Never Trust a Snake...

...even if she's as glamorous as Barbara Stanwyck!

Despite the hardships of the Depression, the "screwball comedy" genre typically involved wealthy people who could afford to behave eccentrically. Nothing could be further from the truth in Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve (1941). If you haven't yet seen it, you're in for a great viewing experience. It's an intelligently conceived plot; rich with characterisation, as well as satire and allegory. 

The film's sexual themes and gender role reversals have been analysed constantly by critics and film scholars. However, this post's focus is on the animated titles, played at the beginning. In case few of you don't know, the work was sourced out to Leon Schlesinger's studio. 

To those who haven't seen the film, it's heavy with references and allegorical imagery to the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden. The snake in the opening titles is a visual metaphor for the respective snake-like personality in the film. For example, Charles Pike (Henry Fonda) is socially awkward who shows an innocent fondness for snakes (whose pet is featured sporadically in the film). It contrasts with Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), due to her snake-like and deceiving personality, as she manipulates and snags the vulnerable Charles. 

The animated snake slides in and out of the bushes, to grab three large apples to form the film's title. It's clear that Sturges wanted the animated titles to be symbolic of foreshadowing the twisted, deceiving elements that occur during the film. The apples are an obvious reference to the Biblical fable, which is loosely parodied in Eve.

The snake slithers down the credits in a vertical set-up and a simple cycle. Credits include Paramount's most reputable costume designer of that era, Edith Head. The use of maracas as a replacement for a snake rattle is beautifully inventive and true to the screwball comedy form. 

As the snake reaches the bottom of the credits, the apple "Eve" falls and hits the snake on the head, flattening his top hat. The gag is a rich metaphor adding depth to female dominance - a theme carried out in Stanwyck's sublime performance in the film. It also reflects a scene, early in the film, of Jean Harrington dropping an apple on Charles Pike's head, when she first sights him boarding a ship. The magic of Sturges' writing are blessed by such subtleties and connotations, as this.

If I had to hazard a guess, the animated snake strikes me as the work of master animator Bob McKimson. The snake bears McKimson's solid drawing and meticulous timing - especially evident as the snake attempts to pull his top hat up. 

For me, the animation credits are a wonderful addition to the film. It enhances mystery and bona fide twists, that are yet to be unveiled. To view the opening titles, click here.

Sam Armstrong (1893-1977)

Sam Armstrong might not be strongly associated with Warner Bros' cartoon legacy - but he certainly contributed his fair share to the Golden Age of Hollywood animation. Armstrong was present during the glory years of Disney's most lavish feature productions - having worked on Snow White, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. His brief tenure at Warner Bros. however, is largely overlooked.

He's only credited for layouts on two shorts: Hare-Abian Knights (dir: Ken Harris) and Really Scent (dir: Abe Levitow). Both cartoons were released in 1959, and the studio was past their prime then.

Neither cartoons are particularly outstanding. Hare-Abian is simply a filler cartoon that showcases Bugs Bunny's better performances - through clip shows. While that era might've been staled by economic factors, the layout and colour styling maintained dynamics and atmosphere.


Armstrong's layout work in these cartoons certainly channels the UPA influence that took the Hollywood animation studios by storm in the 1950s.

Whilst the influence is unanimous; Armstrong's staging evokes the talent and profession that forever earned his solid reputation as an artist and director at Disney.

Samuel John Armstrong was born on November 7, 1893 in Denver, Colorado, to parents John and Nettie Armstrong. His father, a native of England, was a travelling salesman. By 1900, the Armstrong clan resided in San Francisco. Armstrong's art training took place at the Philadelphia School of Industrial Art. According to Sam's draft registration from 1917, he worked as a commercial photographer for the Los Angeles Express Tribune. He lived in Tacoma, Washington from 1918 to 1929, where he worked as an art editor for the News Tribune. In 1923, he founded the Armstrong School of Art in Tacoma. By the 1930s, he had moved to Santa Barbara where he painted a mural for Amy C. du Pont's home, nearby Montecito. For more information on his mural work, see Yowp's post here:

For most of his life, Armstrong lived with his mother - and he resided in Glendale during the 1930s. The U.S. 1940 Census indicates that Armstrong and Nettie (his mother) lived in Valley Spring Lane. At one point, he was a neighbour of Adrian, an infamous costume designer for a number of MGM features.

Sam Armstrong joined the Disney Studios in the publicity department on June 6, 1934, and soon afterwards he transferred to the background department. He painted backgrounds for various shorts, like The Country Cousin and The Old Mill.

Walt clearly admired Armstrong's talent, as he was blessed with the position of supervising the backgrounds for the studio's first full-length feature, Snow White, for which he was responsible for "approximately two-thirds of the key backgrounds." For the promotional film, A Trip Through Walt Disney Studios, filmed in July 1937 by Bill Garity - Armstrong is briefly seen painting a watercolored background for an interior of the dwarf's cottage.

