If you've watched the Classic Looney Tunes cartoons of the 30s, 40s, 50s, and early 60s, you'll know that for every Looney Tune Cartoon, there is an art director with his unique style not just in the art but also with animation acting, character portrayals, etc.
They were all under one roof: Termite Terrace.
I can list almost every one of them but instead, I'll truncate them to the most well known of the classic era.
We have TEX AVERY
His take on Cartoons is exaggeration, fourth wall breaking, subversions....
Or to take TV TROPES's word for it, GO ALL OUT WITH CARTOONS.
His is also one where he appeals more towards adults.... at least for an era dictated by the Hays Office.
It's pretty Obvious the innuendos that Tex Avery loved to use in his shorts whether it be Warner or MGM really had an influence on Joe Murray's ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE as well as some other other cartoons.
Then we have BOB CLAMPETT.
This guy is my personal favorite... as well as John Kricfalusi's personal favorite as well.
What sets Bob Clampett from the other cartoonists in WB is his style of taking from other company's art and acting styles but tweaking them to make it his own.
This is exemplified by his frequent use of the Squash and Stretch principles used by Disney and Fleischer and making it even wackier than it ever was.
Fun Fact: Bob Clampett actually wanted to work at Disney and Disney wanted to hire him but that never happened due to part of Disney's upper brass being already filled with enough animators so Clampett instead went to Termite Terrace where he was Tex Avery's understudy.
After Avery left in the early 40's, The decade belonged to Clampett. He churned out the most famous of early 40's animation you can ever get at WB at the time and he wasn't fazed by all the WWII madness unfolding at the time.
Not even the War would prevent the rise of BUGS '"BIG CHUNGUS" BUNNY.
While people remember Bob Clampett for his Bugs Bunny Cartoons, admittingly, Bob himself disliked working on any cartoon featuring Bugs because he felt that if all he worked on are cartoons where Bugs antagonizes Elmer Fudd, he be falling into formula and Bob hated formula.
So for several years, Clampett had to animate a shitload of Bugs Bunny Cartoons and he had to devise ways to make Bugs' adventures less repetitive. He had his share of cartoons featuring other characters too and they are marvelous to look at.
But man oh man did Clampett get sick of the formulas that Warner was giving him. So at the peak of his creativity in 1945, he left the company but at least he did have one parting gift to us fans:
THE BIG SNOOZE released in 1946.
And now we get to what is considered Hollywood's most preferred animator alongside Tex Avery:
CHUCK JONES
I don't know why the industry prefers him over Clampett but I think it has something to do with his past as an animator who tried his damnest to imitate Disney's Silly Symphonies.
But after the success of THE DOVER BOYS, he then proceeded to follow in the footsteps of others such as Tex Avery and Friz Freleng.
The fact that after Avery and Clampett left Warner Bros, Jones pretty much took over many productions and characters of the franchise and made stories featuring them. Maybe that's why historians prefer to talk more about Jones instead of Clampett because he was with the studio the longest.
Another thing that defines Jones were his smug characters.
He was known for drawing characters with this smug face and most of them are Lummox characters with Stubbles, Big angular mouths, and deep voices with Brooklyn accents... which are most often performed by Mel Blanc.
I think the smug attitude fits more the Lummoxes than mainstays like Bugs Bunny because if attitude is your only defining trait, it makes your personality flat but of all the modern content featuring BUGS, they always pick the smug attitude.
Sort of why I prefer Clampett's Bugs over Jone's Bugs due to Clampett at least giving the rabbit...er..uh... WABBIT at least a sliver of personalities to choose from when the need arises.
So in essence, what I actually like from Jones are the Cartoons that either don't even feature Bugs or he has a minor role in them.
One of my favorites from Jones is FEED THE KITTY.
It's a rare example of Jones proving you don't need Smug attitude and you can write a story with emotion in hilarious ways.
By the way, the kitten's name is PUSSYFOOT, not CLEO as every animation history book prefers to call her.
Another is One Froggy Evening
and my personal favorite, even if it's a Bugs Bunny Cartoon
Transylvania 6-5000
Yes I know this cartoon was released at the tail-end of the Golden age of Looney Tunes but you can't go wrong with all that Abracadabra nonsense that makes me laugh so hard I almost split my stomach.
A lot of people know Chuck Jones also animated THE GRINCH
Anyhow, that's my blogpost about the three directors of Termite Terrace.
It didn't plan out like I wanted but I just wanted to get the post done before the new year.
Update as of November 22 2024:
When I originally did this post, I teased about wanting to do a blogpost on TRANSYLVANNIA 6-5000.
I eventually made good on my Promise and did the post on Halloween of 2024.
Here's the link to said post:
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