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.
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).
He followed this classic with a series of very funny cartoons featuring Daffy, Bugs Bunny, the Tasmanian Devil 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 a few of the loud-mouthed rooster's 30 starring vehicles.
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, Treg Brown, 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, while also not letting posters tweak with the embed code (NO AUTOPLAY, thank you very much), is annoying - just click through and then enjoy this fabulous cartoon.
Now how does National Name Your Poison Day relate to this blog? Well, frankly, it's as good an excuse as any to post a bunch of classic cartoons that feature inebriation, a well as clips of great movie comedians delving into that topic (at least onscreen).
One film that never fails to get me ROFL is Laurel & Hardy in BLOTTO.
In this classic 1930 short, the boys think they're brazenly putting one over on their wives by sneaking out to get smashed on bathtub booze.
The greatest cartoon involving altered states would be. . .
Of course, for this blog, National Name Your Poison Day means Prohibition-era cartoons, starting with Fleischer Studios.
Felix the Cat stars in one of the very best in that mind-bending genre. Otto Messmer and crew always deliver the goods - and producer/promoter Pat Sullivan very likely was stone drunk somewhere during the making of this cartoon.
Hands-down, this writer's favorite of all the early Harmon-Ising Merrie Melodies is YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOIN' (1931). The unabashed inebriates who heckle the cartoon's plucky protagonist, "Piggy," resemble characters from another great early Merrie Melodie, GOOPY GEER (1932).
In WISE QUACKS (1939) just one of many outstanding cartoons directed by Bob Clampett, Daffy Duck is a tad nervous about becoming a father and relieves stress by getting hammered on "corn juice." It creatively re-uses segments from the brilliant 1936 Looney Tune directed by Frank Tashlin cartoon, PORKY'S POULTRY PLANT and, as is the case with Clampett's crew, animated with a certain crazed glee. This review by the gang at Anthony's Animation Talk gets into the nuances.
Yes, even dogs get obliterated in Columbia cartoons from both the Charles Mintz and Screen Gems studios and dont ask how Rover got blitzed on local anesthetic in the following opus. If it's jokes about hallucinations and dangerous levels of inebriation you want, look no further than the work of director/gagman Sid Marcus!
Is it possible to make an entire cartoon about a cat who gets wasted on pickled herring? Yes. That might not be a good idea, but it's possible.
Are there any cartoons for National Name Your Poison Day that don't involve booze? Yes, this way-out 1938 Hugh Harman MGM cartoon, Pipe Dreams.
This "goodie goodie monkeys" opus definitely anticipates the hippie era by almost three decades, especially the scene with the simian trio taking hits off a pipe like Dennis Hopper thirty years later.
What was in that Helz Fire tobacco?
These monkeys act like they're smoking kif!
Any letters between MGM brass and Hugh Harman demanding an explanation for this cartoon must be hilarious - and we all know darn well that Harman ignored them!
Hugh Harman made some wonderful weird cartoons, including all three of the Gothic ones featuring the "goodie goodie monkeys."
In closing, noting that there is a dark side to National Name Your Poison Day, here's the late, great Robin Williams making comedy out of the painful realities of alcoholism and jumping into the flaming center of that volcano (in a definitely NSFW clip).
St. Patrick's Day 2025 is right around the corner, on Monday. We know many will be getting hammered as they raise toasts to Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien on Sunday night.
This blog's suggestion to young hard-partyin' folks (decades younger than this old geezer teetotaller blogger is), by all means, DON'T drink green beer, especially that Green Rooster stuff from Neptun/Carlsberg!
Trust me on this, don't drink St. Patrick's Day green brew - you will live to regret it!
Pondering what's best for St. Patty's Day viewing always involves cartoons. Famous Studios made several Noveltoons starring a bunch of freakin' leprechauns. Of these cartoons, The Wee Men (1947) is tops!
Always liked Phony Baloney, Terrytoons' tall tale tellin' Irish answer to Baron Munchausen.
Of course, it is required by law that all leprechaun-laden cartoons be followed by cheesy St. Patrick's Day commercials.
The first sign that you really got blasted on St. Patrick's Day is that you want to eat Lucky Charms.
Alas, I'm compelled to admit it - I WANT a Shamrock Shake!
Animated St. Patty's Day fun invariably begins with the question, "remember that Porky Pig cartoon with the leprechauns?" I do - and here it is, followed by an excellent review of this Chuck Jones classic from Anthony's Animation Talk.
