Who remembers this classic horror/thriller movie from 1982? For those that do remember, good for you. It's a great flick. For those who've never seen it, I'll give a brief synopsis:
A suburban family has their house taken over by ghosts. They first contact the the youngest daughter of the family, a five year old girl named Carol-Anne. They talk to her through the TV set. It's not long before those same ghosts kidnap that little girl. They come out of her closet and take her to some kind of 'netherworld' where her family can hear her but not see her. So, the family has to hire some paranormal experts to find Carol Anne, bring her back safely, and then deal with the rest of the ghosts.
That's about it in a nutshell. Like I said, if you haven't seen it yet, go seek it out now. You'll be glad you did.
Ok, now that's out of the way, I'll now deliver my promise of showing everyone the Looney Tunes connection.
For starters, Carol Anne's dead bird at the beginning is named Tweety. I know that's not much of a connection right there, but I'm just getting started.
Another connection is the family's last name: Freleng
When I heard that name used in the movie I thought it was a rather weird coincidence. Why would this family happen to share a name with one of the most prolific and award winning animation directors of all time? I'm not saying they shouldn't have done it. Friz Freleng is certainly one artistic figure that deserves immortalization. I'm just saying I've never seen Friz' name used in any such movie before or since then. So it's got me wondering: why now?
For proof, I'm embedding a clip from the movie where the family's name is mentioned. It's at around 0:27
See, right there.
As amazing as that coincidence is, the connection does not stop there either. For the full connection, I read the credits.
The key animator of all the special ghostly effects in this movie were done by Art Vitello. "Who's that?" you ask. He was one of Friz Freleng's animators on the Pink Panther cartoons. I have proof of this here too. These are the opening credits for Pink Lemonade.
Yes, I know the Pink Panther cartoons were made at MGM after Warner Bros shut down their animation department. But, he did work under the guidance of Looney Tunes director Friz Freleng, so I'd say the connection is still pretty solid.
I'll end this post with samples of Art Vitello's work, one for Poltergeist and one Pink Panther. Enjoy them both.
A while back on this blog I posted a video in which I did some commentary on a WB cartoon with the good people at Ferris Wheelhouse. Well, embedded above is some more commentary I did but this time for the Elmer Fudd cartoon Ant Pasted.
What a neat coincidence that I got to talk about this cartoon in particular because it allowed me to revisit a theory I have about this cartoon that I posted on this very same blog a way long time ago. I opined that this cartoon was a subversive satirical attack on Joe McCarty's communist witch hunt.
"WHUT?! DUH WB WENT N GONE N MADE SPORT A ME?? WHY I OUGHTA....."
I'll walk you through my thought process with screen captures this time (something I couldn't do for that old post). {begin animation nerd dissertation now}
The cartoon starts with Elmer Fudd celebrating the 4th of July by lighting fireworks and throwing them. Elmer Fudd represents Joe McCarthy and the fireworks represent Joe's aggressively overt patriotism.
However, one of Elmer's fireworks lands next to an ant colony injuring one of the ants. The ant, in this moment, represents an average American citizen does not quite share the same zeal as Mr. McCarthy and so feels overwhelmed by it.
When Elmer sees his fireworks have disturbed the ants, he's inspired to throw several of his lighted explosives directly at the ants. This of course represents McCarthy's Human Unamerican Activities Committee going after anyone they considered "communist subversives" (whether they had evidence or not).
Although one aspect is different from the real history of that era. Back then, anyone who found themselves snared by the HUAC net had no choice but to go along with the proceedings which would get them blacklisted in some way. In the cartoon in question here, the ants answer this onslaught with full militarized retaliation.
My comparison to McCarthy with this cartoon is further solidified for me when at one point during the battle Elmer Fudd shouts "Why don't you ant go under gwound where you bewong!"
I mean, that's why Joe started his crusade in the first place, so that he could drive all he considered undesirable to go underground and (to his hope) out of society.
But, like I said, the ants retaliate against Elmer in a highly successful attack that has Fudd running for his safety.
His retreat is all for naught because the ants manage to obliterate him with his own explosives. The cartoon ends with the ants throwing a patriotic salute to Elmer's (Joe's) destruction.
