The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion: C (original) (raw)

WARNER BROTHERS CARTOON COMPANION

by E.O. Costello

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C /D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X /Y /Z

C

CAGNEY, JAMES (“JIMMY”) (1899-1986)

The quintessential Warner Brothers tough guy in films like Angels With Dirty Faces and The Public Enemy (1931), in which he smashes a grapefruit into the face of gang moll Mae Clarke. The energetic Cagney also had great dancing ability, as he demonstrated in his Oscar-winning performance as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), earlier in Footlight Parade (1933).

Cagney is seen pitching pennies with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941), and is the winner of the Academy Oscar -- as if there were only one -- in What’s Cookin’ Doc? (Clampett, 1944), a probable reference to his win for Best Actor the previous year. The bee in Porky’s Pastry Pirates (Freleng, 1942) is also a Cagney tough-guy caricature.

CALLOWAY, CABELL (“CAB”)

High-energy bandleader whose signature song was “Minnie the Moocher”, the origin of “hi-de-ho”. Calloway was no stranger to animation; he had sung in three Fleischer cartoons in the 30s: Snow White (1933) singing “The St. James Infirmary Blues”, The Old Man of the Mountain (1933) singing the title song, and Minnie The Moocher (1932) also signing the title song.

For these cartoons, Calloway performed the songs on film and was rotoscoped: traced one frame at a time and animated. Leslie Cabarga, writing in The Fleischer Story, notes that Calloway believed showing these cartoons a week or two before he made a personal appearance enhanced his box office receipts.

Calloway caricatures make a number of appearances in the Warner Brothers films, although he never provided the voices as he had for the Fleischer cartoons. He appears as an angel in Clean Pastures (Freleng, 1937) in footage that was re-used in Have You Got Any Castles? (Tashlin, 1938). Calloway is imitated by Porky in Porky at the Crocadero (Tashlin, 1938). A brilliant Calloway caricature is seen in The Swooner Crooner (Tashlin, 1944) as one of the singing roosters auditioning for a job at Porky’s egg farm singing “Blues in the Night”. Calloway also appears in Wholly Smoke (Tashlin, 1938) as a pipecleaner in blackface. Although the main part of his caricature is cut from prints shown today, it is still visible in the montage sequence toward the end.

CANNON, ROBERT (“BOBE”) (1901-1964)

By all accounts, a quiet, gentle, self-effacing man with enormous talent as a draftsman. His best work at Warner Brothers was during his stint in the early 1940s with Jones, who seems appropriately grateful for his work in his autobiography. Cannon’s masterpiece of animation during this time was for the landmark film The Dover Boys (Jones, 1942). Cannon, along with Jones and Clampett, was a charter member of the original “Termite Terrace” unit headed by Tex Avery.

Cannon also worked briefly for Avery at his MGM unit. He is one of the animators credited in three classic Avery MGM cartoons: Little Rural Riding Hood, Doggone Tired, and Wags to Riches (all 1949, and all first rate).

Cannon had an active and successful career at UPA in the 50s, directing such cartoons as Madeline (1952) and Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951); the latter film having been adapted by Bill Scott from a Dr. Seuss story. Both cartoons were Oscar nominated, Gerald won. Cannon also directed an interesting short UPA made for the United Auto Workers in 1946 about racism entitled The Brotherhood of Man. Katz cites Cannon as having worked at Disney’s studio.

Cannon is one of the Artists who make up the picket fence of petrified humans in Porky’s Hero Agency (Clampett, 1937). A headline in Wise Quacks (Clampett, 1939) reads “Bobo Cuts New Tooth”, a probable reference to Cannon.

CANTOR, EDDIE (n� Isidore Itzkowitz, 1892-1964)

Affectionately known as “Banjo Eyes”, Cantor was an extremely popular singer and comedian on radio in the 1930s and 1940s. Cantor had a number of sidekicks, including Bert Gordon, whose “Mad Russian” character is parodied in Hare Ribbin’ (Clampett, 1944). The show also featured violinist David Rubinoff. Cantor was responsible for discovering a number of stars, including Dinah Shore and Deanna Durbin.

