbreak. New characters debut. Best supervising animators on Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck during the golden age of animation. And more than I can count. Keep up your amazing work on your TH-cam channel.
I attended Chuck Jones night at the Hollywood Bowl in the 90's. The crowd went nuts when the LT intro music began. You could feel it. It was love. 14,000 of us. When Jones walked out on stage I think he felt it too. The 1990's were a difficult time in Los Angeles. When our hero from a bygone time smiled all that was forgotten and we 14,000 fans were happy, and so was he.
You've made me re-evaluate my feelings about Robert McKimson's shorts with this series in a good way. Also, I can't be the only person tickled by the ever-present chill fat horses in Chuck Jones' shorts.
5:05/ Say this much for Chuck Jones, his uncanny incorporation of operatic themes into Bugs Bunny shorts led to a great visual cue. Notice when he's mimicking the piano notes on Elmer's head? Yup, he's briefly human! It's the only time you see Bugs depicted with 10 fingers...
Honestly McKimson wasn’t really that bad during this time, sure he was a distant third when it came to the directors, but he made some good to even great shorts. Not to mention he was basically at the studio up until 1969, this is proof that he kept trying no matter how bad it got.
Something within me now sees that this could have been a bust on what Quimby did to Hanna and Barbera among other things in terms of MGM's animation department.
@@GreatMewtwo Yes, where Hanna and Barbara had to sneak into Quimby's office (during Quimby's lunch break) to even photograph themselves near the Oscars.
I said to myself that I wanted something substantial to watch today and, 3 minutes later, you upload another episode of your wonderful Looney Tunes documentaries! Keep up the amazing work on your channel!
This series just keeps on getting better and better. I feel the rest of it might go something like this-- Part 6: The Rise of Television and the Decline of Termite Terrace Part 7: Closure of the Studio and Post Closure Years Part 8: Resurgence and Lasting Appeal (70s-today)
Still, the Chuck Jones Road Runners are better than the post-Chuck ones. I don't like the "origin" of Wile E. Coyote only being allowed to speak once he catches a Road Runner. It completely ignores the Coyote Bugs shorts as well as Adventures of the Road-Runner. It also had Road Runner out of character and attacking Coyote despite that only really being a thing in the Bill Lava shorts. I know Jones Road Runner would sometimes retaliate against Coyote, but it was rare and not in every short.
@@YujiUedaFan This is why I come to believe that Wile E. was only silent to not spook the Road Runner, other wise it would ruin the element of surprise. He did speak around Bugs, but he didn't consider him a more serious threat, but at the same time acknowledges that Bugs is no ordinary lagomorph.
@@robbiewalker2831 Yeah, that makes more sense. Also the origin goes from Coyote goes from wanting Road Runner out of pride, (despite having funds for something else) to a right of passage he needs to do to successfully mate. It just makes him seem more pathetic and makes the Road Runner the antagonist.
Chuck stole Coyote/Roadrunner from Rod Scribner. Also, Termite Terrace was the name of the shack that Clampett and Avery started Looney Tunes in. NOT Schlesinger Productions. Maybe you should stick to anime. Lol. Kidding of course!
I only found this series like a week ago, binged all the episodes in a day and when I finished was like 'damn, now I'm probably gonna have to wait forever for the next episode'. Flash forward like a week and this is in my inbox. Guess I picked a good time to binge your series, huh? Just wanna say I've been absolutely loving this series so far, it's so well-researched and high quality, and I'm VERY excited to watch this episode since Chuck Jones's shorts are what got me into Looney Tunes in the first place.
Chuck is one of those guys who could have left his body of work to its own merits and would have still been seen as an absolute legend. Unfortunately, (and I'm glad the video briefly touches on this) he was very vain despite what he would try to claim in interviews. Even in retirement, he still had this weird control over how Looney Tunes would continue, with the vast majority of the stuff from the 70's and 80's being seen as abysmal. Chuck built a cult around his vision of the characters, downplayed the role that others played, even claiming that others such as Clampett did. He also jeopardized projects such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit with his fiddling. This caused animators to need to animate two versions in order to appease him (this was specifically the animators wanting to use the Avery/Clampett Daffy instead of Jones' version, the former was the one that made it into the movie). Furthermore, if you were a kid growing up in the late 70's through early 90's...you probably were only attuned to seeing shorts from this period; Jones, McKimson and Freleng, so the chance of seeing the earlier works of so many others never made it onto the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show. It wasn't until Nickelodeon came along and started showing other stuff. This combined with the fact that the only other face of Termite Terrace being Freleng who constantly recycled his material, it left the future of the Looney Tunes crew in limbo. What we got out of this was Space Jam, which while financially successful...was not a return to form for the characters. To this day, I think the decisions made in the 50's and 60's helped make sure that the Tunes would never really reach that peak again, and in many ways lose their appeal with every passing generation. For this, it's really a shame because I truly believe that the works of Jones, Avery, Clampett, McKimson, Tashlin and even Freleng are among some of the best works of cinema ever created, and it seems like more than ever most people seem dismissive of them in favor of other old cartoons.
He's Virgo ♍. Chuck Jones create his new flavor of his Art style, like he work was an animator in Porky and Gabby cartoon directed by UB Iwerks and Bob Clampett shorts in late 1930's.
I know McKimson is kind of glossed over, but his cartoons were the best of the bunch in my opinion. I preferred his Sylvester to Jones' or Freleng's. Foghorn Leghorn was always very good too.
He should get credit for Taz and Foghorn Leghorn. But he just didn’t expand the form. As a fan of Jazz history i see the same thing. Lots of excellent musicians and composers who just didn’t do anything historic.
@@ChrisMaxfieldActs Remember his bugs cartoons and really all his cartoons were never as good when he lost his storyman Warren Foster in about 1950 to Friz and got the weaker Tedd Pierce in return who we know wasn't as good of a storyman as Foster and Maltese.
Despite Freleng's comment on “Jones contributing ego to the industry”, Jones and Freleng were on good terms and supported each other to the very end, and stood against Clampett's delusions of grandeur in his public recollections where he was supported by Avery. Jones always emphasized Freleng's adult professionalism and stabilizing influence on Termite Terrace in interviews.
I laughed pretty hard when Taz made his appearance...everything about that character is amazing. Tax, Coyote and Sylvester the cat were my favourite characters from those cartoons, they're fantastic.
