Bob Clampett
From Anipedia
| General Information | |
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| Born: | May 8th, 1913 |
| Died: | May 4th, 1984 (70) |
| Studio: | Warner Bros. |
| Other fields: | Character designer, animator, producer, writer, puppeteer |
| Works | |
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Bob Clampett is a classical animator responsible for many of today's most recognized Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes and classical cartoons in general. He is also known for his personal work under his own studio, Beany and Cecil.
Contents |
[edit] Early Years
Before his animation days, Bob Clampett was a cartoonist for newspapers. In high school, he made a color cartoon strip about a nocturnal cat which was published in the Los Angeles Sunday Times. He was soon offered a cartoonist contract by King Features - a cartoon and comics syndicate - in their LA art department. As he developed his cartooning skills with King Features, the company paid for his way through Otis Art Institute, where he learned to paint and sculpt. However, when he finished school, he left King Features - a $75/week job in the 1920's - for a $10/week job at Warner Bros. studio, due to his interest in the new medium of animated cartoons with sound.
[edit] 1931-1936
At the age of 18, Clampett joined the Harman-Ising animation unit at Warner Bros. His first animation work was done on Lady, Play your Mandolin!, the very first Merrie Melodie cartoon directed by Rudolf Ising. For the next 5 years, Clampett would work on many animations and teams, and grow to be one of the most able animators in the industry.
[edit] 1937-1945
In 1937, Clampett was allowed to supervise and direct his own cartoons under Tex Avery's department. During this time Clampett would define his style and unique approach towards animation, and make his mark on Warner Bros animation history. It was during this time he was able to creatively flourish and express his surreal and dream-like applications to cartoons and push the bounds of conventional animation.
[edit] Defining Character and Wartime
While it is disputed how much involvement Clampett had in the creation of Warner Bros. characters, it is undeniable that Clampett was an essential asset to the development of several of animation's most recognizable characters: Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and Tweety Bird. This attributes to the fact that their characters were defined in landmark Clampett cartoons. For Porky Pig, Clampett's Porky in Wackyland is arguably Clampett's most significant - albeit early and unrefined - animation short, and the first bigtime cartoon for Porky. While Porky Pig was not given as large of a budget as
Clampett also directed several classic Bugs Bunny cartoons, such as Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid, A Corny Concerto and Tortoise Wins By A Hare. Most of these were directed during the World War II Era, and some of them, such as Falling Hare, depict Warner Bros. characters in battle or in political and military satire. Russian Rhapsody is one of many cartoons of the time which targeted Hitler and the Nazi regime, also starred Bugs Bunny. The cartoon depicted Hitler personally flying a bomber plane into the Soviet Union, while Bugs and the Russians (called "the gremlins from the Kremlin" whilst depicted in a positive light) try to stop him.
Draftee Daffy, featuring Daffy Duck, was another wartime cartoon that involved Daffy trying to escape the draft, was another classic Clampett Looney Tunes piece which sported his exuberant character animation.
While characters like Bugs were used in several war themed cartoons, this era helped solidify and shape Bugs Bunny's persona and character through animation and direction, and Clampett played an important part in this. Porky Pig was also Warner Bros' first cartoon star.
[edit] Clampett's Team
Bob Clampett worked with the following people during his time at Warner Bros.
