Hell on Frisco Bay (2005-2008 archive)

As Jim Emerson of Scanners notes, there's been something of a spontaneous Tex Avery Blog-a-Thon happening in the past few days, started by Peet at Lost in Negative Space, and continued by That Little Round-Headed Boy, Dennis Cozzalio at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, and others. I think all of the cartoons singled out so far are great ones, particularly the ones starring Droopy Dog. But instead of picking out a personal favorite Tex Avery 'toon, I'm going to seize the moment to do something I've been putting off since (gulp) March: officially call for a Blog-A-Thon for Avery's contemporary Isadore "Friz" Freleng, on the day that would have been either his 100th (if you go by his grave marker) or 101st (if you go by his autobiography) birthday: August 21, 2006.

Friz Freleng's career started in his hometown Kansas City with Walt Disney and continued with the longest stint of any director at the Warner Brothers animation studio. But he also made time for a brief, six-cartoon run at MGM in the late 1930s and spent a lengthy period with the Pink Panther and other creations at his own theatrical cartoon studio in the 1960s and 1970s. Freleng's legacy at Warner was enormous, as he directed the studio's first cartoon with a star for the ages, Porky Pig (the film was I Haven't Got a Hat) and was instrumental in developing most of the major Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies stars, especially Sylvester, Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Yet today his reputation among cinephiles seems overshadowed by that of his fellow directors, namely Avery, Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones. Is this justified? I hope this Blog-a-Thon can play a small part in contextualizing Freleng's work within the art of animation and the medium of cinema.

But I don't mean to impose lofty expectations on participants. This is going to be fun! I invite anyone, whether animation experts, enthusiasts or newbies, fans of Freleng or not, to watch or rewatch at least one of his cartoons between now and August 21. On that day, post something about Freleng or one or more of his films on your website, and send me the link. You may name the cartoon(s), character(s), or aspect(s) of Freleng's style you want to discuss in the comments section below, or leave it as a surprise for the rest of us.

Many Freleng cartoons are relatively easy to find. There's at least one on almost every single Looney Tunes Golden Collection Disc (and details about November's release of Volume 4 of that series are just starting to come out right now), and others are available as extras on various Warner DVD releases (Bringing Up Baby, for example). All the Pink Panther films (Freleng co-directed the first ten and produced the rest) have been released on DVD as well. And then there are the various LaserDisc and VHS releases, not to mention video search engines. And if you find yourself on Frisco Bay during the next twenty-seven days, you might be able to see a Freleng film on celluloid if you attend the Stanford Theatre, which is playing unspecified Warner cartoons before every 7:30 showing in their summer program.

August 21. That gives you nearly four weeks. Who's with me?