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Television Media

That's All Folks: Chuck Jones RIP 342

Posted by chrisd from the tom-and-jerry-define-repetitive-genius dept.
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.
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That's All Folks: Chuck Jones RIP More

That's All Folks: Chuck Jones RIP

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  • What makes a good cartoon (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rosewood ( 99925 ) <<ur.tahc> <ta> <doowesor>> on Saturday February 23, 2002 @05:10AM (#3056467) Homepage Journal
    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:What makes a good cartoon (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Forge ( 2456 ) <kevinforge@@@gmail...com> on Saturday February 23, 2002 @07:47AM (#3056731) Homepage Journal
      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.
    • 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.

      • AS I thought about the thousands of cartoons Ive seen in my life last night and was reading up on the life and history of CJ, I realized how many influenced by him and gave him influence. Now we hear stories about actors of the time working their butts off for relatively little and the studios owning them. Its good to see that the ones making the country laugh the most were in good company with CJ.

    • cartoon network

      I just turned it on. Porky is hunting a groundhog, and has a dog with him named Mandrake.

      This guy was obviously far (far) ahead of the technological curve...
  • One of those times when a headline pops up that just makes you groan.

    All-Time Favourite: "Duck Amuck"

    "Who's responsible for this????!!!"

    RIP Chuck.
    • I'm just a yungin' (20), but I always preferred older cartoons to the stuff that comes out these days. My all-time favorite short cartoon is Duck Amuck. [geocities.com]

      Apparently, Chuck Jones did a lot of cool stuff besides Bugs Bunny & Co. His biography [pbs.org] says he directed another of my favorite cartoons, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

      Interestingly enough, my interest in science came from one of his cartoons. You know, the one with the mad scientist and his gigantic red hairy monster. Bugs Bunny outwitted them both, of course. But I was so impressed with the gadgetry that I declared to my folks that I would be a Mad Scientist when I grew up. I would even find empty bottles, "mix" their contents, and drink the "potion." In my head I was Jekyll and Hyde. But now I'm way OT...*Reminiscing for a moment*

      [rant]
      How come they didn't advertise this when he was still alive? Why all this list of achievements after I can't write him a letter to thank him? I know the answers, 1) The info is already out there and 2) Dead people make more news. But still, he'll never know how much I appreciated his work. Chuck Jones taught me what humor is. 1337 skillz are nice, but laughter is priceless.
      [/rant]

      • Re:Duck Amuck: I remember that! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by ashitaka ( 27544 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @06:25AM (#3056585) Homepage
        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.
        • 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.
        • I am more than twice his age. I love his cartoons.

          My Daughter is older than he is and we have spent many, many hours watching his cartoons together.

          My parents loved Chuck Jones cartoons, THEIR parents loved Chuck Jones cartoons, my great grand children are certain to love Chuck Jones cartoons.

          It's almost impossible to overstate how wonderful the works of Mr. Jones are and their universality is only one of the many attributes that make them that way.

          With luck one of the local art theaters will stage a film festival of his work. If you havn't seen them on film, in a theater, you don't even know what they really look like. They are real art.

          Hanna and Barbera have a lot to answer for.

          I'll never have to miss Chuck. He'll be "alive" as long as humanity is.

          KFG
      • the mad scientist and his gigantic red hairy monster

        Nighty niiiiiiight... the ever-famous "ether scene" in the castle with the neon sign flashing:

        "Mad Scientist"

        "Boo"

        Sheer genius

  • D*mn (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheDigitalOne ( 105087 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @05:14AM (#3056478)
    Now we will never know if the Coyote ever catches the Road Runner.

  • Where's the kaboom? (Score:5, Funny)

    by dagnabit ( 89294 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @05:16AM (#3056484)
    There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom...

    R.I.P., Mr. Jones, and thanks for sharing your talents.

  • And the copyrights last forever (Score:5, Insightful)

    by digiZen ( 535342 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @05:16AM (#3056486)
    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.

