NOTICE TO READERS AND FRIENDS

I have decided to cancel the Super Bowl Ad Review.

We had been doing this for the past six or seven years, I don't exactly know how long and I'm not that willing to go back through my posts to find out. But frankly, it's run its course and I am unwilling to put in the effort to rate these spots ultimately to fail many of them for violating the DO NOT ATTEMPT test.

Given that the first place many see the spots is through social media (YouTube, Twitter, etc.) and many spots are broken just weeks before the game, there just isn't the element of surprise in the creative any more.

Which begs the question: is a Super Bowl spot really worth up to $4 million any more, with all the relatively inexpensive buzz that can be created by social media? The spot is no longer an entity in and of itself, just a small piece of a much larger marketing puzzle. One of the first Super Bowl advertisers to exploit this was GoDaddy, who continued their ads with "unrated bonus content" available on their website. Too bad it almost always turned out to be LAME "unrated bonus content".

We are back

Damn domain registration. If you can see this we are back. We apologize for any downtime, for both this site and The Puzzle Brothers which davemackey.com actually hosts.

Well, I Tried

Thank you all for being so patient as we took a nice little overview of Chuck Jones' career, which culminated in a video smorgasbord on Friday last week.

However, I want to point out something a little saddening. In their infinite corporate wisdom, Warner Bros. has decided to once again very strongly police its copyrights, pulling down several prolific users' accounts which provided some of the cartoons you would have enjoyed in those slots. I believe Warners' axed some of them well before Jones' birthday. At the time I programmed those blog posts (which was about three weeks before) all those cartoons were working and I watched them all myself and verified they worked.

The affected cartoons included "From Hare to Eternity", "Now Hear This", "Drip Along Daffy", "Lumber Jack-Rabbit", "Hell Bent for Election", "Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary", "What's Opera Doc?", "Bully for Bugs", "Rabbit Seasoning", "A Pest In The House", "The Aristo-Cat" and "The Night Watchman."

Look, Warner Bros. I understand that you retain the rights to these films. But, dammit, we're trying to program a tribute to celebrate the 100th birthday of a man who's helped line your corporate coffers many times over who helped create some of the greatest cartoons ever made, originally intended as ephemera but somehow got thrust into timelessness through countless television viewings, as well as some of the greatest cartoon characters ever created. Don't freaking rain on his parade.

Chuck's generosity with up and coming cartoonists has been well documented. In 1990, Chuck explained some drawing techniques to one of his students, a young man named Jeff DeGrandis (who is now the producer of "Dora the Explorer" and "Go Diego Go"), and someone thought to roll a video camera. DeGrandis thankfully saved the tapes, and was able to create a 90 minute DVD. Unfortunately I believe the DVD is no longer available but you can still donate to the Chuck Jones Center by visiting www.chuckjonescenter.org.

Haven't checked the no-hitter rolls in a while....

Homer Bailey pitches the sixth solo no-hitter of the season. Including the combined no-hitter by six Seattle pitchers that does not appear below, that makes seven this season, tying a modern record.

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
09/28/12 Cincinnati Reds (Homer Bailey)
08/15/12 Seattle Mariners (Felix Hernandez - perfect game)
06/13/12 San Francisco Giants (Matt Cain - perfect game)
06/01/12 New York Mets (Johan Santana - team's first)
05/02/12 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Jered Weaver)
04/21/12 Chicago White Sox (Philip Humber - perfect game)
05/07/11 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
05/03/11 Minnesota Twins (Francisco Liriano)
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
09/06/06 Miami Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - From Hare to Eternity and Final Words

Jones makes a Yosemite Sam-Bugs Bunny pirate epic in the style of Friz Freleng, who died in 1995 at the age of 89 and to whom this film is dedicated. Bugs’ ship is even called the H.M.S. Friz Freleng (port of call: Kansas City, Freleng’s hometown). It was the last cartoon ever directed by Jones.

