Animation Direction: Robert McKimson

Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond your wildest

imagination. Now that old hound dog is an awful

pest. He barks so much I get no rest. Only as

an old mud fence, that old hound dog just got

no sense, old doggy. You're gonna get your lumps,

oh doggie You're gonna get some bumps, oh doggie

Welcome to Tooncast Beyond. This is the Animation

Direction Spotlight, and up next in Animation

Direction, we're going to be talking about Robert

McKimson. I am one of your hosts, TFJ and Mike,

joining me as TV's Mr. Neil. Gallow reminds me

of the highway between Fort Worth and Dallas.

No curves. I remember when you and I were going

through making up the... the people for the list

that we were gonna do for the spotlight and you're

like, I don't know how long of a podcast we can

get through with McKimson, but he's done a lot

of stuff. Yeah, I think what it is is that of

the five major ones, he's the least special.

And although he starts out well, as the years

go on, his cartoons, they kind of lose their

edge. I like how he draws some of the characters,

or I should say how he directs his animation

staff to draw the characters. He always draws

bugs with little beady eyes and a big mouth,

and I don't really like that version of bugs.

I don't like his Daffy that much. Daffy, I don't

know if he's a jerk or if he's just kind of...

I don't know. He's not the lovable jerk that

he is in the hands of other... Other directors

I'll say that and I think the only the only real

claim to fame he has is the is the farmhouse

characters, you know, the foghorn and and and

the dog and I don't know that dog ever had a

name but No, I just think it was you know that

old dog I Mean yeah, I mean the farm characters.

I mean walkie talkie hockey everybody remembers

that one You know, oh this is this is one of

the reasons why I didn't know this at the time

and This image will be in the post. I actually

posted this about two or three years ago on Facebook.

I believe Some of the Looney Tunes because I

have an I have a number of the Bugs Bunny episodes

because I have seasons one through three on iTunes

so I have a lot of them and I always knew what

Easter Eggs was, but I never really looked at

it up close. You know, it's like you watch the

cartoon and you know, you see it's, you know,

Bugs has to, you know, do the Easter Bunny's

job that year because the Easter Bunny, let's

just say it plain as day, he's a lazy fuck. I

mean, he even says it at the end of the episode.

I always get some unassuming rabbit to do my

work for me, so I don't have to. I mean, the

Easter Bunny in Easter Yeggs is essentially Al

Bundy without the lust in his loins. And I never

really looked at it up close until a couple of

years ago. And when he gets to the criminal house,

And the kid's like, I want a knee stag, I want

a knee stag, I want a knee stag. When we first

see the kid, he is sucking on the barrel of a

pistol. He is sucking on the barrel of a gun.

Everyone makes a big deal about how the Looney

Tunes cartoons and the old cartoons have a lot

of racist jokes in them. the one thing out of

all of the Looney Tunes cartoons that I've seen

that I absolutely loathe about them. I just,

I understand that these guys, these directors

and writers and producers were making them for

themselves at the time, because I believe Chuck

Jones and a few others have said that they were

making them for themselves. They weren't making

them for kids. But still. I mean, like, you know,

we live in an age, or at least, you know. 10,

15 years ago, we lived in an age where, you know,

hey, well actually close to 20, oh God. 20 or

so years ago, you know, we live in an age where,

you know, Tiny Toon Adventures, and I know you

hate that show, but Tiny Toon Adventures actually

says, hey, look, we have to watch the, you know,

we have to make sure we're all right for the

sensors. I mean, says it in the very first episode.

You know, when Buster gets created, all right,

how about some clothes for the sensors? You know,

and I'm wondering where the hell the sensors

were, you know, in... in easter eggs in nineteen

forty seven that's what i'm wondering because

i mean hollywood was bustling by forty seven

as much as i like easter eggs that was just one

thing that just it doesn't ruin my enjoyment

but when i saw it was like oh my god how can

they have done this and not gotten in trouble

that's the one guy i'd laugh at the hardest Because

sometimes it's just funny that some cartoons

get away with stuff like that. It's kind of like

every now and then a Cartoon Network cartoon

would get away with something like one of the

Dial M for Monkey cartoons had a guy named Hunter

and he very openly announced that he was going

to fire his heat seeking moisture missile at

the monkey. And I'm like, I can't believe, not

only can I not believe that he just said that,

but I can't believe this is a rerun and they

keep showing this. And last they checked it,

that cartoon is still not banned. Yeah. Wow.

