They were - they're all kind of semi-losers, aren't they? They're more like us.Īnd - but I always liked Daffy because he would continue beyond where I would stop, simply because I'd be afraid of what the community would think of me. Bugs is a comic hero, you see, as compared with a comic wimp, which would go back to all the great comedians, starting with Chaplin and Buster Keaton and all the rest of them. But it didn't work because that's not the kind of person that Bugs is. And he's - the person in this case turned out to be Elmer Fudd that was moving him around. Fortunately, I did "Duck Amuck" first, then I did one called "Rabbit Rampage," and he also had the same problem. JONES: Well, I tried it later with Bugs Bunny and it didn't work. GROSS: In your cartoon "Duck Amuck," why did you choose Daffy Duck as the character that was going to be at the whim of the cartoonist? I don't think that I could do it unless I cared about the characters. GROSS: You sound like a method animator (laughter). The who is the whole point about character animation is not what - it isn't what a character looks like, or indeed how it's drawn. So I always tried to sort of pasteurize my characters to find out what they - who they are. And I was never comfortable with the character unless I can understand him and I can't understand crazy people. Even in the first great - the "Wild Hare" that Tex Avery directed, the character was really kind of mad. But Daffy is both at the same time.Īt the beginning he was just crazy, as was Bugs. And I think that happens with very many of us when we - sometimes in the reverse, when we go in to talk to the boss and ask for a raise, we're overbearing. Daffy was an interesting character, I think, because he could - he would rush in and fear to tread at the same time, and he also could be fawning and overbearing at the same time. Particularly Daffy and the coyote, because they made the kind of mistakes that most of us make only multiplied a bit. Can you describe - when you first started directing Daffy Duck, who was always my favorite - when you started directing Daffy Duck, what was he like? And then maybe you could tell us a little bit of the character changes that you brought to that - to Daffy?ĬHUCK JONES: Well, it's a little difficult to isolate them exactly as to what I contributed, but I - all the characters I felt were part of me. You changed a lot of the characters who you worked with over the years. GROSS: Chuck Jones, welcome to FRESH AIR. And in all the years I - all right, wise guy. One last embrace, before we say - hmm.īuster, it may come as a complete surprise to you to find that this is an animated cartoon, and that in animated cartoons they have scenery. Farewell to thee, farewell to thee, the wind will carry back our sad refrain. Through the fields we go, laughing all the way. (Singing) Dashing through the snow, ya ha ha ha ha. MEL BLANC: (As Daffy Duck) Would it be too much to ask if we could make up our minds, hmm? (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MERRIE MELODIES") The cartoonist eventually erases not only the background, but Daffy himself. Daffy opens the cartoon as a brave musketeer, but the cartoonist keeps changing the scenery on him to the most inappropriate settings - a farm, the Arctic, Hawaii. In that cartoon, Daffy Duck finds himself at the mercy of a fickle cartoonist. I spoke with him in 1989 after the publication of his autobiography, "Chuck Amuck." The title was borrowed from "Duck Amuck," Jones' cartoon about cartooning. Then he formed his own production company and created prime-time TV specials. Jones worked at Warner Brothers from 1933 until the studio closed its cartoon division in 1963. Jones was the sole creator of Pepe Le Pew, Road Runner and Wile E. He directed them in some of their finest roles. We're going to listen back to our 1989 interview with Chuck Jones, the great animator and director who helped bring to life Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. "Looney Tunes" superstars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are revived in a new podcast called "Bugs And Daffy's Thanksgiving Adventure." Although the "Looney Tunes" cartoons date back to the 1930s, they became so popular and remain so entertaining that the characters get revived every few years.
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