This era has some of their greatest cartoons, and the ones that inevitably got repeated over and over on Saturday morning television, where I discovered them while growing up in the 70s. It's been interesting seeing the behind the scenes stuff of these classic cartoons.
I find it pretty funny that Jones hated working for Disney because of his controlling nature yet he himself was a bit of a control freak with his own unit when he came back
Been a fan of Chuck’s for decades. This video really puts his influence, strengths, and weaknesses into proper context. Bravo. Can’t wait for the next one!
Another amazing job my dude. I’m a big fan of this series in fact now that I think about it this was one of the many videos that inspired my Funtastic Legacy of Hanna Barbera series.
I've been enjoying your series on Hanna Barbera aside from Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry I hope WB do more with their library mostly because I want a Jonny Quest reboot.
@@k-dogg9086 sorry I should've worded that more carefully. I love both T&J and Scooby Doo I meant how WB constantly makes movies and shows about them and not the other HB roster. But given how things have been going on at Warners idk if it might happen.
you are saving my life i have an animation history exam coming up and reading all this on paper goes right through my head but you bring it to life so well 👍 thanks man
Hey, just found your channel. I love your content about Warner Bros. and the Looney Toons cartoons and shorts. I grew up watching these cartoon reruns as a young kid and I never lost my love for these cartoons. I learned so much about these shorts and cartoons from your channel that I never knew before and gave me a new found love and respect for all the people and effort that went into their creation. Thank you for helping me revisit these treasures!!
I just really want to say how much I appreciate someone doing an in-depth documentary on this era. It's always fascinated me, but I could never find much more than broad overviews before the first video dropped. A deep dive into the inner workings of the studios, the evolution of animation techniques, and the everyday people that birthed these animated legends is utterly fascinating to me. I'm sincerely thankful for that, and eagerly await the next (and final?) part.
Three Little Bops is also special that it's the only Merrie Melody short in the Golden Age not to have Mel Blanc voicing any characters. Aside from the narrator, the pigs and the wolf was voiced by Stan Freberg (who, like June Foray, is unmentioned in the series despite being one of the major voice actors, he did Junyer Bear, Pete Puma, Bertie, Chester Terrier, Tosh and others). This cartoon is notable for being the only Golden Age short to be Freberg credited for character voices, which normally only Blanc had at this time.
LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE THESE VIDEOS! MAKE ME GEEK OUT LEARNING ABOUT ALL THIS. THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO MAKE THIS AMAZING CONTENT. I HOPE YOUR CHANNEL GROWS AND GROWS!
This is amazingly well done. "Scenarist" might be more appropriate than "writer" for the Road Runner cartoons, since there's never one word of dialogue.
I really enjoy this documentary series! I didn't realize how old the Looney Tunes shorts were until now. To me this shows just how great the Looney Tunes cartoons are. I enjoyed the pacing, the visuals, and the info provided!
As usual, excellent presentation, excellent research, and fantastic timing and pacing throughout. The 3-D fakeout was particularly fun. Loving these to bits, even if I have to wait a couple weeks to set up the time to absorb them fully. I'm having a great time, and I'm definitely looking forward to the Seven Arts era which is the one that always confused me the most as a kid. Also, from this framing, I think I understand why people from my country (Venezuela) and all of Latin America really love Speedy so much; not just because you don't have to dub his catchphrases, but the "local hero outsmarting a foreign invader for the sake of his community" is a pretty powerful archetype given local history over the past 60 years.
WB tried it with a Bugs Bunny cartoon “Lumberjack Rabbit”, the only cartoon that it was in 3D and it was one of the most experimental Bugs Bunny cartoon to have 3D effects, and it was the only cartoon to have the pop-up WB logo and I remember it freaked out since I was a kid since it was in 3D. Other studios were experimenting with 3D cartoons including “Melody” and “Working for Peanuts” with Donald Duck and Chip & Dale for Disney, and “Popeye and the Ace of Space” and “Boo Moon” with Casper the Friendly Ghost for Paramount. These 3D cartoons from other studios didn’t work too well. Terrytoons never made 3D cartoons at all.
My personal all time favorite is a Sniffles the Church Mouse episode in whicj there's a terrible storm and he's trapped inside with a bat who lives there and it's dark so all Snuggled can see are the bat's eyes. Sniffles is so nervous he talks non-stop. It's absolutely darling and stunningly hilarious. Unfortunately _I can not find it anywhere!_ There are many many more of course, Porky paddling a boat while singing "Moonlight Bay" and Daffy interrupting, the re-make of Cecil Turtle & Bug's "Tortoise and Hare" race but with the second incarnation of Bugs Bunny, absolute gold episode. Thank you for your effort in making these docs my friend, quality work!
Amusing fact: The movie poster shown at 27:00 is from THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER, which gave us the infamous "Wilhelm scream" sound effect. That singular wail was originally recorded for the 1951 film DISTANT DRUMS--but this 1953 movie gave the scream its distinctive name, when the character Private Wilhelm gets an arrow in the leg and howls in pain. "The MORE You KNOW" and all that.
I clicked on this video so fast!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE these videos going into the deep history of Warner Brothers Cartoons and the people who are responsible for making these characters come to life! Thank you so much for the rigorous research you put into these! It really shows! I look forward to more 🥰❤
Truly awesome and riveting video about the history of the cartoons I grew up on! (In retrospectives, I didn't watch them when they first came out). The Wagner-style short is truly amazing, even still. Chuck Jones was an amazing genius, who deserves all and more of the recognition he gets
These characters are iconic! My sister told me about the time in college in the early ‘80s when she got smashed at a party, came back to her dorm and put on her pjs, only to come back out to the hallway and start running up and down. A dormmate was watching when Sis stopped in front of her and said, “I’m Speedy Gonzales!!!” and continued to run. When told about this the next morning, Sis had absolutely no recollection at all.
24:38/ A big thank you for featuring an old theater from my neck of the woods. The RKO Fordham was located on East Fordham Road near the Grand Concourse in The Bronx, New York. My borough used to have a theater for every neighborhood. Most of those old movie houses got converted into discount stores or tabernacles.
Of all the directors for the Looney Tunes shorts Chuck Jones is my favorite. From his crazy expressions on his characters, or the psychedelic designs of the environment they interact with, his works always have a wildness about them that I grew up loving. As for ol Wil E. using Acme products, in a Tiny Toons episode it's revealed that Coyotes get a 99% discount on Acme products. I also wish they made more shorts with Wil E talking.
