June 25, 2025 • 55 mins
Animation historian Jerry Beck and George Feltenstein of the Warner Archive officially "open the vault" in this broad review of disc one of the recently released Looney Tunes Collector's Vault Volume 1. Our far-ranging discussion includes a history of the last 35 years of Looney Tunes restoration, debunking of some restoration myths, select reviews, and Jerry's shocking "cartoons in a porno theater" story. When Jerry and George talk animation, you know it's going to be fun, informative, and always full of a few surprises. Looney Tunes super-fans, this is one podcast you don't want to miss!
Purchase Links: Looney Tunes Collector's Vault Vol. 1
Also discussed: Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Vol. 1 (Blu-ray)
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Vol. 2 (Blu-ray)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein of the WarnerArchive and animation historian
Jerry Beck, to review the recentrelease Looney Tunes
Collector's Vault, volume 1Blu-ray.
Hi George, hi Jerry, hello,hello, hello.
These are some of my favoritepodcasts, george, and I enjoy
(00:24):
all of them with you, but whenwe add Jerry and you two are
talking animation, it's alwaysfantastic.
I learned so much and the fansreally enjoyed it as well.
So I know I've been lookingforward to this and I think a
lot of people are lookingforward to hearing our review of
this brand new Blu-ray.
So what's been the feedback sofar?
(00:45):
I mean, it's only been out fora few days.
George Feltenstein (00:48):
Well, happily, there was a plentiful
amount of pre-orders and aplentiful amount of supply, so
it was so refreshing for me tosee people on social media
showing their release that theyhad it in their hands on street
date, which is what we alwaysstrive for.
(01:11):
That doesn't always happen, butwe're trying to eliminate a lot
of those manufacturing andother delays that have been a
problem.
I think we're on a better track, and getting this out as early
as it did was just proof of that.
Tim Millard (01:32):
Yeah, I mean, I think I've seen a lot of posts,
a lot of people very eager todive in, and I'm sure that some
people are doing it today andwill be doing it this weekend,
that some people are doing ittoday and will be doing it this
weekend so that they can diveinto this collector's vault.
And I do want to just take oneminute, before we get too far
into our review, to remindpeople that if you haven't heard
(01:55):
the previous podcast wherewe've talked about the
collector's vault, those areavailable both in audio podcasts
and on our YouTube channel,both in audio podcasts and on
our YouTube channel.
And the point of this Vaultseries, jerry, just to remind
everybody, we have two discs.
Jerry Beck (02:13):
Yeah, this Vault series is different from the
Collector's Choice because discone really follows the same
pattern of what we were doing onthe previous series.
Collector's Choice, which isreally deep dives into Warner
(02:34):
Brothers cartoons that havenever been on Blu-ray or DVD,
restoring them.
These are aimed at thecollectors yes, everyone can
enjoy them but we are definitelyaiming more toward the people
who are collecting every cartoon.
I know I personally was doingthat decades ago when I was
researching the animation.
I was trying to locate everycartoon I can see and we know
(02:58):
people are doing that.
Now the other disc.
What makes the Vault seriesspectacular is that we have a
second disc.
We have double.
The cartoons and the seconddisc are great, great warner
brothers cartoons, classic bugs,bunnies and tweeties and that
that may have appeared on dvd,but this is their blu-ray debut.
(03:21):
So if you're a collector, youknow these are.
You've got a double dose here,uh and uh for the collection,
and we'll talk about how greatthey look.
Tim Millard (03:31):
These are the cartoons, kind of as perfectly
as we can have them yeah, and II mentioned this on a previous
podcast but the price point isbasically the same as the old
collector's vault, depending onwhere you go to purchase them.
And this time, though, you gettwo discs, 50 cartoons for the
(03:53):
price of what you were gettingabout 25 before, so it's a great
value as well.
But let's dive right in.
I mean, my first reaction isfantastic.
Of course, I said that aboutthe previous four releases, but
I love the fact that, as I said,you get two discs, so you get
not only the kind of the moreobscure ones on disc one that
(04:15):
are definitely for collectors,but then you put on disc two and
you've got so many of yourfavorites.
But we'll hold off on talkingabout this, too, because disc
one has three brand newrestorations.
I thought we'd start there withthose because I thought they
looked horrific, and we'll startwith.
George Feltenstein (04:35):
let's see of Fox and Hounds from 1940, that
(04:56):
Tex.
Audio clip (04:56):
Avery.
Which way did they go?
Which way did they go?
Where did the dogs go?
Which way did they go?
Which way did they go?
Where did the dogs go?
Which way did they go?
Tim Millard (05:09):
I was blown away by how good this looks and sounds,
and it's a terrific cartoon.
Jerry Beck (05:15):
Yeah, it's sort of in that period when Avery and
the others were exploring thechase cartoon, avery was
developing that kind of wise guypersona.
You could see that this isdefinitely, you know, almost a
companion to things like WildHair.
You know, there's that wise guyFox.
(05:36):
It's an extremely interestingcartoon in that there's to me in
the very beginning it's got alot of dark.
It takes place in the earlymorning.
You don't get that on theprevious any showings of it.
In the past, when we were kids,it was a very dark looking
cartoon.
Now you can see everything.
It's really funny.
(05:57):
Avery, I believe, is the voiceof Willoughby, the dog in it
which is pretty crazy.
Be the dog in it, you know whichis pretty crazy.
And um, uh, you know, george,maybe you could say something
about the fact.
Why wouldn't a cartoon havebeen restored like like that one
earlier?
And there's reasons for that.
It's not just that we'veignored it.
There's, there's legitimatereasons why certain cartoons
(06:21):
were at the end of the line.
George Feltenstein (06:24):
Well, you know, it's where they fall in
the chronology that goes back,really, I would say, to the
1980s, because prior to that youhad a group of cartoons that
were licensed to networktelevision.
They used 35 millimeter printsfor the Bugs Bunny show, the
(06:47):
Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Hour, theDappy Duck show, the Porky Pig
show.
You know there started to be alot of fractured network
Saturday morning shows butstarting with the reruns of the
Bugs Bunny show and whatnot,that was all 35 millimeter there
were.
To remind people that aren'taware and I think most people
(07:10):
that are watching slash,listening to this, are aware it
wasn't until Time Warner'spurchase of Turner Broadcasting
in 1996 that the entire WarnerLibrary was reunited, because
all cartoons made before August31st 1948, were in other hands
(07:39):
due to the sale of the libraryby the Warner Brothers in 1956.
It took 40 years for us to geteverything put back together and
the black and white LooneyTunes were sold to another
company even before that.
That ended up in the Warnerlair, so to speak.
(07:59):
So, in order to have everythingtogether, initially it was the
impetus of home video that hadpeople taking a look and saying,
well, what do we have now onthe Warner side of things,
(08:19):
basically the post 50, if youwill.
Uh, there was a concerted effortof maintaining 35 millimeter
materials.
On the other side it wasprimarily under the care of
United Artists, or ownership ofUnited Artists, from 1958 when
they bought Associated ArtistsProductions, until 1981 when MGM
(08:45):
bought United ArtistCorporation.
During the UA period.
All they really cared about wasa 16 millimeter picket track.
That's all they really caredabout the 35 millimeter
materials.
The negative materials werestored properly in a nitrate
(09:06):
archive, but it was all about 16millimeter.
Syndication and home videostarted that.
There were some really awful nooffense meant to anyone.
Before I got to MJMUA homevideo, there were these video
for kids clamshell releases thatwere taken off 16 millimeter
(09:29):
prints.
You know the daffy duck cartoonfilm festival featuring all my
aching back or that's a bigtitle I'm making up, but uh,
when you have people that don'tknow of these American animated
classic films and think it's kidstuff, this is what happens.
(09:51):
So that's how things were toKirk Krikorian and the Warner
Library was put under MGM, aswere certain rights to the RKO
Library that became TurnerEntertainment Co because they
(10:14):
sold the MGM name.
That's why Amazon has it andthe MGM Lion logo.
So MGM Entertainment Companyhad to become Turner
Entertainment Company, butwithin the first year of
ownership, turner Broadcastingwent to all the pre-48 cartoons
(10:37):
and created off 35 millimeterrelease prints, mostly
Technicolor, uh, mostly nitrate,uh.
They created one inch analogvideo masters.
Now you look at them.
Now they're soft, uh, they'redirty, they're.
They're not great, but when wesaw them in 1987 and 888 jerry
(11:03):
and I oh was like oh my God,we're seeing these in 35mm.
Jerry Beck (11:06):
Oh my God it was.
I got to digress, I got to notdigress, but I got to interrupt
it with my own recollections.
I love listening to this partof the history of it, the I used
to, as, even as a kid, and as Iwas getting more and more into
the cartoons.
I think you might've done thistoo, george.
I don't think we ever mentionedit, but I used to think of the
(11:27):
pre-48s and the ones they ran onChannel 5.
George Feltenstein (11:31):
Who had rights to both packages.
Jerry Beck (11:34):
I call those the local versions and whatever was
run on CBS Saturday morning orin TV specials that they were
doing in the 70s where they weretaking from 35.
And I was like I used to callit in my head, cbs level, cbs
network level of these.
And it wasn't until much, muchlater when I got involved with
you and the MGM cartoons and westarted seeing these
(11:56):
35-millimeter transfers andGeorge remembers I went crazy.
I went crazy right away on the35s Right, because we had never
seen Wabbitwabble look so goodand even though it looks like
crap to us today from what we'redoing, it was a revelation to
(12:16):
see the next level of it gettingcloser to what it must have
been like.
And we're living in anotherworld now with some of the ones
I've seen.
I've been watching on thisrewatching now, where I just
only can remember the dark dingy16 millimeter version, you know
(12:37):
, and here it looks brand new,you know, faded pink.
Yeah, I got.
I got an interesting theory.
Maybe you have a little bit ofcartoon research here for you,
george.
