Bugs Bunny Show Part 3

Thanks for all the great comments, and Jerry over at Cartoon Brew for featuring the last Bugs episode!

Here's another good one. Sylvester is the host, but can't get a word in edgewise...between Sylvester Jr. and Hippety Hopper!

Bugs Bunny Show-Sylvester and Junior
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Bugs Bunny Show Part 2

Here's an episode that appears to have been the pilot, or at least a very early entry in "The Bugs Bunny Show". It's a crying shame that Warner Bros. and TV affiliates treated these shows so badly. These few black and white tapes, and a few snippets in color, are all that's known to be left of the series. The original negatives were cut up for reruns, and much of the color footage is presumed lost forever. I applaud Jerry Beck and Warner Bros. Home Video for restoring what they've been able to find. This one is a rare glimpse at what it must have been like to watch the show on ABC in 1961...when many viewers still had black and white televisions.

This episode further solidifies the Bugs/Daffy relationship, and has different characters interacting for the first time. There's a great bit with Sylvester chasing Tweety, only to get scared into the rafters by Speedy and land on Daffy. We also get a rare encounter between Foghorn Leghorn and Pepe Le Pew, some re-used animation from "Duck Amuck", and Daffy meeting Speedy for the first time ever (It doesn't go well!) Enjoy this all-star Looney Tunes treasure!

Bugs Bunny Show- Early Intro episode
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

The Bugs Bunny Show: Pepe and Sam

Here's a rare treasure that I'll guarantee most of you have never seen before. It has never been restored for a Golden Collection. Here is a complete episode of "The Bugs Bunny Show" from 1961. It's in black and white (they were made in color) and I've removed the cartoon shorts to save time...but all the link footage is here. Pepe Le Pew decides to host the show in place of Yosemite Sam, who doesn't appreciate being upstaged! There is also a hilarious segment with Taz!

Enjoy this rare gem! Maybe I'll post more of these...

Bugs Bunny Show- Pepe Le Pew Meets Yosemite Sam
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Daffy Saves the Wetlands

Here's a public service announcement from the early 1990s with Daffy urging us to save America's wetlands.

Right on Target

Well, it's now or never to post this one. In 1996, as part of the huge marketing campaign for Space Jam, the Looney Tunes appeared in a series of commercials for Target stores. This one features country singer LeAnn Rimes performing at an LT Christmas party. Even though its pretty tough to spot them in a YouTube-quality video, there are a bunch of split-second cameos by many minor LT players such as Sam Sheepdog, Miss Prissy, Witch Hazel, the Three Bears, and others.

1989 Christmas tin

This fun Christmas item from 1989 features the whole Looney Tunes gang carolling. Brach's candies, the company who produced this item, did a follow-up for Bugs' 50th birthday in 1990...both were some of the last items Warner licensed before standardizing their models of the characters and creating the clipart we see today.

Tweety on Twial!

A recent story as reported on CNN's website:

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Tweety may get a chance to take the witness stand and sing like a canary.

An Italian court ordered the animated bird, along with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and his girlfriend Daisy, to testify in a counterfeiting case.

In what lawyers believe was a clerical error worthy of a Looney Tunes cartoon, a court in Naples sent a summons to the characters ordering them to appear Friday in a trial in the southern Italian city, officials said.

The court summons cites Titti, Paperino, Paperina, Topolino -- the Italian names for the characters -- as damaged parties in the criminal trial of a Chinese man accused of counterfeiting products of Disney and Warner Bros.

Instead of naming only the companies and their legal representatives, clerks also wrote in the witness list the names of the cartoons that decorated the toys and gadgets the man had reproduced, said Fiorenza Sorotto, vice president of Disney Company Italia.

"Unfortunately they cannot show up, as they are residents of Disneyland," Sorotto joked in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It certainly pleased us that the characters were considered real, because that's what we try to do."

The Naples court will have to rewrite the summons, although this will probably delay the trial, said Disney lawyer Cristina Ravelli.

"Let's hope the characters will not be prosecuted for failing to appear," Ravelli quipped.

