Merry Christmas from Yakko, Wakko and Dot, Freakazoid and Pinky & the Brain

Warner Bros Animation Studio holiday card, circa 1995

"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 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 12 -- Yakky Doodle as Villain

I've always been a big fan of Yakky Doodle, the manipulative little duck (with the funny voice provided by Jimmy Wheldon) who starred in his own weekly segments on "The Yogi Bear Show."

In "Mixed Nutz," Yakky remains cute and adorable...but we also see Yakky's dark side.  And we come to realize that Yakky is not just manipulative -- he's actually a sinister supervillain!

Look closely and you'll find Yakky's angry visage as one of the heavies pictured in this poster (below) for a "Mixed Nutz" parody of James Bond, starring Bugs Bunny.  

In "Mixed Nutz," we see how different cartoon characters interact with each other.  

For instance, Yakky is a huge fan of Tweety Bird.  He idolizes the Oscar-winning canary, and is constantly peppering the Warner Bros. cartoon star with fanboy questions and requests.   

Tweety tries to be accommodating, but the non-stop-chattering duck is relentless and ultimately very annoying.  Bottom line:  Tweety doesn't like being upstaged and out-"cuted" by the pint-sized duck.  As far as Tweety is concerned, there's room on "Mixed Nutz" for only one adorable yellow bird...which means, as Tweety puts it, "the poor widdle ducky" has to "faw down and go BOOM!!"

Immediately.

More to come...

The Cartoon Shows That Never Were #2 -- "Mixed Nutz" -- Part 10 -- Movie Parodies

I didn't always include characters from both the Looney Tunes and the Hanna-Barbera franchises in every piece of artwork for the "Mixed Nutz" presentation.  While the plan was to have characters from both cartoon worlds appear in each animated segment, when I was pulling together art for the pitch, I'd just use the images and characters that best represented the idea.  

Below, a couple of those pieces.

Bugs runs for higher office in this full-cast extravaganza.

Magilla Gorilla uses the Chrysler building to examine his prostate in this parody of "King Kong," with Lola Bunny hopelessly miscast (as usual) in the Fay Wray/Jessica Lange/Naomi Watts role.  

More to come... 

The Cartoon Shows That Never Were # 2 -- "Mixed Nutz" (2008) -- Part 6 -- When Boo Boo Met Bugs

Another image from "Mixed Nutz," the animated TV series concept that teamed up Looney Tunes characters with Hanna-Barbera characters in all new cartoons.  

Bugs meets Boo Boo in "Mixed Nutz," an animated TV series I pitched to Warner Bros. back in 2008.  

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

More images from my 2008 pitch to Warner Bros. for a new animated TV series starring not only the Looney Tunes but the Hanna-Barbera stars as well:  "Mixed Nutz."

In "Mixed Nutz," Yogi's pic-a-nic basket filching has brought him fame as "the world's most successful moocher."  He travels the globe giving seminars on pan-handling, like a grifter-version of  Tony Robbins.  Above:  When Yogi overstays his welcome at Bugs' Malibu beachfront home, the rabbit gives the bear a nudge toward the door.  

I kept Daffy and Porky together as a team for this parody of "The Terminator."  Rosey the Robot returns from the future to prevent Daffy from screwing up the world.

In the southwest, El Kabong is hired by the Highway Patrol to put the kibosh (and the "kabong") on the freeway speeder...the Roadrunner.

(I do so love El Kabong's rope from nowhere.)

More to come... 

The Cartoon Shows that Never Were #2 -- "Mixed Nutz" (2008) -- Part 1

Back in 2008, I proposed an animated TV series to the powers-that-be at Warner Bros.   

The basic concept of the show:  cartoon universes collide, resulting in Looney Tunes characters and Hanna-Barbera characters appearing in cartoons with each other.  

