Chuck Jones

Preferred Citation: Kenner, Hugh. Chuck Jones: A Flurry of Drawings, Portraits of American Genius. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1994 1994. htt :!!ark.cdli".org!ark:!1#$#$!ft%&'n"#(1!

Chuck Jones
A Flurry of Drawings Hugh Kenner
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · Oxford ©1 ! The Regen"s o# "he Un$%ers$"& o# C'($#orn$'

)or Harry *cCracken

Preferred Citation: Kenner, Hugh. Chuck Jones: A Flurry of Drawings, Portraits of American Genius. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1994 1994. htt :!!ark.cdli".org!ark:!1#$#$!ft%&'n"#(1!
)or Harry *cCracken

Pre#'ce
Chuck +ones had a great,uncle -ynn .ho used to tell hi/ that a ig could not "e /ade into a racehorse. 0hat /ight reasona"ly "e ho ed for, he said, .as 1a /ighty fast ig.1 2o ostulate a kid "orn, 191', in 2 okane. 3ndo. hi/ .ith a directionless assion for dra.ing. 3nroll hi/ in .hat .as availa"le, Chouinard 4rt 5nstitute, in -os 4ngeles of all laces, at a ti/e .hen -.4. .as a arvenu6s aradise, a cultural desert. 7e(t819#$ 8 lunge the .orld into econo/ic des air. 2it "ack, .ait. 7o, do not e( ect a *ali"u -eonardo. But, should genes and fortune and circu/stance cons ire 9ust so, you /ay "e re.arded .ith a sur rising version of Uncle -ynn6s 1/ighty fast ig.1 2uch is one a roach to Charles *artin :Chuck; +ones, indis uta"ly a /aster in an art8he6d have called it a trade8that only no. is starting to "e defined. <hat .as /otion icture Character 4ni/ation, and it flourished in =ne lace in > (ii > the .orld82outhern California8for erha s thirty years :say 19##?%#;. 5ts several do@en ractitioners :or several hundredA definitions are elastic; had the good fortune never to "e a.are that they .ere racticing anything rese/"ling an art. :=ther.ise ut: neither did 4ni/ation Critics e(ist, nor .ere any <raditions easy to lay hold of.; 5t flourished thanks to econo/ic givens that ought to have /ade anything of lasting interest i/ ossi"le. <hen it faded a/id aeans to social rogress. :4nd the "rief flo.ering of Periclean 4thens: .as that erha s e&ually chancyB 0e si/ ly do not kno. ho. such things ha en.;

Chuck +ones, C1 at this .riting and going strong, no. finds hi/self fir/ly installed in 4ni/ation History, a do/ain of learning that co//enced to flourish less than t.o decades ago. =ne early instance is the +anuary?)e"ruary 19DE issue of Film Comment . 4nother is +ay Cocks6s 1<he 0orld that +ones *ade,1 in the Fece/"er 1D, 19D#, issue of Time . <hough generous to +ones6s .ay .ith studio ro erties8Bugs Bunny, Faffy Fuck 8Cocks dre. s ecial attention to the glorious one,shots: One Froggy !ening, nota"lyA and Duck Amuck, .hich the riesthood is no. a"out ready to call 1self,refle(ive.1 2hould you ever face the sole/n task of reserving 9ust one si(,/inute instance fro/ the unthinka"le thousands of hours of ani/ated footage that6s accu/ulated since8oh, since 1914, you6d not go .rong in selecting 1a +ones.1 <o savor such .onders you need to e(a/ine the/ re eatedlyA and as long as they e(isted only on fil/, high cost ke t access restricted to affluent fanatics. 4 like situation o"tained in the long centuries .hen "ooks .ere accessi"le solely via /anuscri t co ies, too e( ensive for individuals to drea/ of. <oday the video cassette recorder er/its /ost of us to o.n > (iii > the classics of ani/ation, and certainly the finest .ork of Chuck +ones, at the total cost of a dinner or t.o or three on the to.n. )or .hatever ur oses the GCH /ay have "een /arketed, friends of ani/ation at least /ay erceive its .orth. 5t6s one /ore [email protected] /ighty fast ig. <he +ay Cocks article first alerted /e to Chuck +ones. 4 letter to Cocks fetched a +ones addressA then a letter to +ones "rought +ones to Balti/ore, .here, one /e/ora"le afternoon and evening, he discoursed, dre. ictures for children, and sho.ed a +ohns Ho kins audience a fil/ anthology. <he te(ture of the discourse .as /e/ora"leA 5 .ish 5 could recall .ho it .as he characteri@ed as 1a trellis of varicose veins.1 4nd the fil/s856ll not forget 4rnold 2tein the *ilton scholar, inclining his head after One Froggy !ening to confide, 1<hat .as si/ le . . . and 4B,so,lute.1 4s it .as. 4t Corona del *ar, California, in +uly 199$, 5 sa. Chuck and *arian +ones daily for a .eek. 0hat got ta ed on those visits is a ri/ary source for this "ook. <hough 56ve since tried to cross,check facts, 5 can6t guarantee the/. 4ni/ation history re/ains rife .ith vagaries of hu/an /e/ory. *ean.hile it see/s .orth setting do.n .hat 5 can offer. 4 .ord a"out rinted sources. 5n addition to the +anuary?)e"ruary 19DE Film Comment, and one article in a later issue :*ay?+une 19D%;, 56ve dra.n on +ones6s o.n 19C9 /e/oir Chuck Amuck, on 2teve 2chneider6s 19CC That"s All Folksh#: The Art of $arner %ros. Animation, on +oe 4da/son6s 199$ %ugs %unny: Fifty &ears an' Only One Grey (are, and on +ohn Irant6s ncyclo)e'ia of $alt Disney"s Animate' Characters :second edition, 199';. 56ve not /eticulously ackno.ledged every use, > (iv > artly to kee footnote clutter thinned out, artly "ecause /y /ost fre&uent recourse to a "ook or an article .as for cross,checking so/ething 56d heard fro/ Chuck +ones. -ike all great raconteurs he tends to have for/ulaic versions of key stories, and .hen .hat 5 heard .as al/ost .ord for .ord .hat another intervie.er had heard 5 felt under no o"ligation to d.ell on the fact. )our eo le 56ve never /et hel ed /ake this "ook ossi"le. +ennifer +u/ er in 2eattle .as heroic in transcri"ing ta es riddled .ith nonsense such as air lane noises. Fave *ackey in =akhurst, 7e. +ersey, /ade a key video availa"le and has since ans.ered flurries of &ueries. Paul Haulerson in 3agan, *innesota, e( licated the co/ uter6s .ay of handling a co//a. 4nd Harry *cCracken in 4rlington, *assachusetts, ut at /y dis osal his ta e li"rary and his vast kno.ledge of 4ni/ation History. 56/ in touch .ith the four of the/ thanks to a co/ uter net.ork: the Byte 5nfor/ation 3(change :B5J;. 0e en9oy a high,tech age and ought to ackno.ledge it.

8H.K. 4UIU2< 199# > (v >

No"e on I((us"r'"$ons
4ll the illustrations in this "ook .ere dra.n "y Chuck +ones. <hey are re roduced, .ith his er/ission, fro/ his infor/al auto"iogra hy, Chuck Amuck, and fro/ a /odel sheet he designed to guide the ani/ators of *ikki+Tikki+Ta!i . *ore i/ ortant are the key +ones fil/s on GCH ta es. 5f you6ve trou"le finding the/ locally, a hone call :*onday?2aturday, 9 4.* .?% P.* . Pacific ti/e; to :'$%; 441,41#$ .ill fetch you the $hole Toon Catalog, and .hat 0hole <oon can6t find it6s a good "et no"ody can. > (vi >

>1>

A F(urr& o# )r'*$ngs
4ni/ation, like life itself, relies on natural rinci les. -ife re&uires si/ ly :si/ lyK; F74. 4ni/ation re&uires Persistence of Gision. <hat /eans: anything you6ve gli/ sed you6ll go on seeing for /ay"e a tenth of a second after it6s gone. 5f /ean.hile a different gli/ se gets su"stituted, the t.o .ill "lend s/oothly. 4nd if they de ict successive stages of /ove/ent, you6ll s.ear you sa. so/ething /ove. 0ays to su"stitute the ne(t i/age derive fro/ fli ,"ooks, .hich have "een around since at least the nineteenth century. =n the "otto/ /argin of a school scri""ler, a sketch of a car. =n successive ages, the sa/e car, shifted incre/entally right.ard. 7o.. Hiffle the agesK 0atch that auto /oveK <o check .hat they6ve done, ani/ators riffle stacks of ages. 7o single dra.ing stands out. 2ingle dra.ings, ho.ever highly finished, /ay at "est8Chuck +ones says8 serve to hel us re/e/"er so/e ani/ated se&uence .e recall en, >'> 9oying. But 4ni/ation itself +ones calls that 1a flurry of dra.ings.1 Ho. they6re sho.n is less i/ ortant than their flurry. 4 fli ,"ook can dis lay a cou le of seconds6 .orth. )or so/ething longer, "est hotogra h each fra/eA then let a ro9ector se&uence the/ on a screen, fast enough for Persistence of Gision to "lend the/. 2i(teen fra/es er second .as fast enough in silent,fil/ days. 2ound, .hen it ca/e a"out 19'C, re&uired t.enty,four "ecause fil/ that carried sound had to /ove faster. But the eye doesn6t need that /anyA t.elve er second .ill do for the eye. 2o sound hel ed ease the ani/ator6s lot. 5nstead of si(teen dra.ings er second, t.elve .ill suffice, each hotogra hed t.ice. <he eye .ill detect no 9erkiness.

4 flurry of dra.ings: one "y one "y one. Fra. the starting oseA then dra. the ne(t instant, then the ne(t, clear to the end of this flurry, each i/age a /odified tracing of the one "efore it: that6s called 1ani/ating straight,ahead,1 and it6s ho. all ani/ation .as done for a cou le of decades, right into the age of sound, si(teen for each second. 5n 1914, 0insor *cCay6s /any thousand straight,ahead dra.ings /ade Iertie the Finosaur huff, sto/ , lo.er her neck. Chuck +ones, as he likes to re/ark, .as then t.o years old. 15t all ha ened .ithin /y lifeti/e.1 :4nd *cCay, "orn 1CD1, lived till 19#4A "y then +ones, '', had en9oyed three years of "reathing ani/ation6s o@one.; *cCay redre. every detail of every fra/e: not only Iertie, .ho6d shift fro/ gli/ se to gli/ se, "ut also all those things that shouldn6t shift: rocks, /ountains, trees, hori@on. Hetracing those .ith /achine,like accuracy "eing si/ ly i/ ossi"le even for his :or his assistant6s; steady hand, they flickered and shi//ered around Iertie. 5n its ti/e, the effect >#> did see/ rather char/ing. But .hat a redundancy of effortK 4 .ay to dra. a "ackground once, for reuse /any do@en ti/es, .as one thing that .ould raise ani/ation a"ove slave la"or. 5t .ould also er/it so/ething later to rove indis ensa"le in esta"lishing a .orld :sta"le; that contained characters :a,/ove;. <hat .as a erfectly una/"iguous distinction "et.een .hat .as /eant to stay rock,steady and .hat .asn6t. 7ot that *cCay6s audiences needed that distinction. 0hen he took his fil/ on tour, and stood "eside the screen .ith a ointer to conduct dialogues .ith Iertie, /any .ere unclear that they .ere looking at dra.ings. 2o/e kind of real ani/al, surely, though oddly drained of colorB =r /ay"e so/e kind of /odelB 5t6s hard to reali@e ho. long .e can take si/ ly learning to erceive a novel /ediu/. :Ho. a"out a voice in your head, .ith no one else in the roo/B 0hen a ro/inent Boston la.yer heard the 1tele hone1 de/onstrated a"out 1CD%, .ell, after ausing long in e/"arrass/ent he ca/e u .ith nothing "etter than 1Hig a 9ig, and a.ay .e goK1;+1, 7or .ould slave la"or have entered *cCay6s thoughts. -ike /any ioneer ani/ators, he .as driven "y a assion for dra.ing. <o /ake a hundred ictures in a /orning, that .as sheer heavenK 0e6re talking of a gone ti/e of linked assions. *oviegoers had a assion too, for nothing /ore su"tle than the sheer illusion of /otion. 5t sufficed that on a .avery screen they sa.8gallo ing horsesK :4nd therein lay the ger/ of the 0estern.; Chuck +ones re/e/"ers .hen it .as hilarious 5t .as Bell6s assistant, the fa/ed *r. 0atson, .ho recorded this. 2ee 4vital Honell, The Tele)hone %ook :1991;, . ''D ff. >4> if an ani/ated .alker 9ust ho ed once in a .hile, an effect he6s used hi/self in several fil/s. 4 storyB <hat could e/erge fro/ .hatever so/e ani/ator ha ened to think of ne(t. :4nd to kee things steadily lined u , ut a ro. of egs on the ta"le, to fit holes along an edge of .hat6s "eing hotogra hed. Haoul Barre thought of that in 1914. 3very cel, every sheet of ani/ators6 a er, has .orn those holes ever since.; <he reusa"le,"ackground ro"le/ .as solved, after several fu/"les, in 1914: U.2. Patent L1,14#,E4', issued to 3arl Hurd. His solution .asn6t o"vious, discarding as it did the natural su osition that the dra.ings the ca/era .ould see .ould "e the ones dra.n on a er. 7o. Fra. the "ackground8once8on a er. <hen trace each of your 1/oving1 dra.ings onto celluloid. Under the ca/era, lay each 1cel1 in se&uence over the "ackgroundA click the "utton for each. GoilMK <hat rocess created t.o ne. occu ations: cel,tracer, cel.asher. <he tracers have no. /ostly "een auto/ated out, and a good thing too, since, careful though they /ight "e, they lost su"tleties. Hun +ones6s (ow the Grinch ,tole Christmas on your GCHA e(a/ine the .iggly lines that delineate the Irinch6s haggard face in closeu A no .ay those .iggles could have "een relia"ly traced. By Irinch,ti/e :19%%; an un.avering Jero( eye .as transferring the ani/ator6s every nuanced line to the cel. := a&ue areas 8after color ca/e in, colored ones8got ainted inside the outlines "y hand, and still

are.; 4nd the .ashersB <heir 9o" .as to er/it reuse of recious celluloid, "y cleaning the aint off cels that had "een hotogra hed. Chuck +ones, at 19, co//enced his long life in ani/ation as a cel,.asher. >E> He6d "een hired "y U" 5.erks of the :yes; Futch na/e, and .ho .as U"B U""e 3rt 5.erks, .ho6d co/e .est in 19'4 to re9oin his Kansas City artner 0alt Fisney. <hey .ere "oth '#. 5t6s no secret that U"6s dra.ing .as /ore resourceful than 0alt6sA that he co,created *ickey *ouseA that he, single,handed, ani/ated the ioneer *ickey cartoons, nota"ly the 19'C ,team-oat $illie . <hat .as the cartoon that /ade history .ith fully synchroni@ed sound, thanks to 0alt6s nigh,infalli"le nose for trends. By 19#$ an entre reneur na/ed Patrick Po.ers had ersuaded U" :.rongly; that he .as /ore i/ ortant than 0alt, and set hi/ u in a studio of his o.n. U" roceeded to roduce fil/s starring )li the )rog, .ho flo ed. He had, alas, Chuck +ones recalls, 1no sense of hu/or.1 <hat .as a considera"le dra."ack. U" 5.erks did e(cel at technical challenges. 0hen )li cli/"ed a stair the vie.er6s eye cli/"ed .ith hi/, so the stair6s ers ective shifted .ith every fra/e. <hat called for ultra,resourceful ani/ating. -ater, "ack .ith Fisney, U" .ould tinker .ith such things as Jero(ing cels instead of hand,tracing the/, and .ith rocesses for achieving a sea/less "lend of live action and ani/ation. :<here see/s to "e no su"stance to rinted re orts that he fathered Fisney6s *ulti lane ro9ect, the ca/era looking do.n through .idely,s aced cels to auto/ate shifts of ers ective as vie. oints shifted. <rue, he .orked on such an a aratus. But the long o ening shot of Pinocchio, a *ulti lane tour de force of 194$, receded U"6s return to Fisney.; 4nyho., in 19#1, .ith an infusion of cash, <ycoon 5.erks had "een on his o.nA hiring the likes of cel,.ashersA also i/ orting fro/ the east ani/ators of the &uality of Iri/ 7at.ick. >%> 1Iri/1 is said to "e .hat he6d uttered as a toddler, trying to ronounce his real na/e, .hich .as *yron. Born 1C9$, and not gone till after he6d assed his hundredth "irthday8-ord, like sy/ hony conductors, ani/ators are long,livedK8Iri/ 7at.ick had co//enced ani/ating as far "ack as 191%, for the PathN 2tudio in 7e. Oork, .here he6d finish eight do@en straight,ahead dra.ings "efore his lunch "reak. -ater, .ith the *a( )leischer eo le, he laid clai/ to .hat then didn6t look like i//ortality "y creating Betty Boo , at first a little dog .ith s it curls that .alked on its hind legs to erfor/ a Boo ,"oo ,a,doo vocal identified .ith a singer na/ed Helen Kane. :5n those early days of sound, ani/ating o hits .as one sure cartoon for/ula.; By three /ore fil/s the dog6s droo y ears had "eco/e earrings, and Betty .as, .ell, Betty. Iri/ 7at.ick .as the envy of other )leischer ani/ators "ecause he could 9oin Betty6s hand to her ar/ .ith a .ristA could even /anage knees. <hat .as "ecause he6d had for/al art,school training. *ost ani/ators, then and for decades to co/e, learned their craft "y /erely tracing hotogra hs. 0hen hotos .eren6t availa"le, the ar/s and legs they dre. evaded knees and el"o.s "y "ending like ru""er hoses. :<racing hotos, a techni&ue /uch e( loited "y the )leischers, is still kno.n as 1rotosco ing.1 5t6s a .ay to get a &uick fi( on hu/ans, .ho can "e fil/ed in action as no Bugs Bunny can "e. 5t is .idely regarded as cheating. 5t .as also a .ay to /anage ,now $hite 6s .ooden rince, rightly noted as that land/ark fil/6s rinci al la se. Oes, action footage of a girl .alking and dancing8the /odel .ould "eco/e "etter kno.n as *arge Cha/ ion8.as studied "y the ani/ators of the rincess, "ut those fra/es .eren6t for tracing. 5n changing her overall height fro/ eight heads to five, Ha/il, >D> ton -uske, the /an in charge, detached her fro/ hu/an ro ortions and her artisans fro/ tracery.; 4nd, long "efore 2no. 0hite .as thought of, here6s Iri/ 7at.ick, 41, at the U" 5.erks studio. 4nd here6s a 19,year,old cel,.asher, Charles *. +ones, e&ui ed, like Iri/, .ith a s ecies of for/al art,school training. 4nd :Iri/ .ould recall; 15 took hi/ out, "ought hi/ an ice crea/ soda, and taught hi/ all a"out crooked lines.1 4h, esotericaK 3ventually8the details are elusive8Chuck +ones "eca/e Iri/6s 4ssistant 4ni/ator.

<hat sounds /ore grandiose than it .as. 4ssistant 4ni/ators .ere earlier du""ed 15n,"et.eeners,1 and their craft, like cel,.ashing, de ended on a technical advance. <hat .as the o"servation that if ani/ators dre. key oses8a left foot hitting the ground, a right foot ditto8then the fra/es in "et.een, the ones that shifted the .alker fro/ left foot to right foot, could "e as routine to dra. as they .ere to .alk, and /ight as .ell "e assigned to anyone .ith the skill 9ust to dra. at all. :2tandards .ould rise, "ut that .as the .ay it looked then.; 1Ho. fast is the .alkB1 .ould translate into 1Ho. /any in,"et.een fra/esB18an instruction the ani/ator could relay. <hat .as the end of straight,ahead ani/ation. <hencefor.ard, Key Poses and 5n,"et.eening By the 7u/"ers. 4s a dividend, a "right 5n,"et.eener /ight "e learning to ani/ate. *ost ani/ators of the +ones generation and since have learned their craft 5n,"et.eening. :4lso, a fe. 5n,"et.eeners have "een discerned .ho see/ ha y to use u their lives 9ust 5n,"et.eening. Chuck +ones doesn6t retend to understand the/.; 5t all /ade econo/ic sense too. 4ni/ators .ere freed for uni&uely roductive .ork, .hile 5n,"et.eening could "e left to the eons. )or a la"or,intensive industry had long "een >C> sorting out its skills. 2o/eone :Fisney, )leischer, 5.erks; in charge at the to . 4 fe. key creative eo le84ni/ators. 3ager 5n,"et.eeners, /aking /ay"e nine,tenths of the dra.ings. 4 "ackground artist or t.o. 4nd a halan( of anony/ous inkers and ainters, to fuss .ith the cels the ca/era .ould actually see. 4nd, no, don6t forget the ca/era/anA .e need hi/. 4nd so/e folk to .ho/ u the sound. =h8don6t forget the story either. 0e6ll return to that. 4nd .hat, really, .as it all a"outB <hat de ends on the angle fro/ .hich .e cali"rate 1really.1 0hat the /oguls sa.8.e6ll start .ith the/8.as /oney :not /uch; dri""led out to gaggles of odd eo le, in return for so/e hand,dra.n footage every .eek or t.o. Back .hen 9ust seeing so/ething /ove .as a delight, audiences had for/ed the ha"it of e( ecting such footageA thus a novelty had "eco/e a rogra/ fi(ture. By the 19'$s the Pat 2ullivan studio, .hich .as /ostly =tto *ess/er, +-, .as affording audiences a routine fi( .ith )eli( the Cat, the first clear,cut instance of Character 4ni/ation. :IertieB 2he6d "een a ro for the real character, her creator.; )eli(, .ho/ *ess/er cannily reduced to so/e "rusha"le "lo"s, routinely stalked, ondered, triu/ hed. 15 ut e/ hasis on ersonality in )eli(,1 *ess/er .ould recall: 1eye /otion and facial e( ressions.1 He6d long since discovered he could 1get as "ig a laugh .ith a little gesture8a .ink or a t.ist of the tail18as he could .ith gags. <hat /eant, he6d created a Character: an e/"le/ audiences could invest .ith e( ectations, disa oint/ents, triu/ hs. 5t6s unkno.n ho. Fied 19C', aged 91. 7ote the attern of longevity. >9> /any )eli( fil/s got /ade, several hundred anyho., and an effort to re/e/"er that they all receded sound. 5t .as also a sy/ to/ of e/ergent custo/ that =. *ess/er6s na/e .asn6t credited, 9ust Pat 2ullivan6s. Pat 2ullivan .as the Producer, i.e., the financial liaison. But he even got hi/self hotogra hed as if his days .ere s ent ani/ating. 2ound "rought in a ne. sti/ulus: /usic. 4udiences could no. sto/ their feet. 4nd studios tended to o.n /usic co/ anies. 0arner Bros. o.ned erha s si(. 4haK 2uch eyes as +ack 0arner6s lit u .ith dollar,signsK *usic could "ring continuity to -ooney <unes, and the cartoons could hel sell the /usic. )or several years that see/ed a ri/ary reason to /ake cartoons. 10hen 5 .as young,1 Chuck +ones re/e/"ers, 1/usic u"lishing .as a "ig "usiness "ecause . . . oh, eo le layed the ukulele.1 :7o.adays, ade t .ith chords on the guitar, /any stru//ers feel no need for sheet /usic.; 2ound .as in so/e .ays a regression: .ould a hallful of foot,sto/ ers ever /iss CharacterB But yes, a de/and ersisted for *ickey *ouse, .ho/ Fisney and 5.erks had created 9ust .hen sound .as da.ning. 2o for years the Fisney out ut .as "ifurcated8in alternate fortnights, a *ickey *ouse :character;, a 2illy 2y/ hony :foot, sto/ ;. -uckily, 0alt Fisney ca/e to see the 2illy 2y/ honys as carte "lanche to 9ust

lay around. Playing around can ay off. *ay 19## sa. a turning oint in ani/ation history. <hat .as a 2illy 2y/ hony called The Three .ittle Pigs . 5n the /id,thirties it .as a sensation, a cartoon that .ent on laying .eek after .eek .hile features ca/e and .ent "ehind it. 4fter fifty years it re/ains a/a@ing. 4 governing tune8 > 1$ >
0ho6s afraid of the Big Bad 0olf Big Bad 0olf Big Bad 0olf

kee s t.o igs a,ho ing and a,fluting and a,fiddling .hile a Practical Pig lays "ricks. 4nd they Ho and they )lute and they )iddle twee'le 'ee and 4gain and 4gain fi''le fie fee fee and the 0olf 9u/ s .HO/P and they Iallo and they 2to/ as their Practical friend can see. <he third ig6s rhyth/s are rosaic co/ ared to theirsA diddle diddle diddle diddle isn6t his life style. 4t "otto/ it6s the old the/e of the 4nt and the Irassho er, the 4nt thoughtful for to/orro. :a .olf /ay arrive at the door;, the Irassho er incorrigi"ly tou/ours gai . Chuck +ones co/ ares 0alt6s founding of the Fisney 2tudios .ith the founding of the 0ew &orker "y Harold Hoss at a"out the sa/e eriod. 5f Hoss .as no great .riter, neither .as 0alt a great ani/ator. But each created a /ilieu in .hich greatness could flourish. 4nd greatness, insofar as it6s attacha"le to ani/ation, undou"ta"ly attaches to The Three .ittle Pigs, three characters :says +ones; .ho are characteri@ed solely "y the .ay they /ove, since they look e(actly alike. :Before that, he adds, villains .ere heavy, victi/s not. <hat si/ le distinction continued into the days of Bluto and Po eye.; Uni&ue selfness, inherent in a .ay of /oving: that is the essence of the Character 4ni/ation .e6re kee ing track of. Heality inheres in rhyth/. 2o yes, yes, things .ere ha ening "ackstage, not al.ays "ekno.nst to studios like *I* and 0arners .hich o.ned chains of theaters, "y the early 19#$s all 1.ired for sound.1 > 11 > 5nto their theaters they du/ ed their t.o,hour 1 roduct.1 <hat /eant, /ore or less, a ninety,/inute feature every .eek, lus a ne.sreel, lus a t.o,reeler, lus a cartoon. 4 reel is a"out nine /inutes. Cartoons got shaved to seven /inutes, then to si(. But, ho.ever "rief, a cartoon there had to "e. -acking it, the ackage .ould have see/ed short,.eighted. 5n a .ay, it6s as si/ le as that. Hence all those flurries of dra.ings. > 1' >

