July 1, 2025 • 37 mins
We continue our deep dive into the Looney Tunes Collector's Vault Volume 1 Blu-ray with animation historian Jerry Beck and Warner Archive's George Feltenstein, exploring the treasures of Disc 2 and the evolution of iconic characters.
• Disc 2 features beloved characters and fan favorites, contrasting with Disc 1's more collector-focused rarities
• The 1937 "Porky's Duck Hunt" introduced the world to Daffy Duck and marked the beginning of Warner's irreverent cartoon style
• Daffy Duck cartoons like "Birth of a Notion" showcase the character at his screwiest, paired with a terrifying Peter Lorre caricature
• Warner Brothers cartoons broke the fourth wall and created an interactive experience unlike Disney's more polished approach
• First appearances of beloved characters like Speedy Gonzales and Yosemite Sam are included in this collection
• Warner Archive hints at potential for a Volume 2 release depending on the commercial success of Volume 1
Purchase Links: Looney Tunes Collector's Vault Vol. 1
Also available: Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Vol. 1 (Blu-ray)
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Vol. 2 (Blu-ray)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andthis is part two of my ongoing
discussion with animationhistorian Jerry Beck and George
Feltenstein of the WarnerArchive.
As we talk about the recentlyreleased Looney Tunes
Collector's Vault Volume 1Blu-ray.
Well, we've been dabbling inDisc 2 cartoons here.
But let's turn the page to Disc2.
(00:23):
Absolutely.
You know that if disc one isdefinitely for collectors
default, you know, uh, this toois is got all of the characters
that people know.
Yeah, I shouldn't say all thecharacters, but so many
characters that people know andlove and enjoy and some of the
all-time favorites.
Um, you've got obviously a lotof bugs bunny cartoons on here
(00:47):
and there weren't really toomany in the collector's choice
releases because a lot of themhave been released so, um, so
there's going to be a lot herethat we can talk about that are
fan favorites, um, and then youalso have speedy gonzalez and
pepe lepew in this, uh, thisrelease as well.
But I thought we could startwith those notable Daffy Duck
(01:08):
cartoons that you previewed,porky's Duck Hunt from 1937, tex
Avery as well.
Audio clip (01:19):
Hey, that wasn't in the script.
Don't let it worry you, skipper, I'm just a crazy darn fool
duck.
Tim Millard (01:34):
Daffy is totally crazy and some amazing gags in
this one.
I really enjoyed this one.
Jerry Beck (01:41):
Yeah, that's what put the character on the map.
They learned early on aroundthis time that the Porky Pig
goes hunting motif as a scenariowas working with audiences.
They didn't know whether it wasthe wacky zany character he was
chasing or if it was Porkyhimself and his reactions or
(02:04):
just the premise that it washunting.
Maybe they actually believed atone point there that it was the
situation of hunting that wasthe thing that was driving it
and making it funny and popular.
So they made many, many, as younote, if you go back in that
period, they made many, manyhunting cartoons, whether it was
(02:26):
Porky or Egghead or whatever.
That was what they thought wasthe thing.
But soon they learned it wasthe character, the crazy
character, whether it was DaffyDuck or the rabbit, whatever.
And then they realized that andthey went off from there.
But the hunting aspect and ofcourse hunting was a big deal, a
(02:47):
bigger deal than I think itmight be today Back then it was
a rite of passage for people,for the young men in particular,
and so it was a thing peoplecould relate to and imagine.
A screwball duck, you know, inthe middle of the marsh, you
know, that's where it comes from.
Tim Millard (03:12):
Well, there's another Daffy one the next year,
1938, daffy Duck and Egghead.
Yeah, and I thought that washighly notable as well.
Again, just to continue, andthis is we're talking about them
out of order from where howthey play on the on the uh disc.
But it starts with that veryfunny disclaimer.
You know, characters portrayedor not, you know there's a
(03:34):
disclaimer at the beginning andit just gets crazier from there.
Jerry Beck (03:37):
Uh right, just that's the beginning of the
emergence of the Warner Brotherscartoon style of humor, the
style absolutely Before that, asGeorge has mentioned, the
cartoons were, you know, basedaround a song and were pretty
much of that three act, you know, introduce a character and
(03:58):
their family danger and then theresolution to the danger.
Pretty much many, many cartoonshad that scenario.
This was the beginning of newideas, new thinking, I think
remind me, but Daffy, duck andEgghead, even as the classic bit
of talking back to the audience, not just breaking the fourth
(04:19):
wall but a person standing up, Ibelieve you know, and I mean
this was brand new.
I always try to explain this tothe classes I teach, because to
us it's, it's, we grew up withthis.
But to be in a theater where,where they're talking to
somebody in the audience and thesilhouette of the character
(04:41):
several rows ahead of you, oh myGod, it was an interactive
experience and it was also notthe kind of thing disney would
ever do.
It was just not what people wereused to.
Disney was the high watermark,the class.
Uh, what a cartoon was.
Warner's was the reflection ofthat.
Warner's was the saturdaysaturday night live skit of it.
(05:03):
You, you know the Mad Magazineparody of that and this was the
beginning.
Right there, right there, thebeginning of that style happens,
right there.
George Feltenstein (05:13):
Well, introducing irreverent anarchy.
Anti-establishment, if you will.
I mean establishment, if youwill, I mean they just were
young, creative, talentedinnovators and that's why their
cartoons in my mind, along withAvery when he went to MGM, and
(05:38):
Tom and Jerry.
Nobody made funnier cartoonsand some companies made cartoons
that were beautiful to look atand had no humor at all.
Warner brothers really takesthe cake when it comes to comedy
and, of course, when tex haveryleft he brought his own anarchy
over to mgm and, uh, I thinkthat even influenced tom and
(06:04):
jerry termite terrorists.
Jerry Beck (06:06):
Sorry, as much as we love the MGM cartoons and we do
and we love Avery, but there'ssomething about the Warner
Brothers cartoons and thatsomething is I've said this
before it's like the Beatles.
I use that as an analogybecause it's these people,
meaning the Warner Brothers crewof artists, the people who
became the directors FrankTashlin, you know, Bob Clampett,
(06:29):
their particular point of view,their skewed, you know POV.
But it was also the facilitiesof the studio had first class
compared to other studios likewalter lance.
They had, you know, they had alevel budgets for these.
(06:50):
They had talent, they had themusic, they had carl stalling,
they had mel blank, they had.
It was a combination of thesefactors that makes the warner
cartoon great and uh, and thisand this collection, it really
does personify that.
Tim Millard (07:06):
Yeah, well, I want to go now back to the one you
mentioned earlier, jerry Birth,of a Notion from 1947.
You know, daffy's looking for awinter home and he's trying to
ingratiate himself to this dog.
And then there's this scientist.
Yeah, peter Lorre needs awishbone, a duck wishbone, for
(07:27):
his experiment.
This is a wacky awesome cartoon.
Jerry Beck (07:31):
This is one of the first ones that I think McKimson
did, and he animates on a lotof these things.
He was like their best animator.
As a kid I actually was scaredby this cartoon.
Even though it's so, it'swonderful.
It's the Peter Lorre caricature.
As a kid I actually was scaredby this cartoon.
Even though it's so, it'swonderful.
(07:52):
The Peter Lorre caricature is soreal-looking to me and he's so
evil and he's so versus Daffy atmaybe his screwiest, really
crazy slapping him, punching him, doing things to the
protagonist that we normallydon't even see but that they do,
uh and uh it works.
