That's All Folks: Chuck Jones RIP

Whamo writes: "Legendary animator, Chuck Jones, creator of classic cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Road Runner, & Pepe Le Pew has died (cnn) aged 89 years. When you were a kid was there ever a better baby-sitter than several hours of Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies? Thank you, Mr. Jones for all the great memories and, respectfully, That's All Folks...." CT: I just wanted to mention that Chuck actually read Slashdot. We had a poll once where he was an option, and he was flattered that he was winning it.

Comments

enjoyed the pbs documentary

[McQuaid]

Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens -- A life in animationwas a great documentary I caught a couple of years back. Among some of the fans giving there insights were Whoopi Goldberg, THE SIMPSONS creator Matt Groening, Ron Howard, TOY STORY director John Lasseter, Steven Spielberg, and Robin Williams.

But what kept bugging me while watching these people give praise to his work and what joy it gave to them, I couldn't help but think what a shame it is that a lot of the original works are cut or not shown in their entirety or not at all. Here in Canada, the only looney toons is the road runner show shown three times a week. Most kids growing up in Canada right now probably only have seen a fraction of the great classics. I understand it's much better in the U.S. with cartoon network but here viewings of the originals are practically nil.

Duck Amuck: I remember that!

[bigdreamer]

I'm just a yungin' (20), but I always preferred older cartoons to the stuff that comes out these days. My all-time favorite short cartoon is Duck Amuck.

Apparently, Chuck Jones did a lot of cool stuff besides Bugs Bunny & Co. His biography says he directed another of my favorite cartoons, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Interestingly enough, my interest in science came from one of his cartoons. You know, the one with the mad scientist and his gigantic red hairy monster. Bugs Bunny outwitted them both, of course. But I was so impressed with the gadgetry that I declared to my folks that I would be a Mad Scientist when I grew up. I would even find empty bottles, "mix" their contents, and drink the "potion." In my head I was Jekyll and Hyde. But now I'm way OT...*Reminiscing for a moment*

[rant]
How come they didn't advertise this when he was still alive? Why all this list of achievements after I can't write him a letter to thank him? I know the answers, 1) The info is already out there and 2) Dead people make more news. But still, he'll never know how much I appreciated his work. Chuck Jones taught me what humor is. 1337 skillz are nice, but laughter is priceless.
[/rant]

Re:Duck Amuck: I remember that!

[kfg]

I am more than twice his age. I love his cartoons.

My Daughter is older than he is and we have spent many, many hours watching his cartoons together.

My parents loved Chuck Jones cartoons, THEIR parents loved Chuck Jones cartoons, my great grand children are certain to love Chuck Jones cartoons.

It's almost impossible to overstate how wonderful the works of Mr. Jones are and their universality is only one of the many attributes that make them that way.

With luck one of the local art theaters will stage a film festival of his work. If you havn't seen them on film, in a theater, you don't even know what they really look like. They are real art.

Hanna and Barbera have a lot to answer for.

I'll never have to miss Chuck. He'll be "alive" as long as humanity is.

KFG

Archived Works?

[Combuchan]

I know there are hundreds of episodes I haven't seen ... as a history buff I'm looking to see the anti-Nazi/Japanese propaganda WB cartoon made during the height of the second world war.

The Simpsons first episode is out on DVD, along with numerous other cartoons and television shows. Are the great works of Chuck Jones and company available on a format that I can watch over and over?

Sheer Genius

[The Cat]

Although I can't state for certain which cartoons were or were not directed or animated by Chuck Jones, I've found that most of the greats were:

Daffy Duck as Robin Hood "ho ha-ha guard turn parry" especially the part where Porky Pig makes Daffy laugh after he falls into the river

"Whoa Camel, whoaaaa camel, awww come on whoa?? When I say whoa, I mean WHOA!!"

Bugs Bunny as the Conductor with the tenor who he makes hold the high note until the auditorium collapses. (The tuba scene at the beginning is priceless)

"DUCK DODGER IN THE 24TH AND A HALF CENTURYYYYYY!!!"

Bugs Bunny vs the Gas House Gorillas and the conga line around the bases with the 93 1/2 year old pitcher

Bugs, the huge red monster and the mad scientist in the castle with the neon sign flashing "Mad Scientist, Boo"

"Wile E. Coyote.. super genius... I like the way that rolls out.. .Wile Eeee Coyoteeeeee suuuuuuper geeeenius..."

Of course, there are too many to list, but these are some that I'm reminded of immediately. Chuck Jones: An absolute genius.