Bugs Bunny and Yogi Bear in the logo from "Mixed Nutz," an animated TV series I pitched to Warner Bros. back in 2008

I called the show "Mixed Nutz" and pitched it to Brad Globe, head of Warner Bros. global licensing.   Brad loved the concept and my pitch.  In fact, at my first meeting with him, three minutes into the pitch, after he had seen a few pieces of the art, he looked at me and, with a huge smile, said:  "We're making this show.  I've been waiting for someone to walk in with a concept like this for at least three years.  And now you've done it.  We're going to make this show."

Bugs Bunny makes a wrong turn in Albuquerque and arrives in Bedrock where he drives Fred Flintstone nuts in this segment from "Mixed Nutz," a TV series pitched to Warner Bros. by Tom Ruegger in 2008.

Pitches normally don't go this well.     

I was on cloud nine.  

A week or so later, there was a follow-up pitch with Brad, Warner Bros. Television Animation President Peter Roth, and the President of the Warner Bros. Television Group Bruce Rosenblum, and once again, "Mixed Nutz" received a very enthusiastic response, so much so that in the room that day, the three execs committed to making a pilot for the series.  Hand shakes all around.  

A very happy day.  

Daffy subs for Shaggy in this Scooby Doo segment from "Mixed Nutz," an animated TV series pitched by Tom Ruegger to Warner Bros. back in 2008. 

Over the next couple of weeks, I continued developing segments and story ideas for the show, I kept drawing and pulling artwork together, and I started to make calls in hopes of lining up some of the brilliant folks who helped make "Animaniacs" a success, funny people like Sherri Stoner, Deanna Oliver, Paul Rugg, John McCann, Alfred Gimeno, John McClenahan, Joey Banaskiewicz and others.  

Then, about a month after the initial pitch,  Sam Register was hired by Warner Bros. to be the executive in charge of Warner Bros. Television Animation, where he would be reporting directly to division prez Peter Roth.  Sam had his own plans for the Looney Tunes characters.  Soon after he arrived on the scene, my green-lit pilot became un-green-lit.  

Elmer has the title role and Quick Draw McGraw plays his equine sidekick in this movie parody from "Mixed Nutz," an animated TV series pitched to Warner Bros. by Tom Ruegger back in 2008.

"Mixed Nutz" was canceled before it could even get started.  

And I never heard another word from anyone at Warner Bros. 

Anyway, this post, and the subsequent posts about "Mixed Nutz," can be filed under the category "The Cartoon Shows that Never Were #2."  

Snagglepuss, Daffy, Yogi and Bugs in a spoof of "South Park" from "Mixed Nutz" (2008), an animated TV series pitched to Warner Bros. by Tom Ruegger.  

My Favorite Bugs Bunny Cartoon -- At the Hollywood Bowl

My wife Annie took me to the Hollywood Bowl the other night.  We saw and heard Herbie Hancock perform on his 70th birthday.   It was a great experience.

Every time I go to the Hollywood Bowl -- which is not that often -- I'm reminded of my very favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Different people have different favorite Bugs cartoons.  Some put "What's Opera, Doc?" at the top of the list.  The Elmer/Daffy/Bugs Hunter trilogy often ranks in the top ten.  "The Rabbit of Seville" is very popular.  For me, the best Bugs Bunny cartoon of all time is "Long-Haired Hare."   In my opinion, it's one of the only "perfect" cartoons ever made.

Without spoiling its "perfection," I'll say that I greatly appreciate how the final frames of "Long-Haired Hare"  recall the opening frames.  It's Chuck Jones' direction at its best, plus the added thrill of a caricature of Jones as the villain.  The script is by Mike Maltese.  Bugs is at his (1948) apex, doing  a great "Leopold Stokowski" impression, dressing up as a bobby soxer, and justifiably "getting even" like never before or since.  I also will always love Bugs' delivery of the line expressing his admiration for the Hollywood Bowl:  "Acoustically poifect."

 

 

                                                                                      Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes (c) Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.