> 1# >

Ter0$"e Terr'ce

5n 191' the Titanic sank, a /an na/ed )unk coined the .ord 1vita/in,1 Ho"ert 2cott reached the 2outh Pole, 1Piltdo.n *an1 .as e(hu/ed, +i/ +oyce turned thirty, and 2a/ Beckett si(. 4lso 7e. *e(ico .as ad/itted to the Union :hence Bugs Bunny6s for/ulaic 1-eft turn at 4l"u&uer&ue1A and later the roadrunner, Geococcy1 californianus, .ould "eco/e 7e. *e(ico6s state "ird;. *oreover, the 191' autu/nal e&uino(8'1 2e te/"er, a 2aturday8sa. Charles *artin :Chuck; +ones "orn in 2 okane. <hat year .as re,<G, re,cine/a, even re,radio. :Oes, .ireless and /ovies e(isted, "ut no, they didn6t do/inate the ti/e of any folk save tech fanatics.; <hat left, .ell, -ooks, so if you felt unslee y your recourse .as reading. 5t .as also your rainy, day recourse, and, .hen necessary, your .ay of cocooning yourself .hen you .ere the third of four and your si"lings .ere, all three, assertive. :1*argaret Bar"ara +ones, /aster .eaver and designer, teacher and fa"ric designerA > 14 > Forothy +ane +ones, scul tor, .riter, and illustratorA Hichard Kent +ones, ainter, hotogra her, teacher, and rint/aker1: that6s the roll,call that also includes 1Charles *artin +ones, ani/ator and ani/ated,cartoon director.1;+1, He .as for/ed "y literacy and is still focused on it. 5n the heat of discourse he6ll dro a hrase fro/ a "ook every fe. sentences, and fre&uently ause to credit it. 5n his .onderful /e/oir, Chuck Amuck, he recalls a long,ago cat na/ed +ohnson uttering 1a single laconic 6*ckgnao..6 1 4 footnote credits +a/es +oyce6s 2lysses, 1"ut +ohnson said it first.1 7o. .hat -eo old Bloo/6s hungry cat said that Fu"lin +une /orning .as so/ething slightly different: 1*kgnao.1+-, <he oint is, +ones is &uoting fro/ /e/ory, so/ething the truly literate have the confidence to do. He .as .riting a "ook that doesn6t retend to scholarshi , and felt no s ecial i/ ulse to reach for the shelf, fli ages, verify. His oints get /ade: +ohnson, an authentic cat, s oke authentic cat, s eech, and +oyce, an authentic .riter, got cat,s eech right. 4s does +ones, thanks to the real +ohnson reinforcing +oycean fiction the .ay :as +oyce fans .ill verify; reality nor/ally does. Chuck +ones insists on the relia"ility of authentic .riters. Here6s *ark <.ain on the coyote: 1<he coyote is a long, sli/, sick and sorry,looking skeleton, .ith a gray .olf, skin stretched over it, a tolera"ly "ushy tail that forever sags do.n .ith a des airing e( ression of forsakenness and /isery, a furtive and evil eye, and a long shar face .ith a Chuck Amuck, . 4E. 4nd .ith further urgency, 1*rkgnaoK1 and 1*rkrgnaoK1 Headers in need of rigorous detail a"out feline vocal resources should consult *uriel Beadle, The Cat :19DD;, . 1C%?C. > 1E > slightly lifted li and e( osed teeth. He has a general slinking e( ression all over. <he coyote is a living, "reathing allegory of 0ant.1 0hether that6s the authentic coyote of the .ilds 56ve not the e( erience to say, "ut it6s un/istaka"ly the 0ile 3. Coyote that Chuck +ones created in 1949, thirty years after he6d 1devoured1 :he says; <.ain6s *oughing 3t at the ri e age of seven. 5t6s interesting that he doesn6t /ention "eing taught to read. 5n those days /any lifelong readers .eren6t taught to read, any /ore than they .ere taught to .alk. <hey 9ust so/eho. icked it u , fre&uently "y listening to a arent read .hile a finger /oved along the lines. 0hat +ones does /ention, /ore than once, is the a"undance of "ooks a/id .hich he gre. u . His father, .ho e/erges as fascinatingly feckless, /oved the fa/ily fre&uently, al.ays to a rented house so .ell stocked .ith "ooks it once took the lot of the/ a five,year stay to read everything. 4nd they did read everything, trash alongside treasure, discerning a difference "ut reading "oth kinds any.ay. 15t .as entirely i/ ossi"le for /e to read .ithout thinking, and reading The %o--sey Twins, for instance, /ade /e think of thro.ing u .1 He6ll also d.ell on his father6s ad/iration for a .riter .ho understood gists and ho. to get the/ together.
=nce, on a glittering ice,field, ages and ages ago, Ung, a /aker of ictures, fashioned an i/age of sno..

1<hat6s Hudyard Ki lingK1 said *r. Charles 4da/s +ones. 13verything you need to kno. a"out his su"9ect, Cro,*agnon /an: 0ho. 0hat. 0hen. 0here. 5n oetic for/. 5n one sentence.1 5f, des ite <. 2. 3liot6s a roval, Ki ling6s re ute > 1% > does not currently thrive, still it6s interesting to note ho. ra idly 3liot had ut 1everything you need to kno.1 a"out +. 4lfred Prufrock into t.elve o ening lines in 19$9, and ho. &uickly Chuck +ones got the gist of a de/olition .orker .ith dollar,signs in his eyes into the o ening /o/ents of One Froggy !ening :19EE;. +ones had fe.er than 4$$ seconds in .hich to resent his .hole fa"le, never forgetting the need to kee an audience continuously s ell"ound. 7o one else got 0arner Bros. cartoons under .ay .ith such econo/y. 7o one else, either, had so literary a conce tion of character. 0here it had sufficed other ani/ation directors to /ake Bugs Bunny anarchic, anarchy "eing the /ediu/6s richest tradition, the Bugs of +ones .on6t declare that <his *eans 0ar till after his s ace has "een .antonly violated, as "y a hunter in 0a""it 2eason :Duck# *a--it# Duck# ; or "y a furious "ull in the ring :%ully for %ugs ;. =ther.ise Bugs i/ roves his shining hour .ith the tran&uil aid of a carrot, thoughtfully /unched. <hat rese/"les the care novelists take over /otivation, to hel as they routinely do a rint,"ound reader .ho6s una"le to see a "ook6s characters unless in .hat .e6re not discussing, a 1co/ic "ook.1 4h, all those "ooksK 4nd +ones6s ver"al /e/ory for the/, u to seven decades later, is incredi"le. 5t is si/ ly not true that the hu/an sensi"ility necessarily divides eye, eo le fro/ .ord, eo le. :4ni/ators are eye, eo le, yesB; 4nd another the/e: all that a erK <he .ay Chuck +ones tells it, every ti/e his father launched a ne. enter rise, letterhead got rinted on high,&uality stock. <he su ly of such enter rises see/ed as ine(hausti"le as their ti/ing .as luckless8.ho "ut +ones 2r., .ith a short o tion on 2ignal Hill, .ould have entrusted geraniu/s 1for the 3astern /arket1 to its oil,saturated earthB <he +ones children, though, lived > 1D >

a/id uni/agina"le &uantities of Ha//er/ill Bond a er and <iconderoga encils. Conse&uently, they all "eca/e visual artists. 0hen Ki/on 7icolaides at the 4rt 2tudents -eague advised a "eginning class that their learning rocess .ould involve getting rid of the 1$$,$$$ "ad dra.ings they had inside the/, Chuck +ones .as already .ell ast his third hundred thousand. 4t the Chouinard 4rt 5nstitute, as .e6ve noted, he learned a/ong other things the sort of anato/ical knack Iri/ 7at.ick also co//anded, for instance .ith .rists and knees. 4 fascinating dra.ing sho.s us ho., if .e6ve learned to /ake an i/age of a hu/an leg that contains so/e anato/ical insight concerning its "ones, .e have only to ad9ust a fe. ro ortions to dra. the leg of a horse, a dog, a cat . . . 12a/e "ones,1 says the ca tion in Chuck Amuck4 1different lengths > 1C > only.1 2o the fact that fe. ani/ated cartoons used hu/an characters .asn6t relevant. 4s .e can see a fe. ages further on :'%%?D;, the fa/iliar 0arner Bros. He ertory Co/ any consisted of hu/anes&ue figures .ith ani/al faces and ro ortions. )or here, their ga@es locked in confrontation, "ehold a housecat :sitting; and 2ylvester :erect on hind legs;.+1, Fes ite /ild si/ilarities of detail they are clearly deni@ens of different

universesA you6d not get a 2ylvester "y ro ing that cat erect. Conversely, Bugs in the osture of a crouching ra""it looks cra/ ed and unBugsy. He ought to "e u right, one ar/ aki/"o, the other flaunting a carrot. 4nd as for the coyote: the real or @ookee er6s coyote, as dra.n "y +ones, looks rather like a shee . But 0ile 3. has arranged his "ones in si/ulation of a ho"o6s leisure, recu/"ent, right fore a. su orting an unke/ t head on .hich that sche/ing e( ression isn6t anything conceiva"ly natural to Canis latrans . :1Fog .ho ho.ls,1 yes, that6s the coyote6s official na/e. 5t6s note.orthy that 0ile 3. Coyote in /ost of so/e t.o do@en fil/s didn6t utter a sound.; -et6s return "riefly to the redou"ta"le arents. Charles 4da/s +ones, "orn on a )riday the thirteenth, .as 1/eant to "e a Ba tist /inister in <e(as.1 (is arents, the ones res onsi"le for /eaning hi/ to "e that, 1.ere "orn in a tiny to.n that doesn6t e(ist any /ore called 4da/s, <e(as, "ecause the ancestors .ere related to the 4da/s fa/ily.1 0he.. 2o, 1)ather gre. u and "eca/e conversant .ith the Bi"le and .as valedictorian of his high school class and received a full scholarshi to Carnegie <ech.1 Unha ily, he couldn6t acce t 2ylvesterB He6s the cat "est re/e/"ered for "eing o"sessed .ith <.eety the canary. 2eldo/ a +ones character, he generally .orked for his designer, )ri@ )releng. > 19 >

> '$ >

> '1 >

> '' > it "ecause he had to hel su ort his fa/ily. 2o "y 'E he6d "eco/e railroad yard/aster in 2an )rancisco, fro/ .hich his ne(t /ove .as to Pana/a, .here they had their /inds on a Canal. 1Both /y sisters .ere "orn in the Pana/a Canal Pone. 4nd 5 .as conceived there, "ut "orn in 2 okane, 0ashington. 5 never forgave hi/ for that. 5t6s /uch /ore elegant to say you .ere "orn in Pana/a, at least 5 thought so8in the tro ics.1 )ather, 1a sort of Hichard Harding Favis,1 loved the idea of living in the tro ics. 2o he al.ays dressed in .hite and .ore "oots. 1Iod, he .as a good,looking, "eautiful, handso/e /an.1 *otherB *a"el *cQuiddy *artin, 1"orn in a lace called 7evada, *issouri.1 Pronounce that 7e,!ay ,da. 4nd raised in 2chnute, Kansas, .here she .as 1"elle of the to.n.1 Charles 4da/s +ones ca/e there to visit a friend, s otted the "elle, 1hired a air of s anking "ays and a carriage .ith the fringe on to , s.e t her off her feet, took her a.ay for a honey/oon in 7e. Oork and then do.n to Pana/a.1 7e(t, *etro olitan -ife hired C.4.+. to /anage its north.est territoryA hence the /ove to 2 okane 9ust "efore the "irth of our Charles *artin, .ho "ears his father6s first na/e and his /other6s /aiden na/e and goes "y 1Chuck.1 C.4.+. didn6t like living in 2 okane, any /ore than his son .as to relish having "een "orn there instead of in Pana/a, 1so /uch /ore elegant to say.1 2o +ones 2r. 1headed for 2outhern California, and that .as the last of "eing .ealthy. He ke t starting ne. "usinesses and failing.1 4nd the kids had all that Ha//er/ill Bond to use for dra.ing, a er, and all those encils. 15 think all kids .ill dra. if they6re encouraged to do so1 is Chuck6s ans.er to a &uestion a"out .here the talent /ay have co/e fro/. 3ncourage/ent, dou"tless, is art of the story. But also there .as their /other6s attitude: > '# > 12he .as .illing to /ake the sacrifice /ost arents .ill not /ake: she .ould not critici@e, and she .ould not over, raise. Oears later she told /e that if .e "rought a dra.ing to her, she didn6t look at the dra.ing, she looked at us. 4nd if .e see/ed to "e

e(cited, then she .ould "e e(cited. But if 5 9ust "rought a dra.ing for, you kno., 9ust "ecause, then she .ould look at it . . . and she .ould never say 60hat6s thatB6 or 65s that FaddyB6 or anything like that. 2he .ould look at it and say, 6*y, you used a lot of "lue, didn6t youB6 17o criticis/. 4lso no over, raise. Praise ro"a"ly hurts /ore than anything else. Oou co/e running over .ith a dra.ing, and they say, 6=h, that6s .onderful,6 and stick it u on the refrigerator. 4fter a .hile the child says, 6-ook, 5 kno. all /y dra.ings aren6t good.6 4nd loses interest "ecause, o"viously, the arent had lost interest.1 Chuck +ones .as 1E .hen he entered Chouinard after not graduating fro/ high school, and in the ti/e he s ent there he had no gli//er of the use to .hich he6d one day "e utting the anato/y they .ere teaching hi/. His stint of cel,.ashing at the U" 5.erks esta"lish/ent :19#1; ca/e after so/e futile /onths at a co//ercial art studio, .here he .as dogged :he says; "y a ost,Chouinard ina"ility to dra.. :2u"se&uently, he hastens to add, ten years of night school and 1the great teacher Fonald Iraha/1 .ould ena"le hi/ to clai/ that if he still can6t dra. he can fake it retty .ell. 4s he assuredly can.; 5n 19##, follo.ing a distinct lack of success as a freelance ortrait sketcher at R1 er, Chuck +ones /ade the /ove of his life, to -eon 2chlesinger Productions. 2chlesinger had reviously headed so/ething called Pacific 4rt and <itle, the rinci al roduct of .hich .as the dialogue cards on .hich si, > '4 > lent fil/s de ended. :<he heroine6s li s /oveA then a card: 1=h, Henry . . . 5 hear . . . horses# 1; 4 feature /ight use several do@en of those, or u to several hundred. But no. that there .ere soundtracks, audiences could hear the heroine6s voice, and the future for dialogue cards see/ed "leak. 2chlesinger, ever canny, sa. ho. to cut his de endence on cards. He cooked u a three,.ay deal. He .ould "ack a cou le of artists na/ed Hugh Har/an and Hudol h 5sing, so/eti/e Fisney associates, to crank out a cartoon a /onthA the cartoons in turn he .ould /arket to 0arner Bros., .ho .ould use the/ to ro/ote songs fro/ their feature fil/s and their sheet,/usic co/ anies. <hus cash .ould flo. fro/ the 0arners to 2chlesinger, .ho .ould ass no /ore than he had to "ack to Har/an,5sing+!, .hile reserving the rest for necessities such as his yacht. <hus the -ooney <unes .ere "orn, and if you think that na/e carries an echo of 2illy 2y/ honys you are right. <he first -ooney <une, ,inkin" in the %athtu-, o ened in a 0arner,o.ned theater on Broad.ay, *ay %, 19#$. 5ts star .as a li6l ol6 "lack "oy na/ed Bosko, and finger, ointers should ause to recall the technical constraints of an era .hen all cartoon stars .ere a t to "e "lack: )eli( the Cat, )li the )rog, yes, *ickey *ouse hi/self. 4 "ody you could fill in fast .ith a "rush: that .as a great hel .hen you had to turn out hundreds u on hundreds of nigh,identical dra.ings. :4lso, Bosko e( loited the tradition of 4l +olson6s "lackface Ja55 ,inger, the ioneer talkie and a 0arner Bros. roduction.; 4 year and a half later, 0arners co//issioned a second series, called *errie *elodies. <hose .ere conceived as one,shots, /eant to /arket 0arner songs, and 4nd here it6s routine to re/ark a lovely airing of na/es. > 'E > for several years every *errie *elodie .as re&uired to contain 1at least one co/ lete chorus of a 0arner,o.ned tune.1 Har/an and 5sing had ideas of &uality that -eon 2chlesinger didn6t .ant to finance, and eventually they ter/inated the deal and took Bosko .ith the/ to *I*. <hat left 2chlesinger o.ning, as 2teve 2chneider uts it, 1the rights to the hrases 6-ooney <unes,6 6*errie *elodies,6 and 6<hat6s all, folksK6 "ut .ith no staff and no kno.n characters.1+2, <o /aintain the cash flo. fro/ 0arners he hadn6t a recourse save to get a staff together. He took over a "uilding on the old 0arner lot, lured )ri@ )releng and Bo" Cla/ ett "ack fro/ Har/an,5sing, and icked u fro/ Fisney a fe. /en e( erienced enough to start in as Production 2u ervisors, later called Firectors. 5t .as in the /idst of that tur/oil that Charles *. +ones 9oined the staff: a so/eti/e cel, .asher .hose in,"et.eening hadn6t /ade U" 5.erks think he .as .orth kee ing around. 5f on so/e ages of Chuck Amuck the self,de recation sounds a trifle for/ulaic,

still it6s easy to i/agine ho. +ones could have felt that the 0arner cartoon o eration ac&uired hi/, so/eho., "y /istake. He .ould stay .ith it for three roductive decades. *ean.hile, a .onderful lot t.ist. <he second ti/e Chuck +ones .as ter/inated "y the 5.erks enter rise :no, you don6t need the detailsA U" let hi/ go, he sneaked "ack in, .as fired againA it all ha ened in a fe. .eeks of 19#1;8.ell, the second firing .as erfor/ed "y U"6s secretary, Forothy 0e"ster, a sociology graduate :U. of =regon;. <he .ays of courtshi "eing e(traterrestial, in 19#E that sa/e Forothy 0e"ster "eca/e *rs. Charles *. +ones, and in 19#D 2teve 2chneider, That"s All Folks# :19CC;, . 4$. > '% > /other to -inda +ones, .ho today, as -inda +ones Clough, runs t.o co/ anies called -inda +ones 3nter rises and Chuck +ones 3nter rises, of .hich a rinci al activity is 1 roducing, reserving and authenticating dra.ings and cels fro/ /y ast, resent and future, selling the/ through /a9or art galleries in the United 2tates.1 Forothy 0e"ster +ones, 1friend, critic, .riter, dance artner,+3, .onderful /other and grand/other,1 died in 19DC. )ive years later Chuck /arried *arian +. Fern, "y rofession a .riter, hotogra her. He6s "een "lissfully fortunate, t.ice. 5t .as Forothy, he says, .ho so/eho. got hi/ the 9o" at 2chlesinger6s, "ack in the ti/e of the "reaka.ay fro/ Har/an,5sing. <hat ut Chuck +ones in osition to "enefit "y a /a9or e isode in ani/ation history. )or in 19#E, t.enty,seven,year,old )red :1<e(1; 4very fro/ <aylor, <e(as, clai/ing to "e a descendant of +udge Hoy Bean, sho.ed u at 2chlesinger Productions. He said he6d directed t.o cartoons for 0alter -ant@, though, 2teve 2chneider says, 1no screen credits e(ist to that effect,1 and he so/eho. got ut in charge of a ne. unit, staffed "y /en .ho .eren6t ha y .here they6d "een. <hey included Chuck +ones, Bo" Cla/ ett, and 1a terrific drafts/an1 na/ed Bo" :1Bo"e1; Cannon. 4"out 19D$ 4very .as recalling the/ all as 1tickled to death1: 1<hey .anted to get a 6ne. grou 6 going, and 6.e could do it6 and 6let6s /ake ictures.6 5t .as very encouraging. . . . 0e .orked every night. *y gosh, nothing sto ed usK1 <hey .ere installed in a "uilding of their o.n on the 0arner lot8a .hite one,story "ungalo., 4 19E4 s&uare,dance "ook, Fi!e &ears of ,ets in Or'er, is introduced "y Chuck +ones. > 'D > &uickly du""ed <er/ite <errace once the ne. cre. "eca/e a.are of other live "eings around. 2ha/us Culhane .ould re/e/"er fro/ his stint there in 64# a lace that 1looked and stank like the hold of a slave shi ,1 and *ichael *altese, long,ti/e story/an, re/e/"ered a colleague .ho 1tried to set fire to it once, 9ust for the hell of it, 9ust to see if it "urned. 4nd it .ouldn6t "urn.1 4nd "efore long, in that unlikely lace, Chuck +ones, so/eti/e cel,.asher and in,"et.eener and &uonda/ a rentice to Iri/ 7at.ick, .as ani/ating for <e( 4very. )or reasons that .ill a ear, he couldn6t have had a "etter /entor at 9ust that oint in his career. 4very6s sense of the ani/ata"le universe .as for/ed in the decade .hen a dotted line fro/ the eye of )eli( the Cat could knock over a chi /unk, and he re/ained i/ ervious to any clai/ that ani/ation should strive for the 5llusion of -ife. 2o an 4very s&uirrel shakes a "o(ing glove lest it contain a :shudderK; horseshoe, .hereu on a full,si@ed horse tu/"les out head,first, its e( ression "lissfully "land. =r an 4very "it, layer .ith 1one foot in the grave1 ho""les u to the "ar .ith :in +oe 4da/son6s .ords; 1an entire lot of ground, an erected to/"stone and a decorative tuli all cu/"erso/ely attached to the end of his right leg.1 +4, <hat kind of gag takes a cou le of secondsA 4da/son is right to e/ hasi@e that .hat6s funny isn6t really the gag, after all rather si/ le,/inded if you think a"out it, "ut 1the "ra@en vividness of the resentation.1 <he days of )eli( .ere goneA ani/ation6s universe had since "een enriched .ith color, sound, co ious detailA its inha"itants .ere no longer inky "lo"s. 3ven *ickey *ouse, at one ti/e a

