Wednesday, September 19, 2007

THE FIRST TIME I SAW A CLAMPETT CARTOON

I must have written about this before, but if so I can't find it. I guess an occasional repeat is inevitable after 520 posts. If I am covering old ground I apologize. It's a fun story for me to tell and maybe something new will come to light in the re-telling.
It all started in Berkeley, California where I had plans to start an animation studio. I figured I'd begin by making commercials for local TV then, when the time was right, I'd move the studio to L.A. where I'd become the next Walt Disney. The fact that I'd never animated before never struck me as an obstacle. It was the era just before video tape recorders so I didn't have much to study. Mostly I read books and did the animation exercizes in a book I got in the mail, Heath's "Animation in 12 Hard Lessons."
I was super-serious about this and I even got rid of all the furniture in my apartment to make a bigger working space. Using the plans I found in animation books, I carpentered together animation tables and discs, cel drying racks, an editing area and a photography stand. With the money from tutoring and a post office job I bought a camera and lights, swivel chairs and enough used editing equipment to get started. It was great! Amazingly someone found out what I was doing and donated the use of a completely professional motorized animation stand so I was really in business. My girlfriend and I had to sleep on the floor because there was no room for a bed but, what the heck, you have to make sacrifices to start a career, right?
Getting animation gigs proved to be difficult. I got two short ones but they didn't pay much.
I thought I'd better put something together to show what I and my friends could do, or thought we could do. We advertised ourselves as a full animation studio even though none of us had ever even inbetweened professionally. For a first project I picked a childrens book by Bill Peet (the first two pictures above are Peet's) . I figured he was an obscure childrens book author who lived in a shack behind the railroad tracks. I figured he would jump at the chance to see his pathetically obscure little book animated by suave and sophisticated artists like myself. I wrote a letter to him but never got an answer.
It was just as well because shortly after I met an art student who recommended me to her dad who was a big shot at Hanna Barbera. Thanks to favoritism I was a shoe-in! Aaaargh! I put so much effort into getting my own studio together...it seemed a shame to leave all that ... but this was a real job at a real Hollywood animation studio -- How could I turn that down? My girlfriend and I sold the animation equipment and dashed down to L.A.
I got my first job at Filmation and I was ecstatic! I worked all day then spent hours at night sitting at the desks of the older animators, flipping their animation and trying to figure out how they did it. Some of the old guys liked me and I had real cartoonist friends for the first time. My hero was still Bill Peet, who I discovered was a famous Disney story man, and through friends I discovered the names of my favorite directors: Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng. I was in heaven! I didn't mind working on the Filmation characters and I couldn't even imagine anything better than what Friz and Chuck did.
One day a friend (he might not want me to mention his name) told me he'd be projecting "Crumpet cartoons" in the 2nd floor hallway after work. I'm being disingenuous, he clearly said "Clampett," but I can't resist rewriting history to make the word sound the way I heard it for the first time months before. My friend was a real Clampet fan but I'd never seen a Clampett cartoon and I was a little skeptical of the hype. Surely, I thought, Friz and Chuck had the top spots locked up. Clampett, whoever he was, couldn't possibly be anything but the lackey who polished their shoes.
Well, as I may have said elsewhere, the lights dimmed and when they came on I was a different man. Clampett, to put it mildly, was not a shoe shining lackey. He was the only director to use all the elements of entertainment in a single film: funny and surprising writing, hilarious cartooning and animation, great pacing and choreography, killer voices, just the right color, efx and music...I was overwhelmed!
That night I completely flip-flopped. I disavowed my entire past and I even shed my desire to have a studio. Clearly I had a lot to learn and I could only learn it in the studio system. The next day I came to work feeling like the world-destroying infant at the end of the film, "2001." With a deeply grave look on my face I willed the studio door open (OK, I'm exaggerating) and slowly and deliberately levitated (so it felt) up to the second floor where the old guys were. I confidently approached them and announced that everything they were doing was wrong. I would brook no disagreement. The new law had had been laid down.











36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Neat pictures, Eddie. I always liked the Daffy Doc one, Daffy's pose is exaggerated but it seems to come off as natural.

I don't think I remember the first time I saw a Clampett cartoon, but if I had to guess, I think I either saw A Tale of Two Kitties or the Wacky Wabbit. A little more confident it's the latter.

P.S.- This is off-topic, sorry, but I just wanted to say that you looked like you were having a blast at the Wolverton exhibit. I respect the guy's art, it's just that I'm not used to seeing that much detail in a cartoon. When I saw the preliminary sketch for Mad Magazine's ugly girl, I literally jumped a foot into the air and dropped my book like a hot potato!
Great cartoonist.

