By the time Tex Avery and Heck Allen got around to making Wild and Woolfy, they had to figure out different sexual-excitement gags for the wolf when he sees Red on stage than they had used before.
They kept things to a minimum. The first one features the MGM ink-and-paint department’s brush work, some multiples, and eyes popping out of the head, bouncing away like table tennis balls.
Showmen’s Trade Review of Jan. 5, 1946, reported:
After viewing the MGM Color Cartoon, "Wild and Woolfy," Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., have requested the Culver City studio for permission to use the leading character, a little dog in a ten-gallon hat, as their official mascot. The studio is now working up an insignia featuring the pup for the Marine outfit.
Wild and Woolfy was copyrighted Sept. 21, 1945 and released Nov. 3, 1945. Claude Smith’s model sheet for the cartoon is dated May 5, 1944. The short was animated by Preston Blair, Ed Love, Ray Abrams and Walt Clinton, whose name was taken off the October 1952 re-release. Johnny Johnsen was the background artist; the cartoon opens with a pan over one of his lovely paintings with buttes, plains, cacti, and rocks with the credits on a foreground overlay.
How come they took Johnny's name off the credits for the 1952 release?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see this blog's continuing (and your others)
Steve C.
They took Walt Clinton's name off. I don't know why. I only understand from people who know about this sort of thing that it happened.
DeleteMGM removed other names in re-issues as well.
There are posts until just before Christmas, as well as some banked for another time. And there are about a dozen obits ready to go as well.
Thanks.
DeleteHey, Regarding the model sheets you mentioned:
ReplyDeleteDo you know where you found the model sheets that was made during production of this cartoon? I don’t know how long Smith stayed at MGM (I’m aware he’s an former Disney animator), but given this is the peak of the Tex Avery unit in terms of animation quality, and that the whole team (including the animators) worked very hard on it (is the eyeball scene Ed’s work, the smears might’ve given it away?), I’m here to happily drop by for studying Tex’s work during this period.
— Corbin
Probably John Canemaker's book. He has a bunch of Claude Smith's model sheets.
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