    • Re:And the copyrights last forever (Score:2, Insightful)

      by 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:And the copyrights last forever (Score:5, Informative)

        by CashCarSTAR ( 548853 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @06:26AM (#3056586)
        Actually Chuck Jones is getting next to nothing for all the work he's done over the years. Yes let me repeat that. Next to nothing. It seems that he was one of the original artists (and he was an artist) to get slammed with a "work for hire" clause in his contract. After he was forced out of WB, he recieved very little renumeration for his years of work. However, that's not to say he died a poor man, hardly the case. He spent the last few years of his life recreating some of the classic scenes from the cartoons for sale. He made quite a pile that way. Something telling in this story I think.

      • (Don't forget, the rights are slowly making their way to the public domain; it's not perpetual.)

        Do you have any evidence for that? What I see is that every time the early Mickey Mouse cartoons are about to make their way into the public domain, Disney and the other media corporations get Congress to extend the copyright period again. When exactly do you think works are going to enter the public domain?

        Of course, Disney itself benefits greatly from public-domain works (fairy tales, Victor Hugo, etc.). But they don't want to give back to the public domain they take from.

    • Re:And the copyrights last forever (Score:4, Insightful)

      by $lashdot ( 472358 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @08:58AM (#3056888) Journal

      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.

    • "Something has to get done".

      ... Either violate sensless copyrights on the work of dead artists everyday and in every way you possibly can. If this is too risky then be at pains to point out the flaws of a system that encourages the enrichment of the talentless (even stupid) family of a person who writes a story that gets turned into a popular film.

      The current intellectual property regime encourages the enrichment of a corporation that believes it has an exclusive right to draw a certain style of cartoon mice (a corporation that rips off folk tales because its own hacks couldn't concoct a story to save their hides...).

  • Pure genius. (Score:5, Funny)

    by meth88 ( 550714 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @05:19AM (#3056494)
    Bugs: "Do you want to shoot me now or wait till you get home?" Daffy: "SHOOT HIM NOW! SHOOT HIM NOW!" Bugs: "You keep outta this; he doesn't have to shoot you now." Daffy: "Oh, yeah? Well, I say he DOES have to shoot me now! So SHOOT ME NOW!" --BANG!-- Daffy: "Let's try that again..." Bugs (shrugging): "Okay; do you want to shoot me now or wait till you get home?" (in a flat, actor read-through voice) Daffy: "Shoot him now; shoot him now." (Ditto) Bugs: "You keep outta this; he doesn't have to shoot you now." Daffy: "AH HA! (aside to the audience)Pronoun trouble. It's not he doesn't have to shoot you now, he doesn't have to shoot me now. Well, I say he DOES have to shoot me now! SO SHOOT ME NOW!" --BANG!--

    • Re:Pure genius. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ardiri ( 245358 )
      daffy: rabbit season
      bugs: duck season
      daffy: rabbit season
      bugs: duck season
      daffy: rabbit season
      bugs: duck season
      daffy: rabbit season
      bugs: rabbit season
      daffy: all right, thats it.. it is duck season
      *bang* (from hunters)

  • He was still alive? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by boa13 ( 548222 )
    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!
  • and now the creator of the characters themselves. *sigh* May your collective works live on for many more generations, even if AOLTW keeps making money on it.

  • enjoyed the pbs documentary (Score:5, Interesting)

    by McQuaid ( 524757 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @05:31AM (#3056515)
    Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens -- A life in animation [pbs.org]was a great documentary I caught a couple of years back. Among some of the fans giving there insights were Whoopi Goldberg, THE SIMPSONS creator Matt Groening, Ron Howard, TOY STORY director John Lasseter, Steven Spielberg, and Robin Williams.

    But what kept bugging me while watching these people give praise to his work and what joy it gave to them, I couldn't help but think what a shame it is that a lot of the original works are cut or not shown in their entirety or not at all. Here in Canada, the only looney toons is the road runner show shown three times a week. Most kids growing up in Canada right now probably only have seen a fraction of the great classics. I understand it's much better in the U.S. with cartoon network but here viewings of the originals are practically nil.

  • his website (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    http://www.chuckjones.com/entry.html

  • A sad, sad day (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Martin Blank ( 154261 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @06:27AM (#3056587) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re:A sad, sad day (Score:5, Informative)

      by Masem ( 1171 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @11:47AM (#3057334)
      The print you recall is called "Speechless", and probably one of the best things that WB could have done to tribute the death of Mel Blanc. A similar work was done when F. Freling passed away, though it wasn't as catchy as the first one (most people know who Mel and Chuck are, but Freling is only well known to animation buffs).

