That's All Folks: Chuck Jones RIP

Whamo writes: "Legendary animator, Chuck Jones, creator of classic cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Road Runner, & Pepe Le Pew has died (cnn) aged 89 years. When you were a kid was there ever a better baby-sitter than several hours of Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies? Thank you, Mr. Jones for all the great memories and, respectfully, That's All Folks...." CT: I just wanted to mention that Chuck actually read Slashdot. We had a poll once where he was an option, and he was flattered that he was winning it.

What makes a good cartoon

[rosewood]

I spent 4-5 hours the other night talking about what makes a good cartoon and Chuck Jones was the name we brought up the most. Good slapstick fun that entertains the young ones. More advanced humor for those out of gradeschool, but yet still have the slapstick appealing. Then, working your cartoon with the music directors, etc.

Genuis, no doubt

If anything, his death should prompt cartoon network to run a lot of chuck jones - the silver lining my friends

Re:D*mn

[Anonymous Coward]

He did

but couldn't eat the Road Runner

And the copyrights last forever

[digiZen]

Sadly, after his death, a mega corporation continues to profit from his works, and with copyrights getting perpetually extended, control will never be relinquished. Would he had wanted the public to have access to his works after he passed away? Personally, I would like everything that I create to eventually find the greatest possible use after I'm gone. After all you can't take it with you. There's no better way than for the work to end up in the public domain. Yet, our laws and a few greedy individuals are going to prevent this from occurring. Something has to get done.

He was still alive?

[boa13]

Pardon me, yes, pardon me, but this is the first thing that came to my mind when I heard of his death in the 11pm news.

I have a lot of fond memories from all the Merry Melodies in my youth. I love animation in all forms, and loved his work, but, somehow, I imagined he disappeared a long time ago.

I am afraid the crazy gags and wild imagination from people such as him and Tex Avery have not waited his death to disappear. Nowadays, in the specific field of crazy cartoons, it seems they just reuse the old tricks over and over. I want new, ten-gags per second, Tex Avery's!

That's something they could put on his tombstone

[Caudipteryx]

"That's all folks!" would be so apt. And then maybe they could also put in some kind of digital playback device that would be triggered when someone came near to play the Merry Melodies tune that comes on at the end of each program. And then that someone would smile and shed a tear as he remembers fondly all the laughter that Chuck Jone has given him and the whole world. Sniff! :~)

Re:Chuck Jones ruled

[chiaroscuro03]

Slashdot has its share of math-oriented readers. I will always recall the greatness of "The Dot and the Line" (1965), which earned Jones an Academy Award.

Re:And the copyrights last forever

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps he would want his surviving relatives to enjoy the fruits of his labors. No doubt he worked hard his whole to provide for them as well. If anything, that was his primary purpose in life: to provide well for his wife, children, and family.

And you'd deprive a man of that dream, now that he's dead? The coin has another side.

Something has to get done.
Some has gotten done. It's called representative democracy. And for all the complaints we have about how it's broken, the "something" that got done was a vote on a somewhat balanced law about intellectual property. (Don't forget, the rights are slowly making their way to the public domain; it's not perpetual.)

I'm glad some royalties are going to his kids and grandchildren.

Re:Duck Amuck: I remember that!

[ashitaka]

This is what is so great about Chuck's work.

I am twice your age. I loved his cartoons.

My kids are half your age. They love his cartoons.

And you probably haven't seen a quarter of his work.

A sad, sad day

[Martin Blank]

There used to be a Warner Brothers store near me, and they had hanging on one wall a large image of a number of classic characters standing in the shadows, the spotlight on a microphone with nobody there to use it. It was a memorial to Mel Blanc, and even now when I think of it, I get a little misty-eyed. In an odd way, I look forward to the tribute that will be paid to Chuck Jones.

What I find saddest, though, is a conversation I recently had with a friend's kids. They're 8 and 6, and they know who the Rugrats and Spongebob Squarepants (that one scares me) are, but they barely know who Bugs Bunny is, thought they knew Daffy and Elmer, recognized Yosemite Sam, but had no clue who the Tazmanian Devil, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, or Sylvester are. (Oddly enough, the younger of the two knew of Marvin's dog, and described him enough to convince me. Weird.) Even the youngest are being pulled so far into the "NEW NEW NEW" mentality pervading media culture that they have no clue what led to the current generation. Some of them don't even know about Mickey and Minnie, but they know everything about the Little Mermaid or the Lion King.

My children will know the classics. Oh, yes. They will know.

Best Music Video Ever: Rabbit of Seville

[ewhac]

Chuck Jones took the overture to Rossini's Barber of Seville and, with Carl Stalling's virtuoso arrangement, created an absolute cinematic masterwork.

Music videos today are just a jumble of images assembled nearly at random. Chuck Jones rose to the challenge and gave Rabbit of Seville an actual plot, while still remaining almost perfectly true to Rossini's original score. Not only that, but Stalling's spirited orchestration makes you want to go out and track down Rossini's other works. (The overtures to Semiramide and The Thieving Magpie are just begging for cartoons of their own.)

It's a damn shame it doesn't get broadcast much anymore.

Schwab

Re:Duck Amuck: I remember that!

[bigdreamer]

Just goes to show that it takes more than gee-whiz special effects to capture the audiences' imagination. It takes memorable characters, a captivating story, and a new way of viewing the world. Chuck Jones had the talent to give audiences both. May he never be forgotten.

