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Submitted by C Gerbode
Chuck Jones was the man responsible for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, the mastermind who brought you Bugs, Daffy, Pepé Le Pew, and many other classic cartoon characters. Here’s my favorite Looney Tunes bit, “The Rabbit of Seville”:
(Love the Figaro Fertilizer at the end. I will be very grateful if someone can find a better quality version!)
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Just watched a special interview of his…a wonderful and gentle teacher on the foibles of us all. Anyone who thumbs it down had no clue!
I just thumbed it down and I had a clue.
So, what was your clue?
Loser.
you suck
I’m going to be the evil one here…
I admire him for what he did with Looney Tunes in the like, but I HATE him for ruining my favorite children’s book: The Phantom Tollbooth.
He turned it into a movie in 1970, and completely missed the main points of the books: You have to live life, and that human vices can come back to hurt you, among many other smaller points. He also messed with the timeline of the story, and messed up my favorite character (Tock) almost beyond recognition.
So, while he was a genius with Looney Tunes and the like, he should have stuck with that and left The Phantom Tollbooth alone.
imo, as long as the resulting movie is good, it doesn’t matter how many changes they make to the book. It can still be enjoyable in its own right, and you can always keep reading the book. If the movie turns out to be crap, however (I’m looking at you, The Golden Compass…), that’s pretty unforgivable.
The only thing bad about the Golden Compass that I noticed (besides the surprisingly lousy cgi animals) was the fact that Roger was supposed to die at the end. Otherwise, I thought it translated the book rather well. Better than the Harry Potter movies did in relation to the books, that’s for sure!
Phantom Tollbooth rocked. Chuck Jones (alone with Friz Freeling) was the best animated director in US history.
If you liked the animated Tollbooth, you never read the book. Jones’s Tollbooth was animated diarrhea.
Oh my GOD, THIS. The Phantom Tollbooth was the most nightmarish piece of animated SH*T I ever saw in my life. Jones took a masterpiece of a story and turned it into STUPID CRAP.
Long live Duck Amuck!
And you can’t hate him from PT. He just did the animation – not the screenplay. The screenplay is what makes that movie suck.
One could very easily write a thesis on the use of Classical music in animation. Rossini, I think, would have laughed himself sick over this.
There have been several cartoons using the Lizst “Hungarian Rhapsody”; there’s the one with the building of a skyscraper, for example.
Then there’s the one where Bugs Bunny tortures the opera singer. The singer is based on Jussi Bjorling, I think, and Bugs as the conductor is obviously a parody of Leopold Stowkowvsky (sp.?)
There are many others, but those are the ones that come to mind.
Moving sideways, Yogi Bear cartoons mostly used Kabalevski tunes, if I’m remembering rightly.
And who would do a thumbs down on Chuck Jones? Yikes!
“Rabbit of Seville” was good. “What’s Opera, Doc?” is better. Elmer Fudd sings Wagner – classic!
You are spot-on, BAW. I’m glad to hear SpongeBob uses the occasional classical music. Most kids can’t identify with classical music anymore – not like we did growing up on this.
They also used Hungarian Rhapsody for Bugs Bunny on solo piano.
And the opera singer who’s face changes color at the end from holding that long note? Awesome.
I remember watching “What’s Opera, Doc?” when I was 7 and bawling because I thought Bugs Bunny really died. I can still remember how upset I was!
My favorites are anything involving Gossamer, the big red monster with tennis shoes…
Completely agree! My favorite being Hair Raising Hare! Classic!
PEOPLE! AHHHHH! *runs through many walls*
You forgot A Cricket in Times Square and Riki Tiki Tavi!!
Chuck was the best. I got to see him speak a few years before
he died, and he was the most amazing storyteller. Even after
2 1/2 hours, everyone in the audience wanted him to just keep
talking. He had a knack for subtle details that made the wild
takes all the wilder. The Grinch, his Bugs and Daffy, and even
his Tom and Jerry, are all favorites of mine. But some of the
best had unnamed characters. Anyone remember “Much Ado About
Nutting” when a city squirrel discovers a coconut?