Cantor is caricatured in numerous Warner Brothers cartoons, first in I Like Mountain Music (Harman/Ising, 1933) with Rubinoff. He puts in an appearance by popular demand in Shuffle Off to Buffalo (Harman/Ising, 1933) doing a number from the movie Palmy Days, shows up in Billboard Frolics (Freleng, 1935) performing the song “Merrily We Roll Along” (which he co-wrote with Rubinoff), as well as in Farm Frolics (Clampett, 1941), in which a horse, asked by the narrator to do a canter, promptly imitates Cantor. Cantor, singing “Ain’t We Got Fun?”, is one of the four down-on-their luck stars snubbed by Elmer Fudd in What’s Up, Doc? (McKimson, 1950).

The Cantor gag that got the most mileage, however, was his wish for a son -- he never did get one, but he did manage to have five daughters. Slap Happy Pappy (Clampett, 1940) has an “Eddie Cackler” chicken who wants a boy, but cannot get one, as opposed to Bing Crosby, who had nothing but sons. Other references can be found in Baby Bottleneck (Clampett, 1946) and in Circus Today (Avery, 1940) with a harried stork being pestered by Cantor for a boy. In Porky’s Naughty Nephew (Clampett, 1938) a swimming Cantor gleefully adopts a buoy. (Get it?).

CAPTAIN SCHMIDEO

Parody in Rocket Bye Baby (Jones, 1956) of the contemporary Captain Video sci-fi program, down to the box-top prizes.

CARL BUBBLE

The (literally) giant starting pitcher in Porky’s Baseball Broadcast (Freleng, 1940). Carl Hubbell was a well-known New York Giant pitcher of this era, now in the Baseball Hall of Fame, who is remembered for inventing the screwball, and for a memorable All-Star game in which he struck out five of the most feared American League hitters of the day in a row -- including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmy Foxx.

CARNEY, ART (b. 1918)

Character actor most famous for his role as Ed Norton on The Honeymooners, parodied in the series of cartoons by Bob McKimson known as “The Honeymousers”. A good parody of Art Carney and Jackie Gleason can also be seen in Half-Fare Hare (McKimson, 1956).

CARR, JACK

Animator at Schlesinger’s studio during the 1930s who provided the voice for the character Buddy.

CECIL TURTLE

Tricky tortoise who outfoxes Bugs no less than three times in the following racing matches:

CHARLIE DOG

Minor character of Chuck Jones, a wise-guy dog with something of a Brooklyn accent, constantly in search of a new master: more often than not, Porky Pig.

Filmography, all directed by Jones:

CHESTER

Little, eager terrier pal of Spike the Bulldog in Tree for Two (Freleng, 1952). Chester also shows up in a Cockney version in Dr. Jerkyl’s Hyde (Freleng, 1954).

CHINIQUY, GERRY

Chiniquy had a very long career at the Warner Brothers studio, and is principally associated with the Freleng unit. He directed one of the last Warner Brothers cartoons of the classic era, Hawaiian Aye-Aye (1964).

CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON, L.S. (1874-1965)

In his role as Prime Minister of England, one of the “Big Three” allied leaders during World War II. His unique diction is imitated by the rotten baby Percy/Butch in Brother Brat (Tashlin, 1944), after the baby ends up with a pot on his head which happens to look like one of Churchill’s hats. One of the baby ducks in Booby Hatched (also Tashlin, 1944) is named Winston, along with an Eleanor and a Franklin, referring to the Roosevelts.

CHRISTENSEN, DON

Story writer at Warner Brothers in the early 1940s.

Credits:

CITIZEN KANE

Epic 1941 film co-written, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. References to this film can be seen in Meet John Doughboy (Clampett, 1941) in which a character identified as “Citizen Sugar Cane” states that the Open Door Policy is responsible for the draft. In The Hep Cat (Clampett, 1942) the dog, like the sled in the film, is named Rosebud, and in Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (Clampett, 1943) Prince Chawmin’ tries to revive Coal Black with his Rosebud kiss. Clampett uses a close-up shot of his mouth speaking the word in an echoing fashion, clearly showing the gag’s origin.