It would be of no surprise to me if my hypothesis of Ant Pasted were proved correct. One of McCarthy's biggest target of interest was Hollywood, which the WB animation department was very much a part of. You can bet everyone there was worried that no stone would be left unturned and soon HUAC would be coming after them. I do think they did throw in some nods to patriotism for the soul purpose of keeping these men away from them.
One example I can think of off the top of my head is Forward March Hare in which Bugs Bunny accidentally joins the army. When the general informs Bugs that the army is not equipped to accommodate rabbits as soldiers, Bugs responds with, "Isn't there something a patriotic rabbit can do for his country?" I'm sure Joe pleasured himself after hearing Bugs say that.
Another example I recall is a gag in the cartoon Fowl Weather. Sylvester cranks up a little toy soldier and sets it marching in front of the hens in the henhouse. The hens all stand up to salute. This gives Sylvester a chance to look for Tweety who may be hiding among the baby chicks (spoiler: he was). Although, I think this may have been another subtle jab at Joe.
And of course there are the three cartoons that were commissioned to be economic lessons:
By Word of Mouse
Heir Conditioned
and Yankee Dood It
I looked through some of the comments of that video and found this dissenting assertion that I'd like to address:
OK, whoever made this comment (I cropped out the name so nobody finds and harasses this guy) contradicts himself a bit. He says that the president ant declaring war may be a caricature of Harry Truman since he was president when production of this cartoon began at some point in the early 1950's but was released after Eisenhower had since won the 1952 election by the time of its release in 1953. However, he then claims this cartoon was more about the Korean War coming to an end. Ant Pasted was released May 9 of 1953 while the Korean War was halted with a cease fire in September of that year. How could the director Friz Freeing be inspired to make a cartoon about the end of the Korean War at a time when Truman was still president and still determined to keep that war going? And yet he thought my comparison to Joe McCarthy was "off base" even though that was a deeply pressing concern in that time period starting way further back in the late 40's. Meh. What's the point of addressing this guy's ramblings any further?
Forget it, Jake. It's the Youtube comment section.
Well really neither of our statements hold much weight because who knows what the director of Ant Pasted, Friz Freleng, would say about our hypotheses if through some miracle of science he could still be alive today. Maybe he would say "No, this cartoon was me telling Arthur Godfrey that he's a son of a bitch and should stay away from my wife." But we'll never know, and what does it matter in the grand scheme of time and space? No matter whose assessment is true or not, I think most animation enthusiasts can agree that many of the WB cartoons are some of the best and most clever short films of all time. The fact that different people can read different things into what are essentially basic premises whose structure is used as a showcase for quick gags. That's all part of their genius. Whatever your opinion is, definitely continue to enjoy the cartoon Ant Pasted with or without commentary.
Yes, August 21 is the birthday of one Isadore "Friz" Freleng. However, 2006 is only one of the years that Friz could have turned 100. There's evidence that supports him being born in 1904 or 1905 as well. He did have a younger brother named Allen who was born in 1907. That gives us a bit of a clue.
Oh well, exactly how old the man would have been had he been granted the priviledge of never dying is irrelevent compared to the contributions he made to the animation industry. I'll name a bunch right now.
Like most of animation's greats, Friz started off working for Walt Disney around the mid 1920's. According to Merritt & Kaufman’s “Walt in Wonderland” Freleng’s first animation for Disney was on Alice’s Knaughty Knight (Jan 1927). On his 3rd picture (Alice’s Picnic) he had a scene of a mother cat washing her kittens in a tub. To make the scene more interesting he had one of the kittens crawl out of the tub and drop to the ground, and the mother cat grab it and put it back in. When Walt saw the scene he called it to everyone’s attention. “That little kitten didn’t just jump out of the water, he climbed up and hung there and dropped down like a little kid would do,” he said, “Friz did it this way and made him act like a little kid. That’s what I want to see in the pictures. I want the characters to be somebody. I don’t want them just to be a drawing.” So you see, it was Friz who took cartoons to a whole new level by adding little subtle movements in order to give the figures more personality. How many great animated masterpieces wouldn't have been possible without that?
When Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising had "professional differences" with Walt and walked out on him, Friz followed both of them along with many others. They're first task as independant artists was to create a pilot film featuring a character they hoped would become a star, namely Bosko. Friz provided much of the animation in this pilot. When the Bosko film landed them a job making cartoons for Warner Bros. under Leon Schlesiner, Friz was the head animator on all of them. Friz constantly asked Harmon & Ising if he could be promoted to the director's chair but for some reason they never complied. Even when almost everyone walked out on Leon over budget disputes and set up shop a MGM, Friz was not made a director.
Fed up with waiting, Friz went back to Leon Schlesinger. A man named Earl Duvall had just completed two films as a last ditch effort to prove his worth at the studio. Leon was less than impressed with what he saw. Friz took those films and re-editted them and fixed or improved and timing problems they had. Leon was so impressed by what Friz had done that Earl was immediately fired and Friz was made the head director of the entire studio. A year later, he would create Porky Pig their first major star. (Yes, some people believe that Bob Clampett created Porky by drawing that picture of Porky and Beans for the character design contest the studio had. But, that arguement comes around again because Clampett got the model of the Porky he drew from the model sheet Friz made for Porky's first cartoon I Haven't Got a Hat).
Also, if it wasn't for Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones wouldn't have realized his potential. Chuck Jones' first years as a director at Warner Bros. were a bit shaky to say the least. His penchant to try to immitate the Disney style really put a damper on the irreverent Looney Tuney-ness they had come to establish. For this reason, Leon Schlesinger was ready to demote Jones back down to animator. But, Friz Freleng stepped forward and said, "Come on, Leon, give the kid a chance. He'll make you proud someday." So, Jones stayed a director and did indeed made the entire studio proud to have him. Jones accomplishments are to be the subject of an entirely different post so I won't pad an already lengthy post with them.
Besides Porky, Friz would create two other major characters at the studio: Sylvester and Yosemite Sam. When Bob Clampett exitted the studio (for reasons that are clouded in mystery to this day) Friz asked if he could pair Bob's little Tweety bird with his cat Sylvester. The result was not only a brilliant comedic team but also got Looney Tunes it's first Oscar for the cartoon Tweetie Pie (c. 1947). Friz won another Oscar with Sylvester & Tweety for Birds Anonymous (c. 1957) and even won with Yosemite Sam for Knighty Knight Bugs (c. 1958).
But Friz would also win an Oscar with someone else's character. Bob McKimson created Speedy Gonzales in a catoon called Cat Tails for Two(c. 1953). Speedy somewhat acted like his familiar self but he looked a little different. All he wore was a red T-shirt and had a gold tooth. For some reason, McKimson planned to walk away from that character. So, Friz picked him up and had his layout man Hawley Pratt redesign him into the sombrero clad hero we know him as today. That cartoon, Speedy Gonzales (c. 1955) went on to win an Oscar. McKimson would come back to Speedy and make the Oscar nominated Tobasco Road (c. 1957). After that, Friz and McKimson would each assume the duties of making Speedy cartoons.
The studio closed down in 1962. However, Friz was not caught with his guard down. He had been involved in a partnership with David DePatie for a while at that point. So, when the hammer came down, the two men started their own studio. Since they were using the very animation equipment and studios that Warner Bros. had just abandoned, Jack Warner himself that they release cartoons through Warner Bros. as well. So, the DePatie Freleng studio went to work on a new series of Roadrunner cartoons (sadly without Chuck Jones directing them) as well as Daffy & Speedy cartoons. The budgets on those were consierably lower because the studio was also working on an original character of their's namely the Pink Panther. That character did much better. He won an Oscar in 1964 for The Pink Phink even.
Despite all these ccomplishments, John K has taken many oppurtunities to belittle the man on his blog as well as in interviews. Well, since today is Friz's day, I'll let him deal with John.
Anyone who has visited John K.'s blog knows that he is not too fond of Friz Freleng's work at all. If Mr. K. did indeed conduct an interview with Mr. Freleng I imagine that it would look something like this: (That's Eddie Fitzgerald laughing on the left by the way along with Friz in the middle and of course John on the right). Those of you reading this who don't know who Friz Freleng is, "google" him immediately after visiting my blog. You won't be disappointed. Everyone else, feel free to express an opinion of either Friz Freleng, John K. or Eddie Fitzgerald in the comments section.