I always have thought that the real master mind was Mike Maltease, and the best way to notice are the bland shorts that Jones made in the 80's. Excellent video
Next up.. Late 1950s-Early 1960s. We're half-way before "The Jet Cage" as gags will become more tired and the music score from William "Bill" Lava and animation will become more weaker cause the TRUE downhill of Looney Tunes in late 1962-1964 era.
@@OtisNotibrus Hmm.. to be fair.. DePatie-Freleng Enterprises era is pretty weird but pretty decent era since it's used a wider set of classic characters, less bad shorts (if you don't count The Larriva Eleven), sound effects, and had slightly better animation than the Format Films era.
This is an unbelievably high quality doc. If it wasn’t one single narrator who isn’t a voice actor, I’d have thought this was pulled from PBS or something.
I loved the classical music I was introduced to watching vintage cartoons. Mel Blanc was the king of his craft. Great man. Gotta say Foghorn Leghorn was my favorite.
The Bugs and Daffy rivalry is so cemented that I never thought about or realised that Rabbit Season was the first time they'd been paired. Even as a kid I always noticed how versitile Sylvester was. He was teamed with wide range of other characters and worked well with them. His character fit so well into whatever setting he was put.
"[Taz] was proof that Mel Blanc could scream and grunt into a microphone and still make a classic character." That's my favorite line in this whole series after "when were [Disney] ever going to use THIS character ever again?" (Shows character who VERY obviously eventually became Goofy).
Daffy: "I'm a fiddler crab, shoot me it's fiddler crab season."
As a kid, I was cracking up laughing thinking that hunters were storming the beaches shooting Fiddler Crabs.
True og's remember the fiddler crab genocide of '79
Some sight to envision
It feels like no coincidence that most of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons I remember watching as a kid were from this era. People like Friz Freling, Robert McKimson, and especially Chuck Jones created material that was so incredible and funny that it'll always stand the test of time.
Big part of the reason for that is that these shorts were the ones most frequently in rotation on the Bugs Bunny (& Road Runner, later & Tweety) Show, as these were among the shorts Warner Bros. never sold off the rights to. If you're principal exposure to Looney Tunes growing up was watching that block on Saturday mornings, then they would definitely stick in your mind as the defining era of the series.
Yes, you are so right!! These will ALWAYS stand the test of time. My father, my sister and I have always watched and cherished these cartoons. My father is now deceased, but my sister and I, 66 and 62 respectively, STILL watch these ‘toons and can quote the lines.
The late 90s was the BEST time for a young artist to get into the animation business! After the Lion King, Disney was hiring all kinds of new staff to work on their films, TV was booming, and all the new networks and studios were opening up and hiring! I was lucky enough to get into Disney Feature Animation while Hercules was in production, and they invited all kinds of living legends to come in and talk for an hour or so. Chuck Jones was one of these! Back then, the Warner Bros. Store was alive and well, and I used to have this beautiful pink sweater with Penelope knitted all over the front. At the end of his talk, Chuck kissed my hand as PePe LePew might've and it was hilarious and also such an honor! Those were such golden years to be in that business (while the money was flowing, big time), and I feel so fortunate to have been a part of it those good times!.....the bad times are another story, of course. ;) I will always treasure that memory of Mr. Jones - and yeah - he was always my favorite Looney Tunes director. His design style and perfect cartoon posing, while still maintaining the disciplines that would be required of Disney feature animators (watching volumes, staying on model, fluid animation) were just ideal to me as a young prospective designer and animator.
What a story
Is there anything about the 90s that isn't Overrated? 😑
@@JRProductions1203This whole wonderful story and THAT’S what you decide to comment?? 😐
@@HardFreckles Yes. Deal With It. 🙄😒
@@JRProductions1203 Gee thanks, I didn’t know how to deal with it before. I was sitting in agony wondering what I was gonna do 😭😭💀
I don't think people quite understand JUST how influential Chuck Jones' unit was in terms of comedy and timing. Legit, the timing of Chuck Jones golden era is something that's so deeply engrained into comedy now that it's hard to think it's relatively new in terms of tempo and speed.
Thanks a billion for the video man!
Yeah, Chuck Jones brought in a new era fast comedy via the animation techniques and art style that he brought.... his sense of timing, and incredibly funny one-liner gags were something unseen before - good as those earlier shorts had been; and some of those were pretty bloody amazing! Chick just seemed to bring a newer, fresher style to the artwork, and to the characters, both visually and vocally that I've always loved above all other cartoons..... even some of his work on the later 60s Tom & Jerry cartoons was incredible: Some of it....not all of it! Sadly many are pretty dire, but there are one or two examples that just have that classic Chuck Jones Looney Toons brilliance behind them... ;-)
@@stevesstuff1450 Chuck Jones use the perfectly style of these characters. In fact, his Zodiac sign is Virgo ♍.
@@durece100 I love Duck Amuck. Would be funny if Daffy Duck went on a profanity laced tirade
Charles M. Jones was a talented superstar! I still remember his on camera cameo on "InnerSpace", his brief handiwork on an episode "Night Court" and interview on The Sci-Fi Channel.
@@stevesstuff1450 I'd argue Tex Avery created the fast-era comedy YEARS before Chuck did.
Compare The Blow Out in 1936 (Tex's 3rd at WB) to The Dover Boys/Draft Horse in 1942 (5 Years after he started directing on his own)
the 50s: when chuck ran AMUCK
Chuck Amuck
@@dietben9309 Daffy Duck would be funny if he used the 7 words you can't say on television.
@@frankdenardo8684daffy would be funny if he used many words you can’t say anywhere anymore
What I find interesting about Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones that not only were they different in terms of how they viewed comedic animation, But also that these were two guys that couldn't see eye to eye because of such and yet were rebellious renegades and their own respective manner in the industry at the time and instead of doing things quote by the book, They just wrote their own books.
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this documentary series.
Robert McKimson seems to be my favourite director besides Clampett. The characters in his cartoons are not just subtle little tricksters but they are loud, ignorant, pushing pests. His Foghorn Leghorn cartoons are timeless. He definitely put the LOON in Looney Tunes during the 50s. His art style is also the best I've seen from any unit.
And McKimson also had his last famous character in Taz which is just great.