In a rare 1939 interview that was recently published in Didier Ghez's Walt's People - Volume 20, Sam went into great detail about the background process that embellished Snow White. He spoke in great detail about the experimentation of colour and the search for a subtle atmosphere, which would be a huge step up from the Silly Symphonies.

In one passage, he said: "I had many, many conferences with Walt about the thing he had said all through the earlier inceptions of the work that he wanted the color kept almost monochromatic. He felt that we had overplayed our hands in coloring the shorts and that in Snow White, it being a long picture, and still being an unknown quality, in cartoon form, he thought it would drive the audience out of the theater if we used the type of coloring that we used in the shorts up to that point."

Sam was later made a director on the "Toccata and Fugue" and "Nutcracker Suite" segments in Fantasia. Don Lusk, an animator on the "Nutcracker" segment, saw a different perspective of the director, when Joe Campana and myself spoke with him on September 9, 2017. He recalled:

"His mother would bring him to work, and his mother would pick him up [every day]. He was the director [on the fish ballet], but I never knew anything he directed. Walt directed it. Sam didn't know anything. I don't know what the connection there was. We'd go into the sweatbox and run [the rough animation] I'd done. And Walt did all the talking. Sam never said 'boo'. I don't think he knew how to say it."

Unfortunately, Armstrong isn't remembered fondly by some of his former colleagues. Maurice Noble thought he was a "selfish, ambitious person". He also recollects his brief tenure at Warners: "One time, many years later, I was working at Warner Bros. and that's the last time I saw Sam. They were considering hiring him for something, to do some layout work or something like that. It turned out that he was too ingrained with the Disney snob. And he couldn't fit into what we were doing at Warner Bros. He came in and saw me in my room a couple of times. Then all of a sudden he disappeared and that's the last I ever saw of Sam." Although Armstrong's career at Warners was relatively short-lived; none of the layouts for those two cartoons suggest his failure to adapt to the stylised look.

Armstrong left the studio on September 12, 1941. Little is known about what jobs he took between leaving Disney's and his brief tenure at Warner's. In 1951, he did illustrations alongside ex-Disney employee Riley Thomson for a Woody Woodpecker children's book, Peck of Trouble. Joe Campana's research indicates that Armstrong might've worked briefly for John Sutherland - but when he worked there, or how long his stay was - I don't know. He never married. There are several conflicting sources regarding his death - but based on Joe Campana's reliable research, he died on January 24, 1977 in Los Angeles, California.

(Thanks to Yowp, Didier Ghez, David Johnson and Joe Campana).

Sinkin' in the Bathtub revisited...

I've completely revised the first Looney Tune cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, which you can now view here. I'm hoping to improve the quality of my very old posts, to keep it up to standards - alongside my current reviews, of course. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time. Further reasons are explained in the post.

My first published work...

I know this post has virtually nothing to do with Warner Bros. or even a cartoon review; but I feel the need to share to you readers, on a recent piece of work I'm most proud of.

Some of you may be aware of the most recent release of Didier Ghez's fantastic book series, Walt's People, which is a compilation book filled with interviews and other aspects of Disney history. Earlier this week his latest volume (Volume 15) has been released. Some folks may raise their eyebrows.."another book about Disney history?". True, there have been a huge number of books containing about Disney history, and less from other studios; but the more the merrier I'd say, as Disney had saved a lot of its great history.

This is a book meaning a lot for me, as I have made my first contribution towards a book about not just Disney history, but animation history too. It's a good feeling to have a piece of work published and contributing a small piece of animation history. I spent a good three years of sporadic research on pioneering Disney effects animator: Cy Young; whose work is best known on the earliest Disney classics like Snow White, Fantasia and Dumbo. It was a real learning experience on writing my 12-page essay on the animator, with a lot of information which I don't believe has ever been revealed to any historian before. I'll let you guys find out when you buy the book.

I felt that I had to share it in this blog (as I have no intentions of updating my old blog anymore); but I hope you will read my work and feel enlightened by it. There is also a lot of really good material in the volume, to which I will list in order:

Foreword: Mindy Johnson

Dave Smith: Bob Cook
John Culhane: Grim Natwick
Michael Barrier: Clair Weeks
Bob Casino: Willis Pyle
Didier Ghez: Charlene Sundblad about Helen and Hugh Hennesy
Göran Broling: Preston Blair
Cartoonist PROfiles: Preston Blair
Steven Hartley: The Life and Times of Cy Young
Michael Barrier: Lynn Karp
Autobiography of Basil Reynolds
Alberto Becattini: The Life and Times of Riley Thomson
John Culhane: Ward Kimball
John Culhane: Wilfred Jackson
Jim Korkis: Ham Luske’s children
Michael Broggie: Stormy Palmer
EMC West: Guy Williams Jr.
EMC West: Buddy Van Horn
EMC West: Suzanne Lloyd
George Sherman: Roger Broggie
Jim Korkis: Karl Bacon & Ed Morgan
Dave Smith: Bill Martin
Jay Horan: Bill Evans
John Culhane: Card Walker
Didier Ghez: Mike Peraza

The latest volume is currently available through Amazon, and if you are keen to buy a copy; then go right ahead and enjoy! 

