Chuck Redux

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

16 Post

Friday, Oct. 10, 52

Good morning, darling!

It almost isn’t morning anymore, because you see our alarm clock went away to school in Arizona and we occasionally oversleep.  If this seems to imply that I like it particularly, the answer is that I am sometimes grateful for the sleep, but that I have, over the years, grown inordinately fond of the alarm clock. 

So, how do you enjoy the long luxurious mornings, breakfast in bed every morning, the delicate chimes stirring you out of slumber at ten thirty?  Pretty soft life, hm?

What comes to mind this morning?  You know, if you go searching the mind for something to say because you feel you must, it usually comes out strained and pulled-out and awkward.  Isn’t that a lovely word: awkward.  I wonder how many people would know the answer if you asked them for a word with “wkw” in it?  Aren’t words exciting things?  “Exciting” for instance has a jumpy, jack-straw character to it, entirely beside its meaning.  Do you remember the words “tackety” and “goloomb”?  They’re not in the dictionary and they really aren’t words at all, but on the side there I’ve drawn two figures, which is a tackety and which a goloomb?  No question at all, is there? [editor's note:  I don't have the drawings, but one was spikes and points and the other was soft, round and marshmallow-y.]

People sometimes get into discussion of words in the sense of being beautiful in their own right, again disregarding their meaning.  Words like lagoon, sonata, lilting, ballerina, tenuous, thrilling seem to appeal to the ear in an almost musical way.  Then there are comic words like abracadabra, asterisk, pickle, banana, plutocratic and so on.  Then there are words that sound like what they are somehow like: ‘shoat’, a small pig; ‘porcupine’; ‘asterisk’ which is not only a funny word, but sounds like itself; ‘gloaming’ for the time after sundown but before dark, a word that is beautiful too; ‘rapids’; ‘convivial’ that somehow manages to have a note of laughter in it, or maybe just a chuckle; ‘spur’ of course and ‘purr’ which sounds like what it looks like.  For a word that does not sound like what it is take ‘palm’, the tree or ‘yacht’.  Look at the difference between the words ‘ship’ and ‘yacht’.  ‘Ship’ is a sweet, uncompromising straightforward statement.  ‘ship’…it slices through the water, you can hear the hiss of the foam along the cutwater, a very pure word, sweet, descriptive.  Now take ‘yacht’, in five letters it manages to be showily presumptive.  Why not ‘yot’?  That’s the way it’s pronounced.  And damn it, the word doesn’t sound like a boat, sounds like a vulgar laugh perhaps “a belly yacht” or a piece of machinery pronounced ‘yocket’.

Again, we had a wonderful [square] dance.  It was Arnie [Kronenberger calling]and the Rinkydinks last night.  About eleven squares of fine dancers, live music and Arnie really cutting the mustard and the rug.  We must live right, two superb dances in one week.

Ah loves my sweet golden child, ah does, indeed.

Yes’m

Thy honored and devoted servant

s/Mr. Jones

Chuck Jones: June Groom

Here Comes the Groom

Twenty years after the release of “Bugs & Bride ”, this Chuck Jones limited edition hand-painted animation cel is the fifth image he created celebrating the institution of marriage.  This time around, Bugs’ beloved has swept our intrepid rabbit off his feet as they begin their new life together in the 21^st century.  Celebrate with them as they head for their honeymoon suite at the Coachella Valley Carrot Festival Resort and Spa!

The line drawing for this limited edition was created by Chuck Jones and has been serigraphically transferred to an acetate sheet.  Meticulously hand-painted by expert cel painters, each of these cels are authenticated by the official Chuck Jones signature-mark.  As was true of the very first “Bugs & Bride”, this cel is accompanied by a hand-cut, brocade wallpaper background.*

*In 1977, with the release of the very first limited edition hand-painted animation cel, “Duck Dodgers Group”, by Chuck Jones, Linda Jones Clough began to create the backgrounds which accompanied them.  These backgrounds, many collaged and hand-painted, reinforced the essence of Chuck Jones’ character drawings.

Sometimes using pantone paper and wallpaper at other times, Linda cut, glued, heat-sealed and painted each of the backgrounds for every example in an edition for nearly eight years.  Her backgrounds were the perfect stages for the antics of the drawings created by her father.  The release of “Here Comes the Groom” and   “Carrot Cake” heralds the return of these special backgrounds. 

Chuck Jones & Cats (not the musical...)