HARD agree, 'cept for the art style part since Clampett's style is kino
@@SpinyPuffs He said BESIDES Clampett, so McKimson is either behind or tied with Clampett
It's really sad Mckimson is not well known as Clampett, Jones, Avery or Freleng, he was one of the best animators around the studio and his shorts were always cartoony
I have some sort of admiration for some of Robert McKimson's cartoons, especially his earlier ones from the late 1940s that have wonderfully energetic and bouncy animation. In fact, some of my favorite and the most underrated Looney Tunes shorts are his, like Crowing Pains, The Up-Standing Sitter, and The Windblown Hare. Sadly, due to the cutback budgets of the 50s and 60s, his later cartoons didn't look as "looney" as before.
One Froggy Evening is my favourite cartoon of all time. It's an absolute masterpiece that I never get tired of.
Watching this part of the series reminded me of the childhood days spent watching Looney Tunes on VHS and on Cartoon Network. When we were kids, we never once thought about cartoons being by different directors and all having different styles, whether it be straight up crazy slapstick, careful and cautious in regards to time or budget, or straight up experimental and surreal, like what Chuck Jones created.
This is what "Merrie History" does so well here. It attracts the cartoon lovers who grew up on the shorts 20 to 30 years ago, if not more, and it makes us look at the cartoons as adults, in a whole new creative way, and we see things in ways we never could have imagined as kids.
I absolutely agree! Except, I watched them before VHS or Cartoon Network 40-50 years ago on black n white TV with an actual "dial"! 😄 In all that time, I never stopped to think about them in this context. Well done!
True; I rarely paid attention to the cartoon credits when I was a kid. When I was a teenager in the 80s, Tom & Jerry cartoons were aired on a local station at 4:00 PM. Even at the time, most of the T&J cartoons were what I thought of as "regular" T&J cartoons, which ran for, let's say 6 weeks, and there were others that I thought of as "weird" or "surreal" T&J cartoons, which ran for, let's say 3 weeks, then they'd start over (time periods above are just examples, not realistic). I enjoyed the "surreal" ones more than the "regular" ones; plus, the "surreal" part of the T&J cartoons included "The Dot and the Line," which is still one of my favorite animated shorts. ETA: "Feed the Kitty" and some shorts with the overgrown Baby Bear were also part of the whole T&J package.
It wasn't until the mid-aughts, when PBS' "American Masters" showcased Chuck Jones' career, that I learned that Chuck Jones had done those "surreal" T&J cartoons and "The Dot and the Line." 💖
"Rabbit season", "Duck season"; Rabbit Fire is a masterpiece
As a Mexican me and my family *LOVE* Speedy Gonzalez, he's fantastic, I don't care what others say
Speedy is a hero! He always helps those in need and his enemies are usually coded gringos.
I think it'd be interesting for WB to get a group of Mexican and Mexican-American creators to do something with Speedy.
@@tkayube just have him fight off cats and steal cheese to give to the poor community, that's literally all we want
@@Arcademan09 The simple formulas are the best really.
FR, me and my dad love Speedy and we’re both Mexican. I think I would be actually offended if they made Speedy lazy and slow
Whenever a new LT character is introduced it feels like a Smash Bros character reveal
Looking at the mobile game called "Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem", I can definitely see the similarity. People had their minds blown when Big Chungus, of all characters, was announced for the game!
@@MysteryEzekude yeah 😂
Lol
Yea
I consider 'Duck Amuck' as one of the funniest animated shorts ever made.
Your mom is one of the funniest animated shorts ever made.
@@User0000000000000004 , Seriously?? Is that the best you've got? Pathetic.
@@User0000000000000004Overused, dated, not asked, joke.
I've worked in animation for well over a decade and I've come to really cherish stylistic diversity. The KaiserBeamz channel gives me exactly that by covering both obscure 80s and 90s anime and extensive features of classic Western animation. Please keep going, I'll keep watching!
The scary part of Jone's dominance of this era is 1. He had major hits in several different genres (Feed the Kitty and Froggy Evening are legendary stories with one-off characters). 2. He and Maltese hit several different tones (Chow Hound is an EC horror tale with funny animals). And 3: Freeling still won more Oscars. Heck we barely see Marvin Martian and we never see a Sam Sheepdog cartoon in the whole mix, and we barely see the 3 bears. Freeling was holding his own (though three little bops is about his only adventurous bit design wise) but man McKinson kinda fell off a cliff, granted losing your staff is going to hurt any creator.
And man UPA, they were so special, until they were a victim of their own (or Magoo's) success.
Yeah I found Magoo annoying and it's why I can't watch the UPA shorts in chronological order.
UPA would be awesome if they have made more original shorts and less on Magoo.
@@teddyfurstman1997 Yeah, I liked one of their first ones with Fox and Crow when rabbits replaced musical instruments. You could REALLY tell they were making fun of Disney there.
The big take away for me was Eddie Selzer.
That you could be so massively WRONG so many times and still hold a job boggles the mind.
I wonder what might have been without him (especially given Warner Brothers were arguably at their creative peak).
@@quintessenceSL Maybe less. Eddie was the manager, not a "creative" if nothing else, he gave the crew someone to unite against. Jones in particular seems to have taken major inspiration from fooling him and proving him wrong.
I'm glad that you saw through the Chuck Jones mythos while acknowledging his talent. He wrote an autobiography that is just incredible, full of shameless credit grabbing and factual errors. That said, I had dinner with him once, and he was truly a nice guy, very chatty and lively. A complicated person!
It's really funny that chuck got really mad at clampett for doing the exact same things he did (though in fairness Jones also never said something as dumb as claiming to be the sole creator of bugs bunny)
I dont like Chuck that much for what he did... his enormous Ego ... Freleng was the way better pERSON
@@felixleidig8307 better person sure, much better... ehh. See there's a great moment on the freleng documentary that came with the looney tunes golden collection where all of the people that worked with friz or knew him went "ya we based yosemite sam on friz cause he was also a short redheaded guy who yelled at people constantly" and then it cuts to friz who goes "I don't actually remember who we based sam on"
@@anonymouskaiju9101 I know about that but in my eyes he was the better Person i even saved a lot of his staff from being without a Job thanks to Depatie Freleng Enterprises
"A complicated person."
So... a person?
Chuck Jones deserves credit for pushing the Medium of Animation with his skills of ingenious framing and timing.
As a kid in early 1980s, we just assumed the cartoons were made for TV.
I love this Era of Looney Tunes. Bugs and Daffy, Speedy Gonzalez, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.... and a whole lot of classic cartoons.