As we end our month-long centennial tribute I leave you with the words of Tex Avery circa December 1975. Tex and Chuck were in the midst of correspondence over an interview their colleague Bob Clampett gave to Mike Barrier and Milt Gray for the magazine Funnyworld (published in #12 in 1970), and over the course of the correspondence Tex and Chuck shoot down many of Clampett’s claims in the interview. Tex concluded his annotations on Chuck’s “smoking gun” letter with: “I SALUTE YOU FOR PRODUCING, PRESERVING, AND UPHOLDING THE TRUE ART OF ANIMATION IN YOUR SUPERLATIVE FILMS - YOUNG STUDENTS OF ANIMATION IN YEARS TO COME CAN STUDY THEM AND LEARN MUCH FROM A REAL PRO. TODAY YOU STAND ALONE - THE LAST OF THE OLD GUARD OF THE GOLDEN YEARS OF ANIMATION.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Transylvania 6-5000

Bugs in his final years (and Jones as well) made some pretty weak pictures. The malaise around the studio was starting to set in as studio management realized that theatre owners were relying less and less on shorts of any type. Ben Frommer is featured as Count Bloodcount.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - The Adventures of the Road Runner

This 25-minute cartoon featurette incorporated the previously-screened “From A to Z-z-z-z” and an as-yet-unreleased short, “To Beep Or Not To Beep”. Besides Blanc, the voices include Dick Beals, Nancy Wible, and the uncredited Dick Tufeld.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Now Hear This

Chuck let sound effects wizard Treg Brown run wild in this cartoon, first to feature the “modern” opening graphics usually associated with cartoons from later in the 1960’s. Tregoweth Brown was another studio old-timer who stuck around Warner Bros. after the cartoon studio closed and won an Oscar in 1965 for sound effects editing on “The Great Race”.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Hopalong Casualty

Jones wrote and directed this outstanding Road Runner short, sponsored by Acme Earthquake Pills.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Baton Bunny

The overture to “Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna” by Franz von Suppe (best known for the “Light Cavalry” Overture) is a staple of high school and community bands and orchestras and it has been the centerpiece of at least three cartoons – Fleischer’s “Morning, Noon and Night”, Lantz’s “Kiddie Koncert” and this one from Jones, featuring Bugs conducting the Warner Bros. Symphony Orchestra.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Hip Hip Hurry!

Proving how valuable the contributions of Carl Stalling and/or Milt Franklyn are when they’re taken away. When AFM Local 47 went on strike, six Warner Bros. cartoons of 1958 carried stock-music soundtracks from the collective of composers known as “John Seely Associates”, but most of the cues in these cartoons were from just one of those composers, Phil Green.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Robin Hood Daffy

The last and one of the better of Jones’ Daffy-Porky costumers, with Daffy brandishing his “buck and a quarter quarter staff” and a fattened Porky as Friar Tuck. Unfortunately this version does not have any titles or credits.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Drafty, Isn't It?

Jones made three cartoons for the Armed Forces in the mid-1950’s – this one and “90 Day Wondering” for the U.S. Army, and “A Hitch In Time” for the U.S. Air Force. During the mid 1950’s Warner Bros. added the talented Daws Butler to its repertory cast of voices and actually received a rare non-Blanc screen credit for this one!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Baby Buggy Bunny

A baby left on Bugs’ doorstep is actually a midget robbery suspect on the lam. “Oh dear, I do believe I’ve forgotten my fudge!”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Sheep Ahoy

Jones recycled the Coyote character from his Road Runner series into Ralph Wolf (named for a studio artist), with the only distinguishing characteristic, besides a monotone voice, is his red nose. Wolf and co-worker Sam Sheepdog punch in each day as Wolf attempts to steal the sheep that Sam is protecting. At the end of the day they punch out and go home. The format lasted through about half a dozen cartoons, culminating in a cartoon directed by two of Jones’ animators (Phil Monroe and Dick Thompson), Jones having been fired from WB in the spring of 1962. The Coyote also made speaking appearances in Bugs Bunny cartoons using his full name, Wile E. Coyote, as the “super genius”.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Lumber Jack-Rabbit

Jones had the dubious honor of making Warner Bros.’ only cartoon produced in 3-D, a take on the Paul Bunyan legend with John T. Smith narrating and voicing Bunyan. After production was wrapped on this cartoon, Jack Warner shut the cartoon studio down, thinking that all cartoons would be made in 3-D from that point onward and did not want to justify the additional expense (this cartoon required twice as much photography and more backgrounds than were usually used to create the 3-D effects). Five months later, Warner changed his mind and re-opened the cartoon unit. The cartoon’s chief bow to the 3-D process is right at the beginning where the W-B shield zooms up further than usual (rendered ridiculously off-model at its closest), retreats, then returns to its normal position, accompanied by a grossly amplified rendition of the studio’s 1937 opening sound effect. The studio closure created no discernible gap in releases due to the studio’s large backlog of completed cartoons. Warners eventually commissioned three Road Runner quickies in CGI 3-D with an opening that is a homage to this cartoon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Punch Trunk

