The People Who Made "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" -- Part One

Here's Part One in a gallery of some of the very talented people responsible for making Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.


Barry Caldwell

Barry Caldwell, director, designer and storyboard artist on both Animaniacs and Tiny Toons, is pictured here in his office at Warner Bros. Television Animation in Sherman Oaks, California, circa 1994. 

Among Barry's many achievements, his story board designs breathed new life into the personalities of Babs Bunny, Shirley the Loon, Fifi LaFume and Elmyra in many of the best Tiny Toon episodes, including "Prom-ise Her Anything" and "Fields of Honey."  

And Barry's boards and direction gave us some of our funniest and most memorable Animaniacs segments, including "Bumbie's Mom," "Sir Yaksalot," "Ragamuffins," "The Flame Returns" and "Puppet Rulers."  

 

Also on Animaniacs, Barry directed both the first Minerva Mink cartoon produced ("Meet Minerva") and the first Mindy and Buttons cartoon produced ("Cat on a Hot Steel Beam").


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The People Who Made "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" -- Part Two

Sherri Stoner

Sherri Stoner served as a writer, story-editor and producer on Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.  Here, she holds up one of the segment cards from Tiny Toons.

Sherri started writing cartoons with Babs Bunny's very first Tiny Toons script, "Debutante Devil," and Sherri hasn't stopped since.  She wrote a bunch of Tiny Toon episodes that have become fan-favorites, including "Hollywood Plucky," "Fields of Honey" and "Thirteen Something."  

In the photo above, Sherri stands in front of the Wall of Cards, which we used to build half-hour shows from various segments, each segment written up on an index card.  Sherri is holding up the card for the Tiny Toons segment "Milk It Makes A Body Spout."

By the way, directly behind Sherri is a Steven Spielberg Bop-Bag, drawn by Bruce Timm (on the back of a Yogi Bear Bop-Bag™.)   This sits in my office to this day, still fully inflated with 1992 air!  

On Animaniacs, Sherri not only helped write and produce the series, but provided the voice for one of the show's stars, the cranky octogenarian, Slappy Squirrel.  

Above, Sherri and fellow Tiny Toons story-editor Paul Dini  celebrate Easter 1991 by posing with the Easter Bunny at the Sherman Oaks Galleria.  Apparently, Paul was traumatized by the bunny and had a meltdown.  

"Tiny Toon Adventures" Promotional Art

Here's an image of a postcard that was sent out to "Tiny Toons" viewers who wrote fan letters to Warner Bros. during the heyday of "Tiny Toon Adventures" in the early-to-mid 90's.

This was clearly not produced by the animation department.  Looks more like the work of Warner Bros. Worldwide Licensing.  Animators tend to avoid having characters float aimlessly in midair, as is the case with Elmyra and Little Beeper in this promotional piece.  I'm not sure what Furrball's problem is, but he looks like he's in desperate need of a litter box.   Calamity Coyote appears to be missing his neck and has no clear purchase on the rope by which he may or may not be swinging.  Dizzy Devil has no left foot, and it looks like he's about to eat a drumstick that is dangerously undercooked.  Babs is making a proactive pass at Hamton, or at least, at Hamton's hind quarters.  Fifi LaFume is positioned closer to us than Buster, and Buster is closer to us than Shirley the Loon, but Shirley the Loon's head is closer to us than Fifi.   It's sort of like an M.C. Escher drawing, but not in a good way.  

Thank you, Warner Bros., for this lesson in promotional art run amok!  

The Premiere of Platypus Duck -- Part 7

A thirty-five-year-old pencil sketch of the title character, Platypus Duck, reflecting on the beach at sunset.  

More to come...

"The Warner Brothers Cartoons" by Will Friedwald and Jerry Beck

‎2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of "the bible" of Warner Bros. cartoons: "The Warner Brothers Cartoons" by Will Friedwald and Jerry Beck.  It offered up plot summaries and credits for every WB short cartoon from 1929 to 1969.  It included overviews of the studio, profiles of the major cartoon stars, the directors, actors, animators and artists, and offered historical context for many of the cartoons.  Packed with intensely researched and invaluable information.  An awesome book.  Infinitely readable.   And published by Scarecrow Press which, at that time, was headquartered in my home town of Metuchen, NJ!    

 

Happy anniversary, Jerry! 

