Duck Season! Rabbit Season!

I remember when Mel Blanc died, and there was this beautiful two-page tribute run by Warner Brothers in Variety.
On one page, there was a single microphone, illuminated by a spotlight.
On the facing page, tewnty or so Warner Brothers cartoon characters stood, heads bowed, eyes closed.
The caption read: “Speechless”
It brought tears to my eyes, because I wasn’t as much of a badass then, as I am now.
So last night, when I heard that Chuck Jones died, I remembered that tribute in Variety, and it got me thinking…would the Merrie Melodies have been as cool as they were, without both of those guys?
Chuck Jones was being eulogized last night as the creator of Bugs Bunny, among others, but I bet you that he’d be the first to tell you that, without Mel Blanc, those would have just been drawings, and not full-fledged characters, as they were.
So now they’re both gone, and holy crap, what a legacy they’ve left. I defy you to show me any person over the age of 25 who hasn’t been profoundly affected by Looney Tunes, in one way or another.
I mean, without Looney Tunes, there would have been no Ren and Stimpy, for crying out loud!
I hope the Cartoon Network runs 900 hours of tribute to Chuck Jones. That’d be cool.

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85 thoughts on “Duck Season! Rabbit Season!”

  2. Looney Tunes was the best, to hell with that Mouse Mickey! The creators of Merrie Melodies where the premodern father’s of all great cartoon animators. They created “The Simpsons” and “South Park” of their time touching politics (although they were limited), celebrities, and arts (remember the ever so famous Elmer Fudd opera). They didn’t need computers or lavish technology. They worked in a termite infested shack in the Warner brothers lot (hence Termite terrace). They were my inspiration and heroes. They tested the limits of animation at age of depression. Without them my cartoons would have no real heart, and soon (God I hope soon) my cartoons will live as they did. God bless Mel Blanc and Chuck Jones without them i would be so lost.

  4. I dunno if this has been mentioned already in the strand but…I hate it and it is ad that now a days those old, great, and classic cartoons are edited to shreds. I do realise that some of the reasons why but it is still sad. Is there any unedited old classic carttons on video or DVD??

  5. Toonces wrote:
    olafandy wrote, “Kermit, Bugs and Snoopy…how can I forget them?”
    The thing is, olafandy, you *shouldn’t* forget the,. 🙂
    Right on, Toonces! : ) I just thought it would be a good place to paraphrase Charles Schultz’s quote in his final Peanuts cartoon.

  6. First Post!
    Sad, I am that Chuck Jones is no longer with us.
    One of my many favourites of his huge body of work would have to be “Duck Dogers in the 24th and a half Century!!”
    Cool looking scifi in the fifties? Getouttahere!
    “Are you ready, eager young space cadet?”
    (Also the look on Wiley’s face when gravity kicked in was always fabulous!)

  7. I’m heartened to see so many Marvin the Martian fans. I have about 250 items, most gleaned from the WB stores *RIP* I’ll miss my martian.
    Chuck will be sorely missed.

  9. I had said earlier:
    “Kermit, Bugs and Snoopy…how can I forget them?”
    Don’t you hate it when you’re trying to express something and you realize the next day you’ve omitted a word that changes the whole context of your post?
    Even when someone attempted to point it out to you in a later post?
    Sleep deprivation-fear it!
    God, I feel like such a nimrod…
    So to paraphrase Charles Schultz properly:
    “Kermit, Bugs and Snoopy…how can I EVER forget them?”

  10. You brought tears to my eyes, Wil.
    Despite all the blathering (and over-promotion) that goes on about the Disney characters, the Warners characters were by far my favorites. I’d sit and watch those guys for an afternoon a lot faster than I would the Disney stuff. Great stories, great characters … they’ll live on forever.
    Thanks again for a website that’s one of the high points of my day. You (and the posse) rock!