A thought about the last reference. “Rosebud”, the mysterious word uttered by Kane at the beginning of the film which sets in motion the review of his life, was said in real life to refer to a very private part of the anatomy of Marion Davies, the mistress of William Randolph Hearst, on whom Charles Foster Kane was modelled. This certainly puts an interesting twist on what the Rosebud kiss must be.

CLAMPETT, ROBERT (“BOB”) (1913-1984)

Compared to his contemporaries (especially Freleng, McKimson, and Jones), Bob Clampett had a relatively short career directing for the studio -- starting in 1937 and ending in 1945. Be that as it may, there is no question that Clampett was -- and continues to be -- perhaps the most influential director ever associated with the Schlesinger or Warner Brothers Studios.

Far more than Avery, it was Clampett who changed the studio’s “house style” from sober and sedate animation to an unabashedly cartoony style in which nothing is too outrageous if it gets the audience to laugh. This transformation really begins in some of Clampett’s early Looney Tunes. The late Clampett cartoon The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (released 1946) is, in my view, his masterpiece, with many precision-timed cuts, outrageous puns, and animation perfect enough to merit repeated frame-by-frame viewing. (It was not until Avery’smove to MGM in 1941 that his own style came to maturity. While it can be witnessed in a germinal stage in many of the Merrie Melodies he directed for Schlesinger in the mid-to-late 1930s, as a whole his work for that studio was relatively tame.)

Clampett joined the studio in 1931 as an animator. Legend has it that around this time, he helped design the first Mickey Mouse dolls with his aunt, who worked for Disney. Clampett worked on many of the early Merrie Melodies, earning his first screen credit for Shake Your Powder Puff (Freleng, 1934).

His big break came with the hiring of Tex Avery in late 1935. Along with Jones, Cannon, and other radicals, Clampett was put in the original Termite Terrace building on Warner Brothers’ Sunset Lot. Clampett played a vital role in a process that developed a new style of cartoons which departed drastically from the Disney style then predominant. As an animator, he had a significant role in the development of Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, characters he would make his own in the late 1930s. (See also Creation and Development.)

Clampett and Jones were sent to the Iwerks cartoon studio in 1937 when Iwerks received some subcontract work from Leon Schlesinger, including animation of Porky’s Super Service (1937). There is apparently some dispute over whether Clampett and Jones (who had worked under Iwerks previously) were supposed to co-direct. At any rate, when the two returned to the main studio after the deal with Iwerks was over, it was Clampett who got the nod as director. (Along with the dispute over who created Bugs Bunny, this is said by some to have caused friction between Clampett and Jones. Some have found significance in the fact that Clampett is mentioned only in passing by Jones in his first autobiography. Others dismiss the alleged feud as a non-issue.)

Curiously enough, Clampett’s earliest work as a director was not for a short, but a brief Technicolor opening for the Joe E. Brown film When’s Your Birthday? (1937) in which Brown played an astrology-mad boxer. The scene involved the stars and planets, and their effects on the Earth.

This was Clampett’s only work in color until Goofy Groceries (1941). Clampett worked exclusively in Looney Tunes, which were, until The Hep Cat (Clampett, 1942), produced only in black and white. While this had the disadvantage of limiting his budget, Clampett and his unit had considerable creative control over development of the studio’s continuing characters. Clampett may not have been responsible for creating either Porky Pig or Daffy Duck, but it was Clampett who gave these characters their spark of craziness -- especially Daffy -- that first put the Warner Brothers cartoons on the map. (Again, please see the entry for Creation and Development for a discussion of these concepts as they are used in The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion.) And, of course, Clampett did create Tweety, who, legend has it, was based on a nude photo of Clampett taken as a baby, about which he had mixed feelings.

It was when Clampett inherited the Avery unit in 1941 that he really blossomed as a director, due partly to larger budgets and a higher �schelon of animators. (It is worth noting in passing that Norm McCabe, who inherited the old Clampett unit, was not nearly as successful with it as Clampett was.) Clampett played a vital role in the development of Bugs Bunny, particularly with such classics as Falling Hare (1943) in which Bugs battles a Gremlin for control of a runaway plane. Gremlins would appear again in a wild cartoon called Russian Rhapsody (1944, originally titled Gremlins from the Kremlin), in which Adolf Hitler comes out a decided second-best against the little Russian saboteurs. The Clampett cartoon Tortoise Wins By a Hare (1943) is probably the best of the three cartoons that pitted Cecil Turtle against Bugs in a nod to �sop. The last Clampett cartoons for Warner Brothers did not show any decline in quality, as exemplified by Book Revue (1946): the capstone of the long-running “things-come-to-life” series of cartoons.

