Staff Caricatures in WB Cartoons

[Matt Yorston]

Just for fun, can anyone recall any scenes in which WB staff members may have been caricatured in the cartoons? Here's some that I thought of:

Well, an obvious example would be the gremlins in "Russian Rhapsody" which Clampett designed to look like WB staff members. People caricatured as gremlins include Melvin Millar, Friz Freleng, Michael Sasanoff, and Leon Schlesinger.

The hotel manager in "Daffy Duck Slept Here" appears to be a caricature of the cartoon's director, Robert McKimson. The character's dark hair and moustache is what gives me that suspicion.

The hot rodder in "There Auto be a Law" (who gets beaten in a race by the horseless carriage) is a caricature of Jones unit animator Ken Harris as car racing was one of Harris' favorite pastimes! Harris was also said to be the model for Dan Backslide in "The Dover Boys" (according to E.O. Costello's webpage). Backslide is a talented pool player in the cartoon, as was Harris in real life!

Human cannonball Captain Clampett in "Circus Today" is not only named after director Bob Clampett but (according to Beck/Friedwald) also caricatured to look like him.

Also, the man who gets his pants stolen in "Nutty News" is a caricature of either Ray Katz or Henry Binder. Beck/Friedwald say he is a caricature of Katz but other people have said it is Binder.

Can anyone think of any others?

[Pietro]

Leon Schlesinger and Henry Binder appear in "Hollywood Steps Out."

-Pietro

[Jack]

Well, thers's the ywo castaways in "Wackiki Wabbit" who also look like the badmitton players in "Bad Ol' Puddy Tat"

The man giving away bits of his car in "The Weakly Reporter", looks exactly like the man who has car trouble in "There Auto Be A Law", same squinty eyes, head shape, mustache, nose, body, ect.... So it may be somebody.

In "Tick Tock Tuckered" Porky and Daffy's boss looks like Ray Katz, the skin tone is similar to that used in Russian Rhapsody.



Jack:D

[PorkyandDaffy]

There are supposedly some caricatures in PORKY'S HERO AGENCY.

[Matthew Hunter]

Mike Maltese and Tedd Pierce appear as badminton players in "Bad Ol' Puddy Tat". Also, in "Porky's Double Trouble", the animators poke fun at Ray Katz by naming a school for girls after him!In "Honey's Money", the credits have a dollar bill on them, but when the director credit comes up the head in the middle becomes "Friz", and is a caricature of Friz Freleng.
-Matthew

[billyjoelfan]

how about this one

you aught to be in pictures



rip

carrol o'conner

1924-2001


billy joel am i the only one that is a fan of you on this fourm? fan

[Matt Yorston]

One more that I didn't mention....

While I realize this is from a Disney cartoon and not a WB cartoon, I still feel it is worthy of mention...

In "Donald's Dream Voice", when Donald accidentally drops the last of his "voice pills" onto a burly construction worker's hat, the construction worker is a caricature of Disney staff member Roy Williams (who receives story credit on this very cartoon!).

[J Lee]

In "Little Orphan Airdale," Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc are charactured walking outside the apartment building, while the real goofy looking guy (seen in the Bugs & Daffy Show promos on CN) is either supposed to be Pierce or Harris.

The same characture is used along with one of Leon Schlesinger, in Clampett's "Wacky Blackouts" and Leon and Henry Binder also appear as themselves in Avery's "Hollywood Steps Out." Earlier, Tex used himself, Jones and Clampett in the street scene of "Page Miss Glory" andv -- just to go a little outside the WB field, Freleng and Bob Givins charactured Disney's Ward Kimball as Hiawatha in "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt." (You can see the resemblence between it and the idenfitied Kimball characture they've been showing on the Disney Channel in their tribute to animator Fred Moore -- wonder if any of the WB people showed up in any of the Mickey, Donald or Goofy cartoons?)

[daftchris]

I. Frisby from The Hasty Hare.

Of course, it's not as obvious with the edit made to the cartoon as it shows on Cartoon Network. Offensive to turkey farmers, maybe?

Christine Gregory