I've been showing, as you knowI'll leave some names out, but I
do some local and legal publicscreenings of cartoons at a
(12:59):
local theater here.
I think you know what I mean,and if you don't, I'll tell you.
Of course, the New Beverly here.
I think you know what I meanand if you don't, I'll tell you.
The new Beverly.
And they use a particularcollection of old 35 millimeter
prints that they've acquired andthey legally are allowed to
show.
And I only see these printswhen they run them.
I help curate what they'regoing to show and then I see
(13:21):
them and throughout the lastcouple of years I saw something
very interesting I hadn't seenbefore and I hadn't figured out
before They've been running whatare British releases of pre-48
Warner Brothers cartoons.
I say that because once in awhile it'll say on their list
they've got a 35 millimeter ofBugs Bunny Gets the Boyd or
(13:43):
something like that, and I'mlike they do so.
I put it on the list, they runit and it has that British black
and white title card that saysthey got censored yeah.
And then the cartoon comes onand it's, it's.
It looks pretty good.
It's, it's.
It's a clearly AAP slash Unitedartists In fact.
(14:05):
In fact, it's a clearly AAPslash United Artists.
In fact, one or two of theprints have a United Artists
that rectangular old logo thatthey rarely use the Great
Transamerica logo.
George Feltenstein (14:14):
yeah.
Jerry Beck (14:14):
Yeah, and they'll start off with that and it'll
dissolve into the Mary Mill.
It's really cool.
But here's the thing I findreally interesting.
Really cool.
But here's the thing I findreally interesting those prints
all have that end title that wenever could understand.
That says the End.
It says Mary Melody's the End.
You know, we've seen that insyndication.
(14:38):
I now believe that I alwayswondered about that.
Why didn't say that to allfolks?
Maybe it was a reissue thing,maybe it was a blue ribbon thing
, maybe it was.
But I'm now beginning to thinkthat the end title was created
for England.
I'm sorry if I'm digressingfrom our means.
George Feltenstein (14:55):
No, it's very possible.
Jerry Beck (14:56):
I think that's where they come from.
I think that's what they didthem for.
George Feltenstein (14:59):
That's all folks was maybe too colloquial
for other countries, Maybe toocolloquial for you know other
countries On the again, on theTurner side, I want to debunk
some stuff that you know,because people on the Internet
have all sorts of theories.
Ninety eight percent of themare completely inaccurate and it
(15:26):
just spins nonsense.
Yeah, uh, people keep talkingabout the turner dubbed version.
Jerry Beck (15:30):
yeah, that's the famous one what are the?
George Feltenstein (15:33):
what was that?
What?
What that was.
A year before time, warnerbought turner broadcasting,
turner started to prepare theirLooney Tunes and Merry Melodies
that they did own for moreglobal distribution.
They created new audio tracks,so you'd see this one copyright
(15:58):
notice dubbed version 1995, andthis didn't really apply to
everything, everything, but theycreated a one-size-fits-all
thing that just spun thingsreally out of you know, and the
fans all think that the cartoonmust have some unusual dubbing
(16:20):
in it or something that's youknow.
Jerry Beck (16:22):
Know, it's not the cartoon.
George Feltenstein (16:23):
It's not applicable outside of the United
States, but what they did wasthey took those one inch analog
transfers off the prints andthey did a conversion to D2
tapes.
So the bottom line is on thepre-48 material that was owned
(16:48):
by AAP, ua, mgmua, then TEC,Turner Entertainment Company,
which is still a technicaldivision of Warner Brothers
Entertainment, the TEC part ofthe library never got proper 35
(17:12):
millimeter preservation and work.
They did make interpositivesoff of internegatives this is
horrible to think about Offthose prints and, uh, the people
that did that were well-meaning, uh, but not enlightened, and
(17:35):
so a lot of those fourthgeneration elements were all
that they could work with untilthe best thing that happened was
the reunification of thelibrary and the work that has
been going on at Warner Brothersfor 28 years to create proper
(17:59):
photochemical preservation aswell as 4k digital scans.
That we're doing, all the stuffthat's been happening.
But it's been an evolutionaryprocess and there's a lot of
focus on that.
What you're seeing on thelooney tunes collectors vault is
a combination of cartoons thathave either been mastered some
(18:27):
of the later ones that are maybemasters from 10 years ago or 12
years ago that were 1080p in HD, but they're not off the
original negatives.
Those are more found on thesecond disc.
But what we did was the WBmastering team went through, did
(18:49):
color correction, did colorfilm element damage cleanup.
I really want to make this very,very clear.
Some people have actuallycondemned us for leaving cell
dust and people don't realizethat's the way it was when it
came out and we don't want totake the road that certain other
(19:15):
companies have taken where theytry to make them look like they
were made yesterday and thatthere were no cells involved
that had cell scratches and celldirt.
We're trying to preserve theoriginal theatrical presentation
.
So that's kind of squishing 35years of post-mid-1980s
(19:46):
restoration efforts and it'sjust as technology has evolved.
We've gotten from one-inchanalog tapes to digital D2 tapes
and digital D1 tapes and thenfinally the remastering in Tane
ADP, but coming from secondaryelements, and then later on
people became much more awarethat we needed to protect the
(20:09):
original successor exposurenegatives where they exist.
Thankfully they exist on almosteverything and safety
separations were made of thosesuccessive exposure negatives
for protection on film, and nowdigital scanning is being done
(20:29):
as well in 4k.
So if you look at a day at thezoo for that is a result of
going back to the originalsuccessive exposure negatives,
scanning at 4K, getting rid ofall film damage, using
(20:50):
Technicolor prints as a colorreference, and we have these
beautiful new masters and theaudio is restored as well.
So on the older masters thatyou find on disc two, they were
gone through and film damage wasremoved to the best that it
(21:10):
could be done and they were allgiven additional color
correction tweaks and we alsodid some audio restoration on
many of them so that this 50cartoon collection could really
be welcomed by the fans and theenthusiasts, and Jerry and I I
(21:37):
think we qualify as fans andenthusiasts- I think so, I think
so.
Jerry Beck (21:44):
I want to mention another fan thing, but just to
quickly.
Once in a while especially,I've heard this more, 10, 15
years ago, if there's been some,you know a cartoon that's been
remastered and I don't even knowanymore what the complaints
were then, but they would have acomplaint about some aspect of
(22:06):
a cartoon and I would alwaysremind people that this cartoon
was restored for this video, forthis project.
The masters, the negatives, youknow the raw materials of the
cartoon.
Nothing was changed and tweakedor ruined.
They think that we again I'mtalking about 15, 20 years ago
(22:28):
that we might have ruined thecartoon.
That's it.
You guys ruined it.
It was that way and and thething is, um, they don't
understand that sometimes.
That don't worry if you do that.
If something is amiss whichagain I have nothing here to
complain about we didn't ruinthe cartoon.
(22:49):
All the material is there, itall can be redone, supposedly.
It's just something I like toimpart, because I've heard this
complaint Actually, now that Ithink about it, I've heard it
more for other studios wherethey will dub in a new music to
cover a music cue, you know whatI mean, something like that and
they'll think that's it, theyruined it and I'm like I think
(23:11):
it's important people know thatthere are levels to these things
, that there are levels to thesethings.
We're trying to present them, asGeorge says, the best way, the
way it was originally, we hopepresented.
The way it may have looked atthat first answer print
screening at the studio, which Ithink is the way they look to
me.
I have never seen some of thesecartoons look as good as they
(23:36):
do here.
It's a whole other experience.
I'm in my salesman mode rightnow, but it is another
experience to see these proper.
George Feltenstein (23:44):
You know it's and it was uh when we got
the test discs in.
I'd say this about two months,six weeks ago, jerry came to my
office studio.
We went through, and it's oneof the things I live for is his
oral expression of excitementwhen he sees how they look and
(24:11):
how beautiful they look, and theoh wow's come from both of us.
The oh wows come from both ofus.
We're very proud of this releaseand hoping to improve upon it
for the next one, because wehave a lot of interesting ideas
and we certainly know that thelist of great cartoons that
(24:32):
still await their high def debutis very hefty, still await
their high def debut is veryhefty, and I'm also hopeful that
certain cartoons that have beenon the border, which showed up
on DVD but have kind of taken abackseat for a while.
(24:53):
I'm always fighting frankly,but I'm fighting the good fight
to let people maybe reevaluatewhat we can make available and
I'm hoping we can broaden thatavailability.
That's about all I can say,because it's a hope and a prayer
(25:13):
, not a reality.
But I'm always in therefighting for you folks.
So, because I'm one of thefolks, and so is Jerry, and so
are you Tim.
Tim Millard (25:23):
Yeah, well, I did want to talk about some of the
actual cartoons.
Yes, on disc one so far.
I mean, we talked about two ofthe restored totally restored
for this version cartoons of Foxand Hounds from 1940, tex Avery
, and then that's also A Day atthe Zoo is also an Avery, and I
(25:46):
didn't say anything about A Dayat the Zoo.
But again, amazing restorationand really a lot of fun.
And this one has the voiceoverbut it's got so many punchlines
and gags in it.
Jerry Beck (26:01):
Yeah, I think I mentioned this last time that
it's been completely forgotten.
It's become part of the clicheof classic cartoons.
But Avery invented thatnarration idea.
Right, invented that narrationidea.
Uh, you know a narrator.
It obviously took it fromtravel logs and sports reels
(26:22):
that they used to have, but itwas innovative, very innovative,
so much so it was mentioned alot in the trades.
In fact, when avery moved fromwarners to mgm, they not only
mentioned uh maybe notcompletely accurately creator of
Bunny, because we know there'sno one creator of Bugs Bunny,
there were several, but Averywas certainly very important,
(26:44):
but they mentioned creator ofBugs Bunny and I forgot how they
worded it but the narrator.
They mentioned the narratorcartoons because that was unique
at that time and I think thefirst one was nominated for an
Academy Award, and so theycontinued that idea.
When anything worked reallywell, they would continue it.
And what's great is, unlikesome lesser studios, they didn't
(27:08):
just repeat the ideas over andover again.
The sequel kind of cartoons tothat are hilarious and stand on
their own Day at the Zoo is oneof those.
Tim Millard (27:25):
Well, the third totally restored one here that I
know everybody was reallylooking forward to seeing and
again looks terrific the 1949Each Dawn I Crow, mm-hmm.
I love that cartoon.
This is a dark story, but Itotally really enjoyed this
cartoon.
Jerry Beck (27:39):
It's a very strange cartoon, I will admit I do have
on my blog Cartoon Research.
I think I've done my.
I have to admit I've done alist.
I do like my favorite BugsBunnies, my favorite cartoons.
At one point I did my leastfavorite cartoons, my favorite
(28:01):
cartoons.
At one point I did my leastfavorite cartoons and I have to
say that that was one of theones that I've always had lower
on my list because it was so odd.
It's about killing this roosterand it's got this strange
narration I never understood andI just it's just for me.
I had a problem with it.
Now it said as I have with many, many of the other cartoons
(28:24):
that we've talked about on thisshow.
I remember even a Gay Paris inparticular.
These were things I wasn'tcrazy about, but when I saw the
restored versions I'm like, okay, I get it All right.
I'm like, okay, I get it Allright, I like this.
Also, I've learned that thatcartoon was a kind of a parody
of a very famous radio show, theWhistler, that had that kind of
(28:48):
spoken narration thing.
At the beginning I didn't knowthat.
I've known it now.
Now I'm listening to theWhistler on SiriusXM.
But yeah, it's very good, it'sa great feeling from a primo
period period, gentlemen,anything you want to say about
it I think it's terrific and howmuch better it looks now
(29:13):
restored.
George Feltenstein (29:15):
uh, we had put it as an extra on the movie
each dawn I die, which obviouslyyou know the tie in there is
obvious, um, but it looked awful.
But that's all we had wasstandard definition from the
Turner era and we still have somany that need to get that
(29:40):
upgrade and that's the purposeof this series.
We want to continue making themavailable and by having 25 and
25, continue making themavailable and by having 25 and
(30:07):
25, we're getting you know 50cartoons for basically 50 cents
a cartoon, which is a lotBrothers cartoon fan, because so
much is now available.
I do want to mention that theyfinally listened to me and put
the platinum collections back inprint, and I think the
community is very excited aboutthat and people I work with are
(30:31):
now learning of the potentialthat is held within these
animated masterpieces, and eventhe ones that aren't
masterpieces are stillimpressive and they need to be
recognized and treated with thesame care and reverence as any
other classic in the library.
(30:52):
That's live action and featurelength.
These are great americanclassic films and we need to
protect them and make themavailable to the public well, I
did have one comment uh abouteach don I crow, and that is
that I had to.
Tim Millard (31:09):
I'm watching it and it looks so good that I had to
double check, uh, when it wasreleased, because I'm like this
must be a 60s, this must be a60s cartoon because, um, but no,
it's, it's from 1949, but itlooks like it was, uh, made much
later and, yeah, it's fantastic.
And I'm glad to hear youchanging your opinion on it a
(31:32):
little bit because, coming at itwithout all the history, see, I
come at these not knowing howpoorly they looked, necessarily
because I just saw them on TV.
You know, I haven't beencollecting them or seeing them,
but of course they look betterthan my recollection on TV, but
I don't sit there and minutiaethem or remember how poorly they
looked, and so when I see themI'm just like, well, beautiful.
Jerry Beck (31:56):
It is, you know, when we were kids and we were
watching them on TV from 16 andthen collecting film prints in
eight millimeter or maybe 16millimeter and they're fading
and they're duping, but you know, we didn't think.
I didn't never thought backthen like about how, what kind
of bad print is this?
You know, the only clue waswhat I said before, where we
(32:19):
would see the what I call better, cleaner versions of, you know,
of other cartoons with BugsBunny, on the CBS, you know,
saturday morning, or onprimetime.
That was the only differentialback in those days.
It wasn't until much later whenGeorge and I got into the
business and then we could see,from circumstances of being in
(32:43):
the business you know, what a35-millimeter print of a cartoon
looks like.
I've got a strange story thatrelates to a cartoon that's on
this disc and it's a littlestrange.
I'm gonna keep it as clean as Ican.
I worked for united artists innew york and they were, as
george knows, uh, at 729 7thavenue on in times square, right
(33:07):
it was.
It was between 48th and 49thStreet.
George Feltenstein (33:11):
And we were surrounded by Right across the
street from Popeye's FriedChicken.
Jerry Beck (33:13):
Right, and it was the Metropole Cafe.
A topless place was next door.
There were porno theaters allaround the building where I had
to go into work.
It was sleazy.
This is back in the 70s and 80s, before really home video
really, really really took off.
It was like the beginning of itreally, and and people you know
it was cost too much money toeven have a.
(33:34):
I couldn't even afford a tapeplayer back then.
And um, uh, I worked for unitedarts and I was involved with
shorts and I was involved withbooking shorts, uh, to you know,
non-theatrically, in that timeand one day, uh, I was able to
find out internally how I foundthis out.
I can't remember anymore, but Ifound out that a print of a
(33:57):
cartoon was booked to the World49th Street Theater, which was a
porno theater right, that'swhere Deep Throat was for like
three years Forever yeah, and Ifound out that they in fact I
found out that they were playinglike Pink Panther cartoons.
What they did was.
I learned later that the theoryis that the porno theaters
(34:21):
would book cartoons and they didas chasers and so they wanted
to get rid of riffraff.
I mean, they never turned thelights on in those places.
You know, people would likelive there practically in these
porno theaters, and so having acartoon on wouldn't keep them
there.
Let's put it that way.
They would get up and leave.
(34:42):
Maybe you know time to go.
That's a purpose.
That happened back then.
George Feltenstein (34:49):
That's a fascinating story.
I did not know that.
Now I fascinating story.
I did not know that.
Jerry Beck (34:52):
Now I learned that I couldn't believe it, and so one
time I decided I was a bachelorand they're next door and I
said well, it says here they'rerunning a Pink Panther.
I'm going to go over there andcheck it out.
And I did.
And they did run the pinkpanther, exactly as I said the
(35:14):
movie would be over.
They'd run some porno trailers.
Then they ran the pink panthercartoon and I saw people getting
up.
Now my point of this story is Ilet that go, but one day said
and george, you'd have the samecuriosity the booking sheet said
Birth of a Notion.
George Feltenstein (35:34):
Wow, that was a classic Robert McKimpson
great Daffy Duck card and one ofthe shorts that's on disc two.
Jerry Beck (35:43):
That's why I'm mentioning this and so I said
wait a minute.
At that time it was onlywhatever crappy print was
running on Channel 5.
We didn't even have home videoyet.
So I said they're running a 35,a birth of a notion.
This was like I have to go andsee it.
I can't believe it.
I admit it.
(36:04):
I admit it, I went to a pornotheater.
I got to write this as anarticle to see a looney tune,
you know.
And uh, I did.
I went there and it was abeautiful 25 millimeter tech
print and it was tech, I couldtell you, and I was like I, I, I
never forgot that experience.
Um, my reason for even bringingall that up is that it's on
(36:29):
this set and it's's, of course,restored from the original
camera.
Neg, it looks like.
I have never seen it look likethis.
It is, as we've said, as I'mboring everybody with the fact
that, yes, again, crystal clear.
I've seen that cartoon amillion times in my life and in
(36:50):
many, many ways, but it neverlooked this good.
It's amazing, and you know,that's all I have to say about
that my experience with Birth ofan Ocean.
There you go.
Tim Millard (37:03):
That's a great story, Jerry.
It's a great story.
Jerry Beck (37:06):
I agree, not what I was expecting today.
Tim Millard (37:09):
I cleaned it up a little bit, but yeah well,
before we jump to uh to this too, I did want to mention a couple
others that I I just don't wantto not talk about, and that's
uh, first off, the dixie fryerfrom 1960.
I just thought this is aterrific uh cartoon, um, and
(37:29):
beautiful animation voicingstoryline.
What are your guys' thoughts onthat one?
George Feltenstein (37:33):
Very highly requested by the fans.
Jerry Beck (37:36):
Yeah, that's one of those.
Pappy and Elvis right, the twopros.
And whatever they are, and I'malways amazed.
People love, I have to admit,more than I, but I love Foghorn
Leghorn cartoons.
They're all great.
They're not all the same.
There's some great one-linersin all of them.
(37:57):
There's some great situations.
Another one that's on here thatI'm nutty about and it's a
really late one is Banty Raids.
We'll talk about that, buteverybody's got a favorite on
those and people really reallywant them, you know, and so my
feeling is you know I have no.
(38:19):
I'm just surprised when I hearpeople ask for specific ones.
That means something to them.
I'm not sure what that means.
A lot of people tell me thatFoghorn reminds them of their
dad and or my dad loved thesecartoons and it was a bonding
moment for a lot of people.
That's something I've learnedthroughout the years.
My dad didn't really care aboutFoghorn Leghorn, but he's a
(38:45):
great guy and we'll leave it atthat.
But yeah, I mean, we live toserve, right.
We want to give people whatthey want.
Tim Millard (38:56):
Well, I guess I could see why people enjoy it.
I just thought it's got so muchhumor.
Yeah, it's got great gags.
Jerry Beck (39:04):
Yeah, that's one of those later ones and I believe
the two characters, or at leastone of them, is, uh, dawes
butler and I'm not sure he gets.
I don't think he gets credit,but he's a very famous voice in
a lot of hannah barbara cartoonsand whatever and he's one of
the voices that really enhancesthat cartoon as well well, a
couple others that I just uh,I'm just saying I had as kind of
(39:28):
personal favorites or I thoughtthey were noteworthy.
