Chuck Jones

Limited edition set of hand-painted cels created from original drawings by Chuck Jones, released in 1986.

Chuck Jones was an American animated film director, most famous for his work for 'Looney Tunes' cartoons at Warner Brothers. Just like his fellow directors at the studio, he made cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. He was the creator of the skeptical Henery Hawk (1942), the amorous French skunk Pepe Le Pew (1945), the aggressive extraterrestrial Marvin the Martian (1948), the superfast bird Road Runner with his unlucky nemesis Wile E. Coyote (1949), and the cackling Witch Hazel (1954). In addition to Warners, Jones directed numerous animated TV specials based on literary classics or children's books. His adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' (1966) is still a holiday classic. Chuck Jones is considered one of the most influential animators of all time, beloved with general audiences for his hilarious character-based films. Many have become classics and rank among the finest animated shorts ever made. His subtle, sophisticated comedy with intellectual references earned him a huge adult fanbase. Above all, Chuck Jones is hailed for his innovative spirit. He often experimented with different graphic styles, backgrounds, camera work and plot lines, making him one of the few animators whose work is subject of serious critical analysis and recognized as artistic cinema. Jones' cartoons won numerous awards and other honors. Lesser known is that he also once drew a short-lived gag-a-day newspaper comic titled 'Crawford' (1977-1978).

'Crawford' (4 April 1978).

Early life and career
Charles Martin Jones was born in 1912 in Spokane, Washington, but within half a year, his family moved to Los Angeles, California. His father was an unsuccessful businessman who often bought dozens of pencils and pieces of papers bearing his company logo. Whenever his enterprise failed, his children were instructed to use it all up. As a result, Jones always had a chance to draw and improve his skills. He was an avid bibliophile, enjoying both fiction and non-fiction. As his favorite authors, Jones singled out Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and especially Mark Twain. He was enthralled by cinema too, admiring classic comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy and The Marx Brothers. His family actually lived close to Chaplin's studio in Hollywood. So every day, on the way to school, the boy had the opportunity to observe the legendary comedian at work. Jones' main graphic influence was Winsor McCay. In adulthood, he was strongly influenced by Walt Disney, Tex Avery and later Ronald Searle.

In 1930, thanks to a former student friend named Fred Kopietz, Jones got a job at the animation studio of Ub Iwerks. He started out as a cel washer, moving up the ladder to become an inker and inbetweener. In 1932, he was fired, then joined Charles Mintz' studio, where he worked on 'Oswald the Lucky Rabbit' cartoons, under direction of Walter Lantz. At the time, animation was still a crude medium and Jones didn't see much future in it. He had far more fun as a street caricaturist, drawing passersby for one dollar a piece. In an unusual twist of events, the same colleague who fired Jones at Iwerks - Dorothy Webster - later became his first wife. In 1933, she helped him get a job at Warner Brothers' brand new animation studio. After her death in 1978, Jones remarried in 1981 with Marian Dern, the writer of Stan Lynde's newspaper comic 'Rick O'Shay' (1958-1981).

From: 'Wackiki Wabbit' (1943).

Warner Brothers
In 1933, Chuck Jones became assistant-animator at Warner Brothers. Within two years, he was promoted to animator and placed in the unit of Tex Avery. Avery breathed new life in the studio, and created their first real stars: the crazy duck Daffy (1937) and the wise-cracking hare Bugs Bunny (1940). Rather than imitate the Disney Studios, Avery used absurd, sarcastic and violent comedy. Gags referenced pop culture, broke the fourth wall and snuck in sly, sexual innuendo. Avery's comedy became Warner Bros' house style, reaching a whole new demographic of (young) adult viewers. Soon Warners became a serious rival to the Disney Studios. Avery's spirit was so infectious that he influenced all his colleagues at Warners: Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Frank Tashlin, Arthur Davis, Norm McCabe, Bob McKimson and Chuck Jones. Jones compared Avery to a "genius on the level of Michelangelo."

Becoming a director
Between 1937 and 1938, Chuck Jones worked in Bob Clampett's unit, where he had his first experience as a director. Clampett and Jones directed four Porky Pig cartoons together: 'Get Rich Quick Porky' (1937), 'Rover's Rival' (1937), 'Porky's Hero Agency' (1937) and 'Porky's Poppa' (1938). In 1938, Frank Tashlin retired as director. Producer Leon Schlesinger originally considered Bob McKimson as Tashlin's successor, but McKimson suggested Jones instead. Coincidentally, nine years later McKimson became a director at Warners after all, at the suggestion of Jones. Chuck Jones remained a director in the studio for almost 25 years. He played a vital role in raising the animators' payrolls by motivating almost everyone to join a union and organize a strike. After tough negotiations, their demands for higher payment were met. Although it rarely showed in his work, Chuck Jones always remained politically and socially conscious. In 1944, he directed a political propaganda cartoon, 'Hell-Bent for Election' (1944), produced by animation studio UPA. The short depicts Republican candidate Thomas A. Dewey as an old, malfunctioning train and sitting president Franklin D. Roosevelt as a supersonic one. That year, Roosevelt was indeed re-elected for a fourth time.

Among the people who once worked in Chuck Jones' unit have been Bob Bransford, Bob Cannon, Ken Champin, Corny Cole, Shamus Culhane, Basil Davidovich, Phil De Lara, Eugene Fleury, Warren Foster, Robert Gribbroek, Dale Hale, Ken Harris, Emery Hawkins, Willie Ito, Abe Levitow, John McGrew, Bill Melendez, Phil Monroe, Maurice Noble, Tom Ray, Lou Scheimer, Irv Spence, Richard Thompson, Charles Thorson, Lloyd Vaughan, George Waiss and Ben Washam.