But yeah, that's crazy. You know, I want to say

that. that looty tunes were always this violent

and had all sorts of gags of this vein. But I

can't really think of a specific time that a

weapon of this kind was so casually displayed.

I know that Bugs has had a gun pointed at his

head countless number of times, but still. there's

a difference okay i am not sitting here condoning

violence ladies and gentlemen but i'm just here

to tell you there's a difference between you

know somebody say i'm pointing a gun at someone's

head whether it's bugs or whomever there's a

difference between that and a little child even

if he is a villain a little child a little child

during a buddwyer impersonation yeah sucking

on the barrel of a gun i mean Like I said, the

image will be in the post so you can see it,

but it just... I just grow speechless. I really,

really do. My two favorite McKimson shorts, my

two favorite McKimson Looney Tunes cartoons are...

Oh, I can't think of the name of it. I'm not

looking at the page right now. It's the one with

Pete Puma. and the little rabbit kid. Oh yeah,

that one. I can't think of the name of that.

Rabbitkin maybe? Rabbitskin? I think that's what

it is. I could be wrong. I'll have to look it

up. That actor is still alive. Wait, the one

that did the... Did Pied Puma. Oh, seriously?

Yeah, in fact he reprised that role for Tiny

Toons. He was in Tiny Toons as Pied Puma. Love

Pete Puma. I really do he is I Actually, I don't

know what it was, but I remember have I remember

mimicking him as a child No, no, no, no not that

You know the kind of donkey call he does I remember

mimicking that as a child I You still love Pete

Puma, but what I love about this cartoon is that

you have this little kid and this is why I will

to this day say that Buster Bunny is Bugs Bunny's

son is because of shit like this that's pulled

in the old days. you've got this little kid who

is you know running from Pete Puma and You know,

he's seeing bugs be all wacky and everything

else and you know, he wants to get in on the

act and It's just so hilarious, you know and

the lumps gag. I mean, how can you not love the

lumps gag? It's it's a joke you could see coming

a mile away and yet you just still you can't

help but laugh at it. Mm -hmm And another episode

I was talking about how they were experimenting

with playback speeds, and that little bunny,

I don't remember the name of that bunny, but

wow was that sped up. I mean, no one talks that

fast. No, not even Speedy talks that fast. No.

But I liked it. It made it different. I'm sure

Mel had... you know done it in a normal voice

or some sort of rabbit voice and You know in

them speeding it up that fast What was cool about

that cartoon is Bugs actually follows along You

know because essentially that cartoon is is a

ripoff of Little Red Riding Hood More or less

kind of I mean if I'm not saying that in a bad

way or anything um yeah big apples just dumb

kids sucking on a 38 revolver well um i found

the image on facebook but uh i mean so so so

i like that one and the other one is and i still

haven't been able to find it online um a ham

and a roll you remember this one a ham and a

roll it's It's a goofy go for his cartoon. Oh,

yes, and it's the one where it's the dog and

he's you know cartoons You know, I am through

with low comedy and he walks off the thing ends

up in a barrel of water and you know gurgling

he's like I shall write to my resignation to

mr. Warner and in the in the quiets of my country

house I shall study the immortal barred and he

falls through a hole gophers i shall not allow

gophers to impede my progress and he starts coming

out with all the shakespeare stuff and at the

time you know i'd just that is by far my favorite

goofy gophers cartoon uh... and i love how they're

just so polite to each other and they're so well

spoken and they're the meanest little shits yes

yes they are My favorite my favorite McKimson

cartoon is probably the one where I don't remember

the name but it's the one where porky pig is

hunting a groundhog and he's got this dumb dog

and like the dog The dog seeks him out and and

the groundhog starts shaming him. He's like snitch

stool pigeon You should be ashamed of yourself

and a dog crying it starts feeling guilty and

then later they they they bring that joke back

where porky scolding dog in the and the Groundhog

starts whispering into his ear and he starts

doing the whole snitch and stool pigeon thing

all over again That is my favorite mckimson cartoon

Yeah, I mean he really did do a lot with You

know, like you said the farm animals. I mean,

how can you not love foghorn leghorn? Oh, he's

a great character. He's such a great, I mean

him and the dog and then you add in Henry Hawk

later. Um, I, I love the one where he's like

at the end of it, he's like, there's, there's

foghorn, there's the dog and then there's the

horse at the end of it. Henry's like, I swear

one of these things is a chicken. There's I Don't

you remember the one where Daffy is I don't think

that was a McKimson one though Daffy was Pretending

to be a rooster to win some money It it's a it's

a Henry Hawk cartoon, but I don't think it was

I don't I don't remember I don't think it was

McKimson And I'm looking here for a ham and a

roll, and it just isn't... I don't know. Maybe

I passed it. McKimson's style is interesting.