The Six-Day War

Sorry folks, as I haven't had time to write a review today, but instead this will be a very rare blog post that isn't a review. Since we are nearing the end of the month, I thought it would be at least fitting, since we are still reviewing 1941, that we reflect on a big event that occurred at the Leon Schlesinger Studio, which I will tell to a small majority who probably don't know.

That's right, that is the infamous "Leon Schlesinger Lockout" which occurred in May 1941 (also known as the "Little Six-Day War" in the words of Chuck Jones. This event happened when Leon Schlesinger attempted to lock out the Guild animators from his studio from having his studio unionised. Known as the Screen Cartoonists Guild, it was an organisation in which, under the leadership of Herb Sorrel, was attempting to unionise all animation studios in the U.S. Since the Fleischer studio met with victory in 1940, and studios like MGM, Lantz and Columbia had signed contracts--Warners and Disney were the only studios left who hadn't yet signed the pact.

From L ro R: Ben Washam, Roy Laupenberger, ?, Paul Marron, Martha Sigall.

Only lasting six days, Schlesginer quickly relented and agreed to sign contracts, and at that point Leon Schlesinger then reportedly remarked, "What about Disney?", who was the only studio left to not go unionised. Thus, this would lead to the infamous Disney animator's strike, which is another story.

If you want more information, you can read about the "lockout" as well as the unionisation of other animation studios through Tom Sito's excellent book: Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson, as well as information from Martha Sigall's autobiography, which explain a little more about the event, though it did not impact the studio much at all.

Sorry if this seems a rather abrupt post with information already taken from, but the story about unionisation at the other animation studios are a fascinating part that scarred animation history, consider this that they did change the industry forever: especially the unionisation of Disney. Though it definitely had its advantages as well as disadvantages, but that will be for another time..

The March of Time - 1939

Having completed reviewing the entire year of 1939; a year with the biggest input of cartoon released: 44 shorts! Also for completing the entire 1930s; I feel I'd like to mark this post as an occasion to post a little bloodspot; where I view the Termite Terrace Gag Reels of 1939; which were gag reels, and according to Martha Sigall, were shown every year at the Schlesinger Christmas Parties.

I won't, however, post the 1938 Xmas Reel--(although, I should've done so) but I'm posting the '39 gag reels for my celebration of completing a difficult year--for me. The title itself, The March of Time - was a very well-known American newsreel programme which ran for 14 years from 1931 to 1945, and were shown in theatres. For those who are completely unaware of the reel's existence: go purchase the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6 if you haven't got a copy. They're a real treat for the public to see life back in the Termite Terrace days, and I'm very grateful for Jerry Beck for putting this together back in 2008, and of course, Martha Sigall for identifying almost all of the artists.

Watching the opening sequence; the opening was a complete parody of what life goes on at the Schlesinger Studio. Dated, but, wacky for the time this was filmed. I wish I'd know who did these solid caricatures of Ray Katz, Henry Binger and Tex Avery--as well as background titles.

As it would've started off--Mel Blanc, here, performs the opening intro for the 1939 Christmas Reel. He uses his hilarious and infamous 'rubber band' noise. According to Martha Sigall, he created that effect from under his armpit. What genius of Blanc! Mel makes the noise in theme of Jingle Bells and the background titles show Father Christmas enjoying his booze.

Great little title card which even parodies the 'disclaimer' opening. Then the music fades to (I think) this is The Old Folks at Home, and it's the exact same music cue Stalling played in the opening of The Early Worm Gets the Bird.

The first gag reel featured; a supposedly reel of the executives working hard on production issues. However, it turns out only Henry Binder, shows grave concerns from his face. I love the fact that his caricature is displayed on the wall right behind him.

The camera pans, where Ray Katz gives the hotfoot to Binder, and Leon Schlesinger, himself, gives Ray the hotfoot. Ray's laugh is no doubt, Tex's laugh, but I wonder whether this was already recorded from a production (A Bear's Tale - maybe?). It's great to see Leon Schlesinger already having fun, and now that's what I'd call 'boss'. If you still believe in Chuck Jones' view of Leon (which is pure B.S.), this shows a great example of how Leon loved his studio, and is willing to make a fool out of himself, much like everyone else.

