A new one already?! Yes, a mere three months after the second volume, we have Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Vol. 3, and it’s another winner for the Warner Archive Collection.
So not to repeat myself, readers can look at my reviews of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 for more details about this series, and why it’s important. To sum it up, it’s more of the same: twenty-five new to Blu-Ray cartoons, with two newly remastered (both Art Davis Daffy classics Mexican Joyride and Riff Raffy Daffy) mixed with pre-existing Max/MeTV masters (Adobe Suite/“Photoshop” titles and all).
On the one hand, the haste to get these out the door results in some rather blatant errors making it to press (the opening WB shield on There Auto Be a Law artificially “circles” in rather than zooms; Egghead Rides Again has some opening animation artificially re-looped) when a little more time could have fixed them.
On the plus side, with three discs now under WAC’s belt, collectors have been able to add more than a Golden Collection’s worth of Warner cartoons with a marginal number of defects to their high-definition libraries in less than a year’s time. Everything, generally, looks perfectly fine and many are quite revelatory in detail. After years of inactivity, that’s certainly worth celebrating.
Fellow nitpickers will appreciate, however, that they did fix a few sloppy things in the titles of the Max masters (like a bad paste-job in Cinderella Meets Fella and an artificial fade out in Punch Trunk) and seem to have actually gone back to the original scans to use the opening titles as filmed on many cartoons. A pretty quick, inexpensive fix, and I urge Warner Archive to do this for every cartoon.
Vol. 3 is an improvement over Vol. 2 with a better classic to dud ratio that gives a great cross-selection of the Warner filmography, ranging from the very first cartoon they did in color to some of the very last they ever made. The jury’s still out if we’ll see the black-and-white cartoons from the first half of the ‘30s or the “post-64” second half of the ‘60s (though I’m sure very few are lamenting the lack of latter). This volume also dips its toe into real “collector territory”, highlighting a few notorious titles with racial caricatures I was actually surprised to see turn up. Let’s hope this bodes well for more complete future releases.
The playlist…
A Feud There Was (1938, Tex Avery)
Self-aware, fourth-wall breaking hillbilly fun, with a bulbous-nosed, invasive peacemaker identified onscreen as “Elmer Fudd”. I’ve had a longstanding “feud” myself with a few fellow cartoon historian pals about Egghead and Elmer coexisting as separate characters because merchandising and publicity identified them as such. Egghead = Moe Howard haircut, Elmer = bald. Their reasoning is the likes of Tex, Bob Clampett, and Chuck Jones all misremembered and conflated the two characters as one. As this drawing done by animator Virgil Ross at the time shows, however, the designs and names were always interchangeable. The real answer: studio flacks were just trying to make sense out of something the creators didn’t care about.
A Hop, Skip and a Chump (1942, Friz Freleng)
Grasshopper Hopalong Casserole tangles with a pair of crows that “resemble” Laurel and Hardy. Extremely underrated, as “The Boys” hadn’t been caricatured so perfectly since Art Babbitt’s animation of them in Mickey’s Polo Team (Mel Blanc’s voice, though not all there, adds to it, too). Perhaps L&H’s Fox movies at the time would have benefited from Freleng and Mike Maltese’s involvement. And a vast improvement over the earlier prints and transfers, which always looked just brown. (The grasshopper apparently survived as he was seen again as Bugs Bunny’s heckler rival in the first Bugs One Shot comic book that year.)
China Jones (1959, Robert McKimson)
One of the many, many TV parodies from McKimson, this time of China Smith, a show that lasted one year in the 1952 broadcast season, starring Daffy as the lead and Porky Pig as a derogatory “Charlie Chung” caricature. (Bob Jaques and I surmised writer Ted Pierce likely rolled out of bed hungover and pitched whatever he saw on TV the night before to McKimson.) Long suppressed for its broad Asian depictions and an infamous “prisoner in a Chinese laundry” ending.
Cinderella Meets Fella (1938, Avery)
Avery’s second fairytale parody, with Egghead/Elmer as the goony Prince Charming. The extent of the fourth-wall breaking must’ve been something to see at the time of its release.
