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Cartoon Logic Episode 31: The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blu-Ray Blow-Out (Part 2) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-04-04 19:09:54
Imported:
2021-04

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Content

Happy Easter!

We apologize for the delay, but given the subject, you should understand why this podcast took a long time. Yes, it's the conclusion of our Bugs Bunny 80th Birthday Blu-Ray review. Our favorite cartoon hero runs on autopilot with Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson, and (occasionally on this set) Chuck Jones trying to keep interest in Bugs alive. We do see some bright moments with a few masterful Yosemite Sam encounters, countered with more TV parodies and cheaters than one can humanly stomach. Also: possibly the shortest dissection of What's Opera, Doc? ever recorded on human record.

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Comments

Anonymous

i was slain by your guys' transition to the final disc. i dont think there is any more definitive proof that no series should last as long as it might than that shit right there

cartoonlogic

Bob surmises as much. It’s a lame joke.

Anonymous
>>57078137

For me when it comes to 1960s cartoons, it's picking my poison. But I will say this, I'd rather watch a bad 1963 Bugs short than any Hanna-Barbera show from the same year.

Anonymous

I enjoyed the quote you attributed to me about how McKimson, Freleng, and Jones dealt with tight budgets, but don’t remember saying that! Maybe I did. If not, I’m honored to have it misattributed to me.

cartoonlogic
>>57087975

I think you said it in a Facebook group... I try not to attribute pearls of wisdom to myself when I know for a fact they’re not mine.

Anonymous

Compressed Hare isn't that good, but the magnet sequence is one of Treg Brown's finest moments. I could listen to it like avant garde music.

Anonymous

For a long time I have been referring to McKimson's post-53 or so cartoons as the "Sheesh Years," as characters say that an awful lot, seemingly reflecting the attitude of a very burned out man at the helm.

Anonymous

Great podcast about some not so great cartoons. Unfortunately, these aren't even the worst of the lot, as none of the cartoons on these discs are as bad as Pre-Hysterical Hare or The Iceman Ducketh. Hawley Pratt is definitely the star of the latter day Freleng cartoons, where the design and layouts are exceptional. I agree with Thad that Yankee Doodle Bugs looks garish and cluttered (and it's not a very good short) but Pratt vastly improved at UPA influenced stylised design quickly. I didn't know that Freleng complained about Boris Gorelick's backgrounds. Unusually for an animation artist, Gorelick was already an established name in fine art circles and perhaps had an elitist attitude that also led to friction between him and Friz. There's an interview with Gorelick available online at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, mainly on his involvement with founding the short lived Arts Union during the Great Depression. Unsurprisingly, he only mentions his work in animation in passing, as at the time of being interviewed he was painting backgrounds for TV cartoons, which I can't imagine he felt was anything other than a way to pay the bills. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-boris-gorelick-12336#transcript Another minor note, I think this set was the first time Prince Violent was officially released with its original 'not safe for TV' titles (though exactly why 'violent' was such an offensive word alludes me). The title censorship is about the only thing noteworthy about the cartoon other than the Willie Ito layouts (who as far as I know was the first and only Japanese American to be credited on a Warners cartoon).

Anonymous

This episode had me constantly laughing out loud. As a kid, I was introduced to the Warner cartoons largely through the network Saturday morning shows- where even Freleng and McKimson on autopilot seemed like the funniest cartoons ever when surrounded by things like Ewoks and the Flintstone Kids. "Fat Elvis Bugs" will forever be "Saturday Morning Bugs" in my mind.

Anonymous

I disagree with your opinions on "Piker's Peak". After rewatching it I was surprised that I was constantly laughing at the different variations of Bugs tricking Sam to fall off the mountain. The ending is one of my favorites from Warners, I think it's so stupid how Sam, Bugs, and the Swiss band end up on top of the Eiffel Tower that it kills me. Call me crazy but "Piker's Peak" is sure as hell better than 50s Famous Studio Popeye.

