Looney Tunes/Trivia


 * Composers: There have been numerous composers who have worked on the Looney Tunes series.
 * Frank Marsales: The original composer, who worked from 1930-1933. His final score (in terms of release dates) was "We're in the Money".
 * Norman Spencer: 1933-1936. The first released cartoon to use his score was 1933's "Buddy's Day Out", while his final cartoon was 1936's "At Your Service Madame".
 * Bernard Brown: Also composed during the 1933-1936 period, sometimes sharing credits with Spencer. His first cartoon was 1933's "Buddy's Day Out" and his final was 1936's "Let it Be Me".
 * Carl Stalling: The most famous of the Looney Tunes composers, and arguably the man to give the cartoons their distinctive musical style. His first cartoon was 1936's "Porky's Poultry Plant" (which was also Frank Tashlin's first cartoon as director), and he stayed with WB for over twenty years, retiring after scoring 1958's "To Itch His Own".
 * Eugene Poddany: Arguably more famous for his work at Sib Tower 12, Eugene composed for five shorts in 1951 ("Lovelorn Leghorn", "Room and Bird", "French Rarebit", "The Wearing of the Grin", and "Leghorn Swoggled") while Stalling was recovering from a mild head injury.
 * Milt Franklyn: Franklyn began as Stalling's arranger/orchestrator in the late '30s and co-composed a few shorts with Stalling in the early '50s, but didn't begin composing on his own until 1954's "Bugs and Thugs". During the mid-50s, Franklyn was composing more than Stalling, and after Stalling's retirement in 1958, Franklyn became the sole composer for WB cartoons, including the wraparound footage for "The Bugs Bunny Show" series. His scores sounded very similar to Stalling's, though to the careful listener, he had his own unique style. He died in 1962 while composing for the cartoon "The Jet Cage". The last released cartoon to feature his music was 1962's "Mother Was a Rooster" (also two Road Runner shorts in 1965, though those were merely trimmed down from The Adventures of the Road Runner pilot).
 * John Seely: Not an actual composer per se, but a stock music arranger who was hired to provide music for six cartoons during a musicians' strike in 1958, which prevented Milt Franklyn from working.
 * William Lava: He finished the music to "The Jet Cage" (roughly the last four minutes of that cartoon was Lava's work) and became the sole composer for WB cartoons starting with 1962's "Good Noose". He stayed with the studio until it closed in 1969, with the exception of a period in 1966--67 where Walter Greene took over the role. Unlike his predecessors, Lava's music tended to be more atonal and dissonant, and rarely utilized popular song cues. His Seven Arts-era scores represented a distinct change in composition; they were more funky (perhaps trying to sound contemporary) and utilized recurring catchy melodies. On the down side, this often meant his scores during this era didn't follow the on-screen action as closely.
 * Walter Greene: More famous for his Pink Panther shorts, Walter Greene composed six Looney Tunes shorts from 1966 to 1967: "A Squeak in the Deep", "Feather Finger", "Swing Ding Amigo", "Sugar and Spies", "A Taste of Catnip", and "Daffy's Diner". All of his scores had a distinctive "twangy" sound to them, making it obvious in which era these shorts were made.
 * Herman Stein: Composed only for 1966's "Muchos Locos".
 * Irving Gertz: Composed only for 1966's "Daffy Rents".
 * Frank Perkins: Composed only for 1967's "Quacker Tracker".
 * Doug Goodwin: Composed for 1979's "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Tales" TV special.
 * Dean Elliott: Composed for 1979's "The Great American Chase" film, 1980's "Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over" TV special, and 1980's "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century".
 * Harper MacKay: Composed for a few television specials in the late '70s and early '80s.
 * Robert J. Walsh: Composed for 1981's "The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie", 1982's "1001 Rabbit Tales", and 1983's "Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island".
 * Hummie Mann: Composed for 1991's "Box Office Bunny".
 * George Daugherty and Cameron Patrick: Often worked together when composing for many shorts in the '90s. Shorts worked on include "Chariots of Fur", "Father of the Bird", "From Hare to Eternity", "Superior Duck", "Pullet Surprise", and "Another Froggy Evening".
 * Richard Stone: Composed for 1995's "Carrotblanca" and 2000's "Little Go Beep".
 * Walter Murphy: Composed for five of the six aborted 2003-2004 Larry Doyle shorts.
 * John Frizzell: Composed for 2003's "The Whizzard of Ow".
 * Directors: It's worth noting that all of the classic directors (i.e. those who worked in the original studio) are now deceased. The last one remaining was Rudy Larriva, who passed away in 2010.
 * Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising: 1929-1933. They directed the first 67 shorts in the franchise, their last short being "Bosko's Picture Show".