It's funny how this episode both soothes and reinforces my frustrations with Jones' work at WB. The fact that the other Tunes' formulas were wearing thin was something I had no idea about, which makes sense why he wanted to break the mold with more character-driven stories...it's just that his takes later became the mold so many, especially Daffy, suffered for with a lack of willing to experiment arguably until Pete Browngardt's shorts.
That and he still basically had overwritten previous personalities to fit his molds rather than try and adapt them to his style.
The man made many classic shorts and many masterpieces of animation...I just have issues with his insistence on following his archetypes. The ego remarks make sense honestly when you consider he thought very poorly about Roger Rabbit.
Didn't Jones also say he thought his Tom and Jerry shorts were better than Hanna and Barbera's shorts?
@@Gondarth I wouldn't know but I'd be surprised considering I'd take his Coyote and Road Runner over ANY Tom and Jerry like...that'd be quite a hill to die on considering there are much more reasonable hills he has access to.
@@TECH097 That's fair. I'm more of a Tom and Jerry fan, but Looney Tunes has always been there for me over the past 28 years.
@@Gondarth No, he was actually kinda modest about them (as modest as he generally ever got). There is something different between and Tom and Jerry and Road Runner cartoon, and he thought he'd never quite crossed that gap..
That's my big issue with Jones as a Looney Tunes fan. Going on a strict cartoon by cartoon basis, he's my definite favorite as he made more of my favorites than any other with 36 in my top 100.
But while every other director was focused on the wacky go for broke style that made the LT/MM series stand out, Jones was obsessed with personality animation and comedy that stemmed from predictability. In Jones' cartoons, the comedy comes from the lack of surprise at his characters' actions and their consequences. You definitely couldn't say that about Avery or Clampett or Freleng at their peaks. That leads to series like the Road Runner cartoons where part of the whole joke is that you can never tell any of them apart from another.
And while Jones was a genius who can make that predictability work, WB's repeated failed attempts to revive the characters using his work as a template shows why no else should try. When you know exactly how Bugs or Daffy are going to respond to something, it's not only inessential, it's not funny.
Chuck's influence lives on the most unlike Friz Freleng or Robert McKimson, because he had a unique sense of brilliance in his characters. That is why Chuck's influence was completely brilliant with his cartoons, and in regards to comedic cartoons, his legacy has the greatest legacy. Even after he left Warner Brothers in the 1960's, his shorts like Dot & The Line and Tom & Jerry with MGM worked better in the end.
And especially when he did The Grinch, Horton Hears A Who and The Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Movie
Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, and others who worked on and created some of the most iconic, amazing, hilarious, and unique animated characters of all-time have given so many laughs, smiles, and memories to kids, teenagers, young adults, adults, and even older folks. I can remember back in the 70's when I was growing up. Saturday🌄mornings🌄 were the highlight of the week.⏰Waking⏰⏰up⏰early, getting your bowl of cereal(Alpha Bits, Fruity Pebbles, Lucky Charms, or Fruit Loops) ready, grabbing your Mego Superheroes action figures, getting everything ready on the 🛋couch🛋 and at 7am it would start! I used to love the classic DC Superfriends show, but my all-time favorite show was The Bugs Bunny/Road-Runner Show. That usually came on at either 9am or at 10am, closing put the morning cartoons. Merry Melodies, Bugs Bunny and friends have so many unbelievably amazing "shorts". They had the most amazing and incredibly talented people working on them as well. So many unique and bizarre characters. From the Tasmanian Devil to Pepe Le` Pew, Marvin the Martian to one of Daffy Duck's alter egos, Duck Dodgers. From Speedy Gonzalez to Slow Poke Rodriguez, to the battle between Tweety and Sylvester, and Foghorn Leghorn and the "Dog", I forgot his name. Every one of them was completely unique in their own way. Each had their own personality and each one while all voiced by one unbelievably talented person, Mel Blanc, all were completely different from one another, and THAT is because of the other incredibly talented people who created them. No offense to Disney. They are also very iconic with their animation studio. Donald Duck is a LEGEND! However to me NOBODY can top or beat the WB's creativeness with the Merry Melodies, and Looney Tunes. The 30's, 40's, and 50's are truly the "Golden Age" for cartoons. The 60's and 70's had some decent ones as well but nowhere near what the forementioned men did in the three previous decades. Every one of these men are legendary, incredibly talented, and phenomenal. The memories that I have that came directly from their creations will never ever leave my thoughts. They are so special, so fun, and so amazing. To this day I have picked up about 20-25 📀Blu-Ray📀 and 💿DVD's💿 from the WB collections. Also Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Scooby-Doo, and my 2nd favorite, the entire complete collection of the Flintstones series! I still want to get Mr.Magoo and Felix the Cat, and maybe the Jetsons? Cartoons are for everyone!
One thing I especially love about Chuck Jones cartoons are the backgrounds, especially in the more surreal ones like "What's Opera, Doc," they're just beautiful.
And for me, the real difference between Bugs and Daffy, is that you want to cheer *for* Bugs but *against* Daffy.
Eh.....to be honest I believe it’s difficult who to choose too cheer for. Like, you feel bad for Daffy, and you empathize with him. But, you know his intentions aren’t pure. As said from Daffy, he is a greedy slob.
You know it's chuck jones just by the backgrounds.
Maurice Noble had a very specific and visionary approach to the layouts and backgrounds working with Chuck Jones. His contributions are major high points to animated film.
@@edgedeep like Maltese?? No I don't agree..
@@k-dogg9086 Why don’t you agree? Love to hear your thoughts.
Darn, they did Mckimson wrong. I always view him as the underdog of the big 3 directors at WB Cartoons. The ironically about them firing him in the 1954 layoff of the animation unit is he would be the last director standing when they finally shut it down for good in 1963 ("False Hare"
was the last completed cartoon from WB Cartoons)
Given his love for Looney Tunes, have his not died in 1977, McKimson most likely would had followed Freleng to the then newly opened WB Animation.
Yeah, he deserved better.
Also he directed most of the Warner Bros - Seven Arts cartoons I think? Those ran up to 1969.
And that was during that time, the Beatles arrived in the US in February 1964 where they performed on the “Ed Sullivan Show”, and of course, the arrival of the British Invasion.
Something sadly foreshadowing happened before Robert McKimson died.
He went to the doctor a few days before his death, but the doctor said he would live for a few more years, but not a week later, his film reel ended.
Last completed? What about Señorella?
I would really like to learn more about the Looney Tunes documentary history.
