And This Blog Loves Robert McKimson

In this blog's numerous postings about Warner Brothers cartoons, it's amazing that this is the first post devoted to the one, the only, the peerless animator and director Robert McKimson (October 13, 1910 - September 27, 1977).

McKimson worked with Warner Brothers Animation directors Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin, Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones and had much to do with the transition of Bugs Bunny from the chortling buck-toothed grotesque of Porky's Hare Hunt (1938) to the Oscar-winning rabbit and comedy powerhouse that debuted in A Wild Hare (1940).



Robert McKimson goes back to the first Warner Brothers cartoons. His animation is all over those early Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Bob is the guy who was there at Warner Brothers Animation for the entire run, as Friz Freleng left for a brief time to direct Captain & The Kids cartoons for MGM.

After short stints with Walt Disney Productions and Romer Grey, Bob was cranking out animation for Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising when they were producing cartoons for Leon Schlesinger as independent producers in 1930-1933.

Shall, of course, be posting a slew of cartoons directed by Robert McKimson in today's post.

After all, he directed several of this writer's all-time favorite cartoons!



These include Hillbilly Hare, French Rarebit, What's Up, Doc? and Gorilla My Dreams.

The two Robert McKimson cartoons directed featuring Bobo the elephant rank high atop the list of favorites.



Love the lesser known albeit genuinely charming Hobo Bobo (1947).



Another classic cartoon we are particularly fond of is The Hole Idea (1955), which was animated as well as directed by Robert McKimson - and much enjoy Anthony's Animation Talk's take on this inventive Looney Tune.

The book by Robert McKimson, Jr. about Bob and his brothers Charles and Tom looks FANTASTIC, as well as a fitting tribute to the many contributions the McKimson brothers made to Warner Brothers cartoons.

Robert and ace film historians Michael Barrier, Jerry Beck, Mark Kausler and Mark Evanier all turn up in the documentary Behind The Tunes - Drawn to Life: The Art Of Robert McKimson.



Since he was on the same staff with Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng - and at one point animated for all of them, to some extent Robert McKimson's directorial efforts receive short shrift, as do the WB cartoons helmed by Arthur Davis; both developed an original spin on the Termite Terrace style. The Robert McKimson cartoons emphasize personality animation in a unique way, different from his contemporaries, Jones and Freleng.



Mike Barrier conducted an interview with Robert McKimson, which was posted on Cartoon Brew. Kamden Spies' piece Remembering the McKimson’s: A Chat with Robert McKimson Jr. is just one of many terrific Cartoon Research posts, along with an excellent article by the late, great Jim Korkis, In His Own Words - Bob Clampett Talks About Robert McKimson.



No doubt Bob Clampett knew very well the incredible, creative and original animation Robert McKimson, Rod Scribner, Manny Gould, Bill Melendez, Izzy Ellis, John Carey, Norm McCabe, etc. contributed to his directorial efforts.



Robert hit the ground running when he started directing cartoons with Daffy Doodles (1946) and followed it with a series of very funny cartoons featuring Daffy, Bugs Bunny and other WB characters.

In particular, we are big time aficionados of Grover Groundhog in One Meat Brawl (1946). He has tons of personality!

Bugs Bunny subbing for a sourpuss rabbit as the Easter Bunny always gets big laughs.



As does the Peter Lorre caricature in the following Daffy Duck cartoon, Birth of a Notion (1947).

And McKimson's spoof of The Honeymooners!



Loud-mouthed rooster Foghorn Leghorn, Bob's favorite Warner Bros. cartoon character, made his silver screen debut in Walky Talky Hawky (1946).



Always in a tit-for-tat reciprocal destruction bargain with a dumb barnyard hound (with a wiseguy voice by Mel Blanc), Foghorn Leghorn would be the popular character favored most by Robert McKimson's production crew. Here are just a few of the loud-mouthed rooster's 30 starring vehicles.

Ducking The Devil (1957) is a particularly hilarious Tasmanian Devil cartoon.



One of the funniest of the Robert McKimson directorial efforts from the studio's final year was Banty Raids (1963). The beatnik rooster is a hoot!

Thanks for the laughs, Bob, Chuck and Tom McKimson!



Also extend respectful Fred Astaire top hat tips to key McKimson brothers collaborators Manny Gould, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner, Bill Melendez, Phil DeLara, John Carey, Izzy Ellis, Emery Hawkins, Ted Bonnicksen, Keith Darling, George Grandpre, Cornett Wood, Richard H. Thomas, Warren Foster, Tedd Pierce, Sid Marcus, Mel Blanc, Sara Berner, Bea Benaderet, Arthur Q. Bryan, June Foray, Stan Freberg, Carl Stalling, Milt Franklyn, etc.



And, last but not least, must thank Vimeo, Devon Baxter, Archive.org, Cartoon Research and the very knowledgeable Warner Bros. cartoon buffs at Anthony's Animation Talk for making this post possible.