It's these two.
It's the two extremes at theirmost extreme in in the cartoon
(08:15):
world, in my opinion.
Uh, and that's part of whatmakes it especially interesting
yeah, yeah, I well said thesethree daffies.
Tim Millard (08:25):
I mean it's fantastic, um, I just thought.
George Feltenstein (08:29):
So there are so many good daffies on this
disc.
Yes, there are some great bugscartoons, yep, some of my
favorites, um, I mean everycharacter is served well by the
whole 50 film set.
Tim Millard (08:44):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (08:51):
You know, with obviously some of the
cartoons not having centralcharacters, but everybody gets a
little bit of their screen timehere, yeah Right.
Tim Millard (08:55):
Well, why don't we talk about one of those that
hasn't been on any of thecollector's choice releases,
that's Speedy Gonzales?
You have two on here.
Jerry Beck (09:04):
You've got cat tails for two from 1983, the first
one yes, some might say we onlyhave one on here, because in
that first one, uh, he's reallykind of a little different than
he.
His character design isdifferent and they had they.
This was.
It was a one-off again, whatthey would do is I love that
(09:25):
they did this they would have todo X number of Bugs Bunnies.
They'd have to do a Porky and aDaffy or some of the other
Foghorns, some of the othercharacters that now became
famous.
But they always allowedthemselves one or two each year,
just miscellaneous subjects,the kind of thing that brings us
One Froggy Evening or the RalphPhillips cartoons or whatever.
(09:48):
They would experiment with anew idea, new character.
That's what Cat Tales for Twois.
None of these are ever meant tobe anything beyond a one-off,
but the idea of Speedy Gonzalezgrabbed them, and the next year
McKimson didn't just keep thatcharacter, he kind of shared it
(10:11):
with Frizz Freeling.
Frizz said let me have a whackat that idea and redesigned the
character, made him a littlemore appealing.
George Feltenstein (10:18):
And got an Oscar.
Jerry Beck (10:20):
And got an Oscar right, and that was the
beginning of that series.
Probably the last, I would say,without just doing this really
quick in my head, but that'sprobably the last great
character.
Uh, that was a regular, youknow.
They developed a few othercharacters later, but this might
have been the latest one.
You know the roadrunner wascame about earlier.
(10:43):
Um, even the tasmanian devil,which mckimpson came up with, I
think, comes out, you know,earlier, before Speedy, the
first Speedy Gonzalez cartoon.
So this is kind of the last ofthe great characters from the
studio.
Tim Millard (11:08):
And then you have the.
The second one on there is theGonzalez Tamales from 57.
Jerry Beck (11:13):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (11:13):
What's that After the Oscar.
Tim Millard (11:18):
Yes, after the Oscar, and this one has all the
town mice, hire Sylvester to getSpeedy and I think it's so good
.
Jerry Beck (11:27):
You know they always had to come up with that's the
thing I'll tell you.
Other studios, other studios,lesser studios.
They come up with some idea forthe character premise and then
they just repeat it over andover again.
You characters like not to putthem down.
(11:48):
George knows I love thesecharacters, but Casper sorry
characters like Casper or MaddieMouse or something it's really
the same cartoon over and overagain.
At Warner's they'd come up witha character and, with some very
rare exceptions, they wouldalways try to make the next
cartoon different.
(12:10):
It's just the character is thesame, the scenario is a little
different, or a lot different insome cases, and that's again
another one of the things thatmakes these cartoons repeatable
and enjoyable.
You can do a binge watch of abunch of that one character
because they're different.
Each cartoon has a differentstory.
Tim Millard (12:32):
Yeah, well, I wanted to go back to one you
mentioned earlier, jerry, andthat's that Banty Raids from
1963.
Audio clip (12:43):
Oh yeah, how about that the pads patrolled with a
real jazzy plan.
I can like storm the gates, digthis, get up, man.
It's the most sick, man, sick.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Sick man, sick.
What in the name of Jesse James, do you suppose that is?
Tim Millard (13:14):
Is this one McKimpson's last Foghorn Leghorn
?
Jerry Beck (13:19):
Without looking it up, I don't think it is.
In fact I think we put on thelast set.
I think we did False Hair,which is the last theatrical
Bugs Bunny from that period andthat's 64.
And it's directed by McKimsonand Foghorn makes a cameo in
that cartoon.
So that really is the reallylast appearance of Foghorn
(13:42):
Leghorn by McKimson, then it'sone of the later, later ones.
Then, uh, it's one of the laterlater ones.
Uh, it's interesting because ofthe oddball beatnik references
in it and you know it's a littlemore in tune of kind of what
was going on at the time, youknow, um 60s slang uh, groovy
(14:03):
man, and you know you know again, uh, a demonstration of even
that later date, uh, that theythey were not aimed at children.
This was not a children'scharacter, he was a swinger,
he's a yeah like chicks you know, they go off on that a little
bit in the film and so, uh, youknow, it's that one is that's a
(14:28):
cult classic.
I think A lot of people I knowlike that one in particular
because of the strangeness.
Tim Millard (14:34):
Oh, it's terrific, it's terrific.
And then you have a couple ofPepe Le Pew that you put on this
release.
So you know, fans of Pepe havetwo on here.
Older Able Kitty from 1945.
Yeah, and that's the one wherethe male cat disguises himself.
Jerry Beck (14:53):
Well, if we didn't say it before and we didn't that
makes another first cartoonAbsolutely.
George Feltenstein (14:58):
Because that's the first.
Jerry Beck (14:59):
Pepe Le Pew.
There we go and he's not quitethe character yet.
In fact he's not even right.
I mean there's a lot of thingsthat are just off about that one
, but it's great.
I mean it's chuck jones andit's 1945 and it looks great and
um and uh, and the pestperfumants, I believe is the
name.
And that one is one of myfavorites because it takes place
(15:21):
, I believe I'm sorry to saythis, I haven't watched it again
, but that's the one that takesplace in a movie studio, right?
Tim Millard (15:26):
yeah, the silent movie theater yeah, I love that
one.
Yeah, that was, that's the onethat takes place in a movie
studio.
Jerry Beck (15:28):
Right, yeah, the silent movie theater.
Yeah, I love that one.
Tim Millard (15:30):
Yeah, that was terrific.
That's really a classic, Ithink.
Jerry Beck (15:32):
Yeah, and they never really repeated.
They would always do newvariants of those gags where
they're taking some French wordor making it Americanizing.
They did that a lot and I never.
I was always looking to see ifthey just repeated this again.
(15:52):
They never did.
They never repeated those typeof gags and I love that about
that series.
They're really funny, if youget it.
I will say this because Pepe'sbeen, you know, had a problem in
recent years, but people areforgetting that.
That's the joke.
We're meant to laugh at him.
(16:13):
We don't.
We're not with him.
You know we're not thecharacter he is.
You know we are laughing at howkind of stupid he is in terms
of how he thinks he's going toget, you know, a lover in this
particular cartoon.
He's going about it all wrongand that's the point of the
series, right, and you know.
That's why they're not.
(16:35):
You know they're not wrong,they're not wrong.
Tim Millard (16:39):
Well, we're going to talk about Bugs Bunny, but
before we do, I did want tobring up these terrific
roadrunners Gee Whiz from 1956and Zoom and Board from 57.