Clampett left the studio in 1945, and was replaced as director by Arthur Davis. There are a number of theories as to why Clampett left the studio. Probably the most credible is that he was simply ambitious. Another theory, unflattering to Clampett but also a bit far-fetched, is that Clampett had enjoyed a particularly close relationship with Leon Schlesinger, especially compared to Chuck Jones, who was often denigrated by Schlesinger; and that when Schlesinger sold the studio to Warner Brothers in the spring of 1944, Clampett saw this relationship over, and decided to leave. I have even heard the supporting theory that the Chuck Jones cartoon Fresh Airedale (1945) is an allegory of this relationship, with the tricky and ultimately triumphant dog representing Clampett, the master as Schlesinger, and the unlucky cat who ends the cartoon wailing and pounding a statue of Justice as Jones. An interesting reading of the cartoon to be sure; but a second-hand interpretation of a cartoon can not be considered solid evidence in support of such a theory. I include it here because, rightly or wrongly, it is a topic of intense discussion among Warner Brothers cartoon fans.

Soon after leaving Warner Brothers, Clampett was made the producer for the Columbia Screen Gems cartoon unit. Although Clampett had the help of some former and moonlighting Warner employees, including Henry Binder and Mike Maltese, Screen Gems was too far gone for Clampett to have any real effect or influence. That studio closed its doors in 1949.

After the Screen Gems fiasco, Clampett enjoyed great success as a puppeteer with Beany and Cecil, a television program syndicated out of Los Angeles. The show eventually became a cartoon series over which Clampett had oversight. Toward the end of his life, Albert Einstein was a big fan of Beany and Cecil (a fact noted in a recent Pinky and the Brain episode produced by Warner Brothers Television Animation).

Clampett is unique among the major directors of the Warner Brothers studio in that he never received an Academy Award nomination. He had far better luck in television, with Beany and Cecil winning numerous awards. I have seen reports to the effect that Falling Hare had been the studio’s contender for a nomination in 1943, but at any rate, it failed to win one.

There are two interesting contributions Clampett made to the studio which tend to be overlooked. First, he provided the unique “beeyuwooooop” sound effect that pops up in numerous 1940s cartoons, as in Super Rabbit (Jones, 1943) when Cottontail Smith realizes he is being snookered by Bugs. Secondly, Clampett was the first director to use anvils as a weapon, in_A Tale of Two Kitties_ (1942).

Clampett is caricatured in a handful of cartoons. He can be seen along with Chuck Jones and Tex Avery in the crowd greeting Miss Glory in Page Miss Glory (Avery, 1936), as a member of the picket fence comprised of petrified members of his unit in Porky’s Hero Agency (Clampett, 1937), in A Cartoonist’s Nightmare (King, 1935), and as “Captain Clampett, the Human Cannonball” in Circus Today (Avery, 1940).

CLAUDE CAT

A minor character of Chuck Jones. Claude, who is cream-colored with a shock of red hair, is confronted by either wise-guy mice Hubie and Bertie, or by Frisky Puppy, an eager little dog whose wild barks send Claude flying.

An especially good sight gag used by Jones, animated by Harris (see below), comes after Claude has been chased up to the ceiling: Claude lets go, falls upside-down, turning right-side up about an inch above the floor.

Filmography, all Jones:

CLEM KADIDDLEHOPPER

Country bumpkin character of Red Skelton whose tag lines were “W-e-e-e-l-l-l Daaaisy June!” and “Here I yaaam!”

CLEO

Talking basset hound, voice supplied by Mary Jane Croft, on the Jackie Cooper TV sitcom The People’s Choice, shown on NBC between 1955 and 1958. The talking basset hound in Dog Tales (McKimson, 1958) is based on this character.

CLYDE

Bugs Bunny’s wide-eyed nephew, seen in His Hare Raising Tale (Freleng, 1951) and Yankee Doodle Bugs (Freleng, 1954).