Dealing with delightful August weather here in the Hudson Valley which has been careening between 95-104 degrees Fahrenheit and surprise thunderstorms, this blogger is, alas, a tad low on physical energy - and today shall lay low and (yet again) watch cartoons. The caveat: these cartoons were first released to movie theatres on this day, August 7.
First and foremost, released theatrically on August 7, in this case in 1937, here is PORKY'S RAILROAD, just one of a slew of fantastic black & white Looney Tunes cartoons directed by the great Frank Tashlin. In this storyline with Porky the lil' engineer racing his old reliable train and pal "Toots" against a villain driving a supercharged supertrain "The Silver Fish," the elements of Tashlin's style - rapid cutting, use of speed, imaginative camera angles and varied pacing to build comedy - power the cartoon and synchronize beautifully with the music of Carl W. Stalling. PORKY'S RAILROAD can be found on the flawed but wonderful Porky Pig 101 DVD set.
Must add to this a note that the Anthony's Animation Talk YouTube channel did a terrific job focusing on Frank Tashlin's two stretches directing cartoons for Warner Brothers.
Also released theatrically on August 7, in 1948, the following excellent Chuck Jones cartoon. It is very funny and has one of the best titles of any cartoon, You Were Never Duckier. . . Must double bill this one with the Columbia Fred Astaire - Rita Hayworth musical, You Never Were Lovelier.
Posting three versions of this cartoon, the last two with commentary.
On August 7, 1946, Walt Disney's Pluto did his bit for the Community Chest.
Walt's inspiration, Felix the Cat starred in Jack From All Trades, released theatrically on August 7, 1927. This b&w video appears to have been mastered from the colorized version from the infamous Radio & Television Packagers.
Surprisingly, did not find an actual black & white print of the original cartoon on YouTube, Vimeo or Daily Motion, given that the survival rate on the series, as silent films go, is pretty good. In full Radio & Television Packagers glory, that colorized Felix had a cheesy soundtrack and steely determination to run roughshod over the artwork of Otto Messmer and crew whenever possible. What were they thinking? This. . . "let's make a buck - this colorized version with a new title isn't under copyright!" We'll call it
MISTER DO-ALL."
Now, to drag today's post even further into the mud, we'll post a banned cartoon - and banned for painfully obvious reasons. Why would we do that? Are we NUTS? Yes - unquestionably, after days of triple-digit heat, we have lost our minds. Prefacing this banned cartoon: a compilation of crystals from the Tex Avery MGM universe. This does not let us off the hook by any means but at least puts this August 7 release in context.
Said banned cartoon is the silver screen swan song of Tex Avery's ever-inept bears George & Junior. Since the Bob Clampett version of Porky Pig traversed Africa seeking the do-do a decade earlier, Avery's bumbling protagonists search for the world's smallest pygmy. It is a cousin to Chuck Jones' series starring a certain minah bird who hops distinctively to Felix Mendelsohn's "Fingal's Cave" and similar to Red Hot Rangers, with the tribesman in the same role as the little flame in the opus featuring George & Junior as both hopeless and hapless forest firefighters, with some of the poses also recalling the wiseguy mouse in Slap Happy Lion.
Yes, along with several other films from the Tex Avery and Friz Freleng catalogs, while not as horrendously offensive as the infamous Censored 11, this indeed was banned for obvious reasons and remains one of the weaker Avery MGMS.
We love the characters George & Junior, both the 1940's Tex Avery version from Henpecked Hoboes and Hound Hunters and the very funny 1990's revival of the characters by ace animation director and writer Patrick A. Ventura, it understates the obvious to note that the design of the bears' diminutive but crafty nemesis in this cartoon is grotesque in the extreme. In addition, given the ending, it's a good bet that Tex was not crazy about George & Junior and as happy to get rid of them once and for all as he was with Screwy Squirrel.
In closing, the question is, if one had the chance to tour the world showing this (with an emphatic disclaimer preceding it), for example to an audience of classic film enthusiasts, educators and indie filmmakers at any of Africa's universities, would the group respond to this cartoon with horror, anger, outrage and disgust - or end up ROFL and/or at least enjoying the gags? Only someone who has had the opportunity to travel extensively as a presenter of vintage American films, good, bad, indifferent and/or pretty darn offensive, would know.