Early directional years
As Jones was always first to point out, it took a few years before he found his style. Of all the directors at Warners he was influenced by Walt Disney the most. He admired his sense of story structure, character acting and heartwarming sentiment. Yet when Jones became director, most of his colleagues were actually moving away from imitating Disney, and copied Tex Avery instead. As a result, Jones' attempts at making similar touching cartoons looked old-fashioned. Many of his early cartoons suffered from bad pacing and bland, sappy storylines. A prime example was his first attempt at creating an original series, 'Sniffles the Mouse'. The cute little mouse debuted in 'Naughty But Mice' (1939) and was basically a rip-off of a similar character from Disney's cartoon 'The Country Cousin' (1936). However, this wasn't that surprising, considering Sniffles was designed by Charles Thorson, the former Disney animator who had also designed the mouse the 'The Country Cousin'. Sniffles never caught on. In 1943, Jones tried to make him funnier by changing him into an annoying goody two-shoes who never shuts up. This new trait didn't endear him much more and by 1946, Jones had dropped him for good.

Interestingly enough, Sniffles enjoyed a far more enduring career as a comic character. From the 1940s until the early 1960s he was a regular star in the Dell Comics series 'Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics'. Writer Chase Craig and artist Roger Armstrong teamed up the cute critter with a little girl named Mary Jane, who has the ability to shrink. After a while Mary Jane received her own spin-off series, with Sniffles being reduced to sidekick. From the 1950s until 1961, Al Hubbard took over the artwork.

From: 'The Ducksters' (1950).

In 1939, Jones directed the only completely serious Looney Tunes cartoon, 'Old Glory' (1939), in which Porky Pig tries to memorize the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. The short is a straightforward patriotic propaganda film, in which the U.S. War of Independence is depicted. In 1940, Chuck Jones was assigned to another project which felt like a waste of time. 'Mighty Hunters' (1940) was an adaptation of James Swinnerton's comic strip 'Canyon Kiddies', which producer Leon Schlesinger wanted to turn into an animated series. To shoot reference footage, Jones even visited a Native American reservation camp in Arizona, but in the end, the cartoon flopped and no follow-up shorts were made.

Chuck Jones was often his own harshest critic. In many interviews he dismissed every cartoon he made before 1945 (sometimes even 1948) and wished they all "could be destroyed." This is a gross dismissal of his talent. In reality, most of Jones' early cartoons are simply hit-and-miss. Some already show hints of innovation and funniness. His first genuinely amusing original characters were Inki and the Mynah Bird. Inki is a black African boy who tries to catch an imperturbable mynah bird. The duo debuted in 'The Little Lion Hunter' (1939) and made irregular appearances in four more cartoons until 1950. The shorts feature no dialogue and are set to the melody of Felix Mendelssohn's 'Fingal Cave'. Many gags are witty and inventive. In retrospect they can be considered an embryonal version of Jones' later 'Road Runner' cartoons. It is unfortunate that the use of a stereotypical black African boy doesn't sit well with present-day viewers and censors. Though, as Charles Solomon pointed out in his book 'Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation' (1994), Inki's race is never the focus of comedy, in sharp contrast with many other Hollywood cartoons from that era.

Despite his personal objections, Jones already made good use of Warners' stars too. He directed hilarious Daffy Duck shorts, like 'Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur' (1939), 'My Favorite Duck' (1942) and 'To Duck Or Not Duck' (1943). In 'Good Night, Elmer' (1940), Elmer Fudd carries a story entirely on his own. In 'Trap Happy Porky' (1945), Porky Pig faces off against a group of cats. Interestingly enough, Jones had the biggest difficulty with Bugs Bunny. It took a while before he realized the rabbit's comedic potential. Bugs Hardaway and Cal Dalton had introduced the character as a nameless rabbit in 'Porky's Hare Hunt' (1938). The short was basically a remake of Tex Avery's 'Porky's Duck Hunt', only with a rabbit in the role of Daffy Duck. Jones used this same rabbit in another very entertaining cartoon, 'Presto-Chango' (1938). At the time, the studio used a big-headed idiot character named Egghead who was gradually redesigned into the character we nowadays recognize as Elmer Fudd. Jones was the first director to pair Elmer and the still nameless rabbit together in a film, 'Elmer's Candid Camera' (1940). However, the end result lacked both chemistry and comedy. Once again, Tex Avery came to the rescue, and directed the short 'A Wild Hare' (1940), in which Elmer and Bugs finally emerge as the comedy legends we know today.

From: 'Hare Conditioned'.

Finding a style
Chuck Jones often cited his cartoon 'The Draft Horse' (1942) as his creative turning point. In his own words: "I finally discovered how to be funny." After attending a public screening he was thrilled to hear audiences laugh along with the jokes. It was such a satisfying experience that, from that moment on, he focused on pure comedy instead. His Bugs Bunny cartoons improved too, particularly 'Case Of The Missing Hare' (1942), 'Super-Rabbit' (1943), 'Wackiki Rabbit' (1943) and 'Hare-Conditioned' (1945). He invented a new catchphrase for Bugs too. In 'Case Of The Missing Hare' the rabbit is humiliated by his opponent, which prompts him to vow: "Of course, you realize, this means war!". As Jones admitted himself: he stole this line from Groucho Marx in the film 'Duck Soup' (1933).

Henery Hawk, Hubie & Bertie and the Three Bears
After 1942, Jones created more memorable, funny characters too. In 'The Squawkin' Hawk' (1942) the tiny, self-important Henery Hawk made his debut. However, the little hawk only became a recurring character when Bob McKimson used him opposite the rooster Foghorn Leghorn in 'Walky Talky Hawky' (1946). In Dell's Looney Tunes comics, artist Vivie Risto used Henery Hawk too. Yet he paired him with Beaky Buzzard and a minor character named Ollie Owl. In 'The Aristo-Cat' (1943), Jones created two mice, Hubert and Bertie, who constantly outwit a pitiful cat named Claude. Hubert is the intelligent leader, while Bertie is the cheerful, feather-brained sidekick. The duo appeared in six more cartoons, before they were retired in 1952.