I think he is... I mean, I know you said you

don't like the way that he draws some of the

characters, or the way he has his people draw

some of the characters and stuff. Don't know

it I Look at a lot of the like when he does bugs

and Daffy I look at it as okay there They've

progressed beyond what clamp it did with them

But they're not quite what Chuck did with them

So they're kind of in a middle ground holding

pattern whatever you want to call it But I mean

his Oh Lord, 1961, what's my lion? It's open

season for hunting and Rocky the Mountain Lion

takes refuge from gunfire by sneaking into a

cabin owned by Elmer Fudd. Elmer doesn't realize

Rocky is posing as one of the stuffed lions.

That one is, I think that's one of the few where

Arthur Q. Bryan is not playing Elmer because

he had died by that point. Yeah, I don't remember

who it was though, but it's it's kind of weird

to watch that one because of how Smith was Elmer

in that one. Yeah And of course Mel blank was

Rocky Mountain Rocky the Rocky the mountain lion

and the delivery boy and in fact Mel blank refused

to do the voice of The mountain lion Elmer Fudd

yeah, yeah because In and out of respect for

for Arthur. Yeah But I mean McKimson You know

He's done some really interesting stuff Let's

see here bonanza bunny that was another bugs

one that he did I believe bugs fights with blackjack

shellac over Klondike gold I remember this one

I love this one anytime bugs came up against

blackjack shellac or anytime Daffy came up against

nasty canasta oh god so hilarious and Mel did

such amazing voice work for the the villain characters

outside of Yosemite but yeah I mean you know

are there any other Kims ones that you really

like I remember stupor duck being kind of funny

obviously it's a it was a it was a take on the

old Fleischer superman cartoons I write up right

down to the opening of the cartoon, which is

almost identical and The whole cartoon is daffy's

run around trying to stop stop the fictional

aardvark ratnik from from causing havoc and mayhem

and he's usually just screwing up other people's

jobs like there's some guy who there's like some

demolition crew that's gonna blow up a bridge

or something and he thinks it's like it's like

some arch villain and he goes to stop them and

gets his clock cleaned for it. Or no, it was

a demolition of a building. He saves the building

after it was going to be demolished. And he gets

beat up by the construction worker. So yeah,

that was a pretty funny one. I know there were

a few others. I'm just not thinking of them,

though. Yeah, Stupor Duck is one of the ones

that Boomerang shows all the time and every day.

They show it at least twice a week. Because they

show, as I said earlier in the spotlight, Looney

Tunes airs on Boomerang 2 a .m. Eastern and 12

noon Eastern, seven days a week. And they just

kind of rearrange and repackage and mix them

up. I've seen Stupor Duck this last year, probably

over 20 times on TV. And the coolest thing about

that cartoon, I don't know, do we know what year

that was made? I was trying to look for it here.

I just had it up in 1956. 1956, okay, because

what was... Mel was still doing the stuff then,

wasn't he? Yeah, but it also had Dawes Butler

in the cartoon, and I think Dawes was uncredited.

Yeah, because I swear that Daffy doesn't sound

right. Daffy definitely is Mel Blank in that

cartoon. It's every other character I think in

the cartoon is Dawes Butler. Except for the narrator.

Yeah, it says here the narrator is also Dawes

Butler. And sounds like thorough Ravenscroft

to me was he gone by did he pass away before

this sir? No thorough Ravenscroft. He died recently

Oh, did he? Yeah either late 90s early 2000s

Yeah, see I like I said, I've seen this one a

lot of times and I swear That it's thrills Ravenscroft

thorough Ravenscroft doing what I probably am

wrong, but His thrill is Tony. Tony the Tiger.

He has a very distinctive low voice. Well, right,

and yeah. I don't know. I really have to go back

and watch it and look because I always thought

it was him. Mainly probably from his Grinch narration

most likely is why I thought it was him. Right.

We didn't know he didn't narrate the Grinch.