Yes, I remember that. Truly classic.
Was it Chuck, in a special about the cartoons of the 40s, that said “Our cartoons were NEVER meant for children…” (the speaker’s emphasis).
That’s very true. The whole story is this:
Jack Warner didn’t give a crap about his animation division. All he cared was that it made him money. Therefore, the animation team had a fairly free hand when it came to writing and animating; they did what THEY thought was funny, without regard to any audience (ie, no “thinking of the children” and all that modern crapola.) And that’s exactly why they were so good – they were unfettered (beyond the usual conventions of the time. They couldn’t get away with Family Guy stuff, but it was certainly as close to it as they could get, what with the cross-dressing and stuff).
Now, the world has gone to Political Correctness Hell in a handbasket, and I haven’t even seen any Bugs Bunny and pals on TV in ages – and the last time I did, they were all cut to pieces to take out anything “offensive” (ie, the Coyote hitting the ground, the cat who was being driven insane by mice taking nerve tonic, etc).
That is why they live on: You can watch them as a kid and love them, watch them as an adult and love them, and even watch them as a teenager and love them.
My nine-year-old thinks the really early one with Daffy and friends getting drunk and smoking cigars is hysterical. For that matter he thinks all the drunk WB characters are funny. They are funny.
Someday, he will relish the moment when he can sit with his children and say that “the time has come for you to witness true greatness…” I hope I get to see it.
Seeing this reminded me of a favorite Looney Toons, probably from the Chuck Jones era, which had no real spoken parts, but had a little kitty that had a helicopter tail and flew – it was adorable, and sweet, and poignant and I can’t for the life of me remember the name of it! Does anybody else recall seeing this one? Thanks for posting the Chuck Jones and the ‘Rabbit of Seville’, by the way. Always enjoyable. I think I’m gonna go look up Daffy getting his beak blown off or Marvin the Martian online now. : )
“Go Fly a Kit” was the cartoon’s title that starred the cat whose tail operated as a helicopter rotor.
Thanks! Now I’m gonna go see if some kind person has put it on line – my daughter has never seen that one, although I’ve told her about it (and it loses a lot in translation!)
chuck jones, one of the late greats
Ahhh, the classy and classic Mr. Jones. Totally loved him as a kid And as an adult. His art was pure genius.
And I was wondering the other day why Loony Toons hadn’t been nominated.
<3
Wasn’t Mel Blanc on here somewhere? If not, he totally should (he was the voice actor for many Toons).
While it’s always good to see Chuck Jones getting some much deserved love, I have to object to the characterization of him as “*the* man responsible for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, *the* mastermind who brought you Bugs, Daffy, Pepé Le Pew, and many other classic cartoon characters.” Chuck Jones was a great animator, no doubt about it. But he was not solely responsible for Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, Bugs Bunny, or Daffy Duck. There were any number of talented animators – Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and Tex Avery among them – who were also crucial to the development of the Warner Brothers stable of characters.
Chuck Jones deserves credit for plenty of amazing animation and characters, so there’s no need to give him credit for doing more than he actually did.
You’re absolutely right, and I kicked myself when I read this again. I absolutely don’t want to take anything away from Avery, Clampett or especially Freleng.
That said, you have to give it up for the guy who directed four of the top five cartoons ever (What’s Opera, Doc; Duck Amuck; Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century and One Froggy Evening. And animated the Grinch, to boot!
What;s done is done and I agree that putting Chuck Jones in the spotlight is a good thing to do. I’m not really upset by the text and I’m certainly not upset with you personally. I just wanted to point out that we owe many other talented animators a huge debt of gratitude for Bugs, Daffy, and everything that came out under the Looney Tunes banner.
Wasn’t Theodor (Dr.Seuss) Geisel around once or twice at Warner Brothers, in the 30s and again during the war?
Best. Animator. Ever!