      Unfortunately, as the WB stores have all but closed up, it's doubtful that a companion piece will be made available. It would be great if they could, but...

      • Re:A sad, sad day (Score:2, Informative)

        by Martin Blank ( 154261 )
        Found the lithograph here....

        http://www.thegremlin.com/frame479307.html

        $200 matted and framed, or $125 rolled in a tube. I think I might be using my credit card here soon.....
    • Here it is on ebay

      http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte m& item=1075065453

      and here is a pic from the auction

      http://abacus.sj.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_EBAY_5af 7e 1dec1120092f33c3f98f/i-1.JPG

      If anyone has a high quality scan of this, I would love it

      thanks

  • Best Music Video Ever: Rabbit of Seville (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ewhac ( 5844 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @06:32AM (#3056594) Homepage Journal

    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:Best Music Video Ever: Rabbit of Seville (Score:5, Interesting)

      by jdcook ( 96434 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @09:06AM (#3056904)
      I love Rabbit of Seville but What's Opera, Doc? is better.

      True story: One evening at the University of Wisconsin in the mid-80s I was waling accross campus. The student orientation program (SOAR) was going on at Union South. For entertainment, they had a showing of the original (i.e. with Adam West) Batman movie. Before that, however, they showed What's Opera, Doc?.

      Every single incoming freshman, regardless of race, creed, color, or any of that other BS, enthusiastically sang "Kill the wabbit. Kill the WABBIT. KILL the WABBIT."

      And people say there's no common cultural heritage anymore.

      (OTOH, my favorite WB Chuck Jones cartoon is Duck dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century.)

      • Dude, they still play cartoons here. I'm not a student, but we wander down to the Union Terrace once in a while. For those unfortunates that have never been here, it's an outdoor bar on a big lake and is an excellent spot to party. I know I've seen signs up advertising cartoon showings.
      • Every single incoming freshman, regardless of race, creed, color, or any of that other BS, enthusiastically sang "Kill the wabbit. Kill the WABBIT. KILL the WABBIT."

        And people say there's no common cultural heritage anymore.

        I hope this doesn't come off sounding too grouchy, but I have to say one thing. Chuck Jones' cartoons are our common cultural heritage because of all-pervasiveness of television (They're not shown before feature films any more!) And that is definately a double-edged sword.
    • I played violin in the Alabama Youth Symphony, back in the day (early '80s). One day the conductor brought out the new music we were supposed to play: "The Barber of Seville". Do you know, every single person already knew the music, by heart? The whole orchestra sight-read the whole piece the first time through, just about perfectly. Why? You know why.

      Thank you, THANK you, bless you, Chuck Jones.

  • Archived Works? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Combuchan ( 123208 )
    I know there are hundreds of episodes I haven't seen ... as a history buff I'm looking to see the anti-Nazi/Japanese propaganda WB cartoon made during the height of the second world war.

    The Simpsons first episode is out on DVD, along with numerous other cartoons and television shows. Are the great works of Chuck Jones and company available on a format that I can watch over and over?

  • Chuck Jones RIP (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Devlin-du-GEnie ( 512506 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @07:39AM (#3056717)
    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.

    • I was even watching Looney Toons on Cartoon Network this morning. I wonder if maybe this isn't why they weren't showing a lot of seemingly older ones, or do they always do that?
  • ... He did quite a few of those cartoons, too. My kid likes them.

    • ...and the Grinch (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Big Sean O ( 317186 )
      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).

  • Sheer Genius (Score:5, Interesting)

    by The Cat ( 19816 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @07:42AM (#3056724)
    Although I can't state for certain which cartoons were or were not directed or animated by Chuck Jones, I've found that most of the greats were:

    Daffy Duck as Robin Hood "ho ha-ha guard turn parry" especially the part where Porky Pig makes Daffy laugh after he falls into the river

    "Whoa Camel, whoaaaa camel, awww come on whoa?? When I say whoa, I mean WHOA!!"

    Bugs Bunny as the Conductor with the tenor who he makes hold the high note until the auditorium collapses. (The tuba scene at the beginning is priceless)

    "DUCK DODGER IN THE 24TH AND A HALF CENTURYYYYYY!!!"