Calls seeking comment from Warner Bros. in Milan were not immediately returned. Phones at the Naples court were not answered Tuesday.

Bob Bergen sent along this funny MP3 of what it may have been like if Tweety actually DID take the stand. Click here to listen!

(Thanks, Bob!)

"Bugs and Friends Sing the Beatles"

The 90's were a great time for cartoon-inspired novelty albums. Kids and adults alike enjoyed listening to the many compilations of Disney movie tunes, music from the likes of Animaniacs, Ren and Stimpy and other then-current TV hits. Warner Bros. decided that maybe they should try something with Looney Tunes. In 1995, they released "Bugs and Friends Sing the Beatles".

The absence of Mel Blanc hurt this album tremendously, but the four voice actors who played Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Taz did a pretty decent job. Bugs was played by an actor nemed Mendi Segal (sp?) Daffy was Joe Alaskey, Taz was Jim Cummings, and Fudd was Jim Meskimen, who later wound up doing George W. Bush for the jibjab.com political cartoons.

Here's a sampling of the results...not bad, really! A real highlight is Joe Alaskey doing Yosemite Sam as a pirate in "Help!"...

UPDATE (12/18/07): Bob Bergen sends along some more information about the LT Beatles album:

Regarding your Looney Tunes Beatles blog, I myself participated in this project, but sadly the songs I sang were cut. Originally Porky sang Mother Nature's Son, and Tweety sang Yellow Submarine. But for reasons I don't know they decided to cut Porky and Tweety. I think the feeling was they wanted to have a Looney Tunes fab 4. With the inclusion of Porky and Tweety, that would make 6. Too many toons. Those tracks exist somewhere. Not sure where, though.

I did participate (and thankfully didn't get cut) on Bugs and Friends Sing Elvis. Porky was fat Elvis. It came in a blue suede CD box.

Misce-looney-ous Bookshelf - Bugs Bunny Calling!

Welcome back to another installment of the Misce-Looney-ous Bookshelf. Today we take a look at a charming and timeless storybook with some wonderful illustrations. Just kidding... we are actually taking a look at Bugs Bunny Calling! a hilariously outdated Little Golden Book from 1988.



The following page speaks for itself:



Yes, Bugs is thrilled that he got his new cordless phone. "Now I can call my friends and go skateboarding at the same time!"
Bugs skateboards around town calling his friends Porky, Elmer and Petunia and find out they are planning to go to a party.



You can tell cordless phones were just coming into style here. The characters are all baffled and confused at the thought of Bugs skateboarding past their houses when they just talked with him on the phone. Anyway, it turns out they are heading to Daffy's house for a pool party.



Everyone realizes Bugs was really talking to them on a newfangled tele-o-phone, Bugs hops in the pool and gets the food soaked. Bugs then calls out for pizza for the gang ("And please don't forget the grated carrots!") The End.

The Penguin Parade

Here's a fun Tex Avery cartoon from 1938. There's a great music score from Carl Stalling in this one (especially the finale where the penguins play "When My Dream Boat Comes Home") and some very funny gags like the impossible-to-understand host of the show (was this someone's radio schtick at the time? Hanna and Barbera also used it in "The Goose Goes South" at MGM in 1941).

Misce-Looney-ous Bookshelf - Alert All Martians

Welcome to what I hope will be a recurring feature here on the blog - The Misce-Looney-ous Bookshelf. Without really trying very hard, I have somehow managed to amass a fairly large library of children's books featuring the Looney Tunes characters. The earliest book I own dates back to 1948 while others are as recent as a few years ago. I plan on showcasing examples of these here. I won't be scanning entire books. Mostly because I am lazy, but also most of the books I will be showcasing can be tracked down with very little effort and little money (you can find most of these storybooks fairly easy for some pocket change at the local thift shop or for cheap on eBay). I hope you enjoy these trips down memory lane.



