Snowbody Loves Me Backgrounds

The cartoons Chuck Jones made at SIB Tower 12 had something in common with the cartoons Chuck Jones made at Leon Schlesinger’s studio in the late ‘30s. He was going for artistry and cuteness instead of comedy.

Animated artistry, of course, costs money, and after seven cartoons SIB Tower 12 was in financial trouble and finally, in essence, taken over by MGM.

Snowbody Loves Me (1964) is the fifth of the cartoons Jones co-directed with Maurice Noble at SIB Tower 12. A number of people who worked with Jones at Warners worked on this cartoon as well, including background artist Phil De Guard. Here are some of his exteriors of a snow-covered town in the evening. The first one looks like it could have come from the Grinch special.



There’s another part of the cartoon where Jerry is resting inside a large wheel of Swiss cheese. He yodels. The yodeling echoes through the cheese. There are interior shots of the cheese. The shafts of light in the last frame are on overlays; Jerry walks behind them later in the scene.



Eugene Poddany contributes an excellent, well-arranged score. He sets a classical mood with a piano, a solo violin and snatches of classical music, including Chopin. I’d love to know if MGM still had an orchestra around to play the score or Walter Bien at SIB had to pay for one as well as the rental of a recording studio.

The animators are Ken Harris, Ben Washam, Dick Thompson, Tom Ray and Don Towsley.