The next gag reel: we find a staff member walking through the corridors. Martha Sigall identifies her as Sue Dalton. No relation to Cal Dalton, I suppose? Anyway, we find assistant animator Alex Ignatiev, who was Russian, who is carrying a bomb with him and is portrayed as a Russian terrorist. Then Bugs Hardaway walks into the reel, picking his nose.

Sure wonder whether this was a habit of his, but I suppose we'll never know. The picking-nose sound effect is absolutely great.

The next gag reel, shows Johnny Burton, who has been a long-time production supervisor for many years at Warners, is seen having problems with cartoon production. Knowing it's going to be a great gag, we find him struggling in his desk. With three cel-washers: Charlie Jones (no, not the Chuck), John Marks (the black cel-washer) and Eddie Swift--who all walk in to place bets on the 'football pool'. I'll admit, funny as it may seem back then, but Blanc's stereotypical voice for John Marks isn't very fitting. Revealing, the struggles he's having on paper: he still can't figure out "2+2".

Another short gag features an ambitious inbetweener who aspires to become a motion picture executive. The reel then shows his frustration with Blanc's hilarious delivery, of Lee Halpern shouting and complaining incoherently, and mussing up his hair.

The next sequence features, what I consider, a treat: we get to see a brief studio recording of Carl W. Stalling conducting for a new cartoon.

The only known-recording of a cartoon score to exist is Putty Tat-Trouble, but here you get to see a brief sample of Carl Stalling recording for Chuck's cartoon: Mighty Hunters. What's great and intriguing to see is they used indians for the drumming that would be used for the cartoon. Carl has his moment of foolishness when he bows in rhythm of the drums bouncing.

After a brief moment at the Ink & Painting Department: which shows Treg Brown, teasing the ink and paints with his chicken clucking effects.

The next reel, is another great treat...we get to see stock footage of a stripper which was a live-action reference used for the lizard striptease gag in Cross Country Detours. I believe the stripper there is Marcia Eloise, who was cast to do some live-action for the animator working on that cartoon (source from Yowp, written in Los Angeles Times, Aug 27. 1939).

Obviously, the shots of Henry Binder watching the stripper were filmed separately. For the time this was made, where crude humour had to be subtle, this would've got the whole studio hyped up. After the stripper has stripped off much of her clothing and revealing much of her body; save the bra, Henry Binder already turns aroused and has his very long tongue sticking out, panting like a dog. Goes to show how even the studio executives were willing to have fun.

The next sequence takes place at 3 o'clock where everyone takes a break from working. The first three guys play a game with a ball (though Sigall could only identify Phil Monroe and Ray Young in that shot). Then we follow into a great sequence of fencing, and the screaming is hysterical...including the part where the guy in the white shirt is stabbed, though still alive. The music cue is Ain't We Got Fun which is the same cue heard in Early Worm Gets the Bird.

The next sequence is pretty cheesy, corny, but in other words: that's Termite Terrace for ya. According to Martha Sigall, most of these couples making out--would later get married. The couples include: Virgil Ross and Francis Ewing, Paul Smith and Dixie Smith. The last couple: Mae Verlandes (spelling?) and Herman Cohen cracks me up, and its completely the opposite of subtle, when Herman Cohen is given a 'hand job', for lack of better word. And of course, You Must've Been a Beautiful Baby is played.

The last gag of break-time: where the title card reads: '--while here is one employee that actually relaxes'. We find cameraman Smokey Garner who is reading The Einstein Theory and comments (with Blanc's voice dubbed): 'Great stung, great stuff'. According to Sigall, Smokey is illiterate, which is a real shame to hear.

The next reel features a few members of staff who, apparently, 'were too stingy to write Christmas cards' then extend their Christmas wishes. The reel itself is also very amusing, with Blanc's voices...at least the male voices. I love how they all just act like cretins, then again, of the period this was made...their humour are wackier than the 1939 cartoons they made.

Not going to go through all the staff, but a few noticeable ones to mention, such as Sid Sutherland: who acts a complete dope and his facial expressions are priceless. It's great to see Bobe Cannon also pay his greetings...although I wouldn't imagine the word 'stingy' would associate with Cannon.

Ken Harris, does an impersonation of Elmer Blurt from Al Pearce Show--and watching his face...he certainly can pull off the character's characteristics quite well. Great to see Friz Freleng's return, and looking completely settled from his short tenure at MGM. From what we learn about from Cal Dalton, he is a Republican supporter...unless it was just intended as a gag. Ray's Katz ill-mannered moment is also priceless.