George Feltenstein (16:51):
Zoom and Board is one of my favorite
Roadrunners, so good right.
Audio clip (16:54):
Yeah.
Jerry Beck (16:56):
Yes, I'll tell you if you watch them once in a
while, as opposed to a bingewatch on a set devoted to the
Roadrunner.
Well, all the 19, all of allthe Chuck Jones ones are good.
There's there's good stuff, butthese are, in particular, great
.
They play.
(17:17):
I say these, I say this becauseI have shown them in my little
public programs.
You just show one the other prothe rest of the stuff on the
program, like the set or othercharacters and other things.
Boy does that kill.
I I'm saying this from showingit in a theater with an audience
kill laughter today.
(17:37):
These days, part of the problemif there is no problem, but
part of the problem of peoplewatching the roadrunner now is
they're seeing it in theisolation of their home with
nobody laughing around it.
George Feltenstein (17:50):
Those cartoons are great, yeah, yeah I
mean I think that makes that.
This is certainly something Iwould encourage people to get
their friends to come over andhave a communal viewing
experience, because there isnothing like watching a Warner
Brothers cartoon with anaudience, and Jerry and I have
(18:13):
both and I've been with him onseveral occasions when this has
happened be in a movie theaterand when that shield comes up,
people go crazy right and Ithink it speaks to the power of
the excellence and resiliency ofthe looney tunes and merry
melodies.
(18:34):
And when you, you know, have asmany people over as you can
comfortably fit in your home orapartment and show these discs,
do two and then have anotherparty for disc one.
For people who want to digdeeper, whatever, bring people
(18:55):
over, make popcorn.
This is the best way to seethem technologically watching
them in your home with thisbeautiful new presentation,
watching them in your home withthis beautiful new presentation,
but have that communalexperience of watching with
other people.
It's the best way to do it.
Tim Millard (19:16):
And I'll add something.
I've never mentioned thisbefore, but we had some students
come over from a foreigncountry when I was in high
school and they didn't speakEnglish, and we would watch
these cartoons and we would alllaugh in the same place,
especially the Roadrunners,because there's no English.
(19:37):
I mean, there's really nodialogue, no dialogue, yeah.
Yeah, there's no dialogue, andso the humor, everything just
comes across through the actionand not through the dialogue,
and so those were alwaysfavorites and we could all enjoy
them together.
So it was interesting how thatcrosses all language barriers.
Those roadrunners.
Audio clip (20:03):
Okay, okay, break it up.
Show's over.
Next demonstration tomorrowmorning.
Go on scream.
Another day, another carrot.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
Oh Rabbit here, buddy , where are you, buddy?
Ah, there you are.
Audio clip (20:28):
Oh Rabbit here buddy , where are you, buddy?
Ah, there you are.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
What's up, doc?
Come along.
Little chum, the sale's over,we're transferring you to
another department.
Audio clip (20:41):
Ah me, A rabbit's work is never done.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Right in here, little chum.
Audio clip (20:49):
Hmm, Taxi doy me, Taxi doy me.
Tim Millard (20:54):
Well, obviously there's a lot of Bugs Bunny on
this release and I know a lot ofpeople, of course you know,
were anxiously waiting to getthese all collected together, so
we should talk about themstarting with Hair Conditioned
1945.
Which is one of my favoritecartoons by far.
George Feltenstein (21:18):
It has it's Jones.
It has like bugs really lockeddown.
Yeah, you know, five years intothe progression after Wild Hair
, and each director treated Bugsa little differently.
Tim Millard (21:35):
He did him a little differently.
George Feltenstein (21:37):
But I am very partial to Jones' take on
Bugs and the way he deals withthe department store owner or
manager or whatever in thatcartoon, who is a parody of a
radio character of the time, theGreat Gildersleeve, which was a
(22:01):
radio show with Harold Peary,and there were even some Great
Gildersleeve's movies that cameout from RKO which we did put on
DVD as part of the WoundedArchive collection.
But they even have the joke inthe cartoon, you know Bugs goes
hey, you remind me of the greatGildersleeves.
(22:22):
You know, I do.
I mean, I just love the insidejokes like that and when he's
trying on the shoes and there'sjust so much great stuff, so
many gags.
It's a perfect cartoon and itisn't the one that people talk
(22:42):
about the way they'll talk aboutwhat's Opera Doc or rabbit
seasoning.
It isn't, you know, one of thelike absolute iconic Bugs
cartoons, but it's absolutelyone of the best.
Tim Millard (22:59):
Yeah.
So, it's great to have this,this one on here and then next
we have another one from 45 hairtrigger.
This is B's first encounter.
George Feltenstein (23:11):
It introduced a new character to
the world.
I believe yeah.
Jerry Beck (23:15):
Another first.
Yeah, how many firsts are onthis set.
Tim Millard (23:18):
Yeah, and that's of course, yosemite Sam.
For those listening andwatching saying who is it?
And it's on a train, I meanit's terrific.
And they break that fourth wallat the end as well.
I mean this is just a reallyfun one.
George Feltenstein (23:33):
I love that cartoon.
Tim Millard (23:35):
It's so fun, so much fun.
George Feltenstein (23:38):
And it's fun to watch the evolution of
Yosemite Sam.
And for those who don't know,yosemite Sam was very much based
on the image of fritz frillinghimself.
Uh, you know, visually and uh,and possibly temperament as well
(23:58):
.
I can't speak to that, but,jerry, I bet could, that's
what's been said yes and uh,that's they.
Jerry Beck (24:05):
You know they were able to, really, you know,
animate him and uh, you knowthey, they were able to, really,
you know, animate him and youknow they knew the character.
They just didn't want to.
But Freeling was cool with that, you know he was totally.
George Feltenstein (24:14):
That's the beauty of it.
So unpretentious.
So everybody in for deliveringthe laughs.
Making it look great, making itsound great.
These cartoons are just to betreasured, and that's what we're
trying to do.
Tim Millard (24:33):
I just have a soft spot for Yosemite, sam.
I mean I love it.
And then, of course, I justremember growing up and you know
you'd be on the road, highwayand there'd be a big truck and
it would have those flaps, mudflaps.
Yeah, of course, and it would gooff, you know, but that was the
attitude People.
I think really you either knowsomebody or you are that type of
(24:56):
attitude, yeah, and it makesyou laugh, or it's good if you
can laugh at it.
Put it that way, knowing itabout yourself or somebody else.
So I just that's a great oneand it's fun that that's the
first appearance of yosemite sam.
And then from 1946 you've gotuh uh, rhapsody, rabbit and
(25:18):
george.
We recently talked about yourrhapsody in blue release, right
and it's just I was tempted.
George Feltenstein (25:26):
I deliberately did not put any
cartoons or extras on thatrelease because the film is so
long and we've got the overture.
I really wanted to keep itintact for what it was, but it
was very tempting to putRhapsody Rabbit on there.
(25:46):
But Rhapsody Rabbit isclassical music and the irony of
Rhapsody Rabbit is that it'sbasically the same plot device
as Tom and Jerry and the CatConcerto.
Jerry Beck (26:02):
Right, and there's been a long debate of who came
up with the idea first, becausethey're even spoofing the same
piece of classical music.
Yeah, that's a whole debate.
We can't answer the questionbecause it's a mystery that
hasn't been solved.