First up is a fairly recent book - Alert All Martians. I don't know much about these books, but a company called "DS-MAX" put out a series of small, thick boardback books in 2000. Each book contained a comic book-style story, some of which appeared to be reprints from the Bugs Bunny daily comic strip from the late 1990s while others seemed to be stories reprinted from DC's modern LT comic book. This book appears to be a series of gags from the daily strip. Obviously inspired by the cartoon "Jumpin' Jupiter", Porky and scaredy-cat Sylvester have watched a sci-fi movie on TV called The Attack of the 60-Foot Slime Monster From the Planet Sludge... and, well, you can see what happens next...

NOTE - the layout of these books were a little awkward. The panels weren't set up the way you'd expect (I know I was a bit confused when I first read one of these DS-MAX books). On the first scan below I added numbers for the panels that should give you an idea how to read the remaining pages.

Blue Ribbons: What if...

What if Warner Bros. got the notion to restore the credits to the Merrie Melodies cartoons that have no original titles available? Judging by the Golden Collection DVDs, they've found plenty of the original titles, but some are still missing. Would it be too much to ask if they created new title cards to give credit to the people known to have been credited? They did something like that for the music cue for "Bashful Buzzard" on the latest collection. Here's an idea, using an animation drawing of Sniffles, Photoshop, and a couple crappy Youtube files, of how they might go about recreating titles for "Bedtime for Sniffles".

The bullseye/tunnel titles are from "Confederate Honey", made the same year, 1940. The title card is my own creation, using an animation drawing of Sniffles.

Bedtime for Sniffles- Imagined Restored Credits
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Have Yourself an Ugly Little Christmas

I am not sure why, but I am actually kind of fond of these little ceramic Christmas ornaments released by "Dave Grossman Designs" from 1977-1979. They are so ugly, they're cute. I actually owned the creepy little Porky in the first picture at one point. I also like how they even made little hideously deformed versions of Foghorn and Beaky Buzzard.







Images from - http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/set/8681/grossman.html

"The Mouse on 57th Street" Commentary

Here's a 1961 Chuck Jones cartoon that gets zero notice or appreciation. It should.

Mouse on 57th Street Commentary
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Louvre Come Back to Me Commentary

Here's a look at one of Chuck Jones' overlooked classics.

Louvre Come Back to Me Commentary
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

"Sky Scraper Caper" Commentary

Here's my commentary on a really lousy later short by Alex Lovy.

Sky Scraper Caper Commentary
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

A Misce-Looney-ous Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

This month has just flown by. I was originally planning to devote separate posts to all of the following, but instead I will be presenting them as one giant Thanksgiving-themed post.

First, here's a fairly recent Thanksgiving card from Hallmark with some nice original artwork.



back of card -



Coming up next...


There aren't that many animated Thanksgiving TV specials. However, the Looney Tunes gang can boast that they appeared in TWO different specials themed to the holiday. The first of the two was 1979's Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet. It's nothing really remarkable and at least it's not unwatchable like Bugs Bunny's Howl-o-Ween was. In new wraparound footage, Bugs is a diet doctor who gives advice to various patients (including June Foray's "Millicent" character from "Rabbit Romeo").

Next up, we have Chuck Jones' "Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special" from 1981. This special seems to have been done mostly to showcase Jones' "Duck Dodgers" sequel. The second Dodgers cartoon was originally made at the request of George Lucas to be shown in front of The Empire Strikes Back. However, those plans fell through and the short didn't surface until this primetime special (Production problems? Rejected by Lucas? Anyone know the story?). The version of "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2 Century" here actually includes some more footage that wasn't included in the stand-alone version of this short (most notably Marvin advising us Earthlings we have three days to prepare for Earth's destruction).

(On a sidenote, rewatching this special reminded me how funny "His Bitter Half" is. That shooting gallery gag makes me laugh every single time. Hopefully it'll be on a Golden Collection soon!)

I have always wondered if the final bit in this special ("Why don't we remake it before we shelve it") was Jones' commentary on the actual production of the second "Dodgers" cartoon?

And now for a TRUE Thanksgiving classic. Here's Art Davis' "Holiday For Drumsticks" from 1949:

Daffy Duck - Holiday For Drumsticks
Uploaded by Necopodalex

Happy Thanksgiving!

