Frankly, the amount of reference material on animated films is somewhat astounding. And the volumes might seriously tax your favorite bookcase. Here’s a sample of what I mean with a look at characters from animated films. Particularly, Warner Brothers and Disney as they constitute the bulk of the product, especially those years considered the “Golden Age” of animation.
What comes beyond here is adapted from two articles that appeared in Issues Four and Five of YARF! way back in May and then July of 1990. Originally done with an absolutely ancient version of Aldus Pagemaker on a Macintosh SE, they were an interesting look into the printed page. So without shame or regret, here we go! This week, it’s the Warner Brothers animated films.
This column begins a series of reviews on books that would be welcome on any anthropomorphic bookshelf. The last several years have seen a good number of books produced by a variety of publishers and we’ll be looking at some of the best in coming issues. Most will be on the subject of animation. But on occasion, we’ll look at something a bit unusual or just a good book you should have. So to begin…
As a fan of classic animation, I’m always on the lookout for more information on the subject. One of the best reference materials I’ve yet to come across is “Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies — A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Brothers Cartoons” by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald (An Owl Book, published in May of 1989 by Henry Holt and Company – $14.95 (originally) publisher’s suggested price.) From the 1930 “Sinkin’ in the Bathtub” featuring Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid to 1988’s “Daffy Duck’s Quackbuster’s”, this book covers them all. The author’s claim to have personally views each one of the over 1000 films and have provided screen credits and a synopsis for each one. As they explain in the introduction: “Our biggest problem was obtaining all the screen credits, a chore made difficult by Warner Bros. policy of reissuing earlier cartoons and replacing the original credits with a new ‘Blue Ribbon’ main title. If credits are missing from an entry, then it was no where to be found.”
Here’s a typical entry (for a personal fave) for 1955’s “One Froggy Evening“. In the minds of many, it’s one of the best examples of Warner Brother’s cartoons at their peak.
“ONE FROGGY EVENING”
Dec 31; MM; Directed by Charles M Jones; Story by Michael Maltese; Animation by Abe Levitow, Richard Thompson, Ken Harris and Ben Washam; Layouts by Robert Gribbroek, Backgrounds by Phillip DeGuard; Music by Milt Franklyn.
Picture, if you will, a member of a wrecking crew demolishing and 1892 building and opening the cornerstone to see a frog entering stage left doing a song and dance, signing “Hello, My Ragtime Gal.”
The finder’s mind races with the possibilities of getting rich by exploiting this singing frog. But the frog will not sing if anyone is present. At a talent agency, the finder gets an agent to look at the frog (today called “Michigan J. Frog”). Investing his mattress of life savings in renting a theater, the frog does his stuff atop a high wire, finishing just as the entrepreneur manages to lift the jammed curtain. Months later, a policeman hears someone singing (Barber of Seville) in the park and when our friend points out the frog, the film dissolves to a shot of him in a psychopathic hospital, the frog leaning on a window bar crooning “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I Gone”. Years later, a broken and desolate man, he finally dumps the frog in the cornerstone of a building about to be constructed. A hundred years pass, and rayguns disintegrate the old building. Some things never change, as the discoverer of this cornerstone is also convinced he can make a fortune with the singing frog.
One of the most celebrated films in animation history, and justly a masterpiece of concept, timing and nuance.”
The entries in this book are not only limited to the theatrical shorts but include special projects such as World War II’s “Private Snafu” series (produced for the Army Signal Corp from 1943 to 1945) to the various television projects over the years. There is an entry for the pilot film for the Bosko Series (the first Warner Bros. cartoon shorts), produced in 1929 by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. You’ll even find a mention of the “Tiny Tunes” project underway by Steven Spielberg to complete with the likes of the “Muppet Babies”.
There is a complete index by title, as well as a character index. For example, we can look for “Duck Dodgers in the 24th and ½ Century” and the index lists it by the title, year (1953), and page (251). Or we can look for all of the films that the Tasmanian Devil appeared in. It lists the following films:
“Devil May Hare” (1954)
“Bedeviled Rabbit” (1957)
“Ducking The Devil” (1957)
“Bill Of Hare” (1962)
“Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare” (1964)
“Fright Before Christmas” (1979) for TV
For a major character, the list is longer, but you get the idea.
If you are a Warner Brothers fan, this book is one of several that rates as a “must-have“. It should be kept right next to that television remote so that you can refer to it at a moments notice to look up the listing for that cartoon as it shows up on one of the many cartoon classic programs now making the rounds.
Now, the bad news. The book is currently out of print. But Amazon does actually have copies for sale, albeit at an inflated price — starting at $51.75 (and up to $99.95 for one in new condition).
Looking around now and again, you might find one on eBay or another used book service such as Alibris , but you should expect to pay a similar price.
Who knows? Maybe we might see another version of the book someday or even a digital version for one’s PC or Mac? Gee, what an idea?
Okay, so if you’re as much a fan of this animation as I am, then another “must-have” is the DVD release of “Looney Tunes — the Golden Collection“. So, I can hear you asking, “Why?”