How Looney Tunes was sold to Warner Brothers during the 1930s and 1940s.
The second World War outbreak.
New characters debut.
Best supervising animators on Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck during the golden age of animation.
And more than I can count.
Keep up your amazing work on your TH-cam channel.
This channel has an entire series about Looney Tunes history. You should watch from the beginning, some of that stuff gets addressed
I attended Chuck Jones night at the Hollywood Bowl in the 90's. The crowd went nuts when the LT intro music began. You could feel it. It was love. 14,000 of us. When Jones walked out on stage I think he felt it too. The 1990's were a difficult time in Los Angeles. When our hero from a bygone time smiled all that was forgotten and we 14,000 fans were happy, and so was he.
You've made me re-evaluate my feelings about Robert McKimson's shorts with this series in a good way.
Also, I can't be the only person tickled by the ever-present chill fat horses in Chuck Jones' shorts.
H hi
5:05/ Say this much for Chuck Jones, his uncanny incorporation of operatic themes into Bugs Bunny shorts led to a great visual cue. Notice when he's mimicking the piano notes on Elmer's head? Yup, he's briefly human! It's the only time you see Bugs depicted with 10 fingers...
Honestly McKimson wasn’t really that bad during this time, sure he was a distant third when it came to the directors, but he made some good to even great shorts. Not to mention he was basically at the studio up until 1969, this is proof that he kept trying no matter how bad it got.
1:41 Fred Quimby of MGM Cartoons: Hold my beer.
Something within me now sees that this could have been a bust on what Quimby did to Hanna and Barbera among other things in terms of MGM's animation department.
@@GreatMewtwo Yes, where Hanna and Barbara had to sneak into Quimby's office (during Quimby's lunch break) to even photograph themselves near the Oscars.
I said to myself that I wanted something substantial to watch today and, 3 minutes later, you upload another episode of your wonderful Looney Tunes documentaries! Keep up the amazing work on your channel!
Same lol
This series just keeps on getting better and better.
I feel the rest of it might go something like this--
Part 6: The Rise of Television and the Decline of Termite Terrace
Part 7: Closure of the Studio and Post Closure Years
Part 8: Resurgence and Lasting Appeal (70s-today)
Nice Episode Decriptions.
Dated
@@adamgingibbins2751 Yeah, no shit. It's been 8 months
"Whomp him low and whomp him high, stick yer finger in his eye..."
So many years later, and that little ditty still stuck with me, lol
Actually that whole rule thing with Wile Coyote and Roadrunner isn't true. Chuck Jones didn't come up with that until years later
Still, the Chuck Jones Road Runners are better than the post-Chuck ones.
I don't like the "origin" of Wile E. Coyote only being allowed to speak once he catches a Road Runner. It completely ignores the Coyote Bugs shorts as well as Adventures of the Road-Runner. It also had Road Runner out of character and attacking Coyote despite that only really being a thing in the Bill Lava shorts. I know Jones Road Runner would sometimes retaliate against Coyote, but it was rare and not in every short.
@@YujiUedaFan This is why I come to believe that Wile E. was only silent to not spook the Road Runner, other wise it would ruin the element of surprise. He did speak around Bugs, but he didn't consider him a more serious threat, but at the same time acknowledges that Bugs is no ordinary lagomorph.
@@robbiewalker2831 Yeah, that makes more sense. Also the origin goes from Coyote goes from wanting Road Runner out of pride, (despite having funds for something else) to a right of passage he needs to do to successfully mate. It just makes him seem more pathetic and makes the Road Runner the antagonist.
Chuck stole Coyote/Roadrunner from Rod Scribner. Also, Termite Terrace was the name of the shack that Clampett and Avery started Looney Tunes in. NOT Schlesinger Productions.
Maybe you should stick to anime. Lol. Kidding of course!
@@TheLooneyTunesCritic ?
I only found this series like a week ago, binged all the episodes in a day and when I finished was like 'damn, now I'm probably gonna have to wait forever for the next episode'. Flash forward like a week and this is in my inbox. Guess I picked a good time to binge your series, huh? Just wanna say I've been absolutely loving this series so far, it's so well-researched and high quality, and I'm VERY excited to watch this episode since Chuck Jones's shorts are what got me into Looney Tunes in the first place.
Chuck Jones is not my preferred flavor of Looney Tunes but I respect his work for sure. Also these videos are phenomenally produced 👏
Chuck is one of those guys who could have left his body of work to its own merits and would have still been seen as an absolute legend. Unfortunately, (and I'm glad the video briefly touches on this) he was very vain despite what he would try to claim in interviews. Even in retirement, he still had this weird control over how Looney Tunes would continue, with the vast majority of the stuff from the 70's and 80's being seen as abysmal. Chuck built a cult around his vision of the characters, downplayed the role that others played, even claiming that others such as Clampett did. He also jeopardized projects such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit with his fiddling. This caused animators to need to animate two versions in order to appease him (this was specifically the animators wanting to use the Avery/Clampett Daffy instead of Jones' version, the former was the one that made it into the movie).
Furthermore, if you were a kid growing up in the late 70's through early 90's...you probably were only attuned to seeing shorts from this period; Jones, McKimson and Freleng, so the chance of seeing the earlier works of so many others never made it onto the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show. It wasn't until Nickelodeon came along and started showing other stuff.
This combined with the fact that the only other face of Termite Terrace being Freleng who constantly recycled his material, it left the future of the Looney Tunes crew in limbo.
What we got out of this was Space Jam, which while financially successful...was not a return to form for the characters. To this day, I think the decisions made in the 50's and 60's helped make sure that the Tunes would never really reach that peak again, and in many ways lose their appeal with every passing generation. For this, it's really a shame because I truly believe that the works of Jones, Avery, Clampett, McKimson, Tashlin and even Freleng are among some of the best works of cinema ever created, and it seems like more than ever most people seem dismissive of them in favor of other old cartoons.
@@doddsino
I don’t agree that the Looney Tunes have lost their appeal.
No he was the last to die in the these guys in 2002
He's Virgo ♍. Chuck Jones create his new flavor of his Art style, like he work was an animator in Porky and Gabby cartoon directed by UB Iwerks and Bob Clampett shorts in late 1930's.
I wish he hadn't been such a Disney stan and kept the unique and name brand looneyness that Tex Avery and others pioneered
I know McKimson is kind of glossed over, but his cartoons were the best of the bunch in my opinion. I preferred his Sylvester to Jones' or Freleng's. Foghorn Leghorn was always very good too.
