Thursday, September 6, 2012

Porky Pig Meets Bunny and Claude?


Check out THIS ITEM on an upcoming Porky Pig DVD collection. 
Now look closely at the end of the list of included titles. 


 Not only do we get "Corn on the Cop", the last original appearance of Porky Pig (from 1965), but we also get...

...“Bunny and Claude” and "The Great Carrot Train Robbery”? 

Really?  The 1968  “Bunny and Claude” cartoon and its sequel – that made up a series of only TWO cartoons in Warner's final days as a producer of theatrical shorts?   That “Bunny and Claude”? 

From the illustration, it's not perfectly clear if BOTH “Bunny and Claude” AND "The Great Carrot Train Robbery” are included -- but, if the count of 18 shorts is to be believed, that would make it so!

I’ve gotta commend Warner’s for realizing that they actually did create some cartoons in the ‘60s. 

Sure, they weren’t the best – and often they weren’t even good at all, but fans and collectors want as large a piece of the overall output of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies as they can get – and that includes the mid-late ‘60s stuff!   

 August 2012’s MOUSE CHRONICLES release included “It’s Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House” (1965 – which actually transitions Speedy Gonzalez’s nemesis from Sylvester, who suffers a nervous breakdown, to Daffy Duck), and “Merlin the Magic Mouse” (1967 – the debut of that character, who may have run longer in Gold Key Comics, than in theatrical shorts). 

 

There were also 9 Road Runner cartoons from 1965-1966 on THIS 2011 RELEASE. 

 But, of all things to release as a tack-on to a Porky Pig collection…   Bunny and Claude”? 

I must say I’m thrilled.  I NEVER thought I’d see those cartoons released on DVD – and, in fact, I’ve never seen them period! 

I only knew of the characters of “Bunny and Claude” from THIS Gold Key Comic – where, as the cover indicates, Bugs Bunny spends the story watching the cartoon short of “Bunny and Claude”! 

 
It wasn’t until Leonard Maltin’s wonderful ‘80s book “Of Mice and Magic” did I even know it was a theatrical series.  …Strictly speaking, even two shorts constitute a series, I suppose. 

So, hoo-ray for Warner’s for including these sixties curios, instead of still more double-dipping from the previous Looney Tunes Golden Collections – and for actually listing them on the package… which (AHEM!) they didn’t do for MOUSE CHRONICLES and other sets. 

Whillikers!  I wish *I’D* survived into the sixties! 

Aw, gosh, Sniffles... I wish you JUST SURVIVED, period! 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never saw animated cartoons with Bunny and Claude, but I do remember seeing that Bugs Bunny comic book. After the hit movie, Bonnie and Clyde, and parodies of them, were ubiquitous in late 1960's pop culture. My favorite satire of them was in Mad magazine, because it actually had a point. At the end, Hollywood is planning a movie to glorify another (in)famous couple: "Adolf and Eva."

Joe Torcivia said...

“Adolph and Eva”, eh? Well, I guess the ending was the same! …And, glad we are, of that!

I wonder how many of us have actually seen the two “Bunny and Claude” cartoons. I’d suspect they’d have run on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network back in the days of their respective Looney Tunes packages – I recall Nick, in particular, ran the whole gamut. But, it’ll be “first time” for me on this DVD.

One thing I thought was particularly successful about the BUGS BUNNY comic is that Phil De Lara drew Bugs, Elmer, and their surroundings in his normal comics style – and the “Bunny and Claude Animated Sequences” in a more cartoony style – and deftly differentiated between the two. The “Bunny and Claude” sequence actually looked like a De Patie / Freleng era cartoon – which it WAS.

A later Gold Key Beagle Boys / Super Goof story, that was about counterfeit comic books (…and was written by Mark Evanier), was far less successful because Kay Wright (who could ONLY draw cartoony – and wasn’t all that great at even that) drew both the “real world” and the “comic book world” in exactly the same style. …If only the art wasn’t so bad, I could have at least made some sort of joke about the Duckburgian version of Alex Ross.

Ultimately, the sad thing about the “Bunny and Claude” comic story was that WB animation had fallen to such a level that a “standard-looking” Bugs Bunny DID look like Alex Ross, when compared to those new animation designs.

No matter, I’m looking forward to these curios of Looney Tunes lore!

Comicbookrehab said...

I'm surprised they didn't include "Wearing of the Grin" or the Charlie Dog cartoons or "Bye, bye, Bluebeard" - but I'm also surprised they didn't include the Rapid Rabbit and Quick Brown Fox cartoon while they were at it!

I don't mind Bunny and Claude - this does remind me of those syndicated tv shows that aired on weekday/Sunday mornings, using the "app Productions" titles and the Blue Ribbon label, as if they were dairy products - "Porky Pig and Friends", "Daffy and Friends", "Bugs and Daffy", so we're getting a DVD of that without exactly "that". Then there was "Daffy and Speedy" - I can't wait for THAT collection! :)

Comicbookrehab said...

In fact, I only remember seeing Bunny and Claude when Nickelodeon was airing "Looney Tunes" during the early-mid 90s, along with all the Daffy/Speedy episodes and Cool Cat- it was just nice to SEE that stuff.

Remember "Back to Bedrock"? Cartoon Network lumped together all the late 70's/early 80's Flinstones episodes into this one hodge podge/grab bag, which only aired around 9:30-11.00 am on weekdays during the Fall and Spring, so I never got to see much of it and when I did...well, I was just glad to have seen it. I'm curious to actually see that stuff again on DVD, because memory cheats. :)

Joe Torcivia said...

‘Rehab:

I’ve never seen the “Rapid Rabbit and Quick Brown Fox” cartoon either – and, for that reason, would welcome it on the collection. But, at some point, the “Rabbits” might begin to outnumber the “Pigs”.

I’d add a vote for “Jumpin’ Jupiter”, one of my personal favorite Porkys… but ALL of them have appeared on previous LT Golden Collections and would, therefore, be more needless double-dipping.

Since Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies seems to be a series that would be IMPOSSIBLE to release chronologically and complete to any market save the more rabid collectors like us, any opportunity for something “new” to be released (whether early or late in the run) is welcome, where I am concerned!

For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the lone Daffy / Speedy that was on MOUSE CHRONICLES – and, eventually I’d like to see them all released… just not all in a row on the same set, or anything like that!

Oh, to me, there was only “One” Flintstones… The Original. But, maybe one day Seth MacFarlane will change that!