2ee +oe 4da/son, Te1 A!ery: 6ing of Cartoons :19DE;. > 'C > "lackness .ith "ig .hite eye"alls and a air of red shorts, had ac&uired, "y the ti/e of 19#D6s %ra!e .ittle Tailor, a 9acket, a "elt .ith a .allet, /oreover a loo to carry scissors, all to ed "y a 9aunty feathered hat .ith a turned,u "ri/. 5n so lavishly detailed a universe the /ere dotted,line stare .ould need enhancing, erha s .ith tru/ ets, raised curtains, centered s otlights. 4ll this cra@iness, +ones thought it .orth e/ hasi@ing one /orning, .as drea/ed u and e(ecuted "y /en in hats and ties and vests. 15n those days, .hen you .ent to .ork you took off your coat, /ay"e, "ut very often you left your vest on. 4nd if you loosened your tie, still you did not take it off.1 <hat descri"es /en in unifor/, so to s eak. <e( 4very stayed at 0arners till -eon 2chlesinger fired hi/ in /id,1941 :their dis ute .as over the final forty feet of a fil/ called The (eckling (are ;, and Chuck +ones ani/ated or hel ed ani/ate seven 4very ictures, 19#%?#D. 5t6s argua"le that the truly /ad and /e/ora"le 4very e/erged at *I*, 194'?EE. <o that eriod "elong, for e(a/ le, the fil/s, nota"ly .ittle *ural *i'ing (oo', that feature a lecherous .olf :essentially, the Fisney .olf of 19##, "ut no longer o"sessed .ith 9ust food; and a disar/ingly hu/an redheaded nightclu" singer. 2he is ani/ated .ith the chastest i/agina"le se(iness,+5, and he, on first sighting her fro/ his ta"le, invaria"ly finds so/e eleven different .ays to fly /adly a art. 2heer li"ido, you understand, nothing to re/ark on, the .orld needs to "e ke t o ulatedA still, it6s hard to forget his eyes o ing out t.o yards on taut strings, or his feet asto/ on his head, or his "ody "reaking u into five ieces .hich "y so/e /iraculous la. sna "ack together. 4nd no rotosco es .ere used, +oe 4da/son assures usA nor .as anyone so /uch as eeking at live,action footage. > '9 > 4s to .hat all this has to do .ith Chuck +ones, .ho as .e6ve said ani/ated for 4very during 9ust t.o years, after .hich he .as ro/oted to 2u ervisor :i.e., Firector; on his o.nA .ell, it6s erfectly true that 4very6s style of "oundless e(aggeration .as never +ones6s. 0hat <e( 4very did esta"lish8though for Chuck +ones the lesson took ti/e to stick8.as si/ ly the autono/y of the Firector6s created .orld. <he .orld of the transcendent +ones cartoons8think of One Froggy !ening or $hat"s O)era, Doc7 8has no fir/ connections .ith any .orld outside itself. Hu/ans, such as dicker .ith talent agents or use their life savings to hire theaters, coe(ist .ith a green frog .ho .ears a to hat and sings 1Hello, *y Ba"y1 and can also .alk a tightro e. 4 ig .ho sings 0agner soon 9oins a ra""it .ho can lay a "allerina in drag and can also slide do.n a .hite horse .ith the "est of circus stars, in .hat the ra""it announces has "een not o era "ut send,u :10hat did you e( ect8a ha))y endingB1;. 5t doesn6t see/ too /uch to say that <e( 4very6s resence8though none of his /a9or fil/s got /ade at 0arners 8underlaid the great eriod .hen 0arner cartoons, to the general "e/use/ent of 0arner "rass, aced the cartoon industry, and also fostered Chuck +ones. +ones needed 4very6s e(a/ le. But <e( 4very had to get clear of 0arners to flourish, and +ones could not have flourished any.here else. )or a fi( on this co/ licated the/e, consider the role of 0alt Fisney 3nter rises in a .orld .here rival studios, and nota"ly 0arners, see/ed to have no fir/ o"9ective save not to "e lavish .ith /oney. 4t 0F3 they ca/e to kno. .hat they .ere after, and it .asn6t .hat 4very .as after, nor for that /atter .hat the ost,4very 0arners valued. 0hat they > #$ > .ere after che5 Fisney .as the look of e( ensive erfection. 7o. define Perfection. :Clearing of e(ecutives6 throats . . .; Cartoons .ere for kids8rightB =r so 0alt Fisney .as thinking "y a"out 19#E. <hus at Bur"ank they /ade 2illy 2y/ honys that .ould have "een far "etter had they "een sillier8a langorous 0ynken, Blynken and 7od, for e(a/ le, as cutey,cute cute as the

.ooden shoe of a starshi they rode through the sky, dangling candy,cane hooks to catch stars. *others .ere /eant to recall ho. their /others had read 3ugene )ield6s verses to the/A .ere /eant also to conclude that their o.n children .ould of course love .hat they the/selves see/ed to re/e/"er loving. *ean.hile the ani/ators gave /ore and /ore attention to getting details like the s.irl of .aves 3(actly Hight. <hey6d even check their dra.n efforts against live,action footage. 0hen )rank <ho/as and =llie +ohnston, t.o of Fisney6s 17ine =ld *en,1 su"titled their "ig 19C1 Disney Animation "ook 1<he 5llusion of -ife,1 they disclosed /ore than they erha s /eant to. 2o/eho., so/e ti/e a little after the transcendent Three .ittle Pigs, the erfection 4rt seeks had "een redefined at Fisney. 4rtists .ere to try for so/ething /iscalled Healis/, descri"ed at one oint in the <ho/as,+ohnston "ook as 1that rich look of a first,class illustration,1 .hich hints at, oh, gallery,&uality 7or/an Hock.ell. 0arner Bros. ani/ation at its finest had no truck .ith any such 5llusion of -ife. But that .ould "e later. 4t 0arner Bros. in the 19#$s, Chuck +ones says, Fisney6s doings .ere regarded .ith a"solute a.e, and "y no one /ore than "y +ones hi/self, .ho, once he "eca/e a director, .orked through a long sticky eriod of Fisney,.orshi . :="vious ho. Chouinard training /ight encourage that. 4ttach a hand to an ar/B > #1 > 4h, one /ore thing 5 kno. e(actly ho. to do.; 3arly in the second half,century since Tom Thum- in Trou-le :194$; .as, as they say, 1released,1 a vie.er of that land/ark fil/ is hard ut to distinguish ad/iration fro/ e/"arrass/ent. 12u ervision1 is 1"y Charles *. +ones1A also credited is one ani/ator, Ho"ert Cannon, the 1terrific drafts/an1 .ho6d "een art of 4very6s inheritance at 0arners and .ho clearly had a fine gras of ho. to ortray the undistorted hu/an for/. 5t6s, yes, "eautifully dra.nA and if you like a nice senti/ental story, that6s resent too, thanks to story/an Hich Hogan :.ho .ould soon /ove to *I* and for years rovide <e( 4very .ith his /ost 4veryes&ue ideas, dancing redheads, e( loding .olves.; But this storyB <o &uote +erry Beck and 0ill )ried.ald6s indis ensa"le .ooney Tunes an' 8errie 8elo'ies, 1=nce u on a ti/e in the dark forest lived a .oodcho er and his tiny son, <o/ <hu/". <o/ is so s/all that he can take a "ath in his dad6s cu ed hands.1 4 "ird :.e6ll ski so/e details; saves <o/6s life "ut Fad drives it a.ay. <o/ sets forth in a sno.stor/ to find it. 4nd :&uoting again;, 1Fad a.akens and calls for his son. <he little "ird hears Fad6s calls and flies to <o/, "ringing hi/ ho/e. Fad, crying over the loss of his son, looks u to see <o/ and the "ird. <hat night, <o/ is safely aslee in the illo., the little "ird nestled in Fad6s "eard.1 <reacleA lachrymose treacle, /oreover. But it6s all done .ith e(e/ lary e( ertise. 4stonishing, ho. the 0arner folk could ani/ate a "ig "earded hu/an .ith slo. "ut ad/ira"le realis/, "ack .hen other studios :Fisney, )leischer; .ould re are to do 9ust that kind of thing "y studying live,action footage such as -eon 2chlesinger said he lacked the "udget for. Beck and )ried.ald rovide an interesting coda to their entry on Tom Thum- in Trou-le . 14lthough the 0arner car, > #' > toon staff had tried to /i/ic Fisney in the ast, "y 194$ they had retty /uch given u that a/"ition in favor of the gag a roach .ith .hich they .ould soon achieve o ular success. <his fil/ is a deli"erate, last,ti/e effort to figure out the Fisney for/ula. Fisney .ould "e used only as a source of satire in the future.1 1<he gag a roach1 . . . : <hat hrase is unnecessarily "lank, i/ lying as it does adolescent disres ect for so/ething .e haven6t the skills or the "udget to e/ulate. 4nd 1the Fisney for/ula1: that de ended, surely, less on Fisney ani/ation than on Fisney /arketing. 0alt6s narcotics .ere safe for the kiddiesA .hereas it6s "een routinely o"9ected fro/ that day to this that the 0arner for/ula is -a' for the/, incor orating as it does so /uch %$o(ence . *y first afternoon .ith Chuck +ones, in Balti/ore, "ack in 19D4, .as unctuated "y a .o/an .ith a 2ocial Conscience .ho charged hi/ .ith ro/ulgating violence, !i'e those a.ful 1Hoad Hunners.1 Having heard that, oh, say, C,$E# ti/es, Chuck .asn6t deterred. <he Coyote, he ointed out, is the only one .ho gets "atteredA "ut never, ever, does the Coyote find hi/self in a situation he didn6t set u , ersonally and in detail. :Un/ollified, *s. Conscience, a lighter,into, ne(t lit into the hors d6oeuvres.; 0e6re .alking a delicate line. =n the one hand, +ones is allegedly the /aestro of /indless violence. :0rong.; =n the other hand, he6s ani/ation6s stickiest

senti/entalist. :4lso 7ot Hight, though <e( 4very is &uoted as saying 1<hat .as al/ost a +ones1 a"out a cartoon of his o.n he thought .as too senti/ental.; 0hat +ones did .as struggle clear of the treacly Fisneyes&ue. :Fee' the 6itty 8treaclyB 7o. <hough it does offer a /o/ent .hen audiences have "een kno.n to .ee .; <he great +ones fil/s are neither senti/ental nor vio, > ## > lent, though their care for their characters could lead you to think the for/er .hile their sheer s eed nudges you to the latter. %ully for %ugs 8senti/entalB 7onsense. GiolentB 4lso nonsense, des ite everything its scri t inflicts on a "ull .e surely never think is real. 4 "ull .e never think is real8that6s a tricky conce t. )or if .e don6t think of a "ull the cartoon gets trivial, .hereas thinking of a "east in ain e( els us fro/ the cartoon .orld. But that is not a "east, therefore not in ainA it6s a .ondrous arrange/ent of lines and color and /ove/ent. <hat6s so/ething true of all ani/ation, and it6s re/arka"le ho. /uch oftener the &uestion co/es u che5 +ones than, say, che5 4very. +ones differs fro/ 4very in .orking so/e.here close to the /ysterious @one .here .e vie.ers connect en,and,ink artifice .ith the .orld .e inha"it. He6d not clai/ o.nershi there, erha s not even understanding. 2till, no other ani/ator see/s to have .orked in that do/ain .ith so /uch confidence. 5n 194', aged #$, he directed a cartoon .hich :he says; .as 1the first Chuck +ones,1 that is, the first fil/ to "ear .hat could later "e recogni@ed as his un/istaka"le i/ rint. <hat .as The Do!er %oys, a .ondrous ro/ .ith <o/, Fick and -arry, three 9olly cha s enrolled at Pi/ento University :1Iood ole P.U.1; and chastely ena/ored, all three, of the steadfast Fora 2tand i e. <he date, 9udging "y the one auto .e get to see, is ch, a"out 191$, so <o/, Fick and -arry get around "y edaling :one tande/, one enny,farthing, one trike;. Ho. Fora gets around is less clear. Her go.n touches the ground and she see/s to have no feet, "ut she6s a dyna/ic .onder as she glides do.n stairs and .o""les like a "o.ling in at each landing. Her rese/"lance to a "o.ling > #4 >

in doesn6t deter a dire fello. na/ed Fan Backslide, .ho hangs out in ool,halls and, yes, covets chaste Fora. Pool,halls, .e kno. a"out thoseA in one .onderful shot our three heroes and Fora glide "y such a lace on "ikes, each averting a horrified ga@e. <hen8.ell, you have to see it. <here6s not a false /ove, a false /o/ent. *ove/ent is cris , and styli@ed in a .ay that .ould "e see/ing nor/al erha s t.enty years later.+ , 4nd, .eirdest of all the .eird details in The Do!er %oys, a &ueer little "ald "earded fello. in a s.i/suit .ho has /ore than once caught our attention "y inter/ittent ho s across

5n his /e/oir Talking Animals an' Other Peo)le :19C%;, the great ani/ator 2ha/us Culhane has +ohn Hu"ley saying : . '4$; that The Do!er %oys .as a ri/e ins iration for the UP4 cartoons of the 19E$s, fa"led for their 1style.1 > #E > the "otto/ of the screen :one,t.o,three,HOP6 ; turns out to "e the final .inner of Fora 2tand i e6s heart as he and she ho a.ay into a satisfyingly clichNd sunset. :+ones6s *inah Bird, of .ho/ /ore later, had that Ho /anneris/ tooA and you6ll recall +ones recalling a long,ago ti/e .hen ani/ators could get a laugh 9ust "y /aking a .alking figure suddenly Ho . He6s a stu""orn clinger, is +ones, to .hat he erceives as validated conventions.; 4 strange fil/, The Do!er %oys, a clean "reak .ith Fisneyfication and erfectly self,contained as fe. 0arner cartoons could think of "eing "ack in 64'. <hat content/ent in "eing self,contained is one of its Chuck +ones trade/arks. 2o is its restriction of 4ni/ation6s .hole re ertoire to a fe. for/ulaic devices. Oou don6t lose .hen you restrict, no, you gain. <hat6s true of all 4rt, and a /a(i/ 4ni/ation .as too long a ti/e validating. =ut in Bur"ank the Fisney folk .ere never sure that there .as any li/it "et.een .hat they .ere doing and utter hang,it,all Healis/. :<. 2. 3liot, .ho/ they didn6t read, had su lied a the/e for ondering a decade reviously. 0hat had killed off a theater the glory of .hich .as 2hakes eare, had "een, 3liot ostulated, its li/itless a etite for Healis/.; 7o. a"out the *inah Bird. 5t first turns u as early as 19#9, in a fil/ called .ittle .ion (unter . 5t6s still resent in several successors, till as late as 19E$ : Ca!eman 3nki ;. 5n each fil/ 5nki, a little "lack fello. .ith a s ear, see/s to "e the only hu/an inha"itant of a 9ungle so styli@ed its .hite hills rese/"le /olars. 4r/ed solely .ith a s ear, he hunts such critters as a arrot, a giraffe, a "utterfly. :4 s ear, for a "utterflyK *uch isn6t adding u .; <hrough 5nki6s universe there lea s, occasionally, the *inah Bird. 5t6s "lack, and intent on no"ody kno.s .hat, and it has that /anneris/ of ho ing > #% > on every third ste , guided "y the rhyth/ of *endelssohn6s Fingal"s Ca!e overture. 3very ti/e it a ears, nor/al causation is sus endedA "ut if you think it6s 5nki6s good angel you6re deceived, since 5nki does tend to "enefit "ut never .holly. <hus at the end of 3nki an' the 8inah %ir' :194#; the lion is chasing 5nki into the sunset, "ut the *inah Bird has ac&uired the lion6s false teeth, and .hat danger a toothless lion is likely to "e is so/ething on .hich .e /ay s eculate. :<hat lion, "y the .ay, is a .onder, ani/ated "y 2ha/us Culhane, the sa/e .ho had /arched Fisney6s 2even F.arfs singing 1Heigh HoK1 2o/e eight years "efore 5nki, Culhane attended classes taught "y the sa/e teacher +ones is roud to credit, Fon Iraha/. 4nd at the @oo to .hich Iraha/ took the class once a /onth, Culhane recalls "eing ca tivated "y 1a /angy,looking lion,1 said to have once "een the /odel for the *I* titles, "ut "y then 1the sorriest King of Beasts 5 ever sa..1+17, Fra.ings he /ade there su lied 1the "est oses1 for 5nki6s lion. 4nd Chuck +ones .as es ecially leased "ecause a lion6s hind legs, for once, got ani/ated correctly.; +ones clai/s not to understand his *inah Bird fil/s. He also clai/s that they drove 0alt Fisney to distraction. 1*ake so/ething as funny as that,1 0alt ordered his staff, and no"ody could "ecause no"ody could gras the for/ula. 7or could +ones, though he /ade at least five of the/. <hat such strange enig/atic things ever achieved release is a /ark of the 2chlesinger studio in those days. Perha s -eon6s yacht e( lains so/ething. 1He .as a very vulgar, eculiar, naive, lovely /an,1 +ones once recalled, and that cascade of ad9ectives signals so/ething unusual. 1He once "ought a yacht 2ee Talking Animals an' Other Peo)le, . 1#4 and '4%?E1.

> #D > fro/ Hichard 4rlen and called it the 6*errie *elodie,6 .ith a little dinghy on the "ack that he called 6-ooney <unes.6 =ne day 5 said, 6*r. 2chlesinger, .hen are you going to take us out on your yachtB6 4nd he re lied, 65 don6t .ant any oor eo le on /y "oat.6 But, of course, he .as the reason .e .ere oor.1+11, 4nd their overty hel s e( lain

.hat .e6d "est "e grateful for no., -eon6s scant attention to their doings on the <errace. 2teve 2chneider, That"s All Folks# :19CC;, . #C. > #C >

> #9 >

L$#e $n ' Co00'8F'c"or&
+ack and Harry, the take,charge 0arner "rothers, .ere notorious for interfering .ith anything they thought they understood. <heir /alaise ertained to the rofit /argin on features, .hich tended to "e thin and .as easily violated "y directors .hose retensions to 1artistry1 ke t the/ fussing .ith angles and retakes .hile the clock ticked. <.o /inutes and a half of usa"le footage each day .as a feature director6s nor/al &uota. Back "efore he "olted 0arners for *I* :and The $i5ar' of O5 ;, *ervyn -eHoy .as valued for routinely dou"ling that. Hesources .ere dis ensed as through an eye,dro er. <he director of mile 9ola .anted a cro.d of 4$$. 4llotted 9ust '$$, he lo.ered the lighting to 1rainy day1 level and de loyed 4$$ u/"rellas, only half of .hich had eo le under the/. <he director of The Pri!ate .i!es of li5a-eth an' sse1 .as ordered not to let any sets "e dis/antled since their reuse in the u co/ing ,ea (awk .ould 1save a fortune.1 > 4$ > +ack 0arner, .ho/ Fortune in 19#D called 1a 9ocose enny,.atcher,1+1, sa. to it that 0arner Bros. avoided co,starred features "ecause those .ould /ean aying t.o stars. 5n the re,.ar decade .hen the house style .as esta"lished, the 0arners tended to concentrate on ictures one /ale actor8Paul *uni, +i//y Cagney8could do/inate. <hey referred, too, darkness and fog, "ecause sets you couldn6t see didn6t need constructing. 4n in,house /e/o of 19#D8not fro/ a 0arner "ut in the 0arner s irit8 instructs a director not to 1 u/ too /uch fog into the foreground in gusts.1 4rtistic criteriaB )iscalB Uncertain. 4round the sa/e ti/e, +ack 0arner6s attention .as "eing /es/eri@ed "y the tint of 3rrol )lynn6s /ustache: 1<he /ustache certainly looks good. 5

a/ sure that the /ustache is the thing for this icture.1 :<hat .as .i!es of a %engal .ancer .; *ustaches after all ca/e chea , and 1cut,rate drea/ing1 .as the Fortune .riter6s hrase for the .hole o eration. He cited Harry 0arner: 1-isten, a icture, all it is is an e( ensive drea/. 0ell, it6s 9ust as easy to drea/ for RD$$,$$$ as for R1,E$$,$$$.1 +-, :*ean.hile, over at the Fisney drea/,factory, ,now $hite an' the ,e!en Dwarfs .as running u a ta"8for a venture in ani/ationK8of /ore than the /illion,and,a,half that gave Harry 0arner shudders at night.; 2o/eone less tactful once said +ack6s suits had ru""er ockets so he could steal sou . 5n 19#D dollars, of course. )or an early,9$s e&uivalent try /ulti lying "y a"out 1$. 4nd that6s 9ust to ad9ust for inflation. <oday6s overhead8color, s ecial effects, union scale "oosts8costs easily another fivefold. 2o in the 199$s ani/ated features .ere en9oying a co/e"ack after decades of ecli se. Ho.ever la"or,intensive, they .ere actually chea er to /ake than da/n,the,"udget live action. > 41 > 0arners, "y the early 194$s, o.ned 1D,$$$ /ovie,houses in D,E$$ to.ns, a total of 1$,E$$,$$$ aying seats. Kee filling those seats, .as the .ord that .ent to directors. 4nd every fortnight, refera"ly oftener, .ent the .ord to <er/ite <errace, 0e need one sna y ne. cartoon. Oet, .hatever horror stories linger in veterans6 /e/ories, <er/ite <errace, unlike any other 0arner Bros. division, ran .ith a singular /ini/u/ of interference. 2o co/ le( .as its o eration, you /ight have e( ected an accountant6s face at every transo/. But no. 4nd .hy notB )or one thing, the 0arners didn6t o.n the lace till as late as 1944. <hey si/ ly "ought its roduct fro/ -eon 2chlesinger Productions. 4nd after they took over, and installed 3ddie 2el@er as "oss, though 3ddie .as a "ore and a nuisance the Brothers see/ingly .eren6t. +ack 0arner6s recorded interferences, though catastro hic, .ere "ut t.o: .hen he closed the studio "riefly in 19E#, then for good in 19%#. Beyond that, the indifference does see/ out of character. But look, the cartoon division .asn6t i/ ortant. <hat /ay .ell "e an e( lanation. )or e(a/ine so/ething else that6s uni/ ortant. 5 ress a key. 4 co//a a ears on /y co/ uter screen. 7o. ho. did that ha enB 3ven at its si/ lest8on an 5B* deskto /achine8the se&uence is un"elieva"ly intricate. <hat key closes its uni&ue co/"ination of circuits. 7e(t, a key"oard /icrochi , rodded to do so/ething, .akes u . Checking the active circuits against a list, it e/its a 12can Code18comma# <he code goes to an 5nterru t 2ervice Houtine, .hich is contained in a Fevice Friver, .hich has seven su"sections you don6t .ant to hear a"out, all essential to handling that tiny 2can Code. -ike > 4' > hone girls and file clerks guarding an 3(ecutive Producer, they cater to the .hi/s of the Boss *icrochi , the Central Processing Unit. 5t6s ossi"le, for instance, that the CPU /ay have other things on its /ind .hich had "etter not "e violated. 2o, clear its deskK 4nd fourteen se arate ite/s, .hich /ay or /ay not "e i/ ortant :"ut you never kno.;, get s&uirreled to safety "y a head flunky, 9ust to free high,level attention for the inco/ing co//a. 4nd no. :/usic u K; the 2can Code can "e cere/oniously laced in a sacred area called the Fata Buffer. =nly after that does the CPU get its fourteen ite/s "ack so it can go on .ith its deli"erations if it has any. 0hat ha ens ne(t de ends on .hether, .hen 5 ushed that key, 5 .as running a rogra/ or 9ust doodling. 5f a rogra/, .ell, it6s still /ore co/ licated. . . . But the Fata Buffer is retentive, and eventually :.e6re counting in /illiseconds; a little co//a does e/erge fro/ its entrails to sho. u on the screen, .hile thousands cheer. <he se&uencing of events at <er/ite <errace, to generate a cartoon every ten to fourteen days, .as at least as convoluted as that. <he oint of the arallel is that no one cares ho. a co//a hits the screen so long as it gets there. )ast. 4nd no one at 0arners see/s to have cared, either, ho. a cartoon got to 1D,$$$ screens, so long as it