Tim Millard (39:31):
I'd love to take orders from you from 1936.
That's a Tex Avery, where thekid scarecrow wants to be like
his father.
I thought that's a charming oneand it looks terrific.
George Feltenstein (39:42):
It is, and that is representative of what
the Looney Tunes and MaryMelodies initially were set out
to do, of what the Looney Tunesand Merry Melodies initially
were set out to do.
I'd Love to Take Orders fromyou is a song that was written
for a Warner Brothers film ofthe era, and the cartoons were
initially designed hence LooneyTunes, merry Melodies to promote
(40:06):
songs either written for WarnerBrothers films and or songs
that were published by WarnerBrothers Music Publishing
Companies, which areunfortunately no longer part of
our company, but that was theinitial purpose.
They'd say, okay, you got tomake a cartoon about September
(40:28):
in the Rain, you got to make acartoon about Shuffle Up the
Buffalo.
And they do it and they do agreat job and I'd love to take
orders from you is a beautifullydrawn, gorgeous restoration and
it's just never seen it lookthat good.
Jerry Beck (40:48):
Yes, anytime anybody mentions the 30s cartoons, any
of the 30s cartoons, I thoselooked those always in the past
looked worse than the 40scartoons you know they just
looked worse and you see them in35.
When you see them restored itclicks in my head a little bit
(41:08):
more about how these cartoonswere able to be on the same par
with, dare I say, disney.
Disney was doing a whole otherworld of what he was doing.
But to you know, how would theother cartoons?
You know how?
Did they even think they werein the same world as Disney?
But they didn't.
But when you see them restoredyou get a better idea of oh okay
(41:29):
, these look great, they'rebetter than I thought.
I could see why people lovedthem, enjoyed them almost
equally with the disneys yeah,another, another one from the
30s that I.
Tim Millard (41:41):
I felt the the same way in terms of how good it
looked and everything is thatone from 1936?
Let it be me.
Jerry Beck (41:48):
Me yeah.
Tim Millard (41:49):
And that has the rooster, the singing rooster,
the crooner, and I guess that'smaybe Bing Crosby or you know
it's.
George Feltenstein (42:00):
That was the idea yeah.
Jerry Beck (42:02):
Bing Crosby was the big thing.
A thing about those particularones that we've been talking
about Let it Be Me, and I Loveto Take Orders from that era was
these were the earliest onesthat Warners used technicolor
for, and they were purposelymaking them as colorful as they
could, something I did notrealize watching the faded
(42:27):
prints that we all grew up with.
Tim Millard (42:28):
These cartoons are more colorful than we ever knew
and, uh, you know again, we'reseeing them the way they're
meant to be seen well, there uhwas another one that I wanted to
ask you about, and that's akitty's kitty from 1955 and that
has that uh sadistic littlegirl who torments sylvester.
But I was laughing my head offuh watching this.
(42:49):
What are your guys' thoughts onthat one?
Jerry Beck (42:55):
I like them.
I mean, in my life, in all ofthe years I've been involved in
decades, I've come to appreciateFrizz Freeling more than I
think I ever did, way back when.
Oh my God, he was great.
I'm so happy I got to meet him.
I got to interview him a fewtimes and I'm constantly
marveling at a lot of thecartoons that I thought were
(43:19):
maybe not so hot, and I'mlooking at them again and I'm
thinking this is just, he wasgreat, even into the 60s with
the Pink Panther, with theearliest of those.
He really knew what he wasdoing.
I'm beginning to wonder, dare Isay it this way, not that he
was watching them, but I'mbeginning to wonder what Walt
(43:39):
Disney might have thought ofFrizz Freelinks cartoons,
because he won Oscars.
And the reason I say that ismost people don't know that
Frizz was from Kansas City andworked for Walt Disney thereney
there, that's right him out towork on the alice and oswald
cartoons.
Here he, freeling, and uh,disney had some kind of a
falling out, uh, to put itmildly, and freeling went and
(44:02):
stuck with harmonizing forsinking in the bathtub and
onward.
You know the entirety ofwarners and, and so Frizz
Freeling's name was not unknownto Walt Disney.
And to see him get Oscars inthe future like Birds, anonymous
and this and that, I kind ofwonder about that.
But Kitty's Kitty is a greatlittle cartoon.
(44:24):
It has a bit of the UPA, youknow, uh, stylized backgrounds
in it, even the design of thelittle girl, um, and it's just
pure comedy, it's pure timing,it's funny, I don't even know
what else to say, even though itwas a little girl.
And it's got Sylvester in itagain.
(44:46):
It was made for all audiencesand this is a good film.
That really demonstrates that.
Because the, the gags are kindof sadistic, you know any pet
owner or hater maybe, you know,would really really laugh at the
things that happened toSylvester in this cartoon.
It's, it's, it's very well puttogether, very well designed and
(45:07):
you know it's not the littlegirl, she's like kind of the.
Our sympathies are withsylvester in this course you
know, you know, so it's uh youknow.
Tim Millard (45:19):
I'll add in as a parent of a daughter too, would
you?
They just just the way kids,little girls, want their animals
, they love their animals.
But at times you're like, oh,no, stop, yeah, because they can
be so unintentionally mean tothem.
But it's uh, I just uh.
I just found that one very,very funny, um, and then another
(45:41):
one that I wanted to ask youabout because I thought it looks
fantastic and it was.
It's so different, but I reallyenjoyed it and that was good
night.
Elmer from 1940.
I mean, it's just elmer, fuddwith this candle yeah, yeah,
it's, it's, it's.
Jerry Beck (45:56):
it's one I always had a problem with because, uh,
with, uh, some very, very rareexceptions, I'd have to rack my
brain to remind myself there'shardly anything cartoony in it.
The animation is very intricate, it's very real-ish and it's
dark, literally because it's atnight, and I always felt that
(46:21):
that's a film that could havebeen done in live action.
It might have made a greatEdgar Kennedy short or something
.
But seeing it finally restoredknow, restored it's beautiful.
The animation is beautiful.
It's not rotoscoped I didn'tthink it was, but it's.
It all takes place with thishuman character, so why wouldn't
(46:43):
it be?
Maybe, but it's beautifullydone.
The shading this is early chuckjones, before he was, before he
was lectured by Leon to followwhat Avery and Clampett are
doing.
We want funny cartoons, and notthat this wasn't funny, but
it's Disney-ish, really is whatit is.
It's the frustrations of acharacter against an object that
(47:08):
he has no control over, andit's really a study.
It's that he has no controlover, and it's it's.
It's really a study, it'sreally really animated.
Tim Millard (47:15):
Yeah, yeah, but it's very different than the
others for that, for that reason, and it calls attention to
itself for that reason, but I, Ireally enjoyed it.
I thought it was a really,really interesting.
And then you have a coupleothers that I thought were
notable, because I think they'rethe the first um debuts of uh,
(47:35):
like the goofy gophers yes,right yeah, and the work yeah,
go on in the squawk and hawk, Ithink as well is that the first?
Jerry Beck (47:46):
uh, henry hawk?
Right, I believe so yeah, Ijust thought those were notable
for those reasons for obviouslyfans of those you also have the
first daffy duck cartoon on theother uh, I think on the other
second disc, um, and so we havelike a a bunch of firsts yeah
which I think are very.
Tim Millard (48:03):
In fact, I think we have the first speedy gonzalez
on here, j, before you jump tothat is that this is like you
know.
We've called it alternately.
Disc one here is alternatelycalled Collectors, Volume 5.
But the fact that these firstsare only now coming out, I
(48:25):
thought was really noticeable,because you would think like the
firsts would be released maybea little bit earlier in the
process.
I don't know, it's just athought.
Jerry Beck (48:33):
Well, the first aren't are, strangely enough,
not usually.
Sometimes they are, but notusually their best.
The best Cause they refine thecharacters.
If that, if this character gota good reaction, hey, let's make
another, let's make it.
That's, this is what they didback then.
That's how Bugs Bunny came tobe.
He didn't just emerge in onecartoon, it was several cartoons
(48:55):
where all the directors had asay and could make different
variants until they got to thewild hair, the primo True, but
everybody wants to see first.
Tim Millard (49:06):
Oh yeah first oh yeah, first, you know the the
fact that I have a best, evennow collectors are like, oh my
gosh, I get to see the first ofsomething this late into the
series.
I think is fantastic because,whether you know, we're not
everybody's watching theseranking.
You know, they just want toknow this was the first attempt,
or the first time thischaracter came.
That's an interesting thing.
(49:27):
Yeah, george, I know you like.
George Feltenstein (49:31):
You like these goofy there was a time
where people just watched themfor entertainment and not
scrutiny and analysis.
Everything else that you knowhas been added to the equation.
Jerry Beck (49:49):
They're entertainment, can you?
Imagine can you imagine thiswill be a scene in some movie
where some time traveler goesback to 1945 and a person coming
out of the theater and he saysdid you just see the cartoon
inside, sir?
He goes yes, it was a cartoon,I was watching the Clark Gable
picture and he goes.
Well, do you know that in thefuture people will be obsessing
(50:10):
over that particular cartoon andall the subsequent ones and
they'd look at that person fromthe future as crazy?
George Feltenstein (50:17):
Well, some people today look at it as crazy
and we're the ones that have tofight that battle to get them
is expanding and growing and I'mhoping that will continue yeah.
Tim Millard (50:37):
Yeah, sure.
Well, this is the end of partone of a multiple episode of
this Looney Tunes CollectorsVault Volume 1 discussion.
You can look for the nextepisode coming soon, but until
then, if you want to learn alittle bit more or see previews
of the release, we have somefirst looks on our youtube
(50:58):
channel and on facebook so youcan look for those there.
I'll provide some links to thatin the podcast show notes, as
well as a link to the actualrelease if you'd like to
purchase it.
This is a fantastic release,highly recommended, as you can
tell.