Re:Best Music Video Ever: Rabbit of Seville

[jdcook]

I love Rabbit of Seville but What's Opera, Doc? is better.

True story: One evening at the University of Wisconsin in the mid-80s I was waling accross campus. The student orientation program (SOAR) was going on at Union South. For entertainment, they had a showing of the original (i.e. with Adam West) Batman movie. Before that, however, they showed What's Opera, Doc?.

Every single incoming freshman, regardless of race, creed, color, or any of that other BS, enthusiastically sang "Kill the wabbit. Kill the WABBIT. KILL the WABBIT."

And people say there's no common cultural heritage anymore.

(OTOH, my favorite WB Chuck Jones cartoon is Duck dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century.)

Re:Chuck Jones ruled

[R2.0]

Now where the hell am I going to get an Illudium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator?!

My 2 year old son just started asking to see "bunny" on TV. I was so proud (and no, he was NOT saying Barney!)

I had always wondered why there were so few Tom & Jerry's I liked as a kid. Years later, I found out that it had a 1:1 correlation with a Chuck Jones directing credit.

Last free association: In "Chuck Amuck", his 1st book, he expained how Leo Schlesinger, the Looney Toons producer before WB bought him out, was so anal-retentive that every cartoon had to be exactly 6minXXsecs. As a result, the directors and animators timed everything down to the last frame. That's right: comic timing measured in 1/24 second increments.

He was a genius.

Re:Pure genius.

[ardiri]

daffy: rabbit season
bugs: duck season
daffy: rabbit season
bugs: duck season
daffy: rabbit season
bugs: duck season
daffy: rabbit season
bugs: rabbit season
daffy: all right, thats it.. it is duck season
*bang* (from hunters)

Re:Duck Amuck: follow the links!

[Anonymous Coward]

Reading the "Duck Amuck" page, there's some links to Koko the clown (and Betty Boop) information. Whoa - I remember this from when I was watching that in the late '60s/early '70s. Serious flashback here!

Like, when (and where) I was groing up, Koko was big for the kids -- now, who was his sidekick and the obligatory villain they had?

They say on these pages that Betty Boop was bigger than Koko; funny, I never saw her until I was way older.

As far as Chuck Jones, I remember the Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Hour (or was it the BB-RR Show?) on saturday after-noon at 5 o'clock. Boy was I annoyed when they replaced the bunch with that new show "Welcome back, Kotter"!

I still remember my mom coming out from preparing supper and probably laughing more than me and my sister when she saw Wild E. Coyote's brain-dead schemes backfire on him. Man, the memories...

Tom & Jerry

[hoser]

I can't remember seeing a classic Tom & Jerry cartoon -- meaning the really, really violent ones that inspired Itchy & Scratchy -- since I was a kid. I've seen the lame 60s (I think) ones where T&J are buddies searching for gold or something stupid, but those oh-so ultraviolent classics from the 40s are nowhere to be found. I've always assumed they're not shown anymore because of the violence. Can anyone confirm this? Maybe they're on in the States, but they sure aren't up here in Canada.

Perhaps the most highly regarded animator

[Blondie-Wan]

I have a book called The 50 Greatest Cartoons; it lists, well, the purported 50 greatest cartoon shorts, as selected by a poll of over 1,000 animators, film critics and historians, cartoon buffs, etc. Nine of the films on the list, or almost a fifth, were directed by Jones - including four of the top five (What's Opera, Doc? was the #1). Obviously, people in the industry and devotees of the medium cherished him highly, and rightfully so.

I've long thought he might be the greatest American humorist since Mark Twain. He certainly made some terrific cartoons.

So long, Chuck.

dedication

[infinite jester]

i'm working on an animated feature film that my brother and i wrote, and which we hope to eventually sell to pixar... although it's intended to be a computer-generated cartoon, we hope to emulate chuck jones' style of animation (like, when a character realizes that he's just walked off a cliff, his body falls, his neck stretches, but his head stays where it is for several seconds before snapping out of the scene; if the character happens to be wearing a hat, his hand will reach up out of the scene, and grab the hat last)

i've had the good fortune to meet many of chuck's contemporaries, like the late, great director friz freling, and chuck's partner and background designer, maurice noble... sadly, on both occasions when i was to meet chuck, he took ill... i'm sorry that i'll never get to meet my hero, but his work is immortal, and i hope that his inspiration is felt, loud and clear, in my movie, which will be dedicated to chuck's memory

note: for a great retrospective on chuck jones, i recommend the warner brothers video chuck amuck, and/or the book of the same name

Re:D*mn

[kilroy_hau]

Check the day the coyote stopped buying ACME