Slashdot Mirror
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.
I spent 4-5 hours the other night talking about what makes a good cartoon and Chuck Jones was the name we brought up the most. Good slapstick fun that entertains the young ones. More advanced humor for those out of gradeschool, but yet still have the slapstick appealing. Then, working your cartoon with the music directors, etc.
Genuis, no doubt
If anything, his death should prompt cartoon network to run a lot of chuck jones - the silver lining my friends
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
Now we will never know if the Coyote ever catches the Road Runner.
R.I.P., Mr. Jones, and thanks for sharing your talents.
Sadly, after his death, a mega corporation continues to profit from his works, and with copyrights getting perpetually extended, control will never be relinquished. Would he had wanted the public to have access to his works after he passed away? Personally, I would like everything that I create to eventually find the greatest possible use after I'm gone. After all you can't take it with you. There's no better way than for the work to end up in the public domain. Yet, our laws and a few greedy individuals are going to prevent this from occurring. Something has to get done.
Bugs: "Do you want to shoot me now or wait till you get home?" Daffy: "SHOOT HIM NOW! SHOOT HIM NOW!" Bugs: "You keep outta this; he doesn't have to shoot you now." Daffy: "Oh, yeah? Well, I say he DOES have to shoot me now! So SHOOT ME NOW!" --BANG!-- Daffy: "Let's try that again..." Bugs (shrugging): "Okay; do you want to shoot me now or wait till you get home?" (in a flat, actor read-through voice) Daffy: "Shoot him now; shoot him now." (Ditto) Bugs: "You keep outta this; he doesn't have to shoot you now." Daffy: "AH HA! (aside to the audience)Pronoun trouble. It's not he doesn't have to shoot you now, he doesn't have to shoot me now. Well, I say he DOES have to shoot me now! SO SHOOT ME NOW!" --BANG!--
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.
Fred Quimby, Mel Blanc, Charles Schultz and now Chuck Jones.
We are at the closing of an Age.
I'm hoping when they get to Heaven, someone hands them an anvil and they tumble back to Earth.
"Well, put a stake in my heart and drag me into sunlight."
This is what is so great about Chuck's work.
I am twice your age. I loved his cartoons.
My kids are half your age. They love his cartoons.
And you probably haven't seen a quarter of his work.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
There used to be a Warner Brothers store near me, and they had hanging on one wall a large image of a number of classic characters standing in the shadows, the spotlight on a microphone with nobody there to use it. It was a memorial to Mel Blanc, and even now when I think of it, I get a little misty-eyed. In an odd way, I look forward to the tribute that will be paid to Chuck Jones.
What I find saddest, though, is a conversation I recently had with a friend's kids. They're 8 and 6, and they know who the Rugrats and Spongebob Squarepants (that one scares me) are, but they barely know who Bugs Bunny is, thought they knew Daffy and Elmer, recognized Yosemite Sam, but had no clue who the Tazmanian Devil, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, or Sylvester are. (Oddly enough, the younger of the two knew of Marvin's dog, and described him enough to convince me. Weird.) Even the youngest are being pulled so far into the "NEW NEW NEW" mentality pervading media culture that they have no clue what led to the current generation. Some of them don't even know about Mickey and Minnie, but they know everything about the Little Mermaid or the Lion King.
My children will know the classics. Oh, yes. They will know.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Chuck Jones took the overture to Rossini's Barber of Seville and, with Carl Stalling's virtuoso arrangement, created an absolute cinematic masterwork.
Music videos today are just a jumble of images assembled nearly at random. Chuck Jones rose to the challenge and gave Rabbit of Seville an actual plot, while still remaining almost perfectly true to Rossini's original score. Not only that, but Stalling's spirited orchestration makes you want to go out and track down Rossini's other works. (The overtures to Semiramide and The Thieving Magpie are just begging for cartoons of their own.)
It's a damn shame it doesn't get broadcast much anymore.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
How appropriate . . . finding out early on a Saturday morning.
My parents always hated how I would cheerfully get up at 6:45 a.m. on a Sataurday to watch Bugs & Daffy, but had to be dragged out of bed kicking and screaming on school days.
I miss the explosive (sometimes literally) creativity of those early years of studio animation. Chuck Jones was at the heart of it.
They say you're old when your childhood icons begin to die. This morning, I feel a lot older.
Have fun rescripting the afterlife, Mr. Jones. I'm sure heaven will never be =quite= the same.
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:
.Wile Eeee Coyoteeeeee suuuuuuper geeeenius..."
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..
Of course, there are too many to list, but these are some that I'm reminded of immediately. Chuck Jones: An absolute genius.
Chuck Jones had an excellent wit, which you can experience in his two hilarious and informative biographies, Chuck Amuck and Chuck Reducks . His writing is dry and Mark-Twainish, with personal touches that never get *too* personal.
His recent work (he was creating Shockwave cartoons of "Thomas Timberwolf" up to this month!) is available linked from his own website.
Anyway, enough karmawhoring, I am writing this with tears in my eyes. So long and that's all folks to my last American hero.
--Bugs Bunny, What's Opera, Doc?Reminds me of something Billy Conolly said in an interview once. He said he wanted to have really tiny writing on his gravestone so that people would have to stand on his grave to read it. Then a pre-recorded voice would say "You're standing on my balls!". So damn funny!
Seems to me people wth a good sense of humour are still planning to make people laugh when they're gone. I guess Chuck falls into this category too. We'll still be laughing at his cartoons many years from now.
Folks,
I think with the passing of Chuck Jones it is not a time for mourning, but a time for celebration. The fact he even lived to a ripe old age of 89 meant he lived a truly full life, to say the least.
It is time for a celebration of an output of animation that is arguably unmatched. From his work in the early Tom & Jerry cartoons at MGM to the amazing opera parodies he did in the 1950's to everything else he did, he was probably the best embodiment of the zenith of cartoon short subject films during their heyday.
I will say "Thank you, and Godspeed," to truly one of the true giants in the entertainment industry.
Hmm, no one else seems to have mentioned this one...
On his official site, it looks like there is mentioned a Chuck Jones Foundation
They're also assembling an art collection for exhibition in major museums, libraries, universities, and art galleries.(In case of /. effect)
o/~ Join us now and share the software