THE CAT PORTFOLIO

The cat has been domesticated since ancient times.  Of the genus Felis, the common (and as we’ll discover, uncommon) house cat, Felix Sylvestri (wherever did those cat names come from?), has been the visual inspiration for untold centuries of artists, from the tombs of the Pharaohs to contemporary society.   For Chuck Jones it began with one cat.   

Johnson entered the Jones household one foggy morning in 1918, carefully picking his way through the sand at Balboa, to stand looking up at their home requesting admission.  “He moved into our house that morning, bag and baggage.  The bag was that cat bag all cats live in, one of the few characteristics he shared with other cats.  He sat fat and walked thin like other cats, but the resemblance to other cats stopped there,” reminisces Chuck Jones in his autobiography, Chuck Amuck.  “His baggage was what appeared to be a very old, very used tongue depressor, fastened securely about his neck…bearing the crude inscription…Johnson.”

Chuck Jones recalls that morning because he realized that it marked a turning point in his perception   of character and one of the most important lessons of animation: individuality.  Johnson demonstrated for Jones that it is the individual, the oddity and peculiarity of character that counts.  In response to the question, “Why do animated cartoonists use animals?” Jones has said that it is easier and more believable to humanize animals than to humanize humans. 

“The Cat Portfolio” is a limited edition collection of 9 cats drawn by Chuck Jones over a 50-year period.  The ten fine art reproductions on paper (one cat is seen in x-ray as well) that comprise the portfolio are led off by a drawing of Johnson, jauntily wearing three-quarters of a grapefruit rind on his head like a space helmet.  “On such occasions he seemed to enjoy this raffish adornment and would saunter out onto the sand, often with only one eye visible under the overhang, a curious sight to many people, a delight to our family, and a source of sheer terror to small dogs and old ladies,” Jones continues in his autobiography.  And if that weren’t enough, Johnson liked to swim in the ocean too.  

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

# 15 Post:

Thursday, Oct 9, 1952

Dearest Linda;

Well, now I’ve heard everything.  A call just came over the loudspeaker in the hall, “All personnel owning television sets, please report to the projection room.”  Boy, what a distinction!  Dick Thompson was here in my room when the clarion call came.  I told him to go, since he had a set and would probably never again be singled out in such a distinctive manner.  Do you suppose that Jack Warner has ordered all television owners in his employ to be summarily executed?  Here they come back…now for the revelation.

All right, get this:  Mrs. Harry Warner said to Mr. Harry Warner that she had seen on television last Sunday night a Krazy Kat cartoon with Leon Schlesinger’s name on it.  Krazy Kat, holy cow!  So Mr. Warner told Mr. Selzer [producer] about it and asked him to run it down. 

It should, of course, have stopped right there, since Leon didn’t make Krazy Kat.  (Oh, I’d better remind you that the Warners have expressly forbidden any of their products to be used on television and, of course, this includes all of the old cartoons that went with the deal when Leon sold out). 

And, also, we know that a short that plugged bonds was made for the U.S. Treasury Department in 1942, I believe, and given to the Treasury Department, without strings attached. 

With a new interest in sales of Treasury bonds, the Treasury has released this short to television.  Everybody knows this, Eddie [Selzer] included, and this was undoubtedly what Mrs. Warner saw. 

It’s sort of a distorted viewpoint to confuse Bugs with Krazy Kat, but it’s happened before. 

But Eddie was not satisfied.  He had a bone in his teeth and he’s going to worry it to splinters.  Trouble is, he doesn’t have enough to do and here was a big fat issue, a dragon to slay for his beloved Mr. Warner.  So off we go, jousting windmills.  But can you imagine calling all the studio people who own sets and asking them if they saw this terrible thing?  Mike [Maltese] returned looking dazed, very dazed indeed.

Oh, we had a lovely [square] dance last night.  It was one of those nights when Ed [Gilmore, the caller] was hotter than a pistol, when the dancers were good and in happy spirits, when the musicians were high and when the floor (just sanded) was in magnificent condition.  I don’t know when dancing has been so good, so exciting and such fun.  Good old square dancing.  I owe it a great debt indeed.

Did Dottie tell you that we heard from both Norma and Harland?  Very nice, polite, self-conscious letters.  They suffer from the dame sort of mental constipation that most people become afflicted with when they sit down to write. THANK GOD YOU DON’T!!  Poor chickens, they couldn’t quite get down a natural sentence.  I felt sorry for them.