So look for the next episodevery soon.
Until then, if you haven't yet,please subscribe or follow the
(51:19):
show.
That way you'll get informationon the next episode and all of
our animation release episodeswith Jerry and George as soon as
they come out.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Millard.
Stay slightly obsessed aboutanimation.
Hello and welcome to the Extras.
I'm Tim Millard, your host, andjoining me is George
Feltenstein of the WarnerArchive and animation historian
Jerry Beck, to review the recentrelease Looney Tunes
Collector's Vault, volume 1Blu-ray.
Hi George, hi Jerry, hello,hello, hello.
These are some of my favoritepodcasts, george, and I enjoy
(00:24):
all of them with you, but whenwe add Jerry and you two are
talking animation, it's alwaysfantastic.
I learned so much and the fansreally enjoyed it as well.
So I know I've been lookingforward to this and I think a
lot of people are lookingforward to hearing our review of
this brand new Blu-ray.
So what's been the feedback sofar?
(00:45):
I mean, it's only been out fora few days.
George Feltenstein (00:48):
Well, happily, there was a plentiful
amount of pre-orders and aplentiful amount of supply, so
it was so refreshing for me tosee people on social media
showing their release that theyhad it in their hands on street
date, which is what we alwaysstrive for.
(01:11):
That doesn't always happen, butwe're trying to eliminate a lot
of those manufacturing andother delays that have been a
problem.
I think we're on a better track, and getting this out as early
as it did was just proof of that.
Tim Millard (01:32):
Yeah, I mean, I think I've seen a lot of posts,
a lot of people very eager todive in, and I'm sure that some
people are doing it today andwill be doing it this weekend,
that some people are doing ittoday and will be doing it this
weekend so that they can diveinto this collector's vault.
And I do want to just take oneminute, before we get too far
into our review, to remindpeople that if you haven't heard
(01:55):
the previous podcast wherewe've talked about the
collector's vault, those areavailable both in audio podcasts
and on our YouTube channel,both in audio podcasts and on
our YouTube channel.
And the point of this Vaultseries, jerry, just to remind
everybody, we have two discs.
Jerry Beck (02:13):
Yeah, this Vault series is different from the
Collector's Choice because discone really follows the same
pattern of what we were doing onthe previous series.
Collector's Choice, which isreally deep dives into Warner
(02:34):
Brothers cartoons that havenever been on Blu-ray or DVD,
restoring them.
These are aimed at thecollectors yes, everyone can
enjoy them but we are definitelyaiming more toward the people
who are collecting every cartoon.
I know I personally was doingthat decades ago when I was
researching the animation.
I was trying to locate everycartoon I can see and we know
(02:58):
people are doing that.
Now the other disc.
What makes the Vault seriesspectacular is that we have a
second disc.
We have double.
The cartoons and the seconddisc are great, great warner
brothers cartoons, classic bugs,bunnies and tweeties and that
that may have appeared on dvd,but this is their blu-ray debut.
(03:21):
So if you're a collector, youknow these are.
You've got a double dose here,uh and uh for the collection,
and we'll talk about how greatthey look.
Tim Millard (03:31):
These are the cartoons, kind of as perfectly
as we can have them yeah, and II mentioned this on a previous
podcast but the price point isbasically the same as the old
collector's vault, depending onwhere you go to purchase them.
And this time, though, you gettwo discs, 50 cartoons for the
(03:53):
price of what you were gettingabout 25 before, so it's a great
value as well.
But let's dive right in.
I mean, my first reaction isfantastic.
Of course, I said that aboutthe previous four releases, but
I love the fact that, as I said,you get two discs, so you get
not only the kind of the moreobscure ones on disc one that
(04:15):
are definitely for collectors,but then you put on disc two and
you've got so many of yourfavorites.
But we'll hold off on talkingabout this, too, because disc
one has three brand newrestorations.
I thought we'd start there withthose because I thought they
looked horrific, and we'll startwith.
George Feltenstein (04:35):
let's see of Fox and Hounds from 1940, that
(04:56):
Tex.
Audio clip (04:56):
Avery.
Which way did they go?
Which way did they go?
Where did the dogs go?
Which way did they go?
Which way did they go?
Where did the dogs go?
Which way did they go?
Tim Millard (05:09):
I was blown away by how good this looks and sounds,
and it's a terrific cartoon.
Jerry Beck (05:15):
Yeah, it's sort of in that period when Avery and
the others were exploring thechase cartoon, avery was
developing that kind of wise guypersona.
You could see that this isdefinitely, you know, almost a
companion to things like WildHair.
You know, there's that wise guyFox.
(05:36):
It's an extremely interestingcartoon in that there's to me in
the very beginning it's got alot of dark.
It takes place in the earlymorning.
You don't get that on theprevious any showings of it.
In the past, when we were kids,it was a very dark looking
cartoon.
Now you can see everything.
It's really funny.
(05:57):
Avery, I believe, is the voiceof Willoughby, the dog in it
which is pretty crazy.
Be the dog in it, you know whichis pretty crazy.
And um, uh, you know, george,maybe you could say something
about the fact.
Why wouldn't a cartoon havebeen restored like like that one
earlier?
And there's reasons for that.
It's not just that we'veignored it.
There's, there's legitimatereasons why certain cartoons
(06:21):
were at the end of the line.
George Feltenstein (06:24):
Well, you know, it's where they fall in
the chronology that goes back,really, I would say, to the
1980s, because prior to that youhad a group of cartoons that
were licensed to networktelevision.
They used 35 millimeter printsfor the Bugs Bunny show, the
(06:47):
Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Hour, theDappy Duck show, the Porky Pig
show.
You know there started to be alot of fractured network
Saturday morning shows butstarting with the reruns of the
Bugs Bunny show and whatnot,that was all 35 millimeter there
were.
To remind people that aren'taware and I think most people
(07:10):
that are watching slash,listening to this, are aware it
wasn't until Time Warner'spurchase of Turner Broadcasting
in 1996 that the entire WarnerLibrary was reunited, because
all cartoons made before August31st 1948, were in other hands
(07:39):
due to the sale of the libraryby the Warner Brothers in 1956.
It took 40 years for us to geteverything put back together and
the black and white LooneyTunes were sold to another
company even before that.
That ended up in the Warnerlair, so to speak.
(07:59):
So, in order to have everythingtogether, initially it was the
impetus of home video that hadpeople taking a look and saying,
well, what do we have now onthe Warner side of things,
(08:19):
basically the post 50, if youwill.
Uh, there was a concerted effortof maintaining 35 millimeter
materials.
On the other side it wasprimarily under the care of
United Artists, or ownership ofUnited Artists, from 1958 when
they bought Associated ArtistsProductions, until 1981 when MGM
(08:45):
bought United ArtistCorporation.
During the UA period.
All they really cared about wasa 16 millimeter picket track.
That's all they really caredabout the 35 millimeter
materials.
The negative materials werestored properly in a nitrate
(09:06):
archive, but it was all about 16millimeter.
Syndication and home videostarted that.
There were some really awful nooffense meant to anyone.
Before I got to MJMUA homevideo, there were these video
for kids clamshell releases thatwere taken off 16 millimeter
(09:29):
prints.
You know the daffy duck cartoonfilm festival featuring all my
aching back or that's a bigtitle I'm making up, but uh,
when you have people that don'tknow of these American animated
classic films and think it's kidstuff, this is what happens.
(09:51):
So that's how things were toKirk Krikorian and the Warner
Library was put under MGM, aswere certain rights to the RKO
Library that became TurnerEntertainment Co because they
(10:14):
sold the MGM name.
That's why Amazon has it andthe MGM Lion logo.
So MGM Entertainment Companyhad to become Turner
Entertainment Company, butwithin the first year of
ownership, turner Broadcastingwent to all the pre-48 cartoons
(10:37):
and created off 35 millimeterrelease prints, mostly
Technicolor, uh, mostly nitrate,uh.
They created one inch analogvideo masters.
Now you look at them.
Now they're soft, uh, they'redirty, they're.
They're not great, but when wesaw them in 1987 and 888 jerry
(11:03):
and I oh was like oh my God,we're seeing these in 35mm.
Jerry Beck (11:06):
Oh my God it was.
I got to digress, I got to notdigress, but I got to interrupt
it with my own recollections.
I love listening to this partof the history of it, the I used
to, as, even as a kid, and as Iwas getting more and more into
the cartoons.
I think you might've done thistoo, george.
I don't think we ever mentionedit, but I used to think of the
(11:27):
pre-48s and the ones they ran onChannel 5.
George Feltenstein (11:31):
Who had rights to both packages.
Jerry Beck (11:34):
I call those the local versions and whatever was
run on CBS Saturday morning orin TV specials that they were
doing in the 70s where they weretaking from 35.
And I was like I used to callit in my head, cbs level, cbs
network level of these.
And it wasn't until much, muchlater when I got involved with
you and the MGM cartoons and westarted seeing these
(11:56):
35-millimeter transfers andGeorge remembers I went crazy.
I went crazy right away on the35s Right, because we had never
seen Wabbitwabble look so goodand even though it looks like
crap to us today from what we'redoing, it was a revelation to
(12:16):
see the next level of it gettingcloser to what it must have
been like.
And we're living in anotherworld now with some of the ones
I've seen.
I've been watching on thisrewatching now, where I just
only can remember the dark dingy16 millimeter version, you know
(12:37):
, and here it looks brand new,you know, faded pink.
Yeah, I got.
I got an interesting theory.
Maybe you have a little bit ofcartoon research here for you,
george.
I've been showing, as you knowI'll leave some names out, but I
do some local and legal publicscreenings of cartoons at a
(12:59):
local theater here.
I think you know what I mean,and if you don't, I'll tell you.
Of course, the New Beverly here.
I think you know what I meanand if you don't, I'll tell you.
The new Beverly.