All the creators, though, intheir day, in later years,
(26:25):
speaking to fans and whatever,they all looked and saw and Cat
Conchita won the Oscar, by theway.
George Feltenstein (26:30):
Right.
Jerry Beck (26:34):
She made it short that year.
But they say it was just acomplete coincidence and the
only evidence of that really isthe way the gags are different.
You know meaning it's just thepremise different.
You know meaning it, it's justthe premise, uh.
But that said, it does seem alittle odd that that bugs bunny
would be wearing a tuxedo givinga recital versus a mouse.
(26:55):
That does seem more likesomething that tom and jerry
would do.
But that said, even tom andjerry didn't do that.
You know, they were normally inthe home.
You know, chasing around thehouse.
So it was an unusual conceptfor both characters and it's
kind of interesting to see howthe directors could use both
(27:16):
concepts and how they would doit.
I think everybody agreesthey're both great, you know.
George Feltenstein (27:21):
And very different.
Jerry Beck (27:22):
Yeah, there's nobody going.
That one's better than thisEverybody.
They're both great cartoons,yeah, yeah.
Tim Millard (27:27):
I mean it's fun to speculate these things and then
interesting to look into them,but uh, yeah, just as a
entertainment they're great.
And then next you've got rabbitpunch from 1940.
Audio clip (27:43):
Caught that right.
Come on, come on, let's have ashow here.
Tim Millard (27:45):
Let's really throw some letter Come on, and then
next you've got Rabbit Punchfrom 1948, which is, you know,
it's a boxing match.
Jerry Beck (27:58):
Chuck Jones.
It's kind of a classic, I thinkyou know.
That's all I can really sayabout it.
It's one of those classic ChuckJones.
I mean, you know lots of gags.
I don't even know what else tosay.
I honestly don't know what elseto say about it.
George Feltenstein (28:14):
Well, it just whets your appetite to want
to watch Bunny Hug.
Jerry Beck (28:17):
Right Bunny Hug, which was sort of a not remake,
meaning it's not really a remakeat all.
It's wrestling as opposed toboxing.
George Feltenstein (28:30):
The thematics?
Yeah, you know they.
That would make it great if youhad to put on two cartoons.
Jerry Beck (28:32):
It would be great to just watch those two, you know,
together that that those twotogether uh represent what I
said before, which is how theythere's no way they were going
to remake a cartoon.
I mean, there's there are rarecases where they did literally
remake a cartoon, but very rare,uh, they, they just took the
basic premise and, in in mostcases, the second version, if
(28:58):
you want to call it.
That is some, is many timesbetter than the original.
Uh, one a cartoon I'm gettingoff topic but one a cartoon that
proves that in my opinion Ithink you'd agree with me George
Back Alley Opera with Sylvester.
George Feltenstein (29:12):
Stallone, much better than notes to you.
Jerry Beck (29:15):
It's a remake of an earlier Porky Pig, yeah, but the
remake is better Much better,that is normal.
Whenever they would remakesomething like that, it was
better.
Tim Millard (29:27):
It was better.
Well, I think the big allurefor me and many people about
Bugs Bunny is that he justalways gets the best of
everybody, whoever his opponentis, whether it's a hunter or, in
this case, a boxer, and youknow just how he can get the
best of people make fun of them.
That's part of the allure.
Jerry Beck (29:45):
Well, he's a character we can relate to.
He's offbeat For me as a NewYorker.
He was, you know, he was me,you know, when I was going to
high school, you know, and allthe and all the bad guys were
the bullies in school, and thefact that he always won he made
him a hero to me, makes him ahero to a lot of people, and you
(30:09):
know, that's why we love thatcharacter.
George Feltenstein (30:11):
Well, because of this release, I was
interviewed by a writer for anarticle about this release and I
was talking about how ChuckJones is, you know, one of my, I
would say, favorite directors.
(30:32):
It's really hard to say he's mylike number one because I have
such reverence for avery andclamp it and, uh, frilling for
sure, sure, yep, uh.
But chuck jones I was fortunateenough to get to interview.
We interviewed 500 individualsthat worked at either warner
(30:55):
brothers, mgm or rko for anarchival project that we did.
We started in 1995 and it endedin 2011.
And you see things from thoseinterviews on our DVDs and our
Blu-rays and on Turner ClassicMovies.
And I got to interview ChuckJones and I had met him before.
(31:18):
But he said to me about Bugsand Daffy something that I am
sure he said as a you know, aforward line cemented to anyone
when the subject came up.
This is probably was asked thesame questions.
He said Bugs Bunny is theperson we aspire to be.
(31:43):
Daffy Duck is who we're afraidwe really are Right.
Daffy Duck is who we're afraidwe really are Right.
And when he said it to me itwasn't something I was really
familiar with him saying and Iwas just knocked out by that and
loving these cartoons as muchas I do and loving Bugs and
Daffy as much as I do.
It's so true, and that onelittle group of sentences says
(32:10):
it all.
But we're so fortunate to beable to bring these cartoons out
in this release to the people,made this broader release after
the cartoons were gettingoverlooked in the new release
(32:33):
department.
And finally, warner Archive isempowered to use our dedication
to these cartoons to bring themout to the people who want to
own them on their shelves wherenobody can take them away.
Tim Millard (32:52):
Well, george, that leads me to ask probably the
question that everybodylistening, watching, wants to
know.
I bought Volume 1.
What's the future for theCollective Call?
It's looking pretty good.
George Feltenstein (33:08):
I think it will probably take us a little
longer.
What's the future for thecollector's call?
It's looking pretty good.
I think it will probably takeus a little longer.
It's not like we're working onvolume two right now, even
though Jerry and I have gottenour lists together.
But we need to see how volumeone sells.
But we need to see how Volume 1sells and we are in a business
(33:32):
to earn a profit for theshareholders of Warner Brothers
Discovery.
(33:54):
We have to make sure thisrelease is profitable.
I believe it will be healthy inits profitability but with that
, we're looking at trying tobroaden the got a lot of
animation projects in the worksright now and I think fans are
(34:15):
going to be very happy withwhat's going to come in the
ensuing months.
This is a really wonderfulrelease that I hope people can
enjoy and share with theirfriends and just know that our
goal is a volume two and to makeit absolutely a knockout out of
the park, as I think we've donehere.
(34:36):
I hope we've done here and, uh,we want to keep everybody happy
.
It's impossible to keepeveryone happy, but we're trying
our best.
Tim Millard (34:47):
Well, george, I'm happy.
Yeah, these are fantastic.
And you know, I got the Blu-raya little bit earlier than
Street Date.
So, as crazy as this sounds,I've watched them more than once
because the first viewing wasjust, I was kind of just
(35:08):
overtaken by how beautiful theylooked and they sounded.
And then, upon rewatching, Ijust kind of just sat back and
just, you know, just enjoying itagain and just really getting
to get into the storyline andthe beauty of these.
George Feltenstein (35:25):
Well, that's wonderful.
Tim Millard (35:26):
Yeah, so if it takes a little bit longer, there
are 50 cartoons on here.
George Feltenstein (35:31):
And there will be 50 on the next volume
and we're going to follow thesame path and it's exciting the
possibilities.
We're tossing around a lot ofdifferent ideas.
Right, right, right.
Tim Millard (35:46):
Well, as always, Jerry, George, I love these
conversations.
So much fun to talk about theseclassic films, as we call them.
So thank you so much for comingon the podcast.
