"Bob Clampett remembered" by Milton Gray

[P.C. Unfunny]

http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Essays/Milt_Gray/Gray_on_Clampett.htm

Very interesting article about the legacy of Bob Clampett and how it was apparently tainted by Chuck Jones, how much of this is true I really I don't know.Keep these two things in mind before you read, there is no direct quotes from Chuck Jones in this article and Mel Blanc characterized Clampett as an egotist in his biography.

[lupercal]

And you could probably find someone who thought Mel Blanc was a jerk. To be honest, I wasn't really aware of any legend about Clampett being a bad person. The article is interesting, but without citations, I don't know how much we're just reading about people's personality clashes.

A couple of things struck me as odd. If Jones was resentful of Clampett's modest amount of fame, why would he be sucking up to Tex Avery, who had, according to the article istelf, had a book published call Tex Avery, King of Cartoons? Frankly I also find it a bit incredible that Avery would co-sign a character assassination letter against Clampett regardless of what was going on his personal life, unless he at least halfway meant it.

OTOH I do remember that the first time I sawChuck Jones interviewed, I was struck by two things. Firstly that he was almost alarmingly intelligent, and secondly that I could tell he would have a 'take no prisoners' apoproach if you got into an argument with him. I sort of have images of locking him in a room with Ralph Bakshi. Ralph would be throwing punches and ranting and raving, and Jones would be using some kind of mind-ray to keep him at bay while he read Kafka or something.

BTW, by coincidence I read this interview with Jones from 1969 yesterday, from the same site. He makes some quite prescient comments about the coming of computer animation.)

http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Funnyworld/jones/interview_chuck_jones.htm

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[P.C. Unfunny]

And you could probably find someone who thought Mel Blanc was a jerk. To be honest, I wasn't really aware of any legend about Clampett being a bad person. The article is interesting, but without citations, I don't know how much we're just reading about people's personality clashes.

The reason why I brought up Mel Blanc is because I wanted to note a third party who, more or less, felt the same way about Clampett.


A couple of things struck me as odd. If Jones was resentful of Clampett's modest amount of fame, why would he be sucking up to Tex Avery, who had, according to the article istelf, had a book published call Tex Avery, King of Cartoons? Frankly I also find it a bit incredible that Avery would co-sign a character assassination letter against Clampett regardless of what was going on his personal life, unless he at least halfway meant it.

Like I wrote earlier, how much of this article is true I really don't know. What I definetly know is that the realshionships between the old TT crew did start to sour in the 1960's and onward because of credit hogging. I remember listening to an interview with Bob Clampett and he basically said he created Bugs Bunny and gave Tex Avery,the real creator of the Bugs, little or no credit at all.

OTOH I do remember that the first time I sawChuck Jones interviewed, I was struck by two things. Firstly that he was almost alarmingly intelligent, and secondly that I could tell he would have a 'take no prisoners' apoproach if you got into an argument with him.

Jones was definetly a very intelligent person, he read alot,his favorite author being Mark Twain, and took a fancy to the fine arts. Unfortunetly,this started to show too much in his later cartoons. I generally prefer Jones' cartoons between the early 1940's to the mid 1950's. However, I won't deny that I loved "The Grinch" and "The Phantom Toolboth".


I sort of have images of locking him in a room with Ralph Bakshi. Ralph would be throwing punches and ranting and raving, and Jones would be using some kind of mind-ray to keep him at bay while he read Kafka or something.

I would pay to see that. JONES VS. BAKSHI, SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!!!!!!! ONLY ON PAY PER VIEW!!!!!!!





BTW, by coincidence I read this interview with Jones from 1969 yesterday, from the same site. He makes some quite prescient comments about the coming of computer animation.)

http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Funnyworld/jones/interview_chuck_jones.htm

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I read the same thing yesterday as well, Jones definetly predicted the future.

[lupercal]

I remember listening to an interview with Bob Clampett and he basically said he created Bugs Bunny and gave Tex Avery,the real creator of the Bugs, little or no credit at all.


Whereas Jones had no hesitation crediting Avery:

"Tex Avery, I think, must be given the basic credit for the character of Bugs Bunny, although there were a few Bugs Bunnys made before Tex’s first Bugs Bunny. But Tex was the first to have him say, "What’s up, doc?" and give him what you might call controlled insanity, as opposed to wild insanity. "

(though is the 'wild insanity a shot at Clampett?)

But here Jones even crtedits Avery when the interviewer insinuates that it might really have been Jones:

Barrier: "You had a cartoon called Elmer’s Pet Rabbit (1940), which was released several months after A Wild Hare. It seems to be the first cartoon in which Bugs is identified by name. The Bugs in that cartoon is like the rabbit in your Elmer’s Candid Camera, which was released early in 1940, and Hardaway and Dalton’s Hare-um Scare-um, which was released in 1939. Both came before A Wild Hare."

Jones: "I’m not sure of the chronology, but the Bugs Bunny personality has to be started with A Wild Hare. That and two or three Tex Avery cartoons after that really made Bugs what he was."

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