And they use a particularcollection of old 35 millimeter
prints that they've acquired andthey legally are allowed to
show.
And I only see these printswhen they run them.
I help curate what they'regoing to show and then I see
(13:21):
them and throughout the lastcouple of years I saw something
very interesting I hadn't seenbefore and I hadn't figured out
before They've been running whatare British releases of pre-48
Warner Brothers cartoons.
I say that because once in awhile it'll say on their list
they've got a 35 millimeter ofBugs Bunny Gets the Boyd or
(13:43):
something like that, and I'mlike they do so.
I put it on the list, they runit and it has that British black
and white title card that saysthey got censored yeah.
And then the cartoon comes onand it's, it's.
It looks pretty good.
It's, it's.
It's a clearly AAP slash Unitedartists In fact.
(14:05):
In fact, it's a clearly AAPslash United Artists.
In fact, one or two of theprints have a United Artists
that rectangular old logo thatthey rarely use the Great
Transamerica logo.
George Feltenstein (14:14):
yeah.
Jerry Beck (14:14):
Yeah, and they'll start off with that and it'll
dissolve into the Mary Mill.
It's really cool.
But here's the thing I findreally interesting.
Really cool.
But here's the thing I findreally interesting those prints
all have that end title that wenever could understand.
That says the End.
It says Mary Melody's the End.
You know, we've seen that insyndication.
(14:38):
I now believe that I alwayswondered about that.
Why didn't say that to allfolks?
Maybe it was a reissue thing,maybe it was a blue ribbon thing
, maybe it was.
But I'm now beginning to thinkthat the end title was created
for England.
I'm sorry if I'm digressingfrom our means.
George Feltenstein (14:55):
No, it's very possible.
Jerry Beck (14:56):
I think that's where they come from.
I think that's what they didthem for.
George Feltenstein (14:59):
That's all folks was maybe too colloquial
for other countries, Maybe toocolloquial for you know other
countries On the again, on theTurner side, I want to debunk
some stuff that you know,because people on the Internet
have all sorts of theories.
Ninety eight percent of themare completely inaccurate and it
(15:26):
just spins nonsense.
Yeah, uh, people keep talkingabout the turner dubbed version.
Jerry Beck (15:30):
yeah, that's the famous one what are the?
George Feltenstein (15:33):
what was that?
What?
What that was.
A year before time, warnerbought turner broadcasting,
turner started to prepare theirLooney Tunes and Merry Melodies
that they did own for moreglobal distribution.
They created new audio tracks,so you'd see this one copyright
(15:58):
notice dubbed version 1995, andthis didn't really apply to
everything, everything, but theycreated a one-size-fits-all
thing that just spun thingsreally out of you know, and the
fans all think that the cartoonmust have some unusual dubbing
(16:20):
in it or something that's youknow.
Jerry Beck (16:22):
Know, it's not the cartoon.
George Feltenstein (16:23):
It's not applicable outside of the United
States, but what they did wasthey took those one inch analog
transfers off the prints andthey did a conversion to D2
tapes.
So the bottom line is on thepre-48 material that was owned
(16:48):
by AAP, ua, mgmua, then TEC,Turner Entertainment Company,
which is still a technicaldivision of Warner Brothers
Entertainment, the TEC part ofthe library never got proper 35
(17:12):
millimeter preservation and work.
They did make interpositivesoff of internegatives this is
horrible to think about Offthose prints and, uh, the people
that did that were well-meaning, uh, but not enlightened, and
(17:35):
so a lot of those fourthgeneration elements were all
that they could work with untilthe best thing that happened was
the reunification of thelibrary and the work that has
been going on at Warner Brothersfor 28 years to create proper
(17:59):
photochemical preservation aswell as 4k digital scans.
That we're doing, all the stuffthat's been happening.
But it's been an evolutionaryprocess and there's a lot of
focus on that.
What you're seeing on thelooney tunes collectors vault is
a combination of cartoons thathave either been mastered some
(18:27):
of the later ones that are maybemasters from 10 years ago or 12
years ago that were 1080p in HD, but they're not off the
original negatives.
Those are more found on thesecond disc.
But what we did was the WBmastering team went through, did
(18:49):
color correction, did colorfilm element damage cleanup.
I really want to make this very,very clear.
Some people have actuallycondemned us for leaving cell
dust and people don't realizethat's the way it was when it
came out and we don't want totake the road that certain other
(19:15):
companies have taken where theytry to make them look like they
were made yesterday and thatthere were no cells involved
that had cell scratches and celldirt.
We're trying to preserve theoriginal theatrical presentation
.
So that's kind of squishing 35years of post-mid-1980s
(19:46):
restoration efforts and it'sjust as technology has evolved.
We've gotten from one-inchanalog tapes to digital D2 tapes
and digital D1 tapes and thenfinally the remastering in Tane
ADP, but coming from secondaryelements, and then later on
people became much more awarethat we needed to protect the
(20:09):
original successor exposurenegatives where they exist.
Thankfully they exist on almosteverything and safety
separations were made of thosesuccessive exposure negatives
for protection on film, and nowdigital scanning is being done
(20:29):
as well in 4k.
So if you look at a day at thezoo for that is a result of
going back to the originalsuccessive exposure negatives,
scanning at 4K, getting rid ofall film damage, using
(20:50):
Technicolor prints as a colorreference, and we have these
beautiful new masters and theaudio is restored as well.
So on the older masters thatyou find on disc two, they were
gone through and film damage wasremoved to the best that it
(21:10):
could be done and they were allgiven additional color
correction tweaks and we alsodid some audio restoration on
many of them so that this 50cartoon collection could really
be welcomed by the fans and theenthusiasts, and Jerry and I I
(21:37):
think we qualify as fans andenthusiasts- I think so, I think
so.
Jerry Beck (21:44):
I want to mention another fan thing, but just to
quickly.
Once in a while especially,I've heard this more, 10, 15
years ago, if there's been some,you know a cartoon that's been
remastered and I don't even knowanymore what the complaints
were then, but they would have acomplaint about some aspect of
(22:06):
a cartoon and I would alwaysremind people that this cartoon
was restored for this video, forthis project.
The masters, the negatives, youknow the raw materials of the
cartoon.
Nothing was changed and tweakedor ruined.
They think that we again I'mtalking about 15, 20 years ago
(22:28):
that we might have ruined thecartoon.
That's it.
You guys ruined it.
It was that way and and thething is, um, they don't
understand that sometimes.
That don't worry if you do that.
If something is amiss whichagain I have nothing here to
complain about we didn't ruinthe cartoon.
(22:49):
All the material is there, itall can be redone, supposedly.
It's just something I like toimpart, because I've heard this
complaint Actually, now that Ithink about it, I've heard it
more for other studios wherethey will dub in a new music to
cover a music cue, you know whatI mean, something like that and
they'll think that's it, theyruined it and I'm like I think
(23:11):
it's important people know thatthere are levels to these things
, that there are levels to thesethings.
We're trying to present them, asGeorge says, the best way, the
way it was originally, we hopepresented.
The way it may have looked atthat first answer print
screening at the studio, which Ithink is the way they look to
me.
I have never seen some of thesecartoons look as good as they
(23:36):
do here.
It's a whole other experience.
I'm in my salesman mode rightnow, but it is another
experience to see these proper.
George Feltenstein (23:44):
You know it's and it was uh when we got
the test discs in.
I'd say this about two months,six weeks ago, jerry came to my
office studio.
We went through, and it's oneof the things I live for is his
oral expression of excitementwhen he sees how they look and
(24:11):
how beautiful they look, and theoh wow's come from both of us.
The oh wows come from both ofus.
We're very proud of this releaseand hoping to improve upon it
for the next one, because wehave a lot of interesting ideas
and we certainly know that thelist of great cartoons that
(24:32):
still await their high def debutis very hefty, still await
their high def debut is veryhefty, and I'm also hopeful that
certain cartoons that have beenon the border, which showed up
on DVD but have kind of taken abackseat for a while.
(24:53):
I'm always fighting frankly,but I'm fighting the good fight
to let people maybe reevaluatewhat we can make available and
I'm hoping we can broaden thatavailability.
That's about all I can say,because it's a hope and a prayer
(25:13):
, not a reality.
But I'm always in therefighting for you folks.
So, because I'm one of thefolks, and so is Jerry, and so
are you Tim.
Tim Millard (25:23):
Yeah, well, I did want to talk about some of the
actual cartoons.
Yes, on disc one so far.
I mean, we talked about two ofthe restored totally restored
for this version cartoons of Foxand Hounds from 1940, tex Avery
, and then that's also A Day atthe Zoo is also an Avery, and I
(25:46):
didn't say anything about A Dayat the Zoo.
But again, amazing restorationand really a lot of fun.
And this one has the voiceoverbut it's got so many punchlines
and gags in it.
Jerry Beck (26:01):
Yeah, I think I mentioned this last time that
it's been completely forgotten.
It's become part of the clicheof classic cartoons.
But Avery invented thatnarration idea.
Right, invented that narrationidea.
Uh, you know a narrator.
It obviously took it fromtravel logs and sports reels
(26:22):
that they used to have, but itwas innovative, very innovative,
so much so it was mentioned alot in the trades.
In fact, when avery moved fromwarners to mgm, they not only
mentioned uh maybe notcompletely accurately creator of
Bunny, because we know there'sno one creator of Bugs Bunny,
there were several, but Averywas certainly very important,
(26:44):
but they mentioned creator ofBugs Bunny and I forgot how they
worded it but the narrator.
They mentioned the narratorcartoons because that was unique
at that time and I think thefirst one was nominated for an
Academy Award, and so theycontinued that idea.
When anything worked reallywell, they would continue it.
And what's great is, unlikesome lesser studios, they didn't
(27:08):
just repeat the ideas over andover again.
The sequel kind of cartoons tothat are hilarious and stand on
their own Day at the Zoo is oneof those.
