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Today’s post is another scene by scene breakdown. This time it’s one of Chuck Jones’ many great late 40s Bugs Bunny shorts, RABBIT HOOD (1949). I’m amazed this one has gone so long without being on a Golden Collection. Gotta make room for those obscure Hollywood parodies… It’ll be on the next one, I bet.

Confession: This is just paraphrasing one of the old newsgroup posts by the incredibly knowledgable Greg Duffell. He knows more about differentiating Warner animators than anyone else on this planet. I’ve learned more from reading these old posts of his than many books.

This first scene is entirely animated by Phil Monroe. Monroe is particularly good at rubbery movements, as seen here and later in the cartoon.

The shot of Bugs at the wall (not in this clip), and being chased is by Ken Harris. Ben Washam animates the rest of this clip. Washam’s Bugs is widely-known as being ‘chiseled-tooth’, a trait that carried on throughout his career with the rabbit. If you don’t laugh at this scene I seriously question your sense of humor.

Ken Harris animates the first little bit up until the close-up of Bugs. Harris was arguably one of the best at putting real ‘acting’ into his animation, exemplified even more later on.

Phil Monroe animates the bit with Bugs introducing the Sheriff to Little John. “S of N, L.J. . L.J., S of N…”

Lloyd Vaughan then handles the rest of this clip, with Bugs urging the Sheriff to look away at the supposed king. He often used blur techniques that Virgil Ross was using over in Freleng’s unit. Just take a look at Bugs’ arm.

Ken Harris almost entirely animates the rest of the cartoon. Bugs expressions are very subtle, but entirely believeable, as he is repeatedly bashing the Sheriff on the skull. “Got lotsa stamina!”

Lloyd Vaughan comes in to animate Bugs baking the cake. It goes back to Harris with Bugs placing the cake so the Sheriff will fall headfirst into it. Harris also handles the fantastic piece of Bugs mocking Little John. Ben Washam handles Bugs take after seeing Errol Flynn, and Harris animates, “Nah, dat’s silly, it couldn’t be him.” I’m at a loss for who animates Errol Flynn though.

Here’s more of the best Columbia (IMHO) had to offer. Enjoy!

WOLF CHASES PIGS (1942) D: Frank Tashlin

SILENT TWEETMENT (1946) D: Bob Wickersham

UP N’ ATOM (1947) D: Sid Marcus. Written by Bob Clampett. Voices by Stan Freberg.

As I promised you, kick off your weekend with three good Columbia cartoons.

The first one is considered the best one the studio ever did, and I’m inclined to think the same! The second is a great anti-Hitler picture, with some animation by Emery Hawkins. The third is just a really funny one, notably the last black-and-white major studio cartoon (from 1946 yet!) I’ve also dubbed that one the lost cartoon with Buzz Buzzard and Chilly Willy…

THE FOX & GRAPES (1941) D: Frank Tashlin

CHOLLY POLLY (1942) D: Alec Geiss

THE SCHOONER THE BETTER (1946) D: Howard Swift

Like what you see? Come back tomorrow for more Columbia goodness!

There’s been a lot of prejudice on the internet lately. Several notable blogs have been posting scans from beautiful looking Golden Books… But where’s the scans from the Wonderful World of Wonder Books?! It’s plain bigotry I tells ya!

But leave it to me, I’ll make this right… I have no idea who illustrated this book. Maybe Jerry Beck knows. But these are some of the neatest looking drawings of Buzzy the Crow and ‘Katsy’ I’ve ever seen. The coloring is particularly interesting. Gives it a nice psychedelic feel.

These scans aren’t of the highest quality, but like I always say… “Always agree if the meal is free!”

Enjoy! I’ll be posting a Herman & Katnip Wonder Book later on, which is just as neat looking!

If you haven’t learned to have disdain for DVNR, I’m gonna see to it that you do!

This article can explain the whole thing better than I can:

Digital Noise Reduction: Where’d That Cartoon Go? by Amid Amidi

Today’s first example of why DVNR blows chunks is one of Robert McKimson’s finest cartoons, GORILLA MY DREAMS (1948).

Images on the left are from the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2 DVD. Images on the right are from the Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol. 1 laserdisc.

Sad isn’t it? I’ll have more disgusting examples of how DVNR is ruining classic animation on home video in the future. As a bonus, here’s my favorite scene from this particular cartoon, primarily animated by Manny Gould. It’s taken from the laser, so no need to worry about DVNR here.

Today’s cartoon is another favorite of mine, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera’s Oscar winning short, QUIET PLEASE! (1945), featuring Tom & Jerry.

Ray Patterson animates this whole opening scene from the cartoon. Like Rod Scribner, Patterson was more concerned with the acting abilities of his characters rather than making them look pretty. You can watch this bit silent and know that Spike is about a second away from murdering Tom. I think he’s my personal favorite out of all of the Tom & Jerry animators.

Irv Spence is known for wildness, and was one of Tex Avery’s best animators at Warners. He was particularly gifted for animating painful sequences, though not this scene in particular. It sure looks like it hurt when Jerry jabs Tom in the stomach, though!

Ken Muse was used similarly like Bob McKimson at Warners, as he usually was assigned more subtle scenes, like this one of Tom putting Spike to sleep on the Knock-Out Drops. He certainly constructed the characters the best. Actually, come to think of it, doesn’t Tom look like an old tyme melodrama villain with those whiskers looking like a mustache? Snidley Whiplash anyone?

I can’t say I’m a big fan of Ed Barge’s animation though. It’s much weaker than the other animators’ work, particularly into the 1950s. He seemed more concerned with having the characters look decent without much acting or fluid movement. His work was funnier to see in the mid-40s, when it looked like Tom & Jerry were more Harman-Ising-ish than usual. He did everything in this clip, except for Tom running back into the room and startled by Spike’s ‘growling’ (that’s Spence again).

Muse picks up with Jerry lifting Spike’s eyelid, until Tom does his trademark yell after being bashed on the foot. Spence handles Jerry lighting the dynamite to Spike rolling up his sleeves and running off screen to beat the stuffing out of Tom. Muse picks up again with the pulverized Tom till the iris out.

Lots of cartoons have been based around this theme of keeping quiet. But I think this take on the theme is leagues ahead of any of them. Tom & Jerry do everything the best.