COBB, IRWIN S. (d. 1944)

Noted humorist and wit, Cobb can be seen briefly as Irwin S. Frog in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937).

COLONEL SHUFFLE

“Oh Belvedere! Come heah, boy!”

Apparently a Dixified version of Yosemite Sam, the good Colonel makes two appearences in Chuck Jones cartoons, Mississippi Hare (1949) and Dog Gone South (1950). In many respects, a hysterical stereotype of the Southern gentleman with an intense distaste for Yankees (which Charlie Dog plays on expertly) and chivalry toward ladies (which Bugs plays on expertly: see also Cross Dressing).

COLONNA, JERRY (1905-1987)

Character actor -- emphasis on character! -- distinguished by a walrus-like mustache, pop-eyed expression, and complete zaniness. Colonna was a long-time sidekick of Bob Hope as a supporting player in his radio, television, and USO shows.

Colonna himself is caricatured in a number of cartoons. Two cartoons directed by Freleng feature a little worm character with the Colonna mustache and eyes, and a Colonna-like voice. These are The Wacky Worm (1941) and Greetings Bait (1943). Colonna himself makes an appearance at the end of Greetings Bait as the fisherman. Colonna also makes an appearance in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941), doing a Yehudi shtick.

Caricatures of Colonna and Hope also appear in Hollywood Canine Canteen (McKimson, 1946) doing their Professor Colonna routine from Hope’s Pepsodent radio show. Bugs Bunny does Colonna imitations in What’s Cookin’ Doc? (Clampett, 1944), in which Bugs is saying hello to various Hollywood stars off-screen at the Academy Awards ceremony, as well as in The Unruly Hare (Tashlin, 1945), where Bugs, in a Colonna-like accent, invites Elmer Fudd to “have some cheese, rat!” Daffy Duck, in Plane Daffy (Tashlin, 1944) and The Wise Quacking Duck (Clampett, 1943) and the title character in The Hep Cat (Clampett, 1942) both do Colonna-like turns in announcing “Aahh! Something new has been added!”, as does Private Snafu in Booby Traps (Clampett, 1944). A whole jury of Colonnas acquits Daffy Duck, the Mustache Fiend in Daffy Doodles (McKimson, 1946).

Colonna inspired a huge number of catch-phrases, many of which worked their way into Warner Brothers cartoons. A sampling would have to include:

Colonna also lent his voice to the Walt Disney feature Alice in Wonderland (1951), in which he played the March Hare opposite Ed Wynn’s Mad Hatter.

COLUMBO, RUSS (1908-1934)

Popular crooner of the early 1930s, mentioned in the title of the cartoon Crosby, Columbo and Vallee (Harman-Ising, 1932). Columbo died in a freak accident in 1934 when an antique gun he was cleaning discharged.

COLVIG, VANCE (“PINTO”)

One of the great voice actors in animation, Colvig is indelibly associated with the Disney character Goofy. Much of that character’s charm is a result of the voice he provided. The pairing of his voice with Art Babbit’s brilliant animation is largely responsible for making Goofy the major character that he is.

Around 1938, Colvig left the Disney studio. (It was not long after this that Goofy became an almost completely silent character.) Colvig proceeded to work for the Fleischer studio, principally as Gabby, the Town Crier in their feature film Gulliver’s Travels , and also did some work at Warner Brothers.

Warner-released cartoons in which Colvig was involved include:

Some of the above information is based on the overview of Colvig by Hames Ware in Animato! #31.

“COMING, MOTHER!”

Phrase usually uttered in a cracked, adolescent voice by Henry Aldrich, played mostly by Ezra Stone, on the radio show The Aldrich Family.

Used in a variety of Warner Brothers cartoons, including

The horse in the Private Snafu short The Home Front (Tashlin, 1943) also uses the phrase.

“CONFIDENTIALLY, SHE STINKS!”

Originally said by Kolenkov, the Russian ballet master played by Mischa Auer in the film You Can’t Take It With You (1938) of one of his students.