reached the/ on schedule. -ife at <er/ite <errace .as, "lessedly, -ife in a Co//a, )actory. <he roductB *erely a unctuation /ark, 9ust "efore the t.o,reeler that ca/e 9ust "efore the feature. 4nd the /oral is, 0hat )reedo/K By a"out 1949, the "eginning of the Chuck +ones Iolden 3ra, several econo/ies had long "een installed. 3ach, in the 0arner s irit, ought to have "een a ho""le. 4t <er/ite <errace each .as a li"eration. )irst, ho. /uch footageB Cartoons ran a"out D /inutes. > 4# > 4t 4'$ seconds, that6s 1$,$C$ fra/es, or E,$4$ dra.ings .hen .e shoot each of the/ t.ice. 4 lot of dra.ings. 3ven at starvation .ages, a lot of /oney: say R#$,$$$ er -ooney <une: say three,&uarters of a /illion "ucks annually, lus change. <hat6s a"out the cost of one /iddling 9$,/inute featureA and for a"out t.ice the delivered footage er yearK )oot for foot, <er/ite <errace /ight see/ a "argain. 2till, it6s features, not cartoons, that dra. the cro.ds. Cartoons "eing trivial, so/ething see/ed out of "alance. 2even /inutes er roduct: /ight e(hi"itors stand for lessB 5t turned out they6d regard five /inutes as short .eight. <he co/ ro/ise .as si(A si( /inutes lus or /inus a grotes&uely s ecified t.o,thirds of a second. 2tandardi@ation L1: ,cale as fi1e' as the si5e of a win'ow at Chartres . 7e(t, .e6ve got to get this lace organi@ed. 3very t.o .eeks, that6s t.enty,si( a yearA three directors can handle that, each res onsi"le for a"out ten fil/s. )ro/ conce tion to delivery, a cartoon /ight take t.elve /onths or /ore. 2o a director at any ti/e had ten or /ore going at once, the ne.est 9ust "eing talked out, the oldest ac&uiring its sound track, erha s eight others in stages of gestation. <hus, 2tandardi@ation L': The )icture -elongs to the 'irector . <hat syste/ .as fir/ly in lace "y 1944, .hen the 0arners "ought 2chlesinger out. By 194D the three directors .ere 5sadore :)ri@; )releng, Charles *artin :Chuck; +ones, Ho"ert :Bo"; *cKi/son. 4nd the control of each, over each ro9ect credited to hi/, .as, finally, a"solute. <er/ite <errace "eing the only sho .here so rigid a syste/ .as installed to /eet so e(acting a schedule, the 0arner Bros. cartoon division .as likely the only lace in all of cinedo/ to .hich the auteur theory can "e rigidly a lied. > 44 > Auteur is .hat the )rench call an author, a creatorA and auteur theory .as so/ething fil/ historian 4ndre. 2arris "egan ro/oting a"out 19%C, to cele"rate, as his gadfly <ho/as 2chat@ uts it, 1the director as the sole urveyor of )il/ 4rt in an industry overrun .ith hacks and rofit/ongers.1 2chat@ calls that 1adolescent ro/anticis/1A his The Genius of the ,ystem :19CC; is ersuasive a"out hacks and rofit/ongers not sa"otaging good fil/s, "ut i/ osing the li/its that /ade good fil/s ossi"le. )or art is largely an affair of li/its. 0hen the *edici asked for a anel of certain di/ensions to adorn, as it .ere, their su//er cottage, that .as .hen they got Botticelli6s :enus . 2chat@, though, no.here /entions the cartoon o erations /aintained "y the studio syste/s he surveys: a ity, since the reason .e have such a "ook as 2teve 2chneider6s That"s All Folks# :su"titled, The Art of $arner %ros. Animation ; is that the 0arner syste/, al"eit "y inadvertence, guaranteed a niche .here /iracles could ha en: .here 14rt,1 an overused .ord, is fitfully a lica"le. 4nd the ti/e has co/e to de/ystify the <er/ite <errace usage of 1Firector.1 <he Fe*ille i/age8"a.ling through a /ega hone at actors8is ina lica"leA there .as no Bugs Bunny to "a.l at, save as nu/erous encils created hi/ at the rate of t.elve dra.ings er second :every fra/e shot t.ice, re/e/"erB; =ver at Fisney, to say that 4rt Ba""itt su ervised one of Fantasia" s highest oints, the Chinese *ushroo/ Fance, or that 2ha/us Culhane /arched the 2even F.arfs off, Heigh Ho, is to say .e don6t kno. .hat .e6re saying, since :as +ones re/arks; the head ani/ator of a Fisney se&uence .orked .ith a se&uence director, .ho in turn had the rivilege of consulting the fil/ director, .ho /ight consult > 4E > 0alt. 4lso, 0alt /ight 9ust dro in. 2o .e can6t tell .hen or ho. often 0alt /ay have "een involved. 0alt, a /ediocre ani/ator "ut a story/an of genius, had the last .ord on every detail and .ould order things redone fro/ scratch. 4t 0arners they didn6t en9oy the lu(ury of redoing. +ust get it the .ay it6s going to "e, the first ti/e round.

Hence the Firector6s necessary iron control. Briefly: he confa""ed .ith the story/en, he .orked .ith the sound/enA he kne. the strengths of his key 4ni/atorsA he kne. their 5n,"et.eeners. He dre. 1*odel 2heets1 to hel nu/erous hands kee his characters unified. :+ones6s Bugs isn6t )releng6s Bugs.; 4nd his crucial role ca/e do.n to :1; /aking #$$ or u to E$$ key dra.ings to guide the 4ni/atorsA :'; /aking fra/e,"y,fra/e lans called 3( osure 2heets that .ould "ring the thing out e(actly on the last second :#%$ seconds, that6s 4,#'$ dra.n fra/es, give or take a half,do@en.; 0ith ten or t.elve ro9ects under .ay on any /orning, the director /ight "e sho.n one of u to E$,$$$ dra.ings, "y so/e underling in a 9a/. Unfla a"le, he6d recogni@e its lace in .hich se&uence of .hich fil/. 2uch talent .as rare, the knack for those key dra.ings rarer still, co//and of the 3( osure 2heets likely rarest of all. Ireat as the "est 0arner 4ni/ators .ere, it6s no .onder so fe. "eca/e Firectors. Chuck +ones tended to /ake /ore key dra.ings than the other directors. <hey sho. ho. a se&uence of /ove/ent is to "egin and end. He6s e( licit a"out their role. <he 4ni/ator .asn6t to trace the/. <he 4ni/ator .as to use the/ as guides, defining a flurry of dra.ings he could feel ha y .ith. 1Ken Harris .ill change everything. He6ll use an idea, "ut the action .ill flo. through and go "eyond it. =r he /ay forget it co/ letely. But his ani/ation .ill indicate .hat 5 > 4% > had in /ind.1 =ne facet of directing is rodding the very "est out of such a rare talent as Harris6s. :4nd the 5n,"et.eenersB 4 hack 5n,"et.eener, as the art had evolved "y the era .e6re s eaking of, /ight as .ell "e co/ uteri@ed8so/ething that6s still "eing .orked on8"ut a good one, /oving to.ard 4ni/ator status, understood ho. "et.een key fra/es different arts of a creature shift different .eights at different velocities. 4s the foot co/es to rest, the "ody still lurches for.ard. Ireat ani/ators insist that there is no such thing as an e(act in,"et.een, e&uidistant "et.een e(tre/es. 2o cherish your 5n, "et.eeners, .ho generate ossi"ly C$ ercent of the fra/es that end u , inked and ainted, on,screen.; <he 4ni/ators also ke t a .ary eye on the director6s other rinci al offering, the 3( osure 2heet. 5t6s a rinted stri of sturdy a er, a"out nine inches .ide "y t.enty long, ruled .ith a hori@ontal line for every fra/e, lus e/ hatic lines for feet of fil/, seconds of ti/e. 3very dra.ing .e6re going to generate gets accounted for there, every footste , dru/"eat, sylla"le of dialogue. 7o live,action auteur could have drea/ed of such co//and. 4nd each sheet takes care of % feet. 2o E4$ feet of fil/8% /inutes8 /eans 9$ of those sheets, a thickish stack. Bugs Bunny is .alking 1' aces er foot :at 1' dra.n fra/es er foot, that6s a second er ace;. Fo.n the left,hand colu/n, 14ction,1 an J at every 1'th line /eans a foot touching groundA key dra.ings .ill guide the 4ni/ator there. 4nd Bugs is saying :.hat elseB; 10hat6s u , FocB1 5n the ne(t colu/n :1Fialog1;, at fra/e C, the 10h1 co//ences :his /outh starts to o en;A "y fra/e 1% his /outh is .ide o en on the 1ah1A "y fra/e '' it6s closed on the 1ts.1 <hat kind of thing is lotted on the 3( osure 2heet for every sylla"le of > 4D > dialogueA the /outh,closing 1c1 that ends 1Foc1 coincides .ith fra/e E' :dra.ing '%;. <he rule is that sound can esca e the /outh only on vo.els, consonants deter/ining the "eginning and finish of the vo.el sound. =n 8, F, P, the /outh closes. =n T, 0, ., the tongue goes u against the roof of the /outh. 2uch are the instants the director needs to locate for the 4ni/ator, so the ti/ing of dialogue .ill flo. aright. Bet.een such key oints, a co/ etent 4ni/ator is on his o.n. 4t 0arners they had so/e !ery co/ etent 4ni/ators. +ones can tell, he says, if ti/ing is off "y one fra/e. <hat6s less than an eye"link. Prescri tions could "e un"elieva"ly recise. 0hen the Coyote dro ed off the cliff, as he did re eatedly, it .ould take, says +ones, 13ighteen fra/es for hi/ to fall into the distance and disa ear, then fourteen fra/es later he .ould hit. 5t see/ed to /e that thirteen fra/es didn6t .ork in ter/s of hu/or, and neither did fifteen fra/es. )ourteen fra/es got a laugh.1 4nd fro/ the 3( osure 2heet all hands84ni/ators, 5n, "et.eeners, 2ound Cre.8kne. e(actly .hat .as re&uired. But there6s /ore. 5n addition to a .ide right/ost "lock headed 1Ca/era 5nstructions,1 .here you6d s ecify, say, anning the ne(t forty fra/es across a .ide

"ackground, the 3( osure 2heet has si( /ore nu/"ered colu/ns. <hose are for any s ecial high,9inks .ith cels. Because if 3l/er )udd holds still and 9ust /oves his li s to say 10a""it season,1 the /ain 3l/er,cell, to save a lot of redra.ing, can 9ust "e overlaid .ith a se&uence of /outh,cels. Oou /ight find yourself re eating that rinci le for several layers, trusting so/eone in 5nk,and,Paint to re/e/"er that colors change .hen they6re erceived do.n through overlaid cels. <o kee 3l/er6s red 9acket 3l/er, red "eneath three cels /eant calling for a richer red .ith a s ecial nu/"er. > 4C > 4nd let6s attend ane. to one hrase: 1to save a lot of redra.ing.1 5f that "egan as a concession to the cash,register, it soon "eca/e a rinci le of art. Hecall Iertie the Finosaur, of re,cel days, .hen endless retracing /ade everything shi//er and .o""le. But cels let us think of shi//er and .o""le as s ecial effects. 2 ecial too is the non,.o""ling rigidity of dra.ings si/ ly reused. 2o as ani/ation evolved ost,cel, 9ust .hat changes now "eco/es .hat /atters, to offset .hat8for t.o seconds :eternityK;8 isn6t changing. <hat gets e/ hasis 4ni/ators can get in no other .ay: think of 3l/er6s o"sessed rigidity as he listens for .a""its. *ay"e eyes "link :overlaid cels;A /ay"e they don6t. 2elective redra.ing "eca/e, es ecially at 0arners, one of ani/ation6s su"tlest /odes of e( ression. 0hat the <er/ite <errace @anies found in it rese/"les *ilton6s discovery, circa 1%%$, of the range of effects "lank verse on a rinted age could e(tract fro/ a /id,line ause: -ine visi"le, sta"leA Pause audi"le, fluctuant. 0hat that does is thro. e/ hasis "ack on the key dra.ings: the /o/ents of stasis, of e( ressive osture, .hich /ight even stay fro@en for several fra/es. 4t Fisney the e/ hasis .as on fluent /ove/entA at 0arners, the rolific )ri@ )releng6s ha"it tended that .ay too. 5t .as during stretches of dialogue that Fisney6s custo/ .as to introduce unctuating auses, .here they can "e su"tly irritating si/ ly "ecause they6re /eaningless. But Chuck +ones cherished the su//ari@ing key ose, and his 3( osure 2heets .ere a t to instruct that it "e held: held an e(act nu/"er of fra/es. 4nd of such .as his kingdo/ of heaven. > 49 > Ienerally, as a cost,saver, the largest nu/"er of characters visi"le in one shot .as t.o.+1, <hus in the Hunting <rilogy of 19E1?E# :*a--it Fire4 *a--it ,easoning4 Duck# *a--it# Duck# ;, though each fil/ revolved around three characters83l/er )udd, /ighty hunterA Bugs Bunny, cool evaderA Faffy Fuck, hysterical victi/8the econo/ical strategy .as to esta"lish their relationshi , then resort to 1one,shots1 and 1t.o,shots.1 4nd the t.o,shots could econo/i@e too, "y 9ust 1looking at one of the characters1 .ithout trou"ling to ani/ate hi/. <hus, 1Faffy .ould say, 6=h, no you don6t,6 and Bugs .ould 9ust stand there .aiting. Because that is .hat he .ould do any.ay.1 Chuck +ones guesses that in a given icture, erha s %$ ercent of the shots use 9ust one character. 10e soon learned that it .as not 9ust to cut do.n on the nu/"er of se arately ani/ated cels, "ut to e/ hasi@e the o.er of a strongly,dra.n non,talker as a foil for the volu"le. 5t "eca/e .hat 5 call *otivated Ca/era. Having esta"lished the rhyth/ of the relationshi "et.een t.o characters, 5 could go to one for so/ething to say, go to the other for the reaction. 0e learned to do it retty .ell.1 5ndeed they did. 2o/ething fro/ the Hunting <rilogy tends to sho. u on /ost lists of 0arner cartoon highlights. 4n econo/ic necessity, trueA "ut there6s no denying ho., here as so often, necessity 1resulted in far "etter icture,/aking.1 4nd for another interesting reason: 15t also resulted in our cutting all the fat out of our dialogue. 5 /ean, if you have so/ething to say, say it. Oou kno..1 By contrast, there are scenes in ,now $hite .here as /any as thirty ani/als are all differently "usied. But cost .asn6t governing such scenes. > E$ > 4nd to sho. that 5 kne., 5 volunteered, 1Iet the /eaning across and then sto .1 +!, 4nd +ones, good li"eral that he is, res onded .ith 10oodro. 0ilson, 5 think it .as, .ho said, 5f you6re shooting, do not use a shotgun, use a rifle .ith a single "ulletA like.ise .hen you6re .riting.1 <hat6s the one ti/e 56ve heard an e(, resident of Princeton cited as a /onitor of ver"al style.

=ne can hardly overesti/ate the e(tent to .hich the 0arner Cartoon 2tyle ste//ed fro/ the need to /ini/i@e costs. 15f 5 had suggested doing ;<; Dalmatians everyone .ould have thought 5 .as cra@y. 3ven a dog na/ed 2 ot, .ith one s ot, .ould have "een out of the &uestion. 0hat costs in ani/ation isn6t colorful and detailed "ackgroundsA those are its chea est ele/ents, "ecause a short .ith /ay"e %E "ackgrounds .ill still need E,$$$ dra.ings. 5t6s the details in those dra.ings that cost. 0hen Fisney /ade ;<; Dalmatians, the ani/ators didn6t ani/ate dal/atians, they ani/ated .hite dogs. 2o/e"ody else ca/e along and ut the s ots on. =. Henry said that the /ost e(acting :/ake that 6e(as erating6; 9o" in the .orld .as that of fore/an to a gang of invisi"le .eavers. 56/ not so sure.1 4nd they ke t the s ots consistent on each dogB 17o, they ani/ated 9ust eight different dogs. <hat .as the first ti/e they used a co/ uter, for the fe. scenes .hen you see the .hole ack of u ies at once. 5t decided ho. to rando/i@e eight dogs re eatedly so that 1$1 of the/ running at you .ould look like 1$1 dogs rather than a do@en, lus sets of eight.1 )ro/ 3@ra Pound6s Cantos, .here the sense is attri"uted to Confucius. > E1 >

-i/ited ani/ation

)ull ani/ation Ha/ifications of the need to econo/i@e are not, alas, infalli"ly "enign. 2aturday /orning television .ould "ring a"out .hat the fil/ critic -eonard *altin calls the *u@ak of ani/ation.+2, Chuck +ones once su//ed u .hat he calls it in one Film Comment, +anuary?)e"ruary 19DE, . DD. > E' >

savage dra.ing. He also adduces .hat Iroucho *ar( called <G: 1<he che.ing,gu/ of the eye.1 But defenders have a cushion,.ord, 1li/ited,1 and -i/ited 4ni/ation even gets touted as an artistic discovery, erha s "ecause UP46s styli@ations of the 6E$s, artly derived fro/ The Do!er %oys, rese/"led it 9ust enough to "e/use the hasty. -i/ited 4ni/ation ste//ed fro/ the fi( Bill Hanna and +oe Bar"era, creators of the <o/ and +erry duo, found the/selves in .hen their t.enty,year connection .ith the *I* cartoon de art/ent .as ter/inated .ith a hone call in 19ED. <hat .as .hen all the studios .ere getting out of ani/ation: too /uch e( ense, too little return. :7e.sreels .ere outA so .ere shorts, not to /ention cartoonsA the nor/ .as "eco/ing a Continuous Perfor/ance of /ay"e a single feature or /ay"e t.o.; Hanna and Bar"era /oved to <G, .here they discovered that their *I* &uota, E$ /inutes of fil/ a year, +3, had 9u/ ed u to over an hour a .eek. Oou can see .hat that dictates: as fe. different dra.ings er fil/ as ossi, <hat /eans, seven cartoons a year, each seven /inutes. 1Hich kids,1 co//ents C. +. > E# >

"le, .hich /eans, *altin notes, that 1all action takes lace on the sa/e lane18no ca/era /ove/ent in and out, so a .alk can 9ust "e the sa/e fe. fra/es .oodenly re eated. 4lso, no 1tedious detail1A .hich /eans, says *altin, that 1.riggling an eye"ro. .ould ro"a"ly thro. off the "udget for an entire series.1 4nd every character .alks like every other character, so out the .indo. goes the very essence of Character 4ni/ation, .hich :re/e/"erB; defines a character "y .ays of /oving. 1<hey "link .hen so/eone6s talking,1 says Chuck +ones. 1<hat6s "ig stuff. <o esta"lish that the character is alive. 0hat you have is t.o eye dra.ings, one closed, one o en. 4nd you leave the closed one on for eighteen fra/es.1 :<here an e( ert eye has s otted the convention8a three,&uarters,of,a,second "link.; 1=r you have a .hole "unch of eo le running, and you cut at the .aist so you don6t have to /ove the legs. 4nd no"ody /oves off into the "ackground or co/es for.ard, "ecause that takes a lot of dra.ings. 3verything arallel to the ca/era, the sa/e eight dra.ings over and over.1 > E4 >

<hat leads hi/ to a richer the/e: 10e never, in all the years 5 .as at 0arners, re eated the sa/e run for Bugs or for Faffy or any other character. 7ever. 5 al.ays felt there .as so/ething different in the character6s /ind. 2o the ani/ators had the leasure of trying out a lot of runs. <hey kne. there is a lot of difference "et.een running .hen you6re "eing chased and running .hen you are chasing. 4nd there6s also a lot of difference, as in the Pe N -e Pe. ictures, "et.een running out of des eration, as his ara/our is doing, or running out of 9oy, as he is doing. He didn6t kno. .hat des eration .as.1 Pe N6s /ost 9oyous run is /odeled on the ronk, a .ord devised in 2outh 4frica a century ago to denote the s ring"ok6s vertical lea s. :5t6s fro/ the Futch )ronken, to strut.; 5n Cha ter C of their Fearful ,ymmetry: 3s Go' a Geometer7 5an 2te.art and *artin Iolu"itsky list ronking, 1all four legs /oved at the sa/e ti/e,1 as the least fre&uent of the eight /ain &uadu edal gaits. 5t6s unco//on, they re/ark, outside of cartoons :as they illustrate .ith a Garfiel' anel;, though 1so/eti/es seen in fast, /oving deer.1 <he Pe N ronk is a se&uence of ecstatic vertical lea s, all four feet leaving the > EE >

ground at once, for.ard /ove/ent erha s half of vertical, eyes .ide, tongue lolling, the .hole danced to a drea/,te/ o /etrono/e that6s .holly decou led fro/ the anic of any s ring"ok. 5t6s conte/ lative, and .hat its conte/ lation ostulates is leisurely future "liss, untarnished "y any cynicis/ a"out +a/ <o/orro. "ut never +a/ <oday. Character 4ni/ation: so /uch can inhere in a .ay of /oving. =ne /ore thing: after 1944, directors dealt .ith roducer 3ddie 2el@er, .ho al.ays de/anded to see scri ts and never gras ed that there .eren6t any :cartoons are story"oarded, not scri ted;. <hey learned to take a 1C$,degree turn fro/ any 9udg/ent of 3ddie6s. 1Bullfights aren6t funny.1 Hence, %ully for %ugs, .hich +ones once called 1<he ulti/ate Bugs Bunny fil/.1+4, 4nd skunks talking )rench .eren6t funnyB :oil=# Pe N -e Pe. :.ho .on an =scar, graciously acce ted "y 3ddie;. 2chlesinger, +ones re/arks, had seldo/ even the energy re&uired to say 7o, .hereas 2el@er said little else. 2o/ething 3ddie 2el@er once found es ecially unfunny .as four or five gro.n /en laughing out loud over a story, 4s for getting 3ddie to ay for the cre.6s fact,finding tri to *e(ico: 1He didn6tA and he su"tracted the ti/e fro/ our vacation allot/ent.1 > E% > "oard. 0hat the hell, he .anted to kno., did all this laughter have to do .ith the 9o"B :His tiny eyes, +ones recalls, .ere 1steely as half,tha.ed oysters.1 <hose are eyes erceived "y an ani/ator6s eye. 3yes "eco/e steel "eco/es oysters. <he stuff of ani/ation is /eta/or hosis, and its theoretician ought to have "een =vid.; 2o no. you6ve an idea of .hat it /eant to "e a cartoon director. 4re you relieved not to have "een oneB 5n a &uarter,century Chuck +ones, if 56ve counted correctly,