Here are all of the reasons I can think of (right off the Amazon item listing):
DVD Features:
56 classic animated shorts restored and re-mastered to its original form (contains all the shorts from The Premiere Collection)
Disc 1 – Best of Bugs Bunny
14 Cartoons (8 with commentary, 3 with music-only track): Baseball Bugs, Rabbit Seasoning, Long-Haired Hare, High Diving Hare, Bully for Bugs, What’s Up Doc?, Rabbit’s Kin, Water, Water Every Hare, Big House Bunny, Big Top Bunny, My Bunny Lies over the sea, Wabbit Twouble, Ballot Box Bunny, Rabbit of Seville
Extras: A Greeting from Chuck Jones, Vintage documentary “Camera Three: The Boys Termite Terrace (Part 1).” New Behind-the-Tunes Featurettes: “A Rabbit For All Seasons,” “Short-Fuse Shootout,” “Forever Befuddled.” Bonus Cartoons: “Blooper Bunny,” “Bugs Bunny at the Movies (with commentary). Excerpts from The Bugs Bunny Show: “My Dream is Yours,” “Two Guys From Texas.” Vaults: “A Star is Bored.” Bridging sequences: “The Astro Nuts Audio Recording Sessions with Mel Blanc.” Trailer and still galleryDisc 2 – Best of Daffy & Porky
14 Cartoons (5 with commentary, 4 with music-only track): Duck Amuck, Dough for the Do-Do, Drip-Along Daffy, Scaredy Cat, The Ducksters, The Scarlet Pumpernickel, Yankee Doodle Daffy, Porky Chops, Wearing of the Grin, Deduce, You Say, Boobs in the Woods, Golden Yeggs, Rabbit Fire, Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
Extras: Vintage documentary “Camera Three: The Boys Termite Terrace (Part 2).” New Behind-the-Tunes Featurettes: “Hard Luck Duck,” “Porky Pig Roast,” “Animal Quackers.” Stills galleryDisc 3 – Looney Tunes All Stars
14 Cartoons (7 with commentary, 1 with music-only track): Elmer’s Candid Camera, Bugs Bunny and The 3 Bears, Fast and Furry-ous, Hair-Raising Hare, The Awful Orphan, Haredevil Hare, For Scent-imental Reasons, Frigid Hare, The Hypo-Chondri-Cat , Baton Bunny, Feed the Kitty, Don’t Give Up The Sheep, Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid, Tortoise Wins By A Hare
Extras: Documentary “Toon Heads: The Lost Cartoons.” New Behind-the-Tunes Featurettes: “Too Fast, Too Furry-ous,” “Merrie Melodies: Carl Stalling and Cartoon Music,” “Blanc Expressions.” From the Vaults: “Hair-Raising Hare Schematics,” “The Hypo-Chondri-Cat Schematics.” Still galleryDisc 4 – Looney Tunes All Stars
14 Cartoons (6 with commentary, 3 with music-only track): Canary Row, Bunker Hill Bunny, Kit for Cat, Putty Tat Trouble, Bugs and Thugs, Canned Feud, Lumber Jerks, Speedy Gonzales, Tweety’s S.O.S., Foghorn Leghorn, The, Daffy Duck Hunt, Early to Bet, Broken Leghorn, Devil May Hare
Extras: New documentary “Irreverent Imagination: The Golden Age of Looney Tunes.” New Behind-the-Tunes Featurettes: “Needy for Speedy,” “Putty Problems and Canary Rows,” “Southern Pride Chicken.” From the Vaults: “Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid,” “Virgil Ross Pencil Tests.” Stills gallery
Now as far as the restoration goes, let me refer you to a web page of Jerry Beck (yes, one of the authors of the above book reviewed). This page has some great comparisons of old and new images. But let me relate my own experience. I sat down at home and popped the first disc. After the last two columns, you’ve gotten the idea I’m a baseball fan. Well, when it started up and right off the bat was “Baseball Bugs”, my jaw just dropped when I saw the quality of the restored images. Check the comparisons on the page from Beck’s web site and you see what I mean. Every short I watched just was one fantastic image after another. Frankly, I don’t think these have looked so good, ever!
(A few other restorations have snuck onto other Warner Home Video titles, such as “Rabbit Hood” and “Robin Hood Daffy” (Yoikes and Away!!!) appear on the “Adventures of Robin Hood” release (along with a great documentary on Technicolor). Here’s info on a few others:
“Casablanca: Special Edition (2-DVD)” — “Carrotblanca”
“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: Special Edition (2-DVD)” — “Hot Cross Bunny”, “8 Ball Bunny”
“Yankee Doodle Dandy: Special Edition (2-DVD)” — “Yankee Doodle Daffy”, “Yankee Doodle Bugs”
A number of years ago, I enjoyed a great evening at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater watching a full program of Warner Brothers cartoons and frankly, I wish those prints had looked half as good then as they do now on these discs.
So, there we have it. An oldie and something newer. While I don’t know of any plans to reprint or reproduce the book (it would make a great CD or DVD product, don’t you think? Imagine a searchable database kind of thing…), one can hope, right?
Next week, it’s the flip side with a similar effort from Burbank, and the Disney world of animation. Stay tooned!
Well, all I can say is that everyone out there must simply have a passionate interest in advertisements on the message boards. As not one person as contributed or taken up one of the offers, we seem to be fated to enjoy these distractions for some time to come. Unless a few of you chip in and show your support or take up one of those fine offers. So, all you children of the mass media age, it’s either succumb to the lure of the advertisements or do your part and share a buck to make them go away…