He's saying the songs the narrator that's Oh

god, I'm blanking on the guy's voice people are

gonna send me email for it Yeah But I Just even

though I like stupor duck and I think it's a

really cool cartoon. It's a nice, you know poke

it at Fleischer. I just Don't know what was going

on with Mel and Daffy in that one because it

Founded like he's doing more of this and it's

not like it sounded like they only sped him up

Halfway than what he normally is sped up to It

just I don't know. It just doesn't sound Sounded

okay to me. The thing is I first saw a stupor

duck at the beginning of of one of the compilation

movies, it was Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island.

And in that cartoon, Stupor Duck is noticeably

a higher pitch than the rest of the cartoon.

You get Stupor Duck Daffy, and then it goes back

to the new animation, and suddenly Daffy has

a lower voice. And that's kind of what I was

talking about in the other episodes, how they

forgot to speed up Mel in the later recordings.

But, you know, people have to listen to it just

for themselves, because I think the Effie sound

is perfectly normal in that cartoon. I found

a, now this is, I was looking for, like, a lot

of the directors, before they died, have given

interviews to people. And I was looking for one

with McKimson. and I found a transcript of one

that someone did with him, I believe his name

is Dave Barrier, did with him in 1971. It's a

long ass article, it's a long ass transcript

of an interview, but it's a wonderful read about

how he approached his animation and his writing

people and... and talking about various cartoons

and talking about the other directors. It's a

great read. I'll link it in the show notes here

as well. I wonder if that's the same Dave Barry

who was a Hoover columnist, because that guy's

funny. Probably is. I couldn't tell you, honestly.

I'm not sure. He was one of the few that hung

on at Warner's for the longest time. He was there

after Chuck left, he was there after most everybody

left. And he was an animator on a lot of the

earliest cartoons, so he was there a long time.

You know, he then went to De Patty Freeling,

after that directed several of the Inspector

shorts. I worked on some of the Looney Tunes

and Mary Melodies, contracted out to Dupati Freeling

by Warner Brothers in 67. You can definitely

tell it's him. Was McKimson the only one that

went back in 68 when they reopened the studio?

Probably. Shut down again in 69. His last Warner

Brothers cartoons was Engine Trouble with Cool

Cat. Engine trouble is only the last of the original

Looney Tunes or Melody's cartoon to be produced

before the Warner Brothers cartoon studio was

closed. A lot of people are like, who the hell

is Cool Cat? You really don't want to know. Because

Cool Cat, he's basically another version of the

Pink Panther except that he talks and he's not

very funny. So what you're saying is he's not

very cool? No. In 72 he went back to the Patty

Freeling to direct as you said the Pink Panther

show shorts I With the Pink Panther we've talked

about that a few times or at least when we did

when we did frizz We talked about that a little

bit I never noticed that she like you can clearly

tell a Bugs Chuck Jones Bugs Bunny cartoon from

a clamp it from an Avery from a Freeling from

I'm a Kimson the pink panther cartoons the just

the pink panther himself his cartoons I could

never tell the difference and I never paid attention

to the credits on those So I think that's great

that he you know went back there and did more

of that And this is probably, I don't know, but

we do have to talk about this, but this is probably

one of the sadder ways to go. I think the one

other sad thing that happened to a voice actor

was when George Hanlon basically died in studio.

I remember I remember Andrea Romano saying to

Might have been Kevin Smith or she said it somewhere

To somebody in an interview that she you know

saw George Jessin Jetson pass away in front of

her eyes But Freeland are not feeling on McKimson

died September 29th 1977 for a massive heart

attack while eating lunch with Freeling and to

Patty Yeah, it's not a Few days earlier was given

a clean bill of health during a physical and

his doctor suggested his family history His father

left to be a hunter would allow him to live many

more years So that must have been some sandwich

In that in the interview I mentioned He has two

brothers or had two brothers Charles McKimson

the younger and Tom McKimson the older Who also

worked as animators Charles is frequently part

of McKimson's unit is at Warner Brothers That

was always interesting to me seeing that you

know you have two brothers working in the same

unit for for Warner's But McKimson cartoons,

you really gotta love them. I mean, not all of

them are great, but not all of them are god -awful

either. He did some interesting things with Bugs

Bunny and Daffy and Elmer and that kind of stuff.