 * Tom Palmer: Extremely short-lived tenure; only directed two cartoons in 1933 ("I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" and "Buddy's Day Out") before being fired and replaced by Friz Freleng.
 * Earl Duvall: 1933-1934; he got five shorts, starting with "Buddy's Beer Garden" and ending with "Buddy's Garage".
 * Friz Freleng: 1934-1938; 1940-1965; He directed approx. 246 shorts total, the most of any director at the studio. He also directed a few TV specials, "The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie", "1001 Rabbit Tales", and "Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island". His (credited) debut was "Buddy the Gob", while his last-released theatrical short was "The Wild Chase" (co-directed with Hawley Pratt).
 * Bernard Brown: 1934. Credited on "Pettin' in the Park" and "Those Were Wonderful Days", but it's generally believed that the real director of those shorts was actually Frank Tashlin, who had quit the studio after a brief initial stint from 1933-34, resulting in Brown's name being put on simply so that there would be a credited director.
 * Ben Hardaway: 1934-1935; 1938-1940. His debut was "Buddy of the Apes", while his last released cartoon was "Busy Bakers". He directed 21 shorts, 12 of which were co-directed with Cal Dalton.
 * Jack King: 1934-1936. His debut was "Buddy's Beercats", while his last released cartoon was "Porky's Moving Day". He directed 20 shorts total.
 * Tex Avery: 1935-1942. His debut was "Gold Diggers of '49", while his last released cartoon was "Crazy Cruise" (which was finished by Bob Clampett). He directed 61 shorts total, some of which he never completed, but were finished by Clampett in his stead.
 * Frank Tashlin: 1936-1938; 1943-1946. His debut was "Porky's Poultry Plant", while his last released cartoon was "Hare Remover," of which he was uncredited. He directed 39 shorts total, including the Private Snafu shorts he directed.
 * Bob Clampett: 1937-1946. His debut was "Porky's Badtime Story", while his last released cartoon was "The Big Snooze". He directed 84 shorts--four of which were unfinished Tex Avery shorts.
 * Ub Iwerks: Allegedly directed two shorts in 1937: "Porky and Gabby" and "Porky's Super Service", but Bob Clampett claimed that he and Chuck Jones actually co-directed the shorts, interpreting Ub's layouts into the Looney Tunes house style. These two cartoons plus two others ("Porky's Badtime Story" and "Get Rich Quick Porky") were farmed out to Iwerks' studio, where Clampett and Jones were sent to work on them.
 * Cal Dalton: 1938-1940. Always shared directing duties with someone else, whether it be Ben Hardaway or Cal Howard. His debut was "Porky's Phoney Express" (co-directed with Cal Howard), while his last cartoon was "Busy Bakers" (co-directed with Ben Hardaway).
 * Cal Howard: Directed two cartoons in 1938: "Porky's Phoney Express" (co-directed with Cal Dalton) and "A-Lad-In Bagdad".
 * Chuck Jones: 1938-1964; also directed a few TV specials, "The Great American Chase", and a few shorts in the '90s. His debut was "The Night Watchman", while his last Looney Tunes short in the original studio was 1964's "War and Pieces". His final short in general was 1997's "From Hare to Eternity". He directed 207 classic shorts (220 if you count his Private Snafu shorts, several of which were never released), directed four Looney Tunes TV specials, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, and seven modern shorts.
 * Norm McCabe: 1940-1943. His debut was "The Timid Toreador" (co-directed by Bob Clampett), while his last released cartoon was the shockingly un-PC wartime cartoon "Tokio Jokio". He later showed up again as an animator in the DePatie-Freleng and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts eras.
 * Arthur Davis: 1946-1949; also 1962's "Quackodile Tears" (his final cartoon), using Friz Freleng's unit. His debut was "Mouse Menace". After his initial stint as a director, he reverted to being one of Freleng's main animators.
 * Robert McKimson: 1946-1967; 1969. His debut was "Daffy Doodles", while last cartoon was "Injun Trouble", which was also the last cartoon in the original studio. Was the only director to work for the original, DePatie-Freleng and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts studios. He directed 141 shorts total.
 * Abe Levitow: Directed four cartoons in 1959: "Baton Bunny" (with Chuck Jones), "Really Scent" (one of two Pepe Le Pew cartoons -- three, if you count the cameo at the end of Friz Freleng's Sylvester and Tweety cartoon, "Dog Pounded" -- that wasn't directed by Chuck Jones; the other is Arthur Davis's "Odor of the Day"), "A Witch's Tangled Hare", and "Unnatural History".
 * Ken Harris: Only directed 1959's "Hare-Abian Nights".
 * Maurice Noble: Starting with 1961's "The Abominable Snow Rabbit", Noble began to receive co-director status in his work with Chuck Jones.
 * Ted Bonnicksen: Co-directed 1963's "Fast Buck Duck" with Robert McKimson.