Buddy Blog

Sorry for kind of slacking with the blog this month... anyway, check out this great blog post by our pal Larry T featuring the rarely seen UNEDITED version of "Buddy's Show Boat".

Click here.

"Fair and Worm-Er" (1946)

Before Wile E. Coyote, Chuck Jones was creating parodies of the conventional "chase" cartoon. Here's one that's rearely seen these days, and it's a shame. It's a great cartoon, in bad need of restoration and recognition. Keep a lookout for an early Pepe Le Pew, and a dog catcher who looks a lot like Private Snafu but talks like Jimmy Durante!

FAIR AND WORMER
Uploaded by dandu386

Russell Stover 2007

Chocolate maker Russell Stover has been releasing Looney Tunes items around Valentine's Day, Easter, and Christmas for many years now. Each Christmas they issue a set of PVC figures packaged with a small container of peanut butter cups. I saw this year's collection at Kmart tonight:



-- Bugs Bunny dressed as Santa
-- Tweety w/ a candy cane
-- Marvin the Martian coming out of a stocking
-- Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote coming out of a wreath

I was pleasantly surprised to see that RR and Coyote were among this year's collection (believe it or not, there wasn't a Taz this year). Keep an eye open for them.

UPDATE --- Well, after mentioning this to Matthew (the PVC collector extraordinaire)... it turns out these figures (with the exception of maybe Tweety) are repeats of figures released a few years back. I had never seen them before, so I must've missed these guys the first time around. Anyway, they are out there again for this holiday season!

Today's the day!

It's October 30! The fifth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection is available right NOW at your favorite retail establishment. Go out today and buy a copy (or two or four) and support quality classic cartoon DVD releases like these.

All the details (list of cartoons & extras) can be found here.

You can order a copy from Amazon.com via this link here.

Between cartoon viewings, be sure to join the party over on the Golden Age Cartoons Forums and discuss the release in the annual Golden Collection Talkback Thread.

Halloween Party Pops

A few years ago, something as minor as the Looney Tunes characters appearing on a bag of cheap Halloween candy wouldn't have been anything noteworthy. However, these days any Looney Tunes merchandise of any variety seems to grab my attention... and new LT merchandise that doesn't rely on stock decade old clip-art poses is even more rare. So, here is a bag of "Costume Party Fun Pops" made by Adams and Brooks, Inc. from this year. That's the same company that made the Pepe Le Pew "Luv Pops" Matthew wrote about back in February. I am assuming that's original artwork of Bugs, Daffy, Taz and Tweety dressed for Halloween. I should note that even though Bugs and Daffy are on the outside of the bag, only Taz and Tweety were worthy enough to get their own "Fun Pops" inside.

Countdown to Vol. 5 - Part 4

Only five more days 'till Volume 5.

Coming a little later than the previous collections, the 4th LT Golden Collection was released on November 14, 2006. While the set kicked off with the annual disc of Bugs Bunny cartoons many were surprised by the discs devoted to director Frank Tashlin and another featuring nothing but Speedy Gonzales cartoons. Even without a single Pepe Le Pew short in sight on this set, WB put together the following "romance" themed trailer...

Looney Tunes Halloween

Now that the horrible "Howl-Oween Special" has scarred you for life, here's a selection of Halloween-themed Warner cartoons, some of which were used in that awful thing. Watching these on their own is a MUCH more enjoyable experience!

"It's an Ill Wind"


"The Great Piggy Bank Robbery"

Daffy Duck - The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)
Uploaded by TYKUN

"Scaredy Cat"


"Bewitched Bunny"


"Hyde and Go Tweet"


"Water, Water, Every Hare"


"Broom Stick Bunny"


"Transylvania 6-5000"



"A Haunting We Will Go"


"Night of the Living Duck"

