Today we met again at "The Bear Pit," a local sawdust-on-the-floor barbecue restaurant with Preston Blair - style paintings all around the walls. When I came in John was reading The National Enquirer, which is essential reading for cartoonists since it contains all the necessary info about what stars have cellulite. Orders were placed and the conversation commenced. 
We began with a fascinating discussion of Scribner but that'll require a lot of pictures to explain, so I'll save it for last.
After Scribner we talked for a bit about how old I look in those photo essay pictures I took. Maybe anticipating an outpouring of self-pity, John kindly said I didn't look that old in real life, but really, that wasn't necessary. I explained that I'd reached an advanced philosophical level where I was beyond worldly concerns like screamingly grotesque wrinkles. People at my elevated level laugh at people who worry about things like that. "Ha!", we say, "Ha!"
Then we talked for a while about what tragic creatures men are. Poor men spend their whole lives chasing after sex and get only a fraction of what they need. John said that's why men have to go to war, because somebody has to be made to pay for our frustration at not being able to have a harem.
Then we talked for a while about what tragic creatures men are. Poor men spend their whole lives chasing after sex and get only a fraction of what they need. John said that's why men have to go to war, because somebody has to be made to pay for our frustration at not being able to have a harem. 
Talking about sex brought us around to Tex Avery, maybe the most heterosexual director of the color cartoon era. We both agreed that after Clampett, Tex was the greatest cartoon director. Jones ranks third, which is still a very high position.
Jones was all about telling linear stories in a humorous, well-executed and professional manner. Clampett was a creature of the big band and jitterbug era, and also of the golden age of radio and live-action film comedy. He swam in media. He had street smarts, charisma and almost unfailing intuition. In John's words, he made cartoons an "experience."
Somehow (?) this digressed into a discussion of Tim Russert (spelled right?), the TV news commentator. Russert used to be a rock & roll promoter and he still looks like someone who could tell a good dirty joke. You have to admire the guy for his ability to re-invent himself as a news commentator. Here's (above) a napkin drawing John did of him. I like the Thurber arms and serious expression.
Here's (above) what we talked about most of the time. John's been telling me that the new Warner set contains a break-through print of Clampett's "Eatin' on the Cuff." He said the amazing clarity of the print allows us to see never-before-seen (by this generation) nuances in the cartooning and animation, and that this necessitates a re-evaluation of the film as one of Clampett's best. He makes the case in a wonderful post that's on his site now: 
I'd already read the blog and I had to admit that John was right. Take a look at these Scribner drawings. The happy energy, the love of cartooning, the inventive poses, the beautiful proportions and attention to detail are awe-inspiring! I love the wrinkled sleeves...who said you can't animate wrinkled clothing? The black and white values are handled so well that you don't even miss the color.
Notice that the girl looks feminine and funny at the same time. Scribner was able to do both! After seeing this it's going to be hard to go back to seeing cartoon girls that are only one or the other.
Here the Veronica Lake spider shows off her glorious schnoz. Note the big hands and big eyes. My favorite cartoon characters usually have big hands and eyes. That's what you make expressions with. In my world only secondary characters have small hands and small eyes.
Here's (above) a wonderful example of Scribner cartooning. It's just a back shot, yet it leaves me breathless! The hair and large lower body are hilarious and the size and orientation of the legs are inspired!
You can say that real girls don't look like that, but are you sure? I see girls (above) who are a bit like that all the time.
Anyway, I digress. We talked endlessly about Scribner and spent some time trying to figure out why Clampett, who was very prolific in his black and white period, turned out fewer cartoons a year in his color period. Maybe he was busy developing his own projects on the side, maybe good work requires more time. We could only guess.
Anyway, the conversation eventually ran out of gas and we found ourselves out in the blinding sunlight of the parking lot, ready to face another day!
27 comments:
If it wasnt for you guys my concept of classic warner brothers would still be "well you had Tex Avery who was all wacky and off the wall and Then there was Chuck Jones who was all subtlety and class, and there were a handful of lesser animators who helped out too"
Thats still the perception most people have Even people who should know better Like Roger Ebert
because somebody has to be made to pay for our frustration at not being able to have a harem."
