Taint funny McGee
On the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show, this phrase was used by Molly (Marian Jordan) to deflate Fibber McGee (Jim Jordan) after Fibber has told one of his stale jokes. The phrase is used by Daffy Duck on a sign in Daffy Duck and Egghead (Avery, 1938) after Egghead tries to capture Daffy with a wind-up female decoy, and in an slide put in by the Management in Holiday Highlights (Avery,1940) after an April Fools Day gag has been pulled.
A Tale of Two Kitties
Clampett cartoon of 1942 that was the first starring role for Tweety(though he had been seen, in prototype form, in Wacky Blackout (Clampett, 1942), and would not be named until the 1944 Clampett cartoon Birdy and the Beast ). The cartoon was also the first to feature an Abbott and Costello-type team, which would be used again in the future.
Two oddities in the cartoon: 1) during the sequence in which Catstello is bouncing up and down on springs, he comes up at one point in a helmet; Tweety sticks a cigar in his mouth as he goes down, and in the next upward bounce, we see what appears to be the after-effect of an exploding cigar -- however, no matching sound effect is heard; 2) when Tweety calls the Fourth Interceptor Command to report Catstello flying around, note that he is holding the telephone the wrong way, and is speaking into the wrong end (the cord is on the top). Makes one wonder how the Command heard him.
The Talk-Ink Kid
Pilot film made by Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising in the summer of 1929 in order to get backing for a new cartoon studio, which they eventually got from Leon Schlesinger. The cartoon is a very early example of lip-synch animation. Ising is briefly seen in live-action footage.
Tashlin, Frank (Tash or Tish Tash) (1913-1972)
In spite of the fact that Tashlin had a fairly brief, intermittent career at WB, with one brief stint as an animator in the early 30s and two fairly short stints as a director in the late 30s and mid 40s, Tashlin left a notable mark on the studio, with a sense of craftsmanship and dedication that had an influence on other units at WB. Even more remarkably, Tashlin had a varied and wide-ranging career in Hollywood that led him, among other things, to be a top screen writer, a notable director, and a gag writer for Hal Roach.
Tashlin originally had a start at first Terrytoons, in 1930, and then the Van Buren studio. The head of the studio, Amadee Van Buren, apparently inspired Tashlin to write a briefly-lived comic strip called ÒVan BoringÓ (ca 1934-1938). When Tashlin moved to WB around 1933 as an animator, Leon Schlesinger demanded a piece of the action with respect to the strip, and Tashlin refused, leaving the studio. He would return in 1936, however, at the mere age of 23, to direct. Tashlin showed a remarkable mastery of the comic form; for example, in Porkys Romance (1937), Tashlin uses quick cutting to a remarkable extent -- ten cuts in 157 frames (approximately 6.5 seconds), which was highly unusual for animation at that time. Tashlin also skillfully used montages (see Wholly Smoke and Now That Summer Is Gone , both 1938), camera angles, and other cinematic tricks that were equally rare in animation at that time. (Maltin also notes that the kidding-self reference also got its start in Porkys Romance as well, with the introduction of Petunia Pig and the connected build-up.)
Tashlin left WB in 1938 and was replaced by Chuck Jones (much to the surprise of many, including Jones himself). Tashlin worked at Disney for a while as a story editor (Charles Solomon, in a book on abortive Disney projects, discusses some projects Tashlin worked on in 1939). Tashlin would make his next mark in animation during his brief tenure as the head of production at the Screen Gems unit of Columbia, starting in 1941. He aggressively recruited young talent with an artistic bent literally from the picket lines at Disney (which at that time was undergoing a bitter, divisive strike). Tashlin brought new life and energy to the hitherto unheralded Screen Gems cartoons, with a number of visually interesting and funny cartoons. The Fox and Crow cartoon series he developed, aside from being a success, also foreshadowed, in its use of blackout gags, the Coyote and Roadrunner series at WB, an influence Chuck Jones has readily acknowledged.
Columbia, however, proved to be unstable, and Tashlin left in a dispute with Columbia executives in 1942 (his successor, Dave Fleischer, would only last about as long).
