Since this blog spotlighted Friz Freleng just a few weeks ago, Looney Tunes Collectors Choice volume 3 is out on Blu-ray, and we missed the Chuck Jones centenary for some inexplicable reason 12 years ago, that means. . . today is as good a day as any to travel from the absurd to the sublime and the sublimely absurd, which means it's high time we tip a top hat to Merrie Melodies master Chuck Jones a.k.a. Charles M. Jones. Here are what are arguably his best known three cartoons.
Here, the late great Robin Williams, no doubt a big time Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies fan boy, gives Chuck an Academy Award!
The first documentary I recall seeing on Warner Bros cartoons (on the heels of the epic and groundbreaking Film Comment article about animation by Greg Ford and Mark Kausler) was CAMERA 3 THE BOYS FROM TERMITE TERRACE (1975). It's also a blast from the past for me since I saw both Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett (live in person) in 1975! The one-hour TV special's host is a very young John Canemaker. Tex Avery, the ringleader of Termite Terrace, does not appear in the Camera 3 special, but Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Mel Blanc do.
A number of worthy documentaries spotlighting the great work of Chuck Jones and his colleagues followed.
And, now for some interviews.
Here's Chuck on the Dick Cavett Show in 1979.
Don't know how many episodes of The World Of Cartooning with Mike Peters exist, but two feature Chuck Jones!
The first Chuck Jones cartoon I remember seeing was DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR (1939), a Merrie Melodie which got frequent run on local TV stations way back when.
After a stint as a cel washer with the Ub Iwerks Studio, Chuck was hired by Leon Schlesinger and ended among the various renegades and rapscallions in Tex Avery's crew at Termite Terrace.
He would animate in the crews of Tex Avery, Ub Iwerks (whose studio made a few Looney Tunes cartoons subcontracting with producer Leon Schlesinger) and Bob Clampett before getting his own production unit in 1938. Whether Chuck directed any sequences during his stretch working with Bob Clampett's crew I don't know - would need studio drafts for corroboration.
When head animator Robert McKimson passed on the opportunity to direct, Chuck Jones got to helm Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, starting with The Night Watchman.
Jones' early directorial efforts were by far the most Disney-esque cartoons ever to emerge from Warner Brothers Animation. Tops among them would be the highly imaginative 1941 Looney Tune JOE GLOW THE FIREFLY, which features a beautiful score by Carl Stalling - that guy who started with Disney.
Among the most Disney influenced cartoons of all to emerge from the Chuck Jones crew was TOM THUMB IN TROUBLE (1940).
One starts seeing a change in style from this Disney-influenced approach to the wackier Looney Tunes credo in such cartoons as PORKY'S CAFE, featuring the porcine powerhouse with the short-lived pantomimist character Conrad the Cat.
Best starring Porky Pig opus by the Chuck Jones crew?
Well, possibly in a tie with the horror-influenced cartoon SCAREDY CAT, that would be THE WEARING OF THE GRIN, a leprechaun-filled tale distinguished by demonic dancing shoes.
If one Merrie Melodie or Looney Tune can be identified as the key transitional piece in Chuck Jones' 20+ years as Warner Bros. cartoon director, that would be THE DRAFT HORSE (1942). The aforementioned Greg Ford's commentary track on this cartoon, which features the stellar character animation of key Jones collaborator Ken Harris, elaborates.
The transition to the zany Looney Tunes style continues further in THE DOVER BOYS, a hilarious spoof of 1890's morality tales. The voice acting genius of one of our favorites at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, the inimitable John McLeish, is a key factor in the success of this cartoon.
Sometimes Mr. Jones remade his early Disney-influenced cartoons. THE CURIOUS PUPPY was recast with wiseguy mice Hubie and Bertie.
Inevitably in a Chuck Jones tribute, we find it's time for more cartoons!
LOVE the commentaries that were on the DVD releases of these cartoons.
Again, to the outstanding animation of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies stalwart and classic comedy aficionado Chuck Jones, we extend respectful tips of battered top hats worn by Marcel "Tweedy" Perez, Max Linder, Charlie Chaplin & Roscoe Arbuckle (in THE ROUNDERS) and tipsy Arthur Housman in a 1932 Laurel & Hardy 2-reeler!
Closing this tribute: the late great, Jim Korkis' interview with Chuck and two excellent YouTube posts from the Anthony's Animation Talk YouTube channel covering Mr. Jones' animation. His Animation Year in Review playlist is particularly of interest to diehard fans of WB cartoons.
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