Unhappy Howl-o-ween

We Looney Tunes fans may not agree on everything, but there is at least one thing I think everyone can agree on.  Bugs Bunny's Howl-o-ween Special is awful.  It is so awful it reaches whole new levels of awfulness.  While I will readily admit most of the "cut-and-paste" LT television specials of the 1970s and '80s are in no way great, I still get that feeling of nostalgia whenever I see one.  It takes me back to a time as a kid when seeing a cartoon special on primetime television really was something special.  CBS would usually pair up one of these Bugs specials with a Peanuts or Garfield special.  Yet, even as a kid I thought Howl-o-ween was horrible..  You get the impression that whoever slapped this show together didn't even TRY to have it make any sense (Witch Hazel's house apparently has the ability to change in every scene? Hazel turns herself into Count Bloodcount(!)? ...etc.) and DePatie-Freleng apparently had a budget of about $6.95 for the animation of the new connecting scenes.  Thanks to the miracle of in2TV you can enjoy (?) this special for yourself.

Trick or Tweet

More costume fun for Halloween...

Kids WB is kaput

Yeah, I know this is old news ... Kids WB, the Warner Bros. Saturday morning animation block, will be ending next year. The block launched in 1995 with the rest of the WB Network. It began as a showcase for WB's library of classic and contemporary cartoon shows including, of course, the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (Chuck Jones' Michigan J. Frog from "One Froggy Evening" was the mascot for the entire network --- someday we'll get around to doing a blog post of various WB network promos featuring the frog). I won't get into the whole history, mostly because I haven't paid much attention to the "Kids WB" programming since about 1997. Judging by the fact they are closing up shop, I guess everyone else in America did the same. Here's a write-up over on Wikipedia. After awhile programming execs discovered they could make quick cash by dumping stuff like Bugs Bunny and playing stuff like Pokemon non-stop. I think everyone knew the block's days were numbered since the WB Network itself went off the air, becoming "The CW" network, about a year ago. This webpage over on my LT & MM website chronicles the Looney Tunes history on Kids WB.

Here is a video of the opening to The Bugs 'n Daffy Show (not to be confused with Cartoon Network's Bugs and Daffy Show). Featuring a rather catchy original theme song sung by Billy West (Bugs) and Joe Alaskey (Daffy).

Here are a couple random promos featuring the Looney Tunes characters (among others, seen via recycled and redubbed animation)...

Crank Dat Road Runner

How do you get a hit song on the radio these days? Simple, repetitive hip-hop beat? Check. Rapping your name over it? Check. Spark a dance craze with the goofy moves in your video? Check. Suck so bad you spark a whole wave of parodies that are better then the original? Double check.

Rapper Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)" is so ubiquitous that the Youtubers have created so many parodies it's unbelievable. There seems to be a "Crank Dat (Everything)" now. There's crank dat Spiderman, crank dat Batman, crank dat SpongeBob, crank dat Bill Clinton, Crank dat Super Mario, Crank dat Chipmunks...you get the idea.

But one clever group of hip-hoppers has redone the song with new lyrics, and its actually kind of catchy. Here's a video someone did for "Crank Dat (Roadrunner)" by "Concrete Boyz".

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Countdown to Volume 5 - Part 3

The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 3 was released on October 25, 2005. The contents of this third volume seemed to be aiming more towards the adult collector (as noted on the packaging). We got a Porky disc with a good amount of black-and-white entries and a disc full of Hollywood caricature cartoons.

First, I can't be the only one who immediately thought of this clip as soon as they saw the trailer for Vol. 3...

Second, it's amusing to note that the clips of "Porky Pig's Feat" used in the Volume 3 trailer were from the redrawn version.

Third, I still don't get this cover art featuring a toothless Bugs holding onto some unknown girl??

Back from vacation/ cool bedspread

Well, I'm back from my week-long vacation, and what a vacation it was. My parents and I went to our old favorite place...the New Jersey shore. It was sort of a 50th birthday present to my mom, who grew up in Pennsylvania. To top it off, my dad snagged tickets to see Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden in new York City...ironic that I was creating a Looney-themed music video of a new song by the guy and had NO idea what my dad had planned for us!

Anyway, the house my folks rented had a fun addition to the room I stayed in. It was clearly designed as a kids' room by the owners, and had a bedspread featuring a certain gang of cartoon characters...






The bedspread was, apparently, from 1996, and used old drawings and model sheets rather than the standard publicity poses of the era...one of the only Looney Tunes items I've ever seen that did that.

