Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones ( Charles Martin Jones, September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002 ) was a production staff that worked on several Doctor Seuss Adaptations.

Biography[]

He is an American profolic animator, best known for his work for Warner Bros. (where he created the Road Runner cartoons).

He first collaborated with Dr. Seuss during World War II for the Private Snafu series. Chuck Jones and Dr. Seuss had teamed up again for Adaptations. Chuck Jones also adapted fellow coworker Frank Tashlin's stories.

Early Life[]

Chuck Jones began drawing at a very early age. His father had a large collection of Office Supplies which he shared with his children in order to save money on birthday gifts. Eventually one of Chuck Jones's teachers told the students that they do not have any chance of being an artist unless they practice drawing 100,000 times. Chuck Jones was proud to say he surpassed that amount years before he took the class with that teacher. Chuck Jones entire family have some type of career relating to Art, even to this day.

Career[]

Working as Entry And Installment Director for several Termite Terrace Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodies, he eventually became more customized with his characters. There were many peoples that worked at Warner Brothers Termite Terrace. They banded together and made Bob Clampett go away. While not necessarily the Ring Leader, Chuck Jones avoided mentioning and using Bob Clampett and his work when being interviewed and when he made compilation "movies". It also took a very long time before Chuck Jones adapted Bob Clampett's entries to television.

There was a gradual shift to Television as the Termite Terrace production methods were not possible any more. They moved to Television with less money and even less time as well as competition with the prolific Jay Ward ( September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989 ) and Bill Scott ( August 02, 1920 – November 29, 1985 ). William Hanna and Joseph Barbera ( July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001 and March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006 ) left Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Tex Avery ( February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980 ) moved to Universal with Walter Lantz ( April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994 ). Chuck Jones attempted to make Adventures Of The Road Runner, a failed series. The Pilot episode eventually was remade to become To Beep Or Not To Beep. Chuck Jones made a full length movie Gay Purr - Ee, which ended up being one of his last productions for Warner Brothers so he moved to Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

The rest of Adventures Of The Road Runner was released as Zip Zip Hurray! and Road Runner A Go Go by David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng, and Herbert Klynn.

Metro Goldwyn Mayer wanted to limit the amount of Theatrical Entries that they made. As a result, other studios needed to be hired. The first one was Rembrandt Films which had very bizarre timing, stereotypically Russian characters, and most episodes had sound effects for the sound track instead of music, except for The Carmen Get It! Entry.

After that, there was BelVision And Sib Tower 12 Animation Studios. They would spin off more animation studios, one of which is Filmation. This explains why BelVision and Sib and Filmation used very similar fonts and chevrons and other patterns in their production company logos as well as very similar production designs. At times their work is indistinguishable from each other. The other studio became Metro Goldwyn Mayer Visual Arts, which Chuck Jones customized immensely.

Chuck Jones also produced many other things for television, mostly adapting Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies and Tom & Jerry, of which he replacing some of the Hanna Barbera characters with generic ones. Also he made new bumpers as well as completely new Entries. These Entries featured only Tom & Jerry; No other Hanna - Barbera characters were included until Tom Ray took charge of two additional Entries that compiled stock footage from Hanna Barbera cartoons, mostly the Cinema Scope Tom And Jerry Entries. The music was by Dean Elliott. Dean Elliott also made music for eight other Tom & Jerry. Carlos Brandt made music of four Tom & Jerry. Eugene Poddany did the rest.

Chuck also made The Dot And The Line with music by Eugene Poddany and The Bear That Wasn't with music by Dean Elliott.

Doctor Seuss had previously made his stories by working at Paramount: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, and The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Horton Hatches the Egg (1942 film) was made by Warner Brothers with Bob Clampett ( May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984 ).

Chuck Jones adapted Doctor Seuss for television. All of his known work has music by Albert Hague and Eugene Poddany. The custom designs of the characters did not go well together. Chuck Jones preferred glossy theatrical quality with extreme facial expressions and shapes of eyes. Doctor Seuss is well known for Horse Shoe shaped eyes. This design was rarely used. Occasionally both designs were combined. Usually it was Chuck Jones solid round eyes with mostly irises ended up being used.

After the success of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Chuck Jones was going to make multiple specials per year. During 1967 Metro Goldwyn Mayer closed down Theatrical Entries. By 1970, they temporarily closed Television Animation as well. Horton Hears a Who! (TV Special), Doctor Whoovey Hears A Who!, The Cat in the Hat (1971 cartoon), and The Cat And The Hat Comes Back, and possibly others were in pre production at the time. Horton Hears a Who! (TV Special) was mostly unaffected. However, the music budget seemed to be negatively impacted. Most of the rest were abandoned except for The Cat in the Hat (1971 cartoon) which was picked up by D.F.E. Films, sacrificing the quality of Pink Panther. D.F.E. Films allocated most of its budget for specials such as The Doctor Seuss specials and Pink Panther Specials (Olympinks), earning money for work Commercials and on the animated credits for The Live Action Pink Panther.

The first Doctor Seuss Special made by D.F.E. Films had David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng credited together as Executive Producer. Chuck Jones was given a credit next to Ted Giesel, which is unusual since most of Chuck Jones work has him credited by himself. D.F.E. Films also hired the Chuck Jones staff. However, the production design mainly reflects that of DePatie - Freleng instead. For example, The shapes of eyes are noticeably different with Chuck Jones and Doctor Seuss characters. Chuck Jones was mostly uninvolved with The Cat in the Hat (1971 cartoon) so the eye shapes are modeled after Doctor Seuss style only. They also drastically toned down the facial expressions. The next three specials removed Friz Freleng from the Executive Producer credits to fill the vacant position from Chuck Jones; This time all were credited separately until Halloween is Grinch Night where Freleng is moved to Executive Producer, credited the same time with DePatie.

