#bob clameptt

[dailylooneys]

Happy 80th Birthday Tweety!

“I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat!”........”I did! I did! I did saw a Putty Tat!“.

Happy Birthday to one of the most famous Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies character, Tweety (or Tweety Pie), originally created by Bob Clampett and later taken over by the creator of Sylvester, Yosemite Sam and Porky Pig, Friz Freleng.

Originally named Orson and was left unnamed in his first appearance “A Tale of Two Kitties”, until Tweety’s second film, “Birdy and the Beast”. 

Tweety’s voice and characteristics were modeled after a then well-known fictional radio character “Junior, the Mean Widdle Kid” by actor as Red Skelton.

Clampett would go on to direct a couple more Tweety shorts until his depature. He originally planned to direct Tweety’s fourth cartoon, “Tweetie Pie”, but was taken over by Friz Freleng and won the Academy Award.

In a similar approach to Tex Avery, Clampett was more interested in one-shots (once stated, after a few Bugs Bunny cartoons, he became bored with the character), which may be the reason why he didn’t create as many characters as Jones, Freleng or even McKimson, aside from Tweety, there was also Beaky Buzzard.

Clampett’s original Tweety was intentionally sadistic while still maintaining his cutesy demeanor, whereas Freleng’s Tweety was later toned down significantly (very much like Jones did with Bugs and Daffy in the 1950s onward), making the character innocent, naïve and, for most of the part, unaware of the danger around, however, at least a few of Freleng’s Tweety short would include some of Clampett’s original characterstics, until Tweety’s sadistic nature was entirely gone. 

Freleng’s Tweety’s designed him with even less exaggeration. 

Freleng paired up Sylvester with Tweety, much to the disagreement with the cartoon directors’ new producer, Eddie Selzer, who protested that Sylvester and  the unnamed woodpecker from 1945′s “Peck Your Troubles Away”, Freleng refused and, according to him, he angrily placed a paper-and-pencil to his producer’s desk and stormed out. Later, Selzer agreed to have Freleng make a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon short, the first one with them, as stated, won the Academy Award, and the rest is history! 

Like there competitors, Tom & Jerry, Sylvester & Tweety became labeled as “one of the best duos in animation history”, and who can argue with that statement! These duos starred in some of the best shorts ever made!!!

#tweety #bob clameptt #friz freleng #birthday #a tale of two kitties #looney tunes #merrie melodies #model sheets #history #lobby cards #tweety80 #tweety 80 #80 years of tweety

[dailylooneys]

The Bashful Buzzard

(1945, Bob Clampett)

#the bashful buzzard #bob clameptt #looney tunes #beaky buzzard #out of context

[dailylooneys]

In some respects, Chuck Jones was the superego to Clampett's id. If Clampett was about the heroic possibilities of transformation through animation, Jones was about the failure of grand schemes through the flaws of human execution. If Clampett yearned for liberation from the human condition through impossible movement, Jones displayed an enormous empathy for our all-too-human limitations through small gestures and expressions.

Kevin S. Sandler comparing Jones to Clampett (Reading the Rabbit Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation, 1998)

#quotes #kevin s. sandler #chuck jones #bob clameptt #looney tunes #merrie melodies #animation #history of animation #animation history #cartoons #human condition #human nature #art of animation #classic animation

[dailylooneys]

My brother Tom [McKimson] made the original character sketches on Sylvester, for Bob Clampett. It was shortly after that Clampett left the studio, and so did my brother. Friz took over the character; he also took over Tweety at that time, too. Today, why, he's the creator of both of them, if you can believe him.

Robert McKimson, interviewed by animation historian Michael Barrier

#quotes #robert mckimson #tom mckimson #looney tunes #sylvester #bob clameptt #friz freleng #animation #cartoons #animation history #history of animation #character design