Anonymous

In a recent conversation I had with Mike Kazaleh, he mentioned that in the late fifties and early sixties, Warners had two sets of storyboards for their cartoons—the writer’s board and the director’s board, which could deviate in different ways depending on the director. Mike got this information secondhand from DFE writer Michael O’ Connor, and from what he had been told, Bob McKimson NEVER deviated from the writer’s board, Chuck Jones always “fucked it up” (O’Connor’s words) but Friz Freleng would usually change the staging, camera angles, and character motivations that would ultimately augment the story. It seems to really add up how the directors shaped their cartoons during that period, especially with the “waiting for payday” mentality of McKimson during those waning years.

Anonymous

Great as usual, and I love the little facts that we got (the majority of which I’ve actually never heard before), but I have to say I disagree with your assessment on some of these cartoons, especially the Friz ones. I get that a lot of the material was done previously, but the animation in his cartoons was always top notch, and the same goes for the soundtracks and especially the timing. I might just be an easy to please person, but I’m of the opinion that even the worst Warner cartoons have some merit to them. To each his own, I suppose.

Anonymous
>>57199075

Interesting. I wonder whether this practice preceded Mike Maltese and Warren Foster leaving the studio or came about as a result of this. Not to say that Bob McKimson wasn't phoning it in at this point but perhaps he felt that a second storyboard was redundant as he was also doing character layouts (which wouldn't have been the case with Friz Freleng). In the bridging segments for the Bugs Bunny Show episode featured on the first Golden Collection DVD, a storyboard for the short Transylvania 6500 briefly appears on the wall. It's hard to tell, but I think it was drawn by John Dunn and not Chuck Jones.

cartoonlogic
>>57138493

I'll elaborate more next episode but should've in this one: I got Famous Popeye vibes from Bugs and Sam being rival competitors, rather than Sam being the outright aggressor/villain as he otherwise always was.

Anonymous

Any thoughts (or recommendations) on the new bonus documentary?

Anonymous

I do like Napoleon Bunny-Part. It’s visually pleasing and a lot of the dialogue is pretty funny. Never knew if Napoleon’s idiot guard was supposed to be Mugsy or some kind of Mugsy clone. As for Half-Fare Hare, I love this cartoon. These blatant Honeymooners references always get a huge laugh out of me for some reason. The alligator scene and “hey mama look at the funny fish” line are really humorous. Let’s not forget that Daws Butler’s acting steals the whole cartoon with all his energetic line deliveries. Also, can you really hate the only cartoon where Bugs says the word “dick” without referring to Dick Tracy? Must just be the McKimson fan in me talking, but I can’t dislike this one. The tidbit about the Charles Laughton caricatures interested me, so I looked him up and saw that he died in 1962, the same year those two cartoons were released (a mere 7 days after Shishkabugs was released, even). Perhaps he was just on everyone’s mind again around the time they started production on those two shorts, hence the late-to-the-game references. Also noticed you two didn't talk much about Blooper Bunny, despite it being part of the main disc program. Great episode overall, well worth the wait.

Anonymous

What’s Opera Doc is not the best Bugs cartoon, but I’d say it’s a contender for the best soundtrack in any Bugs cartoon.

Anonymous
>>57230927

If you don’t mind me commenting on this, I sunk through the floor when Noel Blanc started talking about Happy Hare. I guess we’re stuck with that until the end of time now.

Anonymous
>>57342580

It must be seen on the big screen in 35mm in order to be truly appreciated, keeping in mind that it was made by somebody who, in 1957, could go shopping at the supermarket without being recognized for such an achievement.

Anonymous

MY main problem with this anthology? That godawful soundalike music that plays during the menus.

Anonymous

With regards to McKimson’s Bugs cartoons, it might just be me, but for a guy who created the definitive Bugs model, Bugs doesn’t quite look like Bugs in some of the McKimson cartoons. The first two minutes of “Windblown Hare” depicts the worst looking Bugs I can remember seeing. Also, I just want to say that cats are great.

Anonymous
>>57302464

Charles Laughton was still making the odd film and TV appearance just before his death (most notably in the Stanley Kubrick/Kirk Douglas film Spartacus), so he wasn't a complete non entity when those cartoons were made. However, the caricature is of his portrayal of Captain Blye in the 1935 film Mutiny on the Bounty, which was dated even when Bugs Bunny imitated it in Buccaneer Bunny, let alone in 1962.