Now Hare This!

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

 

Post # 39

 

Monday, March 2^nd, 1953

 

Hello, you ghastly little slob;

 

I am told you have passed from one semester into another.  I have no way of knowing that this is true as we have received no notice from the school, from [the Headmaster], from the Board of Education, from the Parole Board, from the Hog Caller’s Protective Association or any other accredited group.  I presume you are not hanging in mid-air in a sort of suspended education.  I suppose that you are continuing with what we laughingly call your studies so as old J. Caesar used to say, “Cadit quaestic.”  Let us know when you know anything, hm?  Not that I care of course, yet…

 

In the foregoing sentence I was interrupted by the telephone and when I turned to resume I found that my last phrase was “Hog Caller’s Protective Ass-” An interesting idea, isn’t it?  DON’T BE HALF SAFE—INVEST IN THE LITTLE GIANT HOG CALLER’S PROTECTIVE ASS.  GUARANTEED TO PROTECT YOU FROM ANY ATTACKS FROM THE REAR!  Be popular!  AMUSE YOUR FRIENDS and FRUSTRATE YOUR ENEMIES! WEAR A HOG CALLER’S PROTECTIVE ASS!!

 

Dottie has returned from the wild abysmal banalities of Oregon* in remarkably good spirits.  In fact her conduct during this whole episode was such as to warm your old heart.  She did all the tings necessary up there, every t’ing that is, swept up all the old cobwebby odds and ends, disposed of reams of ancient paper work, did everything necessary with a minimum of pother and returned home glowing like a dollar watch.  A remarkable exhibition.

 

Yes, dammit I mean “pother”.

 

“I” before E except after C, hey?  What about “ancient”?

 

Mr. Jones, the carpenter has been busy on the [Manhattan Beach] beach house this last week, replacing windows, putting in new stairs, replacing boards, and fixing the garage doors.  After he finishes we shall have the olde girl painted (the house, not Nana [his mother]) and no one will recognize it, but will gasp, “What, oh what is this magnificent new edifice rising from the ashes of the old…Lo, a veritable Phoenix!!”

 

Our social life continues apace:  Last week mainly movies at the Academy: “Moulin Rouge”, “The Bad and the Beautiful”, “High Noon” again, “Member of the Wedding”, “Greatest Show on Earth” and last night a whole mess of so called documentaries and I use the term “mess” advisedly.  What a slobby bunch of cruddy pictures.  I rise to a point of odor.  Pew!

 

“Moulin Rouge” and oh, yes, “Come Back, Little Sheba” are superior pictures.  Shirley Booth’s performance is truly a masterpiece.  If she doesn’t win ‘twill be the injustice of the century.

 

By some wierd non-parental alchemy, I love you very much.

 

I before E except after C, eh?  What about weird?

 

 

 

s/thine Sire

 

*[She was in Oregon taking care of the final arrangements after the death of her father.]

Bugs Bunny on steroids--and Pepto-Bismol?

Spotted in the Italian Alps--turn left at Albuquerque.

Linda Jones Reveals Dream for CJCC in Orange Coast Magazine

Writer Vance Durgin of Orange Coast Magazine spent an afternoon with Linda Jones Clough recently and discovered that it takes true vision and plenty of hard work to create a market for animation that doesn't move.  And uncovers her dream for the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.  Read the article by clicking here. (Photo by Don Whitlow)   

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

 

Post # 38

 

Monday, Feb. 23

 

Dearest Linda:

 

This must be a short note on account of it is nearly five o’clock and I’ve got [art] class tonight, but I did want to bring you up to date and also get a check to you.  If the check is not enclosed I will have forgotten to do even that.  This has been a very crowded day: story session this morning having to do with the man who invented the portable hole, just buy a package of these convenient holes and if you want a hole, just glue one on the object and reach in:  very convenient for getting babies out of safes, for sneaking home at night without opening the front door, an excellent part of a dog’s equipment: no need to dig any more.  A very nice story idea, wish it was mine.