    Bugs Bunny vs the Gas House Gorillas and the conga line around the bases with the 93 1/2 year old pitcher

    Bugs, the huge red monster and the mad scientist in the castle with the neon sign flashing "Mad Scientist, Boo"

    "Wile E. Coyote.. super genius... I like the way that rolls out.. .Wile Eeee Coyoteeeeee suuuuuuper geeeenius..."

    Of course, there are too many to list, but these are some that I'm reminded of immediately. Chuck Jones: An absolute genius.

    • == gossamer! better get it right, wouldn't want him stomping you with those big tennis shoes of his!

  • Chuck is my hero 'cause he's so big and strong. (Score:5, Informative)

    by retrosteve ( 77918 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @08:06AM (#3056762) Homepage Journal
    This comes from a Chuck Jones fan who went a little too far. Realizing about 10 years ago that all my favorite cartoons had been written by the same guy, [chuckjones.com] I went and investigated his life. I also bought a few of his more recent signed works (he did amazing cels and giclee' art [animationartgallery.com]).

    Chuck Jones had an excellent wit, which you can experience in his two hilarious and informative biographies, Chuck Amuck [amazon.com] and Chuck Reducks [amazon.com] . His writing is dry and Mark-Twainish, with personal touches that never get *too* personal.

    His recent work (he was creating Shockwave cartoons of "Thomas Timberwolf" [warnerbros.com] up to this month!) is available linked from his own website [chuckjones.com].

    Anyway, enough karmawhoring, I am writing this with tears in my eyes. So long and that's all folks to my last American hero.

    "Well whaddya expect in an Opera? A happy ending?"
    --Bugs Bunny, What's Opera, Doc?
  • .....on your way up to heaven, don't forget to make the left turn at Albuquerque!
  • Or did someone else create him? He's by far my favorite.
    • Acording to his website (chuckjones.com), no. He did create:

      Porky Pig
      Animation Birthdate:
      March 2, 1935

      Daffy Duck
      Animation Birthdate:
      April 17, 1937

      Sniffles
      Animation Birthdate:
      May 30, 1939

      Elmer Fudd
      Animation Birthdate:
      March 2, 1940

      Bugs Bunny
      Animation Birthdate:
      July 27, 1940

      Henery Hawk
      Animation Birthdate:
      August 8, 1942

      Tweety Bird
      Animation Birthdate:
      November 21, 1942

      http://www.chuckjones.com/characters/
  • Makes me think of the old Mary Tyler Moore show episode when Chuckles the Clown bit the big one and Mary can't keep from laughing at the funeral.

    I keep thinking of "The Rabbit of Seville", the great BB sendup of "The Barber of Seville".

    Can you imagine a kid's short openly aping a classic opera? Doing it so well? Being so funny, even if you never heard a tenor go ten-ing?

    I don't Chuck will rest in peace if he's laid to rest in a cemetary. If anyone can get a graveyard giggling, he's the man.
  • I was just reading some of my old Pogo collections and found the legendary cartoonist Walt Kelly and, later his wife, Selby worked with Chuck Jones. The mention of his name reminds me of the finest cartoons I ever saw, bar none, on Saturday mornings. Those old MGM and Warner Bros. cartoons gave me an appreciation for art and even classical music (e.g. Rabbit of Seville) and it was a travesty of epic proportions when the anti-cartoon violence people butchered the cartoons in the 70's.

    Chuck was a rare one, gifted as an animator, voice artist, writer and producer.

  • A time for celebration, not mourning (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MtViewGuy ( 197597 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @10:28AM (#3057116)
    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.
  • I have to say that my weakness for the old WB cartoons was for the orchestra's background music. I'm still trying to find the name of the 'big band' style tune that plays during the "How they make bowling pins" sequence. (You know, you start with an entire tree, have horribly complicated machines whittle it down to a bowling pin size, get a white-gloved mechanical arm to paint it properly, use it once, then throw it out)

    Anyone know what I'm talking about?

