Chuck Redux

The Difference Between Truth and Falsity

We stumbled upon this note from Chuck Jones the other day as we do and thought it was worth sharing with you.  His hand-writing has been translated below for your easy reading pleasure. 

The dot makes the line.

"My little dot goes for a walk." Kandinski [sic]  (editor's note: this paraphrases a quote by artist Paul Klee, "A line is a dot that went for a walk.")

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." -Mark Twain

And the difference between the right line and the almost right line is the difference between truth and falsity.

Chuck Jones Quote for the Day: Marvelous Confidence

"I have come to know Bugs so well that I no longer have to think about what he is doing in any situation. I let the part of me that is Bugs come to the surface, knowing, with regret, that I can never match his marvelous confidence."

--Chuck Jones, page 26, Stoke of Genius, A Collection of Paintings and Musings on Life, Love and Art

 

Chuck Jones Quote of the Day: Sensible Rules for Marriage

"The purpose of making films is to delight. The purpose of making films is to excite. The purpose of making films is to have fun. Not a bad set of rules for a marriage-which needs some sensible rules. Do these rules apply only to your expected audience? No, they only apply to you."

--Chuck Jones, page 62, Stroke of Genius, A Collection of Paintings and Musings on Life, Love and Art

 

Actor Geoffrey Rush on Chuck Jones

Academy Award-winning actor, Geoffrey Rush (currently in "The King's Speech and nominated this morning for a Best Supporting Oscar for his role!) is also a noted stage actor.  Soon to be appearing at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in Gogol's "The Diary of a Madman," Rush had this to say about the role he is playing:

"Gogol walks this very knife-edge, fine line between a very sharp observation of someone's descent into madness and, at the same time, playing fairly deliciously with their own sense of delusion," the actor says. Discovering his character, he says, was like constantly having "a Daffy Duck moment — where, you know, his beak has suddenly been smashed around to the back of his face."

"We took a lot of inspiration from [Warner Bros. animation director] Chuck Jones," Rush says. "He said, 'Bugs Bunny is the person we would probably all like to be. Daffy Duck is the person we probably really are.' So it's a comment on that level of self-delusion — [on] what our aspirations might be and how short they might fall."

Read the entire article at NPR.org or by clicking here. 

Quote of the Day: For the rest of my life

"As a child I loved to draw, as do most children, and I have made at least twenty drawings every day of my life since childhood, and I intend to draw and paint for the rest of my life--if I live that long."

--Chuck Jones, "Stroke of Genius"

Quote of the Day: An Enormous Quantity of Books

"Fortunately for me I had a father who devoured an enormous quantity of books.  So I read everything that fell into my hands:  Aesop, Balzac, La Fontaine, Peter Rabbit, Mark Twain, Dickens, the dictionary, O. Henry, anything.  But even authors like Jean-Paul Sartre inspire me in a sort of reverse action with lots of ideas.  "No Exit" (that will surprise you) is for me a mine of gags, since it symbolizes the frustration of the human condition.  And as for James Joyce, whom I cannot read without a Gaelic dictionary--and a Greek dictionary, a Bible, a book of liturgical vestments and an almanac--well, anyone who has a Gaelic dictionary knows it is one of the humourous masterpieces of the world.  So the peripheral advantages of research are manifest.

"The Persistence of Carrots" fine art limited edition hand-pulled lithograph by Chuck Jones.

Happy Thanksgiving, constant readers, we appreciate you!

Quote of the Day: Comedy & Farce

"Comedy is unusual people in real situations; farce is real people in unusual situations."  

--Chuck Jones, page 22, "Stroke of Genius, A Collection of Paintings and Musings on Life, Love and Art"

Quote of the Day: Funny Horses

"If you want to draw a funny horse it is always helpful to know how to draw a real horse correctly.  This rule applies to all animals."  --Chuck Jones, "Stroke of Genius, A Collection of Paintings and Musings on Life, Love and Art"

A Thought for Today

It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is to be educated. -Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (1867-1963)

Chuck Jones Quote of the Day: Flash of Individuality

"We watched carefully for that flash of individuality, that spark of the unusual, that happy accident that could be encouraged and developed into the interesting, stimulating, and sympathetic adult we would all like our children to become."

--Chuck Jones, page 8, Stroke of Genius, A Collection of Paintings and Musings on Life, Love and Art