Today, we do a rare midweek post to pay tribute to the one, the only Friz Freleng (August 21, 1904 - May 26, 1995).
Along with his fellow Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies directors Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Frank Tashlin, Friz Freleng is among the kings of cartoons.
Friz Freleng's seven decade career in cartoons makes him one of our all-time favorites from the world of animation.
He began as an assistant animator with Walt Disney Productions, both in Kansas City and in Los Angeles, and was among the studio's young crew of very talented animators (Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman, Rudy Ising, Rollin Hamilton) in the 1920's. Friz is in the following photo (from Michael Barrier's website) at the bottom left.
Since both Walt and Friz possessed hot tempers, that didn't go well, as duly noted in the late Jim Korkis' Cartoon Research article The Friz & The Diz. However, Mr. Freleng did get along just fine with fellow ex-Disney animators Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising and would subsequently work on numerous Harman-Ising productions released by Warner Brothers. These included the first Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
He would animate and sometimes direct numerous Merrie Melodies cartoons in 1930-1933.
Not long after independent producers Harman and Ising got the boot as cartoonmakers for Warner Bros. and the decision was made to establish an on-site cartoon production unit, Friz would settle in as the main director at the new Leon Schlesinger Studio.
He directed a slew of Merrie Melodies from 1934-1938.
As enthusiastic aficionados of Hollywood star caricatures cartoons, we love Freleng's 1936 Merrie Melodie THE COO COO NUT GROVE.
The Andy Devine sendup in the western spoof My Little Buckaroo (1938) is a hoot!
Freleng briefly ended up at MGM after leaving the Leon Schlesinger Studio in 1938. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoonmeister Joe Barbera remembers Friz.
While not every comics luminary translates to the silver screen as well as E.C. Segar's Popeye, Freleng's entries in MGM's short-lived animated version of the popular Katzenjammer Kids comic strip, a.k.a. The Captain & The Kids, are quite good.
Upon his return to Warner Brothers in 1940, Friz Freleng began an extended winning streak.
HERR MEETS HARE features Hermann Goering as a villain (as he and his ilk were in real life). A driving force in later Chuck Jones cartoons, Mike Maltese's utter disdain for the bombastic music of Richard Wagner, is a key factor in this gem. Love the commentary by film historian and animation expert Greg Ford.
Another memorable World War II cartoon from Freleng and his crew is Daffy The Commando (1943).
Best expression of the twisted relationship between Bugs Bunny and always moronic Elmer Fudd? STAGE DOOR CARTOON!
HARE TRIGGER and BUGS BUNNY RIDES AGAIN emphatically demonstrates how Freleng and crew (among many, animators Gerry Chiniquy, Ken Champin, Manny Perez, Virgil Ross and Art Davis, storyman Tedd Pierce and all voice artists, led by Mel Blanc) mastered the western spoof. Was Yosemite Sam was based on Friz?
The dynamic between steaming lil' hothead Yosemite Sam and always cooler than cool Bugs Bunny resulted in numerous hilarious cartoons.
Bunker Hill Bunny hit the Bijous, Roxies and Radio City Music Halls on September 23, 1950.
Freleng made a slew of lesser known humdinger cartoons in the late 1940's and through the 1950's.
The extremely funny Each Dawn I Crow was released theatrically on September 24th, 1949.
It is in a sub-genre, along with fellow WB cartoons Tom Turk & Daffy and Holiday For Drumsticks, that features a storyline involving poultry finding a way to not end up as tonight's entree.
And that recalls the hilarious Birds Anonymous, in which Sylvester joins a 12-step group.
To suggest that Mr. Freleng's work as director, animator and producer proved most formidable for well over half a century would be quite the understatement; his re-emergence as co-producer at De Patie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE) resulted in some of the very best animated cartoons of the 1960's and early 1970's. David DePatie remembers:
Here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, we're especially fond of DFE's The Pink Panther - as is the family cat.
As always, the focus on the great work of Friz Freleng brings up how one can thank someone for a million laughs!
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