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JERRY BECK
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AMID AMIDI
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Help Select the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes
by jerry
December 18, 2008 5:00 am


I’m working on a new book project with Insight Editions (the same folks who published The Hanna Barbera Treasury) - and I need your help.

The concept is similar to my long out-of-print book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons (1994), only this time its all Warner Bros. Cartoons and we will highlight the top one hundred. I am personally contacting some of the top historians, animators, critics, filmmakers and authorities for their opinion. But why stop there? In 1994, for my previous book, we didn’t have the Internet to do the poll (nor did I have a blog). It should be exciting to see what the consensus of the online world is.

I’m asking all participants to list their “greatest” nominees in the comments section below. You can list your top ten, twenty or fifty - but please, no more than that. List them in order of greatness, #1 being the most important. I’ll cull the final one hundred out of what titles we receive by January 9th. Please include your real name if you wish to be acknowledged in the book.

This is open to the 1001 (or so) theatrically released Warner Bros. cartoons (Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies) created between 1930 and 1969 (though I tend to doubt we’ll receive too many entries from the 1960s). No government sponsored films (sorry Snafu), industrial or made-for-TV animation accepted. The classic shorts. You know what I mean. Here’s the complete list of eligible film titles.

What defines greatness? That’s up to you. I’m throwing the door wide open. Historical significance, biggest laughs, greatest character animation, important milestones… make a list and check it twice. And post it below.

12/18/08  6:03am

Okay, I’ll kick it off. My top 39 or so. These are in order and just off the top. No real thought involved here, just real solid cartoons that came to mind when I free associate great WB animation.

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Amuck
3. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
4. Birds Anonymous
5. Coal Black & De Sebben Dwarfs
6. Rabbit Fire
7. Kitty Kornered
8. Bully for Bugs
9. Porky Pig’s Feat
10. High Diving Hare
11. One Froggy Evening
12. Daffy Duck in Hollywood
13. Book Revue
14. Little Red Riding Rabbit
15. Porky’s Romance
16. Daffy Dilly
17. Three Little Bops
18. For Scent-imental Reasons
19. Buccaneer Bunny
20. Long Haired Hare
21. Thugs With Dirty Mugs
22. Pigs In A Polka
23. Little Red Walking Hood
24. Wabbit Twouble
25. Fast and Furry-ous
26. Baseball Bugs
27. The Big Snooze
28. Knighty Knight Bugs
29. A Wild Hare
30. Bowery Bugs
31. Baton Bunny
32. Yankee Doodle Daffy
33. Super Rabbit
34. The Old Grey Hare
35. The Hole Idea
36. Leghorn Swoggled
37. Norman Normal
38. People Are Bunny
39. Miss Glory

Just a nitpick: if “industrial” animation is not to be considered, should the three Sloan Foundation shorts be off the list? (By Word of Mouse/Heir Conditioned/Yankee Dood It)

12/18/08  6:27am
Callum Barker says:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
3. Book Revue
4. Porky Pig’s Duck Hunt
5. Porky In Wackyland
6. A Tale of Two Kitties
7. The Hep Cat
8. Hollywood Steps Out
9. Herr Meets Hare
10. Elmer’s Candid Camera
11. The Hep Cat

12/18/08  7:04am
Dennis S. says:

01 Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
02 Bully For Bugs
03 Drip-Along Daffy
04 Rabbit Of Seville
05 Robin Hood Daffy
06 Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
07 Ali Baba Bunny
08 Golden Yeggs
09 One Froggy Evening
10 Birds Anonymous

I still know some the funny dialogue.

12/18/08  7:10am

Well…..

ONE FROGGY EVENING
WHAT’S OPERA,DOC?
BIRDS ANONYMOUS
THE DOVER BOYS
SHOWBIZ BUGS
THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY
BABY BOTTLENECK
ALI BABA BUNNY
ROBIN HOOD DAFFY
WHAT’S UP, DOC?
THE ARISTO-CAT
DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24 AND A HALF CENTURY
BATON BUNNY
BEAR FEAT
THE BIG SNOOZE
BOOK REVUE
CAT FEUD
CORNY CONCERTO
DAFFY DUCK SLEPT HERE
DOG GONE SOUTH
DRIPALONG DAFFY
RABBIT SEASONING
DUCK! RABBIT! DUCK!
8 BALL BUNNY
EASTER YEGGS
FAST AND FURRY-OUS
FEED THE KITTY
SCHOOLBOY DAZE
THE GRAY HOUNDED HARE

I will send more cartoons along the next days, Jerry. It’s a pretty long list and I need to look at it in greater detail.

Good luck with your book.

Christopher Atkins

Madison, WI

12/18/08  7:40am

Outside of the obvious, What’s Opera Doc, Baby Bottleneck, etc…

I love Baseball Bugs, Early to Bet, Daffy Doodles.

And WIDELY over looked Nasty Quacks, which has one of the funniest, least utilized versions of Daffy: An obnoxious bachelor. I never understood how an entire series of these never got made.

12/18/08  7:59am
Terry says:

Rabbit Fire
Duck Amuck
Rabbit Seasoning
What’s Opera Doc
One Froggy Evening
Early to Bet
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
Feed the Kitty
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Claws for Alarm
A Tale of Two Kitties
The Honey-Mousers

12/18/08  8:24am

1. A Pest in the House
2. A Gruesome Twosome
3. Louvre come back to me!
4. Russian Rhapsody
5. Feed the Kitty
6. Porky Pig’s Feat
7. Buckaroo Bugs
8. The Aristo-cat
9. The Bashful Buzzard
10. Swallow the leader
11. Bear Feat
12. Dog Gone South
13. One Froggy Evening
14. Duck Amuck
15. Robin Hood Daffy

12/18/08  8:37am
Roberto says:

Ok, I’m forgetting a lot of important ones and a few great characters (sorry, Wile E. Coyote, I love you but I find formulaic plots a little boring in cartoons). I also admit I didn’t pay so much attention to the order after the first 25 or so, but here it’s anyway. It was exciting to do it, though a more thoughtful list would have taken me all the day.

1-The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2- The Big Snooze
3- Baby Bottleneck
4-Book Revue
5-Porky In Wackyland
6-A Tale of Two Kitties
7-A Gruesome Twosome
8-Hair-Raising Hare
9- Plane Daffy
10-The Scarlet Pumpernickel
11-Kitty Kornered
12-The Heckling Hare
13-A Wild Hare
14-A Corny Concerto
15-Coal Black and The Seven Dwarfs
16-Horton Hatched The Egg
17-Duck Amuck
18-Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½ Century
19-Falling Hare
20-What’s Opera Doc?
21-Eigth Ball Bunny
22-Slick Hare
23-One Froggy Evening
24-The Old Gray Hare
25-Porky’s Party
26-Nasty Quacks
27-A Hare Grows in Manhattan
28-Hare Trigger
29-Bird Anonymous
30-Claws For Alarms
31-Tortoise Wins By A Hare
34-Cats Aweigh
35-Bacall to Arms
36-Russian Rhapsody
37-Draftee Daffy
38-The Henpecked Duck
39-A Coy Decoy
40-I Love To Singa
41-Rabbit Of Seville
42-Naughty Neighbours
43-Bedeviled Bunny
44-Baseball Bugs
45-Bugs’ Bonnets
46-Three Little Bops
47-The Stupid Cupid
48-Crowing Pains
49-For Scent-imental Reasons
50-Beanstalk Bunny

12/18/08  8:41am
Jess Price says:

Let me just throw out one cartoon that I think gets overlooked because there are no “star” characters… Chuck Jones’ Go Fly a Kit (1957).

Michael Maltese’s story is quite creative and very charming. A flying cat? What a unique character! Plus, I like the sound his tail makes as he putters about the sky.

I think this short deserves a spot somewhere in the top 100, Jerry. It’s one of Chuck Jones’ unheralded greats.

12/18/08  8:58am

What’s Opera, Doc?
Rabbit of Serville
One Froggy Evening
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z
Duck Dogers in the 24 1/2th Century
Hair-Raising Hare
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Operation: Rabbit
Feed the Kitty
The Dover Boys
Baby Bottleneck
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Wackiki Rabbit
Odor-Able Kitty
Haredevil Hare
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
You Ought to Be in Pictures
Pigs in a Polka
Book Revue
Scaredy Cat
Rabbit Hood
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
High Diving Hare
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Seasoning
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Duck Amuck
The Daffy Doc
Russian Rhapsody
Much Ado About Nutting
Bully for Bugs
The Aristo-Cat
A Corny Concerto
Tortoise Wins by a Hare
A Tale of Two Kitties
Stage Door Cartoon
Tweety Pie
Baseball Bugs
Daffy Doodles
Rhapsody Rabbit
Broom Stick Bunny
Bugs Bunny & The Three Bears
Hare Tonic
Hare Conditioned
Long-Haired Hare
The Hypo-Chondri-Cat
Two’s A Crowd
Horton Hatches the Egg
I Love to Singa
Beep Beep
From A to Z-Z-Z
The Big Snooze
Wabbit Twouble
Porky in Wackyland
The Pest That Came to Dinner
Porky Pig’s Feat
A Wild Hare
Cinderella Meets Fella
Porky’s Duck Hunt
Bowery Bugs
Ali Baba Bunny
Daffy Duck in Hollywood
Bewitched Bunny
Drip-Along Daffy
Mutiny on the Bunny
The Henpecked Duck
Three Little Bops
8 Ball Bunny
Cheese Chasers
Stop! Look! Hasten!
Ready..Set..Zoom!
Walky Talky Hawky
The Foghorn Leghorn
Hurdy-Gurdy Hare
Kitty Kornered
Slick Hare
Robin Hood Daffy
Hare-Way to the Stars
Super-Rabbit
Mississippi Hare
Draftee Daffy
Porky & Daffy
For Scent-imental Reasons
Homeless Hare
The Ducksters
Baton Bunny
The Bashful Buzzard
Bad Ol’ Putty Tat
A Bear for Punishment
Fresh Hare
A Pest in the House
The Ducksters
Kiss Me Cat
Claws for Alarm
The Stupor Salesman
Porky’s Badtime Story
The Hasty Hare
The Unruly Hare
Beanstork Bunny

12/18/08  9:19am
zavkram says:

I’m going to confine my listing to just 10. I will also offer an explanation of the reason for each of my choices.

1. The Rabbit of Seville (Chuck Jones, 1951): This for me is THE perfect Warner Bros. cartoon. Everything works well here: the animation, the gags and the razor-sharp timing of the action to Rossini’s score. Carl Stalling’s contributions to this cartoon cannot be overlooked and his interpolation of Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” at the end of the cartoon is particularly apt.

2. What’s Opera Doc? (Chuck Jones, 1957): Why this was never even considered for an Oscar-nomination is beyond me… The visuals are stunning (I’m fortunate to have seen 35mm screenings on the big screen) and the singing by Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan remains in the memory long after the final iris-out.

3. Coal Black an’ de Sebben Dwarfs (Robert Clampett, 1943): Despite the controversey it has spawned over the decades, this cartoon is nothing short of miraculous. Warren Foster’s dialogue-in-verse is droll and idiomatic; Rod Scribner’s animation is a tour-de-force and that hot jazz trumpet solo as the Prince tries to awaken “So White” has got to be one of the finest performances to ever come from the Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra.

4. Porky Pig’s Feat (Frank Tashlin, 1943): This is my all-time favorite Frank Tashlin cartoon. I particularly like the cinematic conventions that are used throughout: The panning shot to Porky’s grimace as the Hotel Manager slaps the black right off of Daffy’s face; the reflection of said Manager in the irises of Porky and Daffy as he careens down a spiral staircase… I could go on! Porky and Daffy’s personalities and their chemistry as a team are well-defined here. The cameo appearance of Bugs Bunny in the closing gag is a deft touch.

5. Three Little Bops (Friz Freleng, 1957): Stan Freberg finally gets a chance to shine here, and he delivers Warren Foster’s verse with great gusto. Shorty Rogers does an outstanding job as well. With great animation and layouts to boot, this has to be one of the finest of Freleng’s music-based cartoons.

6. A Wild Hare (Fred “Tex” Avery, 1940): Aside from the fact that it codified the physical appearance and mannerisms of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, this is also a FUNNY cartoon. Bugs is a scream as he nonchalantly asks Elmer, “Whadd’ya mean, ‘Wabbit’?” The production values in this cartoon are also very high. The layout and backgrounds are superb, as is the attention to detail (the characters cast their own shadows on the ground, in the finest Disney manner).

7. Pigs in a Polka (Friz Freleng, 1943): This is another one of Freleng’s finest cartoons; he marries the action to Brahms’s “Hungarian Dances” flawlessly. The “Histerine” mouthwash gag is one of my all-time favorites!

8. Thugs with Dirty Mugs (Fred “Tex” Avery, 1939): This, I think, is one of Avery’s finest WB cartoons because he so deftly parodies the gangster-film conventions that were codified by Warner Bros. and First National during the early 1930’s. The most memorable scene, I think, is when “Killer” and his gang are robbing the wall safe and accidentally turn on a radio dial. The layout here is most impressive and exemplifies the amount of attention that Avery paid to the live-action films that he spoofs.

9. What’s Up Doc? (Robert McKimson, 1950): This is one of McKimson’s greatest cartoons, not least for the memorable song-and-dance numbers. Mckimson, I think, has been seriously underrated as a cartoon director. He made many fine cartoons for Warner Bros. (far too many to mention here). I would even go so far as to say I think that, had he been given the opportunity, he would also have made a fine live-action director (as Tashlin eventually became).

10. Dripalong Daffy (Chuck Jones, 1951): This might seem like an odd choice for a top-ten listing, but I stand by my choice. The gags and verbal repartee by Daffy and Porky are sublime and the scene of the final shootout actually generates real tension. This is a hilarious send-up of the entire Hollywood Western genre.

12/18/08  9:35am
Roberto says:

>>And WIDELY over looked Nasty Quacks, which has one of the funniest, least utilized versions of Daffy: An obnoxious bachelor. I never understood how an entire series of these never got made.>>

I agree. I did include this one in my list before I even read your comment. ;)

I love Frank Tashlin’s cartoons, I need to watch more of them. But at least one of his cartoons should be in a list of this kind.

12/18/08  9:41am
Sean Montgomery says:

Duck Amuck
Feed The Kitty
One Froggy Evening
Homeless Hare
Rabbit Seasoning
Long-Haired Hare
Early To Bet
Chow Hound
Hillbilly Hare
Bowery Bugs
Steal Wool
Fast and Furry-ous
A Bear For Punishment
Operation: Rabbit
8-Ball Bunny
Rabbit of Seville
Bully For Bugs
No Barking
Rabbit Hood
From A to Z-Z-Z-Z

12/18/08  9:54am

1- rabbit of seville
2-? - all the other WB toons in 50 GREATEST CARTOONS (out of print???)
then… in no particular order…
Draftee Daffy
Falling Hare
Tale of two kitties
For Scent-imental reasons
rhapsody rabbit
hair-raising hare
now hear this
porky’s duck hunt
daffy the commando
three little bops
the one where Wile E Coyote explains to kids why he chases the Roadrunner

12/18/08  10:04am

ok, it’s true that cartoons like the ones with Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner are not the best quoted here, since the reason is that the plot is-basically- always the same (the concept of chasing the pray). So I won’t be surprise to find none of them or at least one, despite we must admit that it’s one of the most beloved cartoon duo and the cartoon’s philosophy has become one of the trademarks of the Looney Tunes;

I don’t have a precise list, Jerry, but I’d like to suggest you to insert the 1952’s cartoon Operation: Rabbit for 4 simple reasons:

- it’s the very first time that Bugs Bunny and the Coyote feature togheter in a cartoon, so there’s a fresh, unique and spontaneous interchange between them; this sense of novelty in the 1952’s cartoon is decrease in the other (and few) cartoons in which Jones tried to put again togheter this couple for emulate the success of their first meeting withoust satisfising results

- The terrific work of Mel Blanc impersonating the charachter of Wile E. Coyote from the first and well-known cue “Allow me to introduce myself…” until the 07.19 minutes of the end he developed an excellent Climax from a calm and stable situation untill to distress the relaxing and dozy green-skied landscape of the desert with an obsession. Later this performance will consacrate the charachter of Wile E. Coyote

- it was one of the “old style” cartoons produced by the team of Jones/Maltese

- the magnificent layouts of Robert Gribboek

Hope my arguments will be enough for your final choice! Thank you very much for reading!

Silvia L.

12/18/08  10:17am

What’s Opera, Doc?
Rabbit of Seville
Duck Amuck
Duck Dodgers of the 24 1/2 Century
Drip Along Daffy
Book Revue
The Great Piggybank Robbery
The Scarlett Pumpernickel
Long Haired Hare
Tweetie Pie
I Love to Singa
The Old Grey Hare
Speedy Gonzales
Gee Whiz-z-z-z
From A to Z-z-z-z
For Scent-imental Reasons
The Foghorn Leghorn
Hillbilly Hare
Bully For Bugs
Porky in Wackyland

That barely scratches the surface for me. It would be easier for me to make a list of Looney Tunes I DON’T like. I guess I’ll stop there. Good luck with your book, Jerry.

12/18/08  10:36am

It was difficult to limit these to 50, but here are many of my favs. Jerry, you’ve got your hands full collating all these.

1 Duck Amuck
2 One Froggy Evening
3 Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
4 Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
5 Rabbit of Seville
6 Great Piggy Bank Robbery
7 The Dover Boys
8 From A to Z-z-z-z
9 A Wild Hare
10 Russian Rhapsody
11 Kitty Kornered
12 Porky Pig’s Feat
13 Little Red Riding Rabbit
14 High Note
15 Porky’s Party
16 The Daffy Doc
17 Baby Bottleneck
18 Long-Haired Hare
19 Bear For Punishment
20 Three Little Bops
21 Porky In Wackyland
22 Hillbilly Hare
23 Bully for Bugs
24 A-Lad-In His Lamp
25 Wagon Heels
26 The Aristo-Cat
27 Corny Concerto
28 Wabbit Twouble
29 Pigs In a Polka
30 Draftee Daffy
31 A Gruesome Twosome
32 Tin Pan Alley Cats
33 Broom-Stick Bunny
34 Claws for Alarm
35 Falling Hare
36 What’s Opera Doc?
37 Book Revue
38 Hair-Raising Hare
39 High Diving Hare
40 Jumpin’ Jupiter
41 Mouse Wreckers
42 Tortoise Beats Hare
43 An Itch In Time
44 Inki And The Minah Bird
45 Rhapsody in Rivets
46 Scrap Happy Daffy
47 Porky’s Romance
48 The Old Grey Hare
49 Tweety Pie
50 Walky Talky Hawky

How about the best Disney shorts after this?

12/18/08  10:44am
Chuck R. says:

Jerry, This isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but my vote is to re-print “The 50 Greatest Cartoons”. It’s a great book that is overwhelmingly WB -oriented already. I’m willing to bet that this new concept will retread most of the same ground. With the incredible Looney Tunes DVD’s and all the bonus material to go with them, there are few stones unturned in WB history. Your earlier book was great in that it featured a few exemplary LT cartoons and used those to expose fans to other great underrated shorts like The Big Snit and The Cat Came Back.

Here’s my top 5:

1. Reprint “The 50 Greatest Cartoons”

2. Update “The 50 Greatest Cartoons” so that Pixar shorts and Independent shorts not covered in the previous book can be eligible.

3. Do a book on the best moments or sequences in animation.

4. Do a book about John Hubley

5. Do a book that centers on certain cliches or re-used gags in Animation and give a history of each, e.g. discuss the cartoon “take” and show how it originated and was pushed by Clampett and Tex Avery. Maybe a chapter on inanimate things coming to life, or who was the first to drop an anvil, etc.

You have such remarkable skill, I’m sure you could take something really off-the-wall and make it work.

12/18/08  10:48am

1. Duck Amuck
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Rabbit Fire
4. Rabbit Seasoning
5. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
6. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
7. Hare Trigger
8. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
9. Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
10. Tortoise Wins By a Hare
11. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
12. A Tale of Two Kitties
13. Wabbit Twouble
14. Daffy Duck in Hollywood
15. The Old Grey Hare
16. Kitty Kornered
17. Falling Hare
18. Buckaroo Bugs
19. The Bashful Buzzard
20. Baby Bottleneck
21. What’s Opera, Doc?
22. Russian Rhapsody
23. Porky’s Duck Hunt
24. Back Alley Op-Roar
25. The Aristo-Cat
26. Haredevil Hare
27. Hair-Raising Hare
28. Feed the Kitty
29. Robin Hood Daffy
30. A Wild Hare
31. The Dover Boys
32. Draftee Daffy
33. Walky Talky Hawky
34. Birds Anonymous
35. The Three Little Bops
36. The Hypo-Chondri-Cat
37. Bully For Bugs
38. Porky in Wackyland

12/18/08  10:50am

What the hey, I’ll get in on this. Though I am sure a lot of my picks will be on other’s lists…I’m fairly certain I have a few that will raise eyebrows. I chose’em for various reasons regarding either art direction/design or character/story originality. (Or lack thereof.) :-)

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Amuck
3. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
4. Coal Black & De Sebben Dwarfs
5. One Froggy Evening
6. Rabbit Fire
7. Kitty Kornered
8. Bully for Bugs
9. Rabbit of Seville
10. High Diving Hare
11. Paging Miss Glory
12. Daffy Duck in Hollywood
13. Book Revue
14. Little Red Riding Rabbit
15. Porky in Wackyland
16. Hair-Raising Hare
17. Three Little Bops
18. For Scent-imental Reasons
19. I Love To Singa
20. Long Haired Hare
21. Thugs With Dirty Mugs
22. Pigs In A Polka
23. Little Red Walking Hood
24. Wabbit Twouble
25. Fast and Furry-ous
26. Bowery Bugs
27. The Big Snooze
28. Knighty Knight Bugs
29. A Wild Hare
30. Southern Fried Rabbit
31. Baton Bunny
32. Yankee Doodle Daffy
33. Super Rabbit
34. The Old Grey Hare
35. The Hole Idea
36. Leghorn Swoggled
37. Quentin Quail
38. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
39. Shuffle Off To Buffalo
40. Wackiki Wabbit
41. Transylvania 6-5000
42. Tortoise Wins By A Hare
43. Tortoise Beats Hare
44. Toy Trouble
45. Toy Town Hall
46. A Witch’s Tangled Hare
47. Have You Got Any Castles
48. Detouring America
49. Billboard Frolics
50. Senorella And The Glass Huarache

12/18/08  11:01am
Jason says:

I’m not much for Looney Tune titles, so I’ll just have to post descriptions:

1. My absolute fave is the one that tells about Bug’s rise to stardom. It was a clever parody of all the star bios popular at the time, like the Jolson Story, the Eddie Cantor Story, etc. Brilliant.

2. The Daffy Duck Robin Hood short.

3. Just about any Pepe Le Pew short. I love that guy.

4. The two shorts where Sylvester is Porky’s cat and keeps trying to warn him of the weird stuff that’s happening around them and Porky keeps scolding him and/or ignoring him. Those are both hilarious. And it’s cool to see Sylvester doing something besides chasing that bird around. Porky’s great in them too. A very underrated character IMO.

5. ANY ep with Martin the Martian. That voice KILLS me.

6. The one with Bugs trying to get the penguin back to the Arctic. I think that was the first short that established Bugs as more than just a smart-alec. He became kind of a nice guy, and that expanded his appeal (and differentiated him from lesser lights such as Woody Woodpecker).

7. And yes, What’s Opera Doc?

12/18/08  11:11am
K. Borcz says:

I’m voting for the obvious.
Duck Amuck
What’s Opera Doc!

I also like the one with the big red monster and Bugs, tho I forget what its called. I’m sure someone’s listed it.

Oh and the one where the guys are trapped on a deserted Island. I liked that one.

12/18/08  11:19am
DanO says:

Thank you Larry Levine!! It took ten posts littered with titles before you mentioned “Wakiki Wabbit”.

If I had time to make a list that would be at the top. Its a perfect cartoon.

12/18/08  11:22am
Lloyd says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. Robin Hood Daffy
3. Duck Dodgers
4. One Froggy Evening
5. No Barking
6. Much Ado about Nutting
7. The Scarlett Pumpernickel
8. Assault and Peppered
9. Mexicali Schmoes
10. Bear for Punishment
11. Golden Yeggs
12. Rabbit of Seville
13. Birds Anonymous
14. Feed the Kitty
15. Knighty knight bugs
16. Dog Gone South
17. Transylvania 6-5000
18. Walky Talky Hawky
19. The Unmentionables
20. Tortilla Flaps
21. Herr Meets Hare
22. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
23. The Eager Beaver
24. Drip-Along Daffy
25. Hair-Raising Hare
26. Apes Of Wrath
27. Nelly’s Folly
28. Three Little Bops
29. Satan’s Waitin’
30. Road To Andalay
31. Sahara Hare
32. Bonanza Bunny
33. From A To Z-z-z-z-z

12/18/08  11:30am
Tom Pope says:

Real short list of one’s I could watch over and over.

1. Kitty Kornered,
2. Tortoise vs. Hare.
3. Piggy Bank Robbery.
4. A Tale of Two Kitties.
5. Book Revue.

Super-honorable Mention to Robin Hood Daffy.

Yoicks and away!

12/18/08  11:37am
Iain says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. One Froggy Evening
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. Draftee Daffy
5. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century!
6. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
7. Robin Hood Daffy
8. Falling Hare
9. Beep, Beep
10. The Scarlet Pumpernickle

Honorable Mention: Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs

12/18/08  11:43am
Mike Johnson says:

Lots of good, solid choices so far. Here are my 2 cent’s worth:

1) What’s Opera, Doc?
2) Drip-Along-Daffy
3) The Scarlett Pumpernickel
4) Robin Hood Daffy
5) Bear For Punishment
6) Knighty Knight Bugs
7) Rabbit of Seville
8) Porky in Wackyland
9) One Froggy Evening
10) Feed the Kitty

12/18/08  11:58am

I would say that “Wackiki Wabbit” and “Duck! Rabbit, Duck!” are two of the best ever, and are representative of the whole cannon of films. As much as I like them, other shorts such as “Horton Hatches The Egg” and even “What’s Opera, Doc” should not be included. They are pretty much one off cartoons, that have little or nothing to do with the others, with Horton using Seuss characters and “What’s Opera, Doc” being all musical and strange settings.

12/18/08  12:30pm
Hameed Shaukat says:

My top 10:

1. Duck Amuck
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
5. Falling Hare
6. One Froggy Evening
7. Little Boy Boo
8. Rabbit Fire
9. I Love to Singa
10. Haredevil Hare

12/18/08  12:38pm
Saturnome says:

It’s fun to see the top tens, some are Clampett oriented, other are Jones oriented… I can’t do a top. I can’t decide which is my favorite…

12/18/08  12:56pm

01. Falling Hare
02. Draftee Daffy
03. Super Rabbit
04. The Dover Boys
05. Coal Black and The Seven Dwarfs
06. Russian Rhapsody
05. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
06. Porky In Wackyland
07. A Tale of Two Kitties
08. A Gruesome Twosome
09. Plane Daffy
10. A Corny Concerto
11. Book Revue
12. Tortoise Wins By A Hare

12/18/08  1:03pm
Brien says:

1. Porky Pig’s Feat
2. The Hep Cat
3. Draftee Daffy
4. The Heckling Hare
5. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
6. The Stupor Salesman
7. Strife with Father
8. A Pest in the House
9. Horton Hatches the Egg
10. The Foghorn Leghorn

12/18/08  1:05pm

Here are my nominees:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. A Gruesome Twosome
3. Porky Pig’s Feat
4. Drip-Along Daffy
5. Cheese Chasers
6. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
7. Baby Bottleneck
8. Feed the Kitty
9. Mexican Joyride
10. Rebel Rabbit
11. Red Riding Rabbit
12. Plane Daffy
13. A Bear for Punishment
14. Buckaroo Bugs
15. Walky Talky Hawky
16. Dough Ray Me-Oww
17. Chow Hound
18. Porky and Daffy
19. Birds Anonymous
20. I Got Plenty of Mutton

12/18/08  1:09pm

Well, to get started:

1 Duck Amuck
2 Book Revue
3 Hillbilly Hare
4 Bewitched Bunny
5 Baby Bottleneck
6 Rabbit of Seville
7 Hare-Raising Hare
8 What’s Opera Doc
9 Goldimouse and the Three Cats
10 A Gruesome Twosome

I will make a second post soon…

12/18/08  1:15pm
Virgilio says:

Here’s my fifteen top:

1. One Froggy Evening
2. What’s Opera, Doc?
3. Rabbit of Seville
4. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
5. Deduce, You Say?
6. Broom-Stick Bunny
7. Feed the Kitty
8. Robin Hood Daffy
9. Three Little Bops
10. Bully For Bugs
11. Duck Amuck
12. Long Haired Hare
13. Bear for Punishment
14. Fast and Furry-ous
15. Herr Meets Hare

Pretty hard to choose. :)

12/18/08  1:18pm
uncle wayne says:

Hmmmm….that’s like asking who’s the prettiest girl on the nudist beach? ‘

Imposs!! But I’ll bite!:

“Rebel Rabbit”
“Long-Haired Hare”
“One Froggy Evening”
“Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives”
“Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!”
“Rabbit of Seville”
“Hot-Cross Bunny”
“No Barking”
“Fast & Furry-ous”
“Bedtime for Sniffles”

12/18/08  1:25pm
boxmyth says:

Duck Amuck is a personal favorite of mine.

12/18/08  1:27pm
Roman says:

1. One Froggy Evening
2. Duck Amuck
3. Porky in Wackyland
4. Rabbit Seasoning
5. Birds Anonymous
6. A Wild Hare
7. Bosko The Talk-Ink Kid
8. The Abominable Snow Rabbit
9. Mississippi Hare
10. Barbary Coast Bunny

12/18/08  1:36pm
Ron Price says:

Oh, how I love “best of” lists…

1. One Froggy Evening
2. What’s Opera, Doc
3. Duck Amuck
4. Deduce, You Say (am I really the only one who LOVES this one?)
5. Porky In Wackyland

12/18/08  1:37pm
tommy says:

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves
What’s Opera Doc?
Tortoise Wins by a Hare
The Great Piggybank Robbery
Book Revue
Falling Hare
The Rabbit of Seville
Kitty Kornered
Duck Amok
Porky in Wackyland

12/18/08  1:38pm
Autumn says:

I can’t believe you’re making me choose…

1. What’s Opera Doc? FOR SURE

2. Baseball Bugs

3. Rabbit of Seville

4. Robin Hood Daffy

5. Duck Amuck

6. Duck Dodgers

7. Bully for Bugs

8. Feed the Kitty

9. Jumpin Jupiter

10. Rabbit Fire

11. Three Little Bops

12. Long Haired Hare

13. Scarlet Pumpernickel

14. Scrap Happy Daffy

15. Super Rabbit

I’m sitting here making this list and I suddenly realize I could be here all day, listing WAY more than 100 cartoons that I LOVE so much. All the ones I chose sound so obvious and they’re what everyone seems to choose, but it’s because they are the BEST

12/18/08  1:56pm
Jimchig says:

No time to create a list right now, but I have to throw out a title I have not seen here, AT ALL?

Rocket Bye Baby - the human/martian baby mix up. One of my favs.

12/18/08  2:04pm
Gavin says:

I was just thinking of this Jerry, what a coincidence.