Aaron T. said...

Falling Hare is the first cartoon I remember watching.

Taber said...

I remember when I first noticed that the same cartoons I would see on TV had a lot of the stuff edited out when compared to the old vhs versions we had... I bet those were Clampett cartoons.

Kali Fontecchio said...

Did Mike draw the top pic?

Rogelio T. said...

I remember the first time I really watched a Clampett cartoon.
When I was about 12 years old. I was getting ready for school and went to my younger sisters' room to ask her a question.
As I was talking to her I was distracted by the cartoon that was on her TV.
Kitty Kornered was on and it was at the point where they were putting the cats out by kicking them.
I told her to wait a minute and I just stood there and watched the rest of the cartoon.
The moment the cartoon ended I knew I had to find out what it was. I described it to and asked everyone I knew, repeatedly, for several weeks.
My friends at school thought I was making it all up and by the end of the first week half of them wanted to see this cartoon too (because I wouldn't stop talking about it).
I needed to find out what it was called.
So every morning I'd watch Looney Tunes and paid close attention to the cartoon titles.
I could pretty easily tell the directors apart and after a while realised the cartoon I'd seen was directed by Bob Clampett.
I'd seen many other Clampett cartoons before but I'd seen those so many times and the quality of the recordings were so bad I never was really able to pay attention to how incredible they were.
From that point on I've been amazed by all things Bob Clampett.

sarahmojoh said...

The first Clampett cartoon I saw was either Baby Bottleneck or Daffy Doc. BB's assembly line music will still pop into my mind with no warning, as well as the the lines "I'm only twee and a haf seconds owd" and "boip." DD gave me a bizarre viewpoint on surgery for years afterwards, not to mention how it introduced me to iron lung humor.

I too enjoyed the photos of you guys at the Wolverton exhibit. Oh, if I could only see and touch and taste the Glory that is the SPAMobile in real life!

A girl can always dream.

Anonymous said...

Based on my strongest memories, I would probably say that it was either "The Wacky Wabbit" or maybe one with Beaky.

But Holy Crap! To this day I am completely amazed at how completely REAL that "The Wacky Wabbit" FEELS. The muted colorscheme, the way that the large Elmer body moves, it's all so great - not to mention the use of real teeth throughout!

This cartoon may not necessarily be as splashy or exciting as many of Bobs other more famous cartoons, but I think that anyone who wants to try and understand that incredible moment when cartoon characters become more than just a collection of drawings that move around on a screen should study this obsessively!

For my money this cartoon is more subtle and realistic in terms of performance than any of those contrived - terminal desease, mentally handicap, my personal struggle Hollywood pieces of crap that wins the Oscar each year.

And it's WAY more funny for sure!

chrisallison said...

What about the first time you met Bob Clampett? I remember you mentioned that, and you stared at him because he was saying something radical that blew your mind. You should write up that story if you haven't, Eddie.

Anonymous said...

My first Clampett cartoon was either "Tale of Two Kitties" or "Falling Hare" when I was a baby. I used to think Tex Avery's MGM cartoons were the greatest cartoons ever made but after John and you started your blogs and posted about him I couldn't deny this indisputable fact: Clampett was King. I loved Tale of Two Kitties more because I didn't understand half of it (indeed, even now I pick up new things going on each time I see the picture) but I loved how Falling Hare had swearing and Bugs Bunny losing.

Cartoon Network had "The Bob Clampett Show" whne I was a kid, but I ignored it in favour of "The Tex Avery Show," "Toonheads" and "The Acme Hour" I always liked three hour blocks better than "shows." I remember I saw the Clampett show one time and like the first WB cartoon but afterwards they started showing some weird ass puppet show about going to the moon. I turned it off in disgust. Now I regret that I missed seeing "Beany & Cecil" as a kid!

When you were a kid, Eddie, did you only have the post-48 library on TV? Actually, your childhood cartoon watching activities may require its own blog post.

Dooley said...

The first Clampett cartoon I saw was "An Itch In Time". It was on a tape that also featured a Mighty Mouse cartoon and an old Fleischer one. That cartoon completely warped my childhood for the better... and now I have the "food around the corner" song stuck in my head!


"Hey I better cut this out, I may get to like it!"

Brilliantpants said...

Baby Bottleneck is the absolute funniest cartoon ever in the history of anything.

I'm sitting here giggling like a school girl just thinking about it! Daffy's crazy leg? And that hat, and that dog "Listen Jackson!". Oh my god....That leg gets me every time...funniest thing ever ever ever.

Vincent Waller said...

