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Order This!; Don't ask questions.
Topic Started: Aug 20 2009, 05:58 AM (321 Views)
rodney	Aug 21 2009, 12:00 PM Post #16
Charter Member Posts: 1,304 Group: Members Member #3 Joined: September 2, 2005	Well, I'd say that John K himself is the staunchest defender of Clampett. Generally, I think his shorts are sloppily timed and poorly directed, and many, many of those Porky cartoons are really uninspired. But I will concede that there is some brilliance in his career, like Beany, and certain Warners shorts like Baby Bottleneck.
	Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer!


Chief Thunder Cloud	Aug 22 2009, 07:58 AM Post #17
Charter Member Posts: 147 Group: Members Member #9 Joined: September 3, 2005	I ordered Beany & Cecil Volumes 1 & 2 last night. I rec'd an e-mail this morning that the DVDS would be shipped to-day. Regards: Ron McKnight. "Chief Thunder Cloud"



CliffClaven	Aug 23 2009, 09:43 PM Post #18
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 231 Group: Members Member #712 Joined: March 30, 2009	I only remember the cartoon show. For a show that didn't last that long they turned out some pretty impressive merchandising: -- Talking Cecil dolls and puppets, some of which included a disguise kit -- Talking puppets of other characters -- A card game with a spring-powered "Jumping Dishonest John" -- The Beaniecopter, which launched little flying thingies from your head In fact, the opening credits seemed to reference the Beaniecopters, showing kid viewers wearing beanies and launching their little rotors. And Cecil actually did break out a disguise kit now and again for a throwaway gag. Mattel, the show's sponsor, must have expected great things.



CliffClaven	Aug 23 2009, 10:40 PM Post #19
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 231 Group: Members Member #712 Joined: March 30, 2009	As for the "overrated" debate, it's like ranking the big silent comics. Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett were the only directors who really marketed themselves to the public after Warner closed. Casual fans accepted that they were the only two important names, and fell into camps: Jones for witty stuff with stylized visuals; Clamplett for the pure and visceral slapstick and surrealism. Both are overrated in that the work of other great animators got short shrift. Tex Avery finally became something of star, through the attention of serious animation buffs rather than self-promotion. Likewise Friz Freleng, who achieved something Clampett and Jones didn't: He launched the last successful movie cartoon character, Pink Panther, and became a major Saturday morning producer. In essence, Freleng was giving arena concerts for thousands of kids while Jones and Clampett were playing to intellectuals in small hip clubs. Other Warner directors and nearly all directors outside of Warners are known mainly to serious students, even though a lot of them turned out consistently good and sometimes great work. Producers Walt Disney and Walter Lantz were the celebrities in their respective kingdoms, and at MGM everybody seemed to stand in the shadow of Tex Avery and Hanna & Barbera. Later on, Jones succumbed more and more to laid-back whimsy: his late-period Warner shorts, the Tom & Jerrys, the TV specials and The Phantom Tollbooth. For every snappy Grinch there were a couple of too-mellow Crickets. But at least he was getting stuff produced. As the first DVD showed, Clampett had tons of ideas that never got beyond a pilot, if that far. After Beany and Cecil he pretty much had to accept playing genius emeritus to John K. and other admirers. I'd say Clampett and Jones earned their reputations. But they won by a couple of lengths, not by several laps as some would have it.



Laughing Gravy	Aug 31 2009, 07:51 AM Post #20
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,070 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Been enjoying Beany & Cecil Vol. 2. Look for hidden Easter Eggs, BTW; they're on there.



thadk	Sep 8 2009, 06:52 AM Post #21
Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 316 Group: Members Member #177 Joined: February 19, 2007	I agree with pretty much everything Rodney wrote. As a kid (who memorized the WB minutia by the age of eight, FYI), Clampett was probably my favorite director after Jones and Avery. As time wore on though, he fell slightly out of favor, and I now find a lot of his films to have sloppy and poor cutting/timing and far too sophomoric material (too often crazy for crazy's sake). I now also prefer Tashlin and Freleng to Clampett. But THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY, BABY BOTTLENECK, KITTY KORNERED, HARE RIBBIN', COAL BLACK, PORKY IN WACKYLAND, and many others will always be on my list of favorite animated shorts. No matter how much John K's spooged over them.


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