Dumb Patrol (1964, Gerry Chiniquy)
Freleng unit veteran Gerry Chiniquy directs a short with Friz’s unit after he left the studio, and it’s too bad it fell so flat. Fearless Leader Jerry Beck considers this WWI battle between Bugs and Sam (and a two scene, silent appearance by Porky Pig) one of the very worst Warner cartoons, but I could easily see this done a decade earlier in the Bunker Hill Bunny vein and be a classic. Instead, it plays like a handful of other Freleng unit shorts done at the end of the original run that are barely a step up from limited animation and feel like proof-of-concept pilots for DePatie-Freleng cartoons that are actually worse than anything that studio would do that decade.
Egghead Rides Again (1937, Avery)
The debut of the little twerp, who literally mails himself to the dude ranch where he hopes to get a job. Irv Spence animation galore, and one of the most impressive looking restoration jobs.
Elmer’s Pet Rabbit (1941, Chuck Jones)
Jones’ first cartoon with the newly redesigned Bugs Bunny, and the first time he’s identified by name onscreen. All of the odd “creative” choices—it’s one of two cartoons where he wears yellow gloves, which they quickly realized was a design faux pas (but wasn’t enough to dissuade the makers of the recent Looney Tunes Cartoons reprisal), and also the only time he speaks with a Jimmy Stewart-ish voice—tend to overshadow that the cartoon shows Jones always saw Bugs as a world-weary sophisticate (the endless dialogue calls to mind later Jones gabfests like Knight-Mare Hare).
Hobo Bobo (1947, McKimson)
An almost Disney-like cartoon in execution (you can almost just imagine Sterling Holloway narrating this rather than Bob Bruce) with Bobo the Elephant exploiting alcoholism and paranoia to reach opportunity in America. Long seen in its Blue Ribbon reissue, the original titles have been restored for this release.
Note that this is a titles reconstruction that uses the opening rings and production number from Hollywood Daffy. I had seen the vault print utilized and it was in very rough and incomplete shape, so considering the alternative is NOT seeing the original credits/music at all… this is a non-issue.
Honeymoon Hotel (1934, Earl Duvall)
The first Warner cartoon in color, with insects performing the song heard in Footlight Parade (1933), and it’s just as pre-code bawdy. A glimpse at “what coulda been”, as all of the cartoons Earl Duvall directed are really good. If it weren’t for an alcohol-fueled argument between Duvall and Leon Schlesinger, Warner cartoons might have had a more interesting interim between Harman and Ising’s departure and Avery’s arrival.
I Only Have Eyes For You (1937, Avery)
Early Avery “boy doesn’t get girl” picture that includes a Man of a Thousand Voices and a horny old maid.
Mexican Joyride (1947, Art Davis)
Director Davis hits it out of the park with his first Daffy cartoon, proving he was a natural fit for the character (as he did with his animation for Tashlin and Freleng). The savagery of bullfighting hits its peak when bullfighter Daffy supplies a machine gun meant for the bull’s own suicide. “Caramba!” The one newly and fully restored cartoon on the disc looks stunning.
The Mouse on 57th Street (1961, Jones)
Mike Maltese’s last credit for Warners is a bit of a throwback to the kinds of one-shots he and Jones did in the ‘40s. A mouse with a hangover pilfers a diamond to keep his head cool and is pursued by a “Lennie and George” team of cops. (If the cartoon wasn’t actually made years before Car 54, Where Are You?, you’d swear it was a sendup.)
Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name (1935, Freleng)
Early color Merry Melody with topless mermaids (they got away with this by not depicting nipples). The Internet likes to say it’s black-and-white Looney Tunes “stars” Buddy and Cookie’s only color appearance, but more than likely they just got economical with character designs.
Of Rice and Hen (1953, McKimson)
McKimson revisits the courtship of Foghorn Leghorn and Miss Prissy, this time with writer Warren Foster, a calypso beat, and a bit of depth so often lacking in McKimson’s cartoons. Arguably the best of the ’50s Foggy cartoons. “There musta been some way I coulda lost.”