To see more of the bedspread, check this out:

More bedspread picts

Another interesting LT-related fact...Avalon, NJ is home to a wonderful fish market called "Sylvester's", (the founders' last name was "Sylvester") which, sadly, was not open at this time of year. But there's an infamous story about a Warner Bros. executive who vacationed there in the late 1980s, who threatened to sue if they didn't remove their wonderful sign featuring the iconic Looney Tunes "puddy tat". the Sylvester family obliged, and by the early 90's, the sign (and great drawings on the take-out menu I remember coloring as a kid) were gone. I last visited Sylvester's about 3 years ago, and they still had a stuffed Sylvester doll perched on the rafter inside...in "quiet defiance", as an employee pointed out.

Here's a photo, from the Sylvester's website, of the old sign, circa 1986:

Countdown to Volume 5 - Part 2

November 2, 2004 brought us the second volume of the LT Golden Collection. This set featured discs devoted to Tweety and the Road Runner, most likely because those cartoons had already been prepared for DVD release in non-US markets (Japan, for example, already had their own series of Tweety DVDs for awhile before the first Golden Collection was ever released in the United States). Even though it wasn't even mentioned in the trailer below, the newly created short, "Daffy Duck For President", was a big selling point that was really played up online (a special website was set up just to promote the short... which is actually still online to this day).

That is probably the only time in history you'll ever hear the phrases "masterful documentary" and "Bugs Bunny's All-Star 50th Anniversary produced by Lorne Michaels" in the same sentence...

More Costumes

If you have read this blog enough, you may have the urge to dress up in Road Runner and Coyote costumes for Halloween... or, at least, cheap plastic Road Runner and Coyote costumes...





Thanks to reader Yokota for sending us the pictures.

Countdown to Volume 5 - Part 1

Jerry Beck has posted another teaser for the upcoming Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 5 DVD set which is being released on Tuesday, October 30. I am sure all of the regular readers of this blog are excited. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I thought it'd be fun to count down to the release of the fifth volume by looking back at the "trailers" Warner Home Video put together for the first four volumes.

The first Golden Collection was released way back on October 28, 2003. For awhile it seemed like Warner Home Video had no idea how to handle releasing the Looney Tunes onto DVD. There were doubts that a 4-disc set aimed at collectors would even sell at all. Luckily, folks like George Feltenstein and Jerry Beck were put in charge and made the first Golden Collection a huge success.

Let's take a look at the original trailer WB Home Video put together to promote this first release. You do get the impression that they still didn't know who they were marketing this set for (note the mention of "Games and Much More!" among the extras on the DVD... seriously.)

Searching for Cartoon Gold?

If you were ever curious about the history of the "It's Cartoon Gold" theme song used for just one season on CBS' Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show from 1984-5, my friend Kevin McCorry has been in contact with the song's creator John Klawitter and has posted some interesting history about the revised theme song on his Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show website (scroll down to the 1984-5 section for the new information). Also posted is an excellent audio MP3 of the theme, courtesy of Klawitter, from the original recording session (it is minus the LT character voices that were mixed in later).

Is there anybody alive out there?

Bruce Springsteen's new album, "Magic", was number one in the nation the other day. Its major hit, "Radio Nowhere", lamenting the sad state of radio these days, is full of powerful images, as many of the Boss' songs tend to be. After hearing it, I was able to create a music video out of it that uses classic LT cartoon clips to illustrate the lyrics. It was one of the quickest such videos I've ever done, thanks to Jon's help in suggesting some clever bits.

Bruce thinks radio is lonely these days? Try being a classic cartoon fan watching TV!




And just for kicks, here's a wonderful video someone else made featuring Springsteen and Looney Tunes: using "Dancin' In the Dark."

ANOTHER Road Runner commercial

In recent years, Time Warner Cable has used the Road Runner as their mascot...since their cable internet service (of which I happen to be a customer) is fast. They seem to have branched out and started an online car-buying service called beepbeep.com as well...here's an ad for the California region.

Was that really all, folks?

