Chuck Jones (1912-2002), responsible for a host of classic Warner Brothers cartoons and the Road Runner's creator, was the most thoughtful and articulate great animation director. These dozen interviews, all conducted after Warners closed its animation unit in 1962, come from Jones' long stint as an elder statesman of animation and attest to how much thought and skill went into what are casually viewed as simple, seven-minute cartoons. The interviews come from various sources, including newspapers and radio shows. The best are lengthy conversations with well-informed interlocutors from film
Journals and animation zines. Jones attractively balances justifiable pride in his accomplishments and humorous self-deprecation. Although he received an honorary Academy Award in 1996, and his One Froggy Evening (1956) is on the Library of Congress's National Film Registry, he repeatedly states that he and his crew didn't regard themselves as artists while they were producing the cartoons, which they figured were pretty ephemeral. Their handiwork's persistent popularity on TV and in lavishly produced DVD sets shows how wrong they were.
Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader ReviewsI highly recommend this book, and not just because I'm in it. (I highly easily finagled a telephone interview with Chuck Jones in 1988--not the greatest interview in the book, but surely one of the highlights of my life.) If you're a fan of the legendary animation director, this book is the Holy Grail of interview books. It includes interviews by Richard Thompson and Greg Ford (who later did his own Looney Tunes cartoon, THE DUXORCIST) from Film Comment's legendary 1975 issue devoted to animation; an interview by film-buff supreme Joe Adamson (who also did his own Bugs Bunny cartoon, A POLITICAL CARTOON--geez, when do I get to do *my* Looney Tunes??); and several other great and extensive interviews with the master. An invaluable look into the mind of one of the great popular artists of our time.
Back To Top
