indy mike's pick one (Car)toon per hour: Warner Brother's 1940 - 1949 era...

Loyal "Pick one tune per hour" posters haven't had one of my kooky thread starters inflicted on them lately. I'm going with CARtoons this time around, specifically from Warner Brother's shorts made from 1940 - 1949. This gives us a shot at having almost all the great Warner directors included: Avery, Clampett, Davis, Freleng, Jones, McCabe, McKimson and Tashlin (sorry if I've missed some - I'm sure a serious toon head will add some more).... Same rules apply - pick ONE toon per hour, tell us why it's soooooooooo "Gotta see this now!!!" - ONE per hour means if I post one at 10:30, I gotta wait 'til the next on the hour-hour shows up (meaning 11:00) - feel free to comment on others' posts - that makes things more interrrrrrresting!!!!!

I'm gonna jump to the godfather of Bugs Bunny toons - A Wild Hare directed by Fred Avery (he wasn't on screen credited as Tex 'til he jumped ship to MGM). Other rabbit toons might have appeared before at Warner Brothers, but this is THE establishing toon for Bugs' personality; the trademark "Eh, what's up doc?" was uttered here first, the good guy with a slightly naughty mean streak personality is beautifully laid out, and the timing is not too fast, not tooooo slow. One great toon from one great director - next batter.........

 

Chuck's Duck Amuck (1953)

Some folks prefer the earlier version of Daffy Duck, the looney, bouncing screwball, but I've always considered the greedy, narcissistic version to be the classic. Because in the real world, though my ego tells me I'm Bugs Bunny, the reality is probably more of Daffy.

So in Duck Amuck the premise is simple. Set the guy up, and watch him slow burn, and eventually explode for six minutes. Daffy likely deserves every bit of abuse he gets here, yet at the same time, that unseen hand guiding the pencil could remind you of that inept boss, that nagging voice on the phone, that person that manages to hold their authority over you, and keep you from, if not being happy, then at least from getting on with your life.

It's Daffy's personality that makes this short work. Later, Chuck tried a sequel with Bugs called Rabbit Rampage, which while funny, just didn't click. It was too difficult to accept the super cool Bugs personality in the same situation.

(After-note: I see I didn't read closely enough, and should have kept the theme in the 40's era of WB cartoons. I'll try to do so for the remainder of the day, but to be honest, I have to think folks like Jones and Freleng only really came into their own after the buzz boys of the 40's like Clampett and Avery had moved on to other studios. All due respect to them, I think the best work at WB came after this point. Your mileage may vary, of course.)

 

Friz Freleng's Hare Trigger (1945)

"I'm the meanest, toughest, orneriest, Edward Everett Horton-est..."

And so we meet Yosemite Sam, fully developed for the first time, and finally, Bugs Bunny has an antagonist worthy of his intellect. That's why Friz Freleng designed him, tired of seeing Bugs match wits with boobs like Elmer Fudd. Here's someone that truly presents a threat to Bugs, someone who's no dummy, someone who actually makes Bugs work for his supper.

Many of Sam's appearances have become among my favorite WB toons of all time. I select this particular one because it contains one gag, Sam's very first, which in my mind will forever stand among the greatest jokes ever in cartoons. Sam stands on the railroad tracks, guns drawn, preparing to stop and rob the approaching train. The train doesn't stop, but runs completely over the petite Sam, who looks up at the train passing over him, his ten gallon hat not even coming close to touching the train cars flying past him overhead. With a disgusted "Hmmmph", he retreats to begin his alternate plan. Classic!

 

Friz Freleng's Baseball Bugs (1946)

"First base, Bugs Bunny...second base, Bugs Bunny...third base, Bugs Bunny...shortstop, Bugs Bunny...left field, Bugs Bunny...right field, Bugs Bunny...center field, Bugs Bunny...catching, Bugs Bunny...pitching, Bugs Bunny."