We also can’t forget “Bully For Bugs”, created after then-producer Eddie Selzer stormed into one of their meetings proclaiming “Bullfights aren’t funny!” Realizing that Selzer had never been right, Jones went on and made Bully.
Oh, I loved the Rabbit of Seville when I was a kid! But then, I already knew the original having grown up on opera. (My father was a singer.) I thought it was hysterical! (The cartoon, I mean.)
Thanks for reminding me!
personal Favorites: “The Dot and The Line”, “Now Hear This”,and “Duck Dodgers In the 24 1/2 Century”
Complete genius.
I adored What’s Opera Doc? too.
And the Tom and Jerry set to Rhapsody in Blue.
We should remember that these were shorts for the cinema, not kids cartoons; they were designed to be enjoyed by the whole audience, adults and children both.
FF
There’s something, and I can’t put my finger on it, about the way Jones drew Bugs Bunny during his later years that really…well, bugs me. I think it’s something about the eyes, but I can’t be sure. But it gives Bugs a suave, playboy-ish vibe that he didn’t really have in the cartoons in the ’40s and ’50s. Cool, yes. Playboy-ish, NOPE.
None of that, BTW, detracts a bit from the fabulous work that Termite Terrace’s denizens, including Jones, did back in the day.
Exactly right, Jones always screwed up the eyes. They always turned into those big pitiful doe eyes like Cindy Lou Who had in “Grinch.” I mean seriously, even the Grinch had them. Wile E. Coyote does NOT have big pitiful doe eyes dammit.
I agree. Early Bugs was a smart-ass, but not the master of the story. He was not immune to getting dinged in the head, getting tricked, or getting angry or scared. The jokes were less one-sided.
I especially like the almond-shaped head from the first several shorts. As the years ran, he got longer ears, bigger feet, and longer limbs, and the head quit looking like a rabbit head. The eyes changed with the head.
Chuck Jones’ Daughter was responsible for the custom of selling the hand drawn animation cells used to produce the cartoons to collectors. Before that many were just thrown away after they were filmed.
Actually, not so much thrown away as recycled. The ink was cleaned off (the basis of the “dip” from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”?) and the cels reused.
Echoing LOLDemon, and travesties like his “Phantom Tollbooth” adaptation aside, Jones was great and made some awesome animated things, but he’s FAR from being the guy who invented Looney Tunes or even Merrie Melodies; Jones wasn’t even out of high school when the first Looney Tunes started playing in theatres. And he’s far from the first one to use classical music in a goofy animated skit. He did some great things but he shouldn’t be held over Friz Freleng or the God of Kinetics, Tex Avery. Avery’s the one that deserves laudation – THAT guy practically invented or at least perfected the “pursuit/combat” cartoon. A-fricking-mazing, his stuff.
Agreed.
I agree with a few other posts above, I wasn’t too crazy about some of his later animations… There’s a point where Tom the cat starts looking a lot like the Grinch, and that always just bothered me.
THAT SAID, the man had BRILLIANT comedic timing. No one could pull off a perfectly timed cartoon stunt like Jones.
This is true. Avery was all about the frenetic – his motion would just be as blindingly fast as he could get away with – but Jones, especially as seen in the Roadrunner toons which he first developed – REALLY knew how to work the “comic pause.” That hang-in-the-air and have time to wave a tiny sign reading “help?” A hundred percent Jones.
Some of his later stuff was not up to his standards, but you know what? Just for the triad of Bugs classics (“Seville”, “What’s Opera”, and whichever one it was where he and Daffy argue over whether Elmer has to “shoot me now”), never mind the Grinch or all the other brilliant cartoons he did, he earned one of the very top spots in animation history. Plus his memoir is hilarious (particularly the part about his childhood cat, Johnson). And yes, I agree Forge, nobody had the comic timing like he did. He is missed.
I absolutely love you for putting this on here. That’s my all time favorite of favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons. I’ve had it memorized for years and bought the Overture to the Barber of Seville just so I could replay the cartoon when listening to it.