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That meddlin kid
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Post subject: Toon Memories Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 4:03 pm |
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Biker Librarian
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Joined: | 26 Mar 2007 |
Posts: | 25143 |
Location: | On the highway, looking for adventure |
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Memories BY Toons, that is, not just about them....
Toon Memories
The following excerpts are taken from interviews with Bonnie Bunny, daughter of the late Bugs Bunny. In them she gives her thoughts on her father, on his co-stars and other associates, and on the old Hollywood that served as a background to her childhood.
On growing up around a movie studio: I always loved visiting the studio to see Dad there. It was such a fascinating place! There were the big sound stages, and the sets and back lots, and all the bright lights and cameras, and other equipment that a child could hardly comprehend. To me it was as great a wonderland as people imagine an old-fashioned major studio must have been.
They let me have a surprising amount of freedom when I visited. The main rule was that you had to stay away from the set whenever filming was going on. That one was very strictly enforced!
Then there was the studio commissary. Even at a progressive-minded studio like Warner, we Toons had segregated facilities. In fairness, it wasn’t just a matter of prejudice. Toons are such a diverse community that the Toon commissary had to stock an unusual variety of foods for different customers. You had the herbivores like Dad, who needed a good supply of raw vegetables (Dad wasn’t particularly fond of carrots in real life, by the way—something we share). You had the Road Runner, who insisted that they make available New Mexican dishes—and it had to be specifically New Mexico cuisine, not Tex-Mex! And then you had the carnivores, who wanted raw meat and weren’t careful how they ate it. I remember having had nightmares after seeing the Tasmanian Devil eating his lunch one day….
On Bugs Bunny as a father: There’s this stereotype that great comedians are all tormented souls who turn to humor in an effort to deal with their torment. Dad wasn’t like that at all. Oh, he was quieter than his screen persona, not always “on” so to speak. But he was basically a very normal, cheerful person. He liked making people laugh and cheering them up.
Of course his work and publicity appearances kept him very busy, but he made time for me. I’ve already mentioned being able to visit him at work at the studio once in a while. We had memorable family vacations, like the time we all went to Santa Fe. It was originally supposed to have been Carlsbad Caverns, but he made a wrong turn at Albuquerque. He never lived that down!
But some of my fondest memories of Dad were of those rare days when he could just be home and work on his hobbies. He was an amateur builder who kept adding on to our home by digging extra rooms. He’d always let me help him. At that age I really wasn’t much help. But that was okay. He always found some little task I could do with him. We were glad just to have a chance to do something together.
On Elmer Fudd: I have such dear memories of Uncle Elmer! He and Dad were great friends off-screen. He was always the life of the party at social get-togethers. The children loved him, and he loved children. We’d think we were really getting away with something when he was around, because he’d always make these ever-so-slightly off-color comments in our presence. By all accounts he had quiet the vocabulary when he was around adults….
Sad to say, Elmer conformed all too well to the stereotype of the tormented clown. He had such struggles with depression. And with the drinking, and not taking care of himself, and the marital issues, and all the rest that contributed toward our losing him at such a relatively early age.
Of course that’s all long since been exposed for the benefit of the morbid public. That dreadful tell-all book by his second wife, Betty Boop, was the worst. I firmly believe that a great deal of what was in that was either exaggerated or total fabrication. Whatever the truth of it, I know that I’ll always prefer to think of Uncle Elmer as the kind, cheerful soul that I remember.
On Daffy Duck Of course Daffy was already an established star when Dad got into the business. Dad’s sudden rise to prominence didn’t change that, but something about it really seems to have threatened Daffy. He showed his insecurity by treating Dad like a rival and being abrasive toward him. It’s sad that there are those in the world who can’t be happy to see another’s success—it’s all got to be about them.
Dad tried his best to get along with Daffy. But Daffy just wasn’t interested in making friends. His attitude wasn’t only a problem for Dad. Almost everybody remembers Daffy being that way. He had a certain charm about him when he wanted to turn it on, but beneath that he had a reputation as somebody you could never quite trust.