In closing, here's Rebel Rabbit, our favorite of the cartoons Robert McKimson directed and among the all-time best from Warner Brothers. And, yes, Daily Motion's policy of embedding ads before videos is annoying - just click through and then enjoy this fabulous cartoon.

Celebrating National Beer Lovers Day

Today's topic: September 7 is National Beer Lover's Day!



That's right, there is a National Beer Lover's Day.



Tom T. Hall elaborates:



We'll kick the sudsy tribute off with The Three Stooges.

There actually was a film titled Rhapsody In Brew. It was produced by the Hal Roach Studio and stars comedy heroes Billy Gilbert and Billy Bletcher.




This excerpt from the Chuck Jones cartoon Trap Happy Porky cracks the gang Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog up. Mel Blanc is particularly wonderful in voicing Porky Pig and the gang of inebriated felines.



Love the cartoons of British Animated Productions, especially Bubble & Squeek. Not surprisingly, the series' protagonist enjoys pub ale.



Is it true that dwarves got drunk in pre-Code Disney cartoons? Yes! Here they are, getting blitzed in The Merry Dwarves (1929).



Former Disney animator Earl Duvall directed cartoons for Warner Brothers, shortly after Leon Schlesinger started his studio. Our favorite? Buddy's Beer Garden! One of the credited animators is Frank "Tish Tash" Tashlin, then 20 years old.

Must follow Buddy's Beer Garden with a Charles Mintz studio Scrappy cartoon from the pre-Code era, so here's a fantastic one that razzes Prohibition (at that point just ending): The Beer Parade (1933).



Another terrific cartoon about Prohibition was produced by Ub Iwerks' Studio.



Over the past decade, this blog has posted a slew of animated beer commercials.



















Last year's National Beer Lover's Day post, Cartoon Commercials Sell Beer, featured Mr. Magoo plugging Stag Beer, as well as the Piels Brothers ads and the Nichols & May commercials for Jax and Narragansett Beers. Also noted then that Mike Kazaleh wrote several excellent pieces about beer ads, including Pilsner Pranks - More Spots with Beer and Hops & Spots! for Cartoon Research. We love Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble hawking Busch Beer!





In closing, here are some beer commercials we love starring Bert & Harry Piels (Bob & Ray).





Thanks again, Mike Kazaleh!

Further Feline Follies

Enjoyed writing last week's post so much that a followup is absolutely necessary. We shall start with my favorite of all the post-Otto versions of Felix. The style of the 1995-1997 Twisted Tales series recalls Fleischer more than Messmer, but who cares - it's still lots of fun and extremely imaginative. Several super-talented people we are acquainted with worked on the series.



Speaking of super-talented, animator and comics artist Milton Knight, among the directors who worked on The Twisted Tales Of Felix, posted the following 1933 Krazy Kat cartoon by the Ben Harrison and Manny Gould crew, Russian Dressing. I'm a big fan of the Your Favorite Cartoon Moments videos on Milton's YouTube channel.



One of the best cartoons from the Harrison & Gould crew at Mintz, in this pre-Code rubber hose animation aficionado's opinion, is The Broadway Malady (1933). I personally prefer it to The Broadway Melody!



The following early talkie Krazy Kat is another favorite and a link between 1920's Disney and early 1930's Harman-Ising WB. Looks like Friz Freleng, Hugh Harman, Rudy Ising, Rollin Hamilton and other soon to be Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies animators worked on this extremely entertaining cartoon, packed with 1929 style funny animals, way-out sight gags and, of course, Prohibition-flaunting heavy drinking.



On the topic of animators, film producers and alcoholism, here's Felix Woos Whoopee, arguably the very best opus from the last three seasons of the Felix The Cat series. While producer Pat Sullivan by that time had been done in tragically by the bottle, Messmer's prodigious talent kept the series going into those dawn of talkies days. One wonders if Felix would have hung on a bit longer accompanied with sprightly soundtracks by, for example, Carl Stalling, Gene Rodemich or Jimmy Dietrich.



And, speaking of Gene Rodemich's peppy music, here is a cat-dominated Van Beuren cartoon we like a great deal. Don't mess with kittens!



We tip our top hats to UCLA Film & Television Archive for the following restored (and cat-packed) Max Fleischer Color Classic!



Next up: Bob Clampett's memorable and hilarious The Hep Cat (1942), noted in the previous "Feline Follies" post. Love it for the theme song alone - it's tough to top "I love the goyls and the goyls love me, just like the Sheik Of Araby."

After all, we love Bob Clampett - and especially his classic Martian invasion cartoon Kitty Kornered (1946).

The following two Chuck Jones cartoons feature the playful kitten character Pussyfoot and his protector Marc Anthony the bulldog. In both cartoons, the cuteness works quite well.

Closing today's Feline Follies: the extremely funny Friz Freleng cartoon Birds Anonymous (1957), which successfully skewers 12-step groups, insufferable moralists, Sylvester the cat and animated cartoon conventions in one fell swoop.