What iffy

[Jack]

"What ifs" are fun.

What if MGM had kept its cartoon department open, instead of closing it in the late 50s?

What if Tex Avery had been offered a job to work at Famous Studios, and he took it?

What if Warner Brothers had decided to not sell off it's pre 1948 live action films and cartoons? Keeping them all instead.

What if Chuck Jones decided Lantz was a better studio to work at than WB, and decided to take a job there? Meanwhile, Art Davis was given his directorship back, only, with Jones' unit. (I figured this was more interesting than the old "What if Davis was kept over Mckimson "what if")

What if Bugs Bunny had been chosen to co-star with Speedy in the 1960s?




jack :D

[PorkyandDaffy]

What if MGM had kept its cartoon department open, instead of closing it in the late 50s?

The cartoons probably would've probably been bad. I can see a decline in the MGM cartoons in the mid-50's, and it would've continued in the late 50's.

What if Bugs Bunny had been chosen to co-star with Speedy in the 1960s?

Then that would suck worse than Daffy and Speedy. :p

[Thad Komorowski]

Originally posted by Jack
What if Tex Avery had been offered a job to work at Famous Studios, and he took it?


Hmmm, well, I'm sure that the Famous cartoons would be much more enjoyable, and not suffer from repetition. Can you imagine Tex Avery directing a Herman and Katnip short? I think Katnip would go into a blackface more often....;)




-Thad

[J Lee]

A more interesting "What If?" would have been this -- both the Warner's animation studio and Avery's unit at MGM were shut down at about the exact same time in 1953. What if when WB reopened its studio McKimson had decided to do what his animation crew did and remain at their other jobs, and Warners had hired Avery as their third unit director with Jones and Freleng into the mid- and late 1950s?

[Jack]

Originally posted by J Lee
A more interesting "What If?" would have been this -- both the Warner's animation studio and Avery's unit at MGM were shut down at about the exact same time in 1953. What if when WB reopened his studio McKimson had decided to do what his animation crew did and remain at their other jobs, and Warners had hired Avery as their third unit director with Jones and Freleng into the mid- and late 1950s?
It would have brought a new perspective and style to WB cartoons, maybe even keeping them fresher and funnier well into the 60s. Avery would have had a field day with all the WB characters of the 50s. Imagine a Tex Avery Foghorn Leghorn cartoon, or Goofy Gophers cartoon. And who knows what he would have done with Bugs, Daffy, and Porky. Characters he had helped define in the first place.




Jack :D

[J Lee]

Based on his string of 1950s toons, from "Three Little Pups" up to "The Legend of Rockabye Point" Avery showed he was able to come up with frantic cartoons even within the limited animation format. Certainly, his take on dealing with the more restricted budgets of the late 50s and early 60s would have been far different than the path Jones took. How he would have handled some of the WB characters created after he left would also have been interesting (especially the day when Eddie Seltzer would have come into the studio and told Tex to do a Tazmanian Devil cartoon because J.L. wanted to see the character again even if McKimson and Sid Marcus were gone from the studio).