He was good with the characters you mention, but very weak with Bugs Bunny, in particular. The Foghorn Leghorn shorts are his greatest creations.
It doesn't help that the DVDs gloss over his shorts. So few good Foghorn shorts made it.
I like his take on Daffy more than the other directors
He should get credit for Taz and Foghorn Leghorn. But he just didn’t expand the form. As a fan of Jazz history i see the same thing. Lots of excellent musicians and composers who just didn’t do anything historic.
@@ChrisMaxfieldActs Remember his bugs cartoons and really all his cartoons were never as good when he lost his storyman Warren Foster in about 1950 to Friz and got the weaker Tedd Pierce in return who we know wasn't as good of a storyman as Foster and Maltese.
Despite Freleng's comment on “Jones contributing ego to the industry”, Jones and Freleng were on good terms and supported each other to the very end, and stood against Clampett's delusions of grandeur in his public recollections where he was supported by Avery.
Jones always emphasized Freleng's adult professionalism and stabilizing influence on Termite Terrace in interviews.
Clampett and Jones were definitely polar opposites In terms of how Comedic animation should be done.
I laughed pretty hard when Taz made his appearance...everything about that character is amazing.
Tax, Coyote and Sylvester the cat were my favourite characters from those cartoons, they're fantastic.
This era has some of their greatest cartoons, and the ones that inevitably got repeated over and over on Saturday morning television, where I discovered them while growing up in the 70s. It's been interesting seeing the behind the scenes stuff of these classic cartoons.
Brilliant. It's great to get the historic and creative context for so many animated moments burned into my brain.
I find it pretty funny that Jones hated working for Disney because of his controlling nature yet he himself was a bit of a control freak with his own unit when he came back
He was even worse when he became some kind of ambassador for the Looney Tunes later on, insisting that animators stick to his style and his gags.
Control Freaks don't like being controlled, makes sense.
you don't tell someone with an ego what to do.
@@megamike15 once somebody has an ego, it’s all downhill from there
"I'm not like other people. I can't stand pain. It hurts me."
"I dream about being Bugs Bunny, but when I wake up, I'm Daffy Duck." -- Chuck Jones
Been a fan of Chuck’s for decades. This video really puts his influence, strengths, and weaknesses into proper context. Bravo. Can’t wait for the next one!
Another amazing job my dude. I’m a big fan of this series in fact now that I think about it this was one of the many videos that inspired my Funtastic Legacy of Hanna Barbera series.
I've been enjoying your series on Hanna Barbera aside from Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry I hope WB do more with their library mostly because I want a Jonny Quest reboot.
@@nicklundy9965 me too!😄
@@nicklundy9965 what's wrong with Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry???
@@k-dogg9086 sorry I should've worded that more carefully. I love both T&J and Scooby Doo I meant how WB constantly makes movies and shows about them and not the other HB roster. But given how things have been going on at Warners idk if it might happen.
@@nicklundy9965 Sad but true. And no problem my friend. 👍
you are saving my life i have an animation history exam coming up and reading all this on paper goes right through my head but you bring it to life so well 👍 thanks man
OMG I'm cried in the end, thank you so much for another masterpiece I can't wait for the next one!
Hey, just found your channel. I love your content about Warner Bros. and the Looney Toons cartoons and shorts. I grew up watching these cartoon reruns as a young kid and I never lost my love for these cartoons. I learned so much about these shorts and cartoons from your channel that I never knew before and gave me a new found love and respect for all the people and effort that went into their creation. Thank you for helping me revisit these treasures!!
I just really want to say how much I appreciate someone doing an in-depth documentary on this era. It's always fascinated me, but I could never find much more than broad overviews before the first video dropped. A deep dive into the inner workings of the studios, the evolution of animation techniques, and the everyday people that birthed these animated legends is utterly fascinating to me. I'm sincerely thankful for that, and eagerly await the next (and final?) part.
This is insanely in depth. You deserve more views
Three Little Bops is also special that it's the only Merrie Melody short in the Golden Age not to have Mel Blanc voicing any characters. Aside from the narrator, the pigs and the wolf was voiced by Stan Freberg (who, like June Foray, is unmentioned in the series despite being one of the major voice actors, he did Junyer Bear, Pete Puma, Bertie, Chester Terrier, Tosh and others). This cartoon is notable for being the only Golden Age short to be Freberg credited for character voices, which normally only Blanc had at this time.
Been waiting on this for a while. Good stuff and I can't wait for more.
I've been watching this for the past couple days and I think this is an awesome series. I really hope it doesn't stop with the theatrical shorts.
LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE THESE VIDEOS! MAKE ME GEEK OUT LEARNING ABOUT ALL THIS. THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO MAKE THIS AMAZING CONTENT. I HOPE YOUR CHANNEL GROWS AND GROWS!
💤💤💤😵YAWN 💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤SO
even watching the clips with no sound make me cackle so hard. great episode! i had no idea about the UPA connection and now i can't unsee it
9:49 - 9:50 every time I see Drip-Along Daffy, that "gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle" sound as Nasty Canasta drinks that drink gets me every time... XD
This is amazingly well done. "Scenarist" might be more appropriate than "writer" for the Road Runner cartoons, since there's never one word of dialogue.
I really enjoy this documentary series! I didn't realize how old the Looney Tunes shorts were until now. To me this shows just how great the Looney Tunes cartoons are.
I enjoyed the pacing, the visuals, and the info provided!
More, please! Cannot wait for the next segment!
your channel is so underrated, dude. keep it up
Great video. Thanks for this. And now we start to see the start of the fall.
I've been waiting for the next installment! YES
As usual, excellent presentation, excellent research, and fantastic timing and pacing throughout. The 3-D fakeout was particularly fun.
Loving these to bits, even if I have to wait a couple weeks to set up the time to absorb them fully. I'm having a great time, and I'm definitely looking forward to the Seven Arts era which is the one that always confused me the most as a kid.
Also, from this framing, I think I understand why people from my country (Venezuela) and all of Latin America really love Speedy so much; not just because you don't have to dub his catchphrases, but the "local hero outsmarting a foreign invader for the sake of his community" is a pretty powerful archetype given local history over the past 60 years.
