On the Friz (Freleng).

What better way to ease back from vacation than to jump in (rather belatedly) to the running salute to one of my favorite animators - Friz Freleng - in honor of Freleng's 100th birthday. Instigated by Brian Darr on his blog, and already well-covered by a ton of other bloggers in lovely fashion, I won't write a ton here. But I wanted to zoom in on three of my favorite Freleng cartoons (there are many others):

Little Red Riding Rabbit (which Atlantic County Cartoons has kindly queued up for you to watch online). With excellent voice work not only by Mel Blanc but by Bea Benederet as the guileless, aggressively dorky Red Riding Hood (who comments, "That's an awfully big nose for you... TA HAVE!"), and Billy Bletcher hilarious as the gangsterish, desperate wolf (who at one point briefly channels Maurice Chevalier). This 'toon features some of Freleng's finer comic set pieces, including a prolonged gag which would make the Marx Brothers proud - in the basement involving doors, stairs and an  MC Escher-ish architecture. Another sequence I still reference long after having last seen the cartoon (although I just watched it again): Bugs, after a prolonged bit of angry mirror mimicry, getting the wolf to sing "Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet", complete with the wolf dancing (lifting his pants as if a skirt, to reveal his patchy jeans underneath), and, in the best part, after Riding Hood interrupts them, he shuts the door and then... continues the jig momentarily before realizing Bugs was gone!  Why, all the poor wolf really needed was to have some fun. Who needs a girl?  [Freleng's later Little Red Rodent Hood is also an enjoyable variation on the Red fable.]

Bugs Bunny Rides Again: I'm a big fan of most of Freleng's Yosemite Sam shorts (Freleng supposedly based the ornery little red head in part on himself), but I am most fond of this 1948 short in which Sam, in the Old West setting for which he was most perfectly suited (that and at sea on a galleon, in a few other very fine shorts), comes "a-lookin' for any livin' varmint whose aim is to try and tame me." He enters angry - shooting at a smart-mouthed skunk exiting a saloon - and stays that way throughout. Bugs "aims ta." The whole thing is incredibly inspired, but besides the series of hilarious gags and one-liners, pay particular attention to the sharply rendered characters and crisp, colorful backgrounds (by Paul Julian) - notice, too how animator Ken Champin finds his name painted in the background as a veterinarian.

But the short is just brimming with examples of Freleng's comic timing, including (he just loved this gag) the bit where Sam makes Bugs dance, and he does, in fine vaudeville fashion, before Bugs says, "Take it Sam!" and Sam does, with abandon - right down a mine shaft; and in the "I dare you to step over this line" gag that would probably be repeated many times after; and the size of Sam's horse; and the brick-walled tunnel gag that would also be used again but never with the timing shown here; and the conclusive card game - "Don't rush me!" says Sam, "I'm thinking...  And my head hurts!" he adds.  Not the most hilarious cartoon ever by any means, but nearly perfect. [Hare Trigger, in a  similar Bugs vs. Sam in the old West vein, and in which Bugs may or may not be  "rendered non-corpus mentus," is also pretty near-perfect.]

Slick Hare: In which Leopold and his Chifafa Five entertain Hollywood nightclubbers (who do a five second dance) and several stars make cameos, a few of them dated if still amusing (that Ray Milland joke sure doesn't mean much to my generation), but Humphrey Bogart in particular figures prominently in the story; he demands fried rabbit from beleaguered waiter Elmer Fudd, "twenty minutes to bring it... or else" (said menacingly, putting a machine gun on the table). Fudd vs. Bugs in the kitchen while Bogey waits - pure cartoon heaven. Bugs impersonates Groucho, runs into Sydney Greenstreet, stows away in Carmen Miranda's hat, dances the Samba (using a carrot in musical fashion). The pie gag is also one of the best pie gags ever, with Bogey bearing the brunt of it. And at the end, the sight of "Baby" - Lauren Bacall - makes Bugs change his mind, and ends the 'toon in style.

Other bloggers have already commented on Freleng's love of music in his shorts (which would even carry over to his later Pink Panther cartoons and the famous Henry Mancini score - those shorts were essentially dialogue free so the music often carried them), but two of my favorite of Freleng's many musical-themed toons deserve mention: Rhapsody Rabbit, in which Bugs tackles both an obnoxious mouse and Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody; and the underrated Mouse Mazurka (no relation to Mike Mazurki), which finds Sylvester and a Slobovian mouse moving to the tune of Eastern European folk music.

Other Friz Faves:

Birds Anonymous: The Oscar-winning short starring Sylvester and a host of cats who have sworn off eating birds, go through a 12 step program ("Being on a bird kick cost me five homes. B.A. helped me solve my problem"), and so on, until Sylvester finally falls off the wagon. "I can't stand it! I gotta have a bird! I'm weak! I'm weak, but I don't care! I can't help it! After all, I am a pussycat!" Amen brother.
Southern Fried Rabbit: In which Bugs confronts Confederate officer Yosemite (or Alabama?) Sam.
Baseball Bugs: has already been written about extensively but suffice it to say it features some of the better gags about the national pastime, and is still referenced today by baseball players (several of whom have been heard to credit an opposing pitcher's filthy stuff as "throwing a Bugs Bunny curveball.")
Racketeer Rabbit: In which Bugs fends off both Peter Lorre and Edward G Robinson. The Lorre-like Hugo, on Bugs: "I like him. He makes me laugh." {laughs weakly.}

Mention, too, should certainly go to writers Mike Maltese and Tedd Pierce, who scripted many of Freleng's best. They were, frankly, two of the greatest writers for animation in film history.

Comments

[Brian]

Craig, what a great list of Freleng favorites for you... TA HAVE! Just thinking about Sam going down that mine shaft has me chuckling in front of my computer. And is there a better "movie star caracature" cartoon than Slick Hare?

I'm glad you brought Pierce and Maltese into your post too; I meant to mention them in mine but never got around to it.

[Craig P]

Thanks Brian!
Yeah, you know how I am, always think of the writers and want to make sure they get some due. Those really do have an amazing filmography.

Btw, I love High Diving Hare, too, but thought you covered that one pretty well. :-)

CP