George Feltenstein (35:57):
Thank you, tim and Jerry, as always my
friend.
Tim Millard (36:02):
Well, you've been listening to part two of our
discussion about the LooneyTunes Collector's Vault volume
one release with Jerry Beck andGeorge Feltenstein.
If you haven't yet had a chanceto listen to the first part of
this episode, just look in ourYouTube channel or on our
podcast show list and you canlisten to that at any time.
I think you'll enjoy it Untilnext time.
(36:23):
You've been listening to TimMillard.
Stay slightly obsessed aboutanimation.
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andthis is part two of my ongoing
discussion with animationhistorian Jerry Beck and George
Feltenstein of the WarnerArchive.
As we talk about the recentlyreleased Looney Tunes
Collector's Vault Volume 1Blu-ray.
Well, we've been dabbling inDisc 2 cartoons here.
But let's turn the page to Disc2.
(00:23):
Absolutely.
You know that if disc one isdefinitely for collectors
default, you know, uh, this toois is got all of the characters
that people know.
Yeah, I shouldn't say all thecharacters, but so many
characters that people know andlove and enjoy and some of the
all-time favorites.
Um, you've got obviously a lotof bugs bunny cartoons on here
(00:47):
and there weren't really toomany in the collector's choice
releases because a lot of themhave been released so, um, so
there's going to be a lot herethat we can talk about that are
fan favorites, um, and then youalso have speedy gonzalez and
pepe lepew in this, uh, thisrelease as well.
But I thought we could startwith those notable Daffy Duck
(01:08):
cartoons that you previewed,porky's Duck Hunt from 1937, tex
Avery as well.
Audio clip (01:19):
Hey, that wasn't in the script.
Don't let it worry you, skipper, I'm just a crazy darn fool
duck.
Tim Millard (01:34):
Daffy is totally crazy and some amazing gags in
this one.
I really enjoyed this one.
Jerry Beck (01:41):
Yeah, that's what put the character on the map.
They learned early on aroundthis time that the Porky Pig
goes hunting motif as a scenariowas working with audiences.
They didn't know whether it wasthe wacky zany character he was
chasing or if it was Porkyhimself and his reactions or
(02:04):
just the premise that it washunting.
Maybe they actually believed atone point there that it was the
situation of hunting that wasthe thing that was driving it
and making it funny and popular.
So they made many, many, as younote, if you go back in that
period, they made many, manyhunting cartoons, whether it was
(02:26):
Porky or Egghead or whatever.
That was what they thought wasthe thing.
But soon they learned it wasthe character, the crazy
character, whether it was DaffyDuck or the rabbit, whatever.
And then they realized that andthey went off from there.
But the hunting aspect and ofcourse hunting was a big deal, a
(02:47):
bigger deal than I think itmight be today Back then it was
a rite of passage for people,for the young men in particular,
and so it was a thing peoplecould relate to and imagine.
A screwball duck, you know, inthe middle of the marsh, you
know, that's where it comes from.
Tim Millard (03:12):
Well, there's another Daffy one the next year,
1938, daffy Duck and Egghead.
Yeah, and I thought that washighly notable as well.
Again, just to continue, andthis is we're talking about them
out of order from where howthey play on the on the uh disc.
But it starts with that veryfunny disclaimer.
You know, characters portrayedor not, you know there's a
(03:34):
disclaimer at the beginning andit just gets crazier from there.
Jerry Beck (03:37):
Uh right, just that's the beginning of the
emergence of the Warner Brotherscartoon style of humor, the
style absolutely Before that, asGeorge has mentioned, the
cartoons were, you know, basedaround a song and were pretty
much of that three act, you know, introduce a character and
(03:58):
their family danger and then theresolution to the danger.
Pretty much many, many cartoonshad that scenario.
This was the beginning of newideas, new thinking, I think
remind me, but Daffy, duck andEgghead, even as the classic bit
of talking back to the audience, not just breaking the fourth
(04:19):
wall but a person standing up, Ibelieve you know, and I mean
this was brand new.
I always try to explain this tothe classes I teach, because to
us it's, it's, we grew up withthis.
But to be in a theater where,where they're talking to
somebody in the audience and thesilhouette of the character
(04:41):
several rows ahead of you, oh myGod, it was an interactive
experience and it was also notthe kind of thing disney would
ever do.
It was just not what people wereused to.
Disney was the high watermark,the class.
Uh, what a cartoon was.
Warner's was the reflection ofthat.
Warner's was the saturdaysaturday night live skit of it.
(05:03):
You, you know the Mad Magazineparody of that and this was the
beginning.
Right there, right there, thebeginning of that style happens,
right there.
George Feltenstein (05:13):
Well, introducing irreverent anarchy.
Anti-establishment, if you will.
I mean establishment, if youwill, I mean they just were
young, creative, talentedinnovators and that's why their
cartoons in my mind, along withAvery when he went to MGM, and
(05:38):
Tom and Jerry.
Nobody made funnier cartoonsand some companies made cartoons
that were beautiful to look atand had no humor at all.
Warner brothers really takesthe cake when it comes to comedy
and, of course, when tex haveryleft he brought his own anarchy
over to mgm and, uh, I thinkthat even influenced tom and
(06:04):
jerry termite terrorists.
Jerry Beck (06:06):
Sorry, as much as we love the MGM cartoons and we do
and we love Avery, but there'ssomething about the Warner
Brothers cartoons and thatsomething is I've said this
before it's like the Beatles.
I use that as an analogybecause it's these people,
meaning the Warner Brothers crewof artists, the people who
became the directors FrankTashlin, you know, Bob Clampett,
(06:29):
their particular point of view,their skewed, you know POV.
But it was also the facilitiesof the studio had first class
compared to other studios likewalter lance.
They had, you know, they had alevel budgets for these.
(06:50):
They had talent, they had themusic, they had carl stalling,
they had mel blank, they had.
It was a combination of thesefactors that makes the warner
cartoon great and uh, and thisand this collection, it really
does personify that.
Tim Millard (07:06):
Yeah, well, I want to go now back to the one you
mentioned earlier, jerry Birth,of a Notion from 1947.
You know, daffy's looking for awinter home and he's trying to
ingratiate himself to this dog.
And then there's this scientist.
Yeah, peter Lorre needs awishbone, a duck wishbone, for
(07:27):
his experiment.
This is a wacky awesome cartoon.
Jerry Beck (07:31):
This is one of the first ones that I think McKimson
did, and he animates on a lotof these things.
He was like their best animator.
As a kid I actually was scaredby this cartoon.
Even though it's so, it'swonderful.
It's the Peter Lorre caricature.
As a kid I actually was scaredby this cartoon.
Even though it's so, it'swonderful.
(07:52):
The Peter Lorre caricature is soreal-looking to me and he's so
evil and he's so versus Daffy atmaybe his screwiest, really
crazy slapping him, punching him, doing things to the
protagonist that we normallydon't even see but that they do,
uh and uh it works.
It's these two.
It's the two extremes at theirmost extreme in in the cartoon
(08:15):
world, in my opinion.
Uh, and that's part of whatmakes it especially interesting
yeah, yeah, I well said thesethree daffies.
Tim Millard (08:25):
I mean it's fantastic, um, I just thought.
George Feltenstein (08:29):
So there are so many good daffies on this
disc.
Yes, there are some great bugscartoons, yep, some of my
favorites, um, I mean everycharacter is served well by the
whole 50 film set.
