Merrily We Roll Along: A Post-1969 History of Looney Tunes

[Tacomaster]

On July 4th, 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was acquired by the Kinney National Company. In order to cut costs, Kinney head Steve Ross set his sights on the newly reopened animation studio. In order to save the studio, and thus their jobs, producer Bill Hendricks and director Robert McKimson made an appeal to Ross and his appointed film chief Ted Ashley.

KINNEY NATIONAL COMPANY HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, NY, JULY 15 1969, 1:07 PM

BILL HENDRICKS
"I'm telling ya, Steve, animation's a big business! In the United States alone, we got Hanna-Barbera, we got Filmation, we got Rankin-Bass, Jay Ward was pretty big..."

STEVE ROSS
"Forgive me for interrupting, but... aren't those all TV animation?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"W-well, yeah, but on the theatrical front, we got Terrytoons, we got Lantz... DFE was formed this decade, right, Bob?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"I worked for them, too."

TED ASHLEY
"If I recall correctly, DFE and Terrytoons have transitioned from theatrical to television."

BILL HENDRICKS
"Yeah, but we got TV stuff, too! We got a Li'l Abner series for CBS, we got..."

TED ASHLEY
"I better hope you got TV stuff, cause theatrical ain't gonna last forever. DFE and Terrytoons have made the jump to TV, Lantz is on its last legs, not even Disney is making new toons anymore... hell, even Hanna-Barbera started off at MGM!"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Sirs, there is no need to worry. We got plenty of stuff in the pipeline. Granted, a lot of it is planned to be theatrical, but I believe a lot of these new properties could fit just as well as TV exclusives. We can get Termite Terrace back on its feet, and it'll take us... at most, I'd say... five years?"

STEVE and TED
"...five years?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"What, you think Hanna-Barbera got to where they are overnight? It took the original studio five years to get to Porky, much less Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Road Runner... I think five years is a fair shot."

STEVE ROSS
"...alright, I'll bite. Five years it is."

TED ASHLEY
"What?"

STEVE ROSS
"If you survived five years off of... what did you make before Porky?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Bosko and Buddy."

STEVE ROSS
"Woah, okay, Jesus Christ! If you can survive five years off of those guys, I'm sure you can survive now that you've got the big characters. Provided, of course, you maybe... bring ‘em back?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"Oh, of course, sir! You won't regret this!"

STEVE ROSS
"I'm sure I won't."

KINNEY NATIONAL COMPANY HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, NY, JULY 15 1969, 4:15 PM

TED ASHLEY
"Steve, are you insane? Putting a five-year deal behind a... frankly outdated medium?"

STEVE ROSS
"They have a point, you know. Hanna-Barbera is a massive provider, and the others aren't far behind. If we can make TV animation a major market for us, we can keep the ol' theatrical cartoons around."

TED ASHLEY
"But Steve, the studio's losing money on all sides!"

STEVE ROSS
"Yes, I know. In fact, I'd say the cartoon shorts are the least of our problems. But the Looney Tunes are a big part of Warner's heritage, no thanks to Jack."

TED ASHLEY
"The Looney Tunes don't even star the Looney Tunes anymore!"

STEVE ROSS
"They do now, cause I say they do."

TED ASHLEY
"The studio is tiny!"

STEVE ROSS
"Then we make it bigger. I think Seven Arts distributed a couple of TV cartoons of their own. One of them was called... I think Jimmy Sulfur?"

TED ASHLEY
"Johnny Cypher."

STEVE ROSS
"Johnny Cypher. They got Joe Oriolo to do that, right? The Felix the Cat guy? Get me Joe Oriolo."

TED ASHLEY
"Okay, but there's still no way we can match Hanna-Barbera's initial five-year output at this rate! Not on our own!"

STEVE ROSS
"We don't have to. We just look overseas for help. From what I've heard, Japanese cartoons are all the rage in syndication. Kimba, Astro Boy, Speed Racer... I think we have one of our own. Marine Boy, was it?"

TED ASHLEY
"Yes, it was, but-"

STEVE ROSS
"So be it. Get me Joe Oriolo and another Marine Boy."

TED ASHLEY
"...yes sir."

KEENS STAKEHOUSE, NEW YORK, NY, JULY 15 1969, 8:15 PM

BILL HENDRICKS
"Bob, I'm tellin' ya, you're a lifesaver! Not only did you convince the big shots to keep the studio around, you gave us a guaranteed five years! And here I thought you hated the new characters."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Well, you know what they say. Better to work on Cool Cat than not to work at all. Of course, I'm more excited to be working on the main stars again. I'm not usually a fan of corporate meddling, but in this case, I'll make an exception. Although I assume you'd probably roll them back out one at a time or something, and start out with yet more Daffy and Speedy cartoons..."

BILL HENDRICKS
"On the money! In fact, I was gonna do that anyway, executive mandate or not."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"...then why the hell did you get rid of them in the first place?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"Well, the Warners only let DFE use certain characters to beef up their libraries for syndication."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Yeah..."

BILL HENDRICKS
"Bugs Bunny was said to have had more than enough..."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Don't remind me..."

BILL HENDRICKS
"And others like Pepe and Foghorn weren't seen as worth it..."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Damn it, Billy, I already know that!"

BILL HENDRICKS
"And as for the rest... Daffy, Speedy, Road Runner... we had to make the new guys look good, no?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"...you are strange, you know that, Bill?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"I produce cartoons. Looney Tunes. Of course I'm strange."​

 

[JamesHunter]

Interesting idea. One has to wonder why they dumped the greats in the first place. If time has proven anything it's that people want Looney Tunes stuff and lots of it.

 

[Tacomaster]

I came up with the “making the new guys look good” myself, but they did plan to bring at least the Daffy and Speedy series back, and they stopped Bugs in the first place cause they felt they had more than enough shorts for syndication.

 

[Tacomaster]

By the way, I’m going to be basing a lot of the early bits on rejected pitches during the Seven-Arts era(https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T4NLjHf-4f0FihOTfITlWKFLIgRe4fvR, https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-last-warner-bros-cartoons/). So, much as Steve Ross declared and Bill Hendricks promised, expect to see the returns of Speedy Gonzales, Daffy Duck, and the Road Runner- as well as a LOT of new stuff.

 

[JamesHunter]

I came up with the “making the new guys look good” myself, but they did plan to bring at least the Daffy and Speedy series back, and they stopped Bugs in the first place cause they felt they had more than enough shorts for syndication.

I'd say you can never have enough Bugs but truth be told he was getting a bit burnt out by the end so holding off might be no bad thing. Speedy is probably a good idea, although towards the end the reused animation (for instance when he raced Road Runner) got a bit over the top. Hopefully they can at least draw new stuff this time, especially as one way to compete with the TV giants would be to escape the trap of limited animation. Budget being the major problem there though.

 

[Tacomaster]

Oh, there’s a LOT of new stuff. The ones we got IOTL (Cool Cat, Merlin the Magic Mouse, Rapid Rabbit and Quick Brown Fox, Bunny and Claude) were just the beginning.

 

[JamesHunter]

Oh, there’s a LOT of new stuff. The ones we got IOTL (Cool Cat, Merlin the Magic Mouse, Rapid Rabbit and Quick Brown Fox, Bunny and Claude) were just the beginning.

I more meant brand new animation rather than retracings of stuff from the 50's.

 

[Tacomaster]

What do you mean by that?

 

[JamesHunter]

What do you mean by that?

Look at some of the stuff from the early 60's notably the Wild Chase in '65, all the gags are very clearly recycled from earlier shorts from the glory days. Given they all have the exact same framing and shooting as the original versions, they were clearly retraced and just touched up for use in the new one (probably due to lack of money ).

 

[Otakuninja2006]

On July 4th, 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was acquired by the Kinney National Company. In order to cut costs, Kinney head Steve Ross set his sights on the newly reopened animation studio. In order to save the studio, and thus their jobs, producer Bill Hendricks and director Robert McKimson made an appeal to Ross and his appointed film chief Ted Ashley.

KINNEY NATIONAL COMPANY HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, NY, JULY 15 1969, 1:07 PM

BILL HENDRICKS
"I'm telling ya, Steve, animation's a big business! In the United States alone, we got Hanna-Barbera, we got Filmation, we got Rankin-Bass, Jay Ward was pretty big..."

STEVE ROSS
"Forgive me for interrupting, but... aren't those all TV animation?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"W-well, yeah, but on the theatrical front, we got Terrytoons, we got Lantz... DFE was formed this decade, right, Bob?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"I worked for them, too."

TED ASHLEY
"If I recall correctly, DFE and Terrytoons have transitioned from theatrical to television."

BILL HENDRICKS
"Yeah, but we got TV stuff, too! We got a Li'l Abner series for CBS, we got..."

TED ASHLEY
"I better hope you got TV stuff, cause theatrical ain't gonna last forever. DFE and Terrytoons have made the jump to TV, Lantz is on its last legs, not even Disney is making new toons anymore... hell, even Hanna-Barbera started off at MGM!"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Sirs, there is no need to worry. We got plenty of stuff in the pipeline. Granted, a lot of it is planned to be theatrical, but I believe a lot of these new properties could fit just as well as TV exclusives. We can get Termite Terrace back on its feet, and it'll take us... at most, I'd say... five years?"

STEVE and TED
"...five years?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"What, you think Hanna-Barbera got to where they are overnight? It took the original studio five years to get to Porky, much less Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Road Runner... I think five years is a fair shot."

STEVE ROSS
"...alright, I'll bite. Five years it is."

TED ASHLEY
"What?"

STEVE ROSS
"If you survived five years off of... what did you make before Porky?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Bosko and Buddy."

STEVE ROSS
"Woah, okay, Jesus Christ! If you can survive five years off of those guys, I'm sure you can survive now that you've got the big characters. Provided, of course, you maybe... bring em back?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"Oh, of course, sir! You won't regret this!"

STEVE ROSS
"I'm sure I won't."

KINNEY NATIONAL COMPANY HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, NY, JULY 15 1969, 4:15 PM

TED ASHLEY
"Steve, are you insane? Putting a five-year deal behind a... frankly outdated medium?"

STEVE ROSS
"They have a point, you know. Hanna-Barbera is a massive provider, and the others aren't far behind. If we can make TV animation a major market for us, we can keep the ol' theatrical cartoons around."

TED ASHLEY
"But Steve, the studio's losing money on all sides!"

STEVE ROSS
"Yes, I know. In fact, I'd say the cartoon shorts are the least of our problems. But the Looney Tunes are a big part of Warner's heritage, no thanks to Jack."

TED ASHLEY
"The Looney Tunes don't even star the Looney Tunes anymore!"

STEVE ROSS
"They do now, cause I say they do."

TED ASHLEY
"The studio is tiny!"

STEVE ROSS
"Then we make it bigger. I think Seven Arts distributed a couple of TV cartoons of their own. One of them was called... I think Jimmy Sulfur?"

TED ASHLEY
"Johnny Cypher."

STEVE ROSS
"Johnny Cypher. They got Joe Oriolo to do that, right? The Felix the Cat guy? Get me Joe Oriolo."

TED ASHLEY
"Okay, but there's still no way we can match Hanna-Barbera's initial five-year output at this rate! Not on our own!"

STEVE ROSS
"We don't have to. We just look overseas for help. From what I've heard, Japanese cartoons are all the rage in syndication. Kimba, Astro Boy, Speed Racer... I think we have one of our own. Marine Boy, was it?"

TED ASHLEY
"Yes, it was, but-"

STEVE ROSS
"So be it. Get me Joe Oriolo and another Marine Boy."

TED ASHLEY
"...yes sir."

KEENS STAKEHOUSE, NEW YORK, NY, JULY 15 1969, 8:15 PM

BILL HENDRICKS
"Bob, I'm tellin' ya, you're a lifesaver! Not only did you convince the big shots to keep the studio around, you gave us a guaranteed five years! And here I thought you hated the new characters."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Well, you know what they say. Better to work on Cool Cat than not to work at all. Of course, I'm more excited to be working on the main stars again. I'm not usually a fan of corporate meddling, but in this case, I'll make an exception. Although I assume you'd probably roll them back out one at a time or something, and start out with yet more Daffy and Speedy cartoons..."

BILL HENDRICKS
"On the money! In fact, I was gonna do that anyway, executive mandate or not."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"...then why the hell did you get rid of them in the first place?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"Well, the Warners only let DFE use certain characters to beef up their libraries for syndication."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Yeah..."

BILL HENDRICKS
"Bugs Bunny was said to have had more than enough..."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Don't remind me..."

BILL HENDRICKS
"And others like Pepe and Foghorn weren't seen as worth it..."

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"Damn it, Billy, I already know that!"

BILL HENDRICKS
"And as for the rest... Daffy, Speedy, Road Runner... we had to make the new guys look good, no?"

ROBERT MCKIMSON
"...you are strange, you know that, Bill?"

BILL HENDRICKS
"I produce cartoons. Looney Tunes. Of course I'm strange."​

Very nice indeed.

I look forward very greatly to this TL expanding.

 

[Tacomaster]

"Warner-Seven Taps Joe Oriolo As Animation Producer"
- Variety, August 1969

"When Ross wanted Joe Oriolo to help produce the cartoons for us, he didn't just want Oriolo on board. He also wanted Oriolo's other shows to help boost the TV library, primarily Felix the Cat, which was a huge hit. Trouble was, as Ashley told him, Oriolo didn't actually own the rights to those shows. That would be Trans-Lux. Luckily for him, Trans-Lux was selling off their cartoons to focus more on stock tickers- long story- and he decided to pounce. As a bonus, Ross had wanted a few more Japanese series like Marine Boy as Warner's answers to Astro Boy and Speed Racer.

The Trans-Lux purchase gave him Speed Racer."
- interview with Bill Mendricks, 1982

"This season on CBS, we're going down to Dogpatch, U.S.A.! Action, suspense, and laughter are a guarantee on Li'l Abner! Tuesdays at 8:30 on CBS!"
- CBS promo for Li'l Abner, fall 1969

"Good evening, ladies and gentemen. As you all know, today marks the release of the 1000th Warner Bros. cartoon short, Injun Trouble, starring Cool Cat. In just a few short days, Li'l Abner will make its premiere on CBS. Tonight, we will take a look at several new series, both for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies franchises and the new medium of television, for both the remainder of 1969 and throughout. Spooky from Cool Cat,he Feudin' Mountain Brothers and Lo the Poor Indian from Merlin the Magic Mouse, and Norman Normal from his own short, will gain their own series. Merlin the Magic Mouse and Road Runner will headline their own half-hour specials, the latter marking the Road Runner's return to new content. Speedy Gonzales and Daffy Duck will make their returns as well. Classic characters like Tom Sawyer, Aladdin and his magic lamp, Gulliver, Puff the Magic Dragon, Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops, and even jolly old Saint Nick, Santa Claus, will join the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts family. And, of course, completely new series will be introduced. Children and parents around the world will delight in the humorous antics of Jolly Roger the pirate, learn with Choo-Choo Jones and Jeanie the Genius, and go on amazing adventures with Captain Bravo and Billy, and Choppy and Princess Sapphire. Grown-ups will get their first serving of prime-time animation since the ending of The Flintstones with new series like the Lovey Doveys and the aforementioned Li'l Abner. And of course, older episodes of popular shows such as The Porky Pig Show, Felix the Cat, and Speed Racer will still be available, and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, now in its tenth season on CBS, will continue for years to come. But before I continue, I just want to say that I am grateful. When Kinney National first acquired Warner Bros.-Seven Arts back in July, the animation department- this beloved, trusted institution of American entertainment- a very likely candidate for shutdown. Being honest, I was afraid. But thanks to the efforts of both me and Robert McKimson, the respect of Steve Ross and Ted Ashley, the hiring of Joe Oriolo and the acquisition of Trans-Lux's animation library, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation will not only survive, but thrive. And because of this, I propose a toast. To McKimson, to Ross, to Ashley, to Oriolo, and to a better, brighter, and more animated tomorrow!"
- speech by Bill Mendricks at a party celebrating Injun Trouble, Li’l Abner, and the future of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation, September 20, 1969​

 

[Tacomaster]

Look at some of the stuff from the early 60's notably the Wild Chase in '65, all the gags are very clearly recycled from earlier shorts from the glory days. Given they all have the exact same framing and shooting as the original versions, they were clearly retraced and just touched up for use in the new one (probably due to lack of money ).

Trust me, by the late 60s, things were MUCH different.

Very nice indeed.

I look forward very greatly to this TL expanding.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Otakuninja2006]

Trust me, by the late 60s, things were MUCH different.

I figured.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Great.

 

[farmerted555]

Can't believe Injun Trouble still gets made ITTL.

 

[Tacomaster]

Can't believe Injun Trouble still gets made ITTL.

Yeah, the timeline shifts start when W7 gets bought by Kinney… in July 1969. Just two months before that short,

 

[JamesHunter]

Yeah, the timeline shifts start when W7 gets bought by Kinney… in July 1969. Just two months before that short,

How the hell did something like that get made in 1969?

 

[Tacomaster]

Apparently Native American racism was still A-OK in the late 60s. Merlin the Magic Mouse had Hocus Pocus Powwow, and the antagonist of that short, Lo the Poor Indian, was set to get his own spinoff.

 

[Tacomaster]

NEW WARNER BROS.-SEVEN ARTS ANIMATED OUTPUT FOR 1969
While the Kinney merger and refocus towards television delayed some of W7's plans, several additional shorts and series ended up coming out anyway.

LI'L ABNER
Premiered September 23rd on CBS at 8:30 PM
Based on the popular comic strip by Al Capp, the series, similar to the comic, is a satirical fantasy action-comedy centering around the titular Abner. his wife Daisy Mae, and other chatacters living in the hillbilly town of Dogpatch, U.S.A. While the animation left a bit to be desired(especially in season one), the satire and writing was seen as a strong point, to the point where it often succeeded the actual comic(to be fair, at that point, it wasn't hard; Al Capp had lost it and had been reduced to an old man yelling at those dang hippies). This critical reception, in addition to strong ratings, resulted in Li'l Abner being a hit- at least for a while.

THE FEUDIN' MOUNTAIN BOYS
Released in October
After debuting in a Merlin the Magic Mouse cartoon the previous year, the McCoy/Harfield feud continues in their own series. Despite being a spinoff of an admittedly weak short, the Feudin' Mountain Boys became enduring characters in their own right, even continuing on during Merlin's brief cancellation in 1973.

NEW RAPID RABBIT SHORT
Released in November
After a successful pilot short in June, Rapid Rabbit and the Quick Brown Fox are expanded into their own series in November. While it didn't run long(due to the imminent return of the Road Runner rendering this series redundant), it gradually became a cult classic after years of sporadic reruns and slightly higher quality than the other shorts(which is actually no small feat, since the return of Robert McKimson and higher budgets resulted in an increase in quality overall).

PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON
Released in December
Another "Cartoon Special" (as opposed to a Looney Tune or Merrie Melodie), much akin to the previous year's "Norman Normal" (coincidentally also based on a Peter, Paul and Mary song), this adaptation greatly retooled the character from an ageless dragon in the magical land of Honah Lee going on adventures with kids to a traditional (though talking and... bepantsed) fire-breathing dragon from medieval times waking up in modern day and trying to fit in, while outwitting an antagonistic fire chief trying to extinguish his flame. As opposed to Paul Stookey for "Norman Normal", this short was co-produced by Peter Yarrow. This short was panned, even at the time, for being literally nothing like the song that (similar to "Norman Normal") was proudly on display during the opening credits. A planned Puff series was cancelled.

CHRISTMAS STORY
Premiered December 21st on CBS at 7:30 PM
While initially meant for theaters, the singular nature and half-hour length resulted in the special being a great fit for television. The special is split into two- a serious and beautifully animated (for W7, anyway) retelling of the birth of Jesus and the tale of the Three Wise Men, and a humorous cartoon about the origins of Santa Claus- linked together by singing narrators Peter, Paul, and Mary (hey, look! Them again!). The special was well received on both sides, and was reran annually until 1985.​

 

[Otakuninja2006]

NEW WARNER BROS.-SEVEN ARTS ANIMATED OUTPUT FOR 1969
While the Kinney merger and refocus towards television delayed some of W7's plans, several additional shorts and series ended up coming out anyway.

View attachment 773963
LI'L ABNER
Premiered September 23rd on CBS at 8:30 PM
Based on the popular comic strip by Al Capp, the series, similar to the comic, is a satirical fantasy action-comedy centering around the titular Abner. his wife Daisy Mae, and other chatacters living in the hillbilly town of Dogpatch, U.S.A. While the animation left a bit to be desired(especially in season one), the satire and writing was seen as a strong point, to the point where it often succeeded the actual comic(to be fair, at that point, it wasn't hard; Al Capp had lost it and had been reduced to an old man yelling at those dang hippies). This critical reception, in addition to strong ratings, resulted in Li'l Abner being a hit- at least for a while.

View attachment 773964
THE FEUDIN' MOUNTAIN BOYS
Released in October
After debuting in a Merlin the Magic Mouse cartoon the previous year, the McCoy/Harfield feud continues in their own series. Despite being a spinoff of an admittedly weak short, the Feudin' Mountain Boys became enduring characters in their own right, even continuing on during Merlin's brief cancellation in 1973.

View attachment 773965
NEW RAPID RABBIT SHORT
Released in November
After a successful pilot short in June, Rapid Rabbit and the Quick Brown Fox are expanded into their own series in November. While it didn't run long(due to the imminent return of the Road Runner rendering this series redundant), it gradually became a cult classic after years of sporadic reruns and slightly higher quality than the other shorts(which is actually no small feat, since the return of Robert McKimson and higher budgets resulted in an increase in quality overall).

View attachment 773968
PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON
Released in December
Another "Cartoon Special" (as opposed to a Looney Tune or Merrie Melodie), much akin to the previous year's "Norman Normal" (coincidentally also based on a Peter, Paul and Mary song), this adaptation greatly retooled the character from an ageless dragon in the magical land of Honah Lee going on adventures with kids to a traditional (though talking and... bepantsed) fire-breathing dragon from medieval times waking up in modern day and trying to fit in, while outwitting an antagonistic fire chief trying to extinguish his flame. As opposed to Paul Stookey for "Norman Normal", this short was co-produced by Peter Yarrow. This short was panned, even at the time, for being literally nothing like the song that (similar to "Norman Normal") was proudly on display during the opening credits. A planned Puff series was cancelled.

View attachment 773969
CHRISTMAS STORY
Premiered December 21st on CBS at 7:30 PM
While initially meant for theaters, the singular nature and half-hour length resulted in the special being a great fit for television. The special is split into two- a serious and beautifully animated (for W7, anyway) retelling of the birth of Jesus and the tale of the Three Wise Men, and a humorous cartoon about the origins of Santa Claus- linked together by singing narrators Peter, Paul, and Mary (hey, look! Them again!). The special was well received on both sides, and was reran annually until 1985.​

This is good.

Did you know that you can also put these under threadmarks as to not make it take forever for people to find them?

And did you also get my ideas in the conversation?

 

[Tacomaster]

Did you know that you can also put these under threadmarks as to not make it take forever for people to find them?

Huh. I did not.

How do I do it with existing posts?