"No Barking" bow-wowed in theaters on February 27, 1954. It was the final installment in the Frisky Puppy series and considered by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald to be one of Chuck Jones' mini-masterpieces. The entire cartoon was animated by the phenomenally talented animator Ken Harris. It was the only Jones cartoon where the Clampett/Freleng character, Tweety Bird, made an appearance (albeit a cameo.)
This image is a 12 field hand-painted cel art edition (Director's Cut) that captures the moment Tweety Bird first appears and utters his trademark line, "I tawt I taw a puddy tat."
No Barking didn't do well in theatres? The people of 1954 were stupid.
Posted by: David Germain | March 19, 2010 at 04:14 PM
Hi David,
Sorry to have misled you. When I wrote 'bow-wowed in theaters' I was trying to be clever--since the title of the movie is "No Barking"--I thought instead of writing 'bowed in theaters' that 'bow-wowed' would be funny. I do believe "No Barking" was a popular cartoon at the time, although since Warner Bros. (and the other studios too) hadn't really begun their relentless pursuit of exit polls and demographics, there's no real way to know for sure. And yes, I agree, if the audience didn't like it they weren't firing on all cylinders, were they?
Posted by: Robert Patrick | March 22, 2010 at 09:18 AM