Pre-Hysterical Hare (1958, McKimson)
Like Dumb Patrol, it’s easy to imagine this stone age depiction of Bugs and Elmer as a classic made earlier in the decade. Instead, it’s about as lifeless as a Warner cartoon can get, aided by the John Seely stock music and Dave Barry voicing Elmer (Arthur Q. Bryan was not dead, he just wasn’t available). Inarguably the worst Bugs cartoon of the ‘50s.
Punch Trunk (1953, Jones)
Oddball Jones-Maltese short about a miniature elephant driving the city out of its wits. Apes UPA with the human cast, psychodrama theme, and modern graphics.
Quentin Quail (1946, Jones)
Baby Snooks send-up with Ted Pierce voicing the beleaguered quail father in pursuit of a worm for his daughter’s breakfast.
Riff Raffy Daffy (1948, Davis)
Vagrant Daffy versus policeman Porky in a department store that has a detour into generic blackout gags between a very strong beginning and end that are as good as anything ever done with the characters.
This cartoon, released in Cinecolor, has looked particularly horrible in every version I’ve ever seen (even the IB Technicolor rental prints look bad) and has been in long need of a reprieve. We got our answer why it’s always looked so bad during the production of this release: the original separation exposure negatives (Cinecolor only made the release prints and Warners was still timing these for Technicolor, as illustrated by the restorations of other Cinecolor releases) are actually missing (but still being searched for). There’s evidence that the materials went missing as far back as the mid-1960s. Extra care was taken to make a new version from the studio vault Super Cinecolor 35mm print look nicer than I’ve ever seen this cartoon, but it still unavoidably looks softer than the other cartoons sourced from the negs here.
Saddle Silly (1941, Jones)
Early Jones cartoon with a pony express carrier, a Native American named Moe Hican, and a pint-sized hitchhiker that tries to be funny but still hasn’t shed the Disney influence entirely.
Sheep Ahoy (1954, Jones)
Sam Sheepdog versus Ralph Wolf, with the notable Acme Artificial Rock (“Have Fun—Be Popular! BE A ROCK!”) device.
The Sheepish Wolf (1942, Freleng)
Another early, talky Maltese story for Freleng with a sheepdog and wolf, of the non-Sam and Ralph variety, competing for who’s stupider.
There Auto Be a Law (1953, McKimson)
McKimson and Pierce go back to the long abandoned spot-gag cartoon concept in the UPA-influenced era. The hot rod driver is a caricature of animator Ken Harris, who was a bit of an auto buff.
Tugboat Granny (1956, Freleng)
The Tweety formula on autopilot, but it has a cute opening song and some great Art Davis animation of Sylvester battling a crab.
War and Pieces (1964, Jones and Maurice Noble)
The last Jones Road Runner cartoon from the original run, mostly noteworthy for the “rule-breaking” of the Coyote ending up in China and chasing one of its native roadrunners.
Wet Hare (1962, McKimson)
Blacque Jacque Shellacque from Bonanza Bunny (1959) returns in a much funnier cartoon, this time hoarding Bugs’ water supply. Can you tell that a film with Bugs Bunny imitating Al Jolson in 1962 was made by tired men?
That’s all for now, folks… Bring on some more with Vol. 4!
THAD KOMOROWSKI is a writer, journalist, film restorationist and author of the acclaimed (and recently revised) Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. He blogs at 
I am very much looking forward to this volume. You know that I’m especially looking forward to the 1930s entries within this volume, wishing that the “dumb patrol“ was the 1930s version instead of the 1964 version, but hopefully they will rectify this with the next or a future volume in this series.
My ears perked up when I heard the fact that the titles are somewhat restored on “Hobo Bobo“. Until now, this cartoon has always been seen as a blue ribbon print, so anything would be an improvement. It’s always been a favorite of mine. This is the first cartoon featuring this character. And how nice to finally have “punch trunk“ on a collection like this, instead of as a special feature.
As for future volumes: More 1930s, please! We need to further examine the black-and-white cartoons that have not been seen on any video format as of this moment.
Thad Komorowski’s commentary here on “Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Vol. 3” is, to me, surprisingly early, and excellent as always. Mr. Komorowski has hit upon some stuff in these cartoons that I’ve been interested in, off and on, for years. Like the apparently talented, but self-destructive, Earl Duvall; whether the post WWII Warner’s cartoons in Cinecolor were ever re-released in Technicolor; and so forth. Thanks, Thad!
