Disciplines, Schmisciplines

Some years after making the Roadrunner cartoons, Chuck Jones came up with his list of “disciplines” he supposedly etched in stone for the series.

The first was “The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going “Beep-Beep.”

Here’s a gag from Hot-Rod and Reel (released in 1959).



Uh, what was that “discipline” again, Mark Twain?

Mike Maltese was the writer of this cartoon, and many others with the Road Runner. My recollection is he told (I think it was Mike Barrier) he had never heard of any “disciplines” when he had to come up with a story.

When I was a kid, a Road Runner cartoon was a good excuse to go into the kitchen and make a sandwich. I didn’t need to see the cartoon. I knew the Coyote would fail and this would happen.



In this short, the first two gags ends with the coyote going off a cliff.

Years later, watching the cartoons, I found some gags that did not involve cliffs, and were actually pretty creative. That couldn't be helped when you put Jones and Maltese together.

Personally, I prefer the “Super Genius” Wile E. Coyote who turns out not to be vastly superior in intellect to Bugs Bunny, but you know that old saying about mileage.

Tumbling Bear

Favourite scene in Chuck Jones’ Bear Feat? That’s an easy one.

Junior Bear grabs Papa Bear and tumbles him in an airborne somersault. Pa is in a six-drawing cycle animated on ones, as Junior da-da-das to one of Carl Stalling’s musical favourites, “Frat” (he also employs J.F. Barth’s old chestnut over the opening titles).



But the best part is Mama Bear zips into the scene wearing a curly-haired girl wig and a dress, joining Junior in the da-da-da version of “Frat.”



The whole idea comes out of nowhere and is completely ridiculous, as only Mike Maltese could dream up.

The Jones unit, being at the top of its game, ensures the cycle isn’t static. Junior raises and lowers his legs a little so Papa Bear’s tumbling goes up and down a bit on the frame. And Mama Bear twists and turns and looks toward and away from the tumbling.

Stan Freberg is Junior and the opening narrator, Billy Bletcher is the father and Bea Benaderet the mother who switches from the ultimate in deadpan to various facial expressions as she watches Pa get abused through the whole cartoon.

Second favourite scene? Papa Bear has had enough of Junior’s screw-ups and wants his kid physically harmed for it. Here’s how Maltese’s mind works. He comes up with a creative form of punishment.



Junior is such a head-headed dope that baseball has no effect other than to bounce off him with a metallic sound. Jones’ timing is great. Just the right number of frames.



That’s it. What else do you need? On to the next scene.

Jones made one more Three Bears cartoon after this, the 1951 release A Bear For Punishment, and then the trio retired from the cartoon short business. Too bad.

Bear Feat Layouts

If only Chuck Jones and Mike Maltese had made more Three Bears cartoons.

I was watching Bear Feat (1949) the other day, and it was funnier than I remember it. And it’s a well-designed cartoon, too. There’s perspective animation with characters going toward and coming from the “camera.”



Notice above that Father Bear, who is about to drop into the chimney, still has the unicycle he was riding on the high wire when he was catapulted into the sky.

Bob Gribbroek is the layout artist. He has some settings looking up, others looking down.



Maltese has some inspired gags in this. We’ll get to one later this week.

Ben Washam, Lloyd Vaughan, Ken Harris and Phil Monroe are the credited animators.

Wabbit Switch

One of the great things about Hare Tonic, a 1945 Warner Bros. release, is that the action never lets up. Bugs Bunny continually gets the best of Elmer Fudd in a stream of gags that doesn’t slow down. The best part is the ending, which I loved as a kid 60-plus years ago and still love now.

In one scene, Bugs—purchased by Fudd at a meat shop!—cons Elmer into looking into his grocery basket because there’s no rabbit inside. Bugs then shoves Elmer into the basket and switches places with him, strolling along and singing a wabbit-ized version of “Shortnin’ Bread.’

Elmer stretches up from the basket. “Ooooh, you twickster!” he says to Bugs, and shoves him back into the basket. The action is one drawing per frame.



We’ll skip several drawings where the action is indicated by dry brush.



Elmer carries on as before.

Tedd Pierce is the credited story man (I can’t help but wonder if he was still teaming with Mike Maltese), with Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Basil Davidovich and Lloyd Vaughan being credited with the animation.

In the days when Warners cartoons ran endlessly on local stations that signed a deal with AAP, this one aired often, at least where I grew up. The rabbit-titis sequence at the end is still a treat.