Tashlin would return in 1943 to WB (bringing with him Manny Gould and Art Davis, who had been stalwarts at Screen Gems). TashlinÕs second stint at WB produced even better cartoons than his first stint had. His black and white Looney Tunes Scrap Happy Daffy , Porky Pigs Feat and Puss n Booty (all 1943) make imaginative use of lighting, shadow and other tricks, such as the multiple views of Daffy in a shattered mirror or Daffy and Porky watching an officious hotel manager go flying down the stairs, the falling body being represented by moving pupils in their eyes. Plane Daffy (1944) is a classic Daffy cartoon with explosive energy, as he manages to ultimately outwit a seductive Nazi temptress/pigeon, Hata Mari. Tashlin only made two Bugs Bunny cartoons, but each of them, The Unruly Hare and Hare Remover (1945 and 1946) move at a blistering pace. Even two of his last, uncredited cartoons, Nasty Quacks and Behind the Meatball (both 1945 again) are fast-paced romps.
Again seized by wanderlust, Tashlin left WB in 1945 (to be replaced by Bob McKimson) for a career in live action film, thus becoming an oddity in the world of animation; an animator with a successful career in live action film. Tashlin was responsible for some funny Bob Hope films, including Son of Paleface (The cartoon influence did not die - Tashlin described the spectacular slapstick finale he wrote for Kill the Umpire in 1950 to an exasperated Columbia executive, who complained that Tashlin had written a cartoon sequence.) Tashlin would also direct some notable Jerry Lewis films, as well as The Girl Cant Help It (A Jayne Mansfield film; Tashlin was probably one of the few people who could make her funny) and the blisteringly funny Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, for which he also did the screenplay (this last film contains many echoes of his cartoon work, including a number of sight gags and the ad spoofs in the credits sequence).
Tashlin would have one last connection with animation, in the Chuck Jones-directed cartoon The Bear That Wasnt (MGM, 1967), which he wrote.
Tashlin, oddly, may be remembered more for his contributions to mainstream film than for animation; his entry in Katz barely touches on his animation career. Jean Luc Godard may have been a lot closer to the mark when he praised the films for their cartoony qualities. Avery, in an interview with Joe Adamson, noted that many at WB laughed at the habit Tashlin had of making notes during films he saw. Avery then mused, ruefully, that there may have been something to it, since Tashlin went farther in the business than any other director. True, but his roots in cartoons should not be forgotten.
Tasmanian Devil
Animal short on brains but long on hunger who was one of the most colorful foes of Bugs Bunny (and, on occasion, Daffy Duck) in the 1950s. Allegedly, the character came about as a result of a conversation between storyman Sid Marcus and director Bob McKimson. When discussing what animals they haid used, McKimson said that the only thing the studio had not used was a Tasmanian Devil. Marcus did not know what one was, but McKimson did, apparently from doing crossword puzzles.
The character debuted in Devil May Hare(McKimson, 1954), and, perhaps predictably, was banned by the feckless Eddie Selzer (q.v.), the producer of WB cartoons at the time. Remarkably, however, no less a personage than Jack L. Warner, head of all production at Warner Bros., enquired as to why the character was not being used. (Schneider makes an arch comment, in effect, as to a ravenous stupid beast having an appeal to a movie mogul.) With that, the character was brought back for a few more efforts in the late 50s and early 60s. Mel Blanc provided the voice (once transcribed for one short as eccawchkupkekupke), though he was not especially enthused about doing it.
In recent years, the character has gained enormous popularity, and even got his own Saturday morning show on Fox (which, as of this writing, is on The Cartoon Network). Even if the character is for the most part one dimensional, seeing Taz Boy (sometimes called this within the studio, from a fan letter) throw a fit can be enjoyable.
A Mrs. Taz (horrifying thought) can be seen at the end of both Devil May Hare (McKimson, 1954), when she marries the brute, and in Bedevilled Rabbit (McKimson, 1957), when she pounds Taz for making whoopie with a pseduo-shedevil (actually, Bugs in cross-dress disguise, complete with steel trap for teeth).
Filmography (all McKimson):
Taylor, Robert (1911-1969)
Billed at MGM as the Man with the Perfect Profile, Taylor was a major romantic lead there in the 1940s, later developing into a more serious actor later in his career. The Jack Benny caricature in Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940) insists he is wearing the same bathing suit worn by Robert Taylor ; the Mary Livingstone spoof responds that the suit worn by Taylor had a better filling. Taylor is also briefly referred to in Elmer's Pet Rabbit (Jones, 1941): one of the signs advertising Bugs in Gumbiners Pet Store reads A Rabbit is Mans Best Friend, signed Rabbit [sic] Taylor. The princess in A Lad in Baghdad (Howard/Dalton, 1938), disappointed with Egghead, uses the magic lamp to summon Taylor.