Then the dance room reel takes over and we find many of the Schlesinger employees with a female to dance with. The song, That's My Cue was written by Martha herself. A great sequence which is really dirty towards the end, but when Treg Brown clicks on Ginger Morgan's back--those sounds are hilarious, especially the fart sound.

Great to see Clampett having fun, and dressed as a drag queen with Ray Katz. Of course, its no surprise to see them dancing since Ray Katz headed Clampett's unit at the time, which was at a totally separate studio. Very typical gag setup for Friz Freleng dancing with Ads Renella (sp?). Obviously, the difference is the height; which was all set up.

Another great moment is where, Ted Pierce, dancing with Martha Sigall, just kills the dance room with his trousers dropping. Being a womaniser that Ted was, fun to see the joke's on him. However, being this was taken at the 1939 Xmas Party, Pierce was all the way over at the Fleischer Studios in Florida. Perhaps he came over to spend Christmas and was invited to the Schlesinger Christmas Party?? We then find a flirtatious Gladys Halberg who tries to tag Tex along to her home...however, Tex already uses a gag of one of his own cartoons where he bangs and bellows: 'I can't do it, I can't go through it!', although this is stock footage to be used for Cross Country Detours and also Circus Today.

The 1939 gag reel then comes to its own conclusion where Leon Schlesinger, wishes to extend his Christmas wishes and a Happy New Year. However, as he turns to look at his watch; he comments: 'Say, I'm going to the bowl'. No, no, not the 'bowl' as in football...he then rushes over towards the toilet and closes the door. Love the gag where he flips the sign to read: 'Danger! Man at work!'.

That's all, folks. This was little a little commentary about the 1939 blooper reel. Nothing too special, but if you haven't seen it. Check it out.

Easter Greetings

Hope this Easter Sunday brings you happy and healthy--and enjoy this little easter egg scene in the ending of The Wabbit Who Came to Supper.

I was kind of having a 'Easter' holiday this weekend; as I was at a little Easter party yesterday; and now I'm just taking the Sunday off being Easter. More to come tomorrow!

Inglorious Identification

I know the title kind of sounds like what you might hear from a Quentin Tarantino film - but with that aside; I hope this post will really interest and stimulate you readers. No, not the inglorious meaning 'disgraceful'...meaning 'obscure'. Well, obscure in the semantic field of animator IDs.

Most of us (animation historians, enthusiasts, fanboys) have had an eye for some animator IDs in some cartoons. Sometimes we reveal whose style it is - other times it IS a mystery. But we all treat animator IDs as a debate - we can never be accurate. The different styles in the Warner Bros. cartoons are probably what make the animation in the cartoons rather effective and even fun to watch - where they are largely noticeable throughout the 1940s and even 1950s. The 1930s style is very obscure (hence the first word of the title). We may probably only come across the style of Irv Spence, and perhaps suspected a Bob McKimson scene there and there....but here, is a new animator ID which has been confirmed..which you will find in the Tex Avery cartoons.

The new animator ID of the Avery cartoons is Bob Clampett's own animation style. You may already be familiar with styles that historians have already mentioned (particularly the 'Daffy Duck' scenes in Porky's Duck Hunt) where he was known to have animated the goony duck we all came to love. Of course, Clampett himself confirmed he worked and animated the scenes of the duck - as well as many devoted historians. 

We all appear to love conversations where it involves 'Clampett vs. Jones'. It's been well-known that Chuck Jones was the superior draftsman than Bob was - we all came to know what Chuck's style looks like as its very evident and controlled in his own cartoons as well as in his animation. But what about Bob? What was his style like, and what examples are there to show he is the superior draftsman?

BUT wait...the rest of you folks will probably already be aware of some styles that you may already suspect Bob Clampett worked on...his drawing collection from Bugs Bunny Superstar where hundreds of drawings from his collection were used for the documentary. Particularly the character layouts where it is shown in Clampett's style from I'd Love to Take Orders From You with the scarecrow trying to scare the little crow away. I even believe it was a Clampett scene. Even some stock footage of Tex acting out the scene as a reference.

Thank Clampett for actually saving and cherishing all this rare material in his own collection whereas it would also help identify the style a bit more of the cartoon. Initially, I never actually noticed such a style in the early Avery cartoons before. It was Devon Baxter who caught my attention to it, who actually noticed the styles itself. He even noticed that style in the comments of one of my reviews. But, as we couldn't automatically whose style it was -- we went to look at more styles of what looked - perhaps identical.

Let's start off with Milk and Money - the animation style that we have attributed to Clampett is pretty evident through the early Avery Porky cartoons where it is rather conservative looking - there is the big goggly eyes, and all. Very serviceable animation. Another scene in the cartoon where it is shown is when the boss hires Porky to be a milkman where the facial expressions are very identical looking.