Speak up, I say.  Speak forth or be done with it.  Resign from the human race; join the cauliflower clan, a very quiet, reserved group.  We have the gift of speech and we speak not; we have the gift of thought and we think not; we have the marvelous gift of creativeness denied to other animals, and do we use it?  It is to laugh.  We have, for that matter, the gift of laughter, and do we use it?  It is to cry.

Seems to me you’re getting prettier by the day.  I know you’re getting more wonderful.

Kisses then from you admirer….

Daddy

 

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

# 14 Post:

Wed. Oct 8, 1952

Dear Linda;

Four weeks from yesterday until elections.  I wish it were over now.  The period between the national conventions and Election Day is far, far too long—five months.  This probably made reasonable sense in the days of more primitive communication, when candidates could only reach the voters by going to them or by the written word, which took a long time to reach outlying districts.  Perhaps they needed the time then, perhaps…but today! 

With radio, television, with high speed railroads and airlines probing every corner of the country it is supposed to be a dangerous and tiring thing to try to hold the interest of the people for that long a time on terms of simple logic—you might lose (horrors).  What usually happens, what I’m afraid is going to happen again this time, is that the contest turns dirty, unable to maintain the high level of interest supposedly necessary to victory.  The two teams start gouging and biting, clawing and cursing.  Truth is avoided or deliberately hurried.  The scum of the party is dredged to the surface as the most skillful purveyors of filth and allowed to run rampant.  The McCarthys and McCarrans are given free rein and full sway.  It is a sick and a sad thing, with two really fine men, Eisenhower and Stevenson, both clean, able and courageous, it seems terrible that this campaign must resolve itself into slinging of offal and vicious casting aspersions.

We finally caught up with “High Noon” last night.  A magnificent, truly magnificent film.  I thought the direction, music and mood was the best I have ever seen in a picture of this kind.  Better, even, than “The Gun-Fighter” and I can tell you right now that our vote for the Academy Award next spring for photography will certainly be “High Noon.”  Dottie sat through it completely enthralled, just as if she’d never seen it before.  I wonder if she thought it would end differently.

How did the bareback test work out, or have you already told us in one of our overlapping letters?

Treg Brown just tripped in, looking his usual haggard self.     He seems to  get thinner every day.  He still has that volcanic energy and drive, however, so I guess he’s not too unhealthy.

The next three nights are square dance nights, thank God.  We have only danced once in the last seven nights.  We’re getting very stale.  Tonight we’re going to Arcadia and dance with Ed Gilmore, tomorrow Arnie [Kronenberger] and Rinkydinks, Friday, Wayne Warga at Buckaroo town hall.  All excellent dances.

Have I mentioned to you or any of your acquaintances lately that I love you?  If not, I do so now.

X marks my kiss….

Cass Warner at the Chuck Jones Gallery--Santa Fe

The Brothers Warner Presented by the Warner Sisters--

Granddaughter of Warner Bros. Studio Founder To Sign

Book & Screen Documentary

Santa Fe, NM—The Chuck Jones Gallery will host a book & DVD signing for Cass Warner, granddaughter of founder and President of Warner Bros. Studios, Harry Warner, on Friday, May 22^nd from 5 to 7 PM.  An exhibition of never-before-seen photographs from Ms. Warner’s personal collection of family memorabilia will be on display.  The photographs offer an intimate look inside the family that brought us such film masterpieces as “Casablanca,” “The Wizard of Oz”, “The Jazz Singer” and “Gone With the Wind.”  The gallery, in a tribute to the famed Warner Bros. Animation Studio, will also feature unique vintage cel art from animated films directed by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng and Bob McKimson. 

On Saturday, May 23^rd, the gallery and Ms. Warner will present the documentary The Brothers Warner at The Film Museum at 6 PM (418 Montezuma Ave., Santa Fe,) tickets are $10.00 per person or $60.00 per person which include a private dinner with Cass Warner on Friday evening after the gallery reception.  A frequent visitor to Santa Fe, Ms. Warner says, "Each time I revisit the Land of Enchantment - it becomes more enchanting."

The Brothers Warner (book and documentary) is an intimate portrait of the four film pioneers who founded and ran Warner Bros. Studio for over 50 years.  This is the inside story of the little known major player in the Warner Bros. studio legend, Harry Warner (Cass Warner’s grandfather); and honest Abe, visionary Sam, and volatile Jack—the original Hollywood independent filmmakers. This close-knit band of brothers proved in their pioneering efforts to use mass media to “educate, entertain, and enlighten” while being commercially successful. Their films were often produced from stories ripped from news headlines. It was Harry’s personal belief that, “Those who make a nation’s entertainment have obligations above and beyond their primary commercial objective, which is the box office.”