If you love baseball, you've gotta love watching Bugs single handedly take down a team of knuckledragging bullies, the Gashouse Gorillas. From an era when the game was played in a park in the afternoon, it also has the look and feel of the days when the object of baseball wasn't contract re-negotiations (similarly, I've always loved the WB cartoons that were set in NYC, that always seemed to capture the look and feel of the city in the 40's, just like those old Leo Gorcey/Huntz Hall "Bowery Boys" movies. Odd, when you remember that Termite Terrace was in Burbank!)

Lots of great gags here: The outfielder's tombstone after a line-drive literally buries him: "He Got It!"...the Gashouse Gorilla conga-line around the bases, the "screaming line-drive". Probably best of all, Bugs' manic, grinding wind-up and pitch, prefaced by the boast: "Watch me paste this pat-etic palooka with a powerful paralyzing poifect pachydermous percussion pitch !"

"That's what the man said, you heard what he said, he said that..."

So, anybody else? If not, I'll just stop here.

 

Freling's Buccaneer Bunny (1948).

The first short to cast Yosemite Sam as something other than a Wild West holdup man (while, hilariously, retaining the Western voice and slang). Great gags abound, including a couple (the "Bugs runs-up-and-down-stairs-and-pops-in-and-out-of-doors" bit and the "Bugs-tosses-a-lighted-match-into-the-powder room" gag) that were so good they were re-used in other titles. And I'd give anything for some subtitles to clue us in on what Sam is yelling when he's holding a cannonball and sunk to the bottom of the ocean floor.

 

That's Clampett's Draftee Daffy. The "I wouldn't say that" line was used many times in WB cartoons; can anyone tell me where it originated? (I'm assuming it was a radio catchphrase or something.)

 

Ahem - rules is rules.... Do I have to sick a gort on you for this????

Hmmmm, I like Goldilocks and the Jiving Bears - the jitterbugging scenes are
tremendous. I. Freleng had amazing timing, and it really shows in this (banned) short. The copy I have is from an AAP TV print and the colors are really faded...

 

"Rabbit Hood" from 1949...

"Don't you worry, never fear... Robin Hood will soon be here." And then Robin Hood, or Errol Flynn as Robin Hood, finally shows!

"No poaching ... not even an egg"

 

Great cartoon, which will be included as an extra on WB's forthcoming DVD of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood. It'll also have another of my favorites, Robin Hood Daffy.

"Yoiks, and away...<KLUNK>...Yoiks, and away...<KLUNK>...Yoiks, and away...<KLUNK>..."

 

Bob Clampett's "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery"(1946). With Daffy as Duck Twacy. One of the most insane cartoons ever made, perhaps THE most insane. Some unbelieveable stream-of-consciousness visuals.

Evan

 

Evan

 

The Rabbit of Seville - Charles Jones; Mr. J.'s What's Opera Doc gets the press, but this toon is flat out funnier and more imaginative. The cuts in this are amazingly fast, the music perfect, Bugs is at his expressive best - just a great cartoon from a great director....

 

I always thought "Rabbit of Seville" would make a superb cartoon twin bill with Lantz's "Barber of Seville", featuring Woody Woodpecker.

How about "Porky Pig's Feat" (Tashlin, 1943)? Tash's last LT short, and one of the last--or is it the last?--Looney Tunes in B&W. It's the one where Porky and Daffy can't pay their hotel bill and try to escape using various methods, to no avail. This has some of my favorite gags ever, such as the manager's tumble down the stairs being reflected in the pupils of Daffy and Porky's eyes, and my all-time favorite "cameo" appearance in a WB short. ("Don't work, do they?")

 

Yep - that particular Woody Woodpecker (Seamus/Jimmy Culhane directed I think) is a riot (can't say that about many Lantz Cartunes). Hmmmmmm, time to add another ONE toon: Mississippi Hare (C. Jones banned Bugs Bunny toon) - Bugs is Down South on a riverboat and has a run in with what seems to be a country-fied relative of Yosemite Sam as the antagonist (I think he's the same guy as the grouch in the toon where the bulldog is named "Belvedere" - "Oh Belvedere, come heah, boy")....

 

Ummmmmm stere - weren't yer avatar pals Hubie and Bertie in some pre 50's hijinks??? "I get ta push da button!"....