Chuck Redux

A Flashback to Chuck Jones and Family - 1999

I found a great photo the other day of Chuck at my son Alex's 8th grade graduation ceremony.  Chuck was definitely the only one who was wearing the plantation hat and vest on that day.  As the eldest great-grandchild, Alex and Chuck had a special relationship. 

 

Chuck and Alex had a special greeting when he was little where they would shake hands and then each pretend they would put something in their hip pocket.  I never saw Chuck do that with anyone else and it was his special thing with Alex.

Chuck, Linda, Alex, and Jim

Sharing--Chuck Jones Style (the cake recipe is a bonus...)

A few weeks ago we said a fond farewell to Jane, who had worked with us for over 20 years, by hosting a little going-away party.  Susan, our violin-playing, Labrador-loving (sit, Jaco, sit!) accounting manager brought in a cake she had baked from scratch that was just too scrumptious to be believed...you know, one of those pastries that's best enjoyed by burying your face directly into it--it was that good.  All those who tasted it wanted it all to themselves and it brought to mind Chuck Jones' story about his sixth birthday which we thought we'd share with you--the cake recipe is at the bottom of the post...it had to be shared! 

"The first surfacing of that part of my character that was later to show up in Daffy Duck occurred at the age of six.  My sixth-birthday party, to be precise.  I was immensely proud--it seems to me that all my life I have taken the most pride in things over which I have little or no control.  Even though I had older sisters, it never occurred to me that anyone had ever become six years old before, and the splendid cake, candles bravely ablaze in salute to my maturity, was ample evidence that I had entered into manhood.

"Having blown out the candles and, as a side benefit, managing to send most of the smoke up my little brother's nostrils, I was handed the knife, my first baton of any kind of authority in six misspent years, and was told to cut as large a piece as I liked.  At this point Daffy Duck must have had, for me, his earliest beginnings, because I found to my surprise and pleasure that I had no desire to share my cake with anyone.  I courteoulsy returned the knife to my mother.  I had no need for it, I explained; I would simplify the whole matter by taking the entire cake for myself.  Not knowing she had an incipient duck on her hands, she laughed gently and tried to return the knife to my reluctant grasp.  I again explained that the knife was superfluous.  It was impossible, I pointed out with incontrovertible logic, to cut a cake and still leave it entire for its rightful owner.  I had no need and no desire to share.

"My father thereupon mounted the hustings (he was nine feet tall and looked like a moose without antlers) and escorted me to my room to contemplate in cakeless solitude the meaning of a word new to me: "selfish."  To me then, and to Daffy Duck now, "selfish" means "honest but antisocial"; "unselfish" means "socially acceptable but often dishonest."  We all want the whole cake, but, unlike Daffy and at least one six-year-old boy, the coward in the rest of us keeps the Daffy Duck, the small boy in us, under control." 

Tiramisu Toffee Torte

CAKE

1 (1lb 2.5oz) pkg pudding included white cake mix

1 cup strong coffee, room temperature

4 egg whites

4 (1.4 oz) toffee candy bars, finely chopped

 

FROSTING

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup chocolate syrup

½ (8 oz) pkg (4 oz) cream cheese, softened

2 cups whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup strong coffee, room temperature

GARNISH

Chopped toffee candy bars or chocolate curls, if desired

Heat the oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour two 9 or 8 inch round cake pans.  In large bowl, combine cake mix, 1 cup coffee and egg whites at low speed until moistened; beat 2 minutes at high speed.  Fold in chopped toffee bars.  Spread batter in greased and floured pans.

Bake at 350°F.  Bake 9 inch pans 20 to 30 minutes, bake 8 inch pans 30 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans.  Cool completely.

In medium bowl, combine sugar, chocolate syrup and cream cheese; beat until smooth.  Add whipping cream and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

To assemble cake, slice each layer in half horizontally to make 4 layers.  Drizzle each cut side with ¼ cup coffee.  Place 1 layer coffee side up on serving plate; spread with ¾ cup frosting.  Repeat with second and third cake layers.  Top with remaining cake layer.  Frost sides and top of cake with remaining frosting.  Garnish with chopped toffee bars.  Store in refrigerator

Yield:  12 servings

NOTE:  I like using Symphony Toffee almond candy bars.

Recipe from “Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook” Copyright ©1996 by The Pillsbury Co.  – pages 274-275

 

Starting Something Great with our Chuck Jones Blog

Today, Robert Patrick and I met in my office to discuss many of the wonderful topics that we want to include in our Chuck Jones blog. Given that this blog is brand new, we're learning constantly at the power of what we can bring to those who visit us here. 

 

Although Linda Jones Enterprises has been providing the artwork of Chuck Jones now for 32 years, we are less than 32 days into the world of blogs.   