  11. It’s SO hard to pick just ONE Loony Toon but, one of the good ones was when Bugs was being chased around by that witch and every time she took off running or on her broom, she’d leave little hair pins behind her…HAHAHA…oh man.
    And Wil, I’m 17 and Loony Toons had a HUGE impact on my life. I remember when TV was cool and they had Loony Toons on Saturday Morning Cartoons on ABC….man I miss that.

  12. Wow, I didn’t see the Mel Blanc cartoon in Variety. But being somewhat older, ahem, I remember a similar cartoon the day after Walt Disney died. It had no caption and featured a duck, probably Donald, looking up at Walt’s tombstone with a big tear rolling down his cheek. It brought tears to my badass eyes then and still does now.
    Somehow I don’t think the same thing would work for Michael Eisner.

  13. A great story related to me by a friend of mine after we heard about Chuck Jones’ passing:
    “During the big costume contest (at DragonCon, a scifi con), the main ballroom is filled with maybe 4000 people or so.
    Well, when it finally wraps up, they often have some time to kill while the judging is going on. This can often go 20 minutes or so. So they often put a few Warner Brothers cartoons on the main viewscreen.
    They always show DUCK DODGERS when they do that, it being a scifi convention after all. And they often show ROBIN HOOD DAFFY or whatever it’s called.
    Anyway, Chuck was, I think, one of the judges of the costume contest, and he was behind the stage and the big screen, so he wasn’t seeing what was going on (and probably, since the speakers were turned the other way, couldn’t hear the cartoons like the audience could).
    But what he did hear was 4000 people, in unison, screaming the lines, “I’m DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24TH AND A HALF CENTURY!” or Porky’s “Hello, you Thing From Another World, you!”
    Anyway, he was just flabbergasted, that there were 4000 people who knew these lines by heart and were yelling them out in time with the movie. From convention staff who were backstage and witnessed it, he was moved, almost to tears, by the realization of how powerful a thing he had made.
    What I mean is, obviously, he knew his stuff was popular, but the sensation of being behind the stage and hearing thousands of people roar the lines from one of his cartoons, when he was involved in another thing entirely (judging this costume contest), really moved and surprised him.
    I thought that was neat.”

  15. Is there anyone in the past 30 years who’s childhood hasn’t been framed by classic WB cartoons?
    Losing Mel Blanc was like losing the voice of my childhood… now we lost Chuck Jones too. What a sad day.

  17. I LOVE The Duck. Even got him on my mouse pad. Favorite cartoon? Hmmm. Either the Scarlet Pumpernickel or Duck Amuck. It’s in the Scarlet cartoon that we find out the Daffy’s middle name is Dumas. heheheh. Love him!!

  18. according to the infallible game of trivial pursuit, on his death bed, mel blanc spoke in the voice of bugs bunny as he slipped in and out of a coma.

  19. To all:
    Please go out and get the definitive chronicle of CJ, “Chuck Amuck” at your local bookstore or find it online. This book is a peek behind the scenes and behind the man, a true wonder. As a child who was raised on Looney Tunes, and a huge fan of Chuck in particular, I relished the insights into the process of creating such memorable characters and learning about his life. He shall never be forgotten, but always missed.

  20. Just to let everyone know. Boomerang, which is a spinoff channel of Cartoon Network, will be having a 24 hour Chuch Jones marathon starting on Friday March 1st at 8am(not sure which time zone) and, of course, running until 8am Saturday morning.

  22. Thanks for recognizing Chuck Jones. I read he died and quite saddened. It took me a moment to figure out why, but in retrospect, here was someone who added so much laughter to my life and never knew it. Far too many hours as a child, even more as an adult. I’ve never been embarassed to admit my love for Looney Tunes, especially the Chuck Jones creations. He was a genious.