He revived the Tasmanian Devil. Yes. Yep, all

but one of them were directed by him. That's

in that interview I was talking about earlier,

because the guy asked him about Taz. And one

of the studio heads said, oh, well, why isn't

this character being used? Oh, well, this person

said, forget what he's saying. I'm telling you,

go do it. Yeah, it was someone who told Frizz

they're like don't use that character again,

and I guess that whoever said that had moved

on and wasn't at the studio anymore So they're

like, please make more of these. Yeah, I Mean

I love Taz I I really do I Think it's so great

nowadays that we still have Taz kind of For any

I mean, I know a lot of the voice actors these

days can imitate anybody but honestly I almost

blanked on his name Cummings Jim Cummings Jim

Cummings is Taz is like Mel is raised from the

grave. It is a great resuscitation I think the

Tasmanian Devil is the one character from the

old Looney Tunes that has had The best success

is making a comeback post -Mel Blank. Because

Tasmania was such a brilliant cartoon. Oh my

god, I love that show. Just the fact that his

father was Bing Crosby. Blah, blah, yackity smackity.

Yup. It was so awesome. Overall, I love McKimson's

cartoons. I could not stop. I cannot stop watching

a ham and a roll, honestly. Like, you need to

find that and watch it and let me know if you

think it's as funny as I think it is, because...

Go ahead. It's been a while since I've seen it,

I know that. It is so damn funny, at least to

me, because this dog is basically... He's basically

pulling a porky from you ought to be in pictures.

He's leaving the studio. which no one even really

notices that he leaves honestly he leaves the

studio goes to his country house and he starts

quoting every single famous shakespeare scene

throughout the rest of the cartoon and as that's

going on the goofy gophers are screwing with

him at one point um at one point in the cartoon

uh you know He goes to sleep to sleep and he

sees the pages of the book, you know being blown

up because the goofy gophers are in hollowed

out pages in a book that he's holding and as

they're snoring their breathing is blowing the

pages up and he's like Gophers he slams the book

and throws it out the window Oh god, I just love

that cartoon so much. There's a there's a cheese

gag at the point where he says You know a rose

by any other name would smell as sweet and they

drop a whole chunk of limber It's it's just so

hilarious All right, I Think we're gonna take

a quick break. We're gonna come back with the

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The GeekCast Radio Network. Hey Dan, who's the

guy with the creepy voice? Nice girl, but about

as sharp as a sack of wet mice. Alright folks,

we are back here on ToonCaspian's Animation Direction

Spotlight talking about Bob McKimson. Just so

good. I believe he did this one, but I saw this

one today where it's old, foggy and old dog.

Or they're old people. And then there's the two

young... Like, they're supposed to be their grandsons.

A very young rooster and a very young dog. And

they talk about times where a foggy made the

dog's tongue green and painted it green and that

kind of stuff. I love that kind of stuff from

McKimson. It's just absolutely amazing. Any final

thoughts from you, sir? I don't really have any,

no. All right coming up next we're gonna be talking

about one of the guys who Pretty much put Charlie

Brown on the map, even though he had a whole

lot of rocks and I missed her good Well, it's

don't it's Bill Melendez, but I was gonna say

I think he was an animator at Warner Brothers

So that's kind of his connection to all this.

Yep. Yep Bill Melendez pretty much had Charles

Schultz's dreams in his hands creating the the

peanut specials and shorts and all that stuff

in the movies and it's gonna be really interesting

talking about him. And then after that we've

got the Fleishers the week after this one coming

up and then Walter Lance and then I think we're

gonna do Like I was saying last time I think

we're going to do a spotlight on Mel I would

love to interview his son. I would love to interview

Noel. That would be amazing So, all right you

get anything you want to pimp out mmm just that

I have new comics coming up for to see in comm

das I en comm I'll be updating throughout October

and part of November and then I have a holiday

special in December. Awesome. Thank you for joining

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Um, I think it was in September Yeah, I believe

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I wish they would tell us in the review like

what episodes they listen to But this says it's

from someone names to fogger was done on September

15th 2014 the title of it is stay away sexist

and boring one -star review. Oh These these hosts

are uninspiring always unprepared often sexist

and have nothing new interesting or informative

say about the films plus super unfunny All I

wanted was a funny podcast that talked about

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I don't know. Maybe it's a cousin it who knows

Maybe they're still stuck in the DreamWorks era

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I was gonna say you got the wrong podcast, dude

Yeah, I don't know And admitting that you know

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Admitting that red writing hood is hot at least

in the droopy cartoons is not sexist. No Not

at all in the least There are some people who

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