Since I'm taking a couple weeks away from writing these, I thought I'd reach into the past and post one of these from before I put them all on this blog. I originally wrote and posted what follows on Facebook on 4 February, 2023. I felt compelled to revisit it after a text conversation with my best friend last evening. I actually thought it was pretty good (if I do say so myself), so I thought I'd post it here. If nothing else, I've also been looking to commemorate the 85th anniversary of Bugs Bunny's screen debut in the cartoon short "A Wild Hare."
As a child, I used to get up every Saturday morning with my dad and watch Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. For those of you too young to remember, back in the old days, there were only three networks and on Saturday mornings they would air cartoons for kids who didn't have to be in school. As odd as it seems, this had a profound effect on my life. On the one hand, I can look back on it as a simple way to bond with Dad (he was a big Road Runner fan). On the other, it also started a fascination with animation which exists to this day. As an adult, I still enjoy animated movies and television programs, mostly to see if I can recognize the voice actors (was I the only person who geeked out over the fact that legendary character actor James Hong provided the voice of Mr. Gao in last year's Turning Red?).
I've frequently described myself as an amateur animation historian and will devour any kind of information I can get, particularly about animation that was done before I was born. Over the years, I've found myself studying the works of people like Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (as well as the rest of the "Nine Old Men"), Tex Avery, the Bobs (McKimson and Clampett), Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, and of course, the one and only Walter Elias Disney. But the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies that were produced by Warner Brothers' legendary Termite Terrace during animation's golden age from the 1930s through the 1960s will always be my favourites.
I've always cited Bugs Bunny as a personal hero. And while people look at me strangely when I say this, it's true. As the great animator/director Chuck Jones described it, Bugs Bunny is the comic hero while Daffy Duck is the comic loser. In the preface to the 1990 book Bugs Bunny: Fifty Years and Only One Grey Hare, Jones wrote, "My admiration for Bugs is immeasurable. When I look in the mirror, I see Daffy Duck, but when I look into my heart I see Bugs Bunny. Who in his right mind would not like to find himself a combination of Henry Higgins as played by Rex Harrison, Robin Hood as played by Douglas Fairbanks, and Dorothy Parker as played by Dorothy Parker? Fit them deftly into a sleek and stylish rabbit skin and you have Bugs Bunny. Yes! Daffy Duck is a rueful recognition of my own (and your own) ineptitudes, Bugs Bunny is a glorious personification of our most dapper dreams. We love Daffy because he is us, we love Bugs because he is as wonderful as we would like to be."
One longtime Warner Brothers animator (I think it was Bob Clampett, but don't quote me on that), once said something that totally surprised me. He said that the cartoons they made were never intended for children. They made them to amuse themselves. I've frequently said that most, if not all, creative endeavours are acts of self-indulgence, and I don't mean that as a bad thing. We need ways of expressing ourselves even if it's just for our own self-improvement and/or amusement (I think these weekly sermons should be proof enough of that). Whether or not what we create finds--and resonates with--an audience is something that only history will determine.
It's been more than 90 years since Warner Brothers released their first animated shorts and we still talk about them today (okay, maybe not those first ones--I can only think of two people who might read this entire missive that would know anything about "Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid"). And even though they're not the most politically correct/woke things out there--Daffy, Sylvester, and Elmer Fudd all seem to make fun of people with speech impediments *; there are, sadly, a lot of cringe-worthy racial stereotypes (e.g. Speedy Gonzales); explosives are way too easily accessible; alum was never used with anything but malicious intent; and, let's be frank about this, Pepé Le Pew is a sexual predator--many of these cartoons are considered classics today. Bugs is one of only a handful of animated characters who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 2004, Comedy Central listed the 51 greatest smart-asses of all time, placing Bugs in the top three alongside Bill Murray and Groucho Marx (two other pop culture idols of mine). Overall, I'd say history has been kind.
(And since I love throwing out bits of trivial information that only geeks know, I feel compelled to talk briefly about a common misconception about voice artist Mel Blanc. He actually did not perform all of those voices--he was just the only one who was credited. In his defense, he did do probably more than his fair share--Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Sylvester, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, and Foghorn Leghorn, first and foremost. But June Foray did quite a lot of supporting characters, most notably Granny and Witch Hazel (in fact, Chuck Jones once said that she was not the female Mel Blanc--Blanc was the male June Foray). Stan Freberg performed the voice of Pete Puma among other characters. But the big surprise to me was that Blanc did not provide the voice of Elmer Fudd in all those classic shorts. Radio personality Arthur Q. Bryan began voicing Fudd in 1940 and did so up until his death in 1959. Blanc did provide Elmer's voice when it was called for after Bryan passed away, but, as I understand it, he always felt it was Bryan's character.)
Some years back, I was watching "Jeopardy!" with my mother. While I didn't run the opera category, I did get more than half the clues correct. Mom looked at me and asked, "How do you know so much about opera?" I just looked at her and said, "Looney Tunes" (although to be fair, I did spend a decade managing the music department at Barnes & Noble in Bloomington, so I'm sure I picked up a few things in my then-day-job). One of the lasting impressions that Looney Tunes left on me--and I think it left this impression on a lot of people (especially children), whether they realized it or not--was an appreciation and a love for classical music and opera. While Carl Stalling's score for those cartoons was beautiful, even an essential part of the gags, a lot of classical and opera music was utilized, both to accentuate the animation as well as to help emphasize the jokes. And if you grew up watching those cartoons, it's hard to hear Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville without picturing Bugs massaging Elmer Fudd's scalp. I think it's also safe to say that when we hear Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre, the majority of us are singing, "Kill the wabbit, Kill the wabbit..."
In 1990, presumably to coincide with Bugs Bunny's 50th anniversary, conductor George Daugherty got the idea of presenting some of these classic cartoons on a large screen in front of an audience with a live orchestra playing the score, much of it composed by Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn. After premiering at the San Diego Civic Theatre in 1990, the show moved to the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway for a limited (and sold out) run. Over the next twenty years, the show was performed around the world with various international orchestras. So this week, as a little something different, from 1991, please enjoy the original Broadway recording of that show, Bugs Bunny on Broadway, performed by the Warner Brothers Symphony Orchestra, conducted by George Daugherty.
Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and what did you expect in an opera... a happy ending?
Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
* Contrary to popular belief, Porky Pig didn't really stutter. When Mel Blanc was trying to develop Porky's voice, he went to a farm and studied real pigs. What comes across as stuttering to us (especially when done by the voice actors who came after Blanc), is actually the grunting noise that pigs tend to make.