(I think Earl Duvall directed those two early black & white Merrie Melodies that are attributed to music director Bernard Brown, “Pettin’ in the Park” and “Those Were Wonderful Days,” both 1934…)
“Ah hope, ah hope, ah hope, ah hope” there will be at least one more “Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice” DVD, because I really, really, really, _REALLY_ would like to see the following four cartoons on it. I regard these as The Big Four – you folks, no doubt, have your own preferences:
1. “The Goofy Gophers” (Arthur Davis, 1947): The first one in the series – with a guest appearance by the lovely and talented Bugs Bunny. A winner.
2. “A-Lad-In His Lamp” (Robert McKimson, 1948) – Bugs Bunny – I’ve been a regular Johnny one-note on this one. Bugs Bunny with a Genie named Smoky, voiced by Jim Backus, one year before Mr. Magoo debuted (“Ragtime Bear”). (And, of course, years and years and years before Thurston Howell III.) I think it’s _very_ frustrating that this one hasn’t even been released on regular DVD, let alone Blu-Ray.
3. “I Gopher You” (Isadore “Friz” Freleng, 1954) – another one I’ve been harping on in this forum. I think it’s the best Goofy Gophers cartoon of the 1950s – a classic. (For those of you care, Warners released this one on DVD with a movie in the early 2000s – with “His Majesty O’Keefe,” in the Burt Lancaster Collection. It’s a pain to access cartoons on DVDs with movies, I think. Deserves better.)
4. “Hopalong Casualty” (Charles M. Jones, 1960) – Wile E. Coyote vs. the Road Runner. THIS is the one with the earthquake pills! (Yes, I admit… I hadda look that up, many years ago.) One of the Wile E. Coyote – Road Runner classics!
Of course, there are so many others Warners could release in the “Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice” series – like “Flowers for Madame” (1935), their first cartoon in full three-color Technicolor; Fred “Tex” Avery’s “cute little mice” trilogy (“Ain’t We Got Fun” and “A Sunbonnet Blue,” 1937, and “The Mice Will Play,” 1938); Charles M. Jones’s Two Curious Dogs series? Only one of those has ever been released on DVD/Blu-Ray (out of six, total), “Prest-o Change-o” (1939), the one with the first prototype of Bugs Bunny; Jones’s “To Itch His Own” (1958)? And – more Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, for catsake!
The original titles for Hobo Bobo is a welcome surprise. Also, Mexican Joyride looks superb.
Well, once again I cannot wait to get my hands on this collection. My hunch that ‘Riff Raffy Daffy’ would look better than it ever has was right, ‘Hop Skip and a Chump’ looks good too (I knew it couldn’t have been as brown as the copies I used to see on Cartoon Network) and we even get a short that’s been de-Blue Ribbon-ized!
If I may say one thing about the restoration of ‘Hobo Bobo’ though; disguising photoshop titles created for streaming is one thing, but to know they lifted another short’s opening rings wholesale makes me a bit uneasy. It unfortunately reminds me of the credits swap on ‘The Paneless Window Washer’ way back on the first Popeye collection.
I’m trying not to be a stickler or perfectionist and I know the people at WAC, as talented as they are, are not miracle-workers. I just wonder if there wasn’t some sort of middle way. Perhaps a brief disclaimer about the damaged source material followed by still frames of the original rings? I remember something similar with the remastered ‘I Taw a Puddy Tat’ section of the WAC release of ‘Bugs Bunny Superstar.’ If these are indeed the ‘forever’ copies of these shorts now, swapping out rings (and production numbers!) is just going to cause confusion if anyone decides to try doing their own research down the line.
I think it’s emblematic of the lingering issues these shorts have always had when it comes to disc releases. I have no doubt that if WAC had been able to allow more time/money for the preparation, such issues (minor as they are!) would not keep reoccuring.
It is what it is though, and I just want to reiterate that my feelings in no way diiminish my desire to own this collection or for WAC to keep making them.
