I don’t know who was assisting Chiniquy when this cartoon came out. Sam Nicholson and John Kennedy were part of Friz Freleng’s unit at the time, I believe, and it could have been one of them. Virgil Ross, Manny Perez and Ken Champin were the other animators. Mike Maltese wrote the story.
The title is simply "Hare Trigger", Yowp. Just wanted to clear up that confusion.
ReplyDeleteFriz and Mike nailed Sam's personality on the first time out, but they still were a little unsure of his dimensions -- he's slightly bigger than normal in the train gunfight scene, and has what looks like a wart on his nose in the early going of the cartoon. But he looks closest to his eventual normal-sized self in the red ink death scene.
ReplyDeleteSam was treated pretty gently in his first appearance; granted, when the cartoon was made no one at Warner Brothers knew he would become such a sensation and replace Elmer as Bugs' foil- at least by Freleng. Bugs encountered many other patsies who wouldn't last past their first or second appearance. Pete Puma, Black Jacque Shellaque, Red Hot Ryder, Casbah Rabbit, Bruno the Magnificent, and at least two wolves.
ReplyDeleteMaltese only wrote two other shorts with Sam (actually co-wrote with Tedd Pierce), and in the second- BUCCANEER BUNNY- Sam started to suffer the pratfalls, flattenings and explosions that would come to define his character. Warren Foster would continue the tradition through the 1950s.
Gerry's assistant was Bob Matz.
ReplyDeleteWas Matz there that early? I don't remember. He's in the 1940 Census as a "movie artist" but it doesn't say where.
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