1.Kitty Kornered
2.Broom-Stick Bunny
3.Russian Rhapsody
4.Claws for Alarm
5.Transylvania 6500
6.Rabbits Kin
7.Bugsy and Mugsy
8.The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
9.Dough-Ray-Meow
10.Robin Hood Daffy
11.Dover Boys
12.Daffy Duck Slept Here
13.Mouse and Garden
14.Hyde and Hair
15.Ballot Box Bunny
16.Knighty-Knight Bugs
17.Hair Trimmed
18.14 Carrot Rabbit
19.Barbary Coast Bunny
20.Mississippi Hare
21.Southern Fried Rabbit

21! Hardy Har-Har, Hardy Har-Har

12/18/08  2:21pm
Alex Kirwan says:

Here’s an imperfect top 30
Duck Amuck
What’s opera doc
Great piggy Bank Robbery
One Froggy Evening
Duck Dodgers in the 24th1/2 century
Kitty Kornered
Baby Bottle-Neck
Hair-Raising Hare
Feed the Kitty
Falling Hare
A Hare Grows in Manhattan
You Ought to be in Pictures (why is this one only on one other list!?)
Porky Pig’s Feet
Bully for Bugs
Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves
Porky in Wackyland
The Dover Boys
Claws for Alarm
Case of the Missing Hare
Rocket-Bye Baby
Little Red Rabbit Hood
Old Gray Hare
Book Revue
Pest in the House
The Heckling Hare
Gorilla my Dreams
Baseball Bugs
I love to Singa (I do not need to defend this selection)
Miss Glory
Fast and Furry-ous

12/18/08  2:25pm
Michael stewart says:

I know very chuck Jones Heavy, but you could do a best of book on just his works alone

1) Rabbit of seville
2) Duck amuck
3)What’s opera Doc
4)Drip along Daffy
5) 3 little Bops
6) Bully for Bugs
7)The Abominable Snow Rabbit
8) Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
9) One Froggy evening
10) The High note

12/18/08  2:31pm
TMBG05 says:

1 Duck! Rabbit!, Duck!
2 Rabbit of Seville
3 Feed the Kitty
4 Duck Amuck
5 Robin hood daffy
6 Bugs Bonnets
7 Pizzicato Pussycat
8 Porky’s Preview
9 Pigs in a Polka
10 Horton hatches the egg
11 Hollywood steps out
12 Chow Hound
13 Dog Gone south
14 Hillbilly Bunny
15 Odor of the day
16 Tabasco Road
17 Satan’s Waitin’
18 the Turn tale wolf
19 An itch in time
20 She was an acrobat’s Daugther

12/18/08  2:39pm
Wm C.Wallace says:

This is like comparing apples and oranges.Since most of the top ones are by Bob Clampett or Chuck Jones…… why not just do books devoted to them?A book of the 50 “worst” cartoons might be a good idea too.

12/18/08  2:40pm
Darryl Grossi says:

Here’s my top 25:

1. Rabbit Of Seville
2. Dover Boys
3. Duck Dodgers
4. Rabbit Seasoning
5. A Bear for Punishment
6. Bully for Bugs
7. Case of the Stuttering Pig
8. Crowing Pains
9. Swooner Crooner
10. Russian Rhapsody
11. A Tale of Two Kitties
12. Tortoise Wins by a Hare
13. One Froggy Evening
14. Baby Bottleneck
15. Gruesome Twosome
16. Scarlet Pumpernickel
17. Bunny Hugged
18. Great Piggy Bank Robbery
19. My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
20. Kitty Kornered
21. Henpecked Duck
22. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
23. What’s Opera Doc?
24. Catch as Cats Can
25. Long Haired Hare

BTW, great site, been visiting it since the beginning.

12/18/08  2:49pm
Thad says:

Amazingly, I haven’t seen A TALE OF TWO MICE, INKI AT THE CIRCUS, or FELINE FRAME-UP show up here yet, three undiscovered gems that would definitely be on my ‘desert island picks’.

12/18/08  2:49pm
Tommy Day says:

One Froggy Evening

Duck Amuck

Robin Hood Daffy

Whats Opera Doc?

Hare-Raising Hare

12/18/08  3:03pm
Zane Kohler says:

1.Duck Amuck
2.One Froggy Evening
3.What’s Opera, Doc?
4.Feed The Kitty
5.Rabbit Fire
6.Duck Dodgers In The 24 and a Half Century
7.Super Rabbit
8.Rabbit Seasoning
9.Easter Yeggs
10.Duck! Rabbit! Duck!

12/18/08  3:43pm
Causal Cartoon Fan says:

Hard… From what haven’t been mentioned: “Punch Trunk” and “Gold Diggers of ‘35″

12/18/08  3:44pm

I was lucky enough to stumble across a copy of 50 Greatest Cartoon at a car boot sale sometime last year and love the book to pieces. Can we hope for a cover as brilliant as the one that book had? As for my list of Looney Tunes shorts, I’ll get back to you on that, so very hard to put them in any kind of order. =P

12/18/08  4:37pm
Michael Rosenberg says:

Hi Jerry–
I can’t wait for your new book!

Here’s my list:

1. Porky Pig’s Feat (1943/Tashlin)
2. Baby Bottleneck (1944/Clampett)
3. Bye Bye Bluebeard (1946/Davis)
4. Thugs with Dirty Mugs (1939/Avery)
5. Porky in Wackyland (1938/Clampett)
6. Feed the Kitty (1951/Jones)
7. Bully for Bugs (1951/Jones)
8. Bugs and Thugs (1954/Freleng)
9. Rabbit Fire (1951/Jones)
10. The Wearing of the Grin (1950/Jones)
11. Hare Trigger (1944/Freleng)
12. Bugs Bunny Catches the Boyd (1942/Clampett)
13. Coal black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1944/Clampett)
14. Dough Ray Meow! (1948/Davis)
15. Crowing Pains (1946/McKimson)
16. The Big Snooze (1946/Clampett)
17. Hare Ribbin’ (1944/Clampett)
18. Porky’s Preview (1941/Avery)
19. Eatin’ off the Cuff (1942/Clampett)
20. Scrap Happy Daffy (1943/Tashlin)
21. A Bone for a Bone (1951/Freleng)
22. 8 Ball Bunny (1950/Jones)
23. Little Boy Boo (1954/Mckimson)
24. Robinson Crusoe Jr. (1942/McCabe
25. We the Animals Squeak (1941/Clampett)
26. Water, Water Every Hare (1952/Jones)
27. Cracked Quack (1952/Freleng)
28. Tin Pan Alley Cats (1944/Clampett)
29. Barber of Seville (1950/Jones)
30. Norman Normal (1968/Lovy)

Whew, that concludes my top 30 Looney Tunes.
I want to thank you for this opportunity, Jerry.

-Michael Rosenberg

P.S. I would love to have my name acknowledged in the book. Thanks!

12/18/08  4:50pm
Some Toon says:

Oh, I’ll be quick:

3) “A Wild Hare” - The first official Bugs cartoon and still the definitive one.
2) “What’s Opera Doc?” - The “Stairway to Heaven” of cartoons <:D
1) “Duck Amuck” - With “Opera”, easily Chuck Jones’ crowning moment of awesome.

12/18/08  5:14pm
zavkram says:

Oh, what the heck… I’ll add another 15 to my first listing; as I’ve had time to mull over some others I’d also like to see included. I’m sure most of these have already been mentioned. I’m also aware that this list is more “Jones-centric”; but, again, I stand by my choices:

11. Feed the Kitty (Jones, 1952): That ANY animated cartoon can elicit such contrasting emotions from an audience (anytime I’ve ever seen this run in movie houses, most people begin crying when Marc Anthony does) is a tribute in and of itself to its creator.

12. Operation: Rabbit (Jones, 1952): I chose this for the very same reasons previously stated above.

13. The Dover Boys (Jones, 1942): Never mind the fact that Jones and John McGrew were producing UPA-style cartoons before that studio was even created; this is one hilarious short. Mel Blanc’s over-the-top performance as “Dan Backslide” has yet to be equalled, IMHO. This is also, I think, one of Tedd Pierce’s best cartoons.

14. You Ought To Be In Pictures (Freleng, 1940): A very clever and funny cartoon; with a wonderful blend of animation and live-action. Michael Maltese is great as the Studio Cop, but Leon Schlesinger also turns in a fairly decent performance.

15. Cross-Country Detours (Avery, 1940): The funniest and most successful, IMHO, of the Avery “travelogue” parodies. My favorite gag? The “frog croaking”, of course!

16. The Henpecked Duck (Clampett, 1941): One of my favorite Daffy Duck vehicles (Daffy as the put-upon spouse wasn’t done nearly enough, I think); watching his attempts to hide his indiscretions from his wife never fails to crack me up! Great production values and flashback sequences.

17. Fast and Furryous (Jones, 1949): I’ll go ahead and throw a “Road-Runner” cartoon into the mix; since at this posting it doesn’t look like many have been mentioned. This was, of course, the first one in the series and I feel that Jones and Co. got it right from the very start.

18. Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2 Century (Jones, 1953): Another hilarious send-up of a well-established film genre. Mike Maltese’s dialogue and visual gags are priceless and Maurice Noble’s layouts could give Salvadore Dali a run for his money.

19. Bully for Bugs (Jones, 1953) Bullfight cartoons aren’t funny?! Shame on you, Eddie Seltzer!

20. Riff Raffy Daffy (Art Davis, 1948): This is one of my favorite cartoons that team Daffy and Porky together and one of the best from the short-lived Davis unit; with great writing by Bill Scott and Lloyd Turner (it’s a shame that they eventually got split up). This cartoon reinforces my opinion that a lot of the Warner Bros. cartoons are comparable to the best of the live-action comedy shorts that were produced in Hollywood during the 1930’s and 40’s.

21. Bad Ol’ Putty Tat (Freleng, 1949): Freleng’s comedic style has been likened by one critic to that of Ernest Lubitsch; in that part of the humor derives more from what he DOESN’T show the audience. A case in point is the very opening of this cartoon; in which Sylvester can be seen lying prostrate on the ground at the bottom of Tweety’s barbed-wire-reinforced birdhouse. He is covered in scrapes and bruises and tapping his fingers in an annoyed fashion. This scene speaks volumes about what has just happened with the utmost economy of action.

22. Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (Jones, 1953): The best, I think, of the three Bugs-Daffy-Elmer hunting cartoons. Daffy’s histrionics are side-splitting!

23. High-Diving Hare (Freleng, 1949): I was torn at first between this one and “Bugs Bunny Rides Again”; but this one won out for me on the merit of its blackout gags and timing.

24. One Froggy Evening (Jones, 1955): So much has already been said about this great animated parable that anything I add would be redundant.

25. Bowery Bugs (Davis, 1949) This was Davis’s only Bugs Bunny cartoon (and it’s a pity he never got to do more). Bugs is simply great, in his various disguises, as he proceeds to put Brody through the wringer!

12/18/08  5:29pm
Matthew Yorston says:

Well, here’s my top 50 in random order…..

1) Often an Orphan
2) The Dover Boys
3) Wagon Heels
4) A Wild Hare
5) Scaredy Cat
6) Baseball Bugs
7) Bugs and Thugs
8) Duck Amuck
9) Wabbit Twouble
10) The Heckling Hare
11) Porky’s Duck Hunt
12) The Blow Out
13) Porky Pig’s Feat
14) Brother Brat
15) Plane Daffy
16) The Unruly Hare
17) Nasty Quacks
18) The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
19) Porky in Wackyland
20) Rabbit Punch
21) Rebel Rabbit
22) The Hasty Hare
23) His Bitter Half
24) Speedy Gonzales
25) Fast and Furry-ous
26) Zipping Along
27) What’s Brewin’, Bruin?
28) Dough Ray Me-ow
29) Mouse Menace
30) The Stupor Salesman
31) Rabbit Hood
32) Super Rabbit
33) The Scarlet Pumpernickel
34) Daffy Duck and Egghead
35) Horton Hatches the Egg
36) Canned Feud
37) Bugs Bunny Rides Again
38) One Froggy Evening
39) Bugs’ Bonnets
40) Now Hear This
41) Hopalong Casualty
42) Cheese Chasers
43) Thugs With Dirty Mugs
44) Porky’s Romance
45) Porky’s Preview
46) Pizzicato Pussycat
47) Ain’t She Tweet
48) Fair and Worm-er
49) The Eager Beaver
50) Norman Normal

12/18/08  5:38pm
TV's Kyle says:

My top 5:
1- Baby Bottleneck
2- Crowing Pains
3- Falling Hare
4- Dover Boys
5- Rabbit of Seville

12/18/08  6:06pm
Roberto says:

I forgot my complete name is Roberto González. I would love to have my name acknowledged in the book, too. I have a couple of your books and they are very informative and entertaining.

12/18/08  6:09pm
John Papovitch says:

Gee, I’d never be able to pick so many favorites, most of them would be ones people already said, but amoung my favorites are of course:

1. What’s Opera Doc
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Duck Amuck
4. Porky in Wackyland
5. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
6. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
7. Crowing Pains
8. Horton Hatches the Egg
9. Rabbit Seasoning
10. The Old Grey Hare
11. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
12. Hair-Raising Hare
13. Fast and Furry-ous
14. Baby Bottleneck
15. Falling Hare

12/18/08  6:14pm
Zoran Taylor says:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Draftee Daffy
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. The Dover Boys At Pimento University
5. Duck Amuck
6. The Foghorn Leghorn
7. Baby Bottleneck
8. Falling Hare
9. The Hep Cat
10. A Bear For Punishment

12/18/08  6:24pm

Here’s five of my real favourites WB cartoons of all-time:

“A Wild Hare” - Not only it’s the real first Bugs Bunny cartoon ever released but it shows some of the best dialogue and gags moments in cartoon history. It’s a great Tex Avery during his best years at Warner Bros.

“Fast and Furry-ous” - Often considered like a real favourite of mine, i like mostly the speed animation of this cartoon. If it was not made into a cartoon series, it was probably the best one-shot ever released at WB.

“Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” - The most strong Duck season/Rabbit season cartoon ever released into a different season. This make also some of memorable quotes, but unfortunately forgotten by the fanboys/fangirls.

“The Foghorn Leghorn” - Surely one of the best Foghorn cartoons ever released. The animation is gorgeous and stunning and the autumn backgrounds is wonderful and amazingly detailed.

“Long-Haired Hare” - Well know Warner Bros. cartoon with Bugs playing at banjo, it was a saturday morning favourite during 40 years and a personal appreciated cartoon of mine. A instant classic.

12/18/08  6:29pm
Justin J Times & Co says:

1. Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 century
2. Falling Hare
3. Feather Dusted
4. What’s Opera, Doc?
5. My Green Fedora

12/18/08  6:31pm
Robert M says:

1. Wet Hare
2. From Hare to Heir
3. Stupor Duck
4. Daffy Duck Hunt
5. Shishka Bugs
6. Bonanza Bunny
7. Cat Tails for Two
8. Boston Quackie
9. China Jones
10. Design for Leaving

12/18/08  6:31pm
Brandon says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. What’s Opera, Doc
3. Birds Anonymous
4. Rabbit Fire
5. Daffy Duck & Egghead
6. Horton Hatches the Egg
7. One Froggy Evening
8. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves
9. A Tale of Two Kitties
10. Hare Ribbin
11. Dough for the Do-Do
12. Show Biz Bugs
13. Cinderella Meets Fella
14. The Impatient Patient
15. Fast and Furry-ous
16. Operation Rabbit
17. A Wild Hare
18. Rabbit of Seville
19. Puss N’ Booty
20. Scrap Happy Daffy

Real Name: Brandon Pierce

12/18/08  6:36pm
Brian says:

in no order:

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Porky In Wackyland
Now Hear This!
What’s Opera Doc?
Porky Pig’s Feat
Duck Amuck
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
Hip! Hip! Hurry!
No Barking
Russian Rhapsody
The Old Grey Hare
Porky’s Duck Hunt
The Village Smithy
Porky’s Preview
The Big Snooze
Baby Bottleneck
Book Revue
One Froggy Evening
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Hare Tonic
Tortoise Wins by a Hare
Clean Pastures
High Diving Hare
You Ought To Be In Pictures
A Cartoonist’s Nightmare
Puss ‘n’ Booty

12/18/08  6:52pm
jay Brennan says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. Duck Rabbit Duck
5. Rabbit of Seville
6. One Froggy Evening
7. Broom Stick Bunny
8. Rabbit Fire
9. I Love to Singa
10. Coal Black and de Sebben Darwves
11. A Corny Concerto
12. Rhapsody Rabbit
13. This is a Life?
14. Little Red riding Rabbit
15. Easter Yeggs
16. A Lad in his Lamp
17. Water, water every hare
18 Long Haired Hare
19. Rabbit fire
20 Punch Trunk
21. Hobo Bobo
22. Falling Hare

12/18/08  6:55pm
Paul Naas says:

Top 10:

1. Duck Amuck
2. What’s Opera, Doc?
3. Rabbit of Seville
4. Wabbit Twouble
5, 6, 7. The “rabbit season, duck season” trilogy, in no particular order
8. I Love To Singa
9. Feed the Kitty
10. You Ought To Be In Pictures (I met Friz not long before he died, and he still remembered loads of details about how they put this one together.)

I’d also like to lobby for a couple of cartoons that don’t get mentioned often. Don’t care where they end up; I’d just like to see them get their (over)due:

“Fair and Worm-er”: hands-down the best chase cartoon ever.
“Goopy Geer”: Great black-and-white era cartoon.

12/18/08  6:56pm
Michael says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. Skyscraper Caper
3. A Wild Hare
4. Fast and Furry-Ous
5. Beep Prepared
6. The Wild Chase
7. Chasers on the Rocks
8. Compressed Hare
9. A Sheep in the Deep
10. Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too
11. Doggone People
12. Bear Feat
13. Norman Normal
14. A Cartoonists Nightmare
15. Rabbit Fire
16. Sinkin’ in the Bathtub
17. Bosko’s Picture Show
18. Really Scent
19. Wise Quackers
20. Mexican Boarders
21. Gonzales Tamales
22. Bugged by a Bee
23. Strangled Eggs
24. Little Boy Boo
25. Tortose Wins by a Hare
26. Birds Anonymous
27. Design for Leaving
28. Hyde and Go Tweet
29. Trip for Tat
30. Duck Dogers and the 24th and a Half Century
31. You Ought to be in Pictures
32. Porky’s Pooch
33. Quacker Tracker
34. What’s Cookin’, Doc?
35. You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’
36. Egghead Rides Again
37. Eatin’ on the Cuff or The Moth Who Came to Dinner
38. Show Biz Bugs
39. The Million Hare
40. Early to Bet
41. Raw! Raw! Rooster
42. Pop ‘Im Pop
43. Scrap Happy Daffy
44. What’s Up, Doc?
45. A Hound for Punishment
46. Tortilia Flaps
47. Tweety and the Beanstalk
48. Norman Normal
49. Daffy Rents
50. Mother Was a Rooster

12/18/08  7:04pm

1. The Isle of Pingo Pongo
2. Slightly Daffy
3. Fast Buck Duck
4. Circus Today
5. Wacky Wildlife
6. Picador Porky
7. Saps in Chaps
8. Bugs and Thugs
9. Wabbit Twouble
10. My Bunny lies over the sea
11. Sahara Hare
12. Bugs Bunny nips the nips
13. A Coy Decoy
14. Daffy Duck and Egghead
15. High Diving Hare
16. Horse Hare
17. Porky’s Hare Hunt
18. This is a life?
19. Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk
20. Hip! Hip! Hurry
21. To Hare is Human
22. Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt
23. I Love to Singa
24. The Foxy Duckling
25. The Daffy Duckaroo
26. Rover’s Rivel
27. Dime to Retire
28. Farm Frolics
29. Wet Hare
30. Porky’s Duck Hunt
31. What’s Opera Doc?
32. Thugs with Dirty Mugs
33. Of Fox and Hounds
34. Prest-o Change-o
35. Bird in a Guilty Cage
36. Detouring America
37. Thumb Fun
38. Walky Talky Hawky
39. Book Revue
40. Wacky Blackout
41. Horton Hatches the Egg
42. The Bird came C.O.D
43. A Day at the Zoo
44. Porky the Fireman
45. A Gruesome Twosome
46. An Itch in Time
47. Dangerous Dan Mcfoo
48. The Unruly Hare
49. Porky and Gabby
50. Yankee Doodle Daffy

12/18/08  7:04pm
Naomi Perl says:

Surprised nobody’s really promoting the nice old banned ones.
Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips. It’s got to be in there.
Russian Rhapsody, too.

12/18/08  7:08pm
Glowworm says:

Hmm-this is difficult and next to impossible so I will mention 15-all deserving to be in this book but not neccessarilly in the order mentioned-and yet ones I love.

Feed the Kitty
The Rabbit of Seville
Bad Ol’ Putty Tat
Banty Raids
Operation Rabbit
What’s Opera Doc
Book Revue
Much Ado About Nutting
Scaredy Cat
Eating off the Cuff or the Moth who Came to Dinner
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Early to Bet
It’s Hummertime
Buccaneer Bunny
Bugs Bunny Rides Again

Of course I have tons of favorites so it’s very hard to select cartoons like that.

12/18/08  7:08pm

Here are 25 of my favorites, FWIW:

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Nasty Quacks
Russian Rhapsody
A Wild Hare
Porky Pig’s Feat
Pigs In A Polka
Chow Hound
Kitty Kornered
Book Revue
Puss ‘n’ Booty
The Heckling Hare
Porky’s Preview
Scaredy Cat
Roughly Squeaking
Thugs With Dirty Mugs
Cinderella Meets Fella
Porky In Egypt
Porky In Wackyland
Porky’s Romance
Baby Bottleneck
Dog Gone South
Mississippi Hare
Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarves
Water, Water Every Hare
No Barking

12/18/08  7:11pm
Grant Tregloan says:

OK. My list is pretty much made up of things already written.
I only pick a top 5 for the order, as I don’t thin anyone else has put Three Little Bops at the top

1. 3 LITTLE BOPS
2. DUCK AMUCK
3. DUCK! RABBIT! DUCK!
4. DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24half CENTURY
5. ONE FROGGY EVENING

Also I’m a big fan of the WB cartoons that feature no characters (you know what I mean) but are more like documentaries, but I’m not at that level of WB fan to know their names.

-G.

PS: I never realised what a fan I am of Daffy until I looked at this list

PPS: Can’t wait to buy this book.

12/18/08  7:15pm
OM says:

…The Top Ten, in order:

1) “What’s Opera, Doc?”

2) “Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century!”

3) “Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves!”

4) “Paging Miss Glory”

5) “Horton Hatches The Egg!”

6) “One Froggy Evening”

7) “The Hypochondri-Cat”

8) “Wabbit Seasoning”

9) “Chow Hound”

10) “Porky in Wackyland”

…Honorable mention to the Jack Benny as a Mouse one, “I Love Ta Singa”, and “Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips!”, the latter I’d love to see Jerry have the balls to list anywhere in his top 100!

12/18/08  7:17pm
Steve Siegert says:

My top 40

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Amuck
3. One Froggy Evening
4. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
5. Porky in Wackyland
6. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
7. A Wild Hare
8. Fast and Furry-ous
9. For Scent-Imental Reasons
10. Rabbit Fire
11. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
12. Tweetie Pie
13. Porky’s Duck Hunt
14. Walky Talky Hawky
15. Feed the Kitty
16. Scrap Happy Daffy
17. Ali Baba Bunny
18. The Big Snooze
19. Robin Hood Daffy
20. From A to Z-z-z-z
21. Three Little Bops
22. Rhapsody Rabbit
23. The Dover Boys
24. Speedy Gonzales
25. Bully for Bugs
26. Scaredy Cat
27. Porky Pig’s Feat
28. Birds Anonymous
29. High Diving Hare
30. Rabbit Seasoning
31. Kitty Kornered
32. Horton Hatches the Egg
33. Russian Rhapsody
34. The Big Snooze
35. A Corny Concerto
36. Plane Daffy
37. Knighty Knight Bugs
38. Falling Hare
39. Gee Whiz-z-z-z
40. Draftee Daffy

12/18/08  7:19pm
Brian Crist says:

One that never fails to amuse is THE HEP CAT, with a catchy song, great animation, a decidedly “adult” quality to it, and lotsa laughs!

12/18/08  7:19pm

Here are my Top 20 …

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Amuck
3. Baby Bottleneck
4. Porky in Wackyland
5. Rabbit Fire
6. Rabbit Seasoning
7. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
8. Buckaroo Bugs
9. Falling Hare
10. Rabbit of Seville
11. Draftee Daffy
12. Feed the Kitty
13. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
14. Little Red Riding Rabbit
15. You Ought to be in Pictures
16. Rhapsody Rabbit
17. Porky in Egypt
18. Duck Dodgers in the 24 – ½ Century
19. Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur
20. Rhapsody in Rivets

12/18/08  7:24pm
Michael says:

My list:

1. Duck Amuck
2. Skyscraper Caper
3. Fast and Furry-Ous
4. Beep Prepared
5. The Wild Chase
6. Chasers on the Rocks
7. A Sheep in the Deep
8. Rabbit Stew and rabbits, Too!
9. A Wild Hare
10. Mexican Borders
11. Rabbit Fire
12. Mucho Loco
13. Wise Quackers
14. Aqua Duck
15. Porky Pig’s Feat
16. Sinkin’ in the Bathtub
17. Bosko’s Picture Show
18. Really Scent
19. Little Boy Boo
20. Bugs and Thugs
21. Southern Fried Rabbit
22. Daffy Rents
23. Porky’s Badtime Story
24. Bugged by a Bee
25. Dumb Patrol (with Bugs and Sam)
26. Wild Wife
27. Bear Feat
28. What’s Cookin’, Doc?
29. Gonzales Tamales
30. Trip for Tat
31. Early to Bet
32. Bushy Hare
33. Russian Rhapsody
34. Design for Leaving
35. Feudy Cat
36. You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’
37. Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name
38. Birds Anonymous
39. Now Hear This
40. Strangled Eggs
41. The Dangerous Dan McFoo
42. Hyde and Go Tweet
43. The Hole idea
44. Buddy’s Beer garden
45. You Ought to be in Pictures
46. Eatin’ on te Cuff or The Moth Who Came to Dinner
47. Bacall to Arms
48. Porky’s Pooch
49. Duck Dogers and the 24th and a Half Century
50. The Ducksters

12/18/08  7:24pm
Joe Valdivia says:

ok, to save time, a top 5-
1. “Duck Amuck”- the perfect cartoon, daffy is one of the most entertaining characters (live or animated) ever introduced to the silver screen, and this short shows why.
2. “Whats Opera Doc?”- of course a universal list topper, and deservedly so. the best parody of an opera (and anythning for that matter) if i ever saw one.
3. “I like to singa”- i have a soft spot for the musical shorts, and this one is definitely my favorite, with an underlying theme for accepting those who are different.
4. “Goofy Groceries”- still funny after 50+ decades and some of the best animation I’ve ever seen, a definite example of the golden age of animation.
5. “Daffy Duck and Egghead”- the word “Looney Tooney” and a variation for the theme song jingle for looney tunes are both in this short, along with some of the most memorable gags in cartoon history.
6. “3 Little Bops”- a wonderful spin on the old “3 little pigs story’. its definitely a time piece for the early years of jazz, but still manages entertain, even today.
7. “Rabbit Fire”- the now famous love/hate (more hate than love actually) relationship between Daffy and Bugs in the first of the “hunting trilogy”.
ok, its a top 7, but i couldn’t help it, i love every loney tunes and merrie melodies shorts.

12/18/08  7:25pm
Maxpower says:

There’s only one choice: 1. Feed the Kitty

This creation flows from being to end . . . not a hint of flatness or forcing the momentum. It simply is.

I suspect many children and perhaps a good number of adults, experienced emotional arousal and satisfaction from an animated creation for the first time with this work.

The order from 2 - 100 will be more difficult.

12/18/08  7:26pm
Joe Harmatiuk says:

#1 One Froggy Evening

12/18/08  7:29pm
Nic Kramer says:

I know a couple of 1960’s cartoons to be on the list: “Now Hear This!” (1963) and “The Last Hungrey Cat” (1961).

12/18/08  7:34pm
Daffy47 says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
3. Falling Hare
4. Three Little Bops
5. Duck Dogers in the 24 1/2 Century
6. What’s Opera Doc?
7. Ali Baba Bunny
8. Bully for Bugs
9. Feed The Kitty
10. Rabbit Fire
11. The Rabbit of Seville
12. Operation: Rabbit
13. I Love To Singa
14. Robin Hood Daffy
15. Porky in Wackyland

– Kathy Dolan

12/18/08  7:39pm
Kurt Frank says:

My top 5 in order….

1. Three Little Bops
2. Bully For Bugs
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24th and A Half Century
4. Porky in Wackyland
5. What’s Opera Doc?

12/18/08  7:42pm
Trent Hawkins says:

Bunny Hugged

Hands down the funniest Bugs Bunny cartoon ever.

12/18/08  7:50pm
Ron Ladouceur says:

15 top choices, more or less in order:

Russian Rhapsody
Swooner Crooner
Rocket-Bye Baby
Baseball Bugs
Brother Brat
Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2th Century
Duck Amuck
Rabbit of Seville
High-Diving Hare
Water, Water Every Hare
Hillbilly Hare
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Plane Daffy
Knighty Knight Bugs

12/18/08  7:51pm
GregS says:

1. What’s Opera Doc?
2. Baseball Bugs
3. The one where Bugs says” I am Elmer Fudd, I own a mansion and a yacht…”

12/18/08  7:53pm
Stu West says:

My favourite of all the Road Runner shorts is Lickety Splat. I nearly killed myself laughing at it when I was 12 or so. I could say more, but just in case anyone reading this hasn’t seen it: get thee to youtube!

12/18/08  7:59pm
Merlin Haas says:

A couple that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:

Daffy the Commando (my favorite WW II-related cartoon)

Jumpin’ Jupiter (Porky and Sylvester abducted by aliens)

Rabbit of Seville would top my list.

12/18/08  8:02pm
Anna says:

Hair-Raising Hare.
What’s Opera, Doc?
Hare-Way to the stars
Bewitched Bunny
Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
The Adventures Of The Road Runner

12/18/08  8:05pm

Well… The obvious: I’d put the “rabbit season” trilogy at the top, followed closely by What’s Opera, Seville, Duck Amuck, Froggy Evening, and Duck Dodgers.

But as for the second tier of greats, I nominate:
-Long-Haired Hare
-Hair-Raising Hare
-I Love To Singa
-The Dover Boys
-Back Alley Uproar (PERFECT comedic timing)
-High Diving Hare (the only time I think Freleng really mastered the frenetic lunacy bit)
-To Beep Or Not To Beep (the rapid-fire catapult gags at the end make it all worthwhile)
-A Corny Concerto

I know there’s no Tweety, Pepe, Foghorn, or Speedy toons on this list, but hey, can’t have it all.

12/18/08  8:06pm
Pat O'Neill says:

A few I didn’t see in the above lists:

Joe the Firefly
The Porky one with Uncle Sam
Singin’ in the Bathtub (for historical significance if nothing else)
Gremlins from the Kremlin

12/18/08  8:11pm
Pat O'Neill says:

I don’t know if this went through the first time, but here a few I haven’t seen mentioned:

Joe the Fire Fly
the Porky one with Uncle Sam
Singin’ in the Bathtub (for historical reasons if nothing else)
Gremlins from the Kremlin

12/18/08  8:13pm
JulieT says:

What’s Opera, Doc
Rabbit Seasoning
Bully for Bugs
Rabbit of Seville
Hillbilly Hare

12/18/08  8:15pm
PCUnfunny says:

I myself wouldn’t even agree with my own list. There is just too many cartoons oh well, here I go:

1. Coal Black and The Seben Dwarfs
2. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
3. What Makes A Daffy Duck (very underrated IMO)
4. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
5. My Favorite Duck
6. The Dover Boys
7. Porky Pig’s Feat
8. The Stupor Sales Man
9. Duck Amuck
10. Birds Anonymous

12/18/08  8:19pm
Daniel says:

I’m glad to see much love given to “Feed the Kitty.”

“Fresh Airedale” is woefully underappreciated.

12/18/08  8:23pm
Melanie Fletcher says:

Water, Water Every Hare (1952)!!!!