Thank you once again, Mr. Komorowski, for a terrific write-up!
The title “Quentin Quail” sounds like a reference to then-popular California slang term “San Quentin quail,” meaning “jailbait.”
More annoying comments from me:
I agree with Mr. Komorowski on this very serious Egghead/Elmer Fudd matter. (Very serious!) The original Egghead was in only three cartoons: “Egghead Rides Again” (1937, as above), “Little Red Walking Hood” (also 1937; may have been Warners’ first fairy tale parody cartoon), and “Daffy Duck and Egghead” (released New Year’s Day 1938). The later Elmer Fudd version of Egghead – or the early Egghead version of Elmer Fudd; I never know _what_ to call him – debuted in the travelogue spoof “The Isle of Pingo Pongo” (1938; banned for racial stereotypes).
Jerry Beck has mentioned (in “The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons”?) that a model sheet for Elmer-Egghead identifies him as “Egghead’s brother.” So there – those who think that second guy is still Egghead!
Elmer-Egghead was in nine cartoons, released 1938-9. The “definitive” version of Elmer Fudd debuted in Charles M. Jones’s “Elmer’s Candid Camera” (1940), the fourth and last proto-Bugs Bunny cartoon.
I don’t care what anybody says, I _like_ the 1964 “Dumb Patrol!” (To each his own.)
(I also like “Hare-Breadth Hurry,” 1963 by Jones, the last of the five Wile E. Coyote vs. Bugs Bunny cartoons. So there there.)
“Elmer’s Pet Rabbit” (1941): The only cartoon in which Bugs Bunny doesn’t have his trademark buck teeth. (I wonder why Jones made him look that way? Well, Bugs was sort of in transition at the time…) That’s one I’d been hoping would make the “Collector’s Choice” list.
“Mexican Joyride”: Made when the incompetent, nasty Edward Selzer was in charge of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Remember what he said to Michael Maltese and Charles Jones a few years later about bullfight cartoons not being funny? And here’s a bullfight cartoon more than five years before Jones’s famous “Bully for Bugs!” Bully for Jones and Maltese – and Arthur Davis! (Rubbing Selzer’s nose in it.)
Thanks Thad for this very reliable review, as always! Anyone who complains about the cartoons we’re finally being treated to after all the struggles to get them out on home video should sit down and keep quiet. For years I’ve been harping on how the Cinecolor cartoons needed urgent attention and finally Warner’s is knocking them off one at a time- having such a stellar cartoon as “Riff Raffy Daffy” looking as best as possible with any elements available cannot be downplayed!!
As with Hobo Bobo’s title credits- not a dealbreaker by any means, to be able to see them at all is a privilege!! I’m hoping that if Saddle Silly and China Jones can slip out on collector’s discs, maybe we’ll finally see some of the other long-needed restorations make their way out onto home media like Davis’ “Nothing But The Tooth”, Jones’ “Mighty Hunters” (the oil paintings as backgrounds could then truly be appreciated for their full beauty) and maybe even Freleng’s “Fresh Hare”.
And I second the comment about the pre-30s library, and namely Earl Duvall… he did a couple of funny Buddy cartoons and it would be nice to see those be considered at some point for future Collector’s Choices.
Excellent write-up, thanks again!
For me, Egghead and proto-Elmer are both “Egghead” and I will die on that hill.
“Arthur Q. Bryan was not dead, he just wasn’t available”
So it wasn’t about some music strike?
As his work at Warner’s was as a voice actor, would Arthur Q. Bryan’s availability have been affected by a musician’s strike?
If anything needs research, it’s the “musicians strike.”
I think a curt statement that a strike happened, and nothing else about it, came from Maltin and keeps getting repeated. Yet after thumbing through Variety of that period, I cannot find anything about a musicians strike, though I may have somehow missed it by using poor search terms.
As for the release, I’m pleased to see more Art Davis unit shorts being upgraded. The less said about “Pre-Hysterical Hare,” the better.