D.F.E. / Format made rather empty adaptations of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Many of them used canned music. Almost all of them had the characters acting very different, and did not use any Latin Descriptions nor holding up Signs.

Chuck Jones temporarily made Road Runner cartoons a few times. One of these times was for The Electric Company. None of the characters are harmed in this version.

He had a Network Executive Position as Vice President for The American Broadcasting Company during the 1960s. He attempted to release a Puppet Show using licensed content which complicated matters. There were also problems on set. It lasted 17 episodes before being canceled. Shortly after, American Broadcasting Company erased the Master Copies, which caused Chuck Jones to resign. Chuck Jones's family does not own a significant amount of material in order to reconstruct the episodes. Some of the episodes exist in washed out colour or Black And White, a common practice of American Broadcasting Company to keep inadequate copies of their programmes. Dean Elliott and June Foray also worked on Curiosity Shop. Many people claim to have a copy WorldVision's version Curiosity Shop which is completely unrelated to the puppet show.

Chuck Jones was now completely separate from Metro Goldwyn Mayer and American Broadcasting Company aside from adapting Theatrical Entries to television. He now used the name Chuck Jones Enterprises for even more adaptations of characters. One was being an Executive Producer for A Christmas Carol Being A Ghost Story Of Christmas. It was directed by Richard Williams who made a Raggedy Ann And Andy movie. Chuck Jones by himself made Halloween and Christmas specials of Raggedy Ann And Andy. Other adaptations include George Selden's Cricket and Rudyard Kipling's Stories From The Jungle Books. While Disney focused on the Mowgli's Brothers Book and turn it in to Tale Spin, Chuck Jones adapted three different books. Two are narrated by Roddy MacDowell ( 17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998 ) with June Foray. The other is narrated by a very Ominous Orson Welles ( May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985 ) with a full cast.

Chuck Jones, who had been coordinating Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies and Tom & Jerry for television, compiled numerous "movies". They occasionally made new Entries, usually part of Specials. One of them included Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales with Chuck Jones taking charge of the Freeze Frame segment. It continued to use the DePatie - Freleng production design. However, the story itself and timing was noticeably from Chuck Jones.

Something else interesting about Chuck Jones is that he produced a special about Alvin & The Chipmunks. David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng produced Dennis The Menace around the same time. Neither won these contracts. Dennis The Menace got produced by The Incredible World Of Dic. Alvin And The Chipmunks got produced by Ruby - Spears Enterprises and later Dic also.

Chuck Jones was finished with making new episodes. Dean Elliott moved completely to Ruby - Spears. Chuck Jones became a teacher most of the time. He made a very small amount of productions during this time. One of his final work is a movie Peter And The Wolf. It, not unlike The Phantom Tollbooth, has Live Action segments. Jones made the Wolf character not unlike his interpretation of The Grinch, as well as Wile E. Coyote. Chuck Jones also had to depict how the duck was easily captured. The wolf needed to jump to gobble her up. At the end of the story, she is freed from the wolf and after that is seen flying.

Chuck Jones was an Advisory Board Member of The National Student Film Institute. He also founded several Museums, including The Chuck Jones Center For Creativity, which are run by his family. His daughter built Art Galleries of her own and started her own company Linda Jones Enterprises, which produced one Entry per year in the 1990s.

Later, a "The W.B." network was made, featuring Michigan J. Frog. Cartoon Network and Boomerang made "The Chuck Jones show" about him. They also adapted his Duck Dodgers to a television series.

Death[]

Jones passed away in 2002 at the age of 89

Filmography[]

Numerous Looney Tunes: Animator, Layout Artist, Director
Numerous Merrie Melodies: Animator, Layout Artist, Director
32 Entries Of Tom & Jerry: Producer With Walter Bien and Les Goldman, Director
2 Compilation Entries Of Tom & Jerry: Producer With Tom Ray
Adaptation Of Tom & Jerry for television in the 1960s including new footage
Adaptation Of Looney Tunes for Television
Adaptation Of Merrie Melodies for Television
Compilations Of Looney Tunes
Compilations Of Merrie Melodies
Gateways To The Mind: Animator
The Dot And The Line A Romance In Lower Mathematics: Producer With Walter Bien and Les Goldman, Director
The Bear That Wasn't: Producer With Frank Tashlin and Walter Bien and Les Goldman, Director
Gay Purr - Ee: Screenplay With Dorothy Jones
The Phantom Tollbooth: Screenplay, Co - Director, Producer With Les Goldman
The Pogo Special Birthday Special: Producer
A Christmas Carol Being A Ghost Story Of Christmas: Executive Producer
Curiosity Shop: Executive Producer
The Electric Company: Animator
Man The Polluter: Consultant
Adaptations Of George Selden
Adaptations Of Rudyard Kipling
Adaptations Of Raggedy Ann And Andy
Soup Or Sonic: Story, Producer
Spaced Out Bunny: Producer
Freeze Frame: Director, Produced With David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng
Duck Dodgers: Director, Producer, Special Thanks
Alvin And The Chipmunks:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Animation Consultant
Peter And The Wolf: Animation Consultant
Tiny Toon Adventures: Storyboard Artist, Animation Director
Animaniacs: Storyboard Artist

Recent Theatrical Entries[]

Chariots Of Fur: Story, Director, Co - Producer
Another Froggy Evening: Story, Director, Co - Producer
Superior Duck: Story, Director, Co - Producer
Pullet Surprise: Co - Producer
From Hare To Eterenity: Co - Producer
Feather Of The Bird: Co - Producer
Timber Wolf: Storyboard Artist, Co - Producer