It’s often said that Daffy's machinations really hurt Porky Pig’s career. I think that’s exaggerated, but there’s no doubt that he schemed against Porky to try to advance himself. His hostility toward Dad was probably rooted in part in a fear that Dad would treat him the same way.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
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That meddlin kid
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Post subject: Toon Memories Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 4:22 pm |
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Biker Librarian
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Joined: | 26 Mar 2007 |
Posts: | 25143 |
Location: | On the highway, looking for adventure |
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On Yosemite Sam I remember the first time I ever met Sam. I was so young and small that he seemed to tower over me, with that big voice and all that bristly red hair. He scared me! It took me a while to warm up to him. But he was sweet once you got to know him. I didn’t actually see him all that much growing up. He and Dad had a good working relationship, but they weren’t close friends like Dad and Uncle Elmer were.
Sam was a real outdoorsman. When he wasn’t working in the movies he spent most of his time up in Montana, fishing and hunting and camping out. He bought himself a ranch up there, and had a herd of Shetland ponies that he loved to ride. Like so many Hollywood stars he did unfortunately have a bit of a bottle problem, and a rather sad marital history. He definitely had a weakness for the ladies—although, again, I’d take everything Betty Boop said about him with a grain of salt.
On Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner Corey—his friends all called him that; it was short for Corre Caminos—had the same problem Harpo Marx had. Because his character never spoke, some silly folks actually imagined that he was mute! The relatively few times I saw him I recall his being quite loquacious. And a real charmer. He and Dad used to race together in charity events. Of course Corey was always the winner, because that’s what the fans expected. But if Dad had really cut loose, he’d probably have won as many of the races as he lost.
Wile E. also scared me when I was little. He was nice about it—he recognized that young rabbits have a natural instinctive fear of coyotes. Wile E. was well-educated and a big ham radio operator who liked to build his own gear. In fact, he even took out a couple of patents. Of course there were lots of jokes about how gear incorporating his inventions would surely blow up on you. As far as I know it only happened once, and that was when the user foolishly overclocked the equipment.
I was also acquainted with Wile E.’s cousin, Ralph Wolf. Ralph was a star in his own right, in that co-starring series with Sam Sheepdog. Because he and Wile E. looked so much alike, a lot of fans kept confusing the two! It annoyed Sam for a while. Eventually he learned to accept it. He and Wile E. used to like impersonating each other as a gag. Ralph actually got in trouble once when he was caught trying to take Wile E.’s place in the middle of filming a Road Runner cartoon! He and Wile E. had been taking turns coming in to the set on alternate days for over a week before anybody noticed.
On Porky Pig You can see in his early cartoons how Porky’s weight fluctuated. Eventually he got on top of it and stabilized at a very healthy size. But he found staying there a lifelong battle. At parties and at the studio commissary he was always talking about how he had to watch his weight.
It upset him when his position as the studio’s number one Toon star was eclipsed, first by Daffy Duck, then by Dad. Of course he never stopped working. That kept him going, and he learned to be content with no longer being number one.
He had only a bit of a stutter in person—nowhere near as serious as what audiences heard onscreen. He usually acted like a real sweetheart when I was around him. Porky had children of his own, of course, and he was good with children. I’m glad for the children’s sake that Porky and Petunia eventually reconciled their differences and stayed together.
On Pepe Le Pew Yes, unfortunately it’s true. Pepe did make a pass at me, once, when I was eighteen. When I was a bit younger I found his harmless flirting charming. This went over the line. I must say, though, the incident has been made out as much worse than it really was. Once I made it clear that I wasn’t interested, he backed off. Aggressive as he may have been, he knew to stop short of anything that could be considered a campaign of harassment.