Jones developed a family series too, revolving around the Three Bears from the fairy tale 'Goldilocks'. In their debut cartoon, 'Bugs Bunny and The Three Bears' (1944), the bear family faces off against Bugs Bunny. In later cartoons, they carry storylines entirely on their own. Father Henry is a short-sized, easily agitated grouch. His son Junior is ironically enough much taller, but not brighter. Junior is so stupid that Henry constantly gets mad at him. Although he beats him up, Mama Bear remains imperturbable about all the domestic violence. Her calmness amidst the mayhem was inspired by Tex Avery's Droopy character.

World War II propaganda cartoons
In 1941, the United States entered World War II, whereupon many Hollywood cartoon studios started producing propaganda cartoons which ridiculed the Nazis, Fascists and Japanese army. Along with fellow directors Bob Clampett, Osmond Evans, Friz Freleng, Hugh Harman, Zach Schwartz and Frank Tashlin, Jones made several military instruction cartoons for private audiences of Allied Soldiers, namely the 'Private Snafu' cartoons and the 'Mr. Hook' short 'Tokyo Woes' (1945). Since they were exclusively intended for young soldiers, the cartoons were allowed to be more risqué in their language and sexual allusions. Four future celebrities who worked on them were P.D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, Dr. Seuss (writing) and Hank Ketcham (animation). Contrary to his colleagues, Jones didn't direct wartime propaganda cartoons for mainstream audiences. The Daffy Duck short 'Conrad the Sailor' and the one-shot 'The Draft Horse' (1942) do reference the war effort, but are otherwise more timeless stories set in the Navy and at the draft service.

Post-war cartoons
After World War II, in 1946, Bob Clampett and Frank Tashlin retired as directors. Producer Eddie Selzer decided to reduce the director's units to just three. Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng could keep theirs, while Bob McKimson was promoted to his own. This meant that all three leading directors now had to produce more cartoons. Jones took this opportunity to gain more control over the studio's house style. From the late 1930s until halfway the 1940s, most Hollywood cartoons, including the ones by Warners, had been fast-paced slapstick chase stories. Influenced by Tex Avery, they usually had a crazy trickster protagonist fooling dumb opponents. Jones had directed several cartoons in this style, but now wanted to do something different, with a calmer and more subdued approach. Instead of broad, dynamic action scenes, he used more witty verbal comedy with subtle nuances and high brow words and expressions. Gag writer Michael Maltese penned very erudite dialogue for Jones' characters, with some terms derived from dictionaries. Prime examples are "ye ancient medieval English" in 'Rabbit Hood' (1949) and Daffy's misunderstandings of "pronouns" in 'Rabbit Seasoning' (1952).

From: 'Feed The Kitty'.

Jones also evoked more laughter through simple moments, like reaction shots. A character takes on a hilarious facial expression or body posture. The mere lift of an eyebrow or baffled stare is enough to make audiences snicker. A classic example is Daffy's beak being shot off. Together with Bob McKimson, Jones was one of the few directors who designed his own lay-outs. He spent far more time on character poses than his colleagues. By bringing the hectic tempo down and building in calmer scenes, the cartoons became less exhausting to watch than most other early-1940s animated shorts. Viewers appreciated this mellow, more refined style. Another example of Jones' approach are his references to famous novels, plays, paintings and classical musical pieces. The surest sign that Jones had evolved was his better balance between heartwarming imagery and hilarious comedy. A fine example is 'Feed the Kitty' (1952), in which a vicious bulldog befriends a little kitten. The mood is funny, but touching at the same time, without succumbing to schmaltz.

By reducing the constant, Averyesque bombardment of gags, there was more room for character development. Jones reinterpreted several Looney Tunes characters for this purpose. Porky Pig became a witty sidekick. Jones took Rover the Street Dog from Bob Clampett's 'Porky's Pooch' (1941) and changed both his name and personality. Starting with 'Little Orphan Airedale' (1947), he became Charlie Dog, an annoying mutt nobody can get rid of. Jones also increased the audience's sympathy for Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He felt the original characters were too insane. They often bullied people relentlessly for no real reason. Jones therefore mellowed Bugs down to a calm, suave, sophisticated hero who is always in control. From now on, he only attacked others in self-defense. Daffy underwent the most drastic change. The crazy duck became a mean-spirited loser who is greedy, jealous, vain and frustrated. The agitated bird tries to upstage Bugs and be a hero of his own, yet always fails. Jones saw the duo as a metaphor for the human condition: "Bugs is who we want to be, Daffy is who we are." Purists didn't like this more formulaic reinterpretation of the two characters. Even today, some fans prefer the original wackier versions of Bugs and Daffy and dislike that Jones' characterisations have become the standard. But general audiences found it easier to relate to Bugs as somebody who fought back against injustice. Even Daffy remained popular, precisely because of his recognizable human flaws.

From: 'Duck Amuck'.

By modifying everything to be more in tune with his own personality, Jones had a better understanding of his characters. He also felt more confident to use them in unusual combinations and out-of-place environments. In some cartoons, they find themselves in a historical era, a fantasy setting, even in outer space. In 'Duck Amuck' (1953), Daffy Duck is tormented by his animator, while in 'Rabbit Rampage' (1955) the same happens to Bugs. Both cartoons are direct homages to Jones' mentor Tex Avery and were also inspired by the cult film 'Hellzapoppin'' (1941), particularly the scene when the film frame jams and Daffy in the lower half argues with himself in the upper half. In both cartoons the characters are erased, redrawn, lose their voice, find themselves without a background... but always remain themselves. It not only raises interesting philosophical questions about the nature between creator and character, but is also a testament on how strong their personalities had developed. Chuck Jones recalled that one of his writers once explained to an elderly woman that he "wrote scripts for Bugs Bunny". She replied: "Why? He's funny enough as he is." This anecdote proved to Jones that he was on the right path. Their characters seemed so real, that viewers forgot that they weren't.