More to look at in the other B/W Porky cartoons: the vice gag when Porky hammers on a horseshoe in The Village Smithy, or even the scene in The Blow Out when Porky manages to win a bag with plentiful of dough. The facial expressions of Porky there are very evident in the example we have seen in Milk and Money.

With the way Porky is handled - let's take a look at possible styles in Tex's early colour Merrie Melodies - already knowing he did the huge crow scene in I'd Love to Take Orders From You - let's see what else is featured. 

How about a look at Page Miss Glory - the fan dance sequence animated by Clampett. Look at the facial expression of Abner's face when he walks over to the lady - it definitely resembles a Porky looking face that I have shown you in the examples - so, there IS another style there. Another look is the scene of the Father Owl shouting "Out of my house you crooner...you jazz singer, etc." is also shown in that style from I Love to Singa.

That's not all - now to track down with some deeper evidence. Luckily, Clampett also saved in his collection the storyboards for his cartoon Porky's Party where it was revealed in Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 as a storyboard reel - where it already revealed it originally was going to show Gabby Goat and Petunia Pig.

Look at the storyboards, compared to the final product. We know Porky looks very appealing in the final film - as well as the characters. However, in the storyboards you will know that Porky and the other characters are drawn in a much more cruder and even more conservative style whereas they don't look polished in the final film. 

Although, that probably happened with the help of Chuck Jones' character layouts provided for the cartoon - who was the superior draftsman. The style of Porky in that cartoon is THERE - the Porky which we have seen in the Avery cartoons - with the eyes, mouth figure and all. Being that both Chuck and Bob both were converted from the Avery unit towards Clampett's new unit - it would be highly improbable that Chuck Jones provided storyboards. He was a much better draftsman, and he was already in charge of the character layouts as well as being a animator. Clampett, however was known to have worked on his own stories before he even had a writer - so it's a very safe bet that Clampett drew the storyboards for this cartoon.

But - to conclude this animator ID theory - we knew that one person would probably help solve the question: Mark Kausler by e-mailing him. The fact we have figured and brought up the fact the style appears in the early Porky cartoons, Miss Glory and even in the storyboards and drawings from his collection - it was pretty clear it was Clampett's style. However...with authoritative confirmation - Mark Kausler got back to me and mentioned the fan dance in Page Miss Glory was definitely animated by Clampett. It was also THROUGH the help of Clampett's son who had revealed there were drawings of the sequence in the collection - which pretty much comes to conclusion. The whole style in those early cartoons were by Bob Clampett.

I hope this has had some interest to you - even though it probably may not have been a surprise. I MAY not have used up every example - as I have left out the pre-1935 cartoons to suggest this style but I feel I've covered up enough to show. I tried to keep it as informative and stimulating as I could. But I'm not the one who is to be thanked. Thank Devon Baxter who spotted it, and even Mark Kausler or Robert Clampett, Jr. who even revealed and confirmed the style. I'll try and not post too many own posts where it evolves around animator I.D.s but I felt this certain style had to be revealed or at least...known.

College Begins...Vital Message to Readers

I should alarm you again that I will once again be away. I'm starting college today and I arrive in the evening. I plan to be there for about two years or so. When I go to college; this does mean that I will be away again because I will be boarding at that college. I will get the chance to do A levels at some subjects and I'm hoping to take History, Media Studies and ICT. Of course, as I've done this before - you may think I will be back on some weekends. To tell you the truth - only some weekends. The blog isn't gone forever and it certainly won't be but I will just update it less.

If you are a member of my Facebook group: simply called Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie - then you will be able to find out about my updates as each post I post it to the group so followers or readers will be notified. Of course; it is a little bit annoying because I enjoy the comments I receive from you but then again I think after that summer of doing a lot of reviews - I should get a well-deserved break. Academics come first; I've already completed school, but I'm moving onto college where the hard work will be coming back again so I will be studying. Also to let you know; because we have to stay weekends and do Saturday morning lessons: to make up for it we do get longer holidays like a month off Christmas and Easter, and two months for the Summer so don't be too alarmed. Enjoy looking at the rest of my stuff on his blog while I'm absent and my first Exeat is on September 21st-23rd (its every three weeks I get a Exeat - and you should see a review up on that date. I do get my own free laptop but I think the internet access could be strict and I don't want to be distracted with blogging.

In the meantime - enjoy watching some cartoons for me. Enjoy this screen grab from Operation: Rabbit  a really funny Wile E. cartoon with Bugs.

One day I hope I might end up being a genius like Wile E. - without the satire. Enjoy. Ta-ta for now.