directed '$4 0arner Brothers cartoons. 4 handful are /aster ieces of the art. 4"stractly re/ote fro/ .hat an audience .ill see, Firecting is a difficult rocess fro/ .hich to .ring /aster ieces. 15 didn6t do it for kids,1 +ones has said /ore than onceA 15 did it for /yself.1 He6s "een called the /ost gifted ani/ation director .ho ever lived. 4s he likely is. But in no area has civili@ation ever "een a one,/an 9o". Consider :1; that he6d not have had such an o ortunity save at that one studio, .here every inch enny gesture chanced to "roaden the director6s sco eA :'; that sheer serendi ity surrounded hi/ for a fe. years .ith an incredi"le constellation of talents, all eccentric, as for good ani/ation they6d "est "e. *ichael *altese, .riterA *aurice 7o"le, "ackground designerA Ken Harris, Benny 0asha/, and 4"e -evito.8to na/e only three8ani/atorsA Carl 2talling, /usicA *el Blanc, voicesA and /oreA and rarely do such fren@ies converge. :0hen *el Blanc died the sa/e .eek as -aurence =livier, so/eone asked .hat roduction Iod /ight "e ondering for Heaven.; 4 fistful of dice, and every thro. ca/e u "o(car. *altese, to start .ithA 1.riter,1 though he6d .rite no .ords till it ca/e ti/e to suggest dialogue. <here .as never, as > ED > 3ddie 2el@er couldn6t gras , a scri t. <here .as a 1story"oard,1 four feet "y eight, that ended u holding so/e 1E$ sketches. <hese gra hed the course of a si(,/inute icture. <he .riter :.ho couldn6t really dra.;+5, and the director :.ho really could; ut the/ there in the course of so/e five .eeks6 interaction. 5t had started fro/ an 1idea1 :generally the .riter6s;, such as 14 /ale ra""it singing BrSnnhilde6s role against a /ighty eighty, iece sy/ hony orchestra.1 :<hat one led to a /aster iece: $hat"s O)era, Doc7 ; <he /ind of *altese tee/ed .ith s.ift incongruities. <he day he rode a .o""ly elevator, his instant res onse .as 1Iood to the -ast Fro .1 Unlike <edd Pierce, his redecessor on the +ones <ea/, *altese had rather a gag,/an6s talents than a narrative architect6sA co/ are Pierce6s The Do!er %oys, .ith its stress on an overarching lot, .ith any *altese *oa' *unner, essentially a se&uence of erha s si( /a9or gags. <he story"oard6s centrality, "y the .ay, underlies a fre&uent +ones dictu/: that any cartoon you can follo. "y ear .ithout looking is /erely 1illustrated radio.1 Heal ani/ation holds you even .ith the sound turned off. 5ts kind of story, .hether lot or gag,train, had to "e lanned via sketches81dealing .ith gra hics, not ad9ectives, fro/ the start18and the rocess see/ed to take al/ost a .eek er /inute. + , But five .eeks6 .ork /ight not lead any.here interesting. <o head off that danger, a 1+a/ 2ession1 .ould "e convened after .eek one. 5t included all three directors, their three .riters, others, and the ground rule .as that no one /ight say 1no.1 5/ art further s in to the "all, or else stay <hough *altese a"out 19#C did ti/e as an in,"et.eener. Herea"outs, 5 find a/ong /y notes, in C. +.6s hand, 1=. Henry once defined a character as a"out the si@e of a real estate agent. 7o. there is a rovocative stage direction.1 > EC > &uiet. 0ithin a half hour, /uch silence /ight suggest that the 1idea1 9ust .asn6t .orking. =ther.ise, t.o hours of creative in ut: fro/ .riters, and fro/ directors :)releng, *cKi/son; .ho kne. that their ne(t +a/ 2ession .ould "e rofiting "y in ut fro/ *ike *altese and Chuck +ones, 9ust as Chuck and *ike .ould e( ect8and receive 8.holehearted su ort fro/ )releng, )oster and Pierce. :Hard to kee all these "alls aloftA you6re staying a.are, yes, that on any day each director, each .riter, .as at so/e stage or other of /ay"e a do@en ro9ectsB Ho. they concentrated on a +a/ 2ession defies i/agining.; 7e(t, *aurice 7o"le, Background FesignerA and .hy do .e need such a FesignerB 0ell, .hile everyone else is /inding /asses of detail on a fractions,of,a,second scale,

so/e"ody has to "e thinking of .hat the audience .ill see: a si(,/inute .hole unctuated "y nota"le details. <he total look of the icture is .hat .ill contain their attention. <his one is a murky fil/A this one is cris)4 the audience .on6t think that .ay, "ut that6s .hat they6ll res ond to. 7o"le, .ho6d done "ackgrounds for Fisney6s ,now $hite and arts of Fantasia, nota"ly the *ushroo/ Fance, .as to .ork .ith Chuck +ones for t.enty years. His res onsi"ility .as for overall look and feel. 4t 0arners he didn6t aint "ackgrounds, "ut his designs guided the eo le .ho did. +ones has descri"ed ho. their colla"oration .orked. 10hat 5 did .as draft a very rough lan, 9ust to sho. the layout /an .hat 5 .anted. 5f 5 ut in a door.ay, all 5 .anted .as roo/ for the character to e(itA 5 didn6t care .hat the door.ay looked like. *aurice .ould take /y layouts8let6s say there6d "e ten layouts for the scene8and /ake a sort of mise+en+sc>ne that defines the li/its of the character action. He6d find the layout that goes the > E9 > furthest to the right, the one that goes the furthest to the left, the dee est one, the closest one, and generally lan .here /ost of the action .ould have to fall. He6d take all these se arate layouts and ut the/ all in one dra.ing, and then design the "ackground around it. He6d also take into consideration .hat .as ha ening in the story 8.hich very fe. "ackground /en ever do. Ienerally s eaking, the foreground characters .ere all /ine, "ut *aurice .ould also often design "ackground characters .hich .ere visually very strong, like those Baro&ue,looking )rench "ystanders in the later Pe N -e Pe. cartoons.1+17, 7o"le had a lot to do .ith s ecifying colors, often against the resistance of the ink, and, aint cre.. :1Fo you really .ant this red ne(t to this redB1 1Oes.1 4nd, 7o"le likes to recall, 1Chuck .ould "ack /e u .1; )or the "allet se&uence in $hat"s O)era, Doc7 he /oved areas of flesh tint into the "ackgrounds, to /ake u for the unfleshly grayness of the ri/a "allerina, layed "y Bugs Bunny in drag. He also /ade sure that in the o ening fra/es the shado. 2iegfried!)udd cast on a /ountain6s face .ould uncannily recall the 1Cherna"og1 Fevil in Fantasia :a ri/e feat of ani/ation, "y Fisney6s Bill <ytla, to .hich <er/ite <erracers /ore than once alluded;. 4nd for Duck Do'gers in the ?@ ;A? Century he devised a s ace ort so realistic, ost,4 ollo, it6s hard to "elieve it dates fro/ 19E#, .hen Ca e Kennedy hadn6t "een drea/t of. 1Chuck .ould "ack /e u 1 "ecause Chuck held that a director .ho atte/ ted his o.n designs, like the la.yer .ho led his o.n case, had a fool for a client. 4nd Chuck .ould also 9udge, in 19DE, that of the eo le he6d ever .orked .ith *aurice 7o"le .as ro"a"ly the /ost influential. 5ntervie. in Film Comment, +anuary?)e"ruary 19DE, . 'C?9.

> %$ > *el Blanc, finally: 1Goice Characteri@ations,1 as the credits al.ays said. 4nd here .as so/eone .hose contri"ution, delivered in real ti/e, on a live /ike, could not "e fiddled .ith the .ay you /ight fiddle .ith an in,"et.een dra.ing. *el /ight do it over and over, "ut .hat .as finally used .asn6t so/ething you6d achieved "y editing, "ut so/ething *el had 'one . :7ot that technicians hadn6t altered ace and itch electronically .hile *el did Porky or <.eety.; *el could "e Bugs one /o/ent and 3l/er )udd the ne(tA "ut the .ay it .as really achieved, he6d record the 3l/er )udd s eeches .hile Chuck +ones fed hi/ the Faffy Fuck outrages, then the Bugs dis/issals .hile Chuck fed hi/ .hat Faffy had "een outraged "y, and so on and on. 4nd, Chuck +ones recalls, they6d sto doing that .henever *el Blanc had recorded the sa/e s eech three ti/es. :<hereafter, it6s i/ lied, live erfor/ers tend to deteriorate into rote.; But if Chuck .asn6t ha y .ith any of the first three recordings he6d so/eti/es suggest to *el that he, Chuck, had erha s "otched his feeder,s eech, so /ight they try it againB 4nd that is, /ore or less, ho. it .as done: ho. the /iracles .ere achieved, right through the Iolden 4ge: fro/ the /id,64$s through the /id,6%$s. 0e6ve "een descri"ing a tea/ that had co/e together "y a"out 1949A a convenient date since it ha ens to "e the year of the first Hoad Hunner fil/, Fast an' Furry+ous . But "y then, good lord, Chuck +ones, #D, had "een 2u ervising, as they once called Firecting, since *arch 19#C, .hen he .as a /ere 'E. <hat .as .hen )rank

<ashlin had 9ust left 0arners, and young Chuck, .ho6d "een ani/ating for <e( 4very, "eca/e his e/ergency re lace/ent. Ho. scarce e( erienced talent /ust have "eenK 0alt Fisney had "rought a "unch of 1e( erienced1 youngsters .est.ard "y a"out 19'E, the year his > %1 > Kansas friends Har/an and 5sing 9oined hi/ in -os 4ngeles. 4nd +ones6s colleague )ri@ )releng, for heaven6s sake, "orn 19$%, thus a /ere si( years +ones6s senior, had "een one of Fisney6s Kansas City /igrantsA .hich /eans that "y the late 6#$s, .hen -eon 2chlesinger .as "eing hard, ut to get a staff together after Har/an and 5sing left hi/, the eo le .ho6d "een around ani/ation long enough to kno. .hat they .ere doing, yet .eren6t so fir/ly esta"lished as no longer to "e for hire, .ere all of the/ still cons icuously young. 4 'E,year,old 'irector, na/e of, ah, +onesB <o .hich an ans.er .ould "e, =.K., find us so/eone /ore lausi"le. 5t .as very /uch a young erson6s ga/e. 5f, "y today6s standards, .ork often got crudely done, still the right young erson, under ressure, /ight learn the 0hole 4rt fast. 4nd that diagra/s the story of Chuck +ones. 2o 15 had to learn the language, and so did /y ani/ators. 0e had classes8for years .e had at least t.o classes er .eek, at night. 4nd .e .ere .orking a five,and, a,half day .eek, a"out fifty,si( hours a .eek.1+11, 4nd, a"out Goo' 0ight lmer :194$;, 1<he story .as 9ust a tiny thing: a /an atte/ ting to ut out a little candle. Ho. can you /ake an entire story a"out thatB 5s it ossi"leB <hat6s .hat 5 .anted to kno.. 5 .ouldn6t say it .as a articularly successful ictureA "ut it .as crucial in ter/s of .hat ca/e after.ard.1 <he Beck,)ried.ald entry on that fil/ ends on a note of unaccusto/ed anguish: 1=ne of the /ost irritating cartoons ever /ade. <here .as no reason to ani/ate this, everything in this cartoon could have "een easily fil/ed in live action. Chuck +ones6s early su er,slo. ti/ing at its /ost 4gain, Film Comment, +anuary?)e"ruary 19DE, . ''. <his .hole intervie. is a ri/e source. > %' > "rutal :hard to "elieve that this /an .ould later /ake the su er,s eed Hoad Hunner cartoons;. 4nd 3l/er is so stu id it6s ainfulK1 Goo' 0ight lmer is not a fil/ 56ve seenA 56/ si/ ly re orting. But 56ll dra. attention to +ones6s 15s it ossi"leB1 and the erha s i/ lied ans.er, 7o, not .ith the resources the director could "ring to it at 'C. 0e6ve like.ise alluded to his long Fisneyfied eriod. 0ell, think of that as /ore learning. 4nd reflect that the "reakthrough Do!er %oys .as achieved .hen he .as 9ust #$. :4nd "y then he6d "een directing for fully four years: had directed all of forty fil/s. <hat a/ounts to so/e four, lus hours of screen ti/e, the Firector held accounta"le for every one of a do@en dra.ings er second. <hat in turn i/ lies a lot of learning.; =ne rinci le he learned is that "elieva"ility is /ore i/ ortant than realis/A also that one thing that hel s the ani/ator achieve "elieva"ility is a sense of .hat his characters .eigh. Oes, weigh . 5t6s clear fro/ his /anner of /oving that the "ull in %ully for %ugs :19E#; is enor/ously heavy. -ike.ise, it6s evident that .hen 0illis =6Brien, the u et,/aster of the original 6ing 6ong :19##;, /oved his furry eighteen, inch ta"leto a e, he .as guided "y a very clear sense of ho. /uch sheer "ulk the /uscles of the 1real1 or fifty,foot Kong .ould "e .ielding. 4nd it6s e&ually evident that the s ecial,effects gang on the disastrous Fino di -aurentiis re/ake :19D%; didn6t kno. ho. to kee us fro/ detecting the se&uences that .ere shot .ith a /an in an a e,suit. 4nd ho. do .e s ot the/B 0ell, no one thought to tell the actor to kee his head and shoulders level as he .alked. <he .ay he "o"s, .e kno. at once .e6re looking not at /ulti le tons "ut at a routine Holly.ood "each,"u/. 0eight and ho. .e assess it: that6s one of Chuck +ones6s /ost elo&uent to ics. 2o/e of its ra/ifications are far fro/ > %# > o"vious: 14 cat,1 for instance, 1is "uilt light, "ut .alks heavy.1 <hat /eans, the cat6s s ine stays a steady distance fro/ the ground, .hich is .hat eo le .ho say a cat 1slinks1 are really re orting. 4 dog even t.ice the si@e of the average full,gro.n cat .ill

likely have a "ouncier gait. =ne .onderful +ones cartoon called 0o %arking :19E4; is "ased on a careful contrast of such /anneris/s. 4 u y na/ed )risky "ounds a"out, full of hi/self, as though nearly .eightlessA an alley,cat na/ed Claude is driven half /ad every ti/e such "ouncing and "arking i/ inges on his o.n .eighty languor. Claude .ill never "e convinced that he6s not the target of /alevolent ersecution, or that )risky is, "y and large, unconcerned a"out feline resence. 0hat is /aking Claude6s life unlivea"le, and .ill ulti/ately send hi/ out of ani/ation6s universe, clutching in anic to the underside of a transcontinental 9et, is "oth a"stract and rofound: not alien hostility "ut an alien rhythm . 5n one /e/ora"le se&uence Claude is stealthily a roaching a treeto nest, .hen a "ark fro/ )risky sends hi/ hurtling sky.ard ast the nest and its resident, none other than )ri@ )releng6s <.eety in a t.o, second ca/eo a earance: 15 ta.t 5 ta. a uddy tat.1 <rue. )risky6s rhyth/ in the universe of Claude is cause for alar/, though not for <.eety "ut for Claude. 0o %arking illustrates so/ething else +ones often co//ents on, the central i/ ortance of tea/.ork in a successful ani/ation venture. 4s Beck and )ried.ald re/ark, that fil/ is devoid of hu/an characters to su ly fra/ing dialogueA in fact, the seven .ords .e6ve 9ust &uoted are e(actly all the .ords *el Blanc got to voice in the entire fil/. 2o a"solutely everything has to "e co//unicated via styles of /ove/entA and 1+ones relies e(clusively on the studio6s great ani/ator, Ken Harris, to do the .hole cartoon.1 <hat .as ossi"le "e, > %4 > cause +ones and Harris had s ent years negotiating a sense of one another6s ha"its and conventions. 1<he tea/ thing is very i/ ortant,1 +ones told the Film Comment intervie.ers.+1-, 15t gets to the oint .here you can sna your fingers, or /ake a single dra.ing to convey your idea. 0henever a ne. ani/ator ca/e to .ork for /e, he .as in trou"le for a .hile, "ecause on /y e( osure sheets, 5 .ould ut do.n a notation like 6B4-68.hich .as 6"alance68or 647<686antici ate.6 4nd all /y ani/ators had to kno. e(actly .hat they /eant.1 4nd .hat did they /eanB 0ell, 47< .as 1an antici ation "efore the actual /otion,1 .hile B4- 1/ight /ean that 56d .ant a articular character solid on his feet "efore he did so/ething, so you6d kno. there .as a sta"ility to the thing, "efore it /oved into action.1 5t6s evident ho. "oth B4- and 47< lay on .hat .e can "e induced to e1)ect .e6ll "e seeing in the ne(t fe. seconds. Part of our attention is no., art6s in the future. 4lso, 10hen 5 ut do.n a t.elve,fra/e hold, that didn6t /ean thirteen fra/es or eleven fra/es, it /eant t.elve fra/es e(actly. 0hen the Coyote fell off, 5 kne. he had to go e(actly eighteen fra/es into the distance and then disa ear for fourteen fra/es "efore he hit. 4 ne. ani/ator .ould co/e in and he .ould overla that, and it .ould never .ork.1 :3ighteen fra/es8that6s e1actly three,&uarters of a second. 2o/ething "eating at an eighteen,fra/e rate .ould thro" seventy,five ti/es er /inute. 4nd that6s as close as cine/a technology can co/e to the ace er /inute of a 1nor/al1 adult heart"eat, .hich is seventy,t.o. H////. 4 hidden -a. of 7atureB 0hat 1.orks1 on,screen is .hat corres onds to a ulse,"eatB; 2ee Film Comment, +anuary?)e"ruary 19DE, . '#. > %E > 4nd the /any /oods of the a/orous skunk Pe N -e Pe.8/ost of the/ u "eat8 are conveyed "y his /any gaits, nota"ly the frisky ronk that carries hi/ round in circles of ecstasy, all four feet leaving the ground at the sa/e instant. 4 &uality al/ost drea/,like inheres in the lift he gets. 4nd a t.enty,five,/inute Chuck +ones <G s ecial of 19DE, *ikki+Tikki+Ta!i, ada ted fro/ a Ki ling story, is note.orthy for having resented a s ecial ro"le/: ho. to give a /ongoose so/e ersonality .e can relate to .hile never i/ lying that he isn6t a /ongoose. 0e /ay think of Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig as, essentially, hu/ans .ho ha en to look like ani/als. But Hikki is a /ongoose, ke t "y a hu/an fa/ily in British 5ndia the .ay another fa/ily /ight kee a cat. 0hat do /ost of us kno. a"out the /ongooseB Chiefly, that he6s deadly to oisonous snakes8the co"ra co/es to /ind. But don6t i/agine he6s i//une to snake"ite. 0hat saves hi/ is sheer s eed, a ha"it of /oving /uch faster than the snake. <hat6s the kind of infor/ation that sets an ani/ation director thinking. )or

.hat6s Hikki doing .hen he isn6t co ing .ith co"rasB *ostly, /oving, as he al.ays does, fast: @i ing in and out of hu/ans6 s aces. 2o +ones6s /odel sheet offered s ecial routines for getting Hikki off,scene and on. <he effect has "een descri"ed, not ina ro riately, as an art "ased on the ost,retinal i/age. Oou see a "lur .ithout feeling sure .hat you sa.. Oet once it6s "een diagra//ed it6s si/ le enough for any co/ etent ani/ator to du licate. +ones la"eled t.o diagra/s as follo.s: 10hen Hikki enters the scene let hi/ fill an i/aginary Hikki until his nose reaches the ro er oint. <hen the rest e( ands and the last /ove/ent is .hen his .hiskers o out and vi"rate.1 :<hat /eans, he streaks in lean, entering that 1i/aginary Hikki1 via the tail, then lu/ s out. <he rocess can take u to four > %% >

seconds.; 4nd, 10hen Hikki leaves the scene, follo. the angle of his ose. Hold tail until head is .ell out8then sna tail along ath and out.1 Fiscussing this during a 19DD hone call, +ones dre. on t.o interesting analogies. 3nvision, he said, a string of fifteen cars sto ed "y a red light. 0hen the light changes, the fifteen cars .on6t /ove off en -loc . 7o, car i /ust /ove ahead several feet "efore car ' can even start /oving, like.ise car #, car 4 . . . 2o the string lengthens as it gets into /otion. =r i/agine that .hen a horse goes over a 9u/ , the neck /ust /ove art .ay "efore it can start dragging the shoulders, then the shoulders /ust /ake so/e rogress "efore they can drag the torso. 4gain, an effect of elongation. But, "eginning at the /o/ent the front feet hit the ground, the o osite occurs: the horse shortens as fluent /ove/ent co/es iling u against "lockage. Fifferent arts a,/ove at different rates, that6s a rinci le vital to convincing ani/ation, also so/ething +ones e( ected his staff to understand. 4nd in,"et.eeners dra. /ost of the fra/es .here > %D >

such things ha

en, one reason good in,"et.eening cannot "e /echani@ed.

