Clampett vs. Jones -- "Porky's Pooch" vs. "Little Orphan Airdale"

[J Lee]

To be honest, while there are some changes between the black & white and the color cartoons, I don't see enough of a difference between "Injun Trouble" and "Wagon Heels," "Porky In Wackyland" and "Dough for the Do-Do" and "Scalp Trouble" and "Slightly DaffY" to make me get all that excited about which one is best. Each one has its pluses and minuses IMHO.

Now, there is a noticable difference between Clampett's "Porky's Badtime Story" and "Tick Tock Tuckered" and between Freleng's "Notes To You" and "Back Alley Oproar." And there's also a difference between these two cartoons, which is made even more noticable by the later Clampett-Jones dust-up.

So pick your favorite, and then we can move onto the next B&W vs. color comparison -- "Puss `N Booty" and "I Taw a Putty Tat"

[Jon Cooke]

Originally posted by J Lee
So pick your favorite, and then we can move onto the next B&W vs. color comparison -- "Puss `N Booty" and "I Taw a Putty Tat"


I hope we don't get into "B&W vs. color" for the Popeye cartoons... it would take us weeks! :p


-Jon

[Sogturtle]

On Clampett vs. Jones -- "Porky's Pooch" vs. "Little Orphan Airdale" (sounds like a lawsuit :D)... Bob gets kudos for the actual creation of the character of Charlie Dog (in "Porky's Pooch" though unnamed). The real qualitative difference (besides story/gag differences) comes down to this... "Porky's Pooch" was made by Clampett's original Ray Katz unit Looney Tunes crew. The Jones remake, "Little Orphan Airdale" is made by Chuck's creme-de-la-creme Forties gang. Bob's dog (and the whole cartoon) is ugly, undistinguished, just plain mired in a Thirties design mode that Clampett (and crew) couldn't get out of yet (and these were NOT untalented men). In fact Bob DIDN'T get out of the uninspired designs till taking over Tex's unit in late 1941!! The Chuck-meister's "Little Orphan Airdale" though a clear remake, comes off as a MUCH better cartoon. Principally because he had the sense to chuck the old dog-design out the window and come up with a much lovelier (decidely less repulsive) version. Annnnnd perversely "Little Orphan Airdale" comes off as being wholly a Jones cartoon rather than a remake.

Now for those who want to keep on flogging the old Chuck vs. Bob argument, the fact of Chuck remaking a BOB CLAMPETT cartoon should raise a red flag, that the feud was not nearly as bad (at least then) as reported.

[Jack]

Originally posted by Sogturtle
Now for those who want to keep on flogging the old Chuck vs. Bob argument, the fact of Chuck remaking a BOB CLAMPETT cartoon should raise a red flag, that the feud was not nearly as bad (at least then) as reported.
Perhaps it was more of a friendly rivalry, not becoming what it is now until that whole Funnyworld thing.

I like both, though I love what Jones eventually went on to do with the character. Another "too bad he didn't make just a couple more." It's sort of wierd how Jones scrapped nearly all his minor characters in the early 50s. I guess that's the price we have to pay for Pepe, Wile E., and the Roadrunner.


Jack :D

[J Lee]

Tim --

I had a mini-argument over at usenet about this cartoon and Clampett's transition (IMHO) between 1940 and the end of 1942, so of which was covered a few months back.

It seems like after Leon gave them the go-ahead to start making color cartoons at the end of 1940, Clampett and Foster went back and deliberately started focusing more on story construction in 1941 then they had while making Bob's no-holds-barred Looney Tunes from 1938-40.

Clampett's characters are much more sedate (for Bob, that is) in 1941 and early `42 than they would be at any time before or after. But once he felt more comfortable with his story construction and with the new animation unit he inherited from Avery, he began picking the pace up again, only now the cartoons had far more impact because the characters' motivations were clearer.

"Porky's Pooch" is one of only a handful of cartoons that could ever have been remade by Chuck Jones, given Bob's style before 1941 and from 1943-46 (the only cartoon Jones could have possibly remade from the latter period was "What's Cooking, Doc?" and only if he substituted his 1950s Daffy for Bugs). And given Jones desire for a very Disney like fluidness to his characters and Clampett's goal of mangling them as much as possible, there's no doubt which cartoon would be the better looking of the two.

"Airdale" also wins becuase Pierce and Maltese came up with a much better (and cynical) ending than the Lou Costello line Foster came up with. But "Porky's Pooch" is an important change-over cartoon for Clampett, so that you can understand his characters' motivations better -- thirteen months earlier he was making "The Sour Puss," while thirteen months later he was making "Coal Black." That's quite a transition.

[Patrick McCart]

Tie for me.

I like both cartoons a lot (the gag in LOA with Charlie Dog mocking people going by is a hoot...and the Porky's Pooch scene with the obligatory Carmen Miranda spoof is funny.)