Caricaturing Ken Harris

We all know about how notorious Ken Harris is as he was Chuck Jones' top animator and is probably one of the greatest animators of all time. He could turn in a huge amount of footage in a week and go off to do his activities and produce very good quality with that amount of footage. It's a very amazing skill for an animator to do that. Not only was he a very keen sportsman, car enthusiast and also a very good animator -- what probably hasn't been discussed too much but has been acknowledged before is that Ken Harris is also the man who has been used a lot for caricatures in the Warner Bros. cartoons.

Yes; as we have seen caricatures of the other staff before in many cartoons like how about the time when we saw Michael Maltese and Ted Pierce who were cartoon characters of their own chasing after Bugs Bunny in Wackiki Wabbit -- or even when we saw Leon Schlesinger and Henry Binder appear briefly -- or most of the Schlesinger staff as Gremlins in Russian Rhapsody. Sometimes even there were caricatures that weren't known about when we know that non-Schlesinger animator Ward Kimball (Disney appeared) appeared to be even famous enough at Warners to be designed as the Indian in Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt. Lastly, even in Yosemite Sam's first appearance in Hare Trigger - the wart on Sam's nose was a much bigger caricature on Friz Freleng as he WAS Yosemite Sam. Although out of these caricatures that we have seen in cartoons where they have appeared a few times - it appears to me as though Ken Harris is the butt of most of these caricatures we see in cartoons as he has been over the years and I'm going to look into it and see why.

One of the earliest use of caricatures of Ken Harris here is seen available in Chuck Jones' classic The Dover Boys. Around that time Chuck Jones was in fact experimenting with the look of the backgrounds and experimenting with animation as it is one of the earliest known cartoons in this era to be stylised or a use of limited animation. The character designs showed little caricature on them even though they may look a little bland but Ken Harris caricatured as Dan Blackside here just the perfect caricature for him there.

Ken Harris is caricatured as the villain as it feels the right touch as it's the only villain or character to probably have caricature - since the other character designs don't have too much characteristic looks. The long pointy nose is obviously a very distinctive look on one of Ken's facial parts as well as his moustache and the swayed black hair. What is rather interesting here in this cartoon is that could there be a reference to Ken Harris' personality with his love for cars as Dan Backslide finds a parked motor car and remarks, 'A runabout. I'll steal it! No-one will ever know!' - although that could be anything but I doubt personally that Ken would really going around stealing cars but I guess it could be a joke since maybe his love for cars is parodied as it's sort of could be a studio joke in this cartoon.

In the Chuck Jones cartoon Chow Hound -- we see that Ken Harris is also references again but in fact it's only really an in-joke in one of the classified ads. Also referenced in the ads is Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan and Chuck Jones themselves but there is also a bit more there. Ken Harris is portrayed as the old man who is in his pyjamas but he calls his cat Timothy. In the ads where the man who has believed to have lost his cat - 'Timothy' is identified as an in-joke as K. Harris as it's referencing Ken Harris.

The address if in fact his actual address at the time: 587 Dripple Drive which his what Greg Duffell told me about. Lloyd Vaughan who is identified as the man who calls the cat 'Butch' has the address for 12 Termite Terrace - which is another in joke to the back-then studio lot where Avery reined it in the 1930s called "Termite Terrace" but that wasn't Lloyd's real address - really.

Of course - we see him so far being caricatured mostly in the Jones cartoons as he has been a main associate to Chuck Jones in his animation career -- that doesn't stop the other directors to have some fun and use him for caricatures. Director Bob McKimson even used Ken Harris as a caricature in his 1953 cartoon There Auto Be a Law.

Because of Harris' love for cars and according to Greg he used to be a stock car racer -- he said that Ken used to be a stock car racer in the early 30s and was famous, even according to Bob Givens. Here in the McKimson cartoon where it focuses on a lot of spot-gags on stock car racing or automobiles -- it seems reasonable there to feature Ken Harris since he was notorious around the studio for his love for it. Ken actually owned 120 cars in his lifetime which is incredible. The caricature is a very caricatured-looking deign of Ken Harris and I have to say - it probably is the funniest of the ones that I've seen in examples of before. Here Ken Harris is a stock car racer. The gag in that cartoon where it features Harris shows him as one of the stock car drivers driving very fast...and he hears something behind him. You see it's an old Model T, and the driver is whipping it like a horse and beating Ken Harris which would've been a funny reference there.

The last Ken Harris caricature that I am going to speak about in fact is one that was probably well-known at the time but I don't think that very many people actually know about this and probably has been rarely discussed. In fact; Wile E. Coyote is in fact a main caricature of Ken Harris. In the first Wile E. and Road Runner cartoon Fast and Furry-ous.