Re:Babysitters

[notsoanonymouscoward]

actually I think it would be a rare person indeed that could capture my attention, my imagination, and even my affection, as greatly as the looney tunes did.

and I believe it represents american culture. sorry its not quite benny hill, we have our own way of doin things =)

Chuck Jones RIP

[Devlin-du-GEnie]

How appropriate . . . finding out early on a Saturday morning.

My parents always hated how I would cheerfully get up at 6:45 a.m. on a Sataurday to watch Bugs & Daffy, but had to be dragged out of bed kicking and screaming on school days.

I miss the explosive (sometimes literally) creativity of those early years of studio animation. Chuck Jones was at the heart of it.

They say you're old when your childhood icons begin to die. This morning, I feel a lot older.

Have fun rescripting the afterlife, Mr. Jones. I'm sure heaven will never be =quite= the same.

Re:What makes a good cartoon

[Forge]

It's good to see someone can find a silver lineing, even in the death of one of the greatest shapers of human behavior in the modern world.

Chuck Jones defined the "cartoon Cartoon" as oposed to the

kids cartoon; Which is designed to not warp a child too much [Magic SchoolBus]

or the movie cartoon; like a live action feature but alowing special efects which would be deficult in live action. [Prince of Egypt]

or even the superhero cartoon. [transformers].

Nope a cartoon cartoon is one that's not good for your VCR because you keap rewinding to see just how stupid an expresion the character has when he realises he has been walking on air for some time and must now obay gravity.

...and the Grinch

[Big Sean O]

He did the animated Christmas Special that we all grew up on. When you think about _that_ show: Dr. Seuss, Chuch Jones, Boris Karloff, and Therm Ravenscroft (the voice of Tony the Tiger who sang "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch") and you realize just what a classic that is (especially cf: the Grinch Movie with Opie Cunningham and Ace Ventura -- bleagh).

Re:And the copyrights last forever

[$lashdot]

In truth, Warner Bros. was lazy and let a significant amount of cartoons slip into the public domain. Some of them they intentionally did not renew because they are considered racially insensitive and WB no longer wanted to be associated with them. Further muddying the waters, is the fact that MGM wound up with the classic "Golden Age" 30-40's ones, while WB only retains ownership of the slicker, later ones 50's-60's.

Jones himself was smart enough to start his own production company, and did make money selling images (cels and retreads) of the cartoons he had previously created. It would take WB another decade or two to catch on to that one.

So, we have a case where the company in charge sold or last half of the pertinent copyrights, and then was late to the table to remarket what remained. Not every company is the exploitation machine that Disney is.

Check out Dave Mackey's WB cartoon filmography [davemackey.com]. It's the first WB cartoon-related website to have a blurb. I'd expect something from chuckjones.com [chuckjones.com] and WB/looney tunes [warnerbros.com] soon, though.

Another sad day, but oh, what memories.

Re:What makes a good cartoon

[ackthpt]

As I've read, Chuck wasn't just a gifted animator, but a good man who took care of his workers and many sought to work for, particularly after the draconian working conditions at Disney.

Tex Avery (Droopy, Red Hot Riding Hood) is another in Chucks League. These guys set the bar few attempt to reach anymore.

A time for celebration, not mourning

[MtViewGuy]

Folks,

I think with the passing of Chuck Jones it is not a time for mourning, but a time for celebration. The fact he even lived to a ripe old age of 89 meant he lived a truly full life, to say the least.

It is time for a celebration of an output of animation that is arguably unmatched. From his work in the early Tom & Jerry cartoons at MGM to the amazing opera parodies he did in the 1950's to everything else he did, he was probably the best embodiment of the zenith of cartoon short subject films during their heyday.

I will say "Thank you, and Godspeed," to truly one of the true giants in the entertainment industry.

Thanks Chuck

[txtger]

Thanks Chuck for the many hours of enjoyable time and laughter you gave me. Thanks for teaching me the immutable laws of physics...things like you won't fall as long as you don't look down and a product from Acme can solve any situation. Thanks for teaching me that if my problem just keeps attacking me I need only dress up like a girl bunny and it'll buy me more time. Thanks for teaching me that rowdy guys like yosemite sam never win. Thanks for teaching me that goofy guys like elmer fudd sometimes win. Thanks for teaching me that really smart guys like bugs and tweety and the road runner always win.

And thanks for giving me something to do when I got to be a little too annoying to my parents and they were ready to kill me. You saved me many times.

Thanks, Chuck Jones.

Chuck Jones: Why WB is cooler than Disney

[connorbd]

Your stars: an eternally chipper, squeaky-voiced, squeaky-clean mouse vs. a slightly insane, unnervingly smart Borscht Belt rabbit.

Your supporting cast: on the one hand, another mouse, a dog, another dog (except this one talks), a spluttering duck; on the other hand, a bashful pig, an obsessive hack hunter, a martian, a coyote, and a spluttering duck. Not to mention other random characters on each side.

One is a paragon of virtue to everyone but the craziest of Christian fundies. The other is a paragon of high comedy to everyone except people who think kids take cartoon violence seriously.

One gave birth to Animaniacs. The other gave birth to infinite copyright extensions.

Now which one would you rather watch?

Chuck Jones, we'll miss you.

/Brian