Chuck Jones (1) (1912–2002)

Very funny, not at all self-promotional (except in the appendix), all from the delightfully skewed viewpoint of the man who made some of the finest cartoon shorts of all time. If you loved the road runner, this is the story of his Dad. The book is chock full of illustrations, and I mean everywhere, and these simply do not translate to the Kindle version--some are rendered almost invisible. I started on the ebook, but switched to a hardcover because of this.

There is no way I could not like this book. Chuck Jones...Bugs Bunny...and (as in the theme song for the first season of Gilligan's Island) the rest. Not only was he brilliantly funny as an animator, some of his life stories he relates here are hilarious. As one of the four fathers of Bugs Bunny - Bob Clampett, Robert McKimson, and Friz Freleng being the other three, I've felt he did the most to develop the character. And he created Pepe le Pew, and Coyote and the Road Runner, and so many show more more. He brought (animated) life to Dr. Seuss's Grinch and Horton, as well as some Kipling and a Cricket who happened to make music in Times Square. But Daffy was his favorite. (I learned on page 182 that Daffy has a middle name...no spoiling here, though!) It would have been clear even if he hadn't said so explicitly.

The book is filled with page after page of sketches in the margins of the text where he shares not only his story, but glimpses behind the scenes of animation. From storyboarding to the writers and designers and background artists, the music and overall production, there are great things to be learned here.

He ended this book with a perfect anecdote:

Perhaps the most accurate remark about me was uttered by Ray Bradbury at his fifty-fifth birthday party. In answer to the usual question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Ray replied: "I want to be fourteen years old like Chuck Jones."

Perhaps this will be my most apt possible epitaph.

I think I'd like to grow up to be fourteen years old like Chuck. He was a rare one. show less

Very funny, not at all self-promotional (except in the appendix), all from the delightfully skewed viewpoint of the man who made some of the finest cartoon shorts of all time. If you loved the road runner, this is the story of his Dad. The book is chock full of illustrations, and I mean everywhere, and these simply do not translate to the Kindle version--some are rendered almost invisible. I started on the ebook, but switched to a hardcover because of this.

These cartoons are part of the cultural heritage of anyone my age, just as the Romans had the Iliad and the Greeks had Homer. In this edition, there is a segment from Whoopie Goldberg, who says they are funny even though they portray some outmoded and negative stereotypes. This is true, but it is also true that white men are represented by Elmer J. Fudd and Yosemite Sam, so I think pretty much everyone other than Bugs Bunny comes off as an object of ridicule..