Tim Millard (27:25):
Well, the third totally restored one here that I
know everybody was reallylooking forward to seeing and
again looks terrific the 1949Each Dawn I Crow, mm-hmm.
I love that cartoon.
This is a dark story, but Itotally really enjoyed this
cartoon.
Jerry Beck (27:39):
It's a very strange cartoon, I will admit I do have
on my blog Cartoon Research.
I think I've done my.
I have to admit I've done alist.
I do like my favorite BugsBunnies, my favorite cartoons.
At one point I did my leastfavorite cartoons, my favorite
(28:01):
cartoons.
At one point I did my leastfavorite cartoons and I have to
say that that was one of theones that I've always had lower
on my list because it was so odd.
It's about killing this roosterand it's got this strange
narration I never understood andI just it's just for me.
I had a problem with it.
Now it said as I have with many, many of the other cartoons
(28:24):
that we've talked about on thisshow.
I remember even a Gay Paris inparticular.
These were things I wasn'tcrazy about, but when I saw the
restored versions I'm like, okay, I get it All right.
I'm like, okay, I get it Allright, I like this.
Also, I've learned that thatcartoon was a kind of a parody
of a very famous radio show, theWhistler, that had that kind of
(28:48):
spoken narration thing.
At the beginning I didn't knowthat.
I've known it now.
Now I'm listening to theWhistler on SiriusXM.
But yeah, it's very good, it'sa great feeling from a primo
period period, gentlemen,anything you want to say about
it I think it's terrific and howmuch better it looks now
(29:13):
restored.
George Feltenstein (29:15):
uh, we had put it as an extra on the movie
each dawn I die, which obviouslyyou know the tie in there is
obvious, um, but it looked awful.
But that's all we had wasstandard definition from the
Turner era and we still have somany that need to get that
(29:40):
upgrade and that's the purposeof this series.
We want to continue making themavailable and by having 25 and
25, continue making themavailable and by having 25 and
(30:07):
25, we're getting you know 50cartoons for basically 50 cents
a cartoon, which is a lotBrothers cartoon fan, because so
much is now available.
I do want to mention that theyfinally listened to me and put
the platinum collections back inprint, and I think the
community is very excited aboutthat and people I work with are
(30:31):
now learning of the potentialthat is held within these
animated masterpieces, and eventhe ones that aren't
masterpieces are stillimpressive and they need to be
recognized and treated with thesame care and reverence as any
other classic in the library.
(30:52):
That's live action and featurelength.
These are great americanclassic films and we need to
protect them and make themavailable to the public well, I
did have one comment uh abouteach don I crow, and that is
that I had to.
Tim Millard (31:09):
I'm watching it and it looks so good that I had to
double check, uh, when it wasreleased, because I'm like this
must be a 60s, this must be a60s cartoon because, um, but no,
it's, it's from 1949, but itlooks like it was, uh, made much
later and, yeah, it's fantastic.
And I'm glad to hear youchanging your opinion on it a
(31:32):
little bit because, coming at itwithout all the history, see, I
come at these not knowing howpoorly they looked, necessarily
because I just saw them on TV.
You know, I haven't beencollecting them or seeing them,
but of course they look betterthan my recollection on TV, but
I don't sit there and minutiaethem or remember how poorly they
looked, and so when I see themI'm just like, well, beautiful.
Jerry Beck (31:56):
It is, you know, when we were kids and we were
watching them on TV from 16 andthen collecting film prints in
eight millimeter or maybe 16millimeter and they're fading
and they're duping, but you know, we didn't think.
I didn't never thought backthen like about how, what kind
of bad print is this?
You know, the only clue waswhat I said before, where we
(32:19):
would see the what I call better, cleaner versions of, you know,
of other cartoons with BugsBunny, on the CBS, you know,
saturday morning, or onprimetime.
That was the only differentialback in those days.
It wasn't until much later whenGeorge and I got into the
business and then we could see,from circumstances of being in
(32:43):
the business you know, what a35-millimeter print of a cartoon
looks like.
I've got a strange story thatrelates to a cartoon that's on
this disc and it's a littlestrange.
I'm gonna keep it as clean as Ican.
I worked for united artists innew york and they were, as
george knows, uh, at 729 7thavenue on in times square, right
(33:07):
it was.
It was between 48th and 49thStreet.
George Feltenstein (33:11):
And we were surrounded by Right across the
street from Popeye's FriedChicken.
Jerry Beck (33:13):
Right, and it was the Metropole Cafe.
A topless place was next door.
There were porno theaters allaround the building where I had
to go into work.
It was sleazy.
This is back in the 70s and 80s, before really home video
really, really really took off.
It was like the beginning of itreally, and and people you know
it was cost too much money toeven have a.
(33:34):
I couldn't even afford a tapeplayer back then.
And um, uh, I worked for unitedarts and I was involved with
shorts and I was involved withbooking shorts, uh, to you know,
non-theatrically, in that timeand one day, uh, I was able to
find out internally how I foundthis out.
I can't remember anymore, but Ifound out that a print of a
(33:57):
cartoon was booked to the World49th Street Theater, which was a
porno theater right, that'swhere Deep Throat was for like
three years Forever yeah, and Ifound out that they in fact I
found out that they were playinglike Pink Panther cartoons.
What they did was.
I learned later that the theoryis that the porno theaters
(34:21):
would book cartoons and they didas chasers and so they wanted
to get rid of riffraff.
I mean, they never turned thelights on in those places.
You know, people would likelive there practically in these
porno theaters, and so having acartoon on wouldn't keep them
there.
Let's put it that way.
They would get up and leave.
(34:42):
Maybe you know time to go.
That's a purpose.
That happened back then.
George Feltenstein (34:49):
That's a fascinating story.
I did not know that.
Now I fascinating story.
I did not know that.
Jerry Beck (34:52):
Now I learned that I couldn't believe it, and so one
time I decided I was a bachelorand they're next door and I
said well, it says here they'rerunning a Pink Panther.
I'm going to go over there andcheck it out.
And I did.
And they did run the pinkpanther, exactly as I said the
(35:14):
movie would be over.
They'd run some porno trailers.
Then they ran the pink panthercartoon and I saw people getting
up.
Now my point of this story is Ilet that go, but one day said
and george, you'd have the samecuriosity the booking sheet said
Birth of a Notion.
George Feltenstein (35:34):
Wow, that was a classic Robert McKimpson
great Daffy Duck card and one ofthe shorts that's on disc two.
Jerry Beck (35:43):
That's why I'm mentioning this and so I said
wait a minute.
At that time it was onlywhatever crappy print was
running on Channel 5.
We didn't even have home videoyet.
So I said they're running a 35,a birth of a notion.
This was like I have to go andsee it.
I can't believe it.
I admit it.
(36:04):
I admit it, I went to a pornotheater.
I got to write this as anarticle to see a looney tune,
you know.
And uh, I did.
I went there and it was abeautiful 25 millimeter tech
print and it was tech, I couldtell you, and I was like I, I, I
never forgot that experience.
Um, my reason for even bringingall that up is that it's on
(36:29):
this set and it's's, of course,restored from the original
camera.
Neg, it looks like.
I have never seen it look likethis.
It is, as we've said, as I'mboring everybody with the fact
that, yes, again, crystal clear.
I've seen that cartoon amillion times in my life and in
(36:50):
many, many ways, but it neverlooked this good.
It's amazing, and you know,that's all I have to say about
that my experience with Birth ofan Ocean.
There you go.
Tim Millard (37:03):
That's a great story, Jerry.
It's a great story.
Jerry Beck (37:06):
I agree, not what I was expecting today.
Tim Millard (37:09):
I cleaned it up a little bit, but yeah well,
before we jump to uh to this too, I did want to mention a couple
others that I I just don't wantto not talk about, and that's
uh, first off, the dixie fryerfrom 1960.
I just thought this is aterrific uh cartoon, um, and
(37:29):
beautiful animation voicingstoryline.
What are your guys' thoughts onthat one?
George Feltenstein (37:33):
Very highly requested by the fans.
Jerry Beck (37:36):
Yeah, that's one of those.
Pappy and Elvis right, the twopros.
And whatever they are, and I'malways amazed.
People love, I have to admit,more than I, but I love Foghorn
Leghorn cartoons.
They're all great.
They're not all the same.
There's some great one-linersin all of them.
(37:57):
There's some great situations.
Another one that's on here thatI'm nutty about and it's a
really late one is Banty Raids.
We'll talk about that, buteverybody's got a favorite on
those and people really reallywant them, you know, and so my
feeling is you know I have no.
(38:19):
I'm just surprised when I hearpeople ask for specific ones.
That means something to them.
I'm not sure what that means.
A lot of people tell me thatFoghorn reminds them of their
dad and or my dad loved thesecartoons and it was a bonding
moment for a lot of people.
That's something I've learnedthroughout the years.
My dad didn't really care aboutFoghorn Leghorn, but he's a
(38:45):
great guy and we'll leave it atthat.
But yeah, I mean, we live toserve, right.
We want to give people whatthey want.
Tim Millard (38:56):
Well, I guess I could see why people enjoy it.
I just thought it's got so muchhumor.
Yeah, it's got great gags.
Jerry Beck (39:04):
Yeah, that's one of those later ones and I believe
the two characters, or at leastone of them, is, uh, dawes
butler and I'm not sure he gets.
I don't think he gets credit,but he's a very famous voice in
a lot of hannah barbara cartoonsand whatever and he's one of
the voices that really enhancesthat cartoon as well well, a
couple others that I just uh,I'm just saying I had as kind of
(39:28):
personal favorites or I thoughtthey were noteworthy.
Tim Millard (39:31):
I'd love to take orders from you from 1936.
That's a Tex Avery, where thekid scarecrow wants to be like
his father.
I thought that's a charming oneand it looks terrific.