WB tried it with a Bugs Bunny cartoon “Lumberjack Rabbit”, the only cartoon that it was in 3D and it was one of the most experimental Bugs Bunny cartoon to have 3D effects, and it was the only cartoon to have the pop-up WB logo and I remember it freaked out since I was a kid since it was in 3D. Other studios were experimenting with 3D cartoons including “Melody” and “Working for Peanuts” with Donald Duck and Chip & Dale for Disney, and “Popeye and the Ace of Space” and “Boo Moon” with Casper the Friendly Ghost for Paramount. These 3D cartoons from other studios didn’t work too well. Terrytoons never made 3D cartoons at all.
Excellent quality work! Thank you!
Great video I always love it when these come out.
How did you post a comment 6 hours ago if this video was posted 2 hours ago?
@@doopiss Patreon
KB, as an animation enthusiast, I wanna thank ya for these awesome videos you’re making! Keep it up!
My personal all time favorite is a Sniffles the Church Mouse episode in whicj there's a terrible storm and he's trapped inside with a bat who lives there and it's dark so all Snuggled can see are the bat's eyes. Sniffles is so nervous he talks non-stop. It's absolutely darling and stunningly hilarious. Unfortunately _I can not find it anywhere!_
There are many many more of course, Porky paddling a boat while singing "Moonlight Bay" and Daffy interrupting, the re-make of Cecil Turtle & Bug's "Tortoise and Hare" race but with the second incarnation of Bugs Bunny, absolute gold episode.
Thank you for your effort in making these docs my friend, quality work!
Amusing fact: The movie poster shown at 27:00 is from THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER, which gave us the infamous "Wilhelm scream" sound effect. That singular wail was originally recorded for the 1951 film DISTANT DRUMS--but this 1953 movie gave the scream its distinctive name, when the character Private Wilhelm gets an arrow in the leg and howls in pain. "The MORE You KNOW" and all that.
I clicked on this video so fast!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE these videos going into the deep history of Warner Brothers Cartoons and the people who are responsible for making these characters come to life! Thank you so much for the rigorous research you put into these! It really shows! I look forward to more 🥰❤
This is a video about Looney Tunes, Not Disney
@@DJKrimskull Lol oops. I was pretty stoned when I made that comment
So hyped a new vid is out! Such a great series
The frog from One Froggy Evening name is Michigan J. Frog.
Years, a new part! Keep up the great work!
Truly awesome and riveting video about the history of the cartoons I grew up on! (In retrospectives, I didn't watch them when they first came out). The Wagner-style short is truly amazing, even still. Chuck Jones was an amazing genius, who deserves all and more of the recognition he gets
Easily some of the best content I've watched on TH-cam in quite a while. Thanks so much! Lookiing forward to the next installment.
These characters are iconic! My sister told me about the time in college in the early ‘80s when she got smashed at a party, came back to her dorm and put on her pjs, only to come back out to the hallway and start running up and down. A dormmate was watching when Sis stopped in front of her and said, “I’m Speedy Gonzales!!!” and continued to run. When told about this the next morning, Sis had absolutely no recollection at all.
Thank you so much for this, i literally jumped from my chair when i saw that there was a new episode of your magnificent series!
Excellent. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the history or animation. Chuck Jones' animation is just so breathtaking. Thanks so much.
24:38/ A big thank you for featuring an old theater from my neck of the woods. The RKO Fordham was located on East Fordham Road near the Grand Concourse in The Bronx, New York. My borough used to have a theater for every neighborhood. Most of those old movie houses got converted into discount stores or tabernacles.
this just made my day. thank you
SOOO happy part 5 has been released! YAY! One day after my birthday!
Of all the directors for the Looney Tunes shorts Chuck Jones is my favorite. From his crazy expressions on his characters, or the psychedelic designs of the environment they interact with, his works always have a wildness about them that I grew up loving.
As for ol Wil E. using Acme products, in a Tiny Toons episode it's revealed that Coyotes get a 99% discount on Acme products.
I also wish they made more shorts with Wil E talking.
I always have thought that the real master mind was Mike Maltease, and the best way to notice are the bland shorts that Jones made in the 80's. Excellent video
8:51 "SHOOT ME AGAIN!! I ENJOY IT!! I LOVE THE SMELL OF BURNT FEATHERS & GUNPOWDER & CORDITE!"
Possibly THE funniest Looney Tunes line ever
i love this series! thank you for your work
Man every time I watch your looney tunes stuff I always forget to ask what’s the background songs you used, they’re really good
“Well what didja expect in an opera? A happy ending?”
Hilarious and haunting
That was most enjoyable. Thanks for posting.
This series has been phenomenal. Can't wait for the next one!
What a pleasant surprise I love your looney tunes content
Next up.. Late 1950s-Early 1960s.
We're half-way before "The Jet Cage" as gags will become more tired and the music score from William "Bill" Lava and animation will become more weaker cause the TRUE downhill of Looney Tunes in late 1962-1964 era.
Nah, in my opinion, the downhill started in 1965. All cartoons before that are just as good as the 50s, especially The Million Hare and Now Hear This.
@@OtisNotibrus Hmm.. to be fair.. DePatie-Freleng Enterprises era is pretty weird but pretty decent era since it's used a wider set of classic characters, less bad shorts (if you don't count The Larriva Eleven), sound effects, and had slightly better animation than the Format Films era.
RIP David DePatie
Another excellent video!
The hunting trilogy = PURE GOLD.
This is rad! Keep it up! 🤘
This is an unbelievably high quality doc. If it wasn’t one single narrator who isn’t a voice actor, I’d have thought this was pulled from PBS or something.
26:35 'm just going to say it - that 3D W-B Shield scares the LIVING daylights out of me..
I loved the classical music I was introduced to watching vintage cartoons. Mel Blanc was the king of his craft. Great man. Gotta say Foghorn Leghorn was my favorite.
The Bugs and Daffy rivalry is so cemented that I never thought about or realised that Rabbit Season was the first time they'd been paired. Even as a kid I always noticed how versitile Sylvester was. He was teamed with wide range of other characters and worked well with them. His character fit so well into whatever setting he was put.
I've been waiting a while for this episode. I'm so happy right now.
"[Taz] was proof that Mel Blanc could scream and grunt into a microphone and still make a classic character."
That's my favorite line in this whole series after "when were [Disney] ever going to use THIS character ever again?" (Shows character who VERY obviously eventually became Goofy).
Tasmanian true
Nature documentary
Devils snarling snorts
#haiku #taz #irl #soundslike #spoton #melblanc
Great entry. Looking forward to the stunning conclusion.