I thought I'd start going through my favorite reference books.

I like this book because it lists every Golden Age Bugs Bunny cartoon, including all the errata. There's a short synopis for each, and a longer discussion of the "best," plus a breakdown of Bug's relationships with his co-stars, like Daffy Duck.

The book starts with a history of Bugs' development - it's informative when applied to our own learning experiences making movies.

You can easily obtain a copy of this book on ebay.

As a kid, "Rabbit of Seville" was my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon. It's interesting that it had no dialog and was totally centered around opera that, as an 8 year old, I had no knowledge of. In fact, it may be that my entire understanding of that famous opera came from this cartoon! Another interesting thing is that most Bugs Bunny cartoons (running at 7 minutes) were too long for my 8-year old attention span but not this cartoon. Something about music, fast-pacing, and humor - maybe the FIRST music video?!

p.s. Bugs Bunny has 5 fingers at one point in the massage!

You really love cartoons/comics! No wonder you want to make your own. This episode can be found on Youtube....

Rabbit of Seville

Assuaging my need for lists, this book, "That's All Folks," identifies all the Warner Brothers animation shorts put out by their studio during the "Golden Age," with quite a bit of history mixed in. It also included a chronology of the animation studio during the 40 years they were open, along with the Academy Awards they won.

"7 Minutes, the Life and Death of the American Animated Cartoon" is the BEST historical narrative of the "Golden Age" of animation. It provides finanical insight of why the animation market even existed - a topic dear to my heart.

I love knowing the forces that cause something to happen - the chapter headings of the book hint at hidden secrets, and they deliver!

(I've also included a scan of one of my personal original animation cels. This is obviously from the early period talked about in the chapter because Daffy is brown... Which means this cel was intended to be filmed in B&W, and it's probably drawn by Tex Avery.) Compare it to the later Daffy cel (can you read the "ink & paint" notes on the cel?). That is also an early Porky Pig cel, probably B&W.

If you really like rumor, innuendo, gossip & personal indignation then "Chuck Amuck" should be sitting by your bedside so you can read it during the commercials while you're watching soaps. Chuck Jones is my personal favorite of all cartoon director/animators. He was a Producer's dream - he could keyframe an entire 7 minutes in a day! From cel-washer to the pinnacle of the industry - what a success story! (And it's a biography.)

Here's a picture of him, Theodore Geisel (Dr. Suess), and Boris Karloff, and here's another of my original production cels from "Horton Hears a Who."

As a kid, I found the Tweety Bird stories dull & elitist. (I didn't even know what elitism was but I didn't like how superior that bird acted to that poor cat.) The Tweety comics were even duller - I wouldn't even buy them. As an adult, I like the merchandise - we still drink out of vintage Tweety & Sylvester glasses.

There's an interesting juxtaposition between Disney vs. WB cartoons, and Disney vs. WB comics - Disney cartoons were dull, dull, dull (while WB were funny & snappy), but Disney comics were very creative & entertaining (while WB comics were so blah I wouldn't read them).