#tedd pierce

[skullislandproductions]

Happy Birthday Elmer J. Fudd! Elmer made his debut in the Chuck Jones directed short, “Elmer’s Candid Camera,” on March 2nd, 1940. Elmer’s foil was a certain rabbit who maybe wasn’t quite Bugs Bunny yet.

[gregorygalloway]

Hair-Raising Hare was released on 25 May 1946.

Written by Tedd Pierce and directed by Chuck Jones, the 7-minute short was the first appearance of the monster "Gossamer" and the final appearance of the Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny (the next appearance in Acrobatty Bunny, would use Robert McKimson's version, which utilized "more-slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much larger mouth").

[screamscenepodcast]

What's up Doc? It's time for February's horror adjacent bonus episode! This month we take a look at HAIR-RAISING HARE (1946) from Chuck Jones and starring Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny!

We trace the origins of Warner Bros' Merrie Melodies back to Disney's Silly Symphonies and highlight a few of the people who made these cartoons possible.

Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 52:50; Discussion 56:47

[michiganrag]

A look inside “Daffy Duck” from Tedd Pierce and Warren Foster

Photos are from an ongoing eBay auction from scrapsmusic, check it out

[directedbychuckjones]

Did you ever wonder what an animation director was making in 1944?

On January 6, 1945, just a month after the pay stub, Chuck Jones’s famous skunk, Pepe le Pew, made his debut in “Odor-able Kitty”, which had originally been titled, “Forever Ambushed”.

The model sheets were drawn by Chuck Jones and used by the animators to stay “on model” during the drawing of the cartoon.

Side note: “Forever Ambushed” is a take-off on the title of bestselling romance novel of 1944, titled, “Forever Amber”. The book was eventually made into a film in 1947 by 20th Century Fox. The Chuck Jones pay stub is from the Linda Jones Clough archive.

Conceived as a new character for the short film, Forever Ambushed, Stinky became the familiar francophone-challenged skunk known throughout the world today as Pepé le Pew.  The film was eventually retitled Odor-able Kitty and premiered on the silver screen nationwide January 6, 1945.  It follows the misadventures of a bedraggled and abused tomcat who, wishing to avoid the derision and despair of life as an alley cat, paints himself black with a white stripe, rolls in Limburger cheese and wreaks revenge upon his tormentors as a sly skunk.   At which point the French-accented skunk (Stinky/Henry/Pepé) brimming with amour (ooh la la, mon petit chou) enters and a Feydeau farce of co(s)mic proportions is born (beaucoups de rire).   Although famed storyman Michael Maltese was to write the majority of Pepé’s ‘aromantic’ adventures (c’est bon!), the legendary Tedd Pierce penned (écrivait) this first cartoon (et très bien aussi!).

“Characters always start with an idea rather than a drawing.  Before I drew Pepé for his first appearance in a cartoon, I knew something about his character, and I knew he was a skunk, but I did not know what he looked like.  Live-action directors call casting sessions at this point to find an actor to match their notion of a character, but I begin drawing—my casting session.  I did more than 200 drawings of Pepé before I was confident he would work according to our conception of him.  From that moment on, he was as much subject to the limits of his physical ability as I am.

“When we were writing Odor-able Kitty, in which Pepé made his first appearance (under the name Henry), the odious Eddie Selzer [the producer at Warner Bros. Cartoons] tried to block the project on the grounds that skunks talking French are not funny.  (The French themselves find these cartoons very funny.)  But when For Scent-imental Reasons later won an Academy Award, Eddie Selzer contentedly collected the credit and the Oscar, which he took home.” — Chuck Jones, Chuck Reducks, Drawing from the Fun Side of Life

Filmography (all Jones, except where noted):

Odor-able Kitty (1945)                                                                    

Scent-imental Over You (1947)

Odor of the Day (Davis, 1948)

For Scent-imental Reasons (1949 Academy Award-winner)

Scent-imental Romeo (1951)

Little Beau Pepe (1952)

Wild Over You (1953)

Dog Pounded (Freleng, 1954, in cameo)

The Cats Bah (1954)

Past Perfumance (1955)

Two Scents Worth (1955)

Heaven Scent (1956)

Touché and Go (1957)

Really Scent (Levitow, 1959)

Who Scent You? (1960)

A Scent of the Matterhorn (1961)

Louvre Come Back to Me (1962)

[frankenpagie]

Watched in August 2017

[skullislandproductions]

Happy Birthday Yosemite Sam! The iconic outlaw starred in his first cartoon, the Friz Freleng directed “Hare Trigger,” released May 5th, 1945. His short temper and belligerent attitude have landed him in some crazy situations as well as several local jails.

[skullislandproductions]

Happy Birthday Pepé Le Pew! Pepé gets the Hollywood glamour treatment for his birthday portrait. He made his debut in the Chuck Jones directed short, “Odor-able Kitty,” on January 6th, 1945.