- Mel Blanc, the voice of Warner Bros, did several voices in every Clampett cartoon
- Basil Davidovich animated for Clampett during the later half of his Warner Bros career
- Long-time background artist Philip DeGuard did work on a handful of Clampett cartoons
- Izzy Ellis, credited as I. Ellis, began animating for Clampett right before Porky in Wackyland
- Waren Foster was a storywriter for several cartoons
- Veteran animator Manny Gould worked on many Clampett cartoons
- Tom McKimson as an animator, background artist, layout artist and character designer for Clampett
- Robert McKimson worked on animation
- Lou Lilly wrote six of some of Clampett's more well known works
- Bill Melendez, credited as J.C. Melendez, of later Charlie Brown animation fame, did character animation for Clampett
- Rod Scribner animated on nearly every Clampett cartoon
- Michael Sananoff was a short-lived writer, background and layout artist for Clampett
- Cornet Wood was a background artist for only one Clampett cartoon, Book Revue
[edit] 1946-1984
In 1945 Clampett left Warner Bros, and the next year he opened up his own animation studio. His first show was Time for Beany, a puppetry show featuring a sea serpent named Cecil and his friend Beany. It won three Emmy's for children's television programming. The show ran from 1949 to 1954. After Time for Beany, Clampett put the characters in their own animated show in 1959 called Beany and Cecil, which ran for another five years and experienced equal success. The show marked the end of Clampett's director work, and he spent the rest of his life lecturing on the history of animation and animation itself. He died of a heart attack on May 4th, 1984, only 4 days before his 71st birthday.
[edit] Legacy
Clampett's work is often described as threatening, energetic, bizarre and childish. Many of his cartoons would end with the character waking from a dream-like state. His style of animation was often described as the "Warner Style", and the uniqueness and originality of his style and direction has stood the test of time. However, some portray Clampett in a negative light, suggesting he tried to take credit for a lot of characters an ideas at Warner Bros Studios that were not originally his, making the credit for the evolving of classic Warner Bros characters that Clampett is usually given is often disputed. Still, many of his cartoons have made their mark in the first golden age of Warner Bros' history.
[edit] Chuck Jones Controversy
Out of all the people that had a history of disapproval towards Clampett, it was Chuck Jones. Jones was often verbal about his dislike of Clampett's work. Hanna-Barbera animator Benny Washam, a close friend of Jones, stated that Jones once told him if he had things his way he would have destroyed every Warner Bros cartoon made before 1948, all of which includes Clampett's work. He also accused Clampett of giving himself too much credit for designing characters at the studio. He also viewed him as an immoral person whose work should be disregarded. He wanted nothing to do with him as well as many other directors from the Warner studio.
Animator and writer Michael Barrier, who had personal encounters with both Jones and Clampett, offers an answer from his point of view.
"For many years surrounding 1969, it was practically impossible for anyone in animation outside of the Disney Studio to get any publicity or promotion for their careers, and almost the only way to get any at all was to claim to have been the creator of several famous cartoon characters. And so it was common in those days for the various Warner directors—including Chuck Jones, plus voice artist Mel Blanc—to claim the creation of virtually all of the Warner characters that they were ever associated with, in whatever little newspaper or magazine articles they could get. This practice led increasingly to injured feelings among the various Warner directors."
Clampett was interviewed in issue #12 of Funnybook, a magazine dedicated to animated films and cartoons, and was quoted saying the following:
On Bugs Bunny,"After dinner, I began putting the duck sketches on my light board, intending to just draw the rabbit doing the duck's actions and gags. But I found that the rabbit simply refused to do the same things that Daffy did. It just didn't feel right. And as my work progressed into the early morning hours the rabbit took on a personality of his own. I had found the character I was looking for. This was the birth of Bugs Bunny."On Porky Pig,
"I made a drawing of this fat little pig, which I named Porky, and a little black cat named Beans. Under the drawing, in imitation of the lettering on a can of "Campbell's Pork and Beans," I wrote "Clampett's Porky and Beans," and turned it in. Everyone liked my idea and Porky and Beans were made members of the gang. Mike, you asked in Funnyworld what was the first Porky cartoon—and what was the first color Porky? Well, this cartoon was it. It was titled I Haven't Got a Hat, which was the title of the featured song."
As well as these two characters, Clampett claimed to be involved in the creation of Elmer Fudd as well. Despite Clampett's claims, his involvement in the original creation of Bugs and Porky is doubted amongst many, and most agree that the first real and definitive Bugs Bunny cartoon is Tex Avery's A Wild Hare.
Despite the accusations, it is certain that Clampett deserves a piece in the history of animation.