George Feltenstein (39:42):
It is, and that is representative of what
the Looney Tunes and MaryMelodies initially were set out
to do, of what the Looney Tunesand Merry Melodies initially
were set out to do.
I'd Love to Take Orders fromyou is a song that was written
for a Warner Brothers film ofthe era, and the cartoons were
initially designed hence LooneyTunes, merry Melodies to promote
(40:06):
songs either written for WarnerBrothers films and or songs
that were published by WarnerBrothers Music Publishing
Companies, which areunfortunately no longer part of
our company, but that was theinitial purpose.
They'd say, okay, you got tomake a cartoon about September
(40:28):
in the Rain, you got to make acartoon about Shuffle Up the
Buffalo.
And they do it and they do agreat job and I'd love to take
orders from you is a beautifullydrawn, gorgeous restoration and
it's just never seen it lookthat good.
Jerry Beck (40:48):
Yes, anytime anybody mentions the 30s cartoons, any
of the 30s cartoons, I thoselooked those always in the past
looked worse than the 40scartoons you know they just
looked worse and you see them in35.
When you see them restored itclicks in my head a little bit
(41:08):
more about how these cartoonswere able to be on the same par
with, dare I say, disney.
Disney was doing a whole otherworld of what he was doing.
But to you know, how would theother cartoons?
You know how?
Did they even think they werein the same world as Disney?
But they didn't.
But when you see them restoredyou get a better idea of oh okay
(41:29):
, these look great, they'rebetter than I thought.
I could see why people lovedthem, enjoyed them almost
equally with the disneys yeah,another, another one from the
30s that I.
Tim Millard (41:41):
I felt the the same way in terms of how good it
looked and everything is thatone from 1936?
Let it be me.
Jerry Beck (41:48):
Me yeah.
Tim Millard (41:49):
And that has the rooster, the singing rooster,
the crooner, and I guess that'smaybe Bing Crosby or you know
it's.
George Feltenstein (42:00):
That was the idea yeah.
Jerry Beck (42:02):
Bing Crosby was the big thing.
A thing about those particularones that we've been talking
about Let it Be Me, and I Loveto Take Orders from that era was
these were the earliest onesthat Warners used technicolor
for, and they were purposelymaking them as colorful as they
could, something I did notrealize watching the faded
(42:27):
prints that we all grew up with.
Tim Millard (42:28):
These cartoons are more colorful than we ever knew
and, uh, you know again, we'reseeing them the way they're
meant to be seen well, there uhwas another one that I wanted to
ask you about, and that's akitty's kitty from 1955 and that
has that uh sadistic littlegirl who torments sylvester.
But I was laughing my head offuh watching this.
(42:49):
What are your guys' thoughts onthat one?
Jerry Beck (42:55):
I like them.
I mean, in my life, in all ofthe years I've been involved in
decades, I've come to appreciateFrizz Freeling more than I
think I ever did, way back when.
Oh my God, he was great.
I'm so happy I got to meet him.
I got to interview him a fewtimes and I'm constantly
marveling at a lot of thecartoons that I thought were
(43:19):
maybe not so hot, and I'mlooking at them again and I'm
thinking this is just, he wasgreat, even into the 60s with
the Pink Panther, with theearliest of those.
He really knew what he wasdoing.
I'm beginning to wonder, dare Isay it this way, not that he
was watching them, but I'mbeginning to wonder what Walt
(43:39):
Disney might have thought ofFrizz Freelinks cartoons,
because he won Oscars.
And the reason I say that ismost people don't know that
Frizz was from Kansas City andworked for Walt Disney thereney
there, that's right him out towork on the alice and oswald
cartoons.
Here he, freeling, and uh,disney had some kind of a
falling out, uh, to put itmildly, and freeling went and
(44:02):
stuck with harmonizing forsinking in the bathtub and
onward.
You know the entirety ofwarners and, and so Frizz
Freeling's name was not unknownto Walt Disney.
And to see him get Oscars inthe future like Birds, anonymous
and this and that, I kind ofwonder about that.
But Kitty's Kitty is a greatlittle cartoon.
(44:24):
It has a bit of the UPA, youknow, uh, stylized backgrounds
in it, even the design of thelittle girl, um, and it's just
pure comedy, it's pure timing,it's funny, I don't even know
what else to say, even though itwas a little girl.
And it's got Sylvester in itagain.
(44:46):
It was made for all audiencesand this is a good film.
That really demonstrates that.
Because the, the gags are kindof sadistic, you know any pet
owner or hater maybe, you know,would really really laugh at the
things that happened toSylvester in this cartoon.
It's, it's, it's very well puttogether, very well designed and
(45:07):
you know it's not the littlegirl, she's like kind of the.
Our sympathies are withsylvester in this course you
know, you know, so it's uh youknow.
Tim Millard (45:19):
I'll add in as a parent of a daughter too, would
you?
They just just the way kids,little girls, want their animals
, they love their animals.
But at times you're like, oh,no, stop, yeah, because they can
be so unintentionally mean tothem.
But it's uh, I just uh.
I just found that one very,very funny, um, and then another
(45:41):
one that I wanted to ask youabout because I thought it looks
fantastic and it was.
It's so different, but I reallyenjoyed it and that was good
night.
Elmer from 1940.
I mean, it's just elmer, fuddwith this candle yeah, yeah,
it's, it's, it's.
Jerry Beck (45:56):
it's one I always had a problem with because, uh,
with, uh, some very, very rareexceptions, I'd have to rack my
brain to remind myself there'shardly anything cartoony in it.
The animation is very intricate, it's very real-ish and it's
dark, literally because it's atnight, and I always felt that
(46:21):
that's a film that could havebeen done in live action.
It might have made a greatEdgar Kennedy short or something
.
But seeing it finally restoredknow, restored it's beautiful.
The animation is beautiful.
It's not rotoscoped I didn'tthink it was, but it's.
It all takes place with thishuman character, so why wouldn't
(46:43):
it be?
Maybe, but it's beautifullydone.
The shading this is early chuckjones, before he was, before he
was lectured by Leon to followwhat Avery and Clampett are
doing.
We want funny cartoons, and notthat this wasn't funny, but
it's Disney-ish, really is whatit is.
It's the frustrations of acharacter against an object that
(47:08):
he has no control over, andit's really a study.
It's that he has no controlover, and it's it's.
It's really a study, it'sreally really animated.
Tim Millard (47:15):
Yeah, yeah, but it's very different than the
others for that, for that reason, and it calls attention to
itself for that reason, but I, Ireally enjoyed it.
I thought it was a really,really interesting.
And then you have a coupleothers that I thought were
notable, because I think they'rethe the first um debuts of uh,
(47:35):
like the goofy gophers yes,right yeah, and the work yeah,
go on in the squawk and hawk, Ithink as well is that the first?
Jerry Beck (47:46):
uh, henry hawk?
Right, I believe so yeah, Ijust thought those were notable
for those reasons for obviouslyfans of those you also have the
first daffy duck cartoon on theother uh, I think on the other
second disc, um, and so we havelike a a bunch of firsts yeah
which I think are very.
Tim Millard (48:03):
In fact, I think we have the first speedy gonzalez
on here, j, before you jump tothat is that this is like you
know.
We've called it alternately.
Disc one here is alternatelycalled Collectors, Volume 5.
But the fact that these firstsare only now coming out, I
(48:25):
thought was really noticeable,because you would think like the
firsts would be released maybea little bit earlier in the
process.
I don't know, it's just athought.
Jerry Beck (48:33):
Well, the first aren't are, strangely enough,
not usually.
Sometimes they are, but notusually their best.
The best Cause they refine thecharacters.
If that, if this character gota good reaction, hey, let's make
another, let's make it.
That's, this is what they didback then.
That's how Bugs Bunny came tobe.
He didn't just emerge in onecartoon, it was several cartoons
(48:55):
where all the directors had asay and could make different
variants until they got to thewild hair, the primo True, but
everybody wants to see first.
Tim Millard (49:06):
Oh yeah first oh yeah, first, you know the the
fact that I have a best, evennow collectors are like, oh my
gosh, I get to see the first ofsomething this late into the
series.
I think is fantastic because,whether you know, we're not
everybody's watching theseranking.
You know, they just want toknow this was the first attempt,
or the first time thischaracter came.
That's an interesting thing.
(49:27):
Yeah, george, I know you like.
George Feltenstein (49:31):
You like these goofy there was a time
where people just watched themfor entertainment and not
scrutiny and analysis.
Everything else that you knowhas been added to the equation.
Jerry Beck (49:49):
They're entertainment, can you?
Imagine can you imagine thiswill be a scene in some movie
where some time traveler goesback to 1945 and a person coming
out of the theater and he saysdid you just see the cartoon
inside, sir?
He goes yes, it was a cartoon,I was watching the Clark Gable
picture and he goes.
Well, do you know that in thefuture people will be obsessing
(50:10):
over that particular cartoon andall the subsequent ones and
they'd look at that person fromthe future as crazy?
George Feltenstein (50:17):
Well, some people today look at it as crazy
and we're the ones that have tofight that battle to get them
is expanding and growing and I'mhoping that will continue yeah.
Tim Millard (50:37):
Yeah, sure.
Well, this is the end of partone of a multiple episode of
this Looney Tunes CollectorsVault Volume 1 discussion.
You can look for the nextepisode coming soon, but until
then, if you want to learn alittle bit more or see previews
of the release, we have somefirst looks on our youtube
(50:58):
channel and on facebook so youcan look for those there.
I'll provide some links to thatin the podcast show notes, as
well as a link to the actualrelease if you'd like to
purchase it.
This is a fantastic release,highly recommended, as you can
tell.
So look for the next episodevery soon.
Until then, if you haven't yet,please subscribe or follow the
(51:19):
show.
That way you'll get informationon the next episode and all of
our animation release episodeswith Jerry and George as soon as
they come out.
Until next time you've beenlistening to Tim Millard.
Stay slightly obsessed aboutanimation.
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