The Hidden Friz

It isn’t easy for a director to appear in his own cartoons, unless there’s some live action footage. But Friz Freleng showed up in a few shorts, sometimes as a character and sometimes in the background.

Paul Julian inserted Friz in the 1951 release “Putty Tat Trouble,” featuring Sylvester and an orange cat rummaging around a basement after Tweety. You can see Friz in a background portrait. Evidently, the homeowner didn’t like it and chucked it in the basement.



There’s another reference to the studio’s senior director on a box. And you thought Jell-O was number one.



Warners wasn’t the only studio to feature these in-jokes and Julian wasn’t the only artist who painted them, but he’s probably associated with them more than anyone else at the studio. And it’s fun when you stumble onto them.