Jerry and Will's "Warner Brothers Cartoons" book has been retitled and repackaged as "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies:  A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons."  Highly recommended!    You can find that book and others by Jerry at this link:   Books by Jerry Beck

Cartoon Constellations Chart from "Film Comment" (1975)

Back in 1975, when I was in the thick of making my first animated cartoon, Film Comment came out with an all-cartoon issue, which included an interview with Chuck Jones, one of my major animation heroes.  This issue also featured a poster-sized wall chart by Joe Adamson (author of "Tex Avery:  King of Cartoons") that highlighted the major cartoon stars from each Hollywood studio during the Golden Era.  This chart went on my wall in '75 and stayed on my wall, wherever I happened to be working, until the early 90's when it started to disintegrate.  I took it down, put it in a drawer, and I never saw it again.  Until today!   I was looking for some papers in a drawer and instead I found, lo and behold, the long-lost "Cartoon Constellations" chart by Joe Adamson!  I spent the last few hours scanning and restoring my old copy of it, cleaning up some of the scratches and pushpin-holes that it's collected over the past 36 years.  I can't find another copy of it on the web, at least at the moment, so I thought I'd share it with you.  I've always found it very inspirational.

Joe Adamson's book on Tex can be found at http://www.amazon.com/Tex-Avery-King-Cartoons-Paperback/dp/0306802481

The Premiere of Platypus Duck -- Part 6

More artwork from "The Premiere of Platypus Duck."  Preliminary design for the platypus home and pond.  Pen and ink and watercolor.

More to come...

The Premiere of Platypus Duck -- Part 5

"The Premiere of Platypus Duck" had a lot of cel animation in it, but I hand drew, inked and colored some  sequences completely on paper.  This image is from one of those paper sequences.  After the platypi reunite, they do a song and dance routine on the stage of the Sydney Opera House.   And, once again, the little platypus kid upstages his brother.  

Parker MacDonell provided the music, lyrics and performance of the song.  

More to come...

The Premiere of Platypus Duck -- Part 4

Some cel set-ups from "The Premiere of Platypus Duck":  The three platypi approach the Sydney Opera House and enter, in hopes of tracking down the missing platypus duchess.

The third platypi is the little guy on top...He's always the last in, and the one who always acts a little bit nutty.

More to come...

The Premiere of Platypus Duck -- Part 3

In "The Premiere of Platypus Duck," the search for the platypus duchess takes the platypus trio to the big city, where they find the duchess performing at the Sydney Opera House.  (The platypi's home burrow is modeled after Jorn Utzon's design of the Sydney Opera House.)  College pal Brian Fuld provided the voice for the stage manager and announcer at the opera house.  

Below, a painted background of the Sydney Opera House used in the cartoon, plus the preliminary rough sketch.  These were based on photos provided by Kenny Altorfer, one of my parents' very best friends from Metuchen. 

More to come...

The Premiere of Platypus Duck -- Part 2

In "The Premier of Platypus Duck" cartoon, after the duck-billed platypus family is established, a flood comes along and carries off the platypus mom.  Thus begins the search for the missing "platypus duchess" by the dad and two sons.  

 

The image above is taken from the POV of a drain pipe which proves to be the method by which the three platypi find a path to the big city.  This particular scene was one of the most complicated to execute and shoot.  The circle matte moved across the screen from right to left, while the platypi walked through the wooded scenery from left to right.  

I particularly like the woodcut look of this background.  

The Premiere of Platypus Duck -- Part 1

Back in 1974, I received a grant from my college's film department to make an animated film.   The result was an eleven minute cartoon called...

The story follows the evolution of the duck-billed platypus from pre-history to modern day.  

The cartoon took almost two years to complete...and I sure learned a lot about the labor-intensive process of animation.  While I drew all the animation and hand-inked the cels, I managed to persuade many friends and relatives to pitch in on coloring some of the animation-on-paper, and talked others into painting some of the hundreds of cels.  

My best pal Parker MacDonell, an extraordinary singer/songwriter and musician, composed, performed and recorded the score -- which was wall-to-wall!  Eleven minutes of music!  Much of the animation moves to the score, and the edits are hooked into the rhythm of the evocative music.   

The two cell set-ups re-produced here are from the opening scene.  

As we hear the strains of an orchestra tuning up, we find the duck-billed platypus floating in the pond next to his burrow.  (The burrow has a shape similar to the Sydney Opera House, which is a motif throughout the film.)  The platypus looks up at the stars as the music begins, and a fanfare accompanies the sudden appearance of a marquee up in the sky.  The platypus seems slightly impressed with himself, since his name is on the marquee.

MORE TO COME... 