Yes that is very much true. If those evil megolomaniacs were getting pussy all the time, I am sure alot of wars would have never happened. As for Tex, his Wolf character is basically a characiture of man. He loves sex and violence.
The Bear Pit is the last bastion of Tennessee Ernie Ford in public life (black and white publicity stills on the wall, happily endorsing their house sauce) but the meat is better at Dr. Hoggily Woggily's Tyler, Texas Barbecue.
Yeah, well the chicken is better at the Bear Pit. The beans are a draw.
But there is no such thing as "Missouri Style" barbecue. The Bear Pit made it up and they've been conning people over fifty years with the term. West coasters just don't know. Barack Obama needs to expose this.
I like how the waitress there always hits on you Eddie, hahaha.
War is because men don't get harems????? I think the world would be a better place if men realized that they are only here to please us (women). I think guys could start by A) giving me piggy back rides everywhere unless otherwise noted, B) massaging me constantly as I am carried, C) spend all their money on outfits for me, and D) cook whatever dish I feel like having. I think scientists should work on creating chip devices that can be implanted in their brains to electrocute them whenever they look at someone other than their mate. I think men should also take etiquette classes to learn how to treat a lady which includes learning a more vast vocabulary so they can say, "honey, you look beautiful today" seven hundred different ways. Are you guys taking notes?
Men would win in the end, because if they did everything we said, maybe women would evolve and lose the traits that cause menstruation and p.m.s.- see, it's a win/win situation!!!!
Ok, that's it, I'm writing down what Kali says and using it in real life on this girl I like...the piggy back rides is covered, but isn't that sort of a "just friends" type thing?
-Jorge Garrido
I think men should also take etiquette classes to learn how to treat a lady which includes learning a more vast vocabulary so they can say, "honey, you look beautiful today" seven hundred different ways. Are you guys taking notes?
I think it's funny that women want to be treated 'special' and also want our respect as equals. You can't really have it both ways! If you're my equal, you'd better have a stomach for dirty jokes, whiskey and the occasional dead arm. If you want to me to be a gentleman and ravish you with attention and gifts be prepared to pay for it in the bedroom.
I'm just sayin'!
;-)
Thanks for the fly-on-the-wall perspective, Eddie! Had I been there, I would have been taking notes.
Lester, you needn't have been there--all the notes you could ever want on this discourse are detailed at John's blog today. : )
Excellent posts. Who's number four on your list of greatest cartoon directors? Is it Bob McKimson? Maybe you should do a post with a list of greatest cartoon directors.
hahhaaha. men go to wars because they want power and respect. women follow that naturally, but its more about the survival of the fittest, i.e. the most attractive.
it's a rule that you have to treat girls like shit, then they will respect you and hang around you because they will always seek validation from you. the second you give them an INCH, its al over and you will get stepped on.
i digress. i guess i will have to buy this new looney tunes set.
"Ok, that's it, I'm writing down what Kali says and using it in real life on this girl I like."
Good for you! You're one step in the right direction.
"..the piggy back rides is covered, but isn't that sort of a "just friends" type thing?"
NO, piggy back rides are the sincerest form ofI love you.
"You can't really have it both ways!"
Haha, read it again- we're not equals, you're beneath us, hahahahah.
"If you want to me to be a gentleman and ravish you with attention and gifts be prepared to pay for it in the bedroom."
I don't mind paying dues, whereat the details can go unsaid hahaha.
Holy crap, you learn something new everyday. Now David Gemmil is giving his secrets! That handsome bastard probably gets any girl he wants.
That reminds me, I wish I could grow sideburns and a goatee...and was about a foot taller...
Eddie, yours is the only blog where we can have these kinds of civilized discussions...this is better than the Roman Forum.
Hey I'm single again. So give me a yell next time y'all are going out and about.
Oh, and another great post, as always.
David, Kali: Fascinating!
Anon: "Missouri-style" is made up!? Aaaargh!
Vincent: Single!? I'm profoundly sorry to hear that. Well, at least you're available for good meals!
Jenny: I think it's hilarious that John chose to follow up a post on Scribner/Clampett with one on Jones. Compare the two drawing styles. The pictures speak volumes about the difference in humor and drawing styles of the two directors.