 * Phil Monroe: Directed 1963's "Woolen Under Where" (with Richard Thompson) and 1964's "The Iceman Ducketh"; the latter was started by Chuck Jones, but finished by Monroe after Jones got kicked out of the studio (Monroe and the remaining Jones staffers all got fired themselves once "The Iceman Ducketh" was completed).
 * Richard Thompson: Co-directed 1963's "Woolen Under Where" (with Phil Monroe).
 * Gerry Chiniquy: Directed two cartoons in 1964: "Dumb Patrol" and "Hawaiian Aye Aye".
 * Hawley Pratt: Co-directed all of Freleng's cartoons starting with "The Pied Piper Of Guadalupe," continuing through to the DePatie-Freleng era film "The Wild Chase" (starring the Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, the Coyote, and Sylvester). Was also the sole director of "Senorella and the Glass Huarache", the last cartoon released by the original studio.
 * Irv Spector: Only directed 1965's "Corn on the Cop".
 * Rudy Larriva: 1965-1967. His debut was "Run Run, Sweet Road Runner", while his last released cartoon was "The Spy Swatter".
 * Alex Lovy: 1967-1968. His debut was "Speedy Ghost to Town", while his last released cartoon was "Chimp and Zee".
 * Greg Ford & Terry Lennon: Directed 1988's "Daffy Duck's Quackbusters" (including two new shorts that made it up: "The Duxorcist" and "Night of the Living Duck"), a bunch of late '80s/early '90s TV specials, 1991's "Blooper Bunny" and 1992's "Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers".
 * Darrell Van Citters: Directed 1990's "Box Office Bunny" and 1997's "Pullet Surprise".
 * Dan Haskett: Only directed 1991's "Daffy & Porky in the William Tell Overture".
 * Douglas McCarthy: Only directed 1995's "Carrotblanca".
 * Stephen Fossatti: Only directed 1997's "Father of the Bird".
 * Spike Brandt: Directed 2000's "Little Go Beep" and co-directed 2004's "Daffy Duck For President" with Tony Cervone.
 * Bret Haaland: Only directed 2003's "The Whizzard of Ow".
 * Dan Povenmire: Directed 2004's "Museum Scream" and "My Generation G-G-Gap".
 * Bill Kopp: Co-directed 2004's "Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas" with Peter Shin.
 * Peter Shin: Co-directed 2004's "Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas" with Bill Kopp. Also directed "Cock-a-Doodle Duel".
 * Rich Moore: Only directed 2004's "Attack of the Drones".
 * Tony Cervone: Only co-directed 2004's "Daffy Duck For President" with Spike Brandt.
 * Matthew O'Callaghan: Is currently directing the CG Road Runner theatrical shorts.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Besides Mel Blanc, other noted voices were Bea Benaderet (Katie on Petticoat Junction, Betty on The Flintstones) as Mama Bear and Bugs' Red Riding Hood, Stan Freberg as Baby Bear and all voices in The Three Little Bops, Jim Backus (Mr. Magoo) as Smokey the Genie in A Lad In His Lamp, and Sheldon Leonard as Dodsworth the Cat..
 * Lemony Narrator: Japanese and Mexican Spanish versions only: For some reason, in many (but not all) of the Japanese-dubbed versions of the shorts, they decided to add a (very hyperactive) narrator in almost all the scenes, even in many silent scenes, trying to explain (somewhat) what's happening in that scene, like in this short.
 * The Mexican Spanish dub also does that, but not in the same degree as in the Japanese dub.
 * Talking to Himself: Mel Blanc frequently did this, as he did the majority of the voices in the series. During the Seven Arts era, Larry Storch did the same thing.
 * Superlative Dubbing: The Mexican Spanish dub, to the grade that Warner Bros. normally excludes anything related to the Looney Tunes (even stuff like Loonatics Unleashed) from being dubbed in Venezuela (due to internal politics in WB and also for cost reasons), possibly due to the complains when they tried to dub some shorts in Venezuela and due the way they were voiced in Tiny Toon Adventures. In fact, when some of the Looney Tunes' shorts appears as cameos in other Venezuelan-dubbed series like Animaniacs, WB decided to keep the Looney Tunes' voices in English rather than being voiced in Venezuelan Spanish.
 * What Could Have Been: The Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short format was planned to be permanently revived in the early 2000s to coincide with the release of Looney Tunes: Back in Action. These were planned to add a few modernised twists to the series, as well revive some forgotten concepts (eg. Daffy Duck returning to his less neurotic 1940s form, Merrie Melodies once again being music oriented, obscure stars like Hubie and Bertie being revived). Back In Action fared badly in box office however, leading the project to be binned, with only a handful of shorts being completed (the majority of which can be found in certain DVD releases of the movie).