While layout man Maurice Noble got all the plaudits from Chuck Jones (who seems to have been mesmerised by either extremely literal or stylised art and little in between), Bob Gribbroek plodded away for him before Noble arrived, and after he left, providing some fine work that deserves more attention.
Jones’ “One Froggy Evening” (1955) is championed as one of his masterpieces, but while Jones and writer Mike Maltese get all the credit, nothing is said about Gribbroek’s very effective settings (compare that to “What’s Opera Doc?” which continues to result in hosannas rained upon Noble). Let’s take a look at them, as constructed by Phil DeGuard.
Soon after this cartoon, Gribbroek found himself working for Bob McKimson in what the director described as his “unit of drunks and queers” and remained at the studio until it closed. Jones must have thought highly enough of him because Gribbroek worked for him at M.G.M. until retirement a year or so later.
"Hello, my baby, hello, my darling..." (Michigan J. Frog)
ReplyDeleteA real, real classic directed by Chuck Jones, with the scripts done by Michael Maltese!
Notice Gribbroek's name on the window in the second screengrab.
ReplyDeleteJohn, that's part of the reason I picked the background and thought I made a reference to it. I obviously got distracted.
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning it.