A passionate advocate for the power of film, Ms. Warner has said “I whole-heartedly believe that the moving image—in the form of films, television, video and other media—is an incredibly powerful communication tool. It can be equated to today’s tribal drum—carrying emotional, intellectual and philosophical messages, which are hummed almost unknowingly or subliminally as the result of taking in this form of entertainment.”

Taking the original Warner Bros. Studios motto “Educate, Entertain and Enlighten” to heart, Cass Warner Sperling founded Warner Sisters to carry on the legacy left her by grandfather, Harry Warner.  Originally drawn to acting Cass Warner Sperling soon found herself fascinated with screenwriting and mentored by her father, Milton Sperling, and the inimitable Howard Koch (Academy Award™-winning screenwriter of Casablanca) she has gone on to produce not only the documentary, The Brothers Warner, but also to produce and host the series Conversations with Cass (seen on Starz) and is in production on several features. 

The Chuck Jones Gallery, located just steps from the Plaza of Santa Fe at 135 W. Palace Ave., is the destination for art collectors and visitors from around the world.  The gallery presents the most important works of art from the 20^th century film art genre, including original art from the masters of film and moving entertainment.  From film campaign artists to matte painters, from layout artists to animators, concept artists and cartoonists, the Chuck Jones Gallery represents the giants of film art history.  Artists represented include Chuck Jones, Salvador Dali, Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw, John Alvin, Charles Schulz, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Bill Melendez, and Lawrence Noble. For more information please call the gallery at 505-983-5999. 

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

# 13 Post:

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 52

Dear Linda:

Today I would like to discuss with you a very important matter:  The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.  No student of Latin can be entirely serious and ignore this historical fact.  I am enclosing a chart showing how the rise and fall of this empire occurred.  I made it small so you can carry it around in your purse or pocket for easy reference.  You will note, for instance, that the fall was greater by two squares than the rise.  This is very significant.  Another thing is that the Roman Empire could have gone higher before falling.  There are three squares open and available above the peak of the rise.  Now some historians have con-tended that it was tripped at that point, that it fell without knowing how, but I believe (Chone-Jucks theory) that it was planned that way.  That the rulers of Rome (emperors) knew that the fall was coming sooner or later, well, not sooner—because if it was coming sooner, it would have already happened—and that “the higher they went the farther they’d fall.”  Isn’t that interesting?  But how many empires realize this?  How many empires of today study their history?  Look around you and note all these upstart young empires dashing madly off in all directions, rising to dizzy heights, headstrong, foolish.  It is very pitiful. To me at any rate.

You write a wonderful letter: easygoing, vivid and friendly, a lot of fun to read and, I’ll bet, a lot of fun to write.  Your description of early morning from the porch of the guesthouse was truly a small and lovely masterpiece, worthy of a young Mark Twain, who wasn’t so bad at capturing mood himself.  I guess I don’t have to tell you to keep it up.  If you enjoy writing you’ll unquestionably continue to do so, but I do want to say one thing:  put it down as it occurs to you.  Don’t subject a thought to too much scrutiny before you release it.  This is the basic disease of conversation in this country.  People are prone to say to themselves, is it a good thought?  Is it profound?  Will I be misunderstood?  Will I look silly?  By the time this poor little idea has been subjected to the fearful pounding of these qualifications, the time for its use has glimmered off into the distance and it is so ragged and bruised that no hint of its original spontaneity remains.  Better to take a chance on being misunderstood than to be sure of being dull.  Write and say what you think, when you think it.  The chances are a hundred to one you won’t say anything harmful and you might well say something creative, funny or beautiful.

You seem to be coming out of the dismal incubation period very nicely, so I won’t talk about it any more unless you need help.

Your dirty old every-loving fahther… 

Star Wars Day "May the Fourth Be With You!"

Episode IV Decade III

 

John Alvin, legendary cinema campaign artist did amazing work for Lucasfilm and the Star Wars phenomenon, including the above limited edition fine art print celebrating Episode IV of the Star Wars saga.  When he passed away last year at the age of 59, the tributes flowed in from around the world.  One of the most poignant and heartfelt came from George Lucas and was published on February 13, 2008 on the Star Wars website. 

Thirty years ago, John Alvin created one of the most memorable – and whimsical – illustrations ever to grace a Star Wars poster.  In the years since, he has become one of the finest illustrators in his trade, flourishing in a field that is quickly becoming a lost art.  We are so fortunate to count John’s talent among the treasures of the saga’s legacy, and will deeply miss him and the passion for Star Wars he so successfully expressed through his art.  – George Lucas

 

(A portion of the rest of the Star Wars tribute to John Alvin follows.)