I read an interview with Chuck Jones when he was in his 70's and he had some rather snide things to say about Clampett, do you know anything about this?
Anon: Good question! Ask John or Steve. Come to think of it, ask Mike Barrier, Milt Gray or Mark Kausler!
anon: Chuck thought Bob took credit for things he dind't do. This wasn't all that true, Bob always gave credit to everyone he worked with.
I have Bob on tape from 1979 giving a whole speech about Carl Stalling and his life story. If anything, Bob didn't talk about himself enough.
Brad Caslor is there asking a million questions to Bob. "How did you do this? How many drawings," etc... Bob was a real rock star!
Can't you young people concentrate on cartoons for more than 10 minutes?
david gemmill isn't waiting for evolution. He's already out there breeding a better woman.
Harems once made sense in that a superior mutant like Ghengis Khan could have 100 kids in a year but the best any woman can do is a little over 1/year. Evil megalomaniacs presumably got the best pussy.
Almost all women could find a rich husband & the surplus goods needed for childrearing under this system, but there would be a lot of surplus men who'd need killing.
There will probably never be a credible survey of human males' scorecards, but in the wild, less than 1 in a 100 stallions ever gets to cover a mare. Can you imagine what Earth would be like if men still had to fight like that just to get laid?
Men inadvertently bred women to have boobs because it made them look like they were ovulating all month. When these women's eggs actually dropped, they would seek out other men with higher testosterone markers, thereby breeding a manlier (& more sexually opportunistic) badass strain of man who'd provide more goods & grandkids. If there was once a nobler race of people, they're no ancestors of ours.
kali:
First you need to breed men who will worship & adore you as you no doubt deserve. All you girls can help out by only having sex with hollow-chested, sensitive mama's-boy cartoonist types who are just barely strong enough for piggybacks. That's the best hope for the race. There are also plenty of submissive guys out there whose precious seed is falling fruitlessly onto black spike-heeled boot leather.
brian romero:
You sound just like I remember old folks talking before the discovery of the female orgasm, but you're right to be attentive when you're ravishing somebody.
"Men inadvertently bred women to have boobs because it made them look like they were ovulating all month. When these women's eggs actually dropped, they would seek out other men with higher testosterone markers, thereby breeding...[blah blah etc]"
This? Is the most unsexy blather on sexual function it is possible to post. yecch.
(MEN don't "breed" anything, btw. FEMALES choose who they want to be impregnated by across the species-birds, fish, chimps, homosapiens et al- not the other way around.)
jesus h:
"unsexy"
Yeah. Nothing spoils sex like the reproductive process. It's why sex is such fun. If making babies was a sober decision by responsible adults I, for one, wouldn't be here.
"MEN don't "breed" anything, btw"
What's the point, then, of grading women on their appearance from 1 to 10?
jesus h:
"unsexy"
Yeah. Nothing spoils sex like the reproductive process. It's why sex is such fun. If making babies was a sober decision by responsible adults I, for one, wouldn't be here.
"MEN don't "breed" anything, btw"
What's the point, then, of grading women on their appearance from 1 to 10?
"pappy":
It's niot the reproductive process that I deemed "unsexy"--it's your verbiage: "dropping eggs", "boobs", "Screw", etc.-it's crude to the point of "turn-off"--ESPECIALLY the "dropping eggs" part. Yee-UGH.
Of course, a woman's eggs don't "drop" at all("splat! crunch!"...bleh).
At the perfect moment they slowly glide down the ol' fallopian tubes, wafting gently through the body buoyed by delicious hormonal whatnot and charged with fecund alacrity.
And that there's my reproduction tawk for you, pappy! ; )
I take your point, o lord. It was disrespectful. (Many thanks to the Goddess for favors received.) I only wish my 7th grade health teacher had your poetic gift. Those Latin names are even worse. They make it sound like something's medically wrong with you.
In my defense, I never wrote "screw", althought I did use "ravish".
Aw, "screw", ravish, deflower, poke-what's the dif?
Seriously though, I stand corrected-you're right and I hate misattribution-sloppy! Sorry pap.
And I did notice your use of 'ravish' with smiling approval. Never used much these days where it actually means, well, to ravish, more's the pity.
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