Technical Fairy, First Class
Character who shows up in a number of Private Snafu shorts. He is an Army version of a traditional fairy godmother, with a cigar, stubble, boxer shorts, socks, and wings (emblazoned with a T not unlike that of a Technical Sergeant). He has a thick Noo Yawk accent (no doubt courtesy of Mel Blanc), and uses a magic wand to grant wishes of Snafu, usually with results that end in disaster, such as Snafuperman (Freleng, 1944).
Teeny
Elephant that startles the populace in Punch Trunk (Jones, 1953) by virtue of his small size. I have taken the name from the copyright registration for the character, GU 21033, March 5, 1953.
Temple, Shirley
Child star who was one of the major box office draws in the 1930s, and is viewed as having saved 20th Century Fox from financial disaster. Temple is referred to in Porkys Hero Agency (Clampett, 1937; Porky passes a temple labeled Temple, and another, smaller building labeled Shirley.
Test Pilot
1938 film starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy about daredevils who try out new aircraft. Ceiling Hero (Avery, 1940) features a test pilot who is, as his jacket notes, from the motion picture of the same name. (Though the Calling Barranca bit is from Only Angels Have Wings , a 1939 feature starring, among others, Cary Grant.
Things Come to Life
A long-lived genre of cartoons at WB. A precise definition of this genre is a bit elusive, but in general it involves a setting where figures spring to life, whether from magazine covers, advertisements, food labels, or such, and interact with one another, producing the gags. Quite common in the Harman-Ising era, the genre managed to live on, though the mid 1930s and a trio of nifty versions produced by Frank Tashlin, on even into the mid 40s, when Bob Clampett capped the genre with his manic Book Revue , the last word in this type of cartoon.
The author considers these cartoons to be examples of the genre (and acknowledges that certain cartoons may not be on this list that might otherwise qualify):
This is It (Bugs Bunny Show themesong).
Words and Music by Mack David and Jerry Livingston Overture, curtain, lights, this is it, the night of nights. No more rehearsing and nursing a part; we know ev'ry part by heart. Overture, curtain, lights, this is it, you'll hit the heights. And oh, what heights we'll hit. On with the show, this is it. Tonight what heights we'll hit. On with the show, this is it. (C) 1961 Warner Bros. Inc. (Renewed)
Thomas
Name given to Sylvester in Tweetie Pie (Freleng, 1947). Thus, Sylvester shares a common link with Tom of Tom and Jerry, whose first on-screen name was also different (Jasper). (Sylvester was not named [at the suggestion of Tedd Pierce] until a few years after his creation.)
Thomas, Lowell
Prominent news commentator on newsreels (for Fox Movietone) and on radio, and indeed, on some of the very first commercial news programs for television just prior to Pearl Harbor. A deft spoof of him as Dole Promise can be seen in She Was an Acrobats Daughter (Freleng, 1937), along with another Movietone regular, Lew Lehr (q.v.).
Thorson, Charles
Model sheet maker at WB ca. the late 1930s. It was he who drew the model sheet for the Cal Dalton and Ben Hardaway cartoon Hare-um Scare-um (1939) that featured a rabbit ungrammatically labeled as Bug's Bunny (Bugs being the nickname of Hardaway). It is this model sheet that is the basis for the argument, in my view, that Hare-um Scare-um is the first Bugs Bunny cartoon. Chuck Jones, in Funnyworld #13, notes that Thorson had also designed Hiawatha for the Disney studio.
Three Bears
Series directed exclusively by Chuck Jones, starring a short, hot-tempered Papa Bear (Billy Bletcher and Mel Blanc), a slatternly Mama Bear (Bea Benaderet), and a moronic Baby Bear (also referred to as either Junior or Junyer Bear, and voiced by Stan Freberg). Some have compared the series to All in the Family based on some similarities in character and temperament. But the real fun comes in seeing the relationship between the sweet, dumb Junyer and his short-fused father, which reached its peak in the bizarre song-and-dance tribute to Papa in A Bear for Punishment.
The series consistent of five films: Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944), What's Brewin, Bruin? (1948), The Bee-Deviled Bruin and "Bear Feat" (both 1949), and A Bear for Punishment (1951).
Three Stooges
Stars of dozens of live action shorts for Columbia. The classic trio is comprised of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard. Famed for their violent, eye-poking, head-bopping slapstick.