Tim Millard (08:44):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (08:51):
You know, with obviously some of the
cartoons not having centralcharacters, but everybody gets a
little bit of their screen timehere, yeah Right.
Tim Millard (08:55):
Well, why don't we talk about one of those that
hasn't been on any of thecollector's choice releases,
that's Speedy Gonzales?
You have two on here.
Jerry Beck (09:04):
You've got cat tails for two from 1983, the first
one yes, some might say we onlyhave one on here, because in
that first one, uh, he's reallykind of a little different than
he.
His character design isdifferent and they had they.
This was.
It was a one-off again, whatthey would do is I love that
(09:25):
they did this they would have todo X number of Bugs Bunnies.
They'd have to do a Porky and aDaffy or some of the other
Foghorns, some of the othercharacters that now became
famous.
But they always allowedthemselves one or two each year,
just miscellaneous subjects,the kind of thing that brings us
One Froggy Evening or the RalphPhillips cartoons or whatever.
(09:48):
They would experiment with anew idea, new character.
That's what Cat Tales for Twois.
None of these are ever meant tobe anything beyond a one-off,
but the idea of Speedy Gonzalezgrabbed them, and the next year
McKimson didn't just keep thatcharacter, he kind of shared it
(10:11):
with Frizz Freeling.
Frizz said let me have a whackat that idea and redesigned the
character, made him a littlemore appealing.
George Feltenstein (10:18):
And got an Oscar.
Jerry Beck (10:20):
And got an Oscar right, and that was the
beginning of that series.
Probably the last, I would say,without just doing this really
quick in my head, but that'sprobably the last great
character.
Uh, that was a regular, youknow.
They developed a few othercharacters later, but this might
have been the latest one.
You know the roadrunner wascame about earlier.
(10:43):
Um, even the tasmanian devil,which mckimpson came up with, I
think, comes out, you know,earlier, before Speedy, the
first Speedy Gonzalez cartoon.
So this is kind of the last ofthe great characters from the
studio.
Tim Millard (11:08):
And then you have the.
The second one on there is theGonzalez Tamales from 57.
Jerry Beck (11:13):
Yeah.
George Feltenstein (11:13):
What's that After the Oscar.
Tim Millard (11:18):
Yes, after the Oscar, and this one has all the
town mice, hire Sylvester to getSpeedy and I think it's so good
.
Jerry Beck (11:27):
You know they always had to come up with that's the
thing I'll tell you.
Other studios, other studios,lesser studios.
They come up with some idea forthe character premise and then
they just repeat it over andover again.
You characters like not to putthem down.
(11:48):
George knows I love thesecharacters, but Casper sorry
characters like Casper or MaddieMouse or something it's really
the same cartoon over and overagain.
At Warner's they'd come up witha character and, with some very
rare exceptions, they wouldalways try to make the next
cartoon different.
(12:10):
It's just the character is thesame, the scenario is a little
different, or a lot different insome cases, and that's again
another one of the things thatmakes these cartoons repeatable
and enjoyable.
You can do a binge watch of abunch of that one character
because they're different.
Each cartoon has a differentstory.
Tim Millard (12:32):
Yeah, well, I wanted to go back to one you
mentioned earlier, jerry, andthat's that Banty Raids from
1963.
Audio clip (12:43):
Oh yeah, how about that the pads patrolled with a
real jazzy plan.
I can like storm the gates, digthis, get up, man.
It's the most sick, man, sick.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Sick man, sick.
What in the name of Jesse James, do you suppose that is?
Tim Millard (13:14):
Is this one McKimpson's last Foghorn Leghorn
?
Jerry Beck (13:19):
Without looking it up, I don't think it is.
In fact I think we put on thelast set.
I think we did False Hair,which is the last theatrical
Bugs Bunny from that period andthat's 64.
And it's directed by McKimsonand Foghorn makes a cameo in
that cartoon.
So that really is the reallylast appearance of Foghorn
(13:42):
Leghorn by McKimson, then it'sone of the later, later ones.
Then, uh, it's one of the laterlater ones.
Uh, it's interesting because ofthe oddball beatnik references
in it and you know it's a littlemore in tune of kind of what
was going on at the time, youknow, um 60s slang uh, groovy
(14:03):
man, and you know you know again, uh, a demonstration of even
that later date, uh, that theythey were not aimed at children.
This was not a children'scharacter, he was a swinger,
he's a yeah like chicks you know, they go off on that a little
bit in the film and so, uh, youknow, it's that one is that's a
(14:28):
cult classic.
I think A lot of people I knowlike that one in particular
because of the strangeness.
Tim Millard (14:34):
Oh, it's terrific, it's terrific.
And then you have a couple ofPepe Le Pew that you put on this
release.
So you know, fans of Pepe havetwo on here.
Older Able Kitty from 1945.
Yeah, and that's the one wherethe male cat disguises himself.
Jerry Beck (14:53):
Well, if we didn't say it before and we didn't that
makes another first cartoonAbsolutely.
George Feltenstein (14:58):
Because that's the first.
Jerry Beck (14:59):
Pepe Le Pew.
There we go and he's not quitethe character yet.
In fact he's not even right.
I mean there's a lot of thingsthat are just off about that one
, but it's great.
I mean it's chuck jones andit's 1945 and it looks great and
um and uh, and the pestperfumants, I believe is the
name.
And that one is one of myfavorites because it takes place
(15:21):
, I believe I'm sorry to saythis, I haven't watched it again
, but that's the one that takesplace in a movie studio, right?
Tim Millard (15:26):
yeah, the silent movie theater yeah, I love that
one.
Yeah, that was, that's the onethat takes place in a movie
studio.
Jerry Beck (15:28):
Right, yeah, the silent movie theater.
Yeah, I love that one.
Tim Millard (15:30):
Yeah, that was terrific.
That's really a classic, Ithink.
Jerry Beck (15:32):
Yeah, and they never really repeated.
They would always do newvariants of those gags where
they're taking some French wordor making it Americanizing.
They did that a lot and I never.
I was always looking to see ifthey just repeated this again.
(15:52):
They never did.
They never repeated those typeof gags and I love that about
that series.
They're really funny, if youget it.
I will say this because Pepe'sbeen, you know, had a problem in
recent years, but people areforgetting that.
That's the joke.
We're meant to laugh at him.
(16:13):
We don't.
We're not with him.
You know we're not thecharacter he is.
You know we are laughing at howkind of stupid he is in terms
of how he thinks he's going toget, you know, a lover in this
particular cartoon.
He's going about it all wrongand that's the point of the
series, right, and you know.
That's why they're not.
(16:35):
You know they're not wrong,they're not wrong.
Tim Millard (16:39):
Well, we're going to talk about Bugs Bunny, but
before we do, I did want tobring up these terrific
roadrunners Gee Whiz from 1956and Zoom and Board from 57.
George Feltenstein (16:51):
Zoom and Board is one of my favorite
Roadrunners, so good right.
Audio clip (16:54):
Yeah.
Jerry Beck (16:56):
Yes, I'll tell you if you watch them once in a
while, as opposed to a bingewatch on a set devoted to the
Roadrunner.
Well, all the 19, all of allthe Chuck Jones ones are good.
There's there's good stuff, butthese are, in particular, great
.
They play.
(17:17):
I say these, I say this becauseI have shown them in my little
public programs.