Dad was furious, of course. As angry as I’ve ever seen him! He didn’t speak to Pepe again for over a year. But even here Dad kept his anger within reasonable bounds. There is absolutely no truth to that ugly story you still hear about Dad chasing Pepe through the house with a pitchfork, threatening to “gig that black-and-white-striped Frog.” That’s one urban legend that needs to be put to rest, once and for all.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
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Beachy
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Post subject: Toon Memories Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 4:30 pm |
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Mr. IMWANKO
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Joined: | 18 Sep 2005 |
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Location: | the Moist Periphery of Pendulum Tide |
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That meddlin kid
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Post subject: Toon Memories Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 4:57 pm |
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Biker Librarian
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Joined: | 26 Mar 2007 |
Posts: | 25143 |
Location: | On the highway, looking for adventure |
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On Roger Rabbit: Uncle Roger always felt that he lived in Dad’s shadow. It was to differentiate himself that he adopted a very different screen persona, and changed his surname. After his initial success he never got very far in Hollywood. That really disappointed him. And of course he made a most unfortunate choice of spouse.
I don’t believe that Dad was ever guilty of rubbing Uncle Roger’s nose in his superior fame. But Uncle Roger’s jealousy and disappointment and bitterness caused a rift between the two of them. In later years they happily reconciled. After that, you’d never be able to tell that there was anything wrong between them.
On Mickey Mouse: Mickey always seemed friendly and nice enough on the few occasions that I met him. I never truly got to know any of the Disney stars. The Disney Toons didn’t fraternize that much with those of us who were connected to other studios. I think that was in large part due to the fact that they had greater mainstream acceptance at the time. They had more opportunities to socialize outside the segregated Toon community. Many other Toons considered them rather snobbish for that. Perhaps they were at times.
I must hasten to say, though, that they generally got along well with other Toons when they did meet with them. And the rivalry between Disney’s and Warner’s Toon stars was by and large a friendly one. The notable exception was Daffy Duck and Donald Duck. When those two abrasive, combative personalities got together…well, the results were usually about what one would expect.
On working in Hollywood Of course I never tried acting myself, so I only know what I heard from others. But Hollywood was a tough place for Toons. There was the segregation, and the lack of respect in some quarters. It wasn’t such a problem for those of us who didn’t work in the business. We spent most of our time in our own community, and found acceptance there.
Those who worked onscreen more than earned their (usually very modest) pay. The screenwriters and directors and animators were determined to exploit Toons’ famous natural resilience by stuffing cartoons with scenes of violence and mayhem. Much of what audiences saw onscreen was the work of special effects and makeup. Even so, most Toon actors regularly took some hard knocks.
Dad, for example, got hurt several times in stunts. And he had an easier time than many. It was hardest for performers like Daffy and Sylvester and Wile E. who were usually portrayed as fall guys. Sylvester had to have multiple surgeries on his tail to repair damage done in some of his stunts. Wile E. had a lot of back trouble in later years. Daffy actually threatened to bring suit against Warner’s several times over injuries to his bill, back, and feathers. Each time he was talked out of it when cooler heads persuaded him that he’d never win in California courts. They were just too close to the studios’ influence.
The most awful incident I ever heard of from first-hand was a close call involving Elmer Fudd and Daffy. Some carelessness on the part of the prop department nearly resulted in Daffy being shot for real, point blank! A sharp-eyed assistant spotted it just in time before they did the take. Dad says that Uncle Elmer wept at the thought of what had almost happened. Daffy, of course, threatened to sue.
Conditions got better in the 1950s, and by the 1960s the violence had been toned way down. Nowadays there’s a lot more violence again in some cartoons, but today’s reliance on CGI effects greatly reduces the risk. I’ve heard that conditions remained extremely harsh and dangerous for Japanese Toons until fairly recently. I once met an older anime star who enumerated all the times he’d nearly been wiped out in exploding mecha stunts that went awry. There are also persistent rumors that years ago some Pokemon deaths in filming were covered up. So I suppose it could have been worse.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
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Simon
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Post subject: Toon Memories Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 10:52 am |
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Joined: | 26 Oct 2006 |
Posts: | 59401 |
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(I love this....brilliant)
_________________ "They'll bite your finger off given a chance" - Junkie Luv (regarding Zebras)
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