Jones could tell some great tall tales, this one of an elephant only six inches tall terrorizing America after sailing over on the S.S. Michael Maltese. Narrated by Robert C. Bruce.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Drip Along Daffy

One of the better Daffy-Porky teamings of the early 50’s with Daffy as Western-Type Hero (astride his trusty horse Tinfoil) and Porky as Comedy Relief, and is also the first appearance of villain Nasty Canasta. Remade three years later as “My Little Duckaroo” where he claims to be The Masked E-venger.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - The Scarlet Pumpernickel

Sort of the “prequel” to “Duck Amuck” as Daffy tries to sell a swashbuckling script. The suicide gags at the end are often cut from TV viewings.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Rabbit Hood

"Don't you worry, never fear, Robin Hood will soon be here!" Features a gag cameo by Errol Flynn as the REAL Robin Hood at the end.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Often An Orphan

Jones borrowed the plotline, about a dog asking to be adopted by Porky Pig, from Clampett’s black-and-white Looney Tune “Porky’s Pooch” (1941), but the character, Charlie Dog, is a Jones original.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Rabbit Punch

Bugs’ boxing epic, with a fight running at least 110 rounds….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Angel Puss

One of the Censored Eleven cartoons, which generally featured then-entertaining but now-painful depictions of African-Americans. About six years later Jones was instrumental in hiring the first black animator at Warner Bros., Frank Braxton, who worked as an assistant to Ben Washam. Braxton later worked for UPA and Jay Ward (he was a director there). Braxton died of cancer at the age of 40 in 1969.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Hell Bent For Election

Made by Industrial Films, the group that eventually became United Productions of America, on behalf of the automobile workers’ union. This film was designed to get President Roosevelt elected to a fourth term in 1944, by using the device of the Defeatist Limited (an old steam engine dated 1929) to represent challenger Thomas Dewey, and a streamlined train representing the incumbent president. Production design by Zack Schwartz. Lyrics for the songs were written by Yip Harburg.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Wackiki Wabbit

With two castaways modeled on, and voiced by, writers Mike Maltese (the short fat one) and Tedd Pierce (the tall thin one). Though Pierce received full story credit you can imagine Maltese collaborating in some way as most of the story ideas were generated through studio “jam sessions” in which all directors and writers participated.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Coming Snafu

The first Private Snafu cartoon, produced for the U.S. military and shown as part of the Army-Navy Screen Magazine. Snafu is a barely-functioning soldier who gets help from omniscient narrators (usually played by Frank Graham) or Technical Fairy First Class. The theme tune is also known as “Oh, you horse’s ass”. Language (words like “damn” and “hell”) and gags (in one cartoon a woman’s large breasts are revealed to be two huge microphones with the Axis listening on the other end) could be racier here due to the adult military audience, mostly male at that time. The Snafu cartoons were the only black-and-white cartoons Jones ever directed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK JONES - Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur

Featuring Jack Lescoulie as the voice of Casper the Caveman. When WB needed Jack Benny imitations, Lescoulie was the go-to guy (including in Friz Freleng’s Benny tribute cartoon, “Malibu Beach Party”). He later had a successful career as a television announcer and co-host of “Today”.

DAILY CHUCK #32 - Soup or Sonic

Part of a 1980 Bugs Bunny TV special, this gained widespread publicity as Jones finally allows the Coyote to catch the Road Runner in the cartoons’ final gag. Stay tuned because today, Chuck Jones’ 100th Birthday, we’ll be showcasing 23 more of Jones’ cartoons, one an hour, only on davemackey.com. Happy Birthday Chuck!

DAILY CHUCK #31 - Rikki Tikki Tavi

Jones had a great affection for the works of Rudyard Kipling, and adapted his work several times for television in the 1970’s. Though the title character was voiced by Shep Menken, the real star here is Orson Welles. When Jones was awarded an honorary Oscar, presenter Robin Williams called Jones “the Orson Welles of animation”.

DAILY CHUCK #30 - The Bear That Wasn't

The other M-G-M one shot was based on a children’s book by the man he replaced as a Warner Bros. director back in 1938, Frank Tashlin. Paul Frees provided the voices here. Is he a bear, or a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat?