Happy 85th Anniversary, "Looney Tunes"!

This Sunday is a special Sunday, specifically for animation fans like myself! It was 85 years ago today that a black-and-white character named Bosko appeared on the big screen, singing in the bathtub. Sinkin' in the Bathtub was the very first Looney Tunes short (not counting an unreleased 1929 short Harman and Ising made titled Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid), crafted by former Disney animators Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, and future famed director Friz Freleng. The early years of Warner Bros.' cartoons in the 1930s were pretty unusual, not to mention very uncreative; basically, all producer Leon Schlesinger had in mind was to make Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies just to compete with Disney. And as we all know, if you want to produce animation specifically to compete with another studio, chances are that your output might turn out to be mediocre at best.

I think the WB animation department (a.k.a. Termite Terrance) grew the beard as soon as they introduced Porky Pig in 1935's I Haven't Got a Hat, directed by Friz Freleng. And from there, Friz, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson, Frank Tashlin, Arthur Davis, and many, many other talents at Termite Terrance would work hard to break ground by creating excellent gags, clever-as-all-hell humor, and most importantly, memorable characters as famous as Mickey and the gang over at Disney. I dare you to think what the world of animation would be like without this undeniably hilarious, undeniably revolutionary, and undeniably influential series of Golden Age cartoons!

Oh, boy, what can I say about Looney Tunes? Well, I can definitely say that they're the Golden Age cartoons I've been exposed to the most as a kid, more than Disney's classic shorts, more than Tom and Jerry, more than Woody Woodpecker, and way more than Tex Avery's MGM shorts! This is due to how frequent they were shown on Teletoon and Teletoon Retro, whether it's through old antholgy shows like The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, and The Road Runner Show, to compliation films like The Bugs Bunny/ Road Runner Movie, The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters. Because of this, I must mention that I mostly grew up with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies made after August 1948 (Turner Entertainment owned the shorts before then untill 1996; it's a long story), so I wasn't familiar with the Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, or Frank Tashlin cartoons. But then I got to go online and borrow DVDs from the library to get introduced to the pre-1948 shorts.

I love Looney Tunes so dang much, for pretty much the same reasons every other fan loves them for, so I won't go into much detail into those reasons. I'll say what I particularly and personally appreciate about them. For one thing, I'd like to thank them for introducing me, a boy who grew up in the 2000s, to such archaic celebrites as Groucho Marx, Humphery Bogart, Clarke Gable, Jimmy Durante, and Lew Lehr. Seriously, if it wasn't for Looney Tunes (and quick looks on Wikipedia), I wouldn't know who the hell were these people! Like most comedy-focused animators, Looney Tunes has played a major, major influence in my up-and-coming cartoon style. I love the deranged animation style of Bob Clampett, the timing and aside glances of Chuck Jones, and the high energy of Tex Avery. Of course, they are to be thanked for inspiring me to create my own repertory of cartoon characters known as BerryToons! Mr Smiley, in particular, is based on the always witty Bugs Bunny!

There are too many shorts of the main characters that I love for me to list here (though I must admit, Speedy Gonzales is my least favorite of the main Looney Tunes characters), that it would be easier and faster to list one favorite for each character or duo, and list several favorite lesser-seen character cartoons.

Bugs Bunny:

Rabbit Rampage

Bugs and Elmer Fudd:

Hare Do

Bugs and Yosemite Sam:

The Fair-Haired Hare

Bugs and Marvin the Martian:

Hare-Way to the Stars

Bugs and Taz:

Devil May Hare

Daffy Duck:

Duck Amuck

Porky Pig:

The Wearing of the Grin

Daffy and Porky:

Boobs in the Woods

Sylvester the Cat:

A Mouse Divided

Tweety and Sylvester:

Bad Ol' Putty Tat

Sylvester and Hippity Hopper:

Hippety Hopper

Sylvester and Porky:

Jumpin' Jupiter

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner:

Fast and Furry-ous

Foghorn Leghorn:

The Foghorn Leghorn

Pepe Le Pew:

For Scent-Imental Reasons

Hubie and Bertie:

Mouse Wreckers

Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf:

Sheep Ahoy

Charlie Dog:

Dog Gone South

Charlie and Porky:

Often an Orphan

The Three Bears:

The Bee-Deviled Bruin

And I could list all my favorite one-shot cartoons, but it'd be too long here. However, I must mention Chow Hound, a dark yet hilarious short by Chuck Jones where some greedy dog uses a cat and mouse in a scam to get him some free meats...but they always forget the gravy!

So, folks, we can celebrate this long-running cartoon franchise's 85th anniversary for the whole year if we wanted to. Specific anniversaries involving the Looney Tunes this year include Bugs Bunny (75 years old on July 27), and Sylvester (70 years old on March 24). I can't wait to buy Jerry Beck's book titled Warner Bros. Animation Art, as well as one of the DVD collections, to celebrate these legendary animated actors. Oh, and I definitely must mention that Canada took notice of this anniversary, so Royal Canadian Mint is selling very special Looney coins!

Warner Bros. can try and reboot the Looney Tunes any way they want, whether it's to make them basketball players, Muppet Babies ripoffs, futuristic superheroes, or the same sitcom characters we've already seen in many live-action sitcoms. But the original cartoons made from 1930 to 1969 (on second thought, screw the late '60s cartoons; they're garbage) shall forever be timeless and cherished, despite their frequent pop-culture references that some people of the 21st century aren't likely to get. Still, they're funny, nevertheless. I don't know why I made Family Guy my third favorite cartoon, when I love and respect Looney Tunes just as much. I might update my favorite cartoons list soon again. Anyway, happy 85th anniversary, Looney Tunes!

Oh, and happy 28th anniversary to the Simpson family (who debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show on this day), and happy 18th anniversary to The Angry Beavers, which is currently my 11th favorite Nicktoon.

This post is dedicated to veteran Looney Tunes voice actor Stan Freberg, who died not too long ago.

How much do you wanna bet that June Foray will kick the bucket soon herself? Seriously, that woman's in her 90s, and she's STILL in the voice acting business!

Anyway, see you next time.