12/18/08  8:24pm
Paul Camp says:

What’s Opera, Doc?
The Rabbit of Seville

12/18/08  8:32pm
Jonathan says:

-WHATS OPERA DOC?
-BEEP! BEEP!
-BEEP PREPARED
-STOP LOOK AND HASTEN
-THEY’RE THEY GO-GO-GO
-ALI BABA BUNNY
-RUSSIAN RHAPSODY
-PIGS IN A POLKA
-THREE LITTLE BOPS
-YANKEE DOODLE DAFFY
-COMMANDO DUCK
-HASTY HARE
-DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24TH 1/2 CENTURY
-HARE WAY TO THE STARS
-PAGE MISS GLORY
-BABY BOTTLEECK
-DUCK TRACY
-SCAREDY CAT
-JUMPIN JUPITER
-CLAWS FOR ALARM
-MOUSE WRECKERS
-KIDDIN THE KITTEN
-A PECK O’ TROUBLE
-RHAPSODY IN RIVETS
-HAIR RAISING HARE
-WATER WATER EVERY HARE-FALLING HARE
-DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR
-SCARLET PUMPERNICKEL

12/18/08  8:35pm

Wow. I don’t even know where to start…wait, yes I do.

1. Rabbit of Seville. I’m going to echo the earlier poster and claim that this, in fact, is the perfect toon. It is the combination of masterful use of source material, music and animation timing, and the most important (for me) component of a cartoon - the *contest*. Because the best Looney Toons, for me, always involved a contest, from which sprung the traps, gags, chases, escapes, and every other setup.

2. What’s Opera, Doc? Same as above, but carrying a bit *too* much baggage to make the top spot. Still, every time I watch it, I see Warner animators sitting glassy-eyed at the opera their wives dragged them to, thinking furiously, hands itching for pencils.

3. Rabbit Seasoning. The best use of both the deadpan replay (just in front of Robin Hood Daffy) and of Daffy Physics.

4. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century. Marvin. Nuff said.

5. Robin Hood Daffy.

6. Bully for Bugs. Proof that even incidental characters can be made of win, and one of the ur-Contest toons.

7. Rabbit Transit. Nothing *but* a chase. Plus, Cecil.

8. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery. Daffy par excellence.

9. Hair-raising Hare - Peter Lorre, Gossamer, *and* Bugs doing his thing, fourth-wall violation and all.

10. Long-haired Hare. Again, incidental character contest for the win.

And of course, those are just the ones that I keep on my phone at all times just in case.

12/18/08  8:58pm

Drip-Along Daffy without a doubt…the scene where Nasty Canasta drinks his frothing drink to the sound of “gurkel, gurkel, gurkel” and then his hat does a little flip. Pure comedic genius. A close second is the classic “One Froggy Evening” but then that will be in most folk’s top 10.

12/18/08  9:00pm
Grian Browe says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. Robin Hood Daffy
3. Rocket Squad
4. Rabbit Seasoning
5. Rabbit Fire
6. Duck Rabbit Duck
7. Bully For Bugs
8. Drip Along Daffy
9. Steal Wool
10. One Froggy Evening
11. The Dover Boys
12. Coal Black
13. Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips

12/18/08  9:07pm

1. Boyhood Daze
2. Bully for Bugs
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24th1/2 century
4. Duck Amuck
5. Great Piggy Bank Robbery
6. One Froggy Evening
7. What’s Opera Doc?
8. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves
9. From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
10. A Wild Hare

12/18/08  9:07pm
Jeff K says:

The top 10 were easy enough to come up with… the rest of them are in a reasonable order - hard to quantify whether I like #23 or #24 better, you know…

01) What’s Opera Doc?
02) Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
03) Duck Amuck
04) Duck Dogers in the 24 1/2 Century
05) Robin Hood Daffy
06) The Long-Haired Hare
07) From Hare to Heir
08) One Froggy Evening
09) Ali Baba Bunny
10) Drip-Along Daffy
11) The Abominable Snow Rabbit
12) Hare-Way to the Stars
13) The Big Snooze
14) Knighty Knight Bugs
15) Little Red Riding Rabbit
16) Rabbit of Seville
17) Fast and Furry-ous
18) The Dover Boys
19) Rabbit’s Kin
20) Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk
21) Falling Hare
22) Hare Remover
23) Don’t Give Up the Sheep
24) Hyde and Go Tweet
25) Tortoise Beats Hare
26) Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears
27) The Hare-Brained Hypnotist
28) Transylvania 6-5000
29) The Three Little Bops
30) Porky in Wackyland

And the last name is “Kochosky”, for purposes of acknowledgment. Thank you for the opportunity to help you out in this project.

12/18/08  9:12pm
Ted Hering says:

My favorites - in no particular order:

Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944)
Claws for Alarm (1954)
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943)
A Corny Concerto (1943)
Daffy - The Commando (1943)
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953)
Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953)
Hair-Raising Hare (1946)
Hillbilly Hare (1950)
Hollywood Steps Out (1941)
The Honey-Mousers (1956)
Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944)
Long-Haired Hare (1949)
One Froggy Evening (1955)
Porky in Wackyland (1938)
Rabbit of Seville (1950)
Robin Hood Daffy (1958)
Rocket Squad (1956)
Slick Hare (1947)
What’s Opera, Doc? (1957)
What’s Up Doc? (1950)
The Windblown Hare (1949)

12/18/08  9:15pm
Thornae says:

Hm, tough call. I can’t remember the titles of a large number of the multitude of WB shorts I watched as a wee ‘un.
Research time!

… Okay, here, in a not very coherent order, are the most memorable for me:

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. The Three Little Bops
3. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
4. One Froggy Evening
5. Bully For Bugs
6. Ali Baba Bunny
7. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
8. Feed the Kitty
9. The Rabbit of Seville
10. Dough For The Do-Do
11. Hare-Way to the Stars
12. Duck Amuck
13. Robin Hood Daffy
14. Scaredy Cat

12/18/08  9:27pm
Guy says:

Top Three:

#1 - Rabbit Seasoning - “Pronoun Problems”. ’nuff said.

#2 - Hillbilly Hare - The square dance is genius.

#3 - Rabbit of Seville and What’s Opera, Doc? tied for third.

12/18/08  9:55pm
Steven Losco says:

1. Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
2. Bug’s recount of how he became famous
3. I’m a sucker for the one with the singing frog
4. Jekell and Hyde Tweety one
5. The one in which Tweety wears the little cap and slyvester is designing all these gadgets.

Sorry I couldn’t give you most of the names. It has been awhile

12/18/08  9:58pm
JoeBuddha says:

Only one for me: Duck, Rabbit Duck. I put that up with the best bits of all times, right up there with Who’s On First, the Parrot Sketch, and WKRP’s Turkey Drop. I pretty much agree with everything else mentioned here…

12/18/08  10:09pm

- Falling Hare

12/18/08  10:11pm
Daryl Della says:

1. Bully For Bugs
2. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
3. One Froggy Evening
4. Book Revue
5. Ali Baba Bunny
6. Duck Amuck
8. Hare Trigger
9. Tortoise Wins By A Hare
10. Rabbit Fire
11. High Diving Hare
12. Rabbit Of Seville
13. Three Little Bops
14. Drip Along Daffy
15. A Corny Concerto
16. Operation: Rabbit
17. A Tale Of Two Kitties
18. Transylvania 6500
19. Easter Yeggs
20. Fast And Furry-ous

12/18/08  10:16pm
captain murphy says:

I’m terribly afraid the list might be the same ole same ole we have seen multitudes of times in every best of collection WB has ever released. Great as they might be, the ones that often end up being the best to me are the ones I have never seen before.

12/18/08  10:18pm
Brenton says:

Bugs & Thugs

Not necc the best, but I’ve always enjoyed it, and a lot of people are overlooking it.

12/18/08  10:20pm

Please include “Deduce, you say”. One off my all-time favorites, and I didn’t see it on anyone’s list. I think it’s a perfect cartoon!

12/18/08  10:21pm
Sean McAlpine says:

1. Rabbit Of Seville
2. Hillbilly Hare
3. One Froggy Evening
4. What’s Opera, Doc?
5. High Diving Hare
6. Long Haired Hare
7. Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
8. Bully For Bugs
9. Hare We Go
10. Duck Amuck
11. Bonanza Bunny
12. Hare Brush
13. Hare Do
14. Knighty-Knight Bugs
15. The Foghorn Leghorn
16. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
17. What’s Up, Doc?
18. Hare-Way to the Stars
19. The Abominable Snow-Rabbit
20. Ali Baba Bunny
21. Bugs And Thugs
22. Super Rabbit
23. Operation: Rabbit
24. Bunny Hugged
25. Rabbit Seasoning
26. The Old Grey Hare
27. Russian Rhapsody
28. Baseball Bugs
29. Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
30. Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips

12/18/08  10:23pm
Chris L says:

1. Duck Amok
2. A Tale of Two Kitties
3. Dover Boys
4. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
5. One Froggy Evening
6. What’s Opera Doc?
7. Baby Bottleneck
8 Rabbit of Seville
9. Porky in Wackyland
10. Duck Dogers and the 24th and a Half Century
11. Great Piggy Bank Robbery
12. Dripalong Daffy

Man so many good cartoons, that I’m leaving out. I can’t say I have anything too obscure or controversial on here. Dover Boys is ranked pretty high just because I like it.

I guess Coal Black is obscure if you’re not into cartoons all that obsessively. I really hope it makes the book.

12/18/08  10:27pm

OK. I made a second list with 20, because 10 was driving me crazy. Its difficult, but I consolidated what I felt was necessary in just 20.

1 Duck Amuck ~ Naturally.

2 What’s Opera Doc ~ Chuck Jones’s masterpiece, no less.

3 Hillbilly Hare ~ One of Mel Blanc’s best performances in my opinion.

4 Book Revue ~ So many funny screams, its hard to ignore this one. Not to mention one of the best takes (eyeball!),

5 Rabbit Rampage ~ I know its Duck Amuck with Bugs Bunny, but this one cracks me up severly.

6 Duck Dodgers In the 24th 1/2 Century ~ Heaven is Maurice Noble.

7 Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips ~ You need at least one war cartoon, no matter how offensive.

8 Bewitched Bunny ~ Please don’t leave the incompetent witch out.

9 The Abominable Snow Rabbit ~ A funny cartoon with great Noble style and a suprisingly tragic ending.

10 Baby Bottleneck ~ One of Clampett’s masterpieces in my opinion. And one of Mel Blanc’s finest hours.

11 Little Red Riding Rabbit ~ I have three Red Riding Hood cartoons here. Each one is just so hard to ignore.

12 A Tale of Two Kitties ~ Babbit and Catstello. And nasty little Tweety.

13 Rabbit of Seville ~ A prime example of Jones’s thematic sensibility.

14 Hair-Raising Hare ~ The Red Monster’s debut cannot be ignore. The Mirror take is still funny.

15 Foney Fables ~ No stars in this one. Just severe abrasions.

16 Red Riding Hoodwinked ~ Its hard to decide what makes Sylvester and Tweety shorts so special. This one, because of fisty cuffed granny.

17 Hare Trigger ~ I will not ignore Yosemite Sam.

18 The Hep Cat ~ Bob Clampett’s mood piece with a touch of subdued eroticism.

19 Easter Yeggs ~ I’m not a big fan of Bob McKimson’s cartoons. Some of them had an animation style that was disturbing. If I had to choose one I liked, this would be it. My #3 is McKimson, but with better looking animation.

20 Little Beau Pepe ~ Never forget Pepe Le Peu. One of the few cartoons, where the tables get turned.

12/18/08  10:31pm
Stephanie Vincent says:

After much thought here is my list…I tried to make it a combination of what I feel is historically significant as well as cartoons that capture the “looney” spirit of Warner Bros: the no-holds-barred, we-don’t have-to-be-like-Disney wacky kind of freedom.

Here goes:
1. Rabbit Of Seville
2. Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
5. Book Revue
6. Rabbit Seasoning
7. A Wild Hare
8. Tortoise Beats Hare
9. Tweetie Pie
10. I Love to Sing-a
11. A Corny Concerto
12. Duck Amuck
13. Hollywood Steps Out
14. I Haven’t Got A Hat
15. Buccaneer Bunny
16. Daffy Duck and Egghead
17. You Ought to be in Pictures
18. Gold Diggers of ‘49
19. High Note
20. Wabbit Twouble

12/18/08  10:32pm
Peter Lish says:

Under represented here are the Road Runner cartoons. The main reason give is that the all have the same chase the prey plot. But that’s not a good reason. It’s a great basic motivator to set the plot in motion and calls for endless inventiveness.

They were universally funny — not dependent on language or cultural references — and used the most beautiful landscapes in cartoons (outside of Disney), the American southwest. These were borrowed (as homage?) from George Herrmann’s Krazy Kat and forced the animators to produce exquisite pans.

They also led to the best use of sound in cartoons period. Some of the great ones were :

Ready, Set, Zoom!,
Guided Muscle,
Going! Going! Gosh!,
Fast and Furry-ous.

But I think the single best Warner Brothers cartoon of all time is one that doesn’t appear on your list of eligible ones even though it’s a Warner Brothers cartoon. They produced as a feature but treated like another disposible product of Termite Terrace:

Iron Giant.

12/18/08  10:32pm

There is only one best Looney Tunes cartoon

Rabbit Of Seville

12/18/08  10:41pm

1) What’s Opera,Doc?
2)Lourve come back to me!
3) Feed the Kitty
4) Rabbit of Seville
5) Bewitched Bunny
6) Honey’s Money
7)Bedeviled Rabbit
8) My Little Duckaroo
9) Long Haired Hare
10) Bunny Hugged
11) Rabbit Fire
12) Robin Hood Daffy
13) Rackateer Rabbit
14) Bugsy and Mugsy
15) The Old Grey Hare
16) Drip-Along Daffy
17) Mexicali Shmoes
18) Mutiny on the Bunny
19) Mad as a Mars Hare
20)Hare Trimmed
21) Really Scent!
22) Cat Feud
23) Past Perfumance
24) Hare Trimmed
25) Go Fly A Kit
26) Ali Baba Bunny
27) Knighty Knight Bugs
28) Forward March Hare

12/18/08  10:43pm

No big surprises here, I think…

1. Feed the Kitty
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Rabbit Of Seville
4. What’s Opera, Doc?
5. I Love To Singa
6. Wabbit Twouble
7. Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
8. Hair-Raising Hare
9. Ali Baba Bunny
10. Robin Hood Daffy
11. Tortoise Wins By A Hare
12. Bugs Bunny And The Three Bears
13. Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid
14. Deduce, You Say
15. High Diving Hare
16. Baseball Bugs
17. The Foghorn Leghorn
18. For Scent-imental Reasons

12/18/08  10:47pm

Okay, this is tecnically not a truly great cartoon as far as style and execution goes, but if a cartoon is judged simply by its ability to get a good laugh, Robert McKimson’s Rabbit’s Kin certainly belongs on the list. And most of that thanks to the voice of Stan Freberg as the moronic Pete Puma. I give this one 3 or 4 lumps out of five. BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!!!

12/18/08  11:04pm
Randy K says:

Sounds like a great project.

If I can note one thing I appreciate most about the WB teams’ work, it’s their consistent and compelling portrayal of the characters’ reactions: Claude the Cat’s horror that he’s going insane in “Mouse Wreckers”; the dog’s look of helpless dread in the closing scene of “Chow Hound” (”This time we didn’t forget the gravy”); the Barnyard Dawg’s outrage when he’s awakened out of a peaceful doze by a random arse-whupping from Foghorn Leghorn (”Walky Talky Hawky”); Sylvester’s imploring look of dread as he sinks into the dog pound; Yosemite Sam’s classic slow burns; Daffy berating the “schlock artist” in “Duck Amuck”; and of course, Sylvester’s D.T. symptoms in “Birds Anonymous.” Dark, sophisticated, and hilarious stuff.

Here’s a top 25:

Duck Amuck
What’s Opera, Doc?
Rabbit of Seville
Mouse Wreckers
Chow Hound
Knighty Knight Bugs
Birds Anonymous
Dog Pounded
Stupor Duck
All a Bir-r-r-rd
Transylvania 6-5000
Walky Talky Hawky
To Beep or Not to Beep
One Froggy Evening
Three Little Bops
Hare Brush
All a Bir-r-r-rd
Long-Haired Hare
Roman Legion-Hare
Apes of Wrath
Hare-Less Wolf
Bonanza Bunny
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z
Haredevil Hare
Duck! Rabbit, Duck!

12/18/08  11:12pm
smitty says:

what’s opera, doc?
rabbit of seville
duck dodgers in the 24 1/2th century
yankee doodle daffy
one froggy evening

12/18/08  11:15pm

1. “Duck Amuck”
-If we’re going for “greatest and most significant” here, this gets my vote. It incorporates everything that makes Warner Bros. cartoons, and cartoons in general, great. Personality, gags, originality, and a nice nod to the concept of cartoon imagination and lack of a real “4th wall’ pioneered by the likes of Winsor McCay, the Fleischers and Walt Disney. For my personal favorite in terms of flat-out laughs, see #4.

2. “A Wild Hare””
-The Bugs Bunny blueprint that revolutionized Warner cartoons. It may have been Tex Avery’s most significant contribution to the studio ever.

3. “Gee Whizzz”
-Perhaps the definitive Road Runner cartoon. There isn’t a bad gag in this one, and it has some of the most attractive animation for Wile E. and the Road Runner ever drawn.

4. “Feline Frame-Up”
Why not more love for this neglected classic? Chuck Jones at his peak with excellent animation, perfect timing, memorable characters and funny gags. What’s not to love? Just one of those days, I guess!

5. “Porky in Wackyland”
-Bob Clampett at his most imaginative and insane. Truly inspired cartoon, with influences ranging from Salvador Dali to Lewis Carroll to Milt Gross.

6. “Draftee Daffy”
7. “A Tale Of Two Kitties”
8. “Crowing Pains”
9. “Operation Rabbit”
10. “Porky Pig’s Feat”
11. “Rabbit Fire”
12. “Louvre Come Back To Me”
13. “Pied Piper of Guadelupe”
14. “Tweetie Pie”
15. “Birds Anonymous”
16. “Fresh Airedale”
17. “Bugs Bunny Rides Again”
18. “Show Biz Bugs”
19. “One Froggy Evening”
20. “You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’”

12/18/08  11:31pm
Richard says:

I want to know Jerry’s favorites! Hopefully he prints his list in the book, worth the price of the book alone.

12/18/08  11:43pm
Ryan Howard says:

Here is my selection for some of the greatest 100 cartoons:

1. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves
2. Hillbilly Hare
3. Tin Pan Alley Cats
4. Old Glory
5. Tom thumb in Trouble
6. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
7. Mississippi Hare
8. My Bunny lies over the Sea
9. Ballot Box Bunny
10. His Bitter Half
11. Porky in Wackyland
12. Eatin’ on the Cuff
13. A Bear for Punishment
14. Little Red Riding Rabbit
15. Porky’s Romance
16. Wholly Smoke
17. Wabbit Twouble
18. Crowing Pains
19. The Hole Idea
20. A Wild Hare
21. A Gander at Mother Goose
22. Lady Play your Mandolin
23. Wake up the Gypsy in Me
24. Book Revue
25. The Big Snooze
26. Rhapsody Rabbit
27. Tweetie Pie
28. Robin Hood Daffy
29. Dough Ray Meow
30. Back Alley Oproar
31. The Honey Mousers
32. Swooner Crooner
33. Duck Rabbit Duck
34. Birds Anonymous
35. The Wacky Wabbit
36. Herr Meets Hare
37. Porky Pig’s Feat
38. Puss N Booty
39. A Gruesome Twosome
40. Little Red Walking Hood

12/18/08  11:53pm
Pat Alder says:

Ali Baba Bunny
Barbary Coast Bunny
Bowery Bugs
The Lion’s Busy
Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt
Buccaneer Bunny
Buckaroo Bugs
Goldilocks And The Jivin’ Bears
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Scent-imental Over You
The Wabbit Who Came To Supper
Sniffles And The Bookworm
Sniffles Bells The Cat
The Goofy Gophers
Goofy Groceries
Gopher Broke
Gopher Goofy

I kept it to these, although the entire list are my faves! I also want to add the house of the future with that little robotic sweeper who comes out every time something hits the floor. Riot!

I am such a Bugs Bunny fan. Best of luck with this work…it’s like asking a parent “Who’s your best child?”

12/18/08  11:55pm
Duane Fulk says:

For shear simplicity, think responses should be limited to 10 or 15 cartoons. Here are my favorites in order -
1 A Lad In Bagdad
2 Porky’s Hare Hunt
3 You Ought To Be In Pictures
4 Little Red Walking Hood
5 Polar Pals
6 Pigs Is Pigs
7 A Wild Hare
8 The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
9 A Cartoonist’s Nightmare
10 Book Review
11 Porky In The North Woods
12 Tortoise Beats Hare
13 Porky’s Double Trouble
14 I Love To Singa
15 Cinderella Meets Fella

12/19/08  12:15am
Cowmix says:

I see this cartoon has made a lot of the lists posted in the comments here but I just wanted to stress that Little Red Riding Rabbit is a great WB cartoon. It was made right around the time where Bugs looks the best and his character is pretty fleshed out. Finally, the ending is my favorite of any cartoon short.

12/19/08  12:16am
JC Limoges says:

Duck Amuck
Lumber Jerks
Cat Feud
What’s Opera Doc?
For Scent-imental Reasons
Rabbit Seasoning
Fast and Furry-ous
One Froggy Evening
Rabbit of Seville
My Bunny lies over the Sea

12/19/08  12:25am
Firefly says:

Hollywood Steps Out (HILARIOUS parodies of Hollywood’s golden era celebrities)
Falling Hare
The Big Snooze
Baby Bottleneck
Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs
(can you tell i love Clampett??)

12/19/08  12:38am

#1 What’s Opera, Doc?

There can be only one.

12/19/08  12:45am
Tex says:

A couple off the beaten path here:

It’s Hummer Time

and

Chow Hound

2 of my all-time faves.

12/19/08  12:59am
Kal says:

Well the top nine need to be

1. Feed the Kitty - the moment when the woman gives Marc Anthony the kitty shaped cookie is a moment of sublime comedy genius and always elicits a belly laugh from me
2. Bully For Bugs - a near perfect battle of wills between two strong adversaries - the moment when the bull realizes he can fire bullets out of his horns and that smile crosses his face makes him Bug’s greatest foil and equal. Come on it took a Rube Goldberg device to bring Bully down.
3.Bugsy and Mugsy - “I don’t know how yahs done it but I know yahs done it!!” nuff said
4.Hillbilly Hare - when you can sing the song at a college reunion and everyone smiles you know you have a classic on your hands
5. Bunny Hugged - “Well Crusher…its GOOD to see you.”
6. What’s Opera Doc? - everything we know about opera we learned from this one cartoon…Wagner is not rolling in his grave from shame but from laughter
7. Duck! Rabbit! Duck! -the strongest of the hunting trilogy and there is lots of room on the top 100 list for the genius that is Daffy
8. Dripalong Daffy - proff that Porky was never a headliner but the best straight man in the business
9. Operation Rabbit - “Wille E Coyote SUUUUPER Genius…I like that way that rolls out” - Proff that no matter who he is in conflict with the Coyote is all show and no go and deserves all the grief he gets. Makes me wish he talked in every cartoon.

12/19/08  12:59am

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. The Rabbit of Seville
4. One Froggy Evening
5. A Corny Concerto

12/19/08  1:03am
Jpox says:

30 titles From the top of my head eh,
“A Gruesome Twosome”
“Book Revue”
“Tabasco Road”
“Crowing Pains”
“Feed the Kitty”
“Gee Whiz-z-z-z”
“The Bee-Deviled Bruin”
“Bugs Bunny Rides Again”
“The Birth of a Notion”
“Russian Rhapsody”
“Kitty Kornered”
“The Lion’s Busy”
“Rhapsody in Rivets”
“Rhapsody Rabbit”
“Rabbit of Seville”
“Pigs in a Polka”
“Hare-Breadth Hurry”
“The Hep Cat”
“An Itch in Time”
“Wagon Heels”
“Rabbit Transit”
“Duck! Rabbit! Duck!”
“Show Biz Bugs”
“Hare-less Wolf”
“Tortilla Flaps”
“Fastest with the Mostest”
“Bonanza Bunny”
“Stooge for a Mouse”
“Wild Wife”
“Sahara Hare”
All of those listed so far has given me plenty of laughs. There are lots more that I could list, but my fingers would fall off.

12/19/08  1:06am
hhex65 says:

I love them all but I’ll take:

It’s Hummer Time (Robert McKimson, 1950)

as my favorite.

“No! Not The Thinker! Not The Thinker!”

12/19/08  1:21am
Ted Pratt says:

1. Katnip Kollege
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. Little Red Riding Rabbit
4. The Three Little Bops
5. I Love to Singa
6. High Diving Hare
7. What’s Opera Doc?
8. Back Alley Uproar
9. Long-haired Hare
10. Duck Amuck
11. Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century
12. Great Piggy Bank Robbery
13. From A to Z-z-z-z
14. Alibaba Bunny
15. Baseball Bugs

12/19/08  1:31am
mtchdtn says:

FEED THE KITTY
FEED THE KITTY
FEED THE KITTY
must be on the list!

12/19/08  1:40am
Andrew says:

Favourite line of all time: “Never send a monster to do the work of an evil scientist.”

1. Water, Water, Every Hare
2. Rabbit of Seville
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. Hillbilly Hare
5. Transylvania 6-5000
6. Mississippi Hare
7. One Froggy Evening
8. Hare-Way to the Stars
9. Pizzicato Pussycat
10. Long-Haired Hare
11. Roman Legion-Hare

12/19/08  1:40am
buzz says:

Everybody will be voting for the classics, but here are 5 I want to make sure get on the list:

The Dover Boys
Duck Amuck
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Draftee Daffy
Horton Hatches The Egg

12/19/08  1:40am

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
3. Rabbit of Seville
4. Drip-Along Daffy
5. Slick Hare
6. Hot Cross Bunny
7. Birds Anonymous
8. Feed the Kitty
9. French Rarebit
10. Odor-able Kitty

12/19/08  2:49am
Alfons Moline says:

My top 20 list:

1-Rabbit of Seville
2- Duck Amuck
3- Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
4- Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
5- Robin Hood Daffy
6- One Froggy Evening
7- I Love to Singa
8- Porky in Wackyland
9- What´s Opera, Doc?
10- Now Hear This
11- Fast and Furry-Ous
12- For Scenti-imental Reasons
13- Hillbilly Hare
14- Birds Anonymous
15- Chow Hound
16- From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
17- Three Little Bops
18- Bear Feat
19- A Hound for Trouble
20- A Ham in a Role

12/19/08  2:57am
Hans Walther says:

1. One Froggy Evening
2. What’s Opera, Doc?
3. Knighty-Knight Bugs
4. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
5. Duck Amuck

12/19/08  3:21am
Stephen Coats says:

Another day maybe a different list.
1. Feed the Kitty
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Porky in Wackyland
4. High Diving Hare
5. What’s Opera Doc
6. Dover Boys
7. Draftee Daffy
8. A Bear for Punishment
9. Wackiki Rabbit
10. Rabbit Seasoning
11. NO Barking
12. Tortilla Flaps
13. Knighty Knight Bugs
14. Ali Baba Bunny
15. Bewitched Bunny
16. Boyhood Daze
17. Go Fly a Kit
18. Baton Bunny
19. Back Alley Oproar
20. I love to Singa

12/19/08  3:56am

Since everyone has already voted for ‘Whats Opera Doc ‘ and ‘Duck Amuck’ , I’d vote for ‘Baseball Bugs’, ‘Hillbilly Hare’ and ‘Hare on the Moon’ .

12/19/08  4:40am
Ian Cairns says:

I just have one that I think should be on the list, my all time favorite cartoon

Hyde and Go Tweet

I just love the bit when the giant Tweety eats Sylvester

look forward to the book

12/19/08  4:53am
Fred Patten says:

1. One Froggy Evening
2. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
3. Porky Pig’s Feat
4. What’s Opera, Doc?
5. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
6. Book Revue
7. Duck Amuck
8. Rabbit of Seville
9. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
10. Fast and Furry-Ous
11. Porky in Wackyland
12. Russian Rhapsody
13. The Aristo-Cat
14. A Wild Hare
15. Long-Haired Hare
16. Kitty Kornered
17. A Tale of Two Kitties
18. For Scent-imental Reasons
19. A Corny Concerto
20. The Goofy Gophers
21. Herr Meets Hare
22. The Dover Boys
23. Tortoise Beats Hare
24. You Ought to be in Pictures
25. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
26. Swooner Crooner
27. Mouse Wreckers
28. Bully for Bugs
29. Feed the Kitty
30. Porky’s Romance31. The Little Lion Hunter
32. The Brave Little Bat
33. I Haven’t Got a Hat
34. Smile, Darn Ya, Smile
35. Speedy Gonzales

12/19/08  5:10am
Milena says:

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Amuck
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 century
4. Feed the Kitty
5. One Froggy Evening

12/19/08  6:03am
Sean Gaffney says:

1) Dock Dodgers in the 24th1/2 Century
2) Porky in Wackyland
3) Little Red Riding Rabbit
4) Rebel Rabbit
5) The Case of the Stuttering Pig
6) Golddiggers of ‘49
7) You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’!
8) Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
9) Three Little Bops
10) Book Revue
11) Rabbit of Seville
12) Falling Hare
13) Birth of a Notion
14) My Favorite Duck
15) Feed the Kitty
16) Rabbit Fire
17) Stop, Look, and Hasten!
18) Walky Talky Hawky
19) Birds Anonymous
20) You Ought To Be In Pictures

12/19/08  6:59am
Sam Filstrup says:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Three Little Bops
3. Duck Amuck
4. Rabbit of Seville
5. Rebel Rabbit
6. Porky in Wacky Land
7. Broom Stick Bunny
8. Rabbit Fire
9. Knighty Knight Bugs
10. The Ducksters
11. Boobs in the Woods
12. Drip Along Daffy
13. What’s Opera Doc?
14. Deduce, You Say?
15. Robin Hood Daffy
16. What’s Up Doc?
17. Rabbit Hood
18. Bugs and Thugs
19. Duck Dogers in the 24th and a Half Century
20. Bugs Hugged
21. Lumber Jack-Rabbit
22. Water, Water, Every Hare
23. Rabbit’s Kin
24. Hillbilly Hare
25. High Diving Hare
26. Wabbit Twouble
27. Long-Haired Hare
28. Bully for Bugs
25.One Froggy Evening
26.The Foghorn Leghorn
27. My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
28. Porky Pig’s Feat
29. Yankee Doodle Daffy
30. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
31. Mutiny on the Bunny
32. The Million Hare
33. Operation Rabbit
34. Book Revue
35. Birds Anonymous
36. Buccaneer Bunny
37. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
38. Hare Tonic
39. The Old Grey Hare
40. Baseball Bugs
41. Stuper Duck
42. Fast And Furry-ous
43. Fresh Hare
44. French Rarebit
45. Ali Baba Bunny
46. Falling Hare
47. Devil May Hare
48. Barbary Coast Bunny
49. Haredevil Hare
50. Speedy Gonzales
51. Baby Bottleneck
52. The Honey-Mousers
53. Feed the Kitty

I’m probably forgetting some well I know I am haha. After the first 25 the exact ordering could be a little but in the end it’s so hard to nail down what was the best. So many memorable cartoons were produced from that studio it’s even hard just to name them all.

12/19/08  7:27am
Jim Bricker says:

An almost all-Jones Top 10. Good luck with the book, Jerry.

1. One Froggy Evening
2. Duck Amuck
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
4. Feed the Kitty
5. Bully for Bugs
6.What’s Opera Doc
7. Rabbit Fire
8. Porky Pig’s Feat
9. The Dover Boys
10. Bunny Hugged

12/19/08  7:41am
Daniel Adler says:

The Top 10 Warner Brothers Cartoons:

1. What’s Opera Doc(it was #1 on the 50 Greatest Cartoons, and #1 for me as well)
2. Back Alley Oproar(”You’ll never know where you go until you get there”)
3. Dog Gone South(”OHH BELVIDERE”)
4. Little Red Riding Rabbit (Bea Benederet at her finest)
5. A Hare Grows in Manhattan(Shows Bugs Bunny as a pansy as well as a smartass)
6. Daffy Duck Slept Here(Pure hillarity, at every minute)
7. Old Grey Hare(”What’s up prune face”)
8. Windblown Hare(best satire on fairy tales ever)
9. Hollywood Steps Out(caricatures of finest actors of Golden Age)
10. Duck Amuck (come on, it’s Daffy being harassed by Bugs Bunny)

12/19/08  7:43am

My Top 12
1. Bug Bunny Gets The Boid
2. The Case of The Stuttering Pig
3. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
4. Bye Bye Bluebeard
5. Porky’s Preview
6. Scrap Happy Daffy
7. Duck Amuck
8. Hillbilly Hare
9. Stupor Duck
10. Get Rich Quick Porky
11. Have You Got Any Castles?
12. Farm Frolics
Warners was an excellent animation studio.

12/19/08  7:51am
Daryl T says:

Where to start!

1. Duck Amuck
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. What’s Opera Doc!
4. Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a halfth Century
5. Devil May Hare
6. Porky in Wackyland
7. One Froggy Evening
8.Beep Beep
9. The Great piggy Bank Robbery
10. Draftee Daffy
11. The Rabbit of Seville
12. The Honey-Mousers
13. Duck! Rabbit Duck!
14. Robi Hood Daffy
15. Porky’s Romance
16. KnightyKnight Bugs

If I think of any more I’ll let you know.

12/19/08  8:01am
Jimchig says:

The usual disclaimers - impossible to choose, they’re all great, tomorrow my top ten might be different, etc. But right now, here’s a top ten for your purposes, Jerry.

1. Feed the Kitty
2. Three Little Bops
3. Rocket Bye Baby
4. Duck, Rabbit, Duck
5. Duck Amuck
6. What’s Opera, Doc
7. Walky Talky Hawky
8. Bugs and Thugs
9. Rabbit Hood
10. One Froggy Evening

Jim Kubisch

12/19/08  8:04am
Jeff Hunsel says:

Rabbit of Seville
What’s Opera Doc?
One Froggy Evening
Hillbilly Hare
Old Gray Hare
Rabbit Seasoning
Rabbit Fire
Three Little Bops
Fast and Furryous
Baseball Bugs
I Love to Singa
Corny Concerto
What’s Up Doc?
Hair-raising Hare
Big Snooze
Wabbit Twouble
Rabbit’s Kin
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Rabbit Hood
High Diving Hare
********
These are just off the top of my head. A little heavy on Bugs, I know. Wish I could remember some more Porky-Daffy cartoons….

12/19/08  8:29am
molly says:

The Abominable Snow Rabbit has to be at the top of the list. The allusion to Of Mice and Men is wonderful. “I will love him and pat him…and I will call him George.” Pure art.

12/19/08  8:32am
Pat Nolan says:

Man, Nobody is picking Wholly Smoke. You cant go wrong. Smoking pigs…. Seriously it is my absolute favorite cartoon. It will never see airing on television in this day and age.

12/19/08  8:33am
Alec says:

My all-time favorite is probably “Bunny Hugged”.

In alpha order:

Ali Baba Bunny
Baby Buggy Bunny
Baseball Bugs
Big House Bunny
Big Top Bunny
Bowery Bugs
Bunker Hill Bunny
Bunny Hugged
Captain Hareblower
Case Of The Missing Hare
Compressed Hare
Daffy Duck Slept Here
Devil May Hare
8 Ball Bunny
Falling Hare
Feed The Kitty
The Foghorn Leghorn
14 Carrot Rabbit
Forward March Hare
French Rarebit
Gorilla My Dreams
The Grey-Hounded Hare
Hair-Raising Hare
Hare Remover
Hare Tonic
Haredevil Hare
His Hare Raising Tale
Homeless Hare
Hyde and Hare
Knight-Mare Hare
Knighty Knight Bugs
Long Haired Hare
Million Hare
Mutiny on the Bunny
No Parking Hare
One Froggy Evening
Rabbit of Seville
Rabbit Seasoning
Rhapsody Rabbit
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Show Biz Bugs
Slick Hare
Southern Fried Rabbit
Upswept Hare
Wabbit Twouble
Wackiki Wabbit
Water, Water Every Hare
What’s Opera, Doc?

12/19/08  8:44am
Jack Lechner says:

Only one other person has mentioned my favorite neglected one-off, “High Note.” To me, it’s the embodiment of the genius of Chuck Jones.

12/19/08  8:45am
Erik says:

Feed the Kitty
Rabbit of Seville
Water water every Hare
Duck Dodgers in 24 1/2 cent

12/19/08  8:48am
Rosscott says:

Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
Duck Amuck
The Solid Tin Coyote
Rabbit Fire
Fast And Furry-ous
Hare Tonic
The Rabbit of Seville

Man, there’s so many. Some I don’t know the name of. I always loved the ones where they explain a subject. Like transportation, which had a recurring bit about a guy getting stuck in a cloverleaf and asking a hot dog stand for directions. Another with a kid that can’t stop imagining, he had red hair and wanted to fly. Another with a grown man who grew wings.

12/19/08  9:20am
Donald says:

Just an observation. All these posts are from GUYS. Aren’t there any women out there who love Warner Bros. cartoons (the ultimate male fantasy)

12/19/08  9:36am
mrgoberg says:

Rabbit of Seville
Big Snooze
Bully For Bugs
Duck Amuck
Old Grey Hare

12/19/08  9:46am
Ken Bondor says:

1. Dime to retire

A great work of art, a great work of American art. The philosophical implications alone are staggering as Daffy sends one animal on the evolutionary chain after another up to Porky’s room. This cartoon is the perfect representation of the banality of all human endeavor.

12/19/08  9:52am
Mark Simons says:

Here is a short list of my favorites:

1. I Love to Singa
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Duck Amuck
4. Porky in Wackyland
5. Boyhood Daze

12/19/08  10:33am
Tony N. says:

Here is my Top 20, where to begin?!?:
1. Bully for Bugs
2. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
3. Fresh Hare
4. Duck Amuck
5. Duck Dodgers and the 23rd and a Half Century
6. Porky Pig’s Feat
7. Rabbit Fire
8. Rabbit Seasoning
9. Duck, Rabbit, Duck!
10. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
11. A Corny Concerto
12. Back Alley Oproar
13. Rabbit’s Kin
14. A Tale of Two Kitties
15. Wacky Wabbit
16. Book Review
17. Buckaroo Bugs (bring me all the jeers you want!)
18. The Wild Hare
19. Fast And Furry-Ous
20. Puss n’ Booty

NOTE: For 16 and 18, I put down the BR titles as a gag.

12/19/08  10:43am
Chuck King says:

I am a huge fan, but not scholar, of Looney Tunes. I know a handful of titles, all of which have already been mentioned many times—usual suspects like Robin Hood Daffy, One Froggy Evening, The Rabbit of Seville, What’s Opera Doc… all of which I’m sure are safely ensconced near the top of any list. But what I remember from Looney Tunes are scenes and lines. Here are a bunch of favorites, which may inspire people who actually do know the titles:

The one where Yosemite Sam had to be nice to rabbits to get an inheritance.

The one with the opera singer… you know, “Leopold!” “Leopold!” “Leopold!”

All Marvin the Martian cartoons. Each and every one of them belongs high on the list.

The Ant Hill Harry, alias Baby Face Finster story. “How many times have I told you not to play with the dirty money?!?”

At least one “Morning, Ralph” “Morning, Sam” sheepdog vs. coyote show.

The one where Bugs and Daffy, having missed that left turn at Albuquerque, end up in a cave full of treasure featuring Daffy’s lines, “Go go go! Down down down! Mine mine mine!” and “I’m rich! I’m wealthy! I’m socially secure!” and “I’m rich! I’m a happy miser!”

At least one, “You’re a chicken, I’m a chickenhawk” episode.

The Tasmanian Devil “wild turkey surprise” episode.

At least one (maybe more) Pepe Le Pew episode—preferably an earlier one where he’s not interacting with the other usual suspects.

The Pete Puma story! “How many lumps?” “Oh, three or four.” WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM. “I don’t like tea. It gives me a headache.”

The wrestling episode featuring Ravishing Ronald vs. the Crusher.

The Bugs vs. Yosemite Sam for Mayor episode. (“New mare?” “Dark horse?”)

The episode featuring the proto-Yosemite-Sam-esque Scotsman and Bugs (“Oh no! That lady’s being attacked by a horrible monster!” (re Sam playing bagpipes).)

The episode where Sam is the chef and is ordered to make “hossenfeffer?”

The one with the two squirrels or chipmunks or whatever they were that go after their tree when it’s chopped down and end up with the pile of furniture.

The Road Runner episodes featuring the following:
Dehydrated boulders
Acme Bat-Man Suit
Earthquake pills
Acme rocket skates
The two kids watching the show. “I’m gonna be a p-sychiatrist. Or a p-sychoanalyst.” “I’m gonna be a road runner. Beep beep!”

The one where Bugs visits the witch. “Who undoes your hair?” “Do you like it?” “Like it? Why, it’s absolutely HIDEOUS!”

A whole bunch of Foghorn Leghorn episodes. Definitely including:
“I’m not a chicken, I’m a dog. THERE’s a chicken.”
The one where the kid proved by calculus that Foghorn was somewhere else even though he hid in the bin.

The one with the Bing Crosby-esque crooning chicken, “I’ve got a bunch of beautiful babies, and each and every one of them is a boy…”

“You and me’s pals, ain’t we, Spike?”

The Bugs vs. Dracula episode: “Abraca-pocus! Hocus-cadabra!”

12/19/08  10:51am
Joe Heffernan says:

Well - for me it’s a toss-up between Ali-Baba Bunny and Feed the Kitty.

Ali-Baba Bunny is not only well written and funny, but it nails both characters of the Bunny and the Duck perfectly.

Feed the Kitty tears at your heartstrings. I still get a little tear in the corner of my eye everytime I see it…and I’m old…REAL OLD!

Best of Luck with the book - I know I’ll be buying a copy as soon as it comes out!

12/19/08  10:58am
J Hobart B says:

Well, no real surprises in my Top 10 (Hey, they’re obvious for a reason):

1. Porky In Wackyland
2. Rabbit Fire
3. One Froggy Evening
4. The Great Piggybank Robbery
5. Book Revue
6. What’s Opera Doc
7. Feed the Kitty
8. The Foghorn Leghorn
9. Duck Amuck
10. For Scent-imental Reasons

But I also want to put in a vote for Goofy Gophers and Lumber Jerks — I love those guys.

12/19/08  11:03am
Nicole says:

One Froggy Evening
Walky Talky Hawky
Don’t Give Up the Sheep
Hareway to the Stars
What’s Opera Doc
Shishkabugs
Bugs and Thugs

12/19/08  11:14am
Darth Vegas says:

1. Hair Raising Hare
2. Duck Amuck
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. The Foghorn Leghorn
5. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
6. Falling Hare
7. Operation: Rabbit
8. Rabbit Fires
9. Little Red Riding Rabbit
10. Rabbit Hood

12/19/08  11:15am
Lynn Anderson says:

Early to Bet
What’s Opera Doc!
One Froggy Evening

12/19/08  11:16am
Merrill McCarthy says:

01 What’s Opera, Doc?
02 Bully For Bugs
03 Rabbit Of Seville
04 Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
05 Duck Amuck
06 Mouse Wreckers
07 Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
08 Hare-Way to the Stars
09 Ali Baba Bunny
10 One Froggy Evening

honorable mention - Devil May Hare; Bedeviled Rabbit (Mmmmm…wild turkey surprise”

12/19/08  11:17am
Robert Taylor says:

Its difficult to whittle it down but here are a list of my favorites at the moment.

1. I love to Singa
2. What’s Opera, Doc?
3. Duck Amuck
4. High Diving Hare
5. One Froggy Evening
6. Porky in Wackyland
7. The Three Little Bops
8. Daffy Duck in Hollywood
9. Walky Talky Hawky
10. Tweetie Pie
11. For Scent-imental Reasons
12. Speedy Gonzales
13. Pigs in a Polka
14. Swooner Crooner
15. Knighty Knight Bugs
16. Birds Anonymous

Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
ROBIN HOOD DAFFY

12/19/08  11:42am
Tony Teresa says:

1. The Rabbit of Seville
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. Porky in Wackyland
4. Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century
5. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
6. The Big Snooze
7. Rebel Rabbit
8. Duck Amuck
9. Feed the Kitty
10. What’s Opera Doc?

12/19/08  11:49am
Jim Wilson says:

My top ten:

1. Bully for Bugs
2. Long-Haired Hare
3. Duck Amuck
4. What’s Opera Doc
5. Baseball Bugs
6. The Rabbit of Seville
7. Easter Yeggs
8. Little Red Riding Rabbit
9. I Love to Singa
10. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!

12/19/08  11:57am

Duck Amuck,
Rabbit Seasoning, and
Feed the Kitty.

These are the three I can watch over and over and over again. The dialogue in “Duck” and Rabbit Seasoning” is brilliant, and the silent gags of “Feed the Kitty” (as well as the hilarious character arc of hapless bulldog Marc Antony as he protects his adorable adopted kitty) are sure-fire. Good luck with the book!

12/19/08  12:11pm
RJ says:

Favorites, in no order:

Rabbit Transit
Tortoise Wins By A Hare
What’s Opera, Doc?
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Rabbit of Seville
Robin Hood Daffy
Wackiki Wabbit
Super Rabbit
The Unruly Hare
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
Often An Orphan
Operation: Rabbit
Rabbit Seasoning
Bunnt Bugged
You Ought to Be in Pictures
Falling Hare
Kitty Kornered - “I like cheese!” :)

12/19/08  12:11pm
Tom Sito says:

1.Great Piggybank Robbery
2.Back Alley Oproar
3.Duck Amuck
4.What’s Opera, Doc?
5. Porky in Wackyland
6. Falling Hare
7. The Draft Horse
8. You Oughta Be in Pictures
9. Hare Trigger
10. Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century
11. Robin Hood Daffy
12. Easter Yeggs
13. Odorable Kitty
14. From A to ZZZZ
15. One Froggy Evening

12/19/08  12:15pm
Thom Purdy says:

Beyond the obvious, What’s Opera Doc, Rabbit of Seville, Ali Baba Bunny, One Froggy Evening… there are two that I dearly love that
haven’t even appeared on the Loony Tunes Golden Collections yet,
but for me are absolute classics.

The first is HARE BRUSH, in which Bugs and Elmer switch roles through pretense(ELMER) and hypnosis(BUGS). It also has, what
I consider, the GREATEST closing line of all time: “I may be a sqwewy wabbit, but I’m not goin’ to Alkatwaz”! Brilliant

The second is CHOW HOUND, about a bulldog who pulls of a
series of scams with the unwilling help of a cat and a mouse.
Two classic lines come from this one: “WHAT?! NO GRAVY??!”
and the hilarious, yet chilling, : “This time we didn’t forget the gravy”

Great stuff. When I have time, I’ll chime in with more underrated gems.

12/19/08  12:19pm

As much as I love my Clampett, McKimson, and Freleng, I’m a Chuck Jones guy too. It’s not just the strong posing that gets me, but also the perfect synergy with every aspect of production - the writing, the backgrounds, the music. I have a clear (and probably interchangeable) top four.

1. One Froggy Evening
2. Duck Amuck
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
5. A Gruesome Twosome
6. From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
7. Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z
8. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
9. Rabbit Seasoning
10. Birds Anonymous

I don’t pretend I’ve seen every Looney Tunes short there is, of course - far from it. And I give a lengthier explanation of my picks here, if anyone is interested.

12/19/08  12:21pm
Lawrence Boocker says:

I only want to mention 2 cartoons that may get overlooked. The first is about a squirrel trying to open a coconut. I believe the title is “Nuts to you”. The other is about a dog forcing a cat to bring him food until he OD’s on gravy. I believe that’s “Chow Hound”. These never seem to make any top cartoon lists. Of course I wouldn’t put them above Rabbit of Seville, One Froggy Evening and all the other usual suspects.

12/19/08  12:24pm
Tony McCarson says:

here is a list by me, tony mccarson, one the the greatest cartoon fans and enthusiasts. this is just a list, not the top list (you know,top 10 or top 20).

1.what’s opera doc
2.carrotblanca (if it’s possible to put in this book)
3.devil may hare
4.rabbit fire
5.horton hatches the egg
6.rhapsody in rivets
7.a wild hare
8.you ought to be in pictures
9.thugs with dirty mugs
10.elmer’s candid camera
11.ghost wanted
12.the ducktators
13.fifth column mouse
14.porky pig’s feat
15.cool cat
16.I got plenty of mutton
17.what’s cookin’ doc?
18.show biz bugs
19.the great piggy bank robbery
20.fair and worm-er
21.kitty kornered
22.often an orphan
23.haredevil hare
24.mouse wreckers
25.chow hound (the villain deserves it in the end!)
26.the wearing of the grin
27.tree for two
28.zipping along
29.the last hungry cat
30.tweet and lovely
31.knighty knight bugs
32.curtain razor
33.much ado about nutting
34.fox pop
35.high note
36.now hear this
37.bartholomew versus the wheel
38.mouse-taken identity
39.birds of a father
40.the mouse on 57th street
41.honey’s money
42.banty raids (”crazy man!”)
43.the honey-mousers
44.feed the kitty
45.kiss me cat
46.lumber jerks
47.grey hounded hare
48.eatin’ on a cuff
49.trap happy porky
50.dog tales
51.the three little bops
52.rabbit’s kin
53.a tale of two mice
54.the hole idea
55.person to bunny
56.the adominable snow rabbit
57.bugs bonnets
58.hollywood canine canteen
59.from hand to mouse
60.lights fantastic
61.cat tails for two
62.ding dong daddy
63.porky’s preview
64.the bear’s tale
65.robin hood makes good
66.toy trouble
67.the mouse-merized cat
68.there auto be a law
69.foxy by proxy
70.duck amuck

I have more of my favorite cartoons but there is just too many!

please pick most of these cartoons!

12/19/08  12:31pm
Brian D. Scott says:

Rabbit’s Kin
Hush My Mouse
Back Alley Oproar
The Hep Cat
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Brother Brat
Hare Meets Herr
Tortoise Wins By A Hare
Dough For the Do-Do
Porky Pig’s Feat
We The Animals Squeak (me and two friends of mine remember the lead mouse’s ramblings over the plan to a T)

12/19/08  12:42pm
Ted Herrmann says:

The one where Sylvester builds a pair of stilts to he can walk across the yard without getting bit by all the dogs. And then you only hear the sound of all the dogs chewing the bottom off the stilts, while Sylvester slowly sinks out of sight beneath the picket fence. Priceless!

12/19/08  1:11pm
Vince says:

I want to lean toward animation, but with Looney Tunes, it’s always more about storytelling and character with a good dash of atmosphere. Ergo:

Rabbit of Seville
Ali Baba Bunny
Rabbit Seasoning
What’s Opera Doc
Bugs and Thugs
Baseball Bugs
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Bowery Bugs
Gorilla My Dreams
Homeless Hare
A Hare Grows in Brooklyn

I have always been a fan of Road Runner, it’s easy formula honed Chuck Jones’s genius to razor sharpness. In terms of raw character and scripting though, it is tough to leave out Ol’ Foghorn.

12/19/08  1:15pm
Charlie Jacob says:

This wasn’t easy but…(starting with number 50)
Ducking The Devil
Birds Anonymous
Ali Baba Bunny
Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
Mississippi Hare
Scaredy Cat
Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
The Honey Mousers
I Love to Singa
Pigs in a Polka
Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence
Porky in Wackyland
Much Ado About Nutting
Rhapsody Rabbit
Rabbit of Seville
Rabbit Seasoning
Duck Amuck
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Baby Bottleneck
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
A Gruesome Twosome
Porky’s Duck Hunt
Dog Gone South
Easter Yeggs
Bear Feat
Two Gophers from Texas
The Hep Cat
I Taw a Putty Tat
The Draft Horse
Draftee Daffy
Doggone Cats
Hillbilly Hare
The Ducktator
French Rarebit
The Ducksters
Daffy the Commando
Wideo Wabbit
The Stupor Salesman
Herr Mets Hare
Cheese Chasers
A Bone for A Bone
A Hare Grows in Manhattan
My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
From Hare to Heir
Ballot Box Bunny
Porky Pig’s Feat
Dough Ray Me-Ow
Rabbit Hood
Now Hear This
and MY favorite LT/MM cartoon is…

Back Alley Oproar!

12/19/08  1:23pm

1. Porky In Wackyland
2. Book Revue
3. Duck Amuck
4. One Froggy Evening
5. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
6. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
7. Plane Daffy
8. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
9. You Ought To Be In Pictures
10. Stupid Cupid
11. The Heckling Hare
12. Rabbit Of Seville
13. Baseball Bugs
14. Rabbit Punch
15. What’s Opera, Doc
16. Russian Rhapsody
17. Tin Pan Alley Cats
18. Swooner Crooner
19. Kitty Kornered
20. Nasty Quacks

The “most historically significant” list would be different, and loaded with Tex Avery cartoons - A Wild Hare, Porky’s Duck Hunt, Porky The Wrestler, etc.

12/19/08  1:40pm
chris cressionnie says:

bugs bunny singing
carmen miranda’s
mama eu cuero…

12/19/08  1:51pm
Scott Kelly says:

1) Bugs Bunny Rides Again
2) Operation: Rabbit
3) Duck Amuck
4) Robin Hood Daffy
5) Rabbit of Seville
6) Bully for Bugs
7) What’s Opera, Doc?
8) Long-Hared Hare
9) Duck Soup to Nuts
10) Fast and Furry-ous
11) Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
12) Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
13) The Foghorn Leghorn
14) Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
15) Hare Trigger
16) Roughly Squeaking
17) The Hardship of Miles Standish
18) Swooner Crooner
19) I Love to Singa
20) What’s Up, Doc?
21) Racketeer Rabbit
22) Baseball Bugs
23) Tick Tock Tuckered
24) Rabbit Fire
25) Claws for Alarm
26) Rabbit Seasoning
27) The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
28) Kitty Kornered
29) Ali Baba Bunny
30) Back Alley Uproar
31) Miss Glory
32) The Henpecked Duck
33) The Big Snooze
34) A Wild Hare
35) The Case of the Stuttering Pig
36) Gorilla My Dreams
37) My Little Duckaroo
38) Porky Pig’s Feat
39) The Heckling Hare
40 Let it Be Me
41) Buccaneer Bunny
42) A Tale of Two Kitties
43) Don’t Give Up the Sheep
44) From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
46) Egghead Rides Again
47) Walky Talky Hawky
48) For Scent-imental Reasons
49) Bunny Hugged
50) You Ought to Be in Pictures

12/19/08  2:02pm
Dave Filipi says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Hillbilly Hare
4. The Rabbit of Seville
5. What’s Opera Doc
6. Beanstock Bunny
7. Draftee Daffy
8. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
9. Cheese Chasers
10. Gee Whiz-z-z-z
11. Scaredy Cat
12. The Mouse that Jack Built
13. Slick Hare
I’ll stop at a baker’s dozen…this is too hard.

12/19/08  2:26pm
Gary Wolff says:

1. Feed The Kitty
2. One Froggy Evening

12/19/08  3:19pm
Peter Whittaker says:

1. Bully For Bugs
2. Rabbit Of Seville
3. Long Haired Hare
4. Transylvania 6-5000
5. Feed The Kitty
6. Drip-Along Daffy
7. What’s Opera Doc
8. One Froggy Evening

The expressions and the music do it for me. The look on the bull’s face when it realizes it has firepower. Bugs’ look of boredom as he massages tonic into Elmer’s head. Marc Antony’s look of terror, so well mimicked by Sully so many years later.

And then there’s parry-thrust-spin and “yikes and away”. Sometimes, sheer daffiness wins out. And, of course, all the things one can do with abracapocus.

After that, almost any “Ralph and Sam”, a few Pepe’s, Black Jack Shellac, Nasty Canasta,

12/19/08  3:39pm

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Porky In Wackyland
3. Bully For Bugs
4. Operation Rabbit
5. The Dover Boys
6. Duck Amuck
7. Birds Anonymous
8. 8 Ball Bunny
9. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
10. Long Haired Hare

12/19/08  3:47pm
Donna says:

1. Feed the Kitty
2. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
3. Duck Amuck
4. What’s Opera Doc
5. Hillbilly Hare
6. Bad Ol’ Puddytat
7. A Tale of Two Kitties
8. The Mouse That Jack Built
9. Robin Hood Daffy
10. For Scent-imental Reasons

12/19/08  3:59pm
woodyNYC says:

ok. I think Duck Amuck and What’s Opera Doc are way overrrated. As a matter of fact, Chuck Jones, talented as he was, is overrrated at this point. I’d like to suggest Charles McKimson who in my opinion is way underrated. You could pick almost any 40s short but I submit “The Foghorn Leghorn”. Compared to McKimson’s frenetic work ( every freakin frame is different!) Jone’s stuff is dead and cloying.

12/19/08  4:08pm
SPENCER says:

1. REBEL RABBIT because I believe it’s the first use of live action in an animated WB short, and it’s so anarchically funny.
2. DUCK DODGERS
3. ONE FROGGY EVENING
4. DUCK AMUCK
5. ONE WILD HARE
6. RABBIT OF SEVILLE
7. KNIGHTY KNIGHT BUGS
8. THE BIG SNOOZE
9. THREE LITTLE BOPS
10. A HARE GROWS IN MANHATTAN

12/19/08  4:10pm
tallman says:

Three little bops.

12/19/08  4:40pm
Larry Geng says:

Any WB cartoon from the late ’30’s to the late ’40’s from Merry Melodies
and Looney Toons. Bugs, Daffy, Roadrunner, Sam, Foghorn, Porky,
Tweety & Sylvester; all priceless, all masterpieces. After the ’40’s it was
all down hill.

Compare anything today to What’s Opera, Doc? or The Rabbit of Seville.

12/19/08  4:42pm
Scott French says:

1 Rabbit of Seville
2 Robin Hood Daffy (Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge!)
3 Rabbit Fire
4 Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
5 Hare-Way to the stars

12/19/08  5:05pm
Robert Hill says:

Wow, this is going to be hard, because I’ll have to leave out a LOT of classics that belong on the list as well. I’ll go the full 50 since Jerry says that is the limit, but I could easily put many more. Here goes:

1. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (enough of that “politically incorrect” nonsense and release this on a future LT DVD collection, along with all the other classics from the Censored Eleven and more)
2. Rabbit Hood
3. Nasty Quacks
4. Hare Trigger
5. Buccaneer Bunny
6. Robin Hood Daffy
7. What’s Opera Doc?
8. Dog Gone People
9. A Wild Hare (the most important Looney Tune or Merrie Melodie and one of the greatest! ESPECIALLY the magnificently restored version on the WB Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection - 15 Winners, 26 Nominees. This is the most overlooked DVD release of 2008 and should be purchased by everyone. “A Wild Hare” ALONE is worth getting it for, not to mention a beautifully restored “Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt.” Both films are fully restored with original opening & closing titles.)
10. Rabbit Seasoning
11. Chow Hound
12. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
13. Gift Wrapped
14. Ducking the Devil
15. Drip-Along Daffy
16. Little Red Riding Rabbit
17. A Mouse Divided
18. Zipping Along
19. Racketeer Rabbit
20. Russian Rhapsody
21. Tin Pan Alley Cats
22. Which is Witch?
23. Hare Brush
24. Wise Quackers
25. The Cat’s Tale
26. Trap Happy Porky
27. Lickety Splat
28. Sunday Go to Meetin’ Time
29. Hare Force
30. Design For Leaving
31. Have You Got Any Castles (especially now that we have seen it uncut on LTGC, Volume 2)
32. Bewitched Bunny
33. Goldilocks and the Jivin’ Bears
34. Each Dawn I Crow
35. Fresh Hare
36. China Jones
37. Duck Amuck
38. Pigs in a Polka
39. Hillbilly Hare
40. Speaking of the Weather
41. All This and Rabbit Stew
42. Tom Thumb in Trouble
43. Southern Fried Rabbit
44. Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips
45. Muscle Tussle
46. Punch Trunk
47. Wabbit Twouble
48. The Trial of Mr. Wolf
49. Jungle Jitters
50. Show Biz Bugs

That went fast because I hate to leave these off the list: Bunker Hill Bunny; Horse Hare; Scrap Happy Daffy; The Wabbit Who Came to Supper; His Bitter Half; Robot Rabbit; Little Red Walking Hood; My Little Duckaroo; Clean Pastures; Little Boy Boo; Foxy By Proxy; The Old Grey Hare; Mississippi Hare; September in the Rain; Herr Meets Hare; Scrambled Aches; Roman Legion Hare; Rabbit of Seville; Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt; Quack Shot. Wow, that’s over 20 more. I better stop!

12/19/08  5:08pm
Brannon says:

These are the ones that stick with me from childhood, that seem to encapsulate the qualities I find most memorable and hilarious about each character.

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. The Rabbit of Seville
3. Rabbit Seasoning
4. Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
5. Hare-Way to the Stars
6. One Froggy Evening
7. Robin Hood Daffy
8. For Scent-imental Reasons
9. Beep Beep
10. The Abominable Snow-Rabbit

12/19/08  6:05pm
Alan Hutchinson says:

I’m going to avoid most of the obvious choices because they’ll get plenty of votes no matter what. Many of my favorites became favorites back in the early days of VCRs when many an hour was spent taping WB cartoons from WGN, WTBS and WOR, the only really out-of-town stations our cable company provided. So some of these are a little obscure, but really, really funny. Many of the others became favorites from watching the Saturday morning Bugs Bunny Show year after year. And then there are a couple that are sure to be in everyone’s Top Ten.

Meatless Flyday
A Tale of Two Mice
Hush My Mouse
I Taw a Putty Tat
Hot Cross Bunny
A-Lad-in a Lamp
My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
The Awful Orphan
Mouse Wreckers
High Diving Hare
The Rabbit of Seville
Long-Haired Hare
The Windblown Hare
A Ham in a Role
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
It’s Hummer Time
Hillbilly Hare
A Fox in a Fix
Early to Bet
Cheese Chasers
A Bear for Punishment
Much Ado About Nutting
Hare Trimmed
I Gopher You
Claws for Alarm
Little Boy Boo
One Froggy Evening
Wideo Wabbit
The Honey-Mousers
Show Biz Bugs

12/19/08  6:30pm
Norman L. Cook says:

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
3. Duck Amuck
4. Rabbit of Seville
5. Robin Hood Daffy
6. Rabbit Seasoning
7. Claws for Alarm
8. High Note
9. Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
10. One Froggy Evening
11. Rabbit Fire
12. Feed the Kitty
13. Bully for Bugs
14. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
15. Hair-Raising Hare
16. The Old Grey Hare
17. From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
18. Kiss Me Cat
19. Long-Haired Hare
20. Water, Water Every Hare
21. Three Little Bops
22. Racketeer Rabbit
23. Ali Baba Bunny
24. Fast and Furry-ous
25. Hare-Way to the Stars
26. Operation: Rabbit
27. Book Revue
28. Show Biz Bugs
29. Birds Anonymous
30. Back Alley Oproar
31. A-Lad-in His Lamp
32. Rabbit’s Feat
33. Double or Mutton
34. Haredevil Hare
35. Rhapsody Rabbit
36. Bugs and Thugs
37. Mouse Wreckers
38. Sahara Hare
39. The Mouse That Jack Built
40. Along Came Daffy
41. The Fair Haired Hare
42. No Parking Hare
43. Punch Trunk
44. Tree for Two
45. Hillbilly Hare
46. Little Red Riding Rabbit
47. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
48. Don’t Give Up the Sheep
49. Knighty Knight Bugs
50. Rocket Squad

12/19/08  7:29pm
Mariah Abell says:

The Bugs-Daffy-Elmer trilogy
Bully for Bugs
Duck Amuck
Cheese Chasers
The Big Snooze
A Wild Hare
Robin Hood Daffy
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
From Hare to Heir
The Abominable Snow Rabbit
Falling Hare
A Bird in Guilty Cage
Book Revue
Rabbit of Seville
Daffy Doodles
The Ducksters
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Kitty Kornered
Patient Porky
Brother Brat
Yankee Doodle Daffy

12/19/08  7:39pm
PCUnfunny says:

“The “most historically significant” list would be different, and loaded with Tex Avery cartoons - A Wild Hare, Porky’s Duck Hunt, Porky The Wrestler, etc.”

Pretty much. Tex invented the very foundation of cartoons.

12/19/08  7:46pm
PCUnfunny says:

woodyNYC:

I think Chuck Jones most underrated characters are the following: The Three Bears, Claude Cat, Hubie, Bertie, and Marc Anthony. They are all the most brilliantly created characters outside Bugs and Daffy. Unfortunately, Chuck stuck with Pe Pe Le Pew and The Road Runner and Coyote shorts. I am sorry but there is a single cartoon I like with any of them, they are just so stuck to a formula that nothing new could be done with them after one cartoon.

12/19/08  8:17pm
Corey K. says:

Hurray, two votes for “Hush My Mouse”! I’ll make it a third. A funny Sniffles cartoon may seem like a contradiction in terms, but in his final outing, Sniffles is finally given smarts, wit and guile to offset his cutesy persona, makng him over into an ersatz Tweety. And the dialogue is sharp and funny, especially the endless stream of malapropisms from “Artie da manager.” (”If it ain’t Eddie G. Robincat, in da flesh and fantasty!” “Better late than forever, t’phrase a coin.” “Filligan, here I am with me life in piccady, and you have da VERVE to tell me we ain’t got no mouse knuckles!”) I laugh at this one every time.

12/19/08  8:19pm
Motherbear says:

Water, Water Every Hare
Broom-Stick Bunny
Bully for Bugs
Knighty Knight Bugs
Transylvania 6-5000
Bunny Hugged
Rhapsody Rabbit
Rabbit of Seville
Hillbilly Hare
Devil May Hare

12/19/08  8:56pm
Mike Pelensky says:

My Top 10:

1. Duck Amuck. I don’t think I need to explain *why* I love it, even if people disagree. They will never write a better cartoon, and Chuck’s drawings and Maurice’s layouts give it titanium legs.
2. Kitty Kornered. They will never animate a better cartoon. I apologize to the Clampett elitists for not making it #1, but remember, there is nothing elitist about a Clampett cartoon, even if the art is divine.
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24th-1/2 Century. This one is quintessential to an understanding of Daffy’s character with slightly less pronounced theatrics.
4. A Tale of Two Kitties. Tweety was in top form here.
5. Porky Pig’s Feat. When the manager falls down a bajillion flights of stairs, backed by brilliantly redundant bouncing animation and Mel Blanc’s anguished yowls, my sides split. Daffy attempting an abstractly ethnic accent is almost as funny.
6. The Heckling Hare. It’s never been so hilarious to watch a smart-alecky trickster trample all over of an adorable simpleton.
7. The Scarlet Pumpernickel. Jones combined his faux-heroic Daffy with Clampett’s self-consciously goofy Daffy, and the results were terrific.
8. Rabbit Seasoning. This cartoon features the quintessential argument inversion, “pronoun trouble” or none.
9. To Beep or Not to Beep. My personal favorite Road Runner cartoon. It shouldn’t matter if the structure is the same in a series if the gags are always new and funny, but Chuck managed a bit of structure here as well, with the increasingly ridiculous variations on Wile E.’s malfunctioning rock-catapult thingamajig.
10. What’s Opera, Doc? Elmer’s rabid pursuit of Bugs escalates to literally operatic heights.

12/19/08  10:03pm

1. Duck Amuck
2. Porky in Wackyland/Dough for the Do-Do
3. What’s Opera Doc?
4. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
5. Rabbit of Seville
6. The Big Snooze
7. One Froggy Evening
8. Rabbit Seasoning
9. A Tale of Two Kitties
10. Feed the Kitty
11. The Old Grey Hare
12. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves
13. Bully for Bugs
14. Book Revue
15. Robin Hood Daffy
16. Baby Bottleneck
17. Rhapsody Rabbit
18. Scrambled Aches
19. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
20. Russian Rhapsody
21. Now Hear This
22. Back Alley Oproar
23. Operation: Rabbit
24. Porky’s Preview
25. Rabbit Fire
26. It’s Hummer Time
27. A Bear for Punishment
28. Drip-Along Daffy
29. The Daffy Doc
30. The Ducksters
31. Bunny Hugged
32. Scrap Happy Daffy
33. Falling Hare
34. Buccaneer Bunny
35. Baseball Bugs
36. Show Biz Bugs
37. Daffy Duck Slept Here
38. Long Haired Hare
39. Thugs with Dirty Mugs
40. Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century
41. The Grey-Hounded Hare
42. Ali Baba Bunny
43. Hare Brush
44. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
45. Rabbit Hood
46. Stop! Look! and Hasten!
47. Little Red Riding Rabbit
48. Norman Normal
49. A Ham in a Role
50. What’s Cookin’ Doc?

Hard one - left off another 30 or so I would have been SURE had to be on there . . .

I also posted the list over at my blog with links to the Wikipedia/IMDb entries and YouTube videos (available for all but 3 of the above).

Thanks for including the fans, Jerry,

Ian W. Hill
Brooklyn, NY

12/19/08  10:10pm
Will Mendes says:

Feed The Kitty
The Rabbit of Seville
I Love To Singa
Dog Collared
Nasty Quacks
Rebel Rabbit
An Itch In Time
A Fractured Leghorn
The Three Little Bops
Porky Pig’s Feat
Gorilla My Dreams
Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips
Rhapsody In Rivets
Fresh Airedale
Bully For Bugs
A Gruesome Twosome
You Ought To Be In Pictures
The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives
One Froggy Evening
Racketeer Rabbit
Hittin’ The Trail For Hallelujah Land

Have fun writing your book, Jerry. I hope we haven’t given you too many suggestions.

12/19/08  10:12pm
Brian D. Scott says:

OK, I added my originally list hastily while I was at work, but let me expound on my choices (and I really tried hard not to look at everyone else’s choices):

Rabbit’s Kin - Stan Freberg’s Pete Puma is just hands down one of the funniest characters I’ve ever seen in a cartoon! I always use his “I know you-u” line when I run into someone I haven’t seen in a while.

Hush My Mouse - Art, Filigan, Edward G. Robincat (love that name) and Sniffles with the higher pitched, faster voice with the flute playing in the background - I love this one and I’m glad I have it on my Looney Tunes laserdisc still.

Back Alley Oproar - I know this is a remake of an earlier cartoon with Porky and a nondescript cat, but Sylvester’s songs, Elmer’s reactions to everything (when he’s blown up and becomes an angel, he just shrugs his shoulders and says “Oh well, at least now I can get some west”), and the stand-in cat just has me on the floor!

The Hep Cat - the cat’s mannerisms and facial expressions in this are hysterical, especially when he first meets the puppet, rubs her back, feels the dog’s nose and says “Well, something new has been added!”

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery - Daffy at his daffiest; I love the rundown of the criminals, especially Rubberhead and Neon Noodle!

Brother Brat - All the character’s in this are hilarious, especially Bea Benederette (Betty Rubble) as the Blockheed-working mom!

Hare Meets Herr - The best “line” in this is when Gehring tells the falcon to find a “rabbit-za”, looks at the audience with a straight deadpan expression and pulls out a sign that says “Evidently this guy is a foreigner”! Classic!

Tortoise Wins By A Hare - OK, just because of the role reversal this one would be a winner, but all of the dimwitted rabbits in this one crack me up, especially when they’re beating up Bugs because they think he’s the “toitle”! “Take that ya doity toitle, take that!” “Toitle-schmoitle, I’m da rabbit!”

Dough For the Do-Do - Again, another remake, but it’s the dodo beating up Porky while he’s dancing that just makes me laugh!

Porky Pig’s Feat - Classic! Everything from Daffy losing the money, to the bill items (hot and dirty running water, sunshine, good will, Louis XIV bed (without Louis)), to the staircase fall - everything about this one is funny!

We The Animals Squeak - Kansas City Kitty’s radio appearance, but it’s the lead mouse’s ramblings over the plan that make this one a hit for me (”Not forgetting to apasititan with the forty year precitory, in addition to the rigatory…”)! Two old friends of mine can recite the whole monologue with me to this day!

Scaredy Cat - Without dialog, Sylvester steals the show, especially when he’s lowered in his basket to who knows where, and hours later he’s returned stark white and frightened out of his wits! Don’t get me started on the Chopin’s Death March scenes with the other cat and then Porky!

A Pest In The House - The poor sap in this one had to stay at Elmer’s hotel with Daffy as the bellhop! I love the fact that the guy just kept taking his aggravation out on Elmer, even at the end! “Noisy little chap, isn’t he?!?”

12/19/08  10:52pm
Brannigan's Law says:

As long as one of the Ralph Phillip shorts make it on there I’ll be happy.

12/19/08  11:11pm

Not sure this went through the first time, so let me try again:

01. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
02. Rabbit Seasoning
03. Rabbit Fire
04. What’s Opera, Doc?
05. Duck Amuck
06. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
07. Show Biz Bugs
08. One Froggy Evening
09. Little Red Riding Rabbit
10. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
11. Rabbit of Seville
12. Book Revue
13. Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century
14. Porky Pig’s Feat
15. Birds Anonymous
16. Fast and Furry-ous
17. High Diving Hare
18. The Foghorn Leghorn
19. For Scent-imental Reasons
20. Rabbit Hood
21. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
22. The Old Grey Hare
23. Nasty Quacks
24. Long-Haired Hare
25. Slick Hare
26. Water, Water Every Hare
27. Feed the Kitty
28. Porky in Wackyland
29. Beanstalk Bunny
30. The Dover Boys

Can’t wait for the book. Good luck.

12/19/08  11:27pm
Marbles says:

Here are the 50 I probably like the most, in the order I thought of them:

1. Scaredy Cat
2. Daffy Duck Slept Here
3. Pest in the House
4. Haredevil Hare
5. Great Piggy Bank Robbery
6. Tortise Wins By a Hare
7. Hare Trigger
8. To Duck or Not To Duck
9. Porky Pig’s Feat
10. Rabbit Punch
11. Rebel Rabbit
12. No Barking
13. Baton Bunny
14. One Froggy Evening
15. The Hypo-Chondri Cat
16. My Favorite Duck
17. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves
18. Eight-Ball Bunny
19. Rabbit Fire
20. Rabbit Seasoning
21. Duck Rabbit Duck!
22. The Abominable Snow Rabbit
23. What Makes Daffy Duck
24. Book Revue
25. A Tale of Two Kitties
26. Tin Pan Alley Cats
27. I Taw a Putty Tat
28. Rhapsody Rabbit
29. Racketeer Rabbit
30. Baby Bottleneck
31. The Bee-Deviled Bruin
32. Inki and the Lion
33. Inki at the Circus
34. Chow Hound
35. Claws For Alarm
36. Daffy Dilly
37. The Dover Boys
38. The Ducksters
39. Golden Yeggs
40. Who’s Kitten Who?
41. I Love To Singa
42. Yankee Doodle Daffy
43: You Ought To Be In Pictures
44. Baseball Bugs
45. Draftee Daffy
46. Drip-Along Daffy
47. Wagon Heels
48. Hyde And Go Tweet
49. Porky In Wackyland
50. Boobs In The Woods

Some of these might not be picked by anyone else, but what da hey.

12/19/08  11:44pm
Vic Cromarty says:

The Warner cartoons! They twisted my young unformed brain and created an animation fan(atic). Some favourites that can still make me laugh out loud include:

Duck Amuck - “Ain’t I a stinker?”
The Rabbit of Seville - “Next!”
One Froggy Evening - “Hello my baby!”
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century - “Illudium Phosdex, the shaving cream atom!”
What’s Opera, Doc? - “Kill da wabbit! Kill da wabbit!”
Bully for Bugs - “What a gulli-bull… what a nin-cow-poop!”
Baseball Bugs - “Yerrr OUT!”
Hareway to the Stars - “Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!”
Bewitched Bunny - Love those hairpins…
I Gopher You - Raymond Scott’s tune “Powerhouse”…
Bunny Hugged - “Aw, you look tired, Crusher. Why don’t you rest up on this nice, soft floor for a few minutes…”
Three Little Bops - “Didn’t go to Heaven, was the other place!”
Porky In Wackyland - This weirdness still makes me laugh!
Ain’t She Tweet - Stilts!
Fast and Furry-Ous - Cartoon-physics painted tunnels!
The Hole Idea - As a kid I always wanted to invent a Portable Hole.
Robin Hood Daffy - “Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin!”

Tons more would bubble to the surface if I thought hard enough, but these are the ones that come to mind right away.

Best of luck with the book. Look forward to buying one soon!

12/20/08  12:21am
George Zadorozny says:

The Shell-Shocked Egg.

Nobody ever seems to talk about it, but it’s absolutely perfect. One of the funniest and most delightful films (animated or live) that I’ve ever seen.

12/20/08  12:41am
Michael E. Ellis says:

1. What’s Opera Doc?
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. Duck Amuck
4. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
5. Russian Rhapsody
6. Little Boy Boo
7. Feed The Kitty
8. I Love To Singa
9. One Froggy Evening
10. Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century

12/20/08  1:03am
Charles says:

It probably wouldn’t make anyone’s top 50 but if you measured it by how hard I laughed Art Davis’s “Stupor Salesman” would be the best.

Artistically nothing comes close to Jones and Clampett, though.

Top five in no order:

Feed The Kitty
Russian Rhapsody
Tortoise Wins By A Hare
The Dover Boys
Kitty Kornered

12/20/08  1:22am
sam says:

1:Rabbit Of Seville

no contest here,

12/20/08  1:44am
Jennifer Tangeman says:

My top fourteen…

1. Porky’s Pooch
2. To Duck… or not to Duck
3. The Hep Cat
4. A Tale of Two Kitties
5. Porky in Wackyland
6. Hair-Raising Hare
7. Jeepers Creepers
8. One Froggy Evening
9. I Love to Singa
10. The Abominable Snow Rabbit
11. Swooner Crooner
12. What’s Opera, Doc?
13. Scaredy Cat
14. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery

12/20/08  7:47am
Looney Lover says:

I’m sorry but I am sickened by how many people on this blog think that “What’s Opera Doc?” is the greatest Looney Tune ever made. My opinion is it has nice Layouts! That’s it!. Story is a redo of “Heir Meets Hare”, the animation is not really top notch at this point for Warners, and above all things the characters have lost a lot of their personality by the late 50’s. Bugs and Fudd seem like they are performers in an opera, not cartoon characters making fun of opera.
Friz knew how to direct the characters and the music together to make the whole thing a really fun cartoon.
Clampett’s “Corney Concerto” is a Great Looney Tune! Funny animation, good in character acting (ie Fudd as the host), and funny sound effects that plus the cartoonie musical score. A great kick at Disney’s Fantaisa.

Chuck’s “Rabbit Of Seville” is a much better cartoon.

None of the mentioned cartoons should be number 1 on the list. I’m just ranting about how shocking it is to see so many cartoon lovers, pick “what’s opera doc?” as number 1. I always thought the kind of people who love “What’s Opera Doc?” were those who only watched Looney Tunes on the Bugs and Tweety show and had never really seen the pre 1948 Warner’s cartoons.

My number one is either “A Wild Hare” or “Porky’s Ducky Hunt”.

I’ll have to re-watch them both and get back to you.

I look forward to your new book Jerry. Thank You for involving Cartoon Brew.

12/20/08  8:35am
Curt Brown says:

There is such a great legacy of animation from Warner Brothers and this list hopefully will be the defintive collection of the top 100.

The only comment I would like to add to this list is to recognize what a horribly overrated cartoon “What’s Opera, Doc?” is and for people to reevaluate its quality and importance in the collection.

Here’s my list of reasons:

1. This cartoon’s design is derivative of original style (by ripping off UPA stylized trend) and very sadly marks the definitive end to Warners truly wonderfully designed and animated characters from the 40s-50s.

2. The characters are really poorly animated and at this point so dreadfully stylized off character, most notably with the emphasis of Chuck Jones’ “oversiized dewy eyed” Bugs and Elmer.

3. Its storyline is mundane and dialog is stilted, even for a late period Warners cartoon.

4. It is seriously self important and pretentious piece of “art”.
What is more dreadful for a classic cartoon series which specialized in witty dialog and chaotic mayhem than to be turned into a 50s college “intoduction to Opera 101″ course. Poor Chuck must have been desparate for personal validation that he is a serious artist.

5. Painfully bad ending, “What did you expect a Happy Ending?..”. no, something very funny and clever!!!

6. Rabbit of Seville, just watch this and you’ll realize that this was the perfect marriage of classic opera and animation. Brilliantly fast and addictive storyline…. wonderful animation… most importanly it is hilarious to watch over and over again…. this short is an amazing classic.

“eh…Next!?”

6. Finally, and again most important. This short is seriously unfunny and is sadly plays like a train accident for all of the talented careers of the Warner Brothers Animation Studio.

12/20/08  8:43am
Robert Schaad says:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Falling Hare
3. Baby Bottleneck
4. Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
5. A Corny Concerto
6. Yankee Doodle Daffy
7. What’s Cookin’ Doc?
8. Kitty Kornered
9. The Big Snooze
10. Book Revue
11. Wackiki Wabbit
12. Nasty Quacks
13. Draftee Daffy
14. Little Red Riding Rabbit
15. Case of the Missing Hare
16. Daffy Duck Slept Here
17. Hare Tonic
18. Buckaroo Bugs
19. Odor of the Day
20. Ding Dog Daddy
21. Tick Tock Tuckered
22. Porky’s Preview
23. Hamateur Night
24. Porky in Wackyland
25. Dover Boys
26. Tortoise Beats Hare
27. Super Rabbit
28. A Gruesome Twosome
29. Daffy Doodles
30. Easter Yeggs
31. Porky Pig’s Feat
32. Fresh Fish
33. What’s Opera Doc?
34. Wagon Wheels
35. Greetings Bait
36. The Wacky Worm
37. Ghost Wanted
38. A Tale of Two Kitties
39. Hare Splitter
40. Bowery Bugs
41. Homeless Hare
42. Wild, Wild World
43. Feed The Kitty
44. Believe it or Else
45. Fresh Airedale
46. Into Your Dance
47. The Hole Idea
48. Three Little Bops
49. I Love to Singa
50. Hold the Lion, Please!

12/20/08  8:59am

I have narrowed my favorites list down to 5:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Baby Bottleneck
3. A Gruesome Twosome
4. Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
5. One Froggy Evening

12/20/08  10:35am
Tor says:

Off the top of my head:

Tom Turk and Daffy (Jones)
Porky Pig’s Feat (Tashlin)
Fool Coverage (McKimson)
Feed the Kitty (Jones)
Buckaroo Bugs (Clampett)
The Ducksters (Jones)
Wabbit Twouble (’Cwampett’)
The Rabbit of Seville (Jones)
A Tale of Two Kitties (Clampett)
Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (Jones)
Dripalong Daffy (Jones)
Robin Hood Daffy (Jones)
Draftee Daffy (Clampett)
Bugs and Thugs (Freleng)
Easter Yeggs (McKimson)
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Clampett)
Duck Amuck (Jones)
Lickety Splat (Jones)
Stupor Duck (McKimson)
A Bear for Punishment (Jones)

12/20/08  10:38am
Austin Papageorge says:

1. Tin Pan Alley Cats
2. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
3. Hollywood Steps Out
4. Falling Hare
5. What’s Opera, Doc
6. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
7. Hair-Raising Hare
8. Slick Hare
9. A Corny Concerto
10. The Adventures Of The Road Runner
11. An Awful Orphan
12 Canned Feud
13 A Gruesome Twosome
14 Kitty Kornered
15. Broom-Stick Bunny

12/20/08  12:32pm
Rich Fogel says:

I agree with most of the above, but I would also add A Rhapsody in Rivets — a pure piece of Freeling magic!

12/20/08  12:44pm

Tough assignment. I had to go through the entire filmography you compiled with Will Friedman, Jerry. I picked out the ones I found the most memorable, weeded out the fifty that I simply could not eliminate and then tried to rank them. *whew*. So here’s my top fifty. I decided to go ahead and list my runners-up afterward, but only the first fifty are intened for your consideration. (As to the Roadrunner debate: I love them far too much to eliminate them. Formulaic or not.)

The Top Fift:
1 Rabbit Seasoning
2 Duck Amuck
3 What’s Opera, Doc?
4 One Froggy Evening
5 High Note
6 Jumpin’ Jupiter
7 Feed the Kitty
8 Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
9 Gee Whiz-z-z
10 Robin Hood Daffy
11 The Rabbit of Seville
12 Bewitched Bunny
13 Wild and Wooly Hare
14 Hare-Way to the Stars
15 Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
16 Claws For Alarm
17 Long-Haired Hare
18 Two’s a Crowd
19 Boobs in the Woods
20 Zoom and Bored
21 Hillbilly Hare
22 What’s Up Doc?
23 Bully for Bugs
24 Knighty-Knight Bugs
25 Dr. Jerkyl’s Hide
26 Dog Gone South
27 High Diving Hare
28 Beanstalk Bunny
29 The Ducksters
30 Rabbit’s Kin
31 The Scarlet Pumpernickel
32 Stop, Look and Hasten
33 Scaredy Cat
34 Sahara Hare
35 Pappy’s Puppy
36 Jeepers Creepers
37 Deduce, You Say
38 Operation: Rabbit
39 The Hasty Hare
40 Going! Going! Gosh!
41 Double or Mutton
42 My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
43 The Abominable Snow Rabbit
44 Porky in Wackyland
45 Roman Legion Hare
46 Little Red Riding Rabbit
47 Mutiny on the Bunny
48 From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
49 To Itch His Own
50 Three Little Bops

The Runners-Up (alphabetically):
A-Lad-In His Lamp
Apes of Wrath
Awful Orphan
Baby Buggy Bunny
Back Alley Oproar
Bad Ol’ Puttty Tat
A Bear For Punishment
Bedevilled Bunny
The Big Snooze
Birds Anonymous
Broom-Stick Bunny
Bugs and Thugs
Cheese Chasers
Daffy Duck Slept Here
Devil May Hare
The Foghorn Leghorn
For Scent-imental Reasons
Golden Yeggs
Greedy For Tweety
Hare Brush
Hare Trimmed
Haredevil Hare
I Gopher Your
Lovelorn Leghorn
Often an Orphan
Past Perfumance
Porky Pig’s Feat
Rabbit Romeo
Red Riding Hoodwinked
Riff Raffy Daffy
A Streetcat Named Sylvester
Tick Tock Tuckered
Tweety’s S.O.S.
Walky Talky Hawky
Water, Water Every Hare
A Wild Hare

12/20/08  1:37pm
Danny Spelman says:

I’m only going to pick one cartoon. The Henpecked Duck, 1941, Dr. Robert Clampett. The main reason is how the character of Daffy is handled. We’re given a very unfunny situation; a missing baby. It’s made hilarious just by the way in which Daffy reacts to the emergency. What must be going through his head. “The wife’s gonna kill me, I’m going to jail, I lost my son!!!” Not only that, but the cartoon also highlights Daffy’s soft side. There’s real drama here! Look at the way his wife cries as she screams “I wanna divorce!” for the last time. It’s ever so slightly tear jerking and also hilarious!

12/20/08  1:46pm
Robbo says:

One Froggy Evening
Rabbit Of Seville
Duck Rabbit Duck
A-Lad And His Lamp
Duck Dodgers In The 24 1/2 Century
Canned Feud
Drip Along Daffy
Feed The Kitty
The Wearing Of The Grin
Duck Amuck

12/20/08  2:07pm

I know the lines, that anyone who is a fan will be able to relate it to the cartoons.

It’s funny, I can recite most of them line by line, but barely know any of the actual names of the cartoons, I’ll post the lines sticking in my head right now, so here goes:

Hassan Chop!

I never forget a face, but in your case, I’ll make an exception.

You know, sometimes I’m so smart it frightens me.

Consequences Shmonsequences, as long as I’m rich.

Don’t you believe I’m a fish? Well then I don’t believe you’re a pig!

Acoustically sound no doubt.

Stop breathing in my cup!

Stop steaming up my glasses!

Hare! Die! Hair Dye! That’s a joke son. You missed it!

I’ll perplex him with my slow ball.

First base Bugs Bunny. Second base Bugs Bunny. Third base Bugs Bunny. etc.

Hello my Baby, Hello my Darling…

Good morning Ralph. Good Morning Sam.

Beep Beep

Wiley E Coyote. Super Genius. I like the way that rolls out.

Delays. Nothing but Delays.

Having re-re-disposed of the monster, exit our hero…

Dogpile on the rabbit! Dogpile on the rabbit!

Well now I wouldn’t say that.

Tell me Sylvester, is there a history of insanity in your family?

Duck Season. Rabbit Season.

Ah Ha! Pronoun trouble.

Funny, I didn’t think molasses would run in January.

Kill the rabbit! Kill the rabbit! (opera)

It must be The Human Fly!

I will jump 1000 feet into a damp sponge.

I need air. My lungs Crave air!

When it disintegrates, brother it disintegrates. What do you know? It disintegrated.

Ho, Haha, Guard, Turn, Parry, Dodge, Spin, Ha, Thrust!

Don’t worry sweetheart! I’ll save you!

Stop steaming up my tail. What do you want to do? Wrinkle it?

You’re a big boy now. Take your finger out of your mouth.

Leopold. Leopold. Leopold.

Modern Design

Nothing beats a hot dog cooked out of doors.

I told you rabbits weren’t very bright.

Now what did you go and do that for?

What that first step. It’s a lulu!

Hoboken!?!

Shutup Shutting up.

Were not stuck rabbit. you’re stuck.

You heard the boss Mugsy. Let me have it.

How many lumps would you like?

I’ll love him and squeeze him and call him George

You don’t say? You don’t say? Who was it? He didn’t say!

My name is Elmer J Fudd. Millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht, again.

My what a huge carrot.

It specifically states in my contract that I am to be drawn as a duck.

I’m allergic to pain.

I’m financially secure. I’m socially well off.

What a way for a duck to travel. Underground.

The Crusher!

Gremlins Ha ha. Little men.

Ok - my fingers are cramping up, but that was fun going through them again in my head.

Bounus Question for a true Daffy fan. What is his middle name? Only one cartoon shows it, but it is never even mentioned.

12/20/08  3:21pm
JPDJ says:

Picking the best Looney Tunes seems an exercise in futility but gosh it’s fun to try. I’m only going to list three:

The Rabbit of Seville –wonderfully absurdist humor set to music.

Drip-Along Daffy –It was either this or Deduce, You Say. I think Daffy and Porky are at their best here.

A Bear for Punishment –Oh those three bears. Precursor to “All in the Family” and “The Simpsons” if ever there was one. Of the three bears films this is the best.

Nothing necessarily groundbreaking about any of them but easily the snappiest, funniest Looney Tunes ever. If these picks label me as a Chuck Jones fanboy well so be it. (I’m also a McKimson fanboy but these edged his out by that much).

All these picks are killer. Looking forward to seeing which picks make the final cut!

12/20/08  3:56pm

What’s Opera Doc, Rabbit of Seville, Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century, One Froggy Evening, Duck Amuck, Louvre come back to me!, Double or Mutton, Bewitched Bunny, Feed The Kitty, Hair Raising Hair

12/20/08  5:36pm

hmmm, not the easiest thing in the world to declare, but I would have to say at least the following:

8 Ball Bunny
One Froggy Evening
Dough Rey Me
24 Carrot Bunny
Hare Raising Hare
The Foghorn Leghorn
Baby Bottleneck
Pest in the House
The Big Snooze
The Hep Cat
Three Little Bops
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Scaredy Cat
Water, Water Every Hare
Easter Yeggs
Duck, Rabbit, Duck
Bugs and Thugs

Can’t wait to see the outcome.

Henry

12/20/08  6:01pm
Matt says:

Wakiki Rabbit ftw!

12/20/08  6:06pm
Michael says:

Ahh, one of my all-time favourite topics - Bugs Bunny cartoons. The very first TV show I ever watched (I

was 8 at the time) was the Bugs Bunny show which in 1961 was running on the local station at 7pm week

nights.

My favourite individual ones in approximate order are:

Duck Fire (I say it’s duck season and I say fire!)
Duck Rabbit Duck
The Ali Baba one in the cave - Hassan chop! (icketty-ackity-ook) (consequences, schmonsequences, as long

as I’m rich)
Duck Dodgers (yessir, your heroship sir)
The one where Porky Pig is the game show host and Daffy is the contestant (ohhh, I’m sorry, you must pay

the penalty! 1000 gallons of genuine Niagara Falls)
Drip-a-long Daffy
Robin Hood Daffy (yoiks and away)
The Foreign Legion (whoa camel..I wonder if he’s silly enough to open all those doors..)
Red Riding Hood with the drippy wolf and Sylvester
High divin’ act (I paid mah 4 bits to see the high-divin act..)
The bull fight (of course you know this means war..)
The Marriage of Figaro one with PP and BB
The one where BB is tormenting DD with the animation (gee ain’t I a stinker)
Cut! Bring on zee double with DD & BB (I dare you…I DARE you..i dare YOU)
The Golden Egg with DD and the gangsters (ehh, make wit the atmosphere)
Foghorn Leghorn and the Dog (tie down the pumpkins)
DD and the the talent agent (he blows himself up)
Marvin Martian (there’s supposed to be an earth-shattering ka-boom)
This time we didn’t forget the gwavy
Sylvester and PP in the haunted house

Immortal.

Best of list would have to include:

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Porky in Wackyland
What’s Opera Doc
Rabbit Seasoning

12/20/08  6:38pm
Jeff says:

1 - Duck Amuck
2 - What’s Opera, Doc?
3 - Robin Hood Daffy
4 - To Beep or Not to Beep
5 - Haredevil Hare
6 - Three Little Bops

12/20/08  6:58pm
Vince says:

Many folks are weighing in on the “overrated-ness” (perhaps correctly) of What’s Opera Doc. Even though it is in my top 5, it is for reasons I stated–lots of atmosphere, plus it is very self referential and satirical. It plays on the Bugs v. Elmer shtick in a way that broke, by then, a very tired formula. That, and the horse’s ass makes me laugh out loud every time…

12/20/08  8:24pm
Joe Mathis says:

Ok, here’s my list. Like any other list of this nature, I can hear yall saying: “How could he leave out…” and “How can he put so and so ahead of such and such.
1-FALLING HARE
2-KITTY KORNERD
3-COAL BLACK
4-GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY
5-HORTON HATCHES THE EGG
6-HARE CONDITIONED
7-GHOST WANTED
8-AN ITCH IN TIME
9-SUPER RABBIT
10-CORNY CONCERTO
11-THE DOVER BOYS
12-LITTLE RED RIDING RABBIT
13-BACK ALLEY UPROAR
14-RABBIT SEASONING
15-DUCK, RABBIT, DUCK
16-BOOK REVUE
17-ONE FROGGY EVENING
18-THE BIG SNOOZE
19-HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT
20-GOOFY GOPHERS
21-BUGS BUNNY GETS THE BOID
22-TOM TURK AND DAFFY
23-HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES
24-8 BALL BUNNY
25-RABBIT FIRE
26-NASTY QUACKS
27-ALI BABA BUNNY
28-TORTOISE VS HARE
29-FAIR AND WORM-ER
30-BUGS BUNNY RIDES AGAIN
31-DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24TH…
32-BASHFUL BUZZARD
33-BEDTIME FOR SNIFFLES
34-A PEST IN THE HOUSE
35-BUNNY HUGGED
36-DUCK AMUCK
37-GREETINGS BAIT
38-RABBIT HOOD
39-BOOBS IN THE WOODS
40-SNIFFLES AND THE BOOKWORM
41-RABBIT OF SEVILLE
42-DRAFTEE DAFFY
43-HUSH MY MOUSE
44-PORKY’S PARTY
45-THE OLD GREY HARE
46-CLAWS FOR ALARMS
47-WACKIKI RABBIT
48-BUGS BUNNY & THE THREE BEARS
49-WATER, WATER, EVERY HARE
50-HARE TONIC

12/20/08  8:29pm
Brian D. Scott says:

Anthony Russo…

The answer is “Dumas”, from the Scarlet Pumpernickel!

12/20/08  9:29pm
Nicole Mendes says:

Scaredy Cat
Feed The Kitty
Cheese Chasers
Design For Leaving
Greedy For Tweety
Chow Hound
Dog Gone South
The Wild Chase
Bear Feat
Goldimouse and the Three Cats
Fresh Airedale

12/20/08  9:31pm

@ Brian. Very impressed. Few people I know of that ever know Dumas is Daffy Duck’s middle name.

12/20/08  11:49pm
Kel says:

1. Rabbit of Seville
2. One Froggy Evening
3. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
4. Duck Amuck
5. Tortoise Wins By A Hare
6. Fast and Furry-ous
7. Baby Bottleneck
8. The Wise Quacking Duck
9. Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears
10. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
11. I Taw a Putty Tat
12. The Foghorn Leghorn
13. For Scent-imental Reasons
14. The Trial of Mr. Wolf
15. What’s Opera Doc
16. Hillbilly Hare
17. High Diving Hare
18. Trap Happy Porky
19. Porky’s Tire Trouble
20. Back Alley Oproar
21. The Cat’s Bah
22. Little Orphan Airedale
23. Rebel Rabbit
24. Duck Dodgers
25. Long Haired Hare
26. Three Little Bops
27. Each Dawn I Crow
28. A Ham in a Role
29. Early to Bet
30. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
31. Kitty Kornered
32. Rabbit Seasoning
33. Chow Hound
34. The Hypo-condri-cat
35. Feed the Kitty
36. Corny Concerto
37. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
38. Little Lion Hunter
39. You ought to be in Pictures
40. A Wild Hare
41. Little Red Walking Hood
42. Of Fox and Hounds
43. The Old Gray Hare
44. Fractured Leghorn
45. The Dover Boys
46. To Duck or Not to Duck
47. Daffy Doodles
48. Lovelorn Leghorn
49. Shop Look and Listen
50. Corn Plastered

12/20/08  11:51pm
PCUnfunny says:

“Few people I know of that ever know Dumas is Daffy Duck’s middle name.”

I think that was just a gag for the film, not really his full name. Dumas sounds like….you know.

12/21/08  12:08am
Tom says:

List has to include “Bugs Nips the Nips,” everyone’s favorite xenophobic rabbit fighting the Japs!

12/21/08  1:46am
bakamitai says:

Tough to choose! This is my best-guess list, in as near an order of preference as I can manage:

Rabbit Seasoning
Bully for Bugs
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Hare-Way to the Stars
Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
What’s Opera, Doc?
Porky In Wackyland
Rabbit Rampage
Rabbit Of Seville
Rabbit Hood
Hair-Raising Hare
Operation: Rabbit
To Hare Is Human
Compressed Hare
A-Lad-In His Lamp
Robin Hood Daffy
Knights Must Fall
Knight-mare Hare
Bunny Hugged
Bowery Bugs
Homeless Hare
Roman Legion-Hare
Long-Haired Hare
8 Ball Bunny
Forward March Hare
No Parking Hare
Knighty Knight Bugs
Devil May Hare
Broom-Stick Bunny
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Transylvania 6-5000
Mad as a Mars Hare
Baton Bunny
Water, Water Every Hare
The Hasty Hare
Bonanza Bunny
Wet Hare
Ali Baba Bunny
Bedeviled Rabbit
Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare
Oily Hare
Mutiny on the Bunny
Buccaneer Bunny
Hare We Go
14 Carrot Rabbit
Hare Lift

12/21/08  2:14am
Harris says:

1. What’s Opera, Doc? (obviously)
2. Duck Amuck

12/21/08  3:10am

Here you go Jerry. My top twenty
1. Duck Dodgers and the 24 1/2 Century
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. What’s Opera Doc?
4. Duck Amuck
5. Birds Anonymous
6. One Froggy Evening
7. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
8. The Rabbit of Seville
9. Bully For Bugs
10. The one with the opera singer
11. The Wild Race
12. Hareway to the Stars
13. Knighty Night Bugs
14. The Wild Hare
15. Walky Talky Hawky
16. Drip Along Daffy
17. Baby Bottleneck
18. A Tale of Two Kitties
19. Porky’s Duck Hunt
20. Devil Make Hare

12/21/08  4:14am
Chill says:

1. Porky Pig’s Feat
2. A Sheep in the Deep
3. Three Little Bops
4. Boyhood Daze
5. Eight-Ball Bunny
6. Rabbit Fire
7. It’s Hummer Time
8. Lickety-Splat
9. Ballot Box Bunny
10. The Unruly Hare

12/21/08  8:20am
BJ Swartz says:

One Froggy Evening - my all time favorite!

And, in alphabetical order:

Ali Baba Bunny
Duck Dodgers In The 24th And ½ Century
Easter Yeggs
Inki And The Minah Bird
Rabbit Of Seville
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
What’s Opera, Doc?

12/21/08  8:40am
Bill Cross says:

I post on most animation threads as “FleischerFan” but obviously I am a huge fan of Looney Tunes (who isn’t?). I was going to post my “Top 25″ but just couldn’t decide what film to bump, so here are my top 26 (and thanks, Jerry, for giving those of us in the hoi-paloi some input into this book - can’t wait to see it):

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Amuck
3. A Wild Hare
4. Deduce, You Say
5. Birds Anonymous
6. Sahara Hare
7. One Froggy Evening
8. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
9. Book Revue
10. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
11. Porky’s Duck Hunt
12. You Oughta Be in Pictures
13. (Page) Miss Glory
14. Duck Dodgers in the 24½ Century
15. Robin Hood Daffy
16. Corny Concerto
17. Ali Baba Bunny
18. Fast and Furry-ous
19. Broomstick Bunny
20. The Big Snooze
21. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
22. Dough for the Do-do
23. Scaredy Cat
24. The Dover Boys at Pimento U.
25. Speaking of the Weather
26. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!

12/21/08  9:51am
Jack Gruber says:

Here’s my 50.

How did I select them?

I typed up 60 outstanding cartoons, printed it out,
cut up the list, and shuffled them until I was happy with the results.

Although there are some included because they feature
the debut of a character, my basic criteria was the cartoon
had to be entertaining to me right now.
A few years down the road, I sure my list would have changes.

I also stuck two in because I wanted very early warner represented.
I must say I’m suprised some of the results; no Jones in the top 10?
Freleng at number 2?

Book Review
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Baby Bottleneck
Porky Pig’s Feat
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Kitty-Kornered
A Gruesome Twosome
The Foghorn Leghorn
Baseball Bugs
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Walky Talky Hawky
The Bears Tale
Duck Amuck
Hare Raising Hare
Easter Yeggs
Porky In Wackyland
Back Alley Uproar
Hurdy-Gurdy Hare
Drip-Along Daffy
Falling Hare
Fast And Furry-ous
A Wild Hare
Rhapsody In Rivets
A Corny Concerto
Thugs With Dirty Mugs
A Tale Of Two Kitties
Dough Ray Me-Ow
Gorilla My Dreams
The Case Of The Stuttering Pig
Rabbit Fire
Scaredy Cat
Plane Daffy
The Dover Boys
Draftee Daffy
Canned Feud
The Bashful Buzzard
Buckaroo Bugs
Slick Hare
The Stupid Cupid
An Itch In Time
Porky’s Duck Hunt
Hare Force
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Broomstick Bunny
Porky’s Romance
The Wacky Wabbit
Hollywood Steps Out
Lady Play Your Mandolin
Congo Jazz
I Haven’t Got A Hat

- Jack Gruber, studing cartoonist, lover of animations golden age

I’m using my real name insetead of my usual online name.

12/21/08  10:08am
Brian D. Scott says:

PCUnfunny…

Yeah, it was a gag for the film, because Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers, but not the Scarlet Pimpernel.

12/21/08  11:21am
Austin papageorge says:

“I think that was just a gag for the film, not really his full name. Dumas sounds like….you know.”

Actually Dumas sounds like Alexandre Dumas, writer of The Three Musketeers. You know how Chuck Jones was about that literary stuff.

And By The way Jerry, please add Baby Bottleneck as my #16 on my list. Thank you.

12/21/08  11:25am
Austin Papageorge says:

Please add Baby Bottleneck on my #16.

12/21/08  11:28am

Here goes, in descending order:

Baby Bottleneck
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Super Rabbit
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Porky Pig’s Feat
The Dover Boys
Baseball Bugs
Hillbilly Hare
Kitty Kornered
Long-Haired Hare
The Stupor Salesman
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
The Heckling Hare
A Gruesome Twosome
Wagon Heels
Rabbit Hood
Back Alley Oproar
Gorilla My Dreams

12/21/08  12:30pm
Ira says:

1. The Rabbit of Seville
2. Rabbit Seasoning
3. Ali Babba Bunny
4. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
5. Bugs and Thugs
6. Bunny Hugged
7. Hare-Raising Hare
8. Operation Rabbit
9. A Hare Grows in Manhattan
10. Duck Amuck
11. Gorilla My Dreams
12. Little Red Riding Rabbit
13. What’s Opera, Doc?
14. Baseball Bugs
15. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
16. Buccanneer Bunny
17. Leghorn Swoggled
18. Homeless Hare
19. Slick Hare
20. Rabbit Hood
21. Bully for Bugs
22. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
23. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
24. Long Haired Hare
25. Rabbit Fire & Duck Rabbit Duck

12/21/08  1:30pm
Jim K says:

Not my site, but I want to thank all of you for your input and views.

It’s forced me to go back and rewatch the 5 WB sets I have and perhaps see some in a different light. (In anticipation of #6 coming in 4 days!)

Of course, it also makes me question, or perhaps regret my picks. However, time was a factor and I’ll stand by my picks.

12/21/08  4:50pm
loretta giron says:

feed the kitty
feed the kitty
feed the kitty
if you did not tear up at that cartoon
you are a evil robot-
nice robots love feed the kitty

12/21/08  4:57pm
Tony Perodeau says:

Here are my choices:

Miss Glory
I Love To Singa
The Dover Boys
Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
Falling Hare
Herr Meets Hare
Hare Conditioned
Slick Hare
Back Alley Oproar
You Were Never Duckier
Mouse Wreckers
Long Haired Hare
Fast And Furry-Ous
The Lion’s Busy
Homeless Hare
8 Ball Bunny
Hare We Go
The Wearing Of The Grin
Drip Along Daffy
Operation: Rabbit
The Hasty Hare
Snow Business
Duck Amuck
Bully For Bugs
Beanstalk Bunny
The Hole Idea
Double Or Mutton
Guided Muscle
One Froggy Evening
Three Little Bops
What’s Opera, Doc?
Birds Anonymous
Robin Hood Daffy
Hare-Way To The Stars
Baton Bunny
High Note
Now Hear This
The Unmentionables
Transylvania 6-5000

12/21/08  6:05pm
Jeanne Loewenstein says:

#1 Bestest is Feed the Kitty.
When the dog puts the cat cookie on his back, I always tear up. You just can’t top that!

12/21/08  7:38pm
David says:

1. Scaredy Cat
2. Bully For Bugs
3. Feed The Kitty
4. Rabbit Seasoning
5. A Bear for Punishment
6. Robin Hood Daffy
7. Bunker Hill Bunny
8. Operation: Rabbit
9. Duck Amuck
10. Rabbit of Seville

12/21/08  10:15pm
J. J. Hunsecker says:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Duck Amuck
3. Baby Bottleneck
4. A Gruesome Twosome
5. Kitty Kornered
6. Coal Black and de Seben Dwarf
7. Horton Hatches the Egg
8. A Corny Concerto
9. Tortoise Wins By A Hare
10. The Bashful Buzzard
11. Book Revue
12. A Tale of Two Kitties
13. The Old Grey Hare
14. Russian Rhapsody
15. Draftee Daffy
16. The Rabbit of Seville
17. Bully for Bugs
18. Long Haired Hare
19. The Dover Boys
20. Cheese Chasers
21. Chow Hound
22. The Ducktators
23. Scrap Happy Daffy
24. Porky Pig’s Feat
25. One Froggy Evening
26. Fresh Airedale
27. What’s Cookin’, Doc?
28. Falling Hare
29. Porky in Wackyland
30. Baseball Bugs
31. Little Red Riding Rabbit
32. Bunny Hugged
33. Feed the Kitty
34. Daffy Doodles
35. Acrobatty Bunny
36. Racketeer Rabbit
37. One Meat Brawl
38. The Birth of a Notion
39. Easter Yeggs
40. What’s Opera, Doc?
41. Scaredy Cat
42. Bee Deviled Bruin
43. The Hep Cat
44. The Stupor Salesman
45. Dough Ray Me-Ow
46. Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
47. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
48. Hollywood Steps Out
49. Confederate Honey
50. You Ought to be in Pictures

12/21/08  11:54pm
Rachelle says:

Bully for Bugs
What’s Opera, Doc?
Rabbit of Seville
Baseball Bugs
One Froggy Evening
Fast and Furrious
Duck Dogers in the 24 1/2th Century
Hair-Raising Hare
Operation: Rabbit
Feed the Kitty
Baby Bottleneck
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Wackiki Rabbit
Odor-Able Kitty
Haredevil Hare
the Transylvania one
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
Scaredy Cat
Rabbit Hood
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
High Diving Hare
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Seasoning
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Duck Amuck
The Daffy Doc
The Aristo-Cat
A Corny Concerto
Tortoise Wins by a Hare
A Tale of Two Kitties
Stage Door Cartoon
Tweety Pie
Rhapsody Rabbit
Broom Stick Bunny
Bugs Bunny & The Three Bears
Hare Tonic
Hare Conditioned
Long-Haired Hare
The Hypo-Chondri-Cat
Beep Beep
From A to Z-Z-Z
The Big Snooze
Wabbit Twouble
The Pest That Came to Dinner
A Wild Hare
Ali Baba Bunny
Bewitched Bunny
Drip-Along Daffy
Mutiny on the Bunny
The Henpecked Duck
Three Little Bops
8 Ball Bunny
Ready..Set..Zoom!
Walky Talky Hawky
Slick Hare
Robin Hood Daffy
Hare-Way to the Stars
Super-Rabbit
The Ducksters
Baton Bunny
The Bashful Buzzard
Bad Ol’ Putty Tat
A Bear for Punishment
Fresh Hare
The Stupor Salesman
The Hasty Hare
The Unruly Hare
Beanstork Bunny

12/22/08  1:05am
Mr. Semaj says:

Shame that the list is limited to the classic Looney Tunes theatrical shorts, otherwise I could’ve added “Chariots of Fur” to my list.

I’ll have my list up in the next day or so.

12/22/08  1:48am

At this point, it’s getting clear what the popular vote would be for the top 10, or even the top 50. So let me suggest some lesser known faves:

Wholly Smoke
Miss Glory
Now That Summer Is Gone
Design for Leaving
Birds Anonymous
Porky’s Romance
Porky’s Preview
She Was An Acrobat’s Daughter
Fox Pop
Inki and the Mynah Bird
Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears
Dime to Retire
The Hole Idea
The Dover Boys
Porky in Wackyland
Hillbilly Hare
The Big Snooze
The High and the Flighty

12/22/08  2:44am
Joonas Vainikainen says:

Here’s my list:

1. Duck Amuck (1953/Jones)
2. What’s Opera, Doc? (1957/Jones)
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953/Jones)
4. Porky in Wackyland (1938/Clampett)
5. The Dover Boys… (1942/Jones)
6. Rabbit Fire (1951/Jones)
7. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946/Clampett)
8. A Corny Concerto (1943/Clampett)
9. One Froggy Evening (1955/Jones)
10. Wackiki Wabbit (1943/Jones)
11. I Love to Singa (1936/Avery)
12. Long Haired Hare (1949/Jones)
13. Porky Pig’s Feat (1943/Tashlin)
14. Hare-way to the Stars (1958/Jones)
15. Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938/Avery)
16. Lumber Jerks (1955/Freleng)
17. Bugs and Thugs (1954/Freleng)
18. A Wild Hare (1940/Avery)
19. Deduce, You Say (1956/Jones)
20. Rabbit Seasoning (1952/Jones)
21. Daffy the Commando (1943/Freleng)
22. Robin Hood Daffy (1958/Jones)
23. Herr Meets Hare (1945/Freleng)
24. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1944/Clampett)
25. Southern Fried Rabbit (1953/Freleng)
26. The Wacky Wabbit (1942/Clampett)
27. You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940/Freleng)
28. The Wise Quacking Duck (1943/Clampett)
29. Hillbilly Hare (1950/McKimson)
30. Rebel Rabbit (1949/McKimson)
31. The Foghorn Leghorn (1948/McKimson)
32. For Scent-imental Reasons (1949/Jones)
33. Operation: Rabbit (1952/Jones)
34. Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948/Freleng)
35. Henpecked Duck (1941/Clampett)
36. Tortoise Beats Hare (1941/Avery)
37. 8 Ball Bunny (1950/Jones)
38. Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953/Jones)
39. Speedy Gonzales (1955/Freleng)
40. The Ducktators (1942/McCabe)
41. Porky’s Duck Hunt (1937/Avery)
42. Fast and Furry-ous (1949/Jones)
43. Plane Daffy (1944/Tashlin)
44. A Feud There Was (1938/Avery)
45. The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (1942/Freleng)
46. Russian Rhapsody (1944/Clampett)
47. Scrap Happy Daffy (1943/Tashlin)
48. Yankee Doodle Daffy (1943/Freleng)
49. I Haven’t Got a Hat (1935/Freleng)
50. Porky’s Preview (1941/Avery)

12/22/08  3:07am
Susan J says:

Duck Amuck
What’s Opera Doc
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
Rabbit of Seville
Feed the Kitty
etc etc

the top two tie IMHO

12/22/08  3:57am
Kerry says:

Heavy on the Daffy, but then I notice I’m not alone in that regard!

1. Robin Hood Daffy
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Duck Amuck
4. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
5. What’s Opera, Doc?

12/22/08  5:52am
David says:

This is just my top ten of the shorts I think of when I think of Warner Bros. cartoons:

1. Canned Feud (Freleng, 1951). Reason: this has everything most people think of when they think of a Hollywood cartoon; a cat and mouse, a piano and characters falling down stairs. But in Friz’s hands, the timing is razor-sharp and the short builds and builds with Sylvester’s desperation until the explosive finale, and he still doesn’t win!
2. The Big Snooze (Clampett, 1946). Reason: This was Bob Clampett’s last hurrah at Warner’s and unlike “Bacall to Arms” which got butchered at the last minute, this one got out pretty much intact. I think it’s one of the last really “Looney” Looney Tunes, with wild colors, fast edits and Bugs-as-heckler doing anything and everything he wants to poor Elmer. Special mention, I love Carl Stalling’s use of “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals” when Bugs pulls out the Nightmare Paint.
3. Mouse Warming (Jones, 1952). Reason: This short doesn’t get mentioned very often compared to Jones other masterpiece from ‘52, “Feed the Kitty.” But I feel this short perfectly melds together the sentimental Jones of the 30s with the wiseacre Jones of the 40s and 50s. The gags keep you laughing, but you can’t help but smile when the boy finally gets the girl at the end.
4. Porky’s Romance (Tashlin, 1937). Reason: Tashlin seemed to be the Friz of the 30’s with his timing and editing skills and this sendup of romantic comedies is one of his best; the syrupy sweet chorus at the opening scenes, the jilted lover that tries to “end it all,” and the blissful marriage that turns into a nightmare.
5. Thugs with Dirty Mugs (Avery, 1938). Reason: Tex Avery definately needs a spot on on the top five, and although today you sometimes need to know some history to really enjoy it, it’s still very funny, even the throwaway moments such as when Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy!) stops throwing cheese at the rat and mentions that he needs the rest for his lunch.
6. Henhouse Henery (McKimson, 1949). Reason: One of my favorite Foghorn Leghorn shorts, when they were still fast-paced and energetic, from the opening title music (one of my favorite pieces) to Foggy making a baseball bat in ten seconds flat, in addition to some great character animation such as Barnyard Dog leaning on the fence nonchalantly swinging his now-detatched collar before lunging at Foggy (”Hello Bre’r Dog!”).
7. Three Little Bops (Freleng, 1957). Reason: Freleng did musical shorts like nobody’s business, and this I feel is the culmination of all of them. It’s modern (for 1957) yet it doesn’t feel too dated. Stan Freberg’s narration is fun to listen to, and once again Friz’s impeccable timing shines through.
8. A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940). Reason: It’s a cliche, sure, but you can’t deny the historical import of this one, which managed to cement both Bugs and Elmer’s characters for all time in one fell swoop.
9. The Hunter Trilogy (Jones 1951-53). Reason: Another cliche, and I feel these three shorts need to be considered as a unit, but these three showed that not everything had to move in Warner Bros. cartoons all the time, that you could get huge laughs just by standing and talking rings around your opponent.
10. His Bitter Half (Freleng, 1950). Reason: Another one that isn’t mentioned often, but besides being a great Daffy short, this one has one of my father’s favorite gags: “Shaddap or I’ll smack your mouth clean off’n your face!”, “I’d like to see ya!” [SMACK] “I see ya!” That line has entered our family lexicon.

I hope I haven’t seemed too cliched, but there you have it, a small sample of shorts I consider to be the greatest the Warner Bros. animation department put out. All are shorts that make me stop and watch whenever they are on (if they were still airing that is).

I have no qualms about my name being used (in fact, I’d consider it a great honor!)

Signed, David Dobrydney

12/22/08  7:23am
Matt says:

My favourites (in order):

Rabbit of Seville
Three little Bops
Bully for Bugs
A Bear for Punishment
Duck Amuck
Ali Barber Bunny
Feed the Kitty
One Froggy Evening
Rocket squad
Chow Hound
Deduce you Say
Drip Along Daffy

12/22/08  9:28am
Tony says:

1. One Froggy Evening
2. Early to Bet
3. Duck Amuck
4. Chow Hound
5. A Bear for Punishment
6. Rabbit Seasoning
7. Tortoise Beats Hare
8. Ali Baba Bunny
9. Little Red Riding Rabbit
10. Easter Yeggs

12/22/08  10:45am
EGM says:

Water Water Every Hare - the absolute #1 - without doubt. Accept no substitutions. Do what you want with the rest of the list, but this is the prototypic cartoon upon which all other cartoon greatness should be modeled. *grin*

12/22/08  6:00pm
Matt says:

I would definitely vote for The Wearing of the Grin. I think the several creepy Porky and Sylvester ones where they run into terrifying yet silly experiences are the best.
And any of the Chuck Jones subversive 3 Bears ones. Jeez, I still can’t believe those were ever made! But they break me up every time.

12/22/08  6:06pm
Ann E. R. Duff says:

I love “What’s Opera, Doc?”. “Kill the wabbit….”

12/22/08  6:40pm
Bill Perkins says:

Hi Jerry.
Here’s my ten in the order they came too me.
Claws for Alarm.
A Bear for Punishment.
One Froggy Evening.
Feed the Kitty.
Knighty Knight Bugs
The Three Little Bops
Coal Black and De Sebbin Dwarfs.
Duck Amuck
The Wearing of the Grin
For Scent-imental Reasons

12/22/08  8:26pm
Vlad B says:

1) Porky’s Pig Feat
2) Rhapsody Rabbit
3) Slick Hare
4) Book Revue
5) Hillbilly Hare
6) Three Little Bops
7) Gruesome Twosome
8) Russian Rhapsody
9) Little Red Riding Rabbit
10) Big Snooze
11) Plane Daffy
12) Bear for Punishment
13) Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears
14) Bugs Bunny gets da Boid
15)What’s Opera Doc
16) Ham in Role
17) Great Piggybank Robbery
18) Buckaroo Bugs
19) Super Rabbit
20) Acrobatty Bunny
21) Old Grey Hare
22) Dripalong Daffy
23) Long Haired Hare
24) Hep Cat
25) Hare Grows in Manhattan
26) Corny Concerto
27) Rabbit Fire
28) Baby Bottleneck
29) Rabbit of Seville
30) Baseball Bugs
31) Henhouse Henry
32) Daffy Doc
33) My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
34) Rabbit Hood
35) Duck Dogers in the 24th 1/2 Century
36) Of Rice and Hen
37) Windblown Hare
38) Tortilla Flaps
39) Rabbit’s Kin
40) You Ought to be in Pictures
41) Swooner Crooner
42) Kitty Cornered
43) Hare Tonic
44) My Favorite Duck
45) Unruly Hare
46) Hare Conditioned
47) Crowing Pains
48) Feed the Kitty
49) Birds Anonymous
50) Unbearable Bear

12/23/08  3:56am
MGH says:

12/23/08  11:54am
Frank Capalbo says:

Hey Jerry,
Thanks for taking on this fantastic project, and for asking us die-hard Loonies for our pix. Here’s 30 for ya:

1. bugs and thugs
2. rabbit of seville
3. ali baba bunny
4. rabbit seasoning
5. bugs bunny rides again
6. little red riding rabbit
7. bowery bugs
8. bunny hugged
9. a hare grows in manhattan
10. racketeer rabbit
11. The Great Piggy Bank Caper
12. rabbit hood
13. baby buggy bunny
14. hare trigger
15. gorilla my dreams
16. hare tonic
17. baseball bugs
18. water water every hare
19. rabbit punch
20. operation: rabbit
21. knight mare hare
22. long-haired hare
23. hare conditioned
24. Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half century
25. hurdy gurdy hare
26. homeless hare
27. French Rarebit
28. broom stick bunny
29. slick hare
30. buckaneer bunny

12/23/08  6:17pm
Todd Masters says:

My top 20, in roughly the order of greatness, I think:

01 The Scarlet Pumpernickel
02 Rabbit of Seville
03 One Froggy Evening
04 Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid
05 Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves
06 Nasty Quacks
07 What’s Up Doc
08 You Ought to Be in Pictures
09 Porky In Wackyland
10 High Note
11 Book Revue
12 Porky Pig’s Feat
13 I Love to Singa
14 Rhapsody in Rivets
15 Hare Brush
16 Hittin’ The Trail to Hallelujah Land
17 Ding Dog Daddy
18 Norman Normal
19 Wholly Smoke
20 Page Miss Glory

12/24/08  2:20am
Mr. Semaj says:

Edited, re-edited, and re-re-edited, here is my list.

1. A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940)
2. Rabbit Fire (Jones, 1951)
3. Ali Baba Bunny (Jones, 1957)
4. Tortoise Wins by a Hare (Clampett, 1943)
5. Boobs in the Woods (McKimson, 1950)
6. Duck Amuck (Jones, 1953)
7. Now Hear This (Jones, 1963)
8. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Clampett, 1946)
9. A Hare Grows in Manhattan (Freleng, 1947)
10. Acrobatty Bunny (McKimson, 1946)
11. Easter Yeggs (McKimson, 1948)
12. Racketeer Rabbit (Freleng, 1946)
13. Birth of a Notion (McKimson, 1947)
14. Thugs with Dirty Mugs (Avery, 1939)
15. Slick Hare (Freleng, 1947)
16. Russian Rhaspody (Clampett, 1944)
17. Puss n’ Booty (Tashlin, 1943)
18. One Froggy Evening (Jones, 1955)
19. Hare Trigger (Freleng, 1945)
20. Hillbilly Hare (McKimson, 1950)
21. Tweetie Pie (Freleng, 1947)
22. Walky Talky Hawky (McKimson, 1946)
23. Rhaspody Rabbit (Freleng, 1947)
24. Feed the Kitty (Jones, 1952)
25. Baseball Bugs (Freleng, 1946)
26. The Heckling Hare (Avery, 1941)
27. Draftee Daffy (Clampett, 1945)
28. Daffy Duck in Hollywood (Avery, 1938)
29. The Bashful Buzzard (Clampett, 1945)
30. Lickety Splat (Jones, 1961)
31. Now That Summer is Gone (Tashlin, 1937)
32. A Tale of Two Kitties (Clampett, 1942)
33. Water Water Every Hare (Jones, 1952)
34. Hare-way to the Stars (Jones, 1958)
35. I Love to Singa (Avery, 1936)
36. Porky in Wackyland (Clampett, 1938)
37. Porky’s Preview (Avery, 1941)
38. Hare Tonic (Jones, 1945)
39. It’s Hummer Time (McKimson, 1950)
40. Bewitched Bunny (Jones, 1954)
41. The Impatient Patient (McCabe, 1942)
42. Brother Brat (Tashlin, 1944)
43. The Hole Idea (McKimson, 1955)
44. Robin Hood Daffy (Jones, 1958)
45. Windblown Hare (McKimson, 1949)
46. The Dover Boys (Jones, 1942)
47. Back Alley Op-roar (Freleng, 1948)
48. A Scent of the Matterhorn (Jones, 1961)
49. Falling Hare (Clampett, 1943)
50. Horton Hatches the Egg (Clampett, 1942)

A few notes:

-The apparent qualifications in my list were levels art, story, humor, and innovation. But the key ingredient was entertainment, even if it breaks the mainstream conventions of a Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon.

-Most of my picks feature none other than Bugs Bunny.

-Like many, most of the cartoons on my list are from Chuck Jones. (Maybe next time we do such a survey, it will be narrowed down even further to the Best of Chuck Jones.)
Also, Robert McKimson gets some sorely-needed recognition.

12/24/08  1:08pm
zavkram says:

I forgot to mention in my previous two posts that my real name is Mark Vaz (and, no, I am NOT the author “Mark Cotta Vaz” who wrote all those “The Art of…” books). My user name is simply an anagram of my real name; not very imaginative, I’ll admit… but it was all I could think of at the time.

I just wanted to add 5 more to my previous lists of cartoon titles:

26. Congo Jazz: The second in the “Bosko” series, but one of the best of the early ones, IMH. This cartoon is a lot of fun to watch!

27. Horton Hatches the Egg: This is only one of two cartoons adapted from another property (the other one was from Jimmy Swinnerton’s “Canyon Kiddies” comic strip), but Bob Clampett and Co. did an admirable job!

28. Eatin’ On the Cuff, Or, The Moth Who Came To Dinner: I think this is another one of Bob Clampett’s finest Looney Tunes; the combination of photographed backgrounds and animation is unique and the animation is top-noch. I particularly love the Black Widow Spider character.

29. Clean Pastures: Despite the stereotypical depiction of African-Americans, this cartoon has some great musical numbers and an offbeat story.

30. Book Revue: This is the best, I think, of the whole “book/magazine titles come to life” cartoons that were done at Termite Terrace. I love Daffy Duck’s imitation of Danny Kaye and his incredible “takes” when the wolf appears!

12/24/08  1:42pm
Daniel Sendker says:

Making this list was one of the hardest and funnest things I’ve ever done.

1. What’s Opera, Doc?
2. Duck Amuck
3. Feed the Kitty
4. Rabbit Fire
5. One Froggy Evening
6. Whoa, Be Gone!
7. Porky Pig’s Feat
8. Robin Hood Daffy
9. Guided Muscle
10. High Note
11. Boyhood Daze
12. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
13. From A to Z-z-z-z
14. Birds Anonymous
15. Daffy Dilly
16. Going! Going! Gosh!
17. Two Crows from Tacos
18. Rabbit Hood
19. Mouse and Garden
20. Pigs in a Polka
21. Hyde and Go Tweet
22. Fast and Furry-ous
23. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
24. My Favorite Duck
25. Baseball Bugs
26. Stop! Look! And Hasten!
27. Of Rice and Hen
28. Double or Mutton
29. Rabbit’s Feat
30. Gee Whiz-z-z-z
31. Abominable Snow Rabbit, The
32. Stork Naked
33. Wabbit Who Came For Supper, The
34. Tick Tock Tuckered
35. Boobs in the Woods
36. I Got Plenty of Mutton
37. Hypo-Chondri-Cat, The
38. Tweet Tweet Tweety
39. Touché and Go
40. Robot Rabbit
41. Canary Row
42. Ready, Set, Zoom!
43. Beep, Beep
44. Wabbit Twouble
45. Cannery Woe
46. Homeless Hare
47.Ducking the Devil
48. Southern Fried Rabbit
49. Design for Leaving
50. Rabbit’s Kin

Thanks for doing this Jerry! You’re the best!

Dan Sendker

12/24/08  5:14pm
L. Uney Tunes says:

Too many to pick, but here’s a try.

1: The Rabbit of Seville
2: Bugs and Thugs
3: Baby Buggy Bunny
4: Ali Baba Bunny
5: Rabbit Seasoning
6: Little Boy Boo

12/24/08  7:47pm
Glowworm says:

five more I’d like to add
Tom Thumb in Trouble-easily overlooked due to its Disney like storyline but the animation is gorgeous-not to mention the story is adorable and touching-I love the bird resting in Tom’s father’s beard at the end.

The Wearing of the Grin-I just love the leprechauns-especially how they stand on top of one another to make up one person-not to mention the animation sequence of Porky dancing against his will and futilely attempting to run away from the dreaded green shoes is wonderful-love the Dali-like influence on the background with all the harps and pipes.

A Mouse Divided-classic-can’t go wrong with the adorable baby mouse,the drunk stork, and Santa cat being blown out of the chimney-the dialogue is hillarious too.

Holiday for Shoestrings-a wonderful musical cartoon-each piece of music wonderfully matches the animated sequences with the helpful elves-my favorite part is the elf attempting to button a boot to the tune of “Chinese Dance” from the Nutcracker except that there is one button too many

The Oily American-I just find this cartoon to be a riot-from the little moose to the poor butler getting hit with everything. “Your arrow,sir”

12/26/08  6:31am
Yves Kerremans says:

01 Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
02 Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
03 The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
04 Ali Baba Bunny
05 The Scarlet Pumpernickel
06 What’s Opera, Doc?
07 Porky In Wackyland
08 Hair-Raising Hare
09 Rabbit Of Seville
10 One Froggy Evening

12/26/08  1:54pm
Mark Sonntag says:

This is a tough one, here are 10 of my favorites:

1/ CHOW HOUND
2/ MUCH ADO ABOUT NUTTING
3/ THREE LITTLE BOPS
4/ RABBIT OF SEVILLE
5/ RHAPSODY IN RIVETS
6/ THE SCARLET PUMPERNICKEL
7/ MEXICALI SCHMOES
8/ A GRUESOME TWOSOME
9/ KITTY CORNERED
10/ DRIPALONG DAFFY

12/26/08  3:06pm

I don’t have a personale favorite. I think they are all masterpieces.

1 The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2 Duck Amuck
3 the foghorn leghorn
4 Rabbit Seasoning
5 What’s Opera Doc
6 One Froggy Evening
7 Hair-Raising Hare
8 Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
9 Feed the Kitty
10 A Gruesome Twosome
11 A Tale of Two Kitties
12 Tortoise wins by a Hare
13 Bugs Bunny Rides again
14 The Dover Boys
15 A Bear for punishment
16 Duck!Rabbit!Duck!
17 Ali Baba Bunny
18 Hair-Raising Hare
19 From A to Z-z-z-z
20 Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
21 Horton Hatches the Egg
22 Broomstick Bunny
23 For Scent-imental reasons
24 Rabbit of Seville
25 Robin Hood Daffy

12/27/08  9:44pm
Joseph Fobbs says:

I tried to reduce it down to ten, but could not get past these fifteen. I chose the films with the funniest gags and the ones that stood out artistically. (And the for those who aren’t into titles, here’s my favorite line from each film):

Birdy And The Beast
“Heeelp! The Putty Tat is on fire!”

What’s Up Doc?
“Hey, Pinhead, do you know how to make antifreeze?”
“Yeah. Hide her nightgown. Yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk!”

What’s Opera Doc?
“Spear and magic helmet?”

The Heckling Hare
“Eh, but the jerk had it coming to him. He should have watched his step.”

Operation: Rabbit
“I like the way that rolls out. Wile E. Coyote; Supergenius!”

Mississippi Hare
“I’ve got SIX aces, sir.”

Design For Leaving
“But what happens to the downstairs?”

Bugs Bunny Rides Again
“Don’t rush me. I’m-a thinking! And my head hurts.”

Broomstick Bunny
“You remind me of..of Paul; My pet tarantula”

She Was An Acrobat’s Daughter
“One look at her face made guys keep their place; Please do not spit on the floor”

Baby Buggy Bunny
“Finster shaving at his age? And tattooed? And smoking a cigar?

The Aristo-Cat
“Hey Bert! Come here! I want you should meet a friend of mine”

Hare Force
“Gee. Ain’t I a stinker?”

Puss N’ Booty
“Hello pet shop? Have you anymore canaries?”

Wabbit Twouble
“That’ll hold him alright; Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.”

12/28/08  9:26am

The Wearing of the Grin
Bugs Bunny Catches the Boyd
Crowing Pains
Eatin’ off the Cuff
Hare Trigger
Rabbit Fire
Porky’s Preview
Hare Ribbin’
Dough Ray Meow!
Coal black and de Sebben Dwarfs
The Big Snooze

12/28/08  12:23pm

Here’s my list:

1) One Froggy Evening
2) What’s Opera,Doc?
3) Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
4) Duck Amuck
5) Book Revue
6) Robin Hood Daffy
7) Kitty Kornered
8) Porky Pig’s Feat
9) Rabbit of Seville
10) Ali Baba Bunny
11) Fresh Airedale
12) Drip-Along Daffy
13) The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
14) Russian Rhapsody
15) Puss ‘n’ Booty
16) Porky in Wackyland
17) Duck Dodgers in the 24 and 1/2 Century
18) Rhapsody Rabbit
19) Three Little Bops
20) Scrap Happy Daffy
21) Satan’s Waitin’
22) Chow Hound
23) Canned Feud
24) Little Red Riding Rabbit
25) Plane Daffy
26) Show Biz Bugs
27) The Old Grey Hare
28) Much Ado about Nutting
29) A Tale of Two Mice
30) Lost and Foundling
31) Rabbit Seasoning
32) You Ought to be in Pictures
33) A Gruesome Twosome
34) Feed the Kitty
35) Two Gophers from Texas
36) Rhapsody in Rivets
37) Bird Anonymous
38) Rabbit Fire
39) A Corny Concerto
40) Porky’s Duck Hunt
41) A Bear for Punishment
42) Tortoise wins by a Hare
43) The Scarlet Pumpernickel
44) A Mouse Divided
45) Porky’s Romance
46) A Wild Hare
47) Hillbilly Hare
48) Claws for Alarms
49) House Hunting Mice
50) The Dover Boys

12/28/08  9:58pm

Thanks so much for letting us be a part of this, Jerry! Here’s my list, with commentary where needed:

1. Duck Amuck – Since this is cartoon-making at its most “meta” – character vs. animator – this has to be the best cartoon of all time, Warner’s or otherwise. (Plus, it’s just so dang funny!)
2. What’s Opera Doc? – The “Citizen Kane” of cartoons.
3. One Froggy Evening
4. Rabbit Fire – How do you pick just one of the “Duck Season-Rabbit Season” cartoons? I’ll start with this one since it’s the first, and it has the funniest twist ending of all three.
5. Duck Rabbit Duck
6. Rabbit Seasoning
7. Rabbit of Seville – There are a lot of “operatic” cartoons near the top of this list, but there’s just something funny about something so refined and sophisticated being completely turned on its head.
8. Rabbit Hood – I value cartoons that make me laugh out loud over cartoons of historical significance, and the “Sir Loin of Pork” routine (among others) guaranteed a high placement for this one.
9. High-Diving Hare – Not much talked-about, but a great Sam cartoon.
10. Long-Haired Hare
11. The Old Grey Hare – My only complaint is that old Bugs-Elmer and young Bugs-Elmer are such great ideas, they each deserved their own short.
12. Baton Bunny
13. Bunny Hugged – “Uhhh, just passin’ by. Uhhh, thought I’d drop in and say hellooo.”
14. Drip-along Daffy
15. The Big Snooze
16. The Hare-Brained Hypnotist
17. Show Biz Bugs – The Bugs-Daffy rivalry at its core.
18. Captain Hareblower – The best of the Pirate Sam cartoons, and very underrated. Friz Freleng shows us just how many variations on a cannon-in-the-face gag there can be.
19. Porky in Wackyland
20. Porky Pig’s Feat
21. Operation: Rabbit – I may be the only person who liked the Bugs-Coyote matchups, but everything from “Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius” to “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mud” slays me in this cartoon.
22. The Scarlet Pumperknickel
23. Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century
24. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
25. Ali Baba Bunny
26. Deduce You Say
27. Robin Hood Daffy
28. Porky’s Romance
29. Porky’s Duck Hunt – One can only imagine what the Warner’s studio would have turned out like if Tex Avery had stuck around.
30. Daffy Duck in Hollywood
31. Book Revue
32. What’s Up Doc? – The best of the Bugs Bunny “life stories.” Brilliant self-parody.
33. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
34. The Last Hungry Cat – A pitch-perfect Hitchcock parody, and an overlooked Tweety & Slyvester gem.
35. The Abominable Snow-Rabbit
36. Super Rabbit – The Superman parody is serviceable, and the gags are fun, but it’s the ending when Bugs marches off to war – “Sorry, boys, this calls for a REAL superman” – that gives me chills every time.
37. The Wabbit Who Came to Supper
38. Fast and Furry-ous – As great as the Road Runner cartoons are, they all blend together after a while, so I’ll just pick the first.
39. A Mouse Divided – A rare non-Tweety cartoon that allows Slyvester to shine (as opposed to, say, Hippety Hopper).
40. Little Red Rabbit Hood
41. Birds Anonymous
42. Back Alley Uproar
43. You Ought to Be in Pictures
44. Wabbit Twouble
45. Broomstick Bunny
46. Daffy Doodles – Robert McKimson in rare zany mode, creating one of his funniest cartoons.
47. Hair-Raising Hare
48. Tick-Tock-Tuckered – I give the edge to the remake rather than the original (Porky’s Badtime Story) because Daffy is more interesting to watch than some generic goat.
49. A Wild Hare – Only so far down on the list because every Bugs Bunny cartoon that followed it built on it in some way and made the concept even funnier. But this is the cartoon equivalent of the first wheel.
50. Translyvania 6-5000 – My guiltiest pleasure on this list. Come on, how can “Abra-ca-pocus” and “Hocus-ca-dabra” NOT be funny?
And my honorable mention:
51. Box Office Bunny - Jerry says only cartoons up to 1969. But since this one kicked off a new round of theatrical cartoons, I have to give it a quick shout-out.

Whew! I’m done. : - )

12/29/08  8:59am
Andrew Gilmore says:

Phew! It was really, really difficult to narrow it down to the maximum of 50, but I did it. I admit, the order is slightly random except for the top 20 or so, because it would be impossible for me to really put them in order of greatness and say “number 38 is significantly BETTER than number 39″ and so forth. But enough babbling from me, here’s my list:

1. Porky In Wackyland
2. Ballot Box Bunny
3. The Case Of The Stuttering Pig
4. Porky Pig’s Feat
5. Draftee Daffy
6. What’s Opera, Doc?
7. High Diving Hare
8. Feed The Kitty
9. Duck Amuck
10. Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
11. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
12. Kiss Me Cat
13. A Wild Hare
14. Tortoise Wins By A Hare
15. The Dover Boys
16. I Love To Singa
17. Birds Anonymous
18. Daffy Duck Slept Here
19. Pigs In A Polka
20. Rabbit Hood
21. Little Red Riding Rabbit
22. Baby Bottleneck
23. Big House Bunny
24. Katnip Kollege
25. The Ducksters
26. Super Rabbit
27. Captain Hareblower
28. Daffy Doodles
29. Boobs In The Woods
30. The Draft Horse
31. Buckaroo Bugs
32. The Daffy Doc
33. Hare Do
34.The Hare-Brained Hypnotist
35. Kitty Kornered
36. Porky’s Duck Hunt
37. A Mouse Divided
38. Rabbit Of Seville
39. You Were Never Duckier
40. To Duck Or Not To Duck
41. Rabbit Seasoning
42. Rabbit Fire
43. The Wise Quacking Duck
44. The Stupid Cupid
45. Tom Turk and Daffy
46. The Stupor Salesman
47. Behind the Meat Ball
48. Odor Of The Day
49. Porky’s Preview
50. Now Hear This

12/29/08  12:38pm

Feed The Kitty

12/29/08  5:15pm
Clinton D says:

1. Three Little Bops
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Bully for Bugs
4. Early To Bet
5. Chow Hound
6. Ali Barber Bunny
7. A Bear for Punishment
8. A Sheep in the Deep
9. Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2 Century
10. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!

12/29/08  5:56pm
Jeffrey Lewis says:

Just for the fun of it, I threw in the approximate production dates instead of release dates. Maybe, we’ll get extra “background information” on the making of these classics.

1.) Catch As Cats Can (Davis, 1946)… OK, probably not an “established classic”, but one that needs more attention and one that is clearly a product of the noirish 1940s. Art Davis may not have been the studio’s best director, but, with the proper story-man and animators, he could certainly fire one into orbit.
2.) Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs (Clampett, 1942)
3.) One Froggy Evening (Jones, 1953-55)
4.) Duck Amuck (Jones, 1951)
5.) Bugs And Thugs (Freleng, 1952-53) (”Racketeer Rabbit” would make the top 100, but this remake apes it considerably.)
6.) Booby Traps (Clampett, 1943), the best of the Snafu’s
7.) Russian Rhapsody (Clampett, 1943-44)
8.) Rabbit Seasoning (Jones, 1950-51)
9.) Porky In Wackyland (Clampett, 1938)
10.) Kitty Kornered (Clampett, 1945)
11.) Beanstalk Bunny (Jones, 1953-54)
12.) Ali Baba Bunny (Jones, 1955-56)
13.) Feed The Kitty (Jones, 1950-51)
14.) Hair Raising Hare (Jones, 1945)
15.) A Corny Concerto (Clampett, 1943)
16.) Operation Rabbit (Jones, 1949-50)
17.) Dripalong Daffy (Jones, 1950)
18.) The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Clampett, 1945)
19.) Book Revue (Clampett, 1944-45)
20.) Tortoise Wins By A Hare (Clampett, 1942)
21.) Robin Hood Daffy (Jones, 1956-57)
22.) Along Came Daffy (Freleng, 1946)
23.) You Oughta Be In Pictures (Freleng, 1939-40)
24.) The Bee-Deviled Bruin (Jones, 1947-48)
25.) Draftee Daffy (Clampett, 1944)
26.) Rabbit Fire (Jones, 1949-50)
27.) Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (Jones, 1951-52)
28.) Long-Haired Hare (Jones, 1947)
29.) Rabbit Of Seville (Jones, 1949)
30.) What’s Up, Doc? (McKimson, 1948-49)
31.) Horton Hatches The Egg (Clampett, 1941-42)
32.) Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z (Jones, 1955)
33.) A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940)
34.) Dough Ray Me-Ow (Davis, 1947-48)
35.) The Dover Boys (Jones, 1942)
36.) The CooCoo Nut Grove (Freleng, 1936)
37.) Gift Wrapped (Freleng, 1950)
38.) Rhapsody In Rivets (Freleng, 1941)
39.) Bugs Bunny Rides Again (Freleng, 1947)
40.) High Diving Hare (Freleng, 1947-48)
41.) Roughly Squeaking (Jones, 1945-46)
42.) A Ham In A Role (McKimson, 1948)
43.) Thugs With Dirty Mugs (Avery, 1939)
44.) Canned Feud (Freleng, 1949)
45.) Wackiki Wabbit (Jones, 1943)
46.) A Bear For Punishment (Jones, 1950)
47.) The High And The Flighty (McKimson, 1955)
48.) Mouse Wreckers (Jones, 1947)
49.) Claws For Alarm (Jones, 1952-53)
50.) “What’s Opera, Doc?” and every other classic I couldn’t squeeze in.

12/29/08  6:40pm
Nicole Alvarado says:

Here is my list … Good luck with the book!

1- Book Revue
2- Duck Amuck
3- Feed the Kitty
4- The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
5- One-Froggy Evening
6- What’s Opera Doc?
7- Ali Babba Bunny
8- Duck Dodgers
9- Daffy Duck in Hollywood
10- Rhapsody Rabbit
11- Porky in Wackyland
12- Scarlet Pumpernickel
13- Rabbit of Sevelle
14- The Big Snooze
15- To Beep, or Not to Beep
16- Odor-Able Kitty
17- Robin Hood Daffy
18- 8 Ball Bunny
19- I Love to Singa
20- Coal Black an’ de Sebben Dwarfs
21- Drip Along Daffy
22- Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
23- Birds Anonymous
24- Hair-Raising Hare
25- Horton Hatches the Egg

12/30/08  3:46pm
Mike says:

Hillbilly Hare is my all time fave, so I’ll cast a bullet ballot here for that one.

12/31/08  1:09pm
Whit says:

I won’t pretend to know what the “greatest” Looney Tunes cartoons are. My list contains those that make me laugh harder than the rest. I look forward to reading your book.

My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century
Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
Tortoise Wins by a Hare
Kitty Cornered
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
What’s Opera, Doc
Hillbilly Hare
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Robin Hood Daffy
The Windblown Hare
Operation: Rabbit
Buckaroo Bugs
The Bashful Buzzard

01/1/09  10:04pm

Boy, this studio created some of the best cartoons around and it really becomes hard to whittle down a favorites list, so I chose these on the basis of either whether or not they are genuinely funny or whether they had any qualities (an interesting look that I could remember, a fascinating score) that appealed to me on some level. After all, we’re always saying that a cartoon is a work of art and, so, is as valid and diverse as all other kinds of filmmaking or photography. This made it harder still to pick my favorites, but here is as close to a paired down list as I could muster up—I’ll give specific reasons where appropriate; otherwise, I just find the titles selected here to be the best that the studio could give us at any time in its history.

Here goes:

1.
FIN ‘N’ CATTY (1943) In my humble opinion, I would almost have to say that this is a perfect cartoon, with a magnificent score that accents the comic timing, and loads of subtle artistic touches in the character animation and even special effects to enhance one climactic moment that turns the tables for both characters involved here.

2.
SINKING IN THE BATHTUB (1930); What can I say? I like just about anything from the wide-eyed 1930’s, and there is nothing like a legendary studio’s animation beginnings. Bosko was often compared to Disney’s MICKEY MOUSE, unfairly so, because Bosko was a lot more fun and mischievious than Disney’s mouse would ever dare to be and, well, I just liked him much more. He appeals to the kid inside of me, even when he’s supposedly an adult.

3.
LADY PLAY YOUR MANDOLIN (1931); This is not the first cartoon that most people think of when they think of Rudy Ising’s FOXY character, even though it is the very first such cartoon in the MERRIE MELODIES series and the very first FOXY cartoon. I like its suggestive adult nature, especially all the bits involving the title song and the hooch that is consumed by all manner of creatures.

4.
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING! (1931); And the same goes with this jaunty little cartoon, also by Rudy Ising, playing upon a then popular song. The cartoon gets more and more surreal as it goes on!

5.
NELLIE’S FOLLY (1962); This is a bizarre Chuck Jones experiment, poking fun at the true Hollywood story, long, long before such a thing was inherent in our daily TV watching or pop culture as it is today, or so it seemed. There were outlets for gossip, and there were biopics made around this time, but we still were not flooded with the phenomenon. All the mock emotional elements are here as one might include in such a story, with Chuck Jones’ usual touches of brilliance, even in this more stylized form of the art.

6.
A WAGGILY TAIL (1958): This is a great mock morality tale about an unconsciously abusive little kid who learns what it is like to be on the other end of the leash real fast. I like the voice work in this cartoon, especially by Daws Butler.

7.
LIFE WITH FEATHERS (1945): This cartoon is hilarious as a forelorn love bird decides to commit suicide because he had *GOTTEN* the love of his life! My favorite odd little animation touch is an almost emaciated, stringy Sylvester, continuing to starve himself because he thinks that the love bird’s offering himself to the cat automatically means that he surely *MUST* be poison and, once the love bird decides Sylvester doesn’t have to eat him upon getting a letter from his former love that she has left him for good, he rapidly puts beautiful plates of food between him and a salivating Sylvester, who is now just bound and determined to eat the squab, regardless of how much better all those full dinners surely must be! Hilarious!

8.
AN ITCH IN TIME (1943): While MGM’s “CIRCUS DAZE” is my favorite insect attack cartoon as climax to other related events, I like this Warner Brothers Bob Clampett classic expressly because of its sadistic little character and the character animation around the dog who really is hurting with each of the insect’s blows but cannot show it for fear of enduring another scrubbing by Elmer Fudd. Terrific!

9.
TOKIO JOKIO (1943): I like this cartoon as propaganda lampoon. It sets itself up as an “example” of “JapaNazi propaganda” and is filmed in our own style of such films. Genuinely of its time with some interesting scoring throughout by Carl Stalling.

10:
HE WAS HER MAN (1937): This is a near perfect example of a cartoon that takes cherubic characters and places them oddly in a setting that tells an adult story of its time. Even at its cutest, no one could ever mistake LOONEY TUNES or MERRIE MELODIES for the more sugary Disney style of story-telling.

11.
SHANG-HIED SHIPMATES (1936): And, while we’re at it, this is a very dark cartoon, showing that some of the animators at Warner Brothers had high hopes of somehow advancing the art of animation and producing other kinds of films or at least allowing animation to mirror the diversity of live action films of any given studio around that time.

12.
ALL THIS AND RABBIT STEW (1941): Although this cartoon might be deemed insensitive because of its protagonist, a Steppin Fetchit-like pint-sized hunter who is after Bugs Bunny, that “li’l ol’ rabbit”, this Tex Avery masterpiece is one of the first in which we begin to see Avery’s mastery of the wild take show itself, and the chases get wilder, here, as well. Before you see “THE BIG SNOOZE”, you owe it to yourself to see this one!

13:
BEHIND THE MEATBALL (1945): This is a cartoon of its time, too, but the joke is better understood if one knows of meat rationing during wartime. I love the dog’s rant near the cartoon’s opening (“It’s getting dark…darker…darker…darker! I need dark meat!!!”), and the climactic moment in this Frank Tashlin classic where we learned just which of the three dogs devours the entire juicy steak!

14:
EACH DAWN I CROW (1949): While this is an ELMER FUDD cartoon, the spotlight, in a way, is shared here by the frightened rooster (named John) and Frank Graham’s talents as a narrator and conveyer of Rooster John’s emotions. Animation is less detailed here, but the comedy still rings true! This was a favorite of mine since it was shown on “THE BUGS BUNNY SHOW” in its original run in the 1960’s.

15.
THE HOLE IDEA (1955): This was another favorite dating back to its initial airings on the original “BUGS BUNNY SHOW” half hours in prime time TV 1960’s. Always wish I had those portable holes to make my get-away many, many times.

16.
I LIKE MOUNTAIN MUSIC (1933): Again, I like wide-eyed 1930’s cartoons with a lot of music in them, and the pleasure was doubled here with this being one of the first cartoons taking place in a store when the doors were closed up tight, this time with images of greeting cards coming to life and acting out the scenario here.

17.
PEOPLE ARE BUNNY (1959): A great BUGS BUNNY/DAFFY DUCK vehicle whose focus and comedy is also built around the behind-the-scenes world of classic TV.

18.
TOY TROUBLE (1941): I like just about every SNIFFLES cartoon because it displayed Chuck Jones’ incredible knack for allowing the viewer to see the world through a small creature’s eyes, and the humor is added here by the very expressive pantomiming of Sniffles’ little friend, a Book Worm with a pair of rimless glasses and a derby. There is really no logical need for this character to be here, but he tells so much of the story in his comedic body language.

19.
WEARIN’ OF THE GRIN” (1952): I come close to liking this entry out of all of the Chuck Jones gothics, perhaps because it is possibly the most surreal of all of them, with a great score!

20.
BOSKO’S PICTURE SHOW (1933): Here is Bosko as total entertainer, even adding controversy here by mouthing a word that has many on cartoon-related internet sites talking and even had those at Nickelodeon scratching their heads as to what he might be sputtering at his adversary. Good ol’ Bosko!!

21.
FISH TALES (1936): While this cartoon is somewhat uneven in its pace, I like a few gruesome scenes here, especially Porky holding on for dear life in a runaway motor boat and the undersea creatures who decide to make a fishy meal of the fisherman, here.

22.
FALLING HARE (1943): Bob Clampett created the best of all interplanetary creatures, didn’t he? Yeah, I like Chuck Jones’ Marvin the Martian, too, but just not as much as this little Gremlin!

23:
HOLD THE LION, PLEASE (1942): There is such an amazing range of expression in this Chuck Jones classic and some very interesting changes of scene that allow images to blend one moment into another, like the laughing animals slowly dissolving into the waving foliage of the next scene.

24:
THE MOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (1959): I always liked much of Warners’ Hollywood caricature cartoons, and this treasure includes a live action appearance by at least one of those caricatures’ inspirations. This cartoon also has the principle players doing their original radio voices.

25.
BUDDY’S BEAR CATS (1934): This is a rousing production that salutes the game of baseball when it was fun. The cartoon is at its best in the midst of the production number which gives the cartoon its title, with all the stadium workers singing about their trade before the two teams are introduced.

26.
ALOHA HOOEY (1942): A great cartoon with Pinto Culvig as guest voice for the rural bird who gets trapped on an island…and gets the goil in the end.

27.
GOPHER GOOFY (1942): Ah, now here is a pair of vagabond gophers who are a lot more likable to me than the later Goofy Gophers, two burrowers from Brooklyn, New York (“I like Central Pawwk, bettah!”) who decide to drive a suburbanite crazy, although the sadistic suburbanite isn’t far from falling off the edge as we first meet him, glowering at the two invaders.

28.
THOSE BEAUTIFUL DAMES (1934): Just a terrific Busby Berkeley-ish production number from beginning to end around various little dolls for sale.

29.
FROM A TO Z-Z-Z-Z (1954): This terrific cartoon introduces Ralph Phillips and his dream world that gets him through the tightest spots—more eerie viewpoints of a child overwhelmed by the ominous world around him.

30.
A-LAD-IN HIS LAMP (1948): A great BUGS BUNNY cartoon featuring the guest voice of character actor Jim Backus. I like this character over Mr. Magoo and Mr. Howell (on the live action “GILLIGAN’S ISLAND”) put together!!

31.
A PEST IN THE HOUSE (1947): This cartoon is another example of an animated film that I would almost dub perfect! There are those elements of brilliant timing here, especially the climactic moment where the furious camera-cutting shows us the frenetic yowling face of Daffy Duck and the bloodshot, angry eyes of the tired businessman who throws a punch at Elmer Fudd’s face every chance he gets.

32.
SITTIN’ ON A BACKYARD FENCE (1933): I have always liked alley cat cartoons. I like “THE ALLEY CAT” from MGM, and I like this somewhat similar cartoon from Warner Brothers with two alley cats facing off against each other for the affections of a female…and with a great old song featured throughout.

33.
BUDDY’S ADVENTURES (1934): A wildly uneven cartoon with a few great moments, not the least of which is the climactic musical number that loosens up the icy demeanor of a planet whose inhabitants feel that “Life is just a bowl o’ lemons!”

34.
SEPTEMBER IN THE RAIN (1937): This cartoon has great music and some terrific famous caricatures as well. It is a wonderful time capsule so much of its time and place!

35.
SNIFFLES TAKES A TRIP (1940): Another great Jones classic around Sniffles, this time taking his own journey into the wilderness and experiencing it the way some of us might have done so many, many years ago when we weren’t so embracing of things going bump in the night. I’m sure that there are horror filmmakers that wish they could add comedy to their films as easily as it is done, here.

36.
BUDDY’S BEER GARDEN (1933): The very second cartoon made in the BUDDY series with the character actually topping Bosko by performing here in surprise drag to save his little Cookie from a lustful predator. Many of the cartoons of this period had such a simple drawing style, but they were still proving themselves more sophisticated than other animation studios.

37.
A CARTOONIST’S NIGHTMARE (1935): And here’s another cartoon from that era that proved that the more simple style worked in a certain context, with an animator’s drawings taking hold of his drowsy dreams and the characters he’d created having to get him out of a jam. Inspired, in part, by the silent Max Fleischer KOKO THE CLOWN cartoons.

38.
CONFEDERATE HONEY (1941):

39.
COAL BLACK AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1943):

40.
UNCLE TOM’S BUNGALOW (1937): Three cartoons that remain time capsules as are the bits of literature at which each poke light fun. The first two not only mock the stories, but make reference to the blockbuster live action movies that were also made as only those at Termite Terrace could lampoon them!

41.
PORKY’S DUCK HUNT (1937):

42.
PORKY THE RAIN-MAKER (1936): Two more Tex Avery classics that prove him the King of Cartoons, alongside his co-worker on these cartoons, Bob Clampett, who took the closing moments of “DUCK HUNT” and gave Daffy Duck his signature craziness that would identify him through his best years onscreen!

43.
HARE RIBBIN’ (alternate ending) (1944): This is indeed a Bob Clampett classic for so many reasons, running with a Tex Avery premise from a previous cartoon (“HECKLING HARE”) and sending it beneath the waves with Bugs Bunny in drag as a mermaid and also performing yet another of his famous death scenes with hilarious results—especially hilarious in this “director’s cut”, now seen as a special feature on LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION, VOL. 5. Surely, Clampett must have been thinking, as Bugs did in this cartoon, “this is the best disguise I ever t’unk up!”

44.
BUDDY’S BUG HUNT (1935): Yes, this whole concept has been done many times before and after with possibly better results. It was even the premise of a silent OUR GANG comedy called “CAT, DOG & COMPANY”, but this, to me, is a surreal animated classic as Buddy is ridden with guilt when he is put on trial by insects whom he had abused. I don’t even think that Nickelodeon aired this one at all!

45.
FLOWERS FOR MADAM” (1935): This, too, is another 1930’s cartoon from Warner Brothers that was always rather ominous. There were times, as the fire eats its way through the flower and vegetable garden, as little embers with evil faces, when you don’t know where the flames will jump out at you next. I like the small cactus that turns to taunt the flames by sticking its tongue at the on-coming crackling flames, only to be jumped from behind by one of those flames causing it to scream, but the flowers and potential food wins out in the end.

46.
PORKY’S ROMANCE (1937): I always liked the opening moments of this cartoon as we are actually introduced to Petunia Pig…ah, those unpredictable early years of theatrical animation brilliance!

47.
WAGON HEELS (1945):

48.
NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH (1948): Two cartoons starring PORKY PIG that lampoon the history of the Old West—the first being one of Bob Clampett’s wildest, this time in full color, and the second actually has a hilarious reference to Humphrey Bogart starring in “THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE”.