 

No word from Dottie since I talked to you Saturday.   I am so pleased and happy and in love with her.  All of her adult life she has grown and developed and striven to become a more adult and intelligent person and the beauty of it is that she has become a real zany, too.  I am very grateful for her and I hope you are, too.  Look around at many of the other women of her age [45] and you soon realize what an absolutely fine person she is.  Right?

 

As always, I‘ve enjoyed being a bachelor for a little while.  It is fun being mothered by our friends.  I spent the weekend with nana [his mother], which pleased us both.  She, too, is a swell gal with a nice straight back and good straight mind.  Very active and fun to be with and to talk to.

 

Well, off I go…I love you, too, and you jolly well know what kind of a person I think you are.  You little slob.

Children, mops, and a reflecting pool: Creativity is where you find it

In honor of what would have been Chuck Jones' 97th birthday, we want to share something we found today:  exquisite, fleeting moments in young people's art from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas.

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

 

Post #37

 

February 16, 1953

 

Hi!

 

It’s been a long time since you have heard the dulcet sounds of my lilting voice, has it not?  I have been trying this last week to get myself in a mood to get started on the next Pepé picture.  I enjoy them, but each one seems to get a little tougher and to require a little more avidity in preparation.  This one is set in a motion picture studio around 1913, in Paris.  “A Studio d’ picteur motion”, that is.  This one is “Les Freres Warnaire (Henri, Albert, Jacque)”.  I sometimes feel that I could make an excellent Pepé picture if I didn’t have to have Pepé in it, just the French customs, language and literature.  I may do it sometime.

 

Scene One usually gives me the main trouble.  If I can get that one off the ground, or rather down on paper, the rest seems to follow in an almost planned sequence, as though it had always been there and just needed somebody to put it down.  It always surprises me to see it come out, appear out of nowhere and materialize on paper.  Makes me feel grateful, too, because there is nearly always this horrible dead center feeling—like now—when nothing seems to happen.  I know I’ll break through, but it is an ugly feeling for a while.

 

We didn’t get into the finals for the Academy.  Very, very disappointing. I had high hopes for that picture.  Like Stevenson, I can only say that I’m too old to cry, but it hurts too much to laugh.  I know it is a fine audience picture; perhaps it just isn’t as unusual as I thought it was.  Two UPAs and two MGMs and, of all things, a Canadian cartoon got in the finals.  The Canadian picture is a beautiful job and should win.  It’s called The Romance of Transportation in Canada and is a lively and beautifully designed parody on the documentary short subject.  It is very funny, too.  It should win and I hope it does.  If I sound disgruntled it is only because I am.  I did love Duck Amuck and I think you will, too.  Oh, well, better luck, or better picture, next time.

 

I so enjoyed being with you those two short days, plus that mad ride back to the ranch.  Donn was completely enchanted by you and the rifle-like response of your mind.  The Harters indeed are number one members of the Linda Jones fan club.  It makes me very proud because above all things I value the beauty and wonder of free-flying mind and you have it, my darling.  When I think of myself at fifteen and the tension-ridden, hesitant tightness of my mind and the fears and frets that bedeviled it, I can make a true comparison and a pretty fair evaluation of the possibilities for the future of your life.  Very, very fair weather ahead I would say.  Like the man says, you’re as old as your back and as young as your imagination.  Stand straight so the muscles and nerves of your back don’t have to fight to stay relaxed and let your mind breathe.  Oxygen to the mind is the number of things you let in it, plus a few you expel, like mass distinctions and racial prejudices.  Old philosopher Jones, stick with me, kid, and you’ll end up.

 

I was surprised to find that Mort* is so young.  I somehow expected an iron-visaged, stern, black-whiskered, Simon Legreeish type, about forty five, in drover’s boots with a Bowie knife stuck in his belt.  When this personable, but fuzzy cheeked youngster was introduced as Mort, I almost said, “Mort Junior, you mean.”  I must be getting senile.