You just show one the other prothe rest of the stuff on the
program, like the set or othercharacters and other things.
Boy does that kill.
I I'm saying this from showingit in a theater with an audience
kill laughter today.
(17:37):
These days, part of the problemif there is no problem, but
part of the problem of peoplewatching the roadrunner now is
they're seeing it in theisolation of their home with
nobody laughing around it.
George Feltenstein (17:50):
Those cartoons are great, yeah, yeah I
mean I think that makes that.
This is certainly something Iwould encourage people to get
their friends to come over andhave a communal viewing
experience, because there isnothing like watching a Warner
Brothers cartoon with anaudience, and Jerry and I have
(18:13):
both and I've been with him onseveral occasions when this has
happened be in a movie theaterand when that shield comes up,
people go crazy right and Ithink it speaks to the power of
the excellence and resiliency ofthe looney tunes and merry
melodies.
(18:34):
And when you, you know, have asmany people over as you can
comfortably fit in your home orapartment and show these discs,
do two and then have anotherparty for disc one.
For people who want to digdeeper, whatever, bring people
(18:55):
over, make popcorn.
This is the best way to seethem technologically watching
them in your home with thisbeautiful new presentation,
watching them in your home withthis beautiful new presentation,
but have that communalexperience of watching with
other people.
It's the best way to do it.
Tim Millard (19:16):
And I'll add something.
I've never mentioned thisbefore, but we had some students
come over from a foreigncountry when I was in high
school and they didn't speakEnglish, and we would watch
these cartoons and we would alllaugh in the same place,
especially the Roadrunners,because there's no English.
(19:37):
I mean, there's really nodialogue, no dialogue, yeah.
Yeah, there's no dialogue, andso the humor, everything just
comes across through the actionand not through the dialogue,
and so those were alwaysfavorites and we could all enjoy
them together.
So it was interesting how thatcrosses all language barriers.
Those roadrunners.
Audio clip (20:03):
Okay, okay, break it up.
Show's over.
Next demonstration tomorrowmorning.
Go on scream.
Another day, another carrot.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
Oh Rabbit here, buddy , where are you, buddy?
Ah, there you are.
Audio clip (20:28):
Oh Rabbit here buddy , where are you, buddy?
Ah, there you are.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
What's up, doc?
Come along.
Little chum, the sale's over,we're transferring you to
another department.
Audio clip (20:41):
Ah me, A rabbit's work is never done.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Right in here, little chum.
Audio clip (20:49):
Hmm, Taxi doy me, Taxi doy me.
Tim Millard (20:54):
Well, obviously there's a lot of Bugs Bunny on
this release and I know a lot ofpeople, of course you know,
were anxiously waiting to getthese all collected together, so
we should talk about themstarting with Hair Conditioned
1945.
Which is one of my favoritecartoons by far.
George Feltenstein (21:18):
It has it's Jones.
It has like bugs really lockeddown.
Yeah, you know, five years intothe progression after Wild Hair
, and each director treated Bugsa little differently.
Tim Millard (21:35):
He did him a little differently.
George Feltenstein (21:37):
But I am very partial to Jones' take on
Bugs and the way he deals withthe department store owner or
manager or whatever in thatcartoon, who is a parody of a
radio character of the time, theGreat Gildersleeve, which was a
(22:01):
radio show with Harold Peary,and there were even some Great
Gildersleeve's movies that cameout from RKO which we did put on
DVD as part of the WoundedArchive collection.
But they even have the joke inthe cartoon, you know Bugs goes
hey, you remind me of the greatGildersleeves.
(22:22):
You know, I do.
I mean, I just love the insidejokes like that and when he's
trying on the shoes and there'sjust so much great stuff, so
many gags.
It's a perfect cartoon and itisn't the one that people talk
(22:42):
about the way they'll talk aboutwhat's Opera Doc or rabbit
seasoning.
It isn't, you know, one of thelike absolute iconic Bugs
cartoons, but it's absolutelyone of the best.
Tim Millard (22:59):
Yeah.
So, it's great to have this,this one on here and then next
we have another one from 45 hairtrigger.
This is B's first encounter.
George Feltenstein (23:11):
It introduced a new character to
the world.
I believe yeah.
Jerry Beck (23:15):
Another first.
Yeah, how many firsts are onthis set.
Tim Millard (23:18):
Yeah, and that's of course, yosemite Sam.
For those listening andwatching saying who is it?
And it's on a train, I meanit's terrific.
And they break that fourth wallat the end as well.
I mean this is just a reallyfun one.
George Feltenstein (23:33):
I love that cartoon.
Tim Millard (23:35):
It's so fun, so much fun.
George Feltenstein (23:38):
And it's fun to watch the evolution of
Yosemite Sam.
And for those who don't know,yosemite Sam was very much based
on the image of fritz frillinghimself.
Uh, you know, visually and uh,and possibly temperament as well
(23:58):
.
I can't speak to that, but,jerry, I bet could, that's
what's been said yes and uh,that's they.
Jerry Beck (24:05):
You know they were able to, really, you know,
animate him and uh, you knowthey, they were able to, really,
you know, animate him and youknow they knew the character.
They just didn't want to.
But Freeling was cool with that, you know he was totally.
George Feltenstein (24:14):
That's the beauty of it.
So unpretentious.
So everybody in for deliveringthe laughs.
Making it look great, making itsound great.
These cartoons are just to betreasured, and that's what we're
trying to do.
Tim Millard (24:33):
I just have a soft spot for Yosemite, sam.
I mean I love it.
And then, of course, I justremember growing up and you know
you'd be on the road, highwayand there'd be a big truck and
it would have those flaps, mudflaps.
Yeah, of course, and it would gooff, you know, but that was the
attitude People.
I think really you either knowsomebody or you are that type of
(24:56):
attitude, yeah, and it makesyou laugh, or it's good if you
can laugh at it.
Put it that way, knowing itabout yourself or somebody else.
So I just that's a great oneand it's fun that that's the
first appearance of yosemite sam.
And then from 1946 you've gotuh uh, rhapsody, rabbit and
(25:18):
george.
We recently talked about yourrhapsody in blue release, right
and it's just I was tempted.
George Feltenstein (25:26):
I deliberately did not put any
cartoons or extras on thatrelease because the film is so
long and we've got the overture.
I really wanted to keep itintact for what it was, but it
was very tempting to putRhapsody Rabbit on there.
(25:46):
But Rhapsody Rabbit isclassical music and the irony of
Rhapsody Rabbit is that it'sbasically the same plot device
as Tom and Jerry and the CatConcerto.
Jerry Beck (26:02):
Right, and there's been a long debate of who came
up with the idea first, becausethey're even spoofing the same
piece of classical music.
Yeah, that's a whole debate.
We can't answer the questionbecause it's a mystery that
hasn't been solved.
All the creators, though, intheir day, in later years,
(26:25):
speaking to fans and whatever,they all looked and saw and Cat
Conchita won the Oscar, by theway.
George Feltenstein (26:30):
Right.
Jerry Beck (26:34):
She made it short that year.
But they say it was just acomplete coincidence and the
only evidence of that really isthe way the gags are different.
You know meaning it's just thepremise different.
You know meaning it, it's justthe premise, uh.
But that said, it does seem alittle odd that that bugs bunny
would be wearing a tuxedo givinga recital versus a mouse.
(26:55):
That does seem more likesomething that tom and jerry
would do.