'For Scent-imental Reasons', 1949.

Post-war characters: Pepé Le Pew
Jones also created several new stars to Looney Tunes' already grandiose cast. In 'Odor-able Kitty' (1945), the amorous French skunk Pepé Le Pew made his debut. The animal considers himself a great lover and often mistakes a black female cat, Penelope Pussycat, for a female skunk. Nauseated by his smell, the feline constantly tries to run away from him. Pepé's personality was based on Looney Tunes writer Tedd Pierce, who also fancied himself a Casanova. The stereotypical French accent was based on actors Jean Gabin (especially his role in the 1937 film 'Pépé le Moko'), Charles Boyer (particularly his performance in the 1938 film 'Algiers') and Maurice Chevalier. Although once a recognizable Looney Tunes star, Pepé was never quite that popular. Even Dell and Gold Key Comics didn't feature him as the star of his own comic series, but just gave him minor side roles or cameos. In 1975, when writer Mark Evanier wanted to include Pepé in an upcoming Gold Key issue, he was stunned that there was no official model sheet of the skunk available. His artist Tom McKimson had to draw Pepe from memory. In later, more politically correct times, the horny skunk became more controversial. His behavior is uncomfortably reminiscent of a stalker and sexual harasser. In 2021, Warner Bros. announced that they would no longer use the character in new 'Looney Tunes' projects.

Marvin the Martian
While Pepé Le Pew is an example of a character less popular than in his heydays, the opposite is true for Marvin the Martian. In Chuck Jones' 'Haredevil Hare' (1948), Bugs Bunny lands on the Moon and encounters a small extraterrestrial from the planet Mars. He wears a Roman helmet in reference to the war god Mars. Although he talks in a polite, geeky voice, Marvin is nevertheless very aggressive. He constantly wants to shoot or blow up anything that bothers him. The alien returned as an adversary in four more cartoons. His confrontation with Daffy Duck in 'Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century' (1953) is perhaps his most famous appearance. The cartoon's title is a pun on Philip Francis Nowlan and Dick Calkins' comic series 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D'. During his original cinematic run, Marvin the Martian made little impression on viewers. He didn't even have an official name. Only decades later he developed a cult following and was used more prominently in merchandising.

Marvin the Martian in 'Haredevil Hare', 1949. 

Wile E. Coyote & the Road Runner
Chuck Jones' most famous characters are Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. He based the coyote on a vivid description of a coyote in Mark Twain's travel journal 'Roughing It'. His physical look was modeled after animator Ken Harris, but the mammal's clumsiness was based on Jones' own inability to handle tools. It may surprise people that a road runner is as just a real-life desert animal as a coyote. His catchphrase "Beep! Beep!", however, was a nod to animator Paul Julian who often said this whenever he was in a hurry. Chuck Jones intended the Coyote and the Road Runner as one-shot characters. Back in the 1940s, almost all Hollywood cartoons involved fast-paced chase scenes. Jones spoofed this in the cartoon 'Fair and Worm-er' (1946), where no less than seven characters all run after one another. The first 'Road Runner' cartoon, 'Fast and Furry-ous' (1949), was also intended as an one-shot parody of chase cartoons. In the short, a hungry coyote tries to catch a superfast Road Runner. Nothing else is going on. Much to his surprise, audiences didn't grasp the satire and embraced his duo. Thus Jones embraced his hit characters and developed them into a long-running (pun not intended) series.

All episodes of 'Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner' are set in the Grand Canyons of the U.S. South West. Each cartoon opens with the duo being freeze-framed for a few seconds, while their species' name appears in pig Latin. The coyote tries to catch his prey in various unsuccessful ways. He relies on an inexhaustible arsenal of weapons, traps and devices, which constantly backfire. He always plummets down from a cliff in bird's-eye view, until disappearing in the depths and landing with a faint thud. In another running gag, all his products are manufactured by "Acme". While Jones is often credited with introducing the Acme company in popular culture, the first Warners animator to use this joke was actually Bob Clampett in 'The Sour Puss' (1940). Though, even before Clampett there had already been many real-life companies who use "Acme" as their brand name, because it implied "being the best" and started with the first letter of the alphabet. This made it handy to look up in phone books and product catalogues. Hollywood comedians like Buster Keaton ('Neighbors', 1920) and Harold Lloyd ('Grandma's Boy', 1922) also used Acme products as a gag. Still, the 'Road Runner' cartoons popularized the Acme running gag in other Looney Tunes shorts, soon spreading to other animated cartoons until it became an overused joke in English-language comedy in general. As a tribute, the man who produces cartoon props in Robert Zemeckis and Richard Williams' 1988 feature film 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' is named Raoul Acme.

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner

Although the 'Road Runner' relied on a simple, somewhat formulaic premise, Jones and his crew kept the concept entertaining through hilarious timing, wacky inventions and inventive camera viewpoints. While the bird is the hero, the actual star is Wile E. Coyote. Much like Daffy Duck, the audience sympathizes with him because he's such a proverbial unlucky guy. His attempts to catch the Road Runner reach levels of obsession. His eternal struggle has sometimes been interpreted as a metaphor for mankind's imperfections. People often try to achieve something and keep doing it, regardless of what goes wrong or whether it makes them happier. In that regard, nobody is more pathetic in his futile pursuits than the poor coyote. The 'Road Runner' series is additionally notable for its reliance on pantomime comedy. Much like Hanna-Barbera's 'Tom & Jerry' and Friz Freleng's 'Pink Panther', it helped the series cross all language barriers and become a global hit. After Jones left Warner Bros. in 1962, new 'Road Runner' episodes were produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises under direction of Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson and Rudy Larriva.

