January 1950
Warner Club News apparently came out at the end of the previous dated month – thus the first notice that Leon Schlesinger is ill (he passes away on December 25th, 1949); and the staff looking forward to the annual Christmas party. A test reel for Hillbilly Hare – the square dance cartoon – is screened and deemed a “must-see”; and there is detail here about how the studio picked which cartoons would be submitted to the Academy for nominee conderation.
March 1950
More about the process of submitting a potential cartoon for Oscar consideration. Spoiler Alert: Chuck Jones’ For Scent-imental Reasons and So Much For So Little get nominated – and win! More square dancing talk; Bob Wickersham is welcomed to the studio, and Hope Freleng has tonsillitis!
April 1950
More square dancing – and Bugs Bunny is Number #1!
May 1950
MORE square dancing – and Chuck Jones threw a party to celebrate the Oscar wins.
June 1950
Eugene Poddany replaced Carl Stalling for a month or two while Stalling recovered from a brain surgery operation.
August 1950
October 1950
Paul Julian is leaving (for UPA?) and so is Phil Monroe… Irv Weiner(sic)(Wyner) joins the staff and Ben Washam returns…
November 1950
Could this column contain the first mis-spelling of Freleng’s first name — as Fritz? Probably not, but here it is.
December 1950
Phil DeGuard’s daughter Kathy appeared (as a regular) on the Leo Carrillo TV show. Never heard of the TV show. Perhaps a local live talk show in Hollywood?
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Carillo starred in an hour-long show called “Dude Ranch Varieties” on KLAC. I can’t tell how long it aired, but it was kinescoped then edited down to 30 minutes for six other stations.
I wonder how many “gag reels” were actually made. Are there more such reels beyond what were included on a volume of the LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION series? I never knew the dates of the segments included were, but judging from the samplings of Carl Stalling scores, I would assume that these came from the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.
It’s nice to know how the studio narrowed down its Oscar choices. I would hope that they submitted McKimson’s “Hillbilly Hare” along with the others that picked up nominations.
“Grab a fence post, hold it tight,
Now whomp yer partner with all your might!
Hit him in the shins,
Hit him in the head!!!
Hit him again,
The critter ain’t dead!!!!
Whomp him low and whomp him high,
Stick yer finger in his eye!!!
Pretty little rhythm, pretty little sound,
Bang yer heads against the ground!!!!!”