We hope in the coming days, weeks, and months to bring you a glimpse of the diverse and exciting world of Chuck Jones, the Chuck Jones Galleries, and the rapidly changing world of art from around the globe.

Stay tuned for Great Things to come! (no pressure set by that statement...)

Craig

Chuck Jones Gallery On the Radio

Michael Bundy, gallery director at the Chuck Jones Gallery in Santa Fe (shown here with Ariana Huffington at a gallery event this past September), will be interviewed on Sunday, January 25th at 11:20 AM MST on the  AM station KTRC 1260.   In the interview, he discusses Chuck Jones' life and times, Chuck's love of Mark Twain (and Twain's Roughing It), the art and artists represented in the gallery as well as the upcoming Art Feast in February.

Michael, whose background includes 12 years with the Guggenheim Museum in New York and Bilbao, moved to Santa Fe in 2002 with his wife Kyoka, and children Shoki and Taisei.   In his free time Michael coaches middle school basketball and youth soccer and for respite, you can find him hiking in the verdant countryside in and around Santa Fe.

So, if you're one of our New Mexico readers and have a few minutes this coming Sunday, please tune in for the interview.   And for those of you outside the range of KTRC, we hope to post an audio of the interview shortly after it airs.  Stay tuned! 

Rose Parade - Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote - Memory of a Lifetime

 

Posted by Craig Kausen

It was an incredible honor and one of my most memorable days to ride on the New Mexico Rose Parade Float on New Year's day this year.  This is me (Craig), my mother (Linda), and a great new friend of ours, Jim Garcia from Albuquerque as we started down Orange Grove Blvd as we left our starting position. 

The experience actually made me giddy.  I felt like a little kid getting to play out a magical fairy tale dream that lasted for, what seemed like, hours and hours! (Ok, it actually was hours and hours...)

We actually first were introduced to the float the day before when the official judging occurs. 

Although it doesn't show in this picture, the morning of the judging there were hundreds of people previewing the floats, talking to the float builders and riders.  It's quite an event in itself.

As a float rider, we needed to be in full regalia and seated on the float.  Unfortunately, I cannot share photos with you because they shoo everyone out of the hangar that is not part of the float building crew. 

Obviously we were judged worthy because they awarded the New Mexico Float with the Bob Hope Humor Trophy for most comical and amusing entry. 

On New Year's morning, we were picked up a few miles from the parade route at 5:15 am (or as my brother said O'Dark Early). (Special thanks to our friends John and Leanne for hosting us nearby so we didn't need to wake up at 3am instead of 4!)  It was a brisk 38 degrees and I had much sympathy for the float crew who spent the entire night on Orange Grove Blvd with the Road Runner and Coyote.

We had the opportunity walk the entire staging area before we got underway.  The detail and magnitude of the presentations in each of the floats was amazing.  We bumped into our dear friend John Ramirez (of Acme Animation www.AcmeAnimation.org) who designed three floats for the parade and won three awards!

We waved until our arms nearly fell off and yelled "Happy New Year" until our voices nearly vanished.  I also carried Chuck's cane and hat the entire way to help celebrate his animated creations. 

I think the most amazing thing to me about the parade is the sheer magnitude of it.  Before we even made the turn onto Colorado Blvd, we passed thousands upon thousands of people who had slept out on the curbside, arrived early to stand toward the back of the crowd, or continued to wander up and down in front of the mansions lined up along the road.

As we turned the corner onto Colorado I wish I had video from my perspective of the grandeur of the grandstands, the cacophony of the crowds, and the legion of cameras, photographers, news people that reached for as far as I could see.

Here's a link to the snippet from the local coverage by KTLA.... and yes I received dozens of emails, texts and even some Facebook postings asking me if I was one of the "Humans" who were referred to by host Stephanie Edwards during the broadcast...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnnniNJO5Z4

The remaining five plus miles of the parade route was packed with people for the entire distance (again the magnitude of it all).  If you can't picture five plus miles with enthusiastic, cheering families, think of nearly 100 football fields lined up end to end with 20 to 200 people deep on both sides for the entire distance.

A huge thank you to Raul Rodriguez, the float designer, for doing such an incredible job with the design and for respecting the characters that were created 60 years ago this year.  Raul is here with us in ready to ride the China Airlines Float he designed as well.

And thank you to the State of New Mexico for celebrating Chuck's most famous characters and the long relationship Chuck, New Mexico, and the Road Runner have all had.

Trivia:  Did you know that Chuck and the State of New Mexico were both born in 1912?

More:   Did you know that Chuck created the Road Runner in 1949?  And that New Mexico chose the roadrunner as their state bird the exact same year...  coincidence?  I don't think so...