Between August 1958 and 1962, Dell Comics released 'Road Runner' comic books. Contrary to the cartoons, the series featured actual dialogue. The characters have different names too. Wile E. is named Kelsey, while the Road Runner is simply named Beep Beep. The bird has a wife, Matilda, and three sons. He also speaks in rhyming couplets. Among the artists who drew 'Road Runner' comics were Pete Alvarado, Phil De Lara and Jack Manning. Between 1966 and 1984, new comic books were produced by Gold Key.

Witch Hazel
In 1952, Walt Disney director Jack Hannah made a Halloween-themed cartoon titled 'Trick or Treat', in which Huey, Louie and Dewey Duck are assisted by a witch named Witch Hazel. Carl Barks adapted this cartoon into a comic story, whereupon the witch became a regular character in Disney comics. In Jones' Bugs Bunny short 'Bewitched Bunny' (1954) the rabbit also meets a witch named Hazel, but there all similarities end. Jones' Witch Hazel has green skin, enjoys cackling at her own jokes and often zips off screen, leaving hairpins spinning behind in mid-air. Her original voice actress was Bea Benaderet, but afterwards June Foray took over, partially imitating socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor. The giggling witch was used in two more Bugs Bunny cartoons and one Daffy Duck short. Only one of them was directed by Jones again, 'Broom-Stick Bunny' (1956).

From: 'What's Opera, Doc?', 1957.

Experimental style
Together with Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin and Tex Avery, Jones is often cited as the most experimental director at Warners. As early as the 1940s, Jones used unusual camera angles and stylized backgrounds. In 'The Aristo-Cat' (1942), a cat panicks and starts yelling for Meadows the butler. The scene is intercut with dramatic close-ups in forced perspective. The backgrounds change color in each shot to express his emotions. In 'Wackiki Rabbit' (1943) both the ocean waves and the jungle are stylized to the point of being almost abstract. By far Jones' boldest experiment was 'The Dover Boys' (1942). The cartoon is notable for its angular designs, stylized backgrounds and a new animation technique called "smear animation". Rather than animate all movement between the poses, characters move through one or two smeared drawings, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. 'The Dover Boys' was quite ahead of its time. It used techniques that would only be popularized a decade later by another animation studio, UPA. It was so innovative that Jones was almost fired over it. He only kept his job if he promised producer Leon Schlesinger to never make such a cartoon again.

Nevertheless, Jones continued to experiment with the format, albeit in different ways. He knew that audiences would accept his innovations if he used characters and formulas they recognized. One of his best known background designers, Maurice Noble, made beautiful scenery with often odd colors, shapes and colors. It gave Jones' cartoons a specific look, though Noble always made sure that the backgrounds didn't distract from the story. To fool their conservative producers, Jones and his crew often pretended to work on 'Road Runner' cartoons. Since these shorts were relatively easy to make, they could be finished within a few weeks. This left them with more time to work on the more complicated, daring and experimental cartoons Jones actually wanted to make.

From: 'High Note', 1960.

During the 1950s, Hollywood felt strong competition from a new mass medium: television. As a result, people stayed home more often, prompting Hollywood animation studios to gradually cut their budgets. Many theatrical cartoons lost most of their power because there was no money for full-blown, detailed animation. Jones, however, used these limitations to his advantage. Since he already enjoyed stylizing characters and backgrounds, he could push this approach even further. 'What's Opera, Doc?' (1957) is often called Jones' masterpiece. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd parody Richard Wagner's operas in a highly melodramatic narrative. The cartoon had more quick camera cuts, odd colors and weird designs than any previous Warners short. In 'High Note' (1960), Jones anthropomorphized music notes as tiny little men. The cartoon is also notable for its lack of dialogue. Jones had already proven to be adept in pantomime comedy with his 'Inki and the Mynah Bird' and 'Wile E. Coyote & the Road Runner' series. His most beloved pantomime short is 'One Froggy Evening' (1955), in which a man discovers a singing and dancing frog. He instantly wants to exploit the amphibian, but it turns out he only performs for him and nobody else. Apart from the frog's singing voice and the music, 'One Froggy Evening' makes no use of dialogue. The cartoon became a classic. The frog, retroactively named Michigan J. Frog, was the mascot of the Warner Brothers Network between 1995 and 2005.

Jones' innovative spirit set him apart from most other post-war U.S. animation directors, even at Warners. Every Looney Tunes cartoon by him tried to do something different, even in the opening credits. His intellectual approach also caught the attention of adults. Apart from Walt Disney, Jones was one of the earliest animated film directors to be taken seriously as an artist. Many film students, critics and directors admire his craft, while still enjoying the comedy. Several of his cartoons are nowadays considered milestones in the history of animation, particularly 'The Dover Boys' (1942), 'Long-Haired Hare' (1949), 'Rabbit Hood' (1949), 'Rabbit of Seville' (1950), 'Rabbit Fire' (1951), 'Rabbit Seasoning' (1952), 'Duck! Rabbit! Duck' (1953), 'Feed the Kitty' (1952), 'Duck Amuck' (1953), 'Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century' (1953), 'One Froggy Evening' (1955) and 'What's Opera, Doc?' (1957).

From: 'One Froggy Evening', 1955. 