The line is used in Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (Clampett, 1941), A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940) in a slightly modified form, as well as in Hare Conditioned (Jones, 1945) also slightly modified, and A Gander at Mother Goose (Avery, 1940) as spoken by Katherine Hepburn/Mistress Mary.

CONRAD CAT

Minor character created by Chuck Jones and used in a few shorts from the early 1940s:

Conrad was voiced by Pinto Colvig, and was allegedly based on comedian Ben Blue, probably because Blue was a rubber-limbed, deadpan mime who did some short subject work for Warner Brothers.

COOKIE

Girlfriend of Buddy. Every bit as interesting and memorable a character as he was.

“CREATION” AND “DEVELOPMENT”

Success, as they say, has many fathers, but failure is an orphan. This old saw is perfectly applicable to cartoon characters. Determining who is responsible for the creation of a particular character can be a very complex and tangled affair, with many legitimate -- and, occasionally, not-so-legitimate -- claims conflicting with eachother. Consider, by way of example, the debate over whether Ub Iwerks should be acknowledged as creator of Mickey Mouse.

The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion holds the policy that the director of the first cartoon to feature a readily recognisable form of a given character receives credit for “creation” of that character. This has the virtue of simplifying the matter of who gets credit, at the cost of obscuring contributions of animators and writers who may have played significant roles leading up to that character’s creation. These people receive credit for their contributions through the use of the term “development”.

Bob Clampett, for example, played an important role in the development of Porky Pig, in that he suggested the Our Gang-like format for the first cartoon. As a senior animator, he went on to make significant contributions leading to the creation of Egghead and Daffy Duck. Under the WBCC’s policy, he may not fairly be recognised as the “creator” of these characters, but must instead be credited with “development”. The same holds true for his contributions to Bugs Bunny. The term “development” is also used to describe subsequent enrichment of existing characters, such as the later contributions made by Chuck Jones to Bugs and Daffy.

The intent of the distinction between “creation” and “development” is not to trivialise the contributions of key players in the studio’s history, but rather to clarify their roles in a broad historical context. Character development is both integral and complementary to creation. It is through the process of development that characters evolve, forming the very personality traits which, in time, make them successful and enduring.

To return to the above example, Clampett may not have created Porky or Daffy, but his work -- especially as the nearly sole director of Looney Tunes in the late 1930s -- was absolutely vital to the shaping of these characters as we now know them. Additionally, his wild (and immensely entertaining) Bugs Bunny cartoons greatly advanced the development of that character. Conversely, while Clampett created Tweety, it was Freleng, as primary director of Tweety cartoons throughout the 1940s and 1950s, who developed that character.

The concept of “creation” may effectively represent pivotal moments in the studio’s history; but the underlying process of development is at least as important. Development must always be kept in mind when considering who is responsible for shaping a character.

CROSBY, BING (n� Harry Lillis Crosby, 1901-1977)

One of the leading radio crooners of the 1930s and 1940s, Bing was very often used in cartoons of the 1930s when singers were required. Crosby, Columbo and Vallee (Harman/Ising, 1932) is one of the earliest references to Bing.

Crosby is caricatured rather unflatteringly in both Let it Be Me (Freleng, 1936) and Bingo Crosbyana (Freleng, 1936) as a womanizer and, in the latter cartoon, something of a coward as well. Beck and Friedwald note that Crosby pursued legal action over the latter caricature, demanding that the film be removed from public distribution.

A milder caricature can be heard over the radio in I Only Have Eyes for You (Avery, 1937) in which Katie Canary is saving her heart for a radio crooner. Daffy impersonates Bing, complete with pipe, in Hollywood Daffy (Freleng, 1946). And, of course, there is the Bing rooster in Swooner Crooner (Tashlin, 1944) battling the Sinatra rooster for the affections of a flock of hens. Crosby, signing “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby”, is one of the four down-on-their-luck stars snubbed by Elmer Fudd in What’s Up, Doc? (McKimson, 1950).

Other references focused on his love of horse racing and his alleged tendency to back losers, which is seen in the slow moving horses in Porky’s Preview (Avery, 1941), as well as in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941) with a sleepy jockey and an overfriendly nag. A headline in the newspaper read by Elmer Fudd in the year 2000 in The Old Grey Hare (Clampett, 1944) indicates that even at that late date, his horse has not yet come in.