Today marks the third anniversary of the final Looney Tunes broadcast on Cartoon Network (October 3, 2004). That final broadcast included a mere three cartoons, showings of "Speedy Ghost to Town", "Dr. Jerkyl's Hyde", and "Bewitched Bunny".

Let's mark the anniversary with the opening to what turned out to be the Looney Tunes' last hurrah on television, Cartoon Network's Looney Tunes Show:

Misce-Looney-ous' Halloween Costume Suggestions

'Tis the season to be thinking about your Halloween costumes. As a public service, here some costume suggestions for Looney Tunes fans. Enjoy!









Stay tuned for more costume ideas throughout the month. If you have any costume images feel free to e-mail us.

The Empire Strikes Quack

Found on Youtube...Duck Dodgers meets Star Wars:

"The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" late 1980's opening

Jon's earlier post about the Acme Hour makes me miss the classic Looney Tunes even more than I do already. I remember the days before anybody ever heard of Cartoon Network, and when the Looney Tunes and Merrie Meoldies shorts were scattered all over the television landscape. Different channels aired different cartoons. Ted Turner owned the pre-1948 library, Nickelodeon had most of the Road Runner cartoons, black and whites and 1960's shorts. Then there was ABC, who aired mostly Bugs Bunny and Tweety cartoons, hence the title of their Saturday Morning-only showcase, "The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show". Bugs n' Tweety was a staple on ABC for years, lasting from the mid 1980's until 2001. It was the only place to see many Tweety cartoons, the Sam Sheepdog/Ralph Wolf cartoons, and most of Chuck Jones' minor characters like Claude Cat and Charlie Dog.

Here is one of its earliest openings, from the late 80's, with the classic "This is It" title sequence from "The Bugs Bunny Show" reworked to add lights in the background and a top-hat and tuxedo look to the characters. It is included as an extra on one of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs...Volume 1 I believe.

Chuck Jones: "Mrs. Doubtfire"(1993)

It's been a long-standing legend that there was more footage produced of "Pudgie Parakeet", the cartoon that causes Robin Williams' character in "Mrs. Doubtfire" to lose his job. The animation was done by Chuck Jones, and though it's not a complete "short" per se, there IS more to it than what got used. See for yourself!

Pudgie Parakeet
Uploaded by j-motion

I did! I did! I did see a postage stamp!

A follow-up to Matthew's post from yesterday. Here were the designs to the other Looney Tunes postage stamps (including the final one which Matthew forgot to mention: Porky Pig):

Bugs Bunny (1997)


Daffy Duck (1999)


Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote (2000):


Porky Pig (That's all, Folks!) (2001):

I tawt I taw a postage stamp

In 1997, Warner Bros. and the US Postal Service teamed up to produce a stamp featuring Bugs Bunny, to commemorate Bugs' iconic status and to encourage young stamp collectors. The stamp proved so successful that it rivalled the legendary Elvis Presley stamp in popularity, and spawned 3 follow-ups: Sylvester and Tweety, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. Here's a sheet of the Sylvester and Tweety stamp, released in 1998. Notice that stamps were cheaper then. By the time the Road Runner/Coyote stamp was released, the price was 33 cents. Stamps are now 41 cents. Ouch.

Something I Miss...

This promo for Cartoon Network's Acme Hour reminded me that even though I have a whole bunch of great classic shorts on DVD, I still miss seeing them on TV. I miss being able to turn on the TV and just watching an hour or so of random classic shorts without knowing what would show up. You just can't do that with DVD... well, not without a lot of hassle. I kind of wish somebody could invent a randomizer of some sort to shuffle cartoon shorts on DVD. Wouldn't it be neat to pop in a bunch of discs, press "play" and just let them go not knowing if you'd get a Bugs or a Road Runner or a Droopy or a Popeye coming up next?

Daffy Duck's Rhapsody

Here's an idea I wish I'd thought of sooner...setting the classic Mel Blanc recording "Daffy Duck's Rhapsody" to footage of Daffy Duck himself. I think it turned out pretty well...

Daffy Duck's Rhapsody
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Oops...

