#leon schlesinger

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Happy 83rd Anniversary Bugs!

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Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #5 (1942) Cover by Leon Schlesinger

[pulpsandcomics2]

animation model sheets

[dailylooneys]

Looney Tunes Title (1930 - 1969)

In celebration of the 93rd birthday of Looney Tunes, I did, what I like to call, a “title evolution” post.

[funnyfaceflea]

happy birthday to tex avery today! one of the greatest animators to ever come out of termite terrace and mgm! ❤🥳

[browsethestacks]

Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodies Comics: Thanksgiving

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Ub Iwerks directing Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett?? I had no idea such a thing happened!

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

You Ought to be in Pictures premiered May 18, 1940, and was directed by Friz Freleng and featured producer Leon Schlesinger as himself. Leon was head of the Warner Brothers animation studio from 1930 to 1944.

[incorrectlooneytunesquotes]

Leon Schlesinger: All right, here's your giant drum...

Porky: Um-hmm. It's v-v-v-very f-f-flat.

Leon Schlesinger: Well, it doesn't look flat from in the audienthce.

Porky: It h-has basically, n-n-no d-dimension t-t-to it.

Leon Schlesinger: Well, it's painted to look three dimensional. If you go back there, trust me...

Porky: B-b-but it's not p-p-p-painted on the b-b-back. I'm l-l-looking at the b-b-back right now. Will you look with me for a m-m-minute?

Leon Schlesinger: Why would it be... From the audienthce it's gonna look perfectly fine. And it looks three dimensional. Just go out there and take a peek.

Porky: W-w-w-well, is this the real furniture or is this the r-rehearsal f-f-furniture?

Leon Schlesinger: Well, A it's not called furniture. It's a sthet.

Porky Uh-huhh...

Leon Schlesinger: And it's painted this way. It looks completely three dimensional from the audienthce, if you just go out that way, Porky.

Porky: S-s-so this is the r-r-real f-f-furniture, and this is...Is this an actual s-s-street lamp?

Leon Schlesinger: I'm sure it was at one time.

Porky: C-c-can you have an actual th-th-three dimensional object that represents the thing that it actually is, c-c-can that be n-n-next to something that it's p-pretending to be? Would that be okay?

Leon Schlesinger: Yes, it's perfectly fine. You know, I really don't have time to explain Sthtagecraft 101. This show sthtarts in an hour. Now, every... everything is exactly the way you...

Porky: And w-w-what are tho...w-what's tha-that-those are lights h-h-hanging up th-th-there?

Leon Schlesinger: Yeths, those are lights...

Porky: C-c-c-c-could they f-fall?

Leon Schlesinger: ...and that's a ctheiling above us!

Porky: B-b-b-b-but they look sh-sh-sh-shaky.

Leon Schlesinger: No, they're not shaky, they're perfectly...

Porky: Is th-th-th-th-th-that wire? I see a wire. I see a...

[Leon smacks him on the head]

Porky: Oww!

[clemsfilmdiary]

Buddy’s Circus (1934, Jack King)

Looney Tune #50

5/30/22

[termiteterraceclub]

Termite Terrace Club - May 18th

1935 - Buddy’s Lost World - Dir. Jack King

1940 - You Ought To Be In Pictures - Dir. Friz Freleng

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Merrie Melodies & Looney Tunes Lobby Cards

[travsd]

Of Leon Schlesinger and Warner Brothers' Cartoons

Of Leon Schlesinger and Warner Brothers’ Cartoons

We’ve had many an occasion to mention Warner Brothers cartoons here over the years, as of course we would. They are the favorite Golden Era animation studio of most cartoon buffs, including me. I grew up watching their decades’ old products on television Saturday mornings and after school on weekdays in the 1970s and early ’80s. Indeed, although I didn’t know it at the time, and as I’m sure will…

[pulpsandcomics2]

A 1935 Porky Pig animation model sheet

[dailylooneys]

Happy 80th Birthday to Private Snafu!

Snafu.......Situation Normal All........All Fouled Up!

A series of World War 2-themed animated short films screened for young military men. They were mainly instructional, educational films, but still contained that same irreverent, slapstick comedy style of humor of the Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies, thanks to the contributions of the boys of Termite Terrace: Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng and Frank Tashlin, and voice legend Mel Blanc.