Leaving Warners, joining MGM
Chuck Jones remained a leading director at Warners for decades. Only in 1954 the studio closed down for a few months because of the popularity of 3-D films. Under the mindboggling assumption that nobody would want to see "normal" films anymore, everyone was fired. Jones found a job at the Disney Studios, but was frustrated that every decision had to wait a few months until it was greenlighted by Walt Disney himself. He once told Uncle Walt personally that the only job he really wanted was Disney's own. Luckily, the 3-D craze wore down again and Warners reopened its doors. Jones was rehired and stayed with the studio for another eight years. Yet in 1962 he and his wife Dorothy secretly worked for a rival cartoon studio, UPA, co-writing the screenplay of the animated feature film 'Gay Purr-ee' (1962). When Warners found out they instantly fired Jones for contract breech on 23 July 1962. Not that it mattered much anyway, because a year later their animation department was closed down.

Jones started an independent animation studio in co-production with Les Goldman: Sib Tower 12 Productions. He managed to employ several of his former colleagues. In 1963, Sib Tower signed a contract with MGM, but within a year MGM absorbed them. The company changed its name to MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Jones' first major project was a reboot of Hanna-Barbera's popular cat-and-mouse duo 'Tom & Jerry'. A year earlier, Gene Deitch had tried to do the same, but his version was considered too surreal. Between 1963 and 1967, Jones produced 34 new 'Tom & Jerry' cartoons, some of which he directed personally. They met with mixed reviews. Jones basically transformed the cat and mouse into a rehash of the Coyote and the Road Runner. He later admitted that he never quite understood their personalities. Two animators who worked for Jones during this period were Don Morgan and Jim Pabian. In 2009, all episodes were compiled on DVD as 'Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection'.

In 1965, Jones adapted Norton Juster's children's book 'The Dot and the Line' into an animated film. The story features a romance story between a dot, a line and a squiggle. Jones' animators managed to make viewers feel warmth for these abstract entities. It became the final MGM cartoon to win an Academy Award for "Best Animated Short". In 1967, Jones also directed 'The Bear That Wasn't' (1967), an animated cartoon based on the children's book by former Warners colleague Frank Tashlin. Unfortunately, Tashlin wasn't involved with the production and therefore felt unsatisfied with the end result. Incidentally, 'The Bear That Wasn't' was also the final theatrical cartoon produced by MGM.

From: 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas', 1966.

Although MGM's production of theatrical cartoons was discontinued in 1967, the studio stayed solvent by producing cartoons directly for television. Jones worked on the TV series 'Off to See the Wizard' (1967-1968), which cashed in on the popularity of 'The Wizard of Oz'. Animated versions of Dorothy and her friends book-ended live-action family films from MGM's library. Far more succesful was his adaptation of Dr. Seuss' children's book 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas!' (1966). As Seuss had worked in Warner Brothers' animation department during the 1940s, he and Jones were old friends and colleagues. The TV special was narrated by horror film icon Boris Karloff, while Albert Hague and Eugene Poddany provided the soundtrack. The soundtrack album won the 1966 Grammy Award for "Best Children's Album", while Karloff won in the "Spoken Word" category. The story about a grinch who learns the true value of Christmas was first broadcast on 18 December 1966. It has been re-aired annually during the holiday season, becoming one of the most often repeated Christmas specials. Jones had nothing to do with the other 'Grinch' animated specials, nor with the 2000 live-action remake.

Chuck Jones did serve as executive producer on two other MGM TV specials. 'The Pogo Special Birthday Special' (1969) celebrated the 20th anniversary of Walt Kelly's comic strip 'Pogo', but met with bad reviews, even from the artist himself. In 1970, another children's book by Dr. Seuss was adapted, namely 'Horton Hears a Who!' (1970). It wasn't the first 'Horton' adaptation, though. In 1942, Bob Clampett had made a Warner Brothers cartoon based on 'Horton Hatches the Egg'. Although Jones' version was well received, MGM was still forced to close down its TV animation studio afterwards. Their final hurrah was an animated feature film, 'The Phantom Tollbooth' (1970), which marked Jones' second adaptation of a book by Norton Juster. The original book was illustrated by Jules Feiffer, but the film was done in Jones' trademark style. Although the picture had been completed in 1968, executive meddling and MGM's internal problems pushed its premiere to 1970. It received mixed reviews and flopped.

Chuck Jones Enterprises
In 1970, Chuck Jones established another independent animation studio, Chuck Jones Enterprises. He provided animated intermezzos for the educational children's show 'Curiosity Shop' (1971-1973) on ABC. In several episodes, characters from popular newspaper comics appeared in animated versions, such as Johnny Hart's 'The Wizard of Id', Hank Ketcham's 'Dennis the Menace', Mell Lazarus' 'Miss Peach', Virgil Partch's 'Big George' and Irving Phillips' 'The Strange World of Mr. Mum'. Hank Ketcham even appeared twice as a special guest to show viewers how he made his comics. Yet most of Jones' projects were animated TV specials of literary classics. He was executive producer of Richard Williams' adaptation of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' (1971). He also produced three specials based on stories by Rudyard Kipling, namely 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' (1975), 'The White Seal' (1975) and 'Mowgli's Brothers' (1976), which were well-received for staying true to the original books. Jones was motivated to make them because he strongly disliked Walt Disney's 'The Jungle Book' (1967), which barely had anything to do with Kipling's novel. In fact, Kipling's daughter Elsie even greenlighted Jones' adaptations out of a similar dissatisfaction with Disney's version and the urge to do the stories justice.