  23. Ah, the memories:
    (circa 1978) – Mom’s in “her chair” watching Roadrunner & Coyote. My brother and I are sitting on the floor, not watching the TV, but watching Mom. It’s probably the only time we ever get to see her really, really laugh – and just about laugh herself into an asthma attack at that!
    (August 1991) – Riding in the car with Mom on our way from Florida to Colorado for my uncle’s funeral. She’s found a classical radio station somewhere in the middle of Texas. After a while there’s this song I hear. Sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it. “DUM de DUM dum, DUM de DUM dum…” I ask Mom what it is; she doesn’t know. Then suddenly it hits me and I start singing “Kill da Wabbit, Kill da Wabbit…”
    Incidentally, my husband (a big Marvin fan, BTW) claims that ol’ Wile E. actually caught Roadrunner once. He says Coyote held up a sign saying something to the effect of “Okay, you wanted me to catch him–now what?” Has anybody seen this?

  24. Cartoons, you know the insane thing is, here in the Uk, it’s considered strange if you still like cartoons at my age (19).
    Comon what’s not luv, I rember all those winter nites spent rolled out in the front room watching Bugs&Daffy, while fithing with the ‘rents to get 5minutes more of tv time to watch them.
    My brother gave me a mug for my birthday a couple of years back with Daffy Duck on it, and on the other side was a msge, about depsite the fact that he was one dispicable little black duck, you couldn’t not help but admire his attitude, whcih perfectly describes me I think……..

  25. I’ve been a huge fan of WB cartoons my whole life. I’ll watch Looney Tunes anytime I can catch them on TV.
    Favorite characters were always Marvin, Taz and Gossamer, the big orange monster. It seemed like nobody ever knew his name was Gossamer. I worked at a WB studio store a couple of years ago, and the gallery manager let me work in the gallery because I knew Gossamer’s name. 🙂

  26. “Turn out that light!”
    “Stop steaming up my glasses!”
    “I’m feeling mighty low.”
    “I’m calling Uncle Looie. Got a nickel.” (Elmer Fudd reaches into his pocket and gives him the nickel. Bugs puts it in his pocket and makes the call from Elmer’s phone.)
    “Ehhhh, what’s all the hubbub, Bub?”
    “Don’t pile on the rabbit.”
    “One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready (Bugs takes off early.), and four to (Telegram for Tudor Turtle. Tuder slowly opens it, has trouble with his glasses, messenger returns on a motorscooter and reads it for him.) Go you fool! Go!”
    “Roses are red, violets are pink, sugar tastes sweet but you sure stink.” PS I’ve enclosed a big B. Bee flies out of the bouqet and stings Red Baron’s (Yosemite Sam) nose.
    “Have you prepared a statement for the press.”
    “Yes, I have prepared a statement for the press. Get me outta here!”
    “I usually take a size 36.”
    Injun Joe.
    “Which way did he go? Which way did he go?”
    “I hate that rabbit.”
    “The first one of you damn Yankees to come out of the dugout gets his head blasted off!”
    “Shanghai Sam, Square Deal Sam.”
    “Ahoy there enemy! Enemy ahoy!
    “You’re desssspicable.”

  28. Pete Puma is the best. Its cool that my daughters, 10 and 7 years of age, love it as much as I have. “how many lumps?……….”

  30. FOR ALL MARVIN FANS THAT RECIEVE CARTOON NETWORK ON AUGUST 23, A NEW DUCK DODGERS FILM WILL BE APPEARING, PROBABLY NOT AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINALS. BUT ITS GOT TO BE BETTER THEN THE CRAPPY VIDEO GAME MARVIN WANNABES. DON’T GET ME WRONG I LOVE MY GAMES AS MUCH AS THE NEXT PERSON BUT THEY JUST DON’T DO MARVIN JUSTICE.

  31. The Rabbit of Seville is my Fav. Buggs massaging Elmer Fudds head with his toes cracks me up every time. all cut to the classic music.
    A true classic toon moment

  35. I love all of them. Have any of you also remembered the cartoon mouse versions of Jack Benny and co.? One of my favorites was Gremlins from the Kremlin. And who can forget Daffy’s frustration at Bugs not playing the xylaphone properly after he boobytrapped it? Yes, I did, I did, I did see a puttytat.

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