The intention these cartoons had on the military audiences was that, the titular character, Private Snafu was an incompetent soldier that was meant to illustrate, in more straightforward way, what NOT to do (true to his name that is), with practically each short ending with Snafu getting blown.

Imagine how different it could've been if Disney had done these instead of Warner Bros., as that was the United States Army’s first choice. But that didn't happen as Leon Schlesinger would bid lower than Disney.

These shorts, of course, generally remained obscure in the minds of the mainstream audiences (until recently that is) as they never were intended to be shown in public theaters. As Martha Sigall, a staff of the ink-and-paint department at Leon Schlesinger Studios, stated these Private Snafu cartoons were top secret. They wore ID badges, did fingerprints, got FBI approval and were given ten cels rather than the usual thirty cels, to prevent them from knowing about the stories.

Therefore, it was never made for a general audiences of kids and adults as the publicly released Looney Tunes shorts were, especially considering it’s content; mild swearing (i.e., damn, hell) and fanservice displayed all over these cartoons that couldn't have been possible in the days of the Hays Code (it's especially surprising to note that Ted Geisel, AKA Dr. Seuss, of all people, was the main writer for THESE!!! Wowie!!!!). 

Fun fact: (one of the shorts titled “Censored” was shown on Cartoon Network’s trivia show Toonheads late at night with half of the scene featuring a topless Sally Lou cut out!)

And, naturally, because this was a WWII-themed series, featured a good deal of derogatory depictions/imagery of Japanese/Germans and Nazis (which will not be shown here).

It's interesting to see not only how strongly connected Private Snafu is to the Looney Tunes, considering, not only the same style of humor, but the two cameo appearances of Bugs Bunny (Gas and Three Brothers), which could make Snafu himself a Looney Tune. 

This is especially considering his early bird cameo in Chuck Jones’s The Draft Horse.

Later on, Private Snafu would not only be done by Warner Bros., but also by it’s competitors, like MGM, UPA, Harman-Ising and Disney. 

Two shorts were left unproduced. One of them was originally going to be directed by none other Tex Avery at MGM. Too bad that didn’t happen!! 

Though the Private Snafu series maybe a time capsule of World War 2, as oppose to being as timeless as the classic Looney Tunes cartoons are, they still serve as a fascinating historical art, a look at what our world was going through, and still included a lot of the trademark style of humor seen in the Warner Bros. cartoons that still kept it entertaining enough.

[ducktracy]

here is a smattering of some of my favorite animation anecdotes concerning the WB guys—will probably add onto this last as i remember and discover more, but the public deserves to hear them:

Corny Cole told Chuck Jones that he can "take your Daffy Duck and you can ram him up your asshole" after Jones was dissatisfied with Cole's storyboard pitch for a cartoon because it was not "my Daffy Duck".

Tedd Pierce got his ear bitten by someone's pet monkey at a bar and required both bandages and shots

the writers had to slip fake drawings of Porky in a storyboard pitch for an unrelated cartoon to trick Leon Schlesinger into giving his approval because he would be largely apathetic otherwise

Rod Scribner famously hated Art Davis and decided to play a prank on him by tipping a phone booth he was in 45 degrees, prompting Davis to fall, which then prompts Scribner to tip it back up and run away laughing

additionally, Scribner and Bill Melendez would tip bookcases over and drop loud objects on the floor to distract the Freleng and Jones unit animators below them and, in Melendez's words, "Friz's guys were great because they would fight back"

cameraman Smokey Garner asked to be paid in cash because he feared the feds would get him if they had his information via check--he was eventually talked into receiving checks... until the feds visited him a few weeks later for something else unrelated

animator Tom Ray once got so mad that he opened a window to let some fresh air in, but the glass shattered, completely desecrated his arm and he had to be rushed to the hospital by fellow animator Art Leonardi

the studio often held yearly square dances, and Chuck Jones in particular was a huge square dance junkie; Hillbilly Hare owes its existence to these square dances

lighting film nitrates, if wound tight enough, would prompt them to smolder but not combust; the studio once had to be evacuated and the fire department called because of said self-made smoke bomb

Corny Cole and Willie Ito once got so drunk at a lunch together that Ito ended up vomiting all over Chuck Jones’ office