Wow! What would the world have been like with an Eddie Fitzgerald commercial studio. Oh what joy would have been spread. I'm getting in my time machine right now to go and see.

Wow

Ricardo Cantoral said...

I was actaullyw atching a coupleof Calmpett shorts last night, BABY BOTTLE NECK and A TALE OF TWO KITTIES. Clampett's cartoons were stuffed with so much entertainment that I swear, even if I live to be a hundred, I don't think I'll see every single thing in one of his cartoons.

Jenny Lerew said...

I wonder what your career and life would have been like if you'd been first exposed to Bob's cartoons at, say, five? Now there's a subject for pondering!

I'm surprised-they didn't show the old WB stuff(and "Time For Beany") when you were little? He must have on there right next to Bozo, Kukla Fran & Ollie, et al. You just missed out? Damn.
I can't remember a time when I didn't know who Bob Clampett was, thanks to B&C...I'm sure I was just one of a huge silent crowd of kiddie Clampett groupies. And just imagine realizing at age 8 or so that the kid next to you in the lunch line was his daughter! It was like standing next to the progeny of Zeus! Poor Cherie, I practically accosted her when the realization hit me(but she looked so proud).

I definitely remember feeling happier knowing Bob Clampett lived in the world(seriously). When I finally met him I all but salaamed. And what a lovely guy, too.
I'd like to hear how you hit upon the cartoon studio idea at the point that you did.

Brilliantpants said...

Curse you, Dooley! I had 'And Itch in Time' on a tape, too! And now I'm going to have that song stuck in my head for the next 7 months. I hope you're happy.

Ken Mitchroney said...

I always wondered what the tuning point was. Wow, Bob and Filmation. Now there's some contrast for ya.
So, now that you have been kicked around by the industry all theses years are you coming back up here to Berkley and staring that studio again??

Anonymous said...

You had a very cool name for that San Francisco studio, Eddie. Wasn't it "The Eddie Willie Studio?" You showed me a piece of the official stationery once. The sub-heading read "Golden Age, Full Animation", and it's amazing that you scored a professional camera stand.

Tom Minton

Ken Mitchroney said...

Oh, First Clampett cartoon. The Great piggy bank robbery.

Callum said...

To Be Continued?
My first Clampett cartoon was "Bugs Bunny gets The Boid". As soon as I saw it I loved Clampett's stuff, despite the fact i didn't know who he was, I could always tell the ones that he did, his stuff just...stood out. I didn't find it funny, as I didn't develop my sense of humour until later, but I was obsessed with it, I can remember acting like Beaky Buzzard and imitating his voice.

J. J. Hunsecker said...

Eddie,

I'm a little surprised to hear that you didn't see any Clampett cartoons until you were an adult. I'm guessing they didn't show Clampett's Looney Tunes on tv when you were a kid. Is that correct? I remember seeing those cartoons on a local UHF station in the 70's. What year was it when you finally saw them?

Anonymous said...

I was familiar with Clampett from reruns of the Beany and Cecil show.(I'm pretty sure I saw the show when it was first run too, but I was just a wee lad at the time)In the late sixties, early seventies, The Porky Pig Show was in syndication. This program was made up of cartoons that didn't make it on the Bugs Bunny Show or The Bugs Bunny/ Roadrunner Show that played on Saturday mornings. I noticed that some of them were a lot weirder than the ones I saw on Saturday morning. They seemed to be out of a completely different universe. Most of these were labeled "Blue Ribbon"(had no idea at the time what THAT was all about)and they had no credits so I didn't know who did them. But then there were these other Porky Pig cartoons that just seemed -odd. They sounded like Looney Tunes, but the artwork was horrible.The linework looked wobbly, the cels would jiggle and sometimes the voices would seem out of sync. These had the modern 'W7' logo (for Warner Brothers Seven Arts)that was on all the Roadrunner cartoons my theatre would show (which sucked)The credits told me that these were the work of a director named "Robert Clampett"-possibly some relative of Bob's-but they were such a mess that I concluded that this "Robert Clampett" had to be one of the biggest hacks in the business (and I was only about 10 at the time)A few years later I discovered that these films were not actually the work of Robert Clampett, but cartoons that had been retraced and recolored by a Korean studio (which began my lifelong hatred and distrust of all animation produced outside of North America)when I saw an actual B/W print of a Robert Clampett cartoon (I think it was the Henpecked Duck, or the one with Injun Joe)I was bewildered why anyone would want to deprive an audience from seeing a carton in its natural state.I started searching for black and white cartoons through various Super 8 home Movie distributors.