But that said, even tom andjerry didn't do that.
You know, they were normally inthe home.
You know, chasing around thehouse.
So it was an unusual conceptfor both characters and it's
kind of interesting to see howthe directors could use both
(27:16):
concepts and how they would doit.
I think everybody agreesthey're both great, you know.
George Feltenstein (27:21):
And very different.
Jerry Beck (27:22):
Yeah, there's nobody going.
That one's better than thisEverybody.
They're both great cartoons,yeah, yeah.
Tim Millard (27:27):
I mean it's fun to speculate these things and then
interesting to look into them,but uh, yeah, just as a
entertainment they're great.
And then next you've got rabbitpunch from 1940.
Audio clip (27:43):
Caught that right.
Come on, come on, let's have ashow here.
Tim Millard (27:45):
Let's really throw some letter Come on, and then
next you've got Rabbit Punchfrom 1948, which is, you know,
it's a boxing match.
Jerry Beck (27:58):
Chuck Jones.
It's kind of a classic, I thinkyou know.
That's all I can really sayabout it.
It's one of those classic ChuckJones.
I mean, you know lots of gags.
I don't even know what else tosay.
I honestly don't know what elseto say about it.
George Feltenstein (28:14):
Well, it just whets your appetite to want
to watch Bunny Hug.
Jerry Beck (28:17):
Right Bunny Hug, which was sort of a not remake,
meaning it's not really a remakeat all.
It's wrestling as opposed toboxing.
George Feltenstein (28:30):
The thematics?
Yeah, you know they.
That would make it great if youhad to put on two cartoons.
Jerry Beck (28:32):
It would be great to just watch those two, you know,
together that that those twotogether uh represent what I
said before, which is how theythere's no way they were going
to remake a cartoon.
I mean, there's there are rarecases where they did literally
remake a cartoon, but very rare,uh, they, they just took the
basic premise and, in in mostcases, the second version, if
(28:58):
you want to call it.
That is some, is many timesbetter than the original.
Uh, one a cartoon I'm gettingoff topic but one a cartoon that
proves that in my opinion Ithink you'd agree with me George
Back Alley Opera with Sylvester.
George Feltenstein (29:12):
Stallone, much better than notes to you.
Jerry Beck (29:15):
It's a remake of an earlier Porky Pig, yeah, but the
remake is better Much better,that is normal.
Whenever they would remakesomething like that, it was
better.
Tim Millard (29:27):
It was better.
Well, I think the big allurefor me and many people about
Bugs Bunny is that he justalways gets the best of
everybody, whoever his opponentis, whether it's a hunter or, in
this case, a boxer, and youknow just how he can get the
best of people make fun of them.
That's part of the allure.
Jerry Beck (29:45):
Well, he's a character we can relate to.
He's offbeat For me as a NewYorker.
He was, you know, he was me,you know, when I was going to
high school, you know, and allthe and all the bad guys were
the bullies in school, and thefact that he always won he made
him a hero to me, makes him ahero to a lot of people, and you
(30:09):
know, that's why we love thatcharacter.
George Feltenstein (30:11):
Well, because of this release, I was
interviewed by a writer for anarticle about this release and I
was talking about how ChuckJones is, you know, one of my, I
would say, favorite directors.
(30:32):
It's really hard to say he's mylike number one because I have
such reverence for avery andclamp it and, uh, frilling for
sure, sure, yep, uh.
But chuck jones I was fortunateenough to get to interview.
We interviewed 500 individualsthat worked at either warner
(30:55):
brothers, mgm or rko for anarchival project that we did.
We started in 1995 and it endedin 2011.
And you see things from thoseinterviews on our DVDs and our
Blu-rays and on Turner ClassicMovies.
And I got to interview ChuckJones and I had met him before.
(31:18):
But he said to me about Bugsand Daffy something that I am
sure he said as a you know, aforward line cemented to anyone
when the subject came up.
This is probably was asked thesame questions.
He said Bugs Bunny is theperson we aspire to be.
(31:43):
Daffy Duck is who we're afraidwe really are Right.
Daffy Duck is who we're afraidwe really are Right.
And when he said it to me itwasn't something I was really
familiar with him saying and Iwas just knocked out by that and
loving these cartoons as muchas I do and loving Bugs and
Daffy as much as I do.
It's so true, and that onelittle group of sentences says
(32:10):
it all.
But we're so fortunate to beable to bring these cartoons out
in this release to the people,made this broader release after
the cartoons were gettingoverlooked in the new release
(32:33):
department.
And finally, warner Archive isempowered to use our dedication
to these cartoons to bring themout to the people who want to
own them on their shelves wherenobody can take them away.
Tim Millard (32:52):
Well, george, that leads me to ask probably the
question that everybodylistening, watching, wants to
know.
I bought Volume 1.
What's the future for theCollective Call?
It's looking pretty good.
George Feltenstein (33:08):
I think it will probably take us a little
longer.
What's the future for thecollector's call?
It's looking pretty good.
I think it will probably takeus a little longer.
It's not like we're working onvolume two right now, even
though Jerry and I have gottenour lists together.
But we need to see how volumeone sells.
But we need to see how Volume 1sells and we are in a business
(33:32):
to earn a profit for theshareholders of Warner Brothers
Discovery.
(33:54):
We have to make sure thisrelease is profitable.
I believe it will be healthy inits profitability but with that
, we're looking at trying tobroaden the got a lot of
animation projects in the worksright now and I think fans are
(34:15):
going to be very happy withwhat's going to come in the
ensuing months.
This is a really wonderfulrelease that I hope people can
enjoy and share with theirfriends and just know that our
goal is a volume two and to makeit absolutely a knockout out of
the park, as I think we've donehere.
(34:36):
I hope we've done here and, uh,we want to keep everybody happy
.
It's impossible to keepeveryone happy, but we're trying
our best.
Tim Millard (34:47):
Well, george, I'm happy.
Yeah, these are fantastic.
And you know, I got the Blu-raya little bit earlier than
Street Date.
So, as crazy as this sounds,I've watched them more than once
because the first viewing wasjust, I was kind of just
(35:08):
overtaken by how beautiful theylooked and they sounded.
And then, upon rewatching, Ijust kind of just sat back and
just, you know, just enjoying itagain and just really getting
to get into the storyline andthe beauty of these.
George Feltenstein (35:25):
Well, that's wonderful.
Tim Millard (35:26):
Yeah, so if it takes a little bit longer, there
are 50 cartoons on here.
George Feltenstein (35:31):
And there will be 50 on the next volume
and we're going to follow thesame path and it's exciting the
possibilities.
We're tossing around a lot ofdifferent ideas.
Right, right, right.
Tim Millard (35:46):
Well, as always, Jerry, George, I love these
conversations.
So much fun to talk about theseclassic films, as we call them.
So thank you so much for comingon the podcast.
George Feltenstein (35:57):
Thank you, tim and Jerry, as always my
friend.
Tim Millard (36:02):
Well, you've been listening to part two of our
discussion about the LooneyTunes Collector's Vault volume
one release with Jerry Beck andGeorge Feltenstein.
If you haven't yet had a chanceto listen to the first part of
this episode, just look in ourYouTube channel or on our
podcast show list and you canlisten to that at any time.
I think you'll enjoy it Untilnext time.
(36:23):
You've been listening to TimMillard.
Stay slightly obsessed aboutanimation.
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