Jones' most succesful TV special from this period was by far 'The Cricket in Times Square' (1973), an adaptation of George Selden's children's book, originally illustrated by Garth Williams. The special received two sequels: the Christmas special 'A Very Merry Cricket' (1973) and the Independence Day-themed 'Yankee Doodle Cricket' (1975). Following the success of Richard Williams' animated feature film 'Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure' (1977), based on Johnny Gruelle's children's book series, Chuck Jones produced two TV specials: 'Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper' (1978) and 'Raggedy Ann and Andy in the Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile' (1979). Chuck Jones Enterprises also produced 'A Chipmunk Christmas' (1981) and an adaptation of 'Peter and the Wolf' (1995). They created opening and closing credits for Joe Dante's 'Gremlins 2: the New Batch' (1990). Jones also had cameos in two other films by Dante, 'Gremlins' (1984) and 'Innerspace' (1987). His company additionally provided animated segments for the comedy films 'Stay Tuned' (1992), 'Mrs. Doubtfire' (1993) and 'Four Rooms' (1995). Among the animators who once worked for Chuck Jones Enterprises were Lawrence Marvit and George Wheeler. 

Collaboration with DePatie-Freleng & Warners
In 1971, Chuck Jones was briefly involved with DePatie-Freleng's TV special of Dr. Seuss' 'The Cat in the Hat', but left halfway production. From 1976 on, DePatie-Freleng and Chuck Jones Enterprises were able to legally use the Looney Tunes characters for various animated TV specials and feature films. Jones' first special was 'Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals' (1976), based on Camille Saint-Saëns popular musical piece. He followed it up with 'A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court' (1978), based on Mark Twain's short story 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court', and the Christmas special 'Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales' (1979). 1980 saw a sequel to Jones' classic 1953 'Duck Dodgers' short, titled 'Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century' (1980), as well as a Thanksgiving-themed 'Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special' (1980) and spring-themed special 'Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over' (1980).

In 1975, Bob Clampett released the anthology film 'Bugs Bunny: Superstar' which featured various Looney Tunes shorts by Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson and Chuck Jones, though the majority were Clampett's. He also made the controversial claim that he was "the creator of Bugs Bunny". A furious Chuck Jones made an anthology feature film of his own, 'The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie' (1979), which didn't mention Clampett at all and only featured cartoons Jones had directed personally. Another anthology film by Jones and Freleng, 'Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales' (1983), combined new footage with shortened versions of classic cartoons by Jones, Freleng and McKimson. The same year another compilation film came out: 'Daffy Duck's Fantasy Island' 1983), partially a parody of the TV show 'Fantasy Island'. Jones was also involved with Robert Zemeckis and Robert Williams' 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' (1988), a live-action film which paid homage to the Golden Age of Animation.

'Crawford'. 

Crawford
In the 1950s, Chuck Jones had the idea to create an animated TV series about a young boy named Crawford. In 1969, he was very close to realizing this effort. He finished an entire storyboard for a pilot episode, but the series never went into production because that same year Warner Brothers closed down its studio. Eventually, in 1977, Jones remodeled 'Crawford' into a newspaper comic. 'Crawford' (also known as 'Crawford & Morgan') stars two young boys: the straight-forward Crawford and Morgan, the comic relief. As a running gag, Morgan always mispronounces Crawford's name. The boys hold funny conversations about life and the adult world, comparable to Charles M. Schulz' 'Peanuts'. Other gags feature clever wordplay and more straightforward child-friendly comedy.

'Crawford' was syndicated by the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate. Despite Jones' fame, the strip failed to catch on. Only a few papers carried it, among them the New York Daily News, the Seattle Times, St. Louis Dispatch, Aiken Standard and the Buffalo Evening News. And even then some only printed the Sunday episodes and not the dailies. After only six months, halfway 1978, 'Crawford' was canceled. For some decades, the series sank into obscurity. In 2011, the comics were compiled by animator Kurtis Findlay and publisher Dean Mullaney into book form as 'Chuck Jones: The Dream That Never Was' (Idea & Design Works, 2011). With help from the Chuck Jones estate and enthusiastic comic collectors, they were able to track down all episodes and restore them digitally. The book also added all sketches and storyboards.

'Crawford' strip from 18 May 1978.

Book illustrations
In 1997, Chuck Jones published 'Daffy Duck for President' (Warner Bros. Worldwide Publishing, 1997), a children's book explaining young readers how the U.S. constitution and federal government works. Jones both wrote and illustrated the story, which was adapted into a 2004 animated short, produced by Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone and Linda M. Steiner.

Recognition
In 1974, Chuck Jones received an Inkpot Award. He won a Lifetime Achievement Award (1988) at the Animafest in Zagreb, Croatia, while the American Academy of Achievement honored him with a Golden Plate Award (1990). In 1993, the Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia, gave him an honorary degree. Four years later, Chuck Jones was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal (1997) for his "outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts", becoming the first and still only animator to receive this prestigious award. On 13 February 1995, Jones was given his own star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and in 1997 an asteroid was named after him. Two years later, he was honored in France as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (1999). His work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in 1985 as well as 1997.

Eight cartoons by Jones were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, namely 'Mouse Wreckers' (1949), 'For Scent-imental Reasons' (1949), 'From A to Z-Z-Z-Z' (1954), 'High Note' (1960), 'Beep Prepared' (1961), 'Nelly's Folly' (1961), 'Now Hear This' (1963) and 'The Dot and the Line' (1965). Only 'For Scent-imental Reasons' (1949), 'High Note' (1960) and 'The Dot and the Line' (1965) won. Yet, in a much greater honor, in 1996 Jones won a Honorary Academy Award. He is one of the few animation directors to receive a honorary Oscar and the only Looney Tunes director. Together with Friz Freleng, he also won an Oscar for "Best Documentary" for the short 'So Much for So Little' (1949), about the importance of good healthcare. Three of Jones' cartoons have been inducted in the U.S. National Film Registry for their "historical, cultural and aesthetical importance", namely 'What's Opera, Doc?' (in 1992), 'Duck Amuck' (in 1999) and 'One Froggy Evening' (in 2003).