From the day somebody fell asleep on the PEZ dispenser assembly line...



(Yes, these are real & I actually own these... found them at the grocery store a few years ago.)

Go For the Gold

Here's a print ad for Gold Key's line of Looney Tunes comic books from 1978.

Misce-Looney-Ous Blog Commentaries: "Feline Frame Up"

Here's one I've been wanting to do for a long time...my favorite Warner cartoon.

Feline Frameup Commentary
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

More Injun Trouble

Matthew just posted his thoughts on the 1969 Cool Cat cartoon "Injun Trouble", now enjoy the original! Here is the classic 1938 Bob Clampett cartoon of the same name featuring Porky, Sloppy Moe ("I know something I won't tell!") and, of course, the infamous Injun Joe. Clampett would improve on this cartoon's plot and gags for "Wagon Heels" (1945) but the original is still pretty darn funny (especially the ending --- "Do 'um some more!"). I won't spoil anything else, cuz, well IT'S A SECRET!!!

Enjoy!

Misce-Looney-Ous Blog Commentaries: "Injun Trouble"

Here's the final "classic" Warner Bros. cartoon ever made: "Injun Trouble" from 1969. Directed by Robert McKimson and starring Cool Cat, it's one of the best Cool Cat shorts and, quite possibly, the rarest Warner cartoon of all.

Injun trouble (1969) commentary
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

10 years of Cartoon Network (1992-2002)

Remember when Cartoon Network was worth watching? Here's a promo that only aired for a few days, commmemorating their tenth anniversary. I doubt their 20th Anniversary will be near as much fun. You'll have to freeze-frame this to see everything, but it shows brief blips from just about all of their show openings and promos from that 10-year period. Apparently the classics were worth showing THEN.

Petunia For P-P-P-P-President

In 1986, a series of public service announcements about the United States Constitution featuring the LT characters aired during ABC's Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. We posted one featuring the Road Runner & Coyote (...who else??) a few months back, and here's one I remember seeing on one of those Saturday mornings of yesteryear: Petunia telling Porky how a woman can indeed become a United States President.

Sick of the Road Runner yet? Too bad!

Here's yet another bit of miscellaneous animation featuring the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. In 1966, CBS aired "The Road Runner Show", a compilation that, as I understand it, featured a few Jones classics and debuted the then-new Rudy Larriva shorts.

Robert McKimson directed several bumpers (I have no clue how many) with short gags like the Coyote playing tennis with a grenade and disguising himself as a Road Runner. These are largely lost, but somebody posted some to Youtube a while back. Enjoy.

Road Runner Show bumpers
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Guess What? Even More Road Runner Commercials!

Let's kick off the month of September with yet another batch of Road Runner commercials!

First, a 1979 public service announcement about obeying the rules and posted notices while operating motor vehicles in off-road or wilderness areas.



Also from 1979, the original theatrical trailer to Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie.



I saw this one posted over on J.E. Daniels' blog. A foreign car advertisement featuring the desert duo.

Citroën C3 - Leyes de Murphy y Coyote
Uploaded by tvspot

Chuck Jones interview with Charlie Rose

Here's a fun interview with Chuck Jones from around 1995 with Charlie Rose. The segment is preceded by an interview with Harold Bloom.

Polish Boomerang Promo

Here's a fun little promo from Poland's version of Boomerang featuring the LT characters among other familiar faces. It sure beats those tiresome bumpers of Hanna-Barbera toys marching around we've seen on the United States Boomerang since it launched in 2000.

Misce-Looney-Ous Blog Commentaries: "Naughty But Mice"

Here's a little discussion of the debut of Chuck Jones' first star: Sniffles

Naughty But Mice Commentary
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Let's Do Lunch

I have no idea when this was made, but it must be fairly recent. On a trip to a Big Lots closeout store today I saw a bunch of these "Limited Edition" metal Looney Tunes lunchboxes from Thermos for $5.00 each. It was apparently designed to look like a vintage 1950s lunchbox. Anyway, check out the amazing artwork on this thing (both sides):





Anyone know more about it (or possibly who did the artwork)?