Looney Tunes is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series Merrie Melodies, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons during the golden age of American animation.[1][2] Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released theatrically as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were initially produced by Leon Schlesinger and animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising from 1930 to 1933. Schlesinger assumed full production from 1933 until he sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which it was renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons. The Looney Tunes title was inspired by that of Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. The shorts initially showcased musical compositions owned by Warner's music publishing interests through the adventures of such characters as Bosko, Foxy and Buddy. However, the shorts gained a higher profile upon the debuts of directors Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Robert McKimson, and voice actor Mel Blanc later in the decade. Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featured Looney Tunes characters, while Merrie Melodies featured one-shot cartoons and minor recurring characters.
After Bugs Bunny became popular in the Merrie Melodies shorts of the early 1940s, Looney Tunes moved from black-and-white to color production between 1942 and 1943 (Merrie Melodies having already been in color since 1934).[3] The two series gradually lost their distinctions, and shorts were assigned to each series arbitrarily.[3] From 1942 to 1964, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were the most popular animated shorts in movie theaters.[4]
Looney Tunes has become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, spawning several television series, feature films, comic books, music albums, video games, and amusement park rides. Many of the characters have made and continue to make cameo appearances in television shows, films, and other media. Bugs Bunny, in particular, is regarded as a cultural icon as well as the mascot of Warner Bros. Pictures, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[5] Many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies films are ranked among the greatest animated cartoons of all time, and five of them have won Academy Awards.[6] In 2013, TV Guide counted Looney Tunes as the third greatest television cartoon series of all time, behind The Simpsons and The Flintstones, the latter of which also featured the voice talents of Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet.[7]
History
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were so named as a reference to Disney's Silly Symphonies and were initially developed to showcase tracks from Warner Bros.' extensive music library; the title of the first Looney Tunes short, Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930), is a pun on Singin' in the Bathtub.[9] Between 1934 and 1943, Merrie Melodies were produced in color and Looney Tunes in black-and-white.[3] After 1943, both series were produced in color and became virtually indistinguishable, varying only in their opening theme music and titles.[3] Both series made use of the various Warner Bros. characters. By 1937, the theme music for Looney Tunes was "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin, and the theme music for Merrie Melodies was an adaptation of "Merrily We Roll Along" by Charles Tobias, Murray Mencher and Eddie Cantor.
1930–1933: Harman and Ising era
Licensing and ownership
In 1933, Harman and Ising left, taking the rights to Bosko with them. However, Warner Bros. retained the rights to the cartoons and the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies brand names, leaving their former producer Leon Schlesinger to start his own animation studio to continue the Looney Tunes series. With their retained Bosko rights, Harman and Ising began making cartoons at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934 until they were fired in 1937 due to a lack of success. MGM proceeded to form their own studio to create its own cartoons. Time Warner eventually acquired the Bosko characters from Harman and Ising's estates. Meanwhile, the Schlesinger studio continued to make popular cartoons until 1944 when Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. Since then, Warner Bros. has owned all rights to all post-1933 characters created by Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, even after the rights to individual cartoons were placed in other hands.
In February 1955, Warner Bros. sold the television distribution rights to 191 of its cartoons (which included the black-and-white Looney Tunes and the black-and-white Merrie Melodies made after Harman and Ising left) to Guild Films.[56] The deal was done through Sunset Productions, an entity owned by Warner Bros.[57] that became "Warner Bros. TV Commercial and Industrial Films" in April 1957
Filmography
Characters
The major characters of the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series are Bugs Bunny, a clever and insouciant rabbit who is portrayed as a trickster; Daffy Duck, a black duck who was originally portrayed as a screwball, but later became greedy and egocentric; Porky Pig, a stuttering pig who often appears as the straight man to Daffy, and is the oldest of the franchise's recurring characters; Sylvester the Cat, his prey Tweety (a small canary), and their elderly owner Granny; Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, who routinely engage in high-speed chases in their home in the Southwest American desert; Elmer Fudd, an unintelligent hunter who is Bugs' oldest nemesis; Yosemite Sam, a hot-tempered cowboy who is another of Bugs' archenemies; Foghorn Leghorn, a rooster who is known for his often excessive ranting; Marvin the Martian, an alien commander from the planet Mars, who aims to conquer the Earth; the Tasmanian Devil (often nicknamed "Taz" in later media), a vicious, brutal marsupial with an insatiable appetite; Pepé Le Pew, a French skunk who is always looking for love and romance; and Speedy Gonzales, the self-proclaimed "fastest mouse in all of Mexico". One additional major character was introduced in post-Golden Age Looney Tunes media (starting with Space Jam): Lola Bunny, a female rabbit who is usually portrayed as Bugs' girlfriend.
Racial stereotypes and censorship controversies
Due to content considered offensive, stereotyped or insensitive, in 1968 United Artists, then the owners of the pre-August 1948 color cartoon library, removed the "Censored Eleven" episodes of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from broadcast or distribution. Depictions included those of African Americans (as in Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs and Jungle Jitters), Native Americans, Japanese people (especially during WWII, as in Tokio Jokio and Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips), Germans, Italians, White Southerners, and Mexicans.[76]
In 1999, Cartoon Network ceased broadcast of all of Speedy Gonzales' cartoons, due to concerns about stereotyping of Mexicans.[77] Many Latinos protested that they were not offended, and expressed fondness for Speedy; the character's shorts were made available for broadcast on CN again in 2002.
Accolades
Inducted into the National Film Registry
- Porky in Wackyland (1938), selected in 2000
- Duck Amuck (1953), selected in 1999
- One Froggy Evening (1955), selected in 2003
- What's Opera, Doc? (1957), selected in 1992
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (Cartoon)
Related media
Television series
Series marked with * are compilations of earlier shorts.
- The Bugs Bunny Show (1960–2000)*
- The Porky Pig Show (1964–1967)*
- The Road Runner Show (1966–1973)*
- The Merrie Melodies Show (1972)*
- Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends (1990–1994)*
- Tiny Toon Adventures (1990–1992)
- Taz-Mania (1991–1995)
- The Plucky Duck Show (1992)
- The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995–2000)
- Bugs 'n' Daffy (1995–1998)*
See also
- Merrie Melodies, another series of animated cartoons also produced by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969
- Silly Symphony, a series of animated shorts produced by Walt Disney Productions between 1929 and 1939
- Happy Harmonies, a series of animated shorts distributed by MGM between 1934 and 1938
- Warner Bros. Cartoons
- List of Warner Bros. cartoons with Blue Ribbon reissues
External links
References
- "Looney Tunes". www.bcdb.com, April 12, 2012^
- Jeff Lenburg. The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons Checkmark Books, 1999, retrieved June 6, 2020^
- Leonard Maltin, Jerry Beck. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons New American Library, 1987