He6s also used the cars,at,sto light analogy to discuss the Coyote6s for/ulaic fall. 0ile 3.6s torso dro s a.ay, leaving a stressed face ato a stretched,out neck. <.o seconds later the contracting neck sna s the face do.n out of sight, leaving t.o long ears. 0hen those in turn vanish .e are left to onder8oh, the reluctance of Being to succu/" to *uta"ility. +ones dissociates rocesses into arts so ha"itually it6s dou"tful if he6s al.ays a.are that6s .hat he6s doing. 1<he 0edge,1 he said one day, a ro os of a ti/e .hen he .as serving as Gice President for Children6s Progra//ing at 4BC. :4nd +ohnny Carson once said that "eing a Gice President at 4BC is like "eing dancing /aster at )orest -a.n.+11, <he 0edge :one of 5saac 7e.ton6s si( 2i/ le *achines; .as 4 -os 4ngeles ce/etery, if you6ve forgotten. 5t ins ired 3velyn 0augh6s The .o!e' One . > %C > the the/e of one fil/ they /adeA and :said +ones; 10hen you start studying it you find there6s so /uch there. 5f it .asn6t for the 0edge .e .ouldn6t have a sa.. 4 sa. is only a series of .edges.1 <hat6s true, and it also says ho. a sa. sa.s, "y .edging "its of .ood left and right so they cru/"le. Oou6ve s otted, surely, an 4ni/ation Firector6s ha"it of thought. 0hat else is this iece of /ove/ent likeB 0hat can .e "reak it do.n toB Feco/ ose it toB :)or that /atter, .hat /ay so/e revious 4ni/ator have done .ith itB +ones credits a 7ational )il/ Board of Canada roduction on the 0edge: 5 liked it and sha/elessly used it.1; 5t6s going to end u deco/ osed into dra.ings, er,second, "ut like Churchill6s rover"ial udding, that deco/ osition .ill go "etter if it6s ruled "y a the/e. <he 2a., 0edge the/e 5 don6t kno. a"out, not having seen the 7)B fil/. <he Coyote6s deco/ osition, it is safe to say, reflects a ritual reenact/ent of the death of CreativityA "ut arado(ically, at <er/ite <errace, .here it never died. > %9 >

> D$ >

> D1 >

.ho9s $n Ch'rge Here:
Chuck +ones re/e/"ers, .ith relish, a story a"out the 0ew &orker 6s legendary editor Harold Hoss. 4le(ander 0oollcott :.as itB;, revie.ing a lay, had .ritten a line a"out laughs so crassly set u 1the audience .ould laugh at the dro of a ha.1 Hoss loved that. But then it occurred to hi/ that all along the chain of trans/ission, ty ist to roofreader to ty esetter to second roofreader, /ore, . . . there6d arise "esetting te/ tations to correct 1dro of a ha1 to 1dro of a hat,1 in res onse to a 1dro ! hat1 linkage locked into so/e"ody6s consciousness.+1, 2o, "lock that 1t1K 5f the 6t6 ha ened, said Hoss, he6d co//it suicide. Biga.d, it /ustn6t ha enK 5n those days the 0ew 5t .as a realistic .orry. =n t.o different occasions 5 have tried to salute +a/es +oyce as 1Play"oy of the .estern .ord.1 Both ti/es, so/eone /ade a 1correction.1 > D' > &orker .as rinted in Chicago. 2o i/agine Hoss taking a night flight to Chicago :not "y 9et, "y rickety ro ;. 4nd, last, envision a /aster rinter co/ing on scene to /arvel at the skinny legs of Harold Hoss, rotruding fro/ a huge ress into .hich his flashlight, aided eye intrudes to /ake sure 1that da/n 6t6 hasn6t "een inserted. Unlikely, yes, es ecially that last shot. 4 -ooney <unes scenario, also, yes. 15t6s great, isn6t itB1 Chuck +ones e(ults. 1<he kind of thing you love and ad/ire in eo le.1 7ot only for seeing the ro"le/, "ut for "eing .illing to invest that /uch energy. 15/agine hi/ getting out at the air ort. <hey6d ro"a"ly had to sto t.ice fro/ 7e. Oork to Chicago in .inter ti/e. 4nd then getting do.n there and seeing to it# =h, that6s greatK <hat6s greatK <hat6s herois/K1 Oes, Chuck +ones is ca a"le of that order of enthusias/. <he ele/ents of the story, after all, do rese/"le the ele/ents of a cartoon, fra/e after la"orious fra/e, conceived and concatenated .ith the sole intent of rousing an audience :so/e /onths in the future, therefore an a"straction at this /o/ent; to a s ontaneous 1<hat6s greatK1 5t6s hard to kee in /ind ho. different is the ani/ator6s status fro/ that of the least significant of live co/ics, any of .ho/ can watch the effect she6s having. Co//entators have noted that the first Hoad Hunner cartoon, Fast an' Furry+ous :1949;, .aited three years to "e follo.ed "y the second one, %ee), %ee) :19E';. +ones re/e/"ers thinking resignedly that Fast an' Furry+ous /ight end u a one,shot :no /ore reuse of those characters, that situation;. 2e&uels could "e s urred "y feed"ack, "ut feed"ack .as slo.. 10e .eren6t allo.ed to revie. our fil/s There 1 revie.1 /eans attending a first theater sho.ingU "ecause the roducer .ould6ve had to take us out to dinner, .hich .ould6ve cost /ay"e R1E. 2o he didn6t, and .e never > D# > got to the/. 4 good thing, "ecause .e never got to res ond to any audience .hatsoever.1 4 good thingB 1Oes. <here .ere no critics. 4nd .e had nothing to res ond to e(ce t ourselves. )ro/ .hen .e started a icture to .hen it hit the theaters and .e "egan to hear a"out it, that .as a t to "e a"out three years.+-, By that ti/e, each of us directors had /ade, oh, thirty /ore cartoons. 2o .e could hardly res ond to even the e(hi"itor.1 Hes onding to the e(hi"itor8that .ould have "een .here the ru""er /et the road. <here .as, let us "e grateful, no such res onse .hen One Froggy !ening re/iered in 19EE. :1<hank Iod,1 says +onesA 15 couldn6t figure out ho. to do another.1; 4s to ho. he did the only one, though: 5 re/e/"ered fro/ .hen 5 .as a kid. 4ny "oy that6s ever icked u a frog kno.s ho. the "ody sits and the li/"s hang do.n. 2o .e had to "e certain, in those first fe. seconds on the screen, that .hen the guy a eared he looked like a frog. 3ven that his eyes "linked u .ard.1 :1Iuy18that6s interesting usageA not a green frog, .ho/ you don6t refer to as 1guy1A no, so/e hu/an

virtuoso .ho rese/"les a green frog. Quite as Porky is "est thought of as a fat fello. .ho ha ens to rese/"le a ig.; 4nd that a frog "links "y flicking his lo.er lid u .ard is one of the /any esoterica Chuck +ones recalls icking u fro/ his reading. 2o the frog in the fil/ "links, correctly, do.n,to,u , once, and &uite earlyA .hereafter his eyes do nothing so re/arka"le again. 4nother effect of this ti/e,lag .as that <er/ite <erracers tried to avoid to ical gags that /ight "e inco/ rehensi"le three years do.n the road. <hat6s one reason their creations stand u so .ell after four decades. > D4 > 4nd the frog6s legs: 5 don6t kno. if it .ould /ake any difference, "ut it .as chicken legs. Gery skinny chicken legs.1 :<hat /eans, ani/ators learned to /ove one critter6s legs "y attending to a different critter6s. Fo not "e scandali@ed. <hey .ork that .ay all the ti/e.; 1But the real ro"le/ .as kee ing any"ody fro/ sa/ ling his erfor/ance e(ce t the /oviegoers and the /an .ho 6o.ned6 hi/ and his voice.1 <he Goice8that .as a voice that could enco/ ass any range, .ith dances and gestures to /atch. =ur frog co//ands the s an fro/ Hay Charles to Pavarotti. 4nd no one can see his erfor/ances save their victi/, the /an .ho has "een ruined "y his trust that a erfor/ing frog6s ro/oter can6t hel getting rich. Kee ing anyone else :e(ce t us; fro/ hearing the frog6s cantati is a feat achieved "y all /anner of closed doors, dro ed curtains, inter osed .indo.s. <hat is the fil/ Time 6s +ay Cocks said ca/e as near to erfection as ani/ation ever has. +ones gets a little inarticulate in its vicinity. 5 don6t kno. of any .ay to e( ress it e(ce t "y saying there are only t.o things that count. =ne is the love you have for .hat you do, and the other is the .ork you6re .illing to devote to achieve it.1 4nd .hen it6s finished only the love should sho.. 15f the .ork sho.s, you6re in trou"le. *oger *a--it, the only thing that sho.ed .as the .ork. But the love .as none(istent.1 4nother thing he says is /ore arresting. 1*y characters,1 he6ll often re/ark, 1are as ects of /e.1 <hus :his /ost fre&uent e(a/ le; the a/orous skunk Pe N -e Pe. is the irresisti"le -othario our 2 okane,"orn Chuck +ones .ould have longed to "e. -ike.ise, 0ile 3. Coyote ro9ects .hat our 191',"orn Chuck +ones erceives as his o.n inco/ etence in /anaging any gadgetry .hatsoever. But: :and 5 can still hear > DE >

his intonations after t.o decades; 1$hat )art of me is the green frog7 1 -et6s suggest. <he Ireen )rog looks like nothingA "ut, -ord, he can erfor/K )rog 1: <he frog as he /ay i/agine .e see hi/, a co//on lace croaker. Click# )rog ', the inner, ulsing )rogK :<he Chuck +ones .ho .ould /arry, successively, t.o talented and "eautiful .ivesB; =r, )rog 1, a /ere frog, as a videoca/ /ight ick hi/ u : in a hu/an conte(t, so/ething .orth little attention. Click# )rog ', a )rog transcended "y ani/ationK :4nd co/ are .hat *ickey did for the /ere /ouse.; > D% >

7o, neither is ani/ation all self, ortraiture, nor is it all the foregrounding of a /ediu/, not even of a /ediu/ undrea/ed of "efore this century. 5t is, like all art, the trace of a /an doing an intricate 9o" he could not have .holly descri"ed to us. :<o reach for the very to : .hat /ight 2hakes eare have said of (amlet7 =h, a scri t the co/ any needed, .ith a fat art for Bur"age. =r Botticelli of the :enus7 4h, a decoration so/e *edici had a .hi/ for. Botticelli, "y the .ay, like /ost ainters of his era, .as attended "y the likes of in,"et.eeners: a rentices .ho6d attend to such trivia as ro"es and clouds.; 84 <hought 3( eri/ent, /eant not to s/uggle Chuck into e(alted co/ anyA no, si/ ly to adduce the fact that 4rt has nor/ally "een co//issioned "y folk, or "y forces like the Brothers 0arner, .ho6d had no .ay to guess .hat /ight later "e /ade of it. Fid Ho/er6s tri"al hearers envision a Harvard classroo/B =r even the disci leshi of Ho/an GergilB =f course not. 7or did hundreds of thousands of vie.ers of +ones cartoons8.ho6d never heard of Chuck +ones8ever i/agine the 1+oneses1 disengaged fro/ the 1)relengs1 and the 1*cKi/sons1 for se arate conte/ lation, let alone serious discussion. <hose vie.ers sa. a 0arner Bros. cartoon .hen they ha ened to visit a /ovie,house that .as sho.ing one, and it .as unlikely to have "een for the cartoon that they6d aid that visit. 5n those gone ti/es the Cartoon and the 7e.sreel and the 2hort .ere /erely french fries that got served in a t.o,hour ackage .ith the feature. :-ike.ise, a recitation of a ne. chunk of the Vneid .as so/ething you /ight have ut u .ith .hen your "usiness .as an audience .ith the 3/ eror 4ugustus.; 5t6s i/ ortant, therefore, to gli/ se "oth ho. slight and ho. inclusive a clai/ .e /ake .hen .e adduce other arts in > DD > other ti/es. 5n /ost ti/es and laces .hat .e6ve co/e to call 1art1 .as created to satisfy so/e /arket. 4lso, it .as "rought into "eing according to rocedures .hich could "e articulated, taught, learnt. <here .ere /asters, and a rentices as iring to "e /asters. Ho. /any eo le .orked on the 2istine CeilingB 0e think of *ichelangeloA "ut he6d have had hel ers. <hey .ere learning to do .hat he did, /uch as 5n,"et.eeners learn to 4ni/ate and erha s as ire to Firect. But Henaissance ainting is only a artial analogy for studio ani/ation. <he nearest full analogy for that see/s to "e 0agnerian o era, .hich re&uires e( ert set, designers, virtuosos of lighting, voice,coaches, scene,changers, costu/ers, no.adays e( erts at getting the uno"trusive /icro hone into the right lace, even so/eone ade t at co/forting a sulky "assoon. -ike.ise, as .e6ve seen, Chuck +ones6s concentration on ti/ing and e( ression, his co/ le/entarity .ith ani/ators of the &uality of Harris, 0asha/, and -evi,to., needed further co/ le/enting "y *altese :story;, 7o"le :layouts;, 2talling :/usic;, Blanc :voices; . . . and /ore and /ore and /ore, clear do.n to the ink,and, aint .o/en .hose deft hands /ade the eels the ca/era sa., and the /an at the ca/era, .ho /ight need to kno. ho. to slide a foreground eel left.ard faster than a central cel .hich slid faster than the "ackground :156ve used as /any as three layers for certain effects,1 says +ones; 9ust to get, on a 0arner "udget, the kind of shifting, ers ective look they .ere used to getting over at Fisney .ith the /ega"uck *ulti lane ca/era.+1, 4nd that inventory o/its, a/ong other skills, the "i@arre <rue, at 0arners they .eren6t getting differential focus, the lane of e/ hasis shar , other lanes fu@@ed. 0hich also /eans they .eren6t getting an attention,distractor, .hich, alas, descri"es /uch of .hat Fisney s ent /oney on. > DC > skills of <reg Bro.n, than .ho/ no one .as /ore resourceful at /aking the ear hear .hat the eye .asn6t seeing. 10hen the Coyote got his foot caught in the line attached to a har oon and .as dragged .illy,nilly across the desert floor over cacti, under "oulders, "u/ ing and sla ing every o"stacle ossi"le, never once did <reg su ly a logical sound effect: flying s rings, "reaking "ottles, s/all e( losives, hu/an ouch6es and oof6s, o ing "alloons, railroad crossing "ells, and so on.1 <hat .as 9oom an' %ore' :19ED;, .here things .ent too fast for an audience to ever &uite reali@e it couldn6t ossi"ly "e hearing .hat it .as seeing. 7or did <reg nee' arrays of e&ui /entA .ith /erely a ne.s a er he could create the sound of 1any kind of fire fro/ "on, to

forest to rocket.1+!, 5/agine a recording session at <er/ite <errace. 7o, it6s not a sane /ilieu .e6re hinting at. Understanda"ly, even rinci al characters, the only studio ro erties to co//and an audience6s a.areness, develo ed /ild cases of /ulti le ersonality. Bugs Bunny evolved out of a collective uncertainty, 1/oving fro/ director to director, icking u and dro ing co/ic turns and co/edic characteristics of ossi"le use to the /ature character. But none of this .as deli"erate. 0e not only didn6t kno. that there .as a co/ic genius "re.ing in our grou , .e didn6t even kno. .e .ere regnant.1 +2, <he fa/ous na/e, even, .as accidental. 5n 19#C, .hen al/ost the only .ell,defined <er/ite <errace character .as Porky Pig, a director .ho ans.ered to Bugs Harda.ay, though his for/al na/e .as Ben, thought a ra""it /ight lay nicely o osite Porky, and co//issioned one fro/ the resident character designer. <he designer, a Fisney alu/nus na/ed Charles <horson, sent "ack a /odel sheet Chuck Amuck, . 191. Chuck Amuck, . 19E. > D9 > headed 1Bugs6 "unny.1 :1Had it "een for /e,1 +ones re/arks, 1it .ould have "een 6Chuck6s "unny.6 1 4lso the la"el .ould have "een forgotten. 0ho it .as had the genius to erceive the fitness of 1Bugs1 no one see/s to re/e/"er.; Harda.ay6s fil/, Porky"s (are (unt, featured a rounded nervous ra""it, crouched, al.ays ready to lea for an e(itA "ut 1the Bugs that evolved,1 Chuck +ones re/arks, 1stood u right, a guy .ho6s not going to go any lace8sure of hi/self.1+3, <he Harda.ay Bugs, though, did utter one enduring line: 1=f course you reali@e this /eans .ar.1 4s 19#C audiences .ould have kno.n, it6s a steal fro/ Iroucho *ar(. A $il' (are :194$; .as <e( 4very6s consolidation. 7ot only have .e for the first ti/e 3l/er )udd6s 1Be ve.y, ve.y &uiet, 56/ hunting .a""itsK1 and Bugs6s shar 10hat6s u , FocB1 .e have also, as )ri@ )releng re/e/"ers, so/ething utterly ne.: 14 ra""it so cocky that he .asn6t afraid of a guy .ith a gun .ho .as hunting hi/.1 4ll connection .ith ti/idity, .ith cuteness, is severed. 4nd here6s a /o/ent to re/ark that 0arner Bros. features, such as dre. audiences to the theaters .here 0arner Bros. cartoons .ere sho.n, .ere :in Chuck +ones6s .ords; 1gentle ictures like .ittle Caesar, 3 $as a Fugiti!e from a Chain Gang, Dr. hrlich"s 8agic %ullet .1 <hey starred the likes of Hu/ hrey Bogart, +a/es Cagney, Ieorge Haft. <heir visual style featured /urk and /ist and fast cutting "et.een short violent scenes. <hat .as no /ilieu at all for a cute "unny, and "y 194% :in )releng6s *acketeer *a--it ; Bugs .as reducing to anic co, stars the likes of 3d.ard I. Ho"inson. :1Hel K PoliceK Fon6t leave /e .ith that cra@y ra""itK 1;+4, +oe 4da/son, %ugs %unny: Fifty &ears an' Only One Grey (are :199$;, P. E#. 4da/son, %ugs %unny , P. 4D. > C$ > 4nyho., after A $il' (are 1all .e had to do1 :+ones recalls; 1.as to follo. <e(6s lead. <he only ro"le/ .as, none of us kne. or could figure out .hat <e( had done right. 5ncluding <e(.1 Bugs /ight have settled into a ersonality derived fro/ Har o and Iroucho8alternately the kno.ing innocent and the slinger of @ingers8had 4very not left for *I*, leaving )releng and +ones and *cKi/son and Cla/ ett to reflect that the Bunny they had at 0arners .as 1gradually "eco/ing a /ore co/ le( character1 .hich it "ehooved the/ to sha e. <hat6s sensitive in divining that though Bugs had no visi"le or co//ercial e(istence save as they dre. hi/ and ti/ed hi/, still it .as i/ ortant8 hence /eaningful8to think of a Bugs .hose autono/y they .ere o"liged to res ect. +5, 1Bugs .ent through a eriod of .ild a.k.ardness "efore settling into the self,contained studied attitudes eculiar to hi/, so that his every /ove/ent is Bugs and Bugs only, 9ust as his s eech develo ed fro/ a kind of vaudevillian atois loaded .ith 6deses6 and 6doses6 to a fully cadenced s eech in .hich he studiously inserts an occasional 6ain6t6 in

the sa/e casual .ay as an =(ford graduate does.+ , 5n su/, 10e discovered the enor/ous difference "et.een "eing cra@y8as in A $il' (are 8and laying at "eing cra@y. <his goes dee A 56ll er/it /yself t.o /ore aragra hs of &uotation: 15n short, all fat had to "e re/oved fro/ his dialogue, his figure, and his "ehavior. 0e .ere, in volleying Bugs "ack and forth fro/ director to director, develo ing the heart and /uscles of a /ature and "elieva"le character. Chuck +ones recalls a child correcting her father: 1*r. +ones doesn6t dra. Bugs Bunny. He dra.s )ictures of Bugs Bunny.1 Chuck Amuck, . 199?'$$. :4 clarification: .hen 4very left 0arners, *cKi/son .as an ani/ator there, not yet a director.; > C1 > 15 think .e all .ould have "een e/"arrassed if one of us had tried to state .hat .as ha ening in hiloso hical or logical ter/s. -ogic and hiloso hy .ere certainly there, underlying the gro.th of our characters. But .e .ere shy of ontification as .ell as of aesthetic theori@ing or criti&ue. =nly in retros ect can .e see that there .as a dee and innocent kno.ledge for/ing .ithin this heterogeneous and varied cre., and that kno.ledge roduced the at/os here for all the other characters .ho gre. to /aturity during those sa/e years, "et.een 1941 and 19E$, and "eyond. Furing those years .e learned .hat .as funny .ithout analy@ing why it .as funny, and, even /ore i/ ortant, .hat .as not funny.1 <hat last sentence is tricky. Foes 1learned1 govern the t.o 1.hat1 clauses8.e learned .hat .as funny and .hat .asn6tB =r does 1.hat .as not funny1 go .ith 1why it T.hat .as funnyU .as funny,1 as one of a contrasting air .e learned not to analy@eB <hat6s .orth s elling out 9ust to indicate that .e6ve so/eho. .andered into a se/antic forest. Ho. to talk a"out characters .ho never 1really1 e(isted, like Bugs or 4chilles, characters /oreover .ho cannot "e assigned to a sole inventing intelligence such as 2hakes eare6s, is a &uestion lit crit doesn6t kno. ho. to confront. 4nd .hat6s to "e done .ith the undenia"le fact that Bugs8say8although the ro erty of /illions of vie.ers, .as also the creation of :at a si/ lification; at least four directors, all of .ho/ used so/e.hat different /odel sheets and had so/e.hat different conce tions of .ho Bugs .ould "e if he .ere hu/an :though stu""ornly, he6d re/ain a enciled ra""it;B +ones is e( licit a"out the origin of his ersonal Bugs. 5 could not ani/ate a character 5 could laugh at "ut could not understand. 4 .ild .ild hare .as not for /eA .hat 5 needed .as a character .ith the s icy, so/e.hat erudite intros ec, > C' > tion of a Professor Higgins, .ho, .hen nettled or threatened, .ould res ond .ith the s.agger of F64rtagnan as layed "y 3rrol )lynn, .ith the articulate &uick,.ittedness of Forothy Parker8in other .ords, the Ha""it of *y Frea/s.1 2uch a Bugs8and note ho. literary are the analogies81is far too strong a character to "ehave as an early Faffy Fuck or a late 0oody 0ood ecker acts. 5t is no art of his character to go out and "edevil anyone for /ischiefs6s sake alone.1 Hence: 1Gol'en *ule . Bugs /ust al.ays "e rovoked.1+17, +ones /akes his case for rule,"ased co/edy in the tenth, or Hoad Hunner, cha ter of Chuck Amuck, .here he &uotes Iroucho *ar(: 1Co/edy is not so /uch .hat you do, as .hat you don6t do.1 Hules ite/i@e the i/ er/issi"ilities. =n age ''E he lists 1so/e of the rules1 for the Coyote,Hoad Hunner series :forty,t.o fil/s at least: "et.een four and five hours of screen ti/e;. <hey include: 17o outside force can har/ the Coyote8 only his o.n ine titude or the failure of the 4c/e roducts,1 and 17o dialogue ever, e(ce t 6Bee ,Bee K6 1 and 10henever ossi"le, /ake gravity the Coyote6s greatest ene/y.1 5t6s also s ecified that the Coyote could sto any ti/e8if he .ere not a fanatic. <o this, 2antayana6s definition of the )anatic is a ended: =ne .ho redou"les his effort, having forgotten his ai/. )or it6s clear, +ones oints out, that after the first cou le of fil/s the Coyote has utterly forgotten that his &uest concerned so/ething to eat. Ieorge 2antayana .as a genial hiloso her .ho6d have "een tickled to kno. that in The .ife of *eason :19$E?%; he6d inscri"ed a for/ula for an o"sessed coyote.+11,

Chuck Amuck, P. '11. <he e(act &uotation: 1)anaticis/ consists in redou"ling your efforts .hen you have forgotten your ai/.1 4s usual, +ones relies on /e/ory to reserve the gist. > C# > 4nd .hy transfer that /a(i/ to a fau1 ani/al kingdo/B Because :1; .hat can easily "e done in live action, such as hu/an "ehavior, is s ecifically not the do/ain of ani/ationA :'; 15t is easier to hu/ani@e ani/als than it is to hu/ani@e hu/ans,1 a dark saying hiloso hers .ould "e rotating endlessly had they received it fro/ a si(teenth, century *on,taigne instead of fro/ a 2 okane,"orn /ovie,/aker .hose s ecialties have included /ock,coyotes, /ock,ra""its, /ock,ducks. +1-, *a(i/ 1 is s ecifically .here a <er/ite <erracer eels a.ay fro/ Fisney assu/ tions. 4s .e6ve already suggested, 1the illusion of life1 .as a slogan that loaded the huge Fisney enter rise .ith dead ends: i//ense su/s s&uandered on /aking the 1hu/ans1 in Cin'erella :19E$; and ,lee)ing %eauty :19E9; look as if live actors had "een fil/ed, as they likely should have "een. 5f you6re ani/ating, then take encil in hand and animate# Fon6t restrict yourself to .hat a clicky,click tri od,su orted o tical eavesdro er /ight have icked u .ithout even thinking :"ecause it can6t think; a"out trying. <he Hoad Hunner saga, all four, lus hours of it, relies on 9ust one the/e, see/ingly ine(hausti"le. <hat is 0ile 3. Coyote6s ersistence in ursuit of .hat .as once a otential snack and has long since /utated into an ideal con&uest. <he vie.er of a ne. install/ent has seen all of it "efore and yet seen none of it "efore. <he setting is al.ays an ideali@ed 4/erican south.est, aradise of "luffs and canyons and vast s aces. <rucks or freight trains intrude s aringly, their hu/an deni@ens never visi"le. 4lso /ail "rings .ares of the 4c/e Co/ any, .hich invaria"ly /alfunction. :But not grosslyA no, su"tly. <he defect that sends the Coyote yet one )or details see Chuck Amuck, . ''D?9. > C4 >

/ore ti/e off the cliff is as /inute as the rogra//ing error that can cost 7424 yet another satellite.; 4nd the fall off the cliff is so rituali@ed there is even a ritual e( losion, a che/ical /adness of fla/e and orange clouds. <hat6s es ecially evident in vie. of the nor/al +ones,7o"le olicy of reusing nothing. 2o s are .ere the resources, so scant the need for nor/al chores such as designing ne. settings, that .hen $hat"s O)era, Doc7, the /ost visually a/"itious of all the studio6s thousand,odd shorts, .as esti/ated at seven .eeks6 dra.ing and shooting ti/e instead of the nor/al five81$4 se arate 1shots1 as against the usual %$, odd8it .as sand.iched "e, > CE >

> C% > t.een a air of Hoad Hunners .hich could "e "rought off in four .eeks a iece. =n the ti/e,sheets that .ent to 4ccounting, the total of fifteen .eeks .as allotted evenly. *en continually learning to do .hat they .ere doing8that6s not a "ad .ay to descri"e an ani/ation cre. in those golden years. 4nd a refle(ive look at .hat they .ere learning to do8that hel s account for Duck Amuck B;CDEF, .hich is also inde"ted to ,herlock Jr . :19'4;: Buster Keaton laying a ro9ectionist .ho .anders do.n the /ovie,house aisle and into the /ovie he6s ro9ecting. <here he "eco/es 1the i//ediate victi/ of .hatever .ay the scenes ha en to "e cut. 4s he sets foot in the living roo/, the scene cuts and instantly he is outside at the entrance door. He knocks8cut8and then falls off the ste s. <he ste s have disa eared. He is no. in a garden.1 +11, Oou get the idea. Faffy Fuck, unlike Buster, got it too, and it roused hi/ to /ounting levels of indignation. 4s far as Keaton could tell, his ro"le/ .as si/ ly .ith <he 0ay <hings 0ereA hence his look of drea/y "e/use/ent. Faffy6s though, .as .ith an ene/y he could get /ad at: an 4ni/ator, an o/ni otence .hose eraser destroyed each set for .hich Faffy .as costu/ed, and .hose aint"rush again and again "rought into "eing, as easily as in the Book of Ienesis, a .orld for .hich Faffy .as totally une&ui ed. <o think of Keaton is to re/e/"er Cha lin, .ho .as, as it see/s easy to overlook, a .holly different kind of artist. Cha lin .as a great )erformer, .hose erfor/ance the ca/era o"served, chin leaning on al/. 4ny glitch in the erfor/ance it si/ ly recorded, occasionally, if rarely, to Cha lin6s regret. 5n The Great Dictator Hitler, as i/ ersonated "y Cha , Hudi Blesh, 6eaton :19%%;, . '4E?%.