The New York Times lists a musicians strike happening in 1958 here: https://www.nytimes.com/1958/06/13/archives/musicians-strike-spreads-on-coast-independents-hit-by-afm-film.html
Was the musician’s strike at all related to the fears at the time that orchestras would potentially be obsolete because of the much cheaper electronic score used in Forbidden Planet? Sort of how people nowadays are concerned that AI is going to replace artists? It would make sense given the timeline, since that film came out in 1956. But maybe the strike was unrelated.
Thanks Thad!
3 of these, in such short order? That must mean they’re selling. Who knew?
I won’t even pretend that I acknowledge the existence of Dumb Patrol
or Pre-Hysterical, but yeah, this is a solid collection.
Thanks especially for the tech description of Cinecolor. Too bad Warner was stuck with it for a time.
Still holding out hope for Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk. I know, I know, source material issues.
“Oh well, anyhow, she can cook…”
Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk is actually on the Bugs’ 80th Anniversary set.
Thanx again Thad, didn’t know that. I usually ignore collection releases with titles I already own. Glad to hear JW made it to restoration.
“Note that this is a titles reconstruction that uses the opening rings and production number from Hollywood Daffy. I had seen the vault print utilized and it was in very rough and incomplete shape, so considering the alternative is NOT seeing the original credits/music at all… this is a non-issue.”
Indeed. A reconstruction of titles based on research and/or actual sources has always been fine with me. After all, WB Archive doesn’t strike me as an entity that would go out of their way to replace already-original title sequences with clear fakes, clumsily place 1940 copyright cards for cartoons released in the 50s and/or the wrong end title cards for the time period (*cough*Disney*cough*).
Anyway, looking forward to having my copy of this volume in a few weeks!
China Jones is a lackluster (not to mention racist) entry, but it does have really nice use of colour and background designs. Might be wrong but wasn’t the credited background artist William Butler black? At least the studio was somewhat progressive for the period.
When I first saw Hop Look and Chump, the quality was so bad I assumed it was in black and white and sepia tone. Seeing it with such bold colours is jarring.
Dumb Patrol being referred to as a DePatie Freleng pilot is kinda apt as the first Roland and Ratfink cartoon has a similar plot and is executed much better.
That’s exciting!
I wonder if they plan to keep the trimonthly pace to release the next volumes. If they do, the HBO Max restorations batch will end next year, so we can proceed to physical releases of the HD Golden Collection transfers (the ones that were physically released in DVD only), and why not, either finally releasing the controversial stuff or, worst case scenario, getting a definitive “Censored Dozens” list of non-released films.
Hard to know for sure how many LT/MM cartoons have been remastered/restored that are not on any Blu-ray disc (Im personally done with regular DVDs). That includes both on Streaming and on previous DVDs. If anyone wants to figure out he would have to look at previous LT Golden Collections and LT Super Stars DVDs and what cartoons have been on various streaming services such as HBOMAX/Max, Itunes, Amazon Prime, MoviesI, Warner Media/Warner Bros. Discovery RIDE, MeTV and MeTv+ and Boomerang, and I’m pretty sure not everything on these streamers were brand new remasters/restorations.
“…All of the odd “creative” choices—it’s one of two cartoons where he wears yellow gloves, which they quickly realized was a design faux pas (but wasn’t enough to dissuade the makers of the recent Looney Tunes Cartoons reprisal)”
He was also depicted with yellow gloves (and the occasional green) in many 40’s and 50’s merch including publications by Western Publishing and Dell.
Yes. And it’s a charming choice for covers and merch. Seeing it in motion… not so much.
Not only is Pre-Hysterical Hare the worst Bugs cartoon of the ’50s, it’s also the worst usage of stock music among the “Seely Six”. Opening chase scene aside, most of it sounds very listless and tired. Appropriate for how tired the short itself is, granted, but a far cry from the wacky feel that the stock music gave to Weasel While You Work, for example.
I am quite excited to own There Auto Be a Law. I don’t care if it’s a spot gag cartoon, it’s one of my favorites.
And more Art Davis is always a good thing.
I do wonder why Hobo Bobo was first restored with it’s Blue-Ribbon titles if a vault print already existed (not to mention the fact that some of the Original Titles that were already restored for HBO MAX do contain recreated elements (Lady in Red for instance)). Or was it due to Covid happening?