In that first cartoon; what makes the Coyote look very caricatured to Ken Harris is the small eyes on him, the big furry eyebrows, the thin physique and even the bumps on his nose. This is what Greg told me as he knows Ken Harris very well and would even know about this that not many people actually know. I'd say that Ken Harris' caricature of the Coyote would even go on to be very famous since Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner would be very famous around the world and Harris' caricature would live on and delight the audience; though not many people actually know that - even animation fans and it hasn't really been acknowledged much. I find that the caricature of Wile E. in Fast and Furry-ous to be very fascinating since I love the little bits of detail on him but in the scene (which I provided a screen shot from my Golden Collection set) - the Coyote walking up and down the road pondering on how to catch the Road Runner probably features all the distinctive looks of Harris into the Coyote - while the other model sheets were a bit more on model. I think that the shot I pictured was even Ken Harris' animation but I'm not too sure.

That's all I will post for now but I hope that I have enjoyed what I have posted here and learnt something from these Ken Harris caricatures and the information I have provided as well as theory and analysis. Sorry for no cartoon review to be posted today; I was busy and out all day with a friend and I didn't feel all up for a cartoon review so I decided to post something which I thought was a matter of interest to me.

New DVD Releases - a Post to Blab

It appears to be this time of year again where Warner Bros. Home Video announce their newest DVD releases coming out in October; of course one of the new releases coming out of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 2. There has already been the first volume which was released last year. Vol. 2 will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD with 50 remastered and restored cartoons featured on the set. Of course; I doubt that the Platinum Collections will be going to the UK any soon but all I can say is; that I personally don't find that my money is really worth buying them. Apart from a few new cartoons that are going to released restored; the rest have already been released on DVD - I don't need to buy cartoons I already have again.

If the cartoons do in fact turn up with original titles; then I suppose the money would be worth for it but isn't WBHV against releasing cartoons shown in their original form? Neverthless; there are a few cartoons which I feel that I'm glad are going to be released: We find that all the original prototype Bugs Bunny cartoons like (Prest-O, Change-O, Hare-Um Scare-Um, Porky's Hare Hunt) will be released restored for the first time which will be pleasing. Although I do wonder; if in fact David Gerstein's very important find on the original ending will turn up? I wouldn't be too surprised if it didn't. A lot of the second disc will be featuring all the cartoons of some very primary characters who's at least made two or three appearances; such as A. Flea or Beaky Buzzard. Asides from some new cartoons; would the rest be worth it? I can always see the new restored cartoons pop up on YouTube when they appear.

The third disc has been announced however that it will only be released in Blu-Ray and made unavailable on DVD. The third disc is going to feature some bonus material. For anyone who owns most or all the Golden Collection sets, I doubt your going to miss anything. It's featured bonus work that has appeared on previous Golden Collections, but what I can say is that I wonder if the commentaries will be new?

The original artwork hasn't been released yet but here are the selected cartoons:

DISC 1 
A Wild Hare 
Buckaroo Bugs 
Long-Haired Hare 
Ali Baba Bunny 
Show Biz Bugs 
The Wise Quacking Duck 
What Makes Daffy Duck? 
Book Revue 
Deduce, You Say 
Porky In Wackyland 
You Ought To Be In Pictures 
Porky In Egypt 
Back Alley Oproar 
Little Red Rodent Hood 
Canned Feud 
Gift Wrapped 
Birdy And The Beast 
Home, Tweet Home 
Going! Going! Gosh! 
Zipping Along 
Scent-Imental Romeo 
The Foghorn Leghorn 
The High And The Flighty 
Tabasco Road 
Mexicali Shmoes

DISC 2 
Wabbit Twouble 
Rabbit Fire 
Rabbit Seasoning 
Duck! Rabbit, Duck! 
Drip-Along Daffy 
My Little Duckaroo 
Barbary-Coast Bunny 
Tortoise Beats Hare 
Tortoise Wins By A Hare 
Rabbit Transit 
Porky's Hare Hunt 
Hare-Um Scare-Um 
Prest-O Change-O 
Elmer's Candid Camera 
Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid 
The Bashful Buzzard 
The Lion's Busy 
Strife With Father 
An Itch In Time 
A Horsefly Fleas 
Hollywood Steps Out 
Page Miss Glory 
Rocket-Bye Baby 
Russian Rhapsody 
Dough Ray Me-Ow 

All I can say is that it's about time A Wild Hare will be restored as it deserves to me, so this Platinum Collection has some very good choice of their selected cartoons.

Clean Pastures Poster

From the previous post - here is the poster for Clean Pastures. I do wonder if designing the poster was delayed due to problems with Hays Production Code as they thought that it would offend the globe. The cartoon was originally supposed to be scheduled for October but was pushed earlier probably to maybe get through the controversies over and done with, perhaps? They also banned any parodies towards religion.

I'm not sure who the designer of the poster is but I wonder if the caricatures were done by T. Hee? The poster is from the book 'Of Mice and Magic'