> CD > lin, confronts a saluting fanatic .ho roceeds to de/onstrate his contri"ution to the Cause "y so/ersaulting "ack.ard out of an u er .indo.. 4 arachute, clearlyB 4 rocket /otorB But .e never see the fanatic again. 0e see Cha lin, straining for.ard, and further for.ard, and then turning to his chief of staff: 10hy do you .aste /y ti/e .ith things like thisB1 3arly in 19%4 Cha lin .as leased .hen a guest re/e/"ered that se&uence. But then he said, 15 did that in three /oves. 5 think 5 held the second one a little too long.1+1!, 4n actor at ease .ith cine/a technology, as Cha lin never .as, .ould si/ ly have relayed an instruction to the editor. Keaton "y contrast .as a great colla-orator .ith the .hole art of cine/a, fascinated "y .hat he and visual technology could achieve in concert. <here6s a fa/ous scene in The Playhouse :19'1; .hich resents hi/ as the entire orchestra8fiddler, cellist, "assist, clarinetist, tro/"onist, dru//er. 4nd he6s also the stagehand .ho lifts

the curtain, and :in one shot; all nine "lackface /instrels, and, yes, every single /e/"er of the audience. <hat is not Cha lin6s .ay of thinking. Hudi Blesh hel s "ring ho/e a ertinence to Duck Amuck: 14 song,and,dance tea/ . . . rushing on fro/ o osite .ings, racing through a unison cane dance, "o.ing and e(iting. . . . 4n invisi"le hand erases the/ as if they .ere ani/ated cartoons.1 +12, <he 5nvisi"le Hand8that6s the the/e Chuck +ones icked u , not necessarily fro/ Keaton6s Playhouse "ut fro/ its vicinity. 2o Faffy rails like +o" against his creator, .ho <he lace .as Gevey, 2.it@erland, and 5 .as the guest, .ith, a/ong others, Bill Buckley and +a/es *ason. Charlie6s unease .ith cine/a technology "eca/e clear .hen he e( licated .hat 8o'ern Times .as really a"out: actors entra ed a/id /iseries over /icro hone lace/ent. Blesh, 6eaton, . 1%E. > CC > roves to "e Bugs Bunny :the fil/6s last s oken .ords co/e fro/ Bugs: 14in6t 5 a stinkerB1;. Cha lin ha' no 1creator.1 5n Cha lin6s fierce ego it .as Cha lin .ho .as solely res onsi"le for the visi"le universe. Duck Amuck is "rutal in its resentation of .hat it6s 1a"out.1 Duck Amuck is a"out .hatever is "egotten, "orn and dies at the flick of an eraser,ti ed dra.ing i/ le/ent. 5t6s Faffy6s anguish that he can have no other e(istence. Correction8he also e(ists on the screen, fra/e "y fra/e, hence "et.een "lack u er and lo.er fra/ing lines .hich in Duck Amuck have a .ay of sagging under hi/ or colla sing ato hi/. Pushing a soggy u er line u .ard, he6s <he Prisoner of <er/ite <errace, 9ust .inning hi/self so/e .e-ensraum . He6s also ackno.ledging that he6s close to e(tinction, a fate that .ill ha en if that heavy to line caves in. :5t .on6t, it .on6t, even as .e s&uir/ in our seats .e kno. it .on6t. 2houldering the sagging fra/e,line, Faffy i/ ersonates the Futch "oy6s finger in the dyke.; Duck Amuck, Chuck +ones recalls in Chuck Amuck, .as unusual in "eing a director6s solo creation. 5t 1ha ened al/ost e(clusively on the dra.ing "oard as 5 dre., laid out, the key character oses and .rote the dialogue. *onologue actually, since Faffy6s .as the only voice heard. *ike T*alteseU .orked at /y shoulder on this one, rather than on a story"oard. )ro/ the first scene, .hen Faffy lea s out, sa"er in hand, shouting 62tand "ack, *usketeers8they shall sa/ le my "lade,6 to the enulti/ate . . . scene, .here Faffy is shouting in a"solute frustration, 60ho are youA 5 de/and that you sho. yourselfKK6 he has "een in conflict .ith the ani/ator .ho is dra.ing hi/8in a .ord: /e.1+13, 2o for an ending Chunk Amuck, . 1D1. > C9 >

+ones had to /utate into the sole erson in the .orld 1.ho had kno.n e&ual conflict .ith Faffy Fuck18and that erson .as Bugs Bunny. 0hen you re/e/"er that the <er/ite studio .as a co//unity alike of characters and of creators, that6s erfect studio logic. 5t should "e added that at one /o/ent Faffy is even deconstructed, into a &uadru ed .ith green front legs and "lack hind ones, its olka,dotted torso e&ui ed .ith a flag ole tail and garnished .ith a seven, etalled ur le daisy surrounding a "eak .hich is uttering des erate .ords: 15t isn6t as though 5 haven6t lived u to /y contract . . . goodneth kno.s 56ve done that . . .1 <his Faffy has no integrity .hatever, save :1; the ani/ator6s .hi/, /i(ed .ith :'; a sole rinci le, .hich is, 1 Anything to 2urvive.1 > 9$ >

Ho"in Hood Faffy 4nd had any Faffy any higher the/eB 5t de ends on .ho you ask. But no, not the +ones Faffy. <he +ones Faffy 1rushes in and fears to tread at the sa/e ti/e,1 .hich /akes hi/, "y the standards of 4le(ander Po e, si/ultaneously )ool and 4ngel. 4lso, he dee/s Honesty the Best Policy81.hen everything else fails.1 )or, 1<o desire, in Faffy6s rationale, is to need8as it .as to /e at si(A to need is to ac&uire, and ac&uisition is the essence of living.1+14, 2o .e6re "ack to Chuck +ones, age si(, as a clue to Faffy, an intricate "eing .ho shares little save si@e and sha e .ith the Fisney Fonald. <he latter has after all no nota"le character "eyond a ro ensity for tantru/s. 1Character1 .asn6t re, Chuck Amuck, . '#9?4$, .here .e also find 1Co.ardice is its o.n re.ard.1

> 91 > ally a Fisney strength. *ickey, *innie, Fonald, Pluto8their identity is chiefly visual. =f the 2even F.arfs, Foc and Iru/ y and Fo ey /ay clai/ characterA Ha y, 2lee y, 2nee@y and Bashful e(hi"it /anneris/s. But the rule,"ased <er/ite <errace identities, those .ere creations .ith so/ething8yes, granted, 9ust a little, "ut something 8in co//on .ith the likes of Ha/let. )or :1; there .ere things they .ould or .ouldn6t do, and :'; .hat they .ould do, .hen they did it, they did .ith a style .e take leasure in identifying, a style of /oving and talking that6s continuous .ith their look. Heflect that though Fonald Fuck is .hite and .ears a sailor 9acket, Faffy is "lack and naked and8 .hatB 17eurotic1 is a forceless .ord to set against Faffy6s id,like reserves of energy. 1<hurvival of the fittestK . . . and "esides . . . it6s funK18that6s his idiot screech once he thinks he6s arranged for 3l/er )udd to shoot Bugs Bunny : *a--it Fire, 19E1;. 0hat /akes the ne(t "it .ork is Bugs6s conte/ lative cal/: 1:%ites . . . crunch, crunch, crunch ; :8outh full ; 2ay, Foc :chew, chew ; are you tryin6 to get yourself in trou"le .ith the la.B <his ain6t .a""it,huntin6 season . . .1 7o, it6s 'uck ,hunting season, so/ething Faffy is &uick to call 1an in/itigated fra"ication.1 0e can hear his nerve cru/"ling, though after a fren@ied set of e(changes he atte/ ts to take charge, .ith these fateful .ords: 13 say it6s 'uck season and 5 say Fire## 1 5n the ne(t fra/e his "ill has so/eho. "een :as the dialogue sheet notes; 1"lo.n aske.,1 a /ild hrase for its ne. geo/etry. 5t6s like hi/, to get so caught u in the vehe/ent rhyth/ of Duck

season# $a--it season# that he gives the order to Fire## 9ust one luckless ste out of hase.+15, 4nd it6s like Chuck Amuck, . 1#1. > 9' > 3l/er )udd, to "e so scru ulous a"out /atching the victi/ to the season, once he6s satisfied he understands .hat season it is. 0e say 15t6s like hi/1 a"out folk .e6re confident .e understand, and the /a9or <er/ite <errace characters ins ire that order of confidence. 0hy is that true of 0arner Bros. and of no other cartoon studioB 2urely it6s tracea"le to the 0arner olicy of utting a single director in sole charge. <hat the three directors .ho /ight /anage Faffy or Bugs in a given season had each of the/ a slightly different slant see/s to have enriched, rather than /uddled, the lifelikeness of the characters. 4nd that one of those directors "rought to "ear on ani/ation as detached, as conce tual a /ind as did Charles *. +ones: that unlikely fact has /uch to do, surely, .ith the evident su eriority, year after year, of the 0arner shorts. <o risk a stark generali@ation: after ,now $hite :19#D; had ioneered the ani/ated feature, the Fisney shorts are seldo/ /e/ora"leA an e(ce tion such as Toot, $histle, Plunk an' %oom :19E#; is a t to "ear the hall/ark of a virtuoso director :here, 0ard Ki/"all;. 3lse.hereB )or thirteen years *I* had the great <e( 4veryA after 194$ they also had Hanna and Bar"era utting <o/ and +erry through their for/ulaic .ars. <hose differ fro/ the Coyote,Hoad Hunner &uest in that .hereas 0ile 3. and his &uarry e(ist in different sychic universes8the one o"sessed, the other "lithe8the <o/,and,+erry for/ula calls si/ ly for a cat .ho6d eat a /ouse if only he could /anage to catch itA "ut the /ouse, "eing s/aller, hence s/arter, can al.ays out/aneuver hi/. <he Hoad Hunner ne!er out/aneuvers the Coyote. He6s never even distressed "y hi/. 0hat outdoes the Coyote is the interactiveness of a single coherent universe, .here fanaticis/ is guaranteed to defeat itself. <rue, that6s not such a universe > 9# > as defeated Hitler, "ut it sustains forty,t.o cohesive si(,/inute cartoons. 4nd so on and so forth, and do not even /ention 0oody 0ood ecker. 7o, as Fisney short cartoons faded it .as <er/ite <errace or nothing. 4lso, <er/ite <errace could "uild on its o.n history. 5t6s "een noted that .hen a gun/an threatened +ack Benny .ith 1Oour /oney or your lifeK1 and +ack hesitated a counta"le nu/"er of seconds "efore /uttering that he .as trying to decide, his hesitation, and the resultant laughter, "uilt on years of esta"lishing a character, +ack the <ight.ad. -ike.ise, "y the ti/e of The 8erry $i!es of $in'sor 2hakes eare6s audiences kne. .hat to e( ect of +ack )alstaff. -ike.ise too, "y the ti/e of $hat"s o)era, Doc7 :19ED;, a /aster iece as The 8erry $i!es is not, rivileged audiences kno. that .hen the figure .ho casts huge shado.s on orange cliffs turns out to "e 3l/er )udd, they6re si/ultaneously regarding a )uddy e/ulation of the de/on through .ho/ Fantasia dra/ati@ed *ussorgsky6s violent /usic, and .atching one /ore )uddian atte/ t at grandiosity :a (el'entenor7 s are us;, and co ing .ith an ine t i/ ersonation of 2iegfried, and engaged .ith yet another e isode of 1Kill the .a""itK1 <hat6s four layers at leastA it rese/"les a iling,u of cels. *uch, "ack in 6ED, could de end on your neigh"orhood. 5f you lived near a theater o.ned "y 0arner Bros. you6d likely seen enough 0arner cartoons to en9oy the ha"ituN6s res onseA "ut if your cartoon fare had "een chiefly Fisney, or <o/ and +erry, then the $hat"s O)era, Doc7 you sa. .as so/ething &uite different, "rilliant "ut ar"itrary. 4nd .hen BrSnnhilde /ade an entrance, i/ ersonated "y grayfurred Bugs in a *arilyn *onroe ose, a,grin ato a "ulky, self,conscious .hite horse .ith eye,/akeu and a flo.ered garland, then8But .aitK <hat horseKK > 94 >

4fter /ore than a third of a century +ones is rightly roud of that horse. 5t6s huge, like 0agnerian divasA also .hite, and rectangular, and s/ug. Fetail "y detail it6s 1"eautiful,1 "ut the su/ of e(&uisite arts is a cu/"erso/e rectangle. <hat rectangularity cries out to "e d.elt on. <he Hectangle "o"s to and froA tiny -egs su ort and ro el it. 4 s/ug e( ression indicates that all as ects of loco/otion have "een seen to :and Bugs looks confident that he6ll not "e tossed off;. Bugs slides do.n the horse6s "ack and neck, and, ne(t thing .e kno., he and 3l/er are engaged in a "allet. 4 "alletK Iood grief, a horse that de osits you in a "alletK 1<atiana Hia"ouchinska and Favid -ichine .ere un.itting contri"utors to the authenticity of this "it of ter sichore,1 runs an enig/atic ca tion in Chuck Amuck .+1 , 5t /eans, )ootage of a Chuck Amuck, . '$D. 4nd the five color illustrations in this s read /erit loving study. > 9E >

erfor/ance of theirs .as studied "y the ani/ating tea/. <he /usic heard "y vie.ers of the ani/ation .as erfor/ed "y the Bur"ank 2y/ hony, .hich .as under instructions to esche. any clo.ning. <he fil/ has 1$4 1cuts18i.e., .holly ne. setu s8 in 9ust over si( /inutes. <hat6s a"out t.ice the usual count, .hich hel s e( lain so/ething .e6ve already noticed, "illa"le ti/e filched fro/ ad9acent Hoad Hunners. 0hether 0agner6s fa/e can ho e for shelter is another &uestion. 5n 19C9, at 7orth.estern University, a rofessor of /usic history infor/ed a survey class of /usic seniors that this .eek6s su"9ect .ould "e the *ing cycle. 4ll forty students ro/ tly "urst into a /assive Galkyrie,es&ue rendition of 1Kill the .a""itK1 > 9% >

> 9D >

A#"er .'rners
<he end ca/e, though Chuck +ones still thinks it needn6t have. 5n 19%' the Brothers 0arner closed do.n the cartoon o eration.+1, <hey6d done that reviously in 19E#, +-, .hen +ack 0. /istook a fad for a trend and decided that all fil/s .ould thenceforth "e #,F. He sa. that as o/inous "ecause #,F, re&uiring se arate fra/es for the left and right eye, .ould run the cost of ani/ation u unthinka"ly. But the alar/ .as false :anyone here remem-er #,FB;, and after four /onths, .hich Chuck +ones s ent over at Fisney doing ne(t to nothing, a nine,year res ite ensued at 0arners. 5n those last golden years +ones .ould create such /aster ieces as $hat"s O)era, Doc7 and One Froggy !ening, But not "efore /aking one #,F cartoon, .um-er/ack *a--it, directed "y +ones. *isdated in Chuck Amuck : . 'DD; as 19EE. > 9C > also .onders like %room+,tick %unny and so/e of the finest Hoad Hunners, nota"ly Gee $hi5+5+5+5 and 9oom an' %ore', the one .ith the huge errant har oon. 4t the end, 6%', .hat had ha ened .asn6t #,F "ut, Chuck +ones thinks, &uite si/ ly, <G. <his ti/e doo/ really .as .ritten on the .all. 4nnual 4/erican e( enditure on /ovie tickets had, very suddenly, halved. )olks .ere sitting at ho/e, /utating into couch otatoes. Hence the end of the historic t.o,hour ackage87e.sreel, Cartoon, 2hort, ninety,/inute feature8the .hole 1"lock,"ooked1 into a theater that 9ust ordered the feature. 2o features got longer :/ost features no. contain thirty /inutes of adding.; 4nd ne.sreel and cartoon and short all disa eared. +ones talks as if the studios si/ ly gave u too easily. )or /ightn6t eo le have chosen the /ovie they6d see tonight .ith an eye for such garnishings as the cartoonB But vie.ers .eren6t offered such a choice, /ainly "ecause in 194C Para/ount lost a 2u re/e Court antitrust case. <hat ut an end to the studio,o.ned theater chains, the chains that had ke t "lock,"ooking active8as it .ere, all in the fa/ily8after inde endent theater o.ners had retty .ell gotten the/selves e(e/ ted fro/ it. 2o .hen <G "eca/e a sudden threat the studio chains .eren6t there any /ore to su ort a

counteroffensive, and "lock,"ooking, .hich had survived as a convenient ha"it, .as suddenly assN.+1, 4nd that see/ed to "e an end for 0insor *cCay6s 1914 creation, "ecause if there .as no de/and for ani/ation .hy trou"le to do itB )or a too,"rief account see Ierald *ast, A ,hort (istory of the 8o!ies :Eth ed., 199';. <here should "e a fuller e( osition "ut 56ve not run across one. > 99 > 0ell, every craft designates so/e earlier craft as an 14rt,1 .hich it roceeds to ackage so as to enhance its o.n lausi"ility. :15 /ay "e card"oard, "ut 5 "ring you 9e.els.1; 5n the 6#$s /ovies ackaged "ooks. )il/ing Tom ,awyer and Da!i' Co))erfiel' had the ur ose of legiti/i@ing /ovies, .hich until they offered -ooks :understood to "e good for you; .ere si/ ly occasions for kids to .aste ti/e. 5n the rocess, /arginal things like Anne of Green Ga-les got legiti/i@ed as 1literature1 "y "eco/ing /ovies. <hen, starting in the 6E$s, video :.hat you sa. on the ho/e screen; .as ackaging /ovies :.hat you6d for/erly seen on the large one;. <hat .as /eant to hel you take <G seriously, "ut an odd side,effect .as to turn 1/ovie1 into 1cine/a1: <hus e!ery filme' thing no. /erited scrutinyK 4nother result .as to rescue /arginal cinN heno/ena, such as ani/ation, for intent attention. <hat could take a .hileA as .e6ve noted, Time"s +ay Cocks discovered Chuck +ones as late as 19D#, and the trail"la@ing ani/ation issue of Film Comment :1Pu"lished "y the )il/ 2ociety of -incoln Center1; didn6t a ear till early 19DE. <he /ills of the acade/ic gods do, sure enough, grind, "ut oh, ho. they can grind slo.lyK By 19DE Chuck +ones .as %# and .ell on the .ay to defining a second career. He6d /oved to *I*, done so/e thirty,five <o/,and,+errys+!, .ith .hich he still doesn6t feel co/forta"le, and in 19%E had so/eho. /anaged The Dot an' the .ine, a tour,de,force .hich .on an =scar.+2, 5t6s .orth a digression. <hat6s counting so/e he roduced "ut didn6t direct. Previously, several no/inations had .on hi/ 9ust t.o, "oth in 19E$. =ne .as for a Pe N -e Pe., the other for a Pu"lic Health 2ervice docu/entary, ,o 8uch for ,o .ittle . > 1$$ >

Character 4ni/ation, "y the +ones definition, e( resses8deli/its8Character "y 0ay,of,*oving, not "y /ere 4 earance. Back in 6##, you6ll re/e/"er, Fisney6s igs looked alike "ut .ere different 1 eo le1 "ecause they /oved differently. 0ile 3. Coyote, .hose career "egan in 1949, is .ho he is thanks to all /anner of angular co/ ressions. 3ven in his .ay of crashing do.n fro/ a cliff he6s no 3l/er, no Faffy, no Bugs. 4nd .hat /ight "e done .ith even less than a coyoteB 5n 19%$ +ones and *altese and Ken

Harris and the Usual <er/ite <errace 2us ects had co/e u .ith (igh 0ote, a"out a note .ho see/s8like all the other characters8indistinguisha"le fro/ any other note on a sheet of /usic, "ut .ho6s 1high1 "ecause he hangs out .here they6re laying 1-ittle Bro.n +ug,1 and hence kee s /issing his %lue Danu-e cue. 4 > 1$1 > drunk and re"ellious delin&uent, an i/ erious conductor, a suite of /elodious %lue Danu-e notes .ho6d not drea/ of doing anything out of tune or se&uence8such are the ersonnel of a cartoon .ith no dull /o/ents, situated in a s ace .holly defined "y staves and clefs. :+ones had /eant it to "e /onochro/e, "ut 3ddie 2el@er insisted on the color he aid for.; 0ell, that .as still at 0arner Bros., and a s lendid instance of .hat the 0arner syste/ could er/it if not encourage. :(igh 0ote even got no/inated for an =scar, "ut failed to gratify 3ddie 2el@er "y .inning one.; The Dot an' the .ine, .hich did .in one for *I*, is still /ore a"stract. 5ts 1characters1 are, yes, one Fot and one -ine, also one 2&uiggle. :15 associated co/ letely .ith the lineK1 +ones .ould clai/ in 19C$.; +3, 5ts source is a "ook "y 7orton +uster, a"out a Fot and a -ine, su"titled 14 Ho/ance in -o.er *athe/atics.1 5n Charles 2olo/on6s su//ary, 1<he disci lined, ur oseful straight line defeats a "oorish, ragged s&uiggle to .in the heart of the flighty /agenta dot.1+4, +uster see/s to have attracted Chuck +ones "y the sheer a"stractness of his conce tions. :)or run it "y again: 4 -ook a"out a Fot and a -ineK; 4nother +uster "ook, The Phantom Toll-ooth, underlay +ones6s one venture :19D1; into feature,length ani/ation. 14 critical success,1 he re/arks, 1a "o(,office &uestion /ark.1 He adds that it tends to resurface at fil/ festivals. +5, )ortunately availa"le on videota e, it offers so/e utterly a/a@ing ani/ation. <ry the 1Foldru/s1 se&uence early on: 5ntervie. .ith +oe 4da/son, in The American Animate' Cartoon :19C$;, ed. Fanny Peary and Ierald Peary. Charles 2olo/on, The (istory of Animation :19C9;, . '%4. Chuck Amuck, . 'DC. > 1$' > green a athetic froggish "eings oo@ing do.n every availa"le surface8nota"ly the .indshield of *ilo6s car8lured "y the si/ le delights of indolence in the Pri/al =o@e. *ilo is a "oy say ten years old, and as to .hat he6s doing .ith a car8.ell, the +uster "ook does e( lain it, and so does the fil/A "ut .hat6s Chuck +ones doing .ith that "ookB Chuck +ones is doing .hat he does so often, revisiting his o.n "oyhood. Chuck Amuck "egins .ith an enchanting cha ter a"out the lessons i/ arted, oh, "ack .hen C. +. .as seven, "y a cat na/ed +ohnson. <hat6s the cha ter that cites +oyce6s transcri tion of cat,s eech, and also cites *ark <.ain6s state/ent that if you carried a cat ho/e "y the tail you .ould get infor/ation that .ould "e valua"le to you all your life.+ , Put that cha ter alongside the si/ le fact that the +ones .ho6d read so /any "ooks, and .ould enroll in the Chouinard 4rt 5nstitute, never did finish high school, and .e have a ty e rare these days: a de/onstra"ly "rilliant kid driven out of his /ind not "y eer ressure "ut "y sheer classroo/ "oredo/. +ones "ased at least a cou le of 0arner fil/s on such a kid, for instance, From A to 9+9+9+9 :19E4;, in .hich a "oy na/ed Hal h fantasi@es /ore interesting things than the teacher see/s to "e saying. 1)orced to ans.er a /ath ro"le/, he "elieves the nu/"ers are laughing at hi/ so he "eco/es a .hite,on,"lack chalk"oard figure and fights .ith the doodle,figures, i/ rovising letters as .ea ons.1+17, -etters as .ea ons against 7u/"ers8that is a fallacy the nu/erate encounter ti/e and again :15 can6t "alance a check, 5t6s .orth reserving the detail that .henever Chuck, as often, said so/ething oracular his 0arner colleagues chose to assu/e he .as &uoting *ark <.ain.