My First Cartoon

Coming this week:  images from my first cartoon, "The Premiere of Platypus Duck."   Original cels and drawings were preserved for the past 35 years by my mom in a trunk in the basement of her Metuchen, New Jersey home.  (The animation cels look brand new!)

The "Flashback" image above is from the eleven-minute cartoon, which tells the story of the evolution of the duck-billed platypus from 250 million years ago to the present...and to the future.    

Cartoonatics' One Year Anniversary!

Happy 1st Birthday to Cartoonatics!  And thanks to all of you for stopping by over the past year.  Keep those comments coming and...

 ...CELEBRATE!

"Animaniacs": The Goodfeathers

The Goodfeathers:  Pesto, Bobby and Squit.

The actors who provide the voices for Pesto, Bobby and Squit.  

Chick Vennera (Pesto), John Mariano (Bobby) and Maurice LaMarche (Squit). 

A Poem: "Look At Me"

Look at me 

I'm fat again

Unlike

 Amy Madigan.

R.I.P. Columbo

        Peter Falk (1927-2011)

"Tiny Toon Adventures" at the Pasadena Rose Parade

Back in the early 90's, Baskin-Robbins sponsored a "Tiny Toon Adventures" float for a couple of years at the annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day.  The photo below is from the first year of Tiny Toon's participation -- I think it was January 1, 1993.   (Baskin-Robbins also sold a line of Tiny Toon ice cream products for a number of years.)
    

Yakko on the Warner Bros. Studio Water Tower -- 1993

To announce the premier of "Animaniacs" in September 1993, it was decided to place an inflated-balloon replica of Yakko Warner atop the water tower at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank.  This seemed like a great idea at the time.  Unfortunately, no one clued in Bob Daly, who ran the studio.  When Bob pulled up in his car that day and saw the balloon-creature sitting on top of the tower, he thought his studio was under attack by some sort of mutant Mickey Mouse.  

The balloon figure of Yakko sat on the tower for less than 12 hours.  Paul Rugg snapped this photo, which may be the only documentation of this strange day in studio history. 

Happy Father's Day -- from Father Time and "Histeria"

The Warner Bros. Store -- 5th Avenue, New York City, 1995 -- Part 2

A couple of additional photos of the flagship Warner Bros. Studio Store in NYC back in mid-1995, when they featured "Animaniacs," specifically Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, in their window displays.  

 

Adventures in Advertising

Before I landed a job in animation, I lived in the New York area and pursued a career in advertising...for about six months.   After that didn't pan out, I moved to Los Angeles where Bill Hanna gave me a job as an assistant animator at Hanna-Barbera.  Thank you, Bill! 

During my brief time in pursuit of advertising, I took a test at McCann-Ericson -- a large ad agency at the time -- to get into their apprentice program.  Below is one of the pieces that I submitted for that test.  The client was Puerto Rican White Rum.   In retrospect, I guess the magazine ad I came up with would please neither the rum company executives nor their customers.   But I went with what I liked:  talking animals.  

I didn't get the job, which turned out to be a good thing.  After the advertising world passed, I was able to pursue my true goal...animation.  

Memorial Day 2011

Thanks to all who served, and to all who sacrificed so much for our nation and for our freedoms.   We salute you all.  

The Cartoon Shows That Never Were #2 -- "Mixed Nutz" Part 21 -- "Toonotology"

Another segment from "Mixed Nuts":  

"TOONOTOLOGY"
Bugs Bunny offers a rambling, incoherent and very-close-to-crazy discourse on what it means to him to be a "Toonotologist" in this parody of the Tom Cruise Scientology recruitment video. 

The Cartoon Shows That Never Were #2 -- "Mixed Nutz" -- Part 20 -- Bugs Bunny

My alternate title for "Mixed Nuts" was "Toonotopia."  I played around with the original movie poster from Fritz Lang's silent classic "Metropolis" to come up with this series poster, featuring the star of the show, the world's greatest rabbit, Bugs Bunny.  

The Cartoon Shows That Never Were #2 -- "Mixed Nutz" Part 19 -- Jabberjaws Meets Elmer

Below is another piece of concept art from "Mixed Nutz," the animated show I pitched to Warner Bros. back in 2008 that combines the stars of Looney Tunes with the stars of Hanna-Barbera cartoons.  

Some of the fun moments in "Mixed Nutz" come from the unlikely pairings...like this one.

Elmer Fudd goes hunting, and so does Jabberjaws, in this segment from "Mixed Nutz."