More thoughts about Chuck Jones, who passed away last Friday at the age of 89. It's a jolt to realize that all of the major directors of the classic Warner Brothers cartoons are gone: Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Robert McKimson, Friz Freleng and now Chuck. (That's Friz with Chuck in this news photo I found. I suspect, given what I recall of their relative heights, Friz was standing on something — probably an animator — when this picture was taken.) Norman McCabe, who directed 11 WB cartoons during World War II, is still with us but I'd bet even he would agree that, with the lost of Jones, an era has passed.
Chuck Jones directed several hundred cartoons in his lifetime. He directed poor cartoons, good cartoons and an astounding number of the best cartoons ever made. An oft-heard remark among animation buffs is, "I never thought of Jones as my favorite director…but when I sat down and made a list of my favorite cartoons, I found more of his films than anyone else's." I agree with those who feel that What's Opera, Doc? has been praised far beyond its worth but leave that aside — in fact, toss out One Froggy Evening, Chow Hound, Rabbit Seasoning, Duck Amuck, Duck Dodgers, Rabbit Punch, Cheese Chasers, Robin Hood Daffy and all the Road Runner cartoons. Throw away any fifty great Chuck Jones cartoons, look at what's left and you still have an incredible body, not just of work but of timeless work.
Chuck, we can all be happy to remember, lived to see it discovered anew by several generations, each of which appreciated it as not just entertainment but as an integral part of their ongoing childhoods. When I do chalk talks on cartooning at schools, the kids invariably shout catch-phrases from the films — and that is not a shallow measure of something's worth. When you say, "I knew I shoulda turned left at Albuquerque," people smile and even laugh, because it reminds them of a wonderful cartoon that made them smile and even laugh. Does anyone doubt they'll be smiling and laughing at The Rabbit of Seville and other great Chuck Jones cartoons a hundred years from now? (That's about when Warner Home Video will probably start releasing them on DVD…)