From: 'Daffy Duck for President' (1997).

Final years and death
Chuck Jones lived long enough to enjoy the increase of more general interest in classic animation. He was a popular lecturer at universities, colleges, conventions and film festivals. Since the post-war Looney Tunes cartoons were broadcast more frequently on television than the older shorts, his work was very visible to general audiences. Chuck Jones was respected as the "grand old man" of animation and especially among Warners' notable animation crew. Critics and directors hailed him as a cinematic and comedic genius. Jones served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. In 1990, he published his autobiography 'Chuck Amuck', followed by the how-to-draw book 'Chuck Reducks: Drawing from the Fun Side of Life' (Warner Books, 1996). Nine years later, he established the non-profit Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Costa Mesa, California. The organization stimulates art education and other creative skills. Even in old age, Jones remained active in animation. In 2000, he made a series of web animated shorts starring a new character named Thomas Timber Wolf. The Internet cartoons were made in Adobe Flash and hosted on Warner Bros. official website.

Chuck Jones passed away in 2002 at age 89. Numerous celebrities, artists, animators and cartoonists paid tribute to his life and career. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving former Looney Tunes director except for Norm McCabe, who died four years later.

Comparison between Bugs Bunny and a real rabbit, drawn by Chuck Jones, from 'Chuck Amuck' (1989).

Legacy and influence
Chuck Jones' influence on popular culture is immeasurable. Tex Avery was inspired to create dumb dogs who say "Which way did he go, George, which way did he go?", after Jones told him about a similar character in John Steinbeck's novel 'Of Mice and Men'. In the cartoon 'Little 'Tinker' (1948), Avery also used an amorous skunk, slightly comparable to Pepé Le Pew. He later also used a tiny father bear, George, and a huge, dim-witted bear named Junior, clearly influenced by Jones' Three Bears. Junior Bear also inspired Famous Studios to their overgrown baby character Baby Huey. The Russian wolf and hare duo 'Nu, Pogodi' ('Well, Just You Wait!'), by Felix Kandel, Arkady Khait and Alexander Kurlyandsky obviously borrowed from Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. Hanna-Barbera's Scrappy-Doo in the 'Scooby-Doo' series was modeled after Henery Hawk. Much of the current characterizations of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig can be directly attributed to Chuck Jones. Pinky and the Brain in 'Animaniacs' were modeled after Chuck Jones' Hubert and Bertie.

Norman Lear claimed that Chuck Jones' 'The Three Bears' inspired him to the main cast of his groundbreaking sitcom 'All In The Family' (1971-1979). Leon Redbone's debut album 'On The Track' (1975) featured Michigan J. Frog on the cover. Steven Spielberg used a clip from the 'Road Runner' short 'Whoa, Be-Gone' in his road movie 'The Sugarland Express' (1974) and from 'Duck Dodgers in the 24st 1/2th Century' in his sci-fi film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977). George Lucas once claimed that 'Duck Dodgers' inspired him to become a director. He ordered film theaters to screen that particular cartoon before showings of his own space epic 'Star Wars' (1977). Spielberg once revealed that Lucas probably based Darth Vader's helmet on Marvin the Martian. In 1986, Mel Brooks spoofed the 'Alien burster' scene from 'Alien' (1979) in his movie 'Spaceballs' (1987), by having the alien dance away in a parody of Michigan J. Frog from Jones' 'One Froggy Evening'. Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) based the music video of his song 'We're Not Gonna Take It' (1983) on the consequence-less slapstick in the 'Road Runner' cartoons. The Brazilian thrash metal band Chakal recorded a 1990 song titled 'Acme Dead End Road'. Ton Smith's song 'Operation: Desert Storm' (1999) is - despite the title - about Wile E. Coyote. Mark Knopfler also paid homage to the franchise with a song called 'Coyote' (2002). One chase scene in the comedy 'Kung Fu Hustle' (2004) is a homage to the Road Runner.

Several of Chuck Jones' characters had cameos in Robert Zemeckis' and Richard Williams' 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' (1988), namely Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, Marvin the Martian, Sam Sheepdog, Marc Anthony, Michigan J. Frog and Toro the Bull (from 'Bully for Bugs'). Chuck Jones is cited as a strong influence by animators like Ralph Bakshi, Terry Gilliam, Eric Goldberg, Stephen Hillenburg, Matt Groening, Mike Judge, John Kricfalusi, Trey Parker & Matt Stone. He also inspired comic artists like Leo Baxendale, Robert Crumb, F'murr, Kristof Fagard, Kelley Jarvis, Mike Peters, Jim Smith, Turk & Bob De Groot (who named a character 'Chuck Bones' in his comic series 'Doggyguard', as a tribute to Jones), Bill Watterson and Bill Wray. Other celebrity fans have been Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, Robin Williams and Keith Haring. 

Books and documentaries about Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones has been subject of a huge amount of books and documentaries. His autobiography 'Chuck Amuck' (Simon and Shuster, 1990, revised in 1994) is highly recommended. The book talks about his life and career, livened up with original sketches. The 1990 edition has a foreword by Steven Spielberg. The 1994 edition added a foreword by Matt Groening too. Another interesting read is the interview collection 'Chuck Jones: Conversations' (University Press of Mississippi, 2005), edited by Maureen Furniss, with assistance of Stormy Gunter. The most extensive and insightful documentary film about the animation legend is 'Chuck Jones: Extremes & Inbetweens – A Life in Animation' (2000). The docu features interviews with surviving Warner Bros. animators, as well as fans like composer André Previn, critics Roger Ebert & Leonard Maltin, film directors Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, comedians Whoopi Goldberg, Lorne Michaels and Robin Williams and animators John Lasseter and Matt Groening.

Chuck Jones.