Most likely that like Thad said, the vault print was too damaged to initially continue with a restoration, so the team behind the pre-Covid HBO Max shorts program, which I think handled titles such as YANKEE DOODLE BUGS and RABBITSON CRUSOE on the 80th Anniversary set, decided not to get feisty with reconstructing the titles. I think there are many damaged and partial vault elements to maintain proper restorations. For example, THE LADY IN RED’s titles were restored from a picture element that had no audio, so a bridging piece had to be reconstructed.
RIFF RAFFY DAFFY’s situation is a nerve scratcher. Speaking of which, were HOLIDAY FOR DRUMSTICKS and ODOR OF THE DAY supposed to be reissued at some point in time? There are two spots at the end of the reissues for 1957 in production order which indicate two missing titles that were swapped out for CAT’S PAW and HIP-HIP HURRY.
Dear Warner Archive,
This bluray Looney Tunes Collectors Choice vol 4, don’t forget to provide audio in English and Spanish, please.
I love this is bluray.
thanks
Here’s My Wishlist for Volume 4
1. A-Lad-In His Lamp (Bugs Bunny) (Robert McKimson)
2. A Bone For A Bone (Goofy Gophers) (Friz Freleng)
3. Beauty and the Beast (Friz Freleng)
4. Boston Quackie (Daffy, Porky) (Robert McKimson)
5. The Cagey Canary (Tex Avery)
6. Dangerous DanMcFoo (Tex Avery) (Why has this not been released yet?)
7. The Dixie Fryer (Foghorn, Pappy and Elvis) (Robert McKimson) (Finishing Pappy and Elvis on BR)
8. Fast Buck Duck (Daffy) (Robert McKimson)
9. Fastest with the Mostest (Coyote, Roadrunner) (Chuck Jones)
10. Flop Goes the Weasel (Chuck Jones)
11. Holiday for Drumsticks (Daffy Duck, Tom Turk) (Arthur Davis)
12. Hopalong Casualty (Coyote, Roadrunner) (Chuck Jones)
13. I’d Love to Take Orders From You (Tex Avery)
14. I Was A Teenage Thumb (Chuck Jones, Maurice Noble)
15. The Iceman Ducketh (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck) (Phil Monroe, Maurice Noble)
16. Peck Up Your Troubles (Sylvester) (Friz Freleng)
17. Quack Shot (Daffy, Elmer) (Robert McKimson)
18. The Mouse-Merized Cat (Babbit and Catstello) (Robert McKimson) (Finishing Babbit & Catstello)
19. The Rattled Rooster (Arthur Davis)
20. Snowman’s Land (Chuck Jones)
21. Skyscraper Caper (Daffy, Speedy) (Alex Lovy) (OR: Nutty News by Bob Clampett)- The only Clampett non 11 that hasn’t been released on DVD/BR yet
22. Toy Town Hall (Friz Freleng)
23. Tweet and Sour (Sylvester, Tweety) (Friz Freleng)
24. Wacky Wildlife (Tex Avery)
25. Woolen Under Where (Ralph Wolf, Sam Sheepdog) (Phil Monroe, Richard Thompson)
I got so excited about this news, I made a video about it. Search up, “Hobo Bobo original titles” on google and click on the video under the channel ‘Ender’.
Wow, some real duds in this one. Buddy & Cookie, Dumb Patrol, Pre-hysterical Hare, and way more Egghead than I’m comfortable with. I’ll stick with my well loved, oft-watched Looney Tunes Golden Collection sets.
As Thad pointed out above, the mer-people in “Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name” are NOT Buddy and Cookie.
Ok. The point I’m trying to make is, not a great cartoon – like too many on this so-so collection.
He didn’t really say they WEREN’T, he said it’s “more than likely”.
There’s a possibility that it IS Buddy and Cookie.
Was there a strike at Techniclor during the late ’40s or something? Or was Technilcor “jacking up” their prices for the process? Warners had “Cinecolor” prints of their cartoons, and Famous Studios used a process called “Polar Color” right around the same time … I think!
You are correct, sir. There were strikes in Hollywood in 1948 that cause Paramount and Warners to use alternate methods of color printing during that season.