+erry Beck and 0ill )ried.ald, .ooney Tunes an' 8errie 8elo'ies :19C9;, . '%%. > 1$# > "ook,1 so/e (amlet e( ert .ill "oast;, as also do the literate :1<oo fu@@y to consider,1 "rags the 3uclid guru on "eing confronted .ith 2hakes eare;. 2uch is a central the/e of The Phantom Toll-ooth, in .hich t.o "eautiful rincesses, 2.eet Hhy/e :.ords; and Pure Heason :/ath;, need rescuing fro/ a Castle in the 4ir. <heir rescuer .ill "e *iloA and he, like : resu/a"ly; Chuck +ones at a si/ilar age, .as finding classroo/ rocedures "oring. 5n the early /inutes of the fil/ a live,action *ilo can "arely "e "othered to drag hi/self ho/e fro/ schoolA .e /ay note a fa/ily rese/"lance to the Hal h of From A to 9+9+9+9 . <hen :P4PKKK; a /ysterious ackage arrives: a <oll"ooth, and a neat red car for driving through <oll"ooths. Hence *ilo6s heroic 9ourney. )or /ost of it he6s a"etted "y a dog .ho6s na/ed <ock "ecause he6s a :<ick <ock, get itB; 1.atch1 dog. <hat6s an order of .hi/sy the scri t inherits fro/ +uster6s "ook, on the ages of .hich such .ord, lay .orks "etter than it 'oes on,screen. 0hat holds the strange fil/ together8and it does hold together8is *aurice 7o"le6s visual design and the Chuck +ones direction. :<he 4"e -evito. .ho6s credited as co,director .as a /a9or ani/ator on Chuck +ones6s tea/ in the 0arner days.; <he transition "et.een -ive 4ction and 4ni/ation is es ecially fine. 4gain and again *ilo, trying things out, runs the red car left.ard :into the ani/ated .orld;, then "ack right.ard :into the hotogra hed one;, and on the left of the <oll"ooth his ani/ated leg .ill .ave, "ut si/ultaneously on its right his realistic ar/. <hat situates *ilo in "oth .orlds at once. By the ti/e the fil/ has co//itted itself to 4ni/ation, there6s no dou"t that the t.o .orlds are e&ually su"stantial, .hat6s effected here, a/id things hand,dra.n, entraining conse&uences "ack there, .here a ca/era /erely icks u ha enings. > 1$4 > 5n an earlier cha ter .e sa. +ones in his 0arner days endorsing the rinci le that if you .ant live action you should go fil/ it, not tor/ent ani/ators into confecting so/e 5llusion of -ife. The Phantom Toll-ooth is a erfect illustration. Bored school"oy *ilo needn6t "e hand,dra.n, and isn6tA he6s layed "y a kid na/ed Butch Patrick, in a live, action .orld .ith its o.n live,action director :Favid *onahan;. But adventurer *ilo is the .ork of ani/ators, like the .orld he adventures in, a .orld designed "y *aurice 7o"le and dra.n, under +ones and -evito., "y a very talented cre.. 5t6s in assing through the Phanto/ Iate, 2ay 4.F . 19%$, that the "ored *ilo "eco/es the adventurer, as it .as in sea, assage through the "ounds of dee est .ater, say 1$$$ B.C ., that =dysseus the "eset /ariner "eca/e the =dysseus .ho had intercourse .ith shades. =dysseus aid his toll, a "lack "ell,shee , as *ilo ays his, an 4/erican coin. 4nd if =dysseus and *ilo are so/e three /illennia a art, it6s invigorating to reflect ho. ersistent are a fe. "asic the/es. <he the/e here is a 9ourney into a .orld .ith different ara/eters, "ut a .orld fro/ .hich you /ay e( ect to return. =dysseus .ent to the under.orld "ecause Circe .arned hi/ that if he didn6t he6d never achieve .hat he yearned for, the sight of ho/e. 7e(t8eight or nine centuries later8Gergil sent his 4eneas into a different under.orld "ecause until he .ent there he6d not achieve his destiny, .hich .as to found Ho/e. 7e(t, Fante :4.F. 1#$$, an ideal date; sent his o.n alter ego, .ith Gergil for guide, on a long 9ourney, the re.ard of .hich .ould "e, oh, the salvation of one 5talian soul, "ut /ainly the edification and delight of readers .hose nu/"ers there6s no esti/ating, and of .ho/ /any cannot even read his 5talian. )or all arts a"ove a certain level of seriousness8here Character 4ni/ation can so/eti/es &ualify8dra. on a > 1$E > co//on stock of i/ages and situations. 2o do not "e sur rised to /eet Ho/er6s eo le in a +ones6s or a 9uster6s do/ain. 7orton +uster :". 19'9; 1studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, city lanning at the University of -iver ool on a )ul"right scholarshi , and s ent three years as a legal officer, ersonnel officer, and education officer in the U.2. 7avy, stationed in *orocco and 7e.foundland.1 +11, <hat6s, yes, the sort of life,story that /ight tu/"le so/eone6s /ind into a s ace ath.art Ho/er. The Dot an' the .ine .as u"lished "y Hando/ House in 19%1, .ith so/e one hundred illustrations "y +ules )eiffer, .hose not,ine( ensive resence /eant that the u"lishers .ere, rightly, serious. 1=ne of the /ost o ular children6s "ooks of the 6%$s,1 says a "lur" on the videota e.

2till, it6s not your standard 2aturday,/atinee kid,fare, and des ite .ell,intentioned "ur"les fro/ the 0ew &ork Times :1Perfectly dandy and altogether engaging1; the great u"lic see/s no /ore to have "een engaged than it has "een, /ore recently, "y ru/ors that its /e/"ers6 "odies are all asse/"led fro/ &uarks. :-et6s face it, /oreover: .ould you ay to see a fil/ "ecause a ne.s a er had co/e u .ith the .i/ hrase 1Perfectly dandy1B; 5t6s clear that "y 19D1 no one had any idea .hat an eighty,nine,/inute stretch of ani/ation /ight "e good for. <hat doesn6t "ear on .hat you or 5 /ay see in it today on videota e. 5t "ears on .hatever it .as that /ight have "rought cro.ds :as in ,now $hite days; into neigh"orhood cine/as. <hat see/s not to have "een .orka"le in 19D1, "ut it6s "eco/e ossi"le again in the 199$s, in art, as .e6ve already noted, "ecause feature,scale ani/ation is actually chea er +acket "lur" to The Phantom Toll-ooth :Hando/ House, 19%1;. > 1$% > no. than live action. Iet a surefire story like the Fisney %eauty an' the %east or Ala''in, decorate the likes of the latter .ith a star like Ho"in 0illia/s, and you6ve still lots of cash left over for ro/otion. But in 19D1 the costs, in relation to live action, .ere high. 4lso, The Phantom Toll-ooth .as not a .ell,kno.n story, let alone a story easy to ro/ote. 0hat did .ork in 6D1, and had .orked as early as 19%D, .as the <G s ecial. Chuck +ones6s first venture into that /ediu/ .as the 6%D (ow the Grinch ,tole Christmas, a .onderful half,hour fil/ that still gets annual sho.ings. But a ro"le/ .ith the <G s ecial :t.enty,si( /inutes, allo.ing for co//ercial ti/e; is that "y classic 0arner Bros. standards :si( /inutes, 9AP ; .e6ve a lot of screen ti/e to fill u : "et.een four and five ti/es the length of a -ooney <une. But a story that /any ti/es /ore intricate than the story of One Froggy !ening is not conceiva"le. 2o .e can6t solve our ro"le/ .ith a trickier story. 0e6ll have to alter Pace and <i/ing. 0hich is .hat .e doA and8es ecially .ith the altering of ace8.e find .e6re defining a .hole different &uality of attention. He/e/"er, at 0arner Bros. .e didn6t have to esta"lish a character like Bugs Bunny in 9ust one fil/, the .ay .e no. have to esta"lish the Irinch. Having to do that does /ake a difference8and consu/es ti/e. <he +ones Irinch is eculiar to 9ust this icture, .hereas a Bugs, or a Faffy, transcends any s ecial a lication. 0e6ll "e devoting a lot of .ork to the Irinch, and art of the vie.ers6 leasure .ill "e getting to kno. hi/. 4lso, the Fr. 2euss "ook a"out the gru/ y Irinch can entertain /uch younger children than .ould "e a"le to follo. *a--it ,easoning . 2tory and characters "eing si/ le alike, leasure, for older vie.ers as for the youngest, is going to > 1$D > flo. fro/ the easy,to,share co/ lications of doing si/ le things. 5t6s altogether a ro riate that during one screening of a key scene, .hen the dyna/ics of a sled oised to head do.n the .rong side of a /ountain are engaging our neuro/uscular an(ieties "ecause the on,screen characters aren6t &uite tall enough to re osition it easily, one +ones connoisseur+1-, 2hould have re/arked, 15f he couldn6t dra., he .ould have "een a hysicist.1 <hat6s as accurate an assess/ent of Chuck +ones as has ever "een /ade. <he sled, grotes&uely overloaded, is recariously "alanced on that eak, and .here it6s headed8do.n to Irinchy ="livionB or "ack to .here its stolen contents can "e ut .here they "elongB8has "eco/e the .hole oint of the fil/. 1Point1: 3uclid called that 1a osition .ithout /agnitude,1 not denying that it can contain all ossi"le directions :1vectors1;.+11, 4nd at this high /o/ent the frantic moral struggle "eco/es, for us in the audience, neuro/uscular, "ecause .e6re t.itching our shoulders left.ard, .anting the sled to head that ,a.ay, "ack do.n to.ard the Children of 0hoville. Oes, hysics is one occu ation Chuck +ones /ight have follo.ed. Gectors, and our a"ility to internali@e vectors, .ere :/inus such na/es; "uilt into his nervous syste/. 4ny co/ etent ani/ator can lean an insta"ility right.ard. 7ot /any can do that .hile also /aking a .hole audience 9oin in trying to lurch it left.ard. :<rue, the fact that the narrative voice .as Boris Karloffs didn6t hurt a "it.; <hen :19DE; there .as *ikki+Tikki+Ta!i, .ith its art of the ost,retinal i/age. Hikki6s .ay of getting on,screen and off,

Ho"ert Kenner, /aga@ine editor, in Fece/"er 1991gi. Gector: an action ointed for a /easured tri to.ard a s ecified so/e.here. :<i the sled, and ti it that .ay, for a descent that far.; > 1$C > screen: .ould you "elieve that .ould "e a ri/e .ay to characteri@e hi/, also a ri/e /e/ory for vie.ersB 5t6s a great achieve/ent, analogous to enchanting a reader of rose "y your use of the definite article. Oes, .hat .e6re seeing in the <G years is +ones occu ied .ith the "are "ones of his craft: the un"alanced sled of The Grinch, the enter!e(it of Hikki, or the /ove/ent re ertoire of the cat na/ed Harry in A :ery 8erry Cricket :19D#;, .ho is far su erior to his redecessor, the sleek cat in The Cricket in Times ,Guare . But the half,hour <G s ecials fade a.ay too. -et6s face it, the +ones .ay of doing the/81full1 vs. 1li/ited1 ani/ation8is e( ensive. 4nd, stories "eing in li/ited su ly, it al.ays see/s s/arter to rerun, any Christ/as, the classic Grinch . 7o, it6s clear that the real +ones /ediu/ .as the full,ani/ation si(,/inute cartoon, 9ust as +ose h Conrad6s /ediu/ .asn6t the novel "ut so/ething of say ninety ages, the length of (eart of Darkness . <he disa earance of the kind of /aga@ine that used things of that length left Conrad stranded, needing to ad things out. :<he 1short story1 like.ise hasn6t survived the de/ise of the likes of the ,atur'ay !ening Post, so fro/ a co//ercial hit it6s turned into an art for/.; Oes, /edia /atter. 0hat called the co//ercial novel into e(istence .as a /arket for "ook,length fictions that :unlike Para'ise .ost ; .ouldn6t "e reread. <hey6d "e ski//ed and discarded, or handed to oor relations. 4nd after eo le .ho .orked in -ondon "egan living else.here and co//uting "y train for erha s t.o hours each .ay, a British fir/ na/ed 0. H. 2/ith /ade a fortune "y divining that the lace to sell "ooks .as the rail.ay station. -ike the %$,$$$,.ord novel, the %,/inute cartoon derives its tautness fro/ an econo/y i/ osed "y co//erce, > 1$9 > not art. 4rt can .ork .ithin that econo/y. Chuck +ones8let6s face it8isn6t at all at ease .ith half an hour at his dis osal. 5n +uly 199# he .as talking .ith relief of an u co/ing 0arner ani/ation ro9ect in .hich he6d "e /ain an9andru/, and8get thisK8he6d negotiated a length li/it, si1 minutes . 2i( /inutes. +ust .hat had "een arrived at, all those aeons ago, "y tight,fisted 0arner ty es head to head .ith tight,fisted e(hi"itor ty es, ha//ering out .hat .ould "e the defining criterion of a ne. kind of art.

> 111 >

In;e<
BHCJH after a title 'enotes a Chuck Jones cartoon.F

A
4c/e Co/ any, C# 4da/son, +oe: %ugs %unny, (iii , D9 A Te1 A!ery, 6ing of Cartoons, 'D ,C

Ala''in :Fisney;, 1$% Auteur theory, 44 4very, )rederick Bean :1<e(1;, '% ,9, #1 , #' , ## , %$ , D9 ,C$, 9'

=
Ba""itt, 4rt, 44 Barre, Haoul, 4 %eauty an' the %east :Fisney;, 1$% Beck W )ried.ald B.ooney Tunes I 8errie 8elo'iesF, #1 ,', %1 , %# , 1$' Beckett, 2a/uel, 1# %ee), %ee) :C+;, D' Benny, +ack, 9# Blanc, *el, E% , %$ , %# , DD Blesh, Hudi, C% , CD Boo , Betty, % Bosko, '4 , 'E Botticelli, 2andro, 44 , D% %ra!e .ittle Tailor :Fisney;, 'C %room+,tick %unny :C+;, 9C Bro.n, <reg, DC %ully for %ugs :C+;, 1% , ## , EE Bunny, Bugs, 1# , 1% , 1C , '$ A evolution of, DC ,C'

C
Cannon, Bo", '% , #1 Carson, +ohnny, %D Ca!eman 3nki :C+;, #E Cha/ ion, *arge, %

Cha lin, Charlie, C% ,C Character 4ni/ation, (i , C , 1$ , E# , 1$$ Chouinard 4rt 5nstitute, (i , 1D , '# , #$ , 1$' Chuck Amuck :C+6s "ook;, (iii , (v , 14 , 1D , 'E Cin'erella :Fisney;, C# Cla/ ett, Bo", 'E , '% Cocks, +ay, (ii , (iii , D4 , 99 Co//a, technology of, 41 ,' Conrad, +ose h, 1$C Coyote, 0ile 3., 14 ,1E, 1C , '1 , #' , 4D , %4 , %D , %C , D4 , C# , 9' , 1$$ Cricket in Times ,Guare, The :C+;, 1$C Culhane, 2ha/us, 'D , #4 , #% , 44

)
;<; Dalmatians :Fisney;, E$ Fisney, 0alt, E , C , 9 , '9 ,#$, #1 , #' , #E , #% , 44 , E$ , %$ , DD , C# Disney Animation :<ho/as W +ohnston;, #$ Dot an' the .ine, The :C+;, 99 ,1$1, 1$E Do!er %oys, The :C+;, ## ,E, E' , ED , %' Fuck, Faffy, rules governing, 9$ ,1 Duck# *a--it# Duck# :C+;, 1% , 49 Duck Amuck :C+;, (ii , C% ,9 Duck Do'gers in the ?@ ;A? Century :C+;, E9 > 11' >

E
3liot, <. 2., 1E ,%, #E 3( osure sheet, 4% ,D

F

Fantasia :Fisney;, 44 , EC , E9 , 9# Fast an' Furry+ous :C+;, %$ , D' Fee' the 6itty :C+;, #' )eiffer, +ules, 1$E )eli( :2ullivan ! *ess/er;, C , '4 , 'D Fingal"s Ca!e =verture :*endelssohn;, #% )leischer, *a(, % , C , #1 )li the )rog, E , '4 )oster, 0arren, EC )releng, )ri@, 1C , 'E , 4# , 4E , 4C , EC , %1 , %# , D9 From A to 9+9+9+9 :C+;, 1$' ,# )udd, 3l/er, 4D

>
Gee $hi5+5+5+5 :C+;, 9C Iertie the Finosaur, ' ,#, C , 4C Goo' 0ight, lmer :C+;, %1 ,' Iraha/, Fonald, '# , #% Irant, +ohn: Disney ncyclo)e'ia, (iii Great Dictator, The :Cha lin;, CD

H
Hanna,Bar"era, E' , 9' Harda.ay, Ben :1Bugs1;, DC ,9 Har/an,5sing, '4 , 'E , '% , %1 Harris, Ken, 4E , E% , %# ,4, DD , 1$$ (igh 0ote :C+;, 1$$ ,1 Hogan, Hich, #1

(ow the Grinch ,tole Christmas :C+;, 4 , 1$% ,D Hu"ley, +ohn, #4 Hunting <rilogy :C+;, 49 Hurd, 3arl, 4

I
5n,Bet.eeners, D , C , 4% , %% ,D, D% , DD 3nki an' the 8inah %ir' :C+;, #% 5.erks, U", E , C , 9 , '# , 'E

J
+a/ session, ED ,C +ones, Charles 4da/s :C+6s father;, 1E , 1% , 1C , '' +ones, Forothy 0e"ster :C+6s first .ife;, 'E ,% +ones, -inda Clough :C+6s daughter;, '% +ones, *a"el *. :C+6s /other;, '' , '# +ones, *arian :C+6s second .ife;, (iii , '% +oyce, +a/es, 14 , D1 +uster, 7orton, 1$1 ,E

K
Kane, Helen, % Karloff, Boris, 1$D Keaton, Buster, C% ,C Ki/"all, 0ard, 9' 6ing 6ong, %' Ki ling, Hudyard, 1E , %E

L
-ant@, 0alter, '% -e Pe., Pe N, E4 ,E, E9 , %E , D4

-eHoy, *ervyn, #9 -evito., 4"e, E% , DD , 1$# ,4 .ittle .ion (unter :C+;, #E .ittle *ural *i'ing (oo' :4very;, 'C -ooney <unes, 9 , '4 , 'E .ooney Tunes I 8errie 8elo'ies . 2ee Beck W )ried.ald

/
*altese, *ichael, 'D , E% ,C, DD , CC , 1$$ > 11# > *altin, -eonard, E1 , E# *ar(, Iroucho, E' , D9 , C$ , C' *cCay, 0insor, ' ,#, 9C *cKi/son, Bo", 4# , EC *errie *elodies, '4 , 'E 8erry $i!es of $in'sor :2hakes eare;, 9# *ess/er, =tto, C , 9 *ichelangelo, DD *ickey *ouse, E , 9 , '4 , 'D ,C *ilton, +ohn, 4C *inah Bird, #E ,% *odel sheets, 4E

N
7at.ick, *yron :1Iri/1;, E ,D, 1D , 'D 0ew &orker, The, 1$ , D1 ,' 7icolaides, Ki/on, 1D 0o %arking :C+;, %# 7o"le, *aurice, E% , EC ,9, DD , 1$# , 1$4

O
=livier, -aurence, E% One Froggy !ening :C+;, (ii , (iii , 1% , '9 , D# ,4, DE , 9D , 1$%

P
Persistence of vision, 1 ,' Phantom Toll-oot-, The :C+;, 1$1 ,% Pierce, <edd, ED , EC Pinocchio :Fisney;, E Pound, 3@ra, E$ Pronk, E4 , %E

R
*acketeer *a--it :)releng;, D9 *a--it Fire :C+;, 49 , 91 *a--it ,easoning :C+;, 49 , 1$% *ikki+Tikki+Ta!i :C+;, (v , %E ,D, 1$D ,C Hoad Hunner, 1# , #' , %$ , C' , C% Ho"inson, 3d.ard I., D9 *oger *a--it, D4 Hoss, Harold, 1$ , D1 ,' Hotosco ing, % Hule,"ased co/edy, C'

S
2antayana, Ieorge, C' 2arris, 4ndre., 44 2chat@, <ho/as, 44 2chlesinger, -eon, '# ,%, 'C , #1 , #% ,D, 41 , EE , %1 2chneider, 2teve:

That"s All Folks, (iii , 'E , 44 2el@er, 3ddie, 41 , EE , 1$1 2hakes eare, 0illia/, D% , C1 , 9# ,herlock Jr . :Keaton;, C% ,lee)ing %eauty :Fisney;, C# ,now $hite :Fisney;, % , 4$ , EC , 9' , 1$E 2olo/on, Charles: (istory of Animation, 1$1 2talling, Carl, E% , DD ,team-oat $illie :Fisney;, E 2tein, 4rnold, (iii 2tory,"oard, EE , ED 2ullivan, Pat, C , 9 2ylvester, 1C , 19

T
<ele hone, # <er/ite <errace, 'D , 4' , %C <horson, Charles, DC ,9 Three .ittle Pigs :Fisney;, 9 ,1$, #$ , 1$$ A .olf, 'C Tom Thum- in Trou-le :C+;, #1 ,' Toot, $histle, Plunk an' %oom :Fisney;, 9' <.ain, *ark, 14 ,'E, 1$' <ytla, Bill, E9 > 114 >

U
UP4, #4 , E'

V
Gergil, D% :ery 8erry Cricket, A :C+;, 1$C

.
0agnerian o era, DD , 9# ,E 0arner, +ack, 9 , #9 , 4$ , 41 , 9D 0arner Bros., '4 0asha/, Benny, E% , DD 10eight,1 %' ,# $hat"s O)era, Doc7 :C+;, '9 , ED , E9 , C4 , 9# , 9D $il' (are, A :4very;, D9 ,C$ 0illia/s, Ho"in, 1$% 0ilson, 0oodro., E$ $ynken, %lynken an' 0o' :Fisney;, #$

?
9oom an' %ore' :C+;, DC , 9C > 11E > Fesigner: 2teve Henick Co/ ositor: Co/Co/ <e(t: *onoty e Colu/"us W *onoty e Per etua Fis lay: *onoty e Per etua Printer: Haddon Crafts/en, 5nc. Binder: Haddon Crafts/en, 5nc.

Preferred Citation: Kenner, Hugh. Chuck Jones: A Flurry of Drawings, Portraits of American Genius. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1994 1994. htt :!!ark.cdli".org!ark:!1#$#$!ft%&'n"#(1!