The Stooges are caricatured in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941), poking eyes and bopping heads to a conga beat; as three subjects who get turned into the Three Wise Monkeys of Japan in Porkys Hero Agency (Clampett, 1937), and as the model for the odd three-headed creature whose mother got scared by a pawnbrokers' sign in Porky in Wackyland (Clampett, 1938, the animation being reused in Dough for the Do-Do in 1949). Caricatures also appear as cavemen in Buddys Lost World (King, 1935), as a See No Evil, Speak No Evil, and Hear No Evil trio in The Millers Daughter (Freleng, 1934) and in Wholly Smoke (Tashlin, 1938) as cigars that poke Porky in the eyes.
Through These Portals...
Through These Portals Pass the Most Beautiful Girls in the World . This was a sign long associated with Earl Carroll and his Vanities revues, a rival to ZiegfieldÕs. Signs spoofing this can be seen in Shop Look and Listen (Freleng, 1940) [changed to Talented Shoplifters] and Mouse Menace (Davis, 1946), painted by a mouse above a pseduo-mouse hole to fool the robotic cat.
Tibbett, Lawrence (1896-1960)
Baritone with the Metropolitan Opera who has also made a handful of musicals in the 1930s, being nominated as best actor for his performance in his debut Rogue Song (1930). In the Frank Tashlin things-come-to-life cartoon Youre An Education (1938), which uses travel posters as the focus of gags, Tibbett is used as a stand-in for Tibet.
Time Marches On
Catch-phrase of the popular March of Time radio show and newsreel, which dramatized leading events of the week. Variations on this theme can be seen in Dont Look Now (Avery, 1936, as the cuckoo clock snickers crime marches on), Page Miss Glory (Avery, 1936), and Let It Be Me (Freleng, 1936), as one of the intertitles. Time Munches on is one of the usages in Porkys Romance (Tashlin, 1937).
Tim O'Shenko
In the middle of a rant by the Hitler caricature at the start of "Russian Rhapsody" (Clampett, 1944), Hitler mentions that he will bomben that Irish general, Tim O'Shenko. This reference is actually to Marshal Semyon Timoshenko (1895-1970), a Red Army general during World War II. Timoshenko had some success in defending Moscow from the Wehrmacht in 1941, but failed to stop the German advance into the Crimea in 1942, and eventually faded from prominence.
Tizzie Fish
A play on the character of Tizzie Lish (some sources call the character Lizzie Tish), played by Bill Comstock on Al Pearce and His Gang, a 1930s radio show. Tizzie would open up with a cheery Hello, Folksies!, and proceed to give recipes that were ridiculous, but would always wait to allow the listener to get a pencil, so one could write down the recipe. The character is spoofed delightfully in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashli, 1937).
Tojo, Hideki (1884-1948)
Wartime leader of Japan, General Tojo was equated in the American mind with Hitler and Mussolini, though in reality he had rather less individual power than either of those men. He served as Prime Minister, War Minister and Army Chief of Staff at the same time during much of the war, being forced to resign in 1944 after the fall of Saipan. He was executed for war crimes in 1948.
Tokio Jokio uses an inaccurate caricature of Professor Tojo, who demonstrates a Japanese club sandwich.
Tomato Gag
Gag in which one character, through the use of a tomato, convinces another character that that character has committed murder, the idea being that the character has squeezed so hard all they are left with is what appears to be blood. Usually followed by scenes of terrible remorse. Seen in The Heckling Hare (Avery, 1941) and Peck Up Your Troubles (Freleng, 1945)
Tracy, Spencer (1900-1967)
Craggy faced actor who was an enormous success at MGM for many years, winning Oscars for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938). Tracy also won seven other nominations for films such as Father of the Bride, Judgment at Nuremburg and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, the last film (which was his final on-screen appearance) as a co-star with Katharine Hepburn, a costar in many memorable films and an actress with whom he had a decades-long affair.
Tracy is seen as one of the so-called students of Kay Kyser Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941). A Tracy caricature as Stanley (from his 1939 film Stanley and Livingstone) can be seen in both Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940, in which he addresses Mary Livingston), and in Africa Squeaks (Clampett, 1940, in a running gag where he is looking everywhere for Livingstone). Bugs, after watching the reaction of Elmer Fudd caused by drinking the (supposedly) beast-creating formula in Hare Remover (Tashlin, 1946) is an amused I think Spencer Tracy did it much better, dont you folks? (a probable reference to TracyÕs role in the 1941 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).
Trixie
The secretary for Tex Avery. Reference film was shot, which still exists, of her doing the gag in Cross-country Detours (Avery, 1940) where a deer does a Mae West impersonation, and sashays off the screen. This film was shot around the same time a stripper was brought in for reference film shooting for the part of the lizard that sheds its skin.