    • I can't be certain, as I don't remember the particular cartoon, but "Powerhouse" by Raymond Scott was often used in similar scenes in WB cartoons. His version was done by a small 6 or 7 piece ensemble, Carl Stalling would score it for a bigger orchestra. A lot of Raymond Scott's music is in Looney Tunes ...

      • Excellent! I always wondered what that tune was. It was a great background music from something mechanical.

        Here's a link to the tune I found on google: here [raymondscott.com].

        This HAS to be one of the most famous tunes that no one has the slightest clue what the name of it is.

  • Chuck and his real cartoons ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by pgrote ( 68235 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @11:20AM (#3057270) Homepage
    The passing of a legend is never an easy thing, but in the case of Chuck Jones his work will live on forever for others to enjoy.

    It's a bummer that most people will never be able to enjoy what we did as kids. A good number of his cartoons have been "cleaned up" and the violence removed.

    Over at the censored cartoon page (http://www.toonzone.net/looney/ltcuts/) they have a list of what cartoons have been cut as well as what was cut.

    There is a link to a few uncensored cartoons that bring back many many great Saturday morning or after school memories (http://www.nonstick.com/wmovies/index.html)

    And you can buy the uncensored cartoons if you look hard enough. This site gets you off to a great start. http://www.megalink.net/~cooke/looney/amazon.html
    • "Aviation Vacation" (Avery; 1941):

      CN: Two entire racial stereotype scenes were removed altogether. One scene has an African native using a blowgun. It is revealed that he was merely aiming at a practice target. A second native comments, "Terrible shot, Joe. Terrible shot." The other scene shows African natives pounding their drums and making signals. One native asks another, "What did they say?" The other native says (imitating drum sound), "Boom di di boom di di boom boom boom boom..."

      I dont get that Joe one but the drum one is halarious. Ugh - let the cartoons play as they were made! Jesus christ! I mean people bitch about the current state of movies and edit these classics? Anger ensues
  • This article should be under "Science", not "Television". After all, wasn't Chuck Jones the discoverer of the cartoon laws of physics? [aip.org] ("Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation," etc.) These laws of nature are now common knowledge, probably even more so than laws from more stuffy, traditional branches of physics.
  • About ten years ago I saw Chuck Jones live at the QE Theatre in Vancouver. He brought all his best cartoons and stories with him. One of the stories he told was about a man named Ed Seltzer. Ed was one of the producers at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. According to Chuck, Ed was a very unfunny man and completely unqualified to produce cartoons. Apparently, Ed would go up the the artists and say things like "Use lots of purple! Purple's a funny color!"

    After that story the next cartoon Chuck showed was the Bugs vs. the Opera Tenor (can't remember the name.). After Bugs delivers his line "You realize, of course, this means war", the scene cuts to the front of the opera house. The card by the front door reads: "Opera Tonight! Starring Giovanni Jones" or something like that, plus a list of guest stars.

    However, after Chuck's story, one name name on the list stood out over the others:

    "Eduardo Seltzeri"

    The entire audience cracked up because we were now in on the joke.

    Thanks Chuck.

  • Thanks Chuck (Score:2, Insightful)

    by txtger ( 216161 )
    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.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @12:08PM (#3057376)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Chuck Jones: Why WB is cooler than Disney (Score:3, Insightful)

    by connorbd ( 151811 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @12:25PM (#3057427) Homepage
    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

  • Tom & Jerry (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hoser ( 95281 )
    I can't remember seeing a classic Tom & Jerry cartoon -- meaning the really, really violent ones that inspired Itchy & Scratchy -- since I was a kid. I've seen the lame 60s (I think) ones where T&J are buddies searching for gold or something stupid, but those oh-so ultraviolent classics from the 40s are nowhere to be found. I've always assumed they're not shown anymore because of the violence. Can anyone confirm this? Maybe they're on in the States, but they sure aren't up here in Canada.
  • One of Chuck's greatest strengths as an animator was his ability to empathize with characters rather than treat them as paint-and-cel drawings. Especially Daffy; as he once said, Bugs is who we all hope to be, but Daffy is who we inevitably wind up being.

    There's a tendency to trash Chuck as being overrated, usually as opposed to his colleague Bob Clampett, as a hatchet job in Salon [salon.com] did a while back. That's unfair to both men; Clampett and Tex Avery excelled in demolishing the Disney-established limitations of animation, while Jones used those limits while coloring intricately within the lines. While Jones could do wild gags too, he appreciated the little touches that would sell the cartoon: the look of horror as the Coyote realizes he's hovering over a cliff, or the expression of annoyance as Daffy realizes that Bugs has flummoxed Elmer again.

    Chuck Jones brought an intelligence and discipline to cartoons, making their craziness even more enjoyable. There isn't a cartoon show on these days that doesn't bear some remnant of his influence. Frankly, I thought he'd outlive all of us.
  • I have a book called The 50 Greatest Cartoons; it lists, well, the purported 50 greatest cartoon shorts, as selected by a poll of over 1,000 animators, film critics and historians, cartoon buffs, etc. Nine of the films on the list, or almost a fifth, were directed by Jones - including four of the top five (What's Opera, Doc? was the #1). Obviously, people in the industry and devotees of the medium cherished him highly, and rightfully so.

    I've long thought he might be the greatest American humorist since Mark Twain. He certainly made some terrific cartoons.

    So long, Chuck.

  • Tributes to Chuck, Letters From the Heart (Score:3, Informative)

    by Hatter ( 3985 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @01:17PM (#3057582)
    I was browsing ChuckJones.com [chuckjones.com] and came across a section entitled, "Letters from the heart." It's a area where you can write in your tributes to Chuck, and tell how his work has touched you.

    I think it's all that more important to write now. Here's the link [chuckjones.com].

  • .emotion {weep: I spent far too many hours watching Loony Tunes as a kid. Laughing and getting educated at the same time. Damn. The quality of 'toons has gone down(with shit like Barney, the Smurfs, etc.)since then. Luckily the 'toons are still there--Chuck Jones will live forever.;
    }

  • I learned French from Pepe Le Pew (Score:3, Funny)

    by konmaskisin ( 213498 ) on Saturday February 23, 2002 @01:51PM (#3057705) Journal

    I always spoke French awkwardly (many anglo Canadians speak French with an Anglo accent on purpose in order to signal they "don't really speak French") ... Finally I had a class where the French teacher said: "il faut exagérer pour prendre l'habitude - tu devrais faire semblant que tu es Pepe Le Pew à chaque fois que tu parles français".

    Heheh ... it worked.
  • ...One Froggy Evening?

    It may not have been rolling-in-the-aisles funny, but it is the deepest cartoon I have ever seen. A story of the eternal greed of mankind, and told in five minutes and without a single line of dialogue (if you don't count the frog singing).
  • Can't imagine a world without Accellerratis Incredilibus, Carnivoris Vulgaris, and ACME Birdseed and -Dynamite. :-(

  • dedication (Score:2, Interesting)

    by infinite jester ( 206583 )
    i'm working on an animated feature film that my brother and i wrote, and which we hope to eventually sell to pixar... although it's intended to be a computer-generated cartoon, we hope to emulate chuck jones' style of animation (like, when a character realizes that he's just walked off a cliff, his body falls, his neck stretches, but his head stays where it is for several seconds before snapping out of the scene; if the character happens to be wearing a hat, his hand will reach up out of the scene, and grab the hat last)

    i've had the good fortune to meet many of chuck's contemporaries, like the late, great director friz freling, and chuck's partner and background designer, maurice noble... sadly, on both occasions when i was to meet chuck, he took ill... i'm sorry that i'll never get to meet my hero, but his work is immortal, and i hope that his inspiration is felt, loud and clear, in my movie, which will be dedicated to chuck's memory

    note: for a great retrospective on chuck jones, i recommend the warner brothers video chuck amuck, and/or the book of the same name

  • The Grinch... (Score:4, Informative)

    by zoward ( 188110 ) <email.me.at.zoward.at.gmail.com> on Saturday February 23, 2002 @05:00PM (#3058317) Homepage
    I'm surprised that this thread has so many responses and no one has yet mentioned Chuck Jones' brilliant collaboration with Ted Giesel (AKA Dr. Seuss). Back before the VCR made it possible to watch your favorite stuff over and over again, I used eagerly pour over TV Guide listings around Christmastime looking for anyone who would broadcast the Grinch... *Sigh* - Rest In Peace, Chuck.

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