Still other caricatures were based on the rivalry with fellow crooner Frank Sinatra, seen in Swooner Crooner (Tashlin, 1944), Hollywood Canine Canteen (McKimson, 1946) along with a Dorothy Lamour caricature, and Catch as Cats Can (Davis, 1947).

Yet another caricature -- as “Bing Crowsby” -- is to be seen in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937), another as a “Crooner Crooner” cigar in Wholly Smoke (Tashlin, 1938) with Rudy Vallee and still another as Bon Crispy in The Penguin Parade (Avery, 1938).

CROSS-DRESSING

Much has been made of the large number of times Bugs Bunny has appeared in women’s clothing in his cartoons. All sorts of outrageous and, in my opinion, slanderous assumptions and accusations have been leveled at Bugs, with dark hints made about his character. If anyone should be examined, it should be the Warner Brothers cartoonists, who were not above appearing in drag themselves, as shown in a gag reel made by the cartoonists, an excerpt of which is seen in the video of Chuck Amuck.

In the following cartoons, Bugs appears in some form of ladies garb or does a female-like turn:

Of course, other characters did their share of cross-dressing as well. Bugs dresses Elmer in a snappy green number, wig, and lipstick in The Big Snooze (Clampett, 1946), which certainly gets the attention of some Hollywood wolves. Elmer also poses as a female duck in What Makes Daffy Duck? (Davis, 1948).

Daffy Duck does a striptease in The Wise Quacking Duck (Clampett, 1943), dresses up as Princess Gitchigoomie in The Daffy Duckeroo (McCabe, 1942), appears as a Pochahontas-type in Boobs in the Woods (McKimson, 1940) and does a can-can to “Latin Quarter” twice: first in Daffy Duck Hunt (McKimson, 1949), and later in Daffy’s Inn Trouble (McKimson, 1961). He also appears as a witch, after a superhero costume change mistake in Stupor Duck (McKimson, 1956).

Wile E. Coyote dresses up as a schoolgirl in Fast and Furry-ous (Jones, 1949), as a female Road-Runner in Ready, Set, Zoom! (Jones, 1955) and as a blonde hitch-hiker in Going! Going! Gosh (Jones, 1952).

CUCAMONGA

Real town in California which was used as part of Mel Blanc’s famous Railroad Announcer Gag on the Jack Benny Radio Program. The announcer would announce a train leaving for “Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc - - - amonga”.

The gag was imported to the studio’s cartoons on occasion. Daffy Duck uses the gag at the end of Daffy Duck Slept Here (McKimson, 1948) in order to get the sleepy Porky Pig to step out of a hotel window. Bugs uses a variation on it in The Hasty Hare (Jones, 1952), announcing a flying saucer leaving for “Venus, Neptune, Jupiter, the Dog Star and Mars.”

CULHANE, JAMES H. (“SHAMUS”)

Prominent animator with a long career at a wide variety of studios, including Iwerks’, Fleischer’s, Disney’s, and Lantz’s, where Culhane did important work in defining the character of Woody Woodpecker in cartoons such as The Barber of Seville (1944).

Culhane had a brief career at Warner Brothers working in the Jones unit. Solomon quotes a story from Ben Washamregarding Culhane’s work habits, in which Culhane would spend four days sitting at his drawing table, eating peanuts and staring at his paper, only to whip through his scene in a few hours on Friday. When questioned by Washam as to why he hadn’t done anything all week if he could work that fast, Culhane simply responded that one had to think about it first!

The best work of Culhane during his brief Warner Brothers tenure was on some of the Chuck Jones Inkifilms, for which Jones gives Culhane a great deal of credit. Culhane had come to the studio on the understanding that he would direct some of the studio’s war work. When this failed to materialize, he told Leon Schlesinger “to perform an impossible sexual act” and quit. (Maltin, p.248)

CURRAN, GLORYA

Opera singer whose only known Warner Brothers cartoon role is that of the tabby singer in Back Alley Oproar (Freleng, 1948) who performs the soprano rendition of “Carissima”. A correspondent who works for a major New York orchestra informs me that in his opinion, Curran did not perform the rendition of the song in Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940).