Then around 1975, I read an article about a new film called "Bugs Bunny Superstar"and this article featured an interview with a man named Bob Clampett,an animation director that made Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny cartoons (this was a huge revelation to me, that someone OTHER than the three directors credited at the end of the Bugs Bunny Show was responcible for creating my heroes, no less a revelation than Bob and Robert were the same person)The film was showing at my local theatre and I saw the movie at least five times. So the first real Clampett cartoon I saw when I was aware of the man was "What's Cookin Doc" and "Old Grey Hare" both vastly different from the Chuck Jones Bugs I had grown accustomed to. I was totally bowled over.

Ricardo Cantoral said...

JJ: I belive it wasn't until the mid 1980's that the pre-48 Looney Tunes were being shown on TV or made available home video. John K. said he didn't see a Clampett cartoon until he was in college. Eddie was lucky he saw one during the 70's.

Marc Deckter said...

Great story! I didn't know about your Berkley, California history.

I don't know which Clampett cartoon I saw first, but BABY BOTTLENECK definitely made the strongest impact.

Kali: I think that's a Bill Peet storyboard drawing.

SL said...

Sooooooooo. Then What?! How did the animators respond to your declarations? Where they mad that the young guy was critisizing them and their ways? or did they also liek Bob Clampet's cartoons and also felt they had much to learn?

S

Anonymous said...

Actually, PC, the pre-48's were part of the "aap" library and were shown since the 50s. Now they are owned by Turner.

The post-48s, meanwhile, are owned by Warner Bros (although Boomerang is not allowed to show them anymore)

Jenny Lerew said...

pcunfunny: all of the pre-48 WB cartoons were definitely shown on television.

The post-'48 ones were part of the network "Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner hour" that ran on CBS from the early 1960s; the pre-'48 ones were part of a syndicated, cheaper package that in Los Angeles aired on channels 13 and 11 after school.
The intros to the earlier WB cartoon shows were a lot of fun, too--who else here remembers the one with the plastic Porky toy held up in front of the camera(the kind where your push up the bottom to make Porky "dance" and flop around)? Anyway, all those series packages had all the early stuff--including later "censored" cartoons and WW2 themed ones. That's where I saw my first Clampett WBs. I think the first was "Book Revue", which is a mind blowing exerience at any age. Meeting people at age 13, 16 or 20 who'd also seen "Book Revue" was like meeting a fellow Mason and knowing the secret handshake; there are so many in-jokes and dated jokes in there that while they've lost their recognition factor(at one point Daffy is doing an impression of Danny Kaye from "Lady in the Dark"--the stage version!), they sure gained in their weirdness quotient! I also remember taking the bus to Westwood to see "Bugs Bunny Superstar"--that was such a big deal to me to see a documentary about those cartoons--hosted by lovable Bob himself.

Kali Fontecchio said...

"Kali: I think that's a Bill Peet storyboard drawing."

Originally Marc, the pic that was at the top was the black and white cel of Daffy and Porky- I think Mike drew it.

David Germain said...

I can't recall exactly what the first Clampett cartoon that I saw was. But, the one cartoon of his that blew me away and made me consider him a master was Book Revue.

Sort of off topic: It's Chuck Jones' birthday today. B)

Barbasaurus Rex said...

Bill Peet is amazing he was my favorite childrens illustrator as a kid!!!!!
Keep these stories comin!

pappy d said...

I saw a reproduction of the 'boards for "Book Review" once. I remember being struck by how tight they were. The whole thing was there. Even the big-eyeball take, the fingers in the beak for fangs & hopping into the basket was there. At the time, someone told me they were drawn by Mike Maltese.

Ricardo Cantoral said...

Jorge and Jenny: Thank you for the corrections ! I was not too sure myself.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Jenny: Why did I want to start a commercial studio? Because I wanted to work for Disney features and I thought you had to be able to animate as good as Frank Thomas just to get a beginner's job there.

I didn't think Disney or any studio had entry level jobs so I figured I'd break into the business by starting a studio and hiring myself.

Chris: I don't remember much about the first time I met Clampett. He showed some of his best films that night and seeing them for the first time was so shattering that it erased my memory about everything else.

Ricardo Cantoral said...

Eddie: Please explain to me how one can open a studio. Is it very hard ?

3awashi thani said...

i'm sure I saw my first clampett cartoon when i was too young to know it was a clampett cartoon ^^;
i think it was one of the bugs bunny vs cecil turtle ones

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

PC: This is America! You're a studio if you say you're a studio! The trick is to bring in enough work to make a go of it!

Anonymous said...

Hey Eddie, what do you think of Art Davis' WB cartoons?
-Kasey Kockroach