Not considering VHS, by my count:
Only two of the 25 cartoons had been previously released on DVD.
13 were released on Laser Disc.
The other ten shorts have never been released on any disc format!
Yay!
i sure hope people realize that so long as the good ones get released first, there’s gonna be more and more “duds” left the further we get. bring on the duds. i’ve waited years for my complete daffy/speedy set.
A COMPLETE DAFFY AND SPEEDY SET!?!
Yeesh. Well, to each is own I suppose. Not all of the shorts in that series are terrible, there are a couple of good ones (Swing Ding Amigo, A Taste of Catnip, Fiesta Fiasco, Spy Swatter etc.). But a full set? Nah man. At least, not before most of the other Looney Tunes characters complete sets.
I think I was in high school age when I saw a striking LP record album somewhere with a beautiful drawing of Daffy being chased by Porky Pig in policeman’s uniform – and it must have either been original artwork or a newer rendering designed for the album cover. I can’t remember who the rock group was, but it was released by WB. This was in the era when Hippies referred to the cops as “Pigs”! Anybody know what I’m referring to?
Jerry, thanks for clearing up the confusion on “Polar Color” and “Cinecolor.” Right around the same time, there was an awful “Poverty Row” horror film called SCARED TO DEATH (c. 1947) with Bela Lugosi with the weirdest color I’ve ever seen. Even a restored version of it looked absolutely surreal with its use of color!
This is one issue I’m more of a stickler on – from Nic Kramer, above:
“As Thad pointed out above, the mer-people in “Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name” are NOT Buddy and Cookie.”
They look like Buddy and Cookie; therefore, as far as I’m concerned, they are. So there. There. There.
DAFFY AND SPEEDY??!!! Gee whillikers. Well, it really _is_ to each his – or her – own… I really _do_ like the 1964 “Dumb Patrol,” so who’m I to criticize?
“The Goofy Gophers” and “I Gopher You,” too, dognab it. And as many Ralph Wolf – Sam Sheepdog as possible.
This is one of the best eclectic collections I’ve seen that shows not only the evolution–both upward and downward–but the variety of the Warner Bros. cartoons. I still think they should all be available on an a la carte make-your-own-DVD basis. The one interesting thing about “Dumb Patrol” is that it ends with Bugs saying hell (specifically “Hell’s Angels”).
Mexican Joyride, Riff Raffy Daffy and Of Rice and Hen are the highlights on this one. Art Davis cartoons and McKimson’s early Foghorn Leghorn cartoons were treated badly back in the Golden Collection days.
Question, since the titles for Hobo Bobo are partially reconstructed using the titles from Hollywood Daffy, is this gonna be another instance in which the wrong WB shield is used? Just like what happened with A Wild Hare over a decade ago?
Will “The Fella with the Fiddle” get a restoration? There are many shorts from 1936-37 which haven’t seen a restoration yet, though I would not be surprised if the restorations are already finished and just unreleased.
These keep getting better and better. Glad to see more Avery (and Egghead/Proto-Elmer too!) Also good to see that Riff Raffy Daffy was revisited. I am in favor of titles from the Super Stars series that had lackluster transfers getting revised for this series.
Since some have submitted their wishlist for a future volume, I think I’ll do mine.
A-Lad-In His Lamp
Holiday For Drumsticks
Mouse Menace
Tom Turk And Daffy
Ain’t That Ducky
I Taw A Putty Tat
Henhouse Henery
Believe It Or Else
Aloha Hooey
Johnny Smith And Poker-Huntas
Circus Today
Detouring America
Of Fox And Hounds
A Day At The Zoo
Land Of The Midnight Fun
Holiday Highlights
Along Flirtation Walk
At Your Service Madame
The Fella With A Fiddle
Fagin’s Freshman
Dog Tales
A Bone For A Bone
What’s My Lion
Muzzle Tough
Hop Look And Listen
Thanks for your good work, Thad. I look forward to Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice volume 3! Just got volumes 1 and 2, along with Charley Chase Hal Roach Talkies volume 4 – it’s a good day.
Thank you Thad for giving us a sneak peak of the Holiday for Drumsticks restoration on FB…