Truth or Consequences
Raucous game show that ran for years on both radio and television. The gist of the show was that contestants had to tell the truth in answering a question, or pay a penalty, usually one designed to elicit laughs from the audience. One feature involved guessing the identity of a Miss Shush, a Mr. Hush, and The Walking Man from a series of clues given over a number of weeks.
Each of these elements is parodied quite effectively in The Ducksters (Jones, 1950), in which Daffy plays a sadistic game show host victimizing Porky when he gives supposedly wrong answers. (The title itself is rather clever, a play on the 1947 movie The Hucksters , which took a healthy jab at the radio and advertising industries.)
Trylon and Perisphere
Symbols of the 1939-1940 New York Worlds Fair. They can be seen in Crazy Cruise (Avery/Clampett, 1942) next to the Pyramids and the Sphinx in a panning shot. They are also seen in the closing gag of Land of the Midnight Fun"(Avery, 1939) when a ship, lost in fog, ends up balanced on them.
Tucker, Sophie (d. 1966)
Last of the Red-hot Mamas. Popular singer of the 1930s, caricatured in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937) as Sophie Turkey.
Turner, Lloyd
Story writer, principally for Arthur Davis, at WB in the late 1940's, teaming up with Bill Scott. Turner would later write some of the scripts for the Bullwinkle show co-written and co-produced by Scott, as well as a number of shows for Norman Lear, including The Jeffersons .
Credits (all Davis, and, except where noted, with Scott):
Tweety or Tweetie Pie
Little yellow canary bird that is the eternal target of Sylvester the Cat. Tweety usually benefits from either the intercession of outsiders, such as Granny or one of the generic bulldogs that infest WB cartoons, or just plain cartoon laws of gravity and luck. On occasion, and this was particularly true in his first few cartoons, Tweety would take the offensive in protecting himself.
Tweety was the creation of Bob Clampett, who had a fascination with baby birds he fondly remembered from nature films, as well as a baby picture of himself he remembered rather less fondly. While WB had had similar birds before (the Avery/Clampett 1941 cartoon The Cagey Canary), Clampett gave the bird (originally called Orson, judging from an early model sheet) a lisping baby voice, a head proportioned like a baby, and a temperment borrowed perhaps from the Red Skelton character of Junior, the Mean Widdle Kid. In his debut in A Tale of Two Kitties (Clampett, 1942) and in the followups Birdy and the Beast and A Gruesome Twosome ( both Clampett, 1944 and 1945), Tweety (first named in the credits for Birdy and the Beast ) shows that he is no helpless little orphan, as he uses gasoline, hand grenades, dynamite and clubs to protect himself.
Originally pink, Tweety was changed to yellow, after censors complained (no doubt tipped off by the Durante-like cat in A Gruesome Twosome calling Tweety the naked genius
Clampett did some of the early preliminary work on Tweetie Pie before turning the project over to Friz Freleng, who steered it to an Oscar-winning cartoon. (Odd footnote: no one appears to know the complete credits for the cartoon; they are not listed in the records of the Library of Congress, nor in Beck and Friedwald, and it does not appear that any version exists other than the Blue Ribbon version which eliminates the credits; it is hoped that this will be remedied someday.) The cartoon has caused some confusion in the name of the character. Sometimes the character is referred to as Tweety (actually, most of the time), but other times the character is referred to as Tweetie Pie, muddying the situation (see Tree Cornered Tweety (Freleng, 1956), in which Tweety appears in an Automat window labeled Tweety Pie, right next to the Lemon Pie).
Tweety makes a cameo in No Barking (Jones, 1954), saying his catch-phrase I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat . (Putty Tat has also been spelled Puddy Tat, which is now the officially endorsed spelling.) Mel Blanc recorded a hit song I Taut I Taw a Puddy-Tat (words and music by Alan Livingston, Billy May and Warren Foster) in 1950.
Twerp, Joe
Comedian specializing in spoonerizing gags, and identified by Keith Scott in Animato! No. 37 as being one of the voices in I Only Have Eyes for You (Avery, 1937), presumably as the iceman bird.
Two Crows
Mexican crows used in a small handful of Freleng shorts in the late 50s and early 60s Not much to say about these two characters, aside from the fact that they are the usual Mexican sterotypes (guitar playing, sleepy layabouts who talk with heavily accented English.
Filmography: