Fudd-tasia

Bob Clampett’s OTHER Disney parody, A CORNY CONCERTO (story by Tashlin) isn’t as offensive (for all the right AND wrong reasons) as his COAL BLACK AND DE SEBBEN DWARFS, but it has one marvellously horrid joke right at the start, where the dignified silhouette morphs into a seedy and off-model Elmer Fudd. Subbing in a ludicrous cartoon dweeb instead of Disney’s cultural effigy is funny, but making him such a dissipated wreck is purely obnoxious, and therefore even funnier.

The rest is just OK — Bugs appears in drag, under far more peculiar circumstances than usual. Daffy is a sweet little duckling… who turns into a fighter plane when riled. Evidently this film is separated from FANTASIA not only by a chasm of variant sensibilities, but by Pearl Harbor.

Thanks to Veikko.

Rushin’ with Concussion

This is a nice documentary on Robert McKimson, who I always thought of us around about the number four man at Termite Terrace, home of the Looney Tunes, dwarfed by Jones, Clampett, Freleng (and Avery, though he did his best work at MGM). (Oh, and Tashlin, though he did his best work in features.) Probably my-ish low opinion of McKimson is due to seeing his name mainly on late-period toons, when Warners animation was in decline.

The startling bit in the doc is where we learn that McKimson, who would handle Speedy Gonzalez, suffered a traumatic brain injury after which he found he could drawn and animate better and faster. That’s remarkable and unlikely. What was damaged? Some inner critical voice that had been holding him back? How many brain cells would he have had to lose to overtake Freleng?