 

Since it is almost noon and something’s gone wrong with this goddamned machine..goodbye now…I love you.

 

 

 

*One of the brothers who owned and ran the school/ranch.

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

 

Post #37

 

February 16, 1953

 

Hi!

 

It’s been a long time since you have heard the dulcet sounds of my lilting voice, has it not?  I have been trying this last week to get myself in a mood to get started on the next Pepé picture.  I enjoy them, but each one seems to get a little tougher and to require a little more avidity in preparation.  This one is set in a motion picture studio around 1913, in Paris.  “A Studio d’ picteur motion”, that is.  This one is “Les Freres Warnaire (Henri, Albert, Jacque)”.  I sometimes feel that I could make an excellent Pepé picture if I didn’t have to have Pepé in it, just the French customs, language and literature.  I may do it sometime.

 

Scene One usually gives me the main trouble.  If I can get that one off the ground, or rather down on paper, the rest seems to follow in an almost planned sequence, as though it had always been there and just needed somebody to put it down.  It always surprises me to see it come out, appear out of nowhere and materialize on paper.  Makes me feel grateful, too, because there is nearly always this horrible dead center feeling—like now—when nothing seems to happen.  I know I’ll break through, but it is an ugly feeling for a while.

 

We didn’t get into the finals for the Academy.  Very, very disappointing. I had high hopes for that picture.  Like Stevenson, I can only say that I’m too old to cry, but it hurts too much to laugh.  I know it is a fine audience picture; perhaps it just isn’t as unusual as I thought it was.  Two UPAs and two MGMs and, of all things, a Canadian cartoon got in the finals.  The Canadian picture is a beautiful job and should win.  It’s called The History of Transportation and is a lively and beautifully designed parody on the documentary short subject.  It is very funny, too.  It should win and I hope it does.  If I sound disgruntled it is only because I am.  I did love Duck Amuck and I think you will, too.  Oh, well, better luck, or better picture, next time.

 

I so enjoyed being with you those two short days, plus that mad ride back to the ranch.  Donn was completely enchanted by you and the rifle-like response of your mind.  The Harters indeed are number one members of the Linda Jones fan club.  It makes me very proud because above all things I value the beauty and wonder of free-flying mind and you have it, my darling.  When I think of myself at fifteen and the tension-ridden, hesitant tightness of my mind and the fears and frets that bedeviled it, I can make a true comparison and a pretty fair evaluation of the possibilities for the future of your life.  Very, very fair weather ahead I would say.  Like the man says, you’re as old as your back and as young as your imagination.  Stand straight so the muscles and nerves of your back don’t have to fight to stay relaxed and let your mind breathe.  Oxygen to the mind is the number of things you let in it, plus a few you expel, like mass distinctions and racial prejudices.  Old philosopher Jones, stick with me, kid, and you’ll end up.

 

I was surprised to find that Mort* is so young.  I somehow expected an iron-visaged, stern, black-whiskered, Simon Legreeish type, about forty five, in drover’s boots with a Bowie knife stuck in his belt.  When this personable, but fuzzy cheeked youngster was introduced as Mort, I almost said, “Mort Junior, you mean.”  I must be getting senile.

 

Since it is almost noon and something’s gone wrong with this goddamned machine..goodbye now…I love you.

 

 

 

*One of the brothers who owned and ran the school/ranch.

Chuck Jones’ letters to his daughter, Linda

 

Post #36

 

Wednesday, Jan 28…

 

Dearest Linda:

 

Back from Tucson safe and reasonably sound.  Saw Florence, Arizona en route, scene of L. Jones’s introduction to one of the seamier aspects of life. [reference to a visit to a cowboy bar with one of Linda’s classmates; not a good place for a naïve 15-year-old.]  Seems like nice country around there, though.  That’s the trouble usually, the scenery is magnificent but the cast stinks. 

 

I was very impressed with Tucson, people, mountains, motels, dances and dancing including a fine exhibition of mounted square dancing.  Those young people really and truly knew their horsemanship.  The figures were intricate and were executed at a very brisk canter indeed.  It was no place for a beginner; a wrong turn would not only have overturned the rider but would have taken five or six other horses with him.  And they cut ‘em sharp!  The whole thing was immensely successful.

 

Our cartoon “Duck Amuck” still wowing them with “Hans Christian Andersen”. I think I’ve had more comments on this cartoon than any since “For Scent-imental Reasons” and maybe more than even that.  Very gratifying.  But Hell, I can’t believe that it will go any place.  Preliminary showings this week, however.  I’ll know better then.  The nominees will be announced, I believe, February 10^th.  Hold the thought.

 

Dottie may have told you that Rip’n Snort was the guest club in Bob’s [Osgood] TV Show last week.  We did pretty well I thought: the club had buoyancy and spirit notably lacking in some of the other clubs.  At the end of the program they present a gift to the president of the club, in this case me and in this case a years supply of coffee and 1,000 (count ‘em) cups.  So one of the members of the cast came out with a carton of these cups and about ten cans of coffee balanced atop it.  All was joviality and light until one of the cans began to slip after he had handed it to me.  One thing led to another and one of the cans somehow managed to fall, then another and another.  It was an odd sensation, but all I could see to do was to go along with it, so after it was apparent to me that I was in it anyway, I simply flung the rest of them in the air and started booting them around while the cast was trying to retrieve them.  Then they got the idea and things were really quite wild and funny there for a while.  It was the first really big laugh they’ve had on the show, but you must remember it is a very corny show.  But it did look funny and it did look spontaneous, which indeed it was.  I had a ball and so did the cast and from the reactions and letters, so did the audience.  Some of my more intimate acquaintances thought I dropped the damn things on purpose.  A base canard indeed.

 

Your letters are interesting, but somewhat barren of essential information.  I know it must be difficult to think of things, but try to keep us up to date on the following subjects.  1.  Studies.  How do they go, are they interesting, are you learning anything?  2. Social life (includes love life if any) 3. Horses and riding, including activities that might be new to us, trail trips?  Polo games?  Whatever.  3 Relationship with staff and friends, how goes it?  New and interesting students?  Arrivals and/or departures.   4.  Future plans, ideas, needs or demands.

 

Are you coming down to Phoenix Saturday Feb 7^th?  Can you get there?  We will be staying with Bud Brown.  If you can’t make it perhaps we could grab a ride up there Friday.  Leave us know, Hm?

 

I love thou…in a paternal way

Hats Off for CJCC!

The tireless tricoteuse, Linda Jones Clough, has created a bounty of beauty in these delightful knit caps--ready for the fall season, or fashionable wherever one lives, her deft dexterity with the knitting kneedles has left us breathless with anticipation for autumn attire.  In the meantime, these are available for a minimum donation of $20.00.  Each individual hat is unique and comes with a certificate of authenticity.  Please contact Pam Marsden at 949-660-7793 or via email at Pam@ChuckJonesCenter.org (or you can leave a comment and we'll contact you.)  Be the first on your block to own an original Linda Jones Clough cap!

Chuck Jones Center at Festival of Children

Cheryl Posner (left) with Steve Smith, Chuck Jones Council for Creativity member on Sunday, September 13 at the CJCC booth.

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity took a booth at this year's Festival of Children, held yearly at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.  Council members took turns staffing the booth and many thanks for their time is due: Tracy Tanner, Vicki Woods, Stephen Russo and Steve Smith!  Over the the first two weekends of September, Council members along with CJCC Executive Director, Cheryl Posner, took this unique opportunity to engage passers-by in dialogue about the Center's art classes and programs.  Much interest ensued! 

Cheryl Posner (right), Executive Director of Chuck Jones Center for Creativity signs up a family for the newsletter. 


A young patron of the arts on Sunday, September 13 at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity booth at the Festival of Children.