“It was John’s stirring poster depiction of Luke beneath a twilight Tatooine sky that instantly captiveated fans at last year’s Celebration events held in Los Angeles and London.  The scene from A New Hope which he selected – Luke looking toward the twin suns, and his dual destinies – resonates more powerfully than any moment in the saga, and was the perfect choice to celebrate Star Wars’ 30^th anniversary.  John had captured the true spirit of the saga, displaying a deep understanding of the hero’s journey and a fierce passion for the Star Wars mythos.” 

“John was there for Star Wars’ 10^th anniversary in 1987, creating a stunning Tatooine panoramic that trumpeted “The First Ten Years.”  He was also the artist of choice for 1995’s international video campaign, which utilized new classic trilogy artwork he’d composed for cassette sleeves and posters.  Throughout the rest of the ‘90s, John illustrated several books in the Jedi Academy and Jedi Readers series, closing out the decade with an illustration that launched the first Star Wars Celebration convention.”

  For more information about John Alvin, please visit www.ChuckJones.com. 

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

# 12 Post:

Friday, October 3, 1952

Good morning, my darling!

We put the finishung touches on “Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½th Century” yesterday, saw it complete with music, sound, color—the works, in short.  It’s a parody on the “Space Cadet”, “Captain Video”, type television show, but the funny thing is, it came out not only quite funny, but exciting, too.  The backgrounds were beautiful and very 24 ½ th cen-tury-ish.  Try to say 24 ½ th century.  It’s very difficult, is it “twenty-fourth and a half” or “twenty-four and a halfth”?

There’s a nice word in the first sentence up there:  “Fin-ishung”, sounds like a Chinese fabric.  SPECIAL TODAY!!  GENUINE FINISHUNG, Imported from Lontung, China!!  $2.34 a yard!!  Don’t be pitied by your neighbors!  You, too, can be dressed in fashionable, easy-to-clean FINISHUNG!!

My diet ends tomorrow.  I have lost ten and one half pounds and look quite stylish.  [We are going to a] dinner party tomorrow night and I presume the food will be quite fancy.  I hope I have the good sense to take it easy as my stomach has become used to what are genially called “bland” foods.  You know, Linda, I really haven’t minded it.  I’ve gotten to appreciate the rabbit’s point of view: green vegetables are really delicious, especially raw.

I hear the Le Conte [Jr. High School] bugle tootling away behind me (I’m at the studio pretty early, hm?)  and all the activity of the schoolyard pauses for a moment. I look out occasionally, surprised to realize that none of you kids are still there.  From a distance the children look pretty much alike.  I became aware, only while you attended Le Conte [Junior High School], that they were not the same children year after year.  It is quite conceivable that there are children of children attending school this year.  It will be twenty years next March that I have worked on this lot.  It is hard to think of myself as sixteen, having worked here that long, it means I started four years before I was born.

I wrote to [my sister] Dottie on her birthday, Sept. 27th, and got a lovely letter back.  She sends her love and highest regards to you.  A very, very fine person, mother, and sister.

I’m sending a myriad of kisses this morning because I have always wanted to use that word and because it means innumerable.

Love lOve loVe lovE LOVE! …….

s/Chuck (thy sire)

Arbor Day + Audubon + Chuck Jones Gallery = Awesome!

by Michael Bundy

The Arbor Day event was a great success! The Acequia Madre kids walked from their school which is about a half mile away and considering the kids were all between the ages of 6 and 8 that was an accomplishment in and of itself. After the kids settled into the gallery they gathered to listen to a reading of The Lorax - which was expertly read by Jeremy from the Audubon Society and the kids were  enraptured.

After a brief Q & A the children were given book marks which had been made by the Audubon staff. The book marks had the Audubon, and Chuck Jones logos on one side and 5 easy ways to help the environment on the other side.

Next we set the kids loose with crayons and paper and they commenced to create inspired drawings in the unfettered way that only kids have. The result of which you can see for yourself.

 

 

Finally we planted a lovely and quite Seussian looking Japanese maple in the courtyard planter with each child grabbing a handful of soil and helping to plant the tree. The final touch was the placing of a brick on the planter wall which read UNLESS.  

 

The nighttime opening was well attended and we raised $200 for the Audubon Society.  All and all a very special day in Santa Fe.