49.
I’VE GOT TO SING A TORCH SONG (1933): Yet another of those great early 1930’s musical cartoons. This one doesn’t even really portray its caricatures well, but the music is wonderful.

50.
KATNIP KOLLEGE (1938): One final musical cartoon that mirrors the live action musicals of the day, with a very memorable song and the voices of Johnny “Scat” Davis and Melba Todd, sounding better than they ever were given the chance to sound in live action films! Beautiful and swingin’!!

Kevin Wollenweber

01/1/09  10:14pm
Sammy Castanon says:

So many great Looney Tunes … so many wonderful memories! Here’s my top 10:

1. The Old Grey Hare
2. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
3. Book Revue
4. The Big Snooze
5. The Wacky Wabbit
6. Baseball Bugs
7. Wabbit Twouble
8. Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid
9. Back Alley Oproar
10. A Gruesome Twosome

01/2/09  2:55am
Steve Carras says:

Here’s mine. SOME will (and this is the understatement of undersatements) will be very surprisng.

With directors, release date, and such.

1.”From Hare to heir” [Friz Freleng [also writer], 9/9/60]. Good old Sam. Ya gotta give ‘im credit for TRYING to keep temper when Bugs Bunny has [with only the turkey "Daffy's Fantastic Isle" giving a outline when this was "showcased" a la Love Boat/Fantasy isle"] promised to offer money to Sam but only if calm..and quiet..and well…Sam=angers. Ergo….Sam+BUGS BUNNY=OUTRAGE. [Some scenes like repeating a gag I won't give away involing a fall to death, and the staircase, are just extra fun..] and a very funny ening..

2.”A Hick, A Slick, and a Chick” [Arthur Davis, 3/13/48, Color and Reissue Prints by Technicolor(r), Original release prints by Cinecolor, Inc.]
“It IS 2706..twasn’t so much of a much”. Country bumpkin [sounding a bit like Walt Disney's Goofy} "Elmo" [NOT that annoying SESEME ST. sockpuppet!!] [Stan Freberg and Mel Blanc] is a c-ourting his lady love Daisy Lou [voiced by Bea Benadaret], buts finds her at slicker Blackie [Mel Blanc, using one of his most famous supporting character voices--interestingly, he has Barney Rubble talking in it as a HICK in a Flintstones involving Pebbles as a baby in society--don't ask] who, as the old Irving Berlin standard says, can do anything Elmo can do [to impress Daisy] better [And Daisy isn't any less fickle than Disney's duck of that name back then], and after a while challenged his wise-donkey rival Blackie to get ermine, and sets out on a quest that, uh, yields catty and surprsing results.

3.”Miss Glory” [Dir.Tex Avery; Title Song by Harry Warren & Al Dubin , 3/07/36]. Leadora Congdon was the Art Deco designer for this one. Hick from Hicksville ABner dreams while he’s waiting Miss Glory’s arrival that he’s in a Frted Asatire and Ginger Rogers world in a NEw York glamour hotel, iwith monocoled New Yorker/Monopoly characters, and Miss Glory, a blonde fashion model, type, but wait till Abner wakes up! Voices include Bernice Hansen, Elmore Vincent.

4.”Corn Plastered” [Directed by Bob McKimson; 3/3/51]. A Takeoff on the old Edgar Bergen radio sidekick Pat Patrick’s “Ersel Twing” zany, the cartoons feastures as such and with Pat Patrick ashimself as the voice of a multiple propeller beanby topped crow [who even uses the actor-comic's aforementioned radio character's "Godbye Yi-Yi-Yi " tag], who’s pestering for fun a Farmer Al Fala type Farmer [Mel Blanc]. A sometimes very odd cartoon to many.:)

5.”Chow Hound” [Directed by Chuck Jones; 6/16/51].”WHAT. NO GRAVY”. Okay, here’s the first Jones short, an evil bulldog takes a cat and occasionally a mouse to do his evil work for him, to get food on various go rounds. Amazing, for a cartoons not boasting a host of caricatures of famous celebrities, this one has a large cast and seems to have as many as four actors: John Smith [Dog], Mel Blanc [I THINK as the other males], Bea Benadaret again in her later years at WB as the “requistite lady of the house who owns the pet” [the one calls who calls the cat Harold], and POSSIBLY as the zookeeper, Disney legend STERLING HOLLOWAY! [At least it soudned that way to ME!]

6.”Three Little Bops” [Directed by Friz Freleng, 1/5/57]. okay, here’s another from Friz, Freberg’s first (and any non-Blanc actors) first voice onscreen, btw despite another poster’s comment, this is the early years of, specifically, MODERN jazz, not jazz in generla, tyhe wolf’s Harry James trumpet and such were called jazz in World War II and earlier. Freleng must have insisted on Freberg’s screen credit. I wonder why there was no end standard WB graphic at the end,
only the “The End” legend there.

7.”Hare Do” [Dir.Freleng, 1/15/49]. Elmer Fudd is hunting Bugs through a grand motion picture theatre with a gruesome end to the hijinx. One of the dozen or so shorts never to be released early enough to enter the former pre-1948 [the old Associated Artists Productions catalog from 1957 to 1997] to still have the older “Bugs on shield” open, due to Tech. backlogging and also yet another Jack Benny reference , the “Excuse me, beg your pardon” bit through the aisle..I do that ritual a lot when I go to movies (which is every day almost). Some excellent Freleng direction of the famous vending machine bit, and the also well-known grand perspective shot whenever Bugs Bunny’s looking from the mezzanine through the audience with binoculaurs.

8.”I Haven’t Got A Hat” [Dir.by Freleng, 3/9/05. In two-color Technicolor. It's a debut of the first superstar WB character,Porky, voiced by bit player "Joe Dougherty" [who really stuttered'] Also featured Little Kitty and Ham and Ex [all voiced by Bernice Hansen, using the same squeaky voice, a true hallmark of versatality...---NOT!], and Miss Cud [veteran of old time radio and sitcoms--like "I Love Lucy", Elvia Allman].

9-10.Both those Jones shorts harrassed by irresponsbiel animators shorts “Duck Amuck” [2/27/53, with Daffy] and “Rabbit Rampage” [1955,with Bugs].

11. “Weasel While You Work” [Directed by McKimson, 9/27/58]. The first of six cartoons using the “JohN Seely Associates” [from Capitol Hi Q, actually culled here mostly from the EMI Photoplay London library of Phil Green], which is the ONLY wintry Foghorn Leghorn short. The canned score, which included “Comedy Circus” [Used most memorably on "Snoop and Blab" and "Quick Draw" on the latter's eponymous series, but also a few times on "Augie Doggie", and on several of Jay Ward's "Fractured Fairy Tales","Cinderella Returns" & "Ugly Duckling", and playerd in some times], and also John Seely’s own “Zany Comedy” from Huck and friends’s show, in anohter scene, strangley seems to ENHANCE this ["Weasel While you work"], though many understandably disagree and it ain’t [in context of this being WB[ Stalling or Franklyn. A Musicians strike went on around then.

12."The Up-Standing Sitter" [Director:McKimson; 7/3/48, last made of the A.A.P. library shorts, third last released, not a 7/13/47 short as many references seem to indicate], Back to the Stalling/Franklyn scored shorts..Daffy takes a job as a sitter in this early example of him losing, though he’s still a dedicated sitter, even trusted by his porcine agent [who is not Porky] and the hen who hires hm, and only misunderstoof by the guard bulldog and the innocent stranger-avoiding chicken [unlike the later shortts where everybody's seemingly TRULY against Daffy]. Interestinly, it’s not till 2nd.half that he spends some time in black outs catching the hatchling chick ‘[who has Mel Blanc's Henery Hawk voice] on a wire!

13.”Aristo-Cat”[Dir.Chuck Jones, 1943], introduced Hubie [Mike Maltese] and Bertie [Tedd Pierce], those irreresible mice, wiith a cat with Blanc tlaking in Marvin the Martian’s later voce {the mice’s voices of course were legendary storymen] and funny lines abound her elike in the “HE’s a AWFUL big mouse” in regard to well, you have to guess.

14.”Bear for Punishment” [Dir.Jones, 1951]. Stan Freberg,m Bea BEnadaret, and Billy Blethcer as the three bears, the shorter Pa who just wants peace, and the more upbeat Junyer and Ma who try to help him. After a few more years I think would be Jones’s jumping the shark point that many often debate, but this ealry fifties short should be mentioned..

15.”Nasty Quacks”[Dir.Frank Tashlin,1945]. Daffy as an ealry day verison of his later self centered self combined with the more ear;lier liekable traits while keeping the neccary later ones just to make the story work. He’s the duck of a little girl named Agnes, and gorws up when she;s still little BUT the dad doesn;t want him so..,

Since it is 1:00 where I am (Southern Calif.) I will post more later.:)

(And some from Clampett and Harman and ising).

01/2/09  10:34am
Geoff Gardner says:

Thank you very much Jerry for inviting all of us to participate! Following are my top 50 picks, starting with 50 and going down to # 1 (my pick for the best). Basically I went thru the library and selected those which I clearly recognized by name as, in some cases, historically significant, but mostly either made me laugh out loud or blew me away. Then came the tough part: paring it down to 50 and then putting them in order. Anyway, here they are. My top 10 is Chuck Jones-heavy, but hey - it is what it is.

50. “I Love to Singa” (1936) – Avery
49. “Thugs With Dirty Mugs” (1939) – Avery
48. “The Dover Boys” (1942) – Jones
47. “A Wild Hare” (1940) – Avery
46. “Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid” (1942) – Clampett
45. “The Case of the Stuttering Pig” (1937) – Tashlin
44. “Back Alley Oproar” (1948) – Freleng
43. “Porky in Wackyland” (1938) – Clampett
42. “You Ought to Be in Pictures” (1940) – Freleng
41. “Porky Pig’s Feat” (1943) – Tashlin
40. “Swooner Crooner” (1944) – Tashlin
39. “Baseball Bugs” (1946) – Freleng
38. “Hair-Raising Hare” (1946) – Jones
37. “Kitty Kornered” (1946) – Clampett
36. “Tweetie Pie” (1947) – Freleng
35. “What’s Up, Doc?” (1950) – McKimson
34. “A Corny Concerto” (1943) – Clampett
33. “8 Ball Bunny” (1950) – Jones
32. “Hillbilly Hare” (1950) – McKimson
31. “Operation: Rabbit” (1952) – Jones
30. “Tree For Two” (1952) - Freleng
29. “Rabbit’s Kin” (1952) – McKimson
28. “From A to Z-Z-Z-Z-Z” (1954) – Jones
27. “Broom-Stick Bunny” (1956) – Jones
26. “A Star is Bored” (1956) – Freleng
25. “Three Little Bops” (1957) – Freleng
24. “Ali Baba Bunny” (1957) – Jones
23. “Birds Anonymous” (1957) – Freleng
22. “Draftee Daffy” (1945) – Clampett
21. “Robin Hood Daffy” (1958) – Jones
20. “Knighty-Knight Bugs” (1958) – Freleng
19. “A Bear For Punishment” (1951) – Jones
18. “The Old Grey Hare” (1944) – Clampett
17. “Hyde and Go Tweet” (1960) – Freleng
16. “Book Revue” (1946) – Clampett
15. “Little Red Riding Rabbit” (1944) – Freleng
14. “No Barking” (1954) - Jones
13. “Roman Legion-Hare” (1955) – Freleng
12. “Beep Beep” (1952) – Jones
11. “Wabbit Twouble” (1941) – Clampett
10. “Rabbit of Seville” (1950) – Jones
9. “Rabbit Fire” (1951) – Jones
8. “Long Haired Hare” (1949) – Jones
7. “High Diving Hare” (1949) – Freleng
6. “Duck Amuck” (1953) – Jones
5. “Feed the Kitty” (1952) – Jones
4. “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) – Clampett
3. “Duck Dodgers in the 241/2 Century” (1953) – Jones
2. “One Froggy Evening” (1955) – Jones
1. “What’s Opera Doc?” (1957) – Jones

01/2/09  2:49pm
DJonas says:

1. One Froggy Evening
2. Feed the Kitty
3. The Dover Boys
4. It’s Hummer Time
5. Mississippi Hare
6. You Ought to be in Pictures
7. Porky Pig’s Feat
8. Porky in Wackyland
9. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
10. Boobs in the Woods
11. His Bitter Half
12. Rabbit Fire
13. Rabbit Seasoning
14. Rabbit of Seville
15. A Tale of Two Kitties
16. A Gruesome Twosome
17. A Fractured Leghorn
18. Little Boy Boo
19. A Bear For Punishment
20. The Bee-deviled Bruin

01/3/09  1:48pm
Edward Zuk says:

I could go on and on about some of my favourites from the list: the imaginative rescoring of “The Barber of Seville,” the gags from “Hair-Raising Hare” that are loosely based around a set of recurring themes, the incredible dance animations from “A Bear for Punishment” or “Hillbilly Hare,” etc. But I’ll hold back and simply give my list. Good luck with the book!

1. The Rabbit of Seville
2. The Heckling Hare
3. Swooner Crooner
4. Hair-Raising Hare
5. Little Red Riding Rabbit
6. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
7. Rabbit Fire
8. Duck Amuck
9. What’s Opera, Doc?
10. One Froggy Evening
11. Tortoise Beats Hare
12. Pigs in a Polka
13. Ain’t She Tweet
14. Hillbilly Hare
15. Fast and Furry-ous
16. The Three Little Bops
17. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
18. She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter
19. Porky’s Preview
20. A Bear for Punishment
21. Puss ‘N Booty
22. The Aristo-Cat
23. The Dover Boys
24. A Tale of Two Kitties
25. You Ought to Be in Pictures

01/4/09  11:45am

Thank you for this opportunity, Jerry. But never mind my trying to single out a #1 Greatest WB Cartoon of Them All. This is as close to a descending list as my own decades-old appreciation of Looney Tunes will allow…

20 Greatest Black-and-White LTs:

Porky in Wackyland
You Ought to Be in Pictures
Porky Pig’s Feat
Porky’s Romance
Scrap Happy Daffy
Eatin’ on the Cuff
Golddiggers of ‘49
Porky’s Hare Hunt
The Ducktators
The Henpecked Duck
Daffy’s Southern Exposure
Porky’s Preview
The Daffy Doc
Porky’s Hero Agency
The Case of the Stuttering Pig
Joe Glow, the Firefly
Bosko’s Party
It’s Got Me Again
Hollywood Capers
A Cartoonist’s Nightmare

30 Greatest Color LT/MMs:

The Old Grey Hare
Duck Amuck
A Hare Grows in Manhattan
The High and the Flighty
The Hole Idea
One Froggy Evening
A Corny Concerto
Feed the Kitty
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Book Revue
From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
Kitty Kornered
Back Alley Oproar
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Crowing Pains
Three Little Bops
Tortoise Beats Hare
Hollywood Steps Out
Horton Hatches the Egg
The Dover Boys
A Tale of Two Kitties
Case of the Missing Hare
Old Glory
Scaredy Cat
Speedy Gonzales
Rabbit Seasoning
Slick Hare
Much Ado About Nutting
Have You Got Any Castles?

01/5/09  1:04pm
Paul Dini says:

Nothing on my list that hasn’t been mentioned by others, so I’ll just toss in a few favorites:

Book Revue
Horton Hatches the Egg
The Dover Boys
Porky & Daffy
Baby Bottleneck
I Love To Singa
A Coy Decoy
Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid
The Old Gray Hare
Tin Pan Alley Cats
Devil May Hare
Tortoise Wins By A Hare
Porky In Wackyland
Wagon Heels
Porky’s Hero Agency
Nasty Quacks
Slick Hare
Porky Pig’s Feat
Porky’s Preview
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Bear Feat
Chow Hound
Hillbilly Hare
The Ducksters
A Pest in the House
A Bear For Punishment
A Kiddie’s Kitty
Wearin’ of the Grin
Draftee Daffy
Easter Yeggs
Operation: Rabbit
Wackiki Wabbit
Daffy Duck Slept Here
The Henpecked Duck
The Great Piggybank Robbery
Holiday For Drumsticks
Three Little Bops
Kitty Kornered
Often An Orphan
Malibu Beach Party
September in the Rain
Miss Glory
Porky The Wrestler
Canned Feud
The Big Snooze
Eight-Ball Bunny
Feed the Kitty
Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
Haredevil Hare
Russian Rhapsody
All A B-i-r-r-r-d
Hot Cross Bunny
Ducking the Devil - Notable for being one of the last cartoons where Daffy was allowed to come out a winner.

01/5/09  6:04pm
Robert Kass says:

This is pretty hard, Jerry, but if forced to pick 20, here’s my list:

1. Porky In Wackyland
2. What’s Opera Doc?
3. Nasty Quacks
4. Stage Door Cartoon
5. Porky Pig’s Feat
6. Broomstick Bunny
7. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
8. I Love to Singa
9. Book Revue
10. Super Rabbit
11. The Bashful Buzzard
12. Draftee Daffy
13. Tortoise Meets Hare
14. Buckaroo Bugs
15. Tin Pan Alley Cats
16. You Ought to be in Pictures
17. Porky’s Preview
18. Design for Leaving
19. Water Water Every Hare
20. Homeless Hare

Robert Kass,
Boston, MA

01/5/09  6:56pm
Randy says:

Just five:
1. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
2. Duck Amuck
3. What’ Opera, Doc?
4. Fast and Furry-ous
5. Hare-Way to the Stars

Thanks and good luck tallying the results!

01/5/09  7:31pm
B. Baker says:

Not much here that hasn’t been cited elsewhere. Compiling this, it occurred to me that someone (are you there, Jerry?) really ought to write a book about the black-&-white Porky LTs — most of these seem like real gems. Anyway, for the record, in preferential order:

I Love to Singa
One Froggy Evening
Cross-Country Detours
Tin Pan Alley Cats
You Ought to Be in Pictures
Thugs With Dirty Mugs
She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter
Porky’s Duck Hunt
The Film Fan
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
What’s Opera, Doc?
Porky in Wackyland
Duck Amuck
Miss Glory
Porky’s Railroad
Nasty Quacks
A Wild Hare
Chow Hound
Book Revue
Porky’s Preview
Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
Lights Fantastic
The Penguin Parade
Billboard Frolics
The Daffy Doc
How Do I Know It’s Sunday?
Porky’s Romance
Feed the Kitty
To Beep or Not to Beep
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Seasoning
Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
The Blow-Out
Porky Pig’s Feat
A Bear for Punishment
8 Ball Bunny
Baseball Bugs
Rabbit Hood
Rabbit of Seville
Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
Bowery Bugs
Fast and Furry-ous
Drip-Along Daffy
Get Rich Quick Porky
Robin Hood Daffy
High Diving Hare
Russian Rhapsody
Draftee Daffy
Tortoise Beats Hare
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery

01/5/09  8:11pm
Chris says:

My top whatevers:
1. DUCK AMUCK
2. Duck Dodgers in the 24.5th century
3. What’s Opera Doc?
4. Rabbit Fire
5. Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
6. The Rabbit of Seville
7.One Froggy Evening
8.Ali Babba Bunny
9.Drip Along Daffy
10.The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
11.Robin Hood Daffy
12.Horton Hatches the Egg
13.The Dover Boys
14. Fast and Furrious
15. Wearin’ of the Grin
16. Knighty-Knight Bugs
17. Feed the Kitty
18. Drip-Along Daffy
19. For Scent-imental Reasons
20. The Foghorn Leghorn

01/5/09  9:03pm
precode says:

Jeez, what a chore narrowing it down to just fifty. They’re in order of best to not as best, but it’s a bit capricious–tomorrow it might be different. Oh, well…–Mike Schlesinger

DUCK! RABBIT! DUCK!
CHOW HOUND
ONE FROGGY EVENING
WHAT’S OPERA, DOC?
COAL BLACK AND DE SEBBEN DWARFS
CHEESE CHASERS
ROBIN HOOD DAFFY
BEWITCHED BUNNY
THREE LITTLE BOPS
HIGH-DIVING HARE
DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24th ½ CENTURY
JUMPIN’ JUPITER
DUCK AMUCK
RABBIT OF SEVILLE
THE DOVER BOYS
DEDUCE, YOU SAY
LONG HAIRED-HARE
SAHARA HARE
SHEEP AHOY
RABBIT RAMPAGE
CLAWS FOR ALARM
FREDDY THE FRESHMAN
SCARLET PUMPERNICKEL
FELINE FRAME-UP
MUCH ADO ABOUT NUTTING
BUNNY HUGGED
FEED THE KITTY
RABBIT SEASONING
SANDY CLAWS
PORKY IN WACKYLAND
I GOPHER YOU
PORKY’S DUCK HUNT
YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES
SHOW BIZ BUGS
ALI BABA BUNNY
PORKY PIG’S FEAT
PAST PERFUMANCE
GEE WHIZ-Z-Z
A HIGH NOTE
FROM A TO Z-Z-Z-Z
PORKY’S PREVIEW
ROCKET-BYE BABY
BEANSTALK BUNNY
ROCKET SQUAD
RUSSIAN RHAPSODY
WHAT’S UP, DOC?
WATER, WATER, EVERY HARE
THE TRIAL OF MR. WOLF
TRANSYLVANIA 6-5000
THE MOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

01/5/09  10:39pm
Ben W says:

1. The Dover Boys
2. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
3. A Coy Decoy
4. A Ham in a Role
5. Big Top Bunny
6. Hair-Raising Hare
7. Hare Conditioned
8. Book Revue
9. Walky Talky Hawky
10. Mississippi Hare
11. Daffy Doodles
12. A Gruesome Twosome
13. Lovelorn Leghorn
14. Scrap Happy Daffy
15. Russian Rhapsody
16. Tortoise Wins by a Hare
17. Canned Feud
18. Patient Porky
19. Porky’s Preview
20. A Corny Concerto
21. Easter Yeggs
22. The Hole Idea
23. Scaredy Cat
24. One Froggy Evening
25. Hare Trigger
26. Buccaneer Bunny
27. A Tale of Two Kitties
28. Kitty Kornered
29. Daffy Duck and Egghead
30. A Broken Leghorn
31. Robin Hood Daffy
32. The Hypochondri-Cat
33. Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
34. Hare Ribbin’
35. The Film Fan
36. Mouse Wreckers
37. What’s Up Doc?
38. I Got Plenty of Mutton
39. Rebel Rabbit
40. The Old Grey Hare
41. Buckaroo Bugs
42. Horton Hatches the Egg
43. Draftee Daffy
44. Super Rabbit
45. Boobs in the Woods
46. Wagon Heels
47. You Were Never Duckier
48. Porky in Egypt
49. Porky’s Party
50. Fresh Airedale

I could spend all day re-ranking those, but they were the first 50 I thought of.

01/6/09  11:32am
Patrick Peters says:

I have a clear #1, just for the impact it made on my widdle mind:

Wackiki Wabbit

01/6/09  7:28pm
Glenn Ehlers says:

Jerry, thanks for invite. I can think of a couple hundred almost immediately; it’s hard to rank with so many masterpieces in the Looney Tunes library……Good luck with the book and I can’t wait for the read.

1. Duck Amuck
2. What’s Opera Doc
3. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
4. Rabbit of Seville
5. High Diving Hare
6. Rabbit Seasoning
7. Feed the Kitty
8. Rhapsody Rabbit
9. Long Haired Hare
10. Bully For Bugs
11. You Ought to be in Pictures
12. One Froggy Evening
13. Bugs Bunny Rides Again
14. Hillbilly Hare
15. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
16. The Dover Boys
17. Baseball Bugs
18. Bird’s Anonymous
19. Corny Concerto
20. Porky in Wackyland
21. Drip-A-Long Daffy
22. What’s Up Doc
23. Little Red Riding Rabbit
24. A Wild Hare
25. Tweety Pie
26. From A to Z-Z-Z
27. Porky Pig’s Feat
28. Rhapsody in Rivets
29. Porky’s Duck Hunt
30. Show Biz Bugs
31. Rabbit Fire
32. Heckling Hare
33. A Tale of Two Kitties
34. Sahara Hare
35. Haredevil Hare
36. Fast and Furry-ous
37. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
38. I Love to Singa
39. High Note
40. Buccaneer Bunny
41. Robin Hood Daffy
42. Ali Baba Bunny
43. Hole Idea
44. Devil May Hare
45. Knighty Knight Bugs
46. Scaredy Cat
47. Hyde and Go Tweet
48. Scarlet Pumpernickel
49. Three Little Bops
50. The Draft Horse

01/7/09  4:00pm
Nick Schafer says:

Jerry,

I found a link to this project a few weeks ago on USAToday.com and have been thinking about my choices ever since. I tried to watch as many of the other nominated shorts as possible, in addition to re-watching my own favorites before choosing my Top 50. I even created a spreadsheet to organize my personal rankings AND incorporate the rankings and vote totals made at the Internet Movie Database. Obviously, I weighted my own personal rankings much more heavily than the IMDB data (which probably won’t surprise some of the more “purist” posters when they see my #1 pick was created in…GASP!…1963!). In my defense, however, only 3 cartoons on my list came from the 60s (bizarrely, all from 1963) as compared to 9 from the 40s.

I based my choices on the cartoons I found to be the funniest and most entertaining. Having read the entire thread of posts, I was really surprised that my #1 choice wasn’t nominated more often (and even more surprised that all three shorts in the Witch Hazel trilogy aren’t more popular). Ah well, I don’t imagine that all 50 of my choices will make the cut, no matter how much I think they deserve it. In any case, here they are:

01 Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)
02 Broom-Stick Bunny (1956)
03 A Witch’s Tangled Hare (1959)
04 Bewitched Bunny (1954)
05 One Froggy Evening (1955)
06 Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953)
07 Rabbit of Seville (1950)
08 Three Little Bops (1957)
09 Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
10 Sahara Hare (1955)
11 Bully For Bugs (1953)
12 Hillbilly Hare (1950)
13 Hare Trimmed (1953)
14 Rabbit Fire (1951)
15 Claws For Alarm (1954)
16 Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century (1953)
17 Drip-Along Daffy (1951)
18 Little Boy Boo (1954)
19 Robin Hood Daffy (1958)
20 My Bunny Lies Over the Sea (1948)
21 Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)
22 Hare-Way to the Stars (1958)
23 Rabbit Hood (1949)
24 To Hare Is Human (1956)
25 What’s Opera Doc? (1957)
26 Duck Amuck (1953)
27 Devil’s Feud Cake (1963)
28 Steal Wool (1957)
29 Long-Haired Hare (1949)
30 Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)
31 The Hasty Hare (1952)
32 Bonanza Bunny (1959)
33 Hair-Raising Hare (1946)
34 Deduce, You Say (1956)
35 14 Carrot Rabbit (1952)
36 Double or Mutton (1955)
37 Mad as a Mars Hare (1963)
38 Feed the Kitty (1952)
39 The Fair Haired Hare (1951)
40 Operation: Rabbit (1952)
41 Mouse Wreckers (1948)
42 Roman Legion-Hare (1955)
43 Don’t Give Up the Sheep (1953)
44 Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944)
45 Scrambled Aches (1957)
46 The High and the Flighty (1956)
47 For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)
48 The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950)
49 Scaredy Cat (1948)
50 The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)

And the 10 that just missed the cut, sorry MY cut:

51 Birds Anonymous (1957)
52 High Diving Hare (1949)
53 Water, Water Every Hare (1952)
54 Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)
55 Red Riding Hoodwinked (1955)
56 Show Biz Bugs (1957)
57 Ali Baba Bunny (1957)
58 Gee Whiz-z-z-z (1956)
59 Hyde and Hare (1955)
60 The Foghorn Leghorn (1948)

I’m excited to have learned about this project in time to be acknowledged in the book. Thanks for the opportunity!

Sincerely,

Nick Schafer

01/7/09  8:39pm
Robert Reynolds says:

My list:

1-I Love To Singa
2-Rhapsody In Rivets
3-Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves
4-The Dover Boys
5-Rabbit Fire
6-Have You Got Any Castles?
7-Swooner Crooner
8-Porky In Wackyland
9-You Ought To Be In Pictures
10-Detouring America
11-Greetings Bait
12-A Wild Hare
13-Rabbit’s Kin
14-Porky’s Romance
15-It’s Got Me Again
16-Speaking of the Weather
17-High Note
18-A Bear For Punishment
19-Golddiggers of ‘49
20-Double or Mutton
21-Chow Hound
22-Hollywood Steps Out
23-Now Hear This
24-Smile, Darn Ya, Smile
25-Old Glory
26-The Ducktators
27-One More Time
28-All This and Rabbit Stew
29-Puss n’ Booty
30-Lady, Play Your Mandolin
31-Pigs In a Polka
32-Horton Hatches the Egg
33-Hamateur Night
34-Brother Brat
35-Walky Talky Hawky
36-Scrap Happy Daffy
37-Thugs With Dirty Mugs
38-Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt
39-Tabasco Road
40-Russian Rhapsody
41-The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
42-Three Little Bops
43-Corny Concerto
44-Dangerous Dan McFoo
45-Boobs In the Woods
46-A Feud There Was
47-Stop, Look and Hasten
48-Book Revue
49-A Ham In a Role
50-Sandy Claws

I deliberately left out One Froggy Evening, Rabbit of Seville, What’s Opera Doc?, the other two “Hunting Trilogy” shorts and a few other obvious choices, in order to have space for other shorts less obvious, but no less deserving of some notice.

May this find you happy and healthy.

Robert Reynolds
Tucson AZ

01/7/09  9:40pm
Zach Cole says:

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Coal Black & De Sebben Dwarfs
3. Duck Amuck
4. The Dover Boys
5. Feed The Kitty

6. Plane Daffy
7. Nasty Quacks
8. Scrap Happy Daffy
9. The Aristo-Cat
10. Book Revue

11. The Heckling Hare
12. A Wild Hare
13. A Corny Concerto
14. Barbary Coast Bunny
15. One Froggy Evening

16. What’s Opera, Doc?
17. Porky in Wackyland
18. Wabbit Twouble
19. A Bear for Punishment
20. Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur

21. Wackiki Wabbit
22. The Bashful Buzzard
23. Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
24. Slick Hare
25. Hollywood Steps Out

26. The Big Snooze
27. To Duck or Not to Duck
28. Henpecked Duck
29. Tale of Two Kitties
30. Tortoise Wins By A Hare

31. Tortoise Beats Hare
32. Kitty Kornered
33. I love to Singa
34. Falling Hare
35. Fast and Furry-ous

36. Rabbit of Seville
37. Rabbit Seasoning
38. Draftee Daffy
39. Porky’s Pig Feat
40. Bunny Hugged

41. Baby Bottleneck
42. Broomstick Bunny
43. Daffy the Commando
44. From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
45. Hair-Raising Hare

46. Super Rabbit
47. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
48. Baton Bunny
49. Rhapsody Rabbit
50. Hen House Henery

I separated the list into groups of five because I thought it might be easier on the eyes. It helped me when I was putting together the list.
Best wishes on your new book!

- Zach Cole

01/8/09  8:44am
Rob Tomshany says:

Hi, I usually post here as “Rob T.” (when I post at all–not much). Here’s my list, emphasizing stuff I’ve known and loved since watching Warner Bros. cartoons as a kid in the 1970’s on TV (after school for the older stuff, on Saturday mornings for the later work).

1. Duck Amuck
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Porky in Wackyland
4. Baseball Bugs
5. Book Revue
6. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
7. Rabbit of Seville
8. Rabbit Seasoning
9. The Dover Boys
10. Long-Haired Hare

11. Pigs in a Polka
12. Hillbilly Hare
13. Plane Daffy
14. Duck Dodgers in the 241/2th Century
15. Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
16. Rhapsody in Rivets
17. Mutiny on the Bunny
18. A-Lad-in His Lamp
19. Hare-Way to the Stars
20. Bully for Bugs

21. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
22. Daffy Duck in Hollywood
23. What’s Up, Doc?
24. I Gopher You
25. What’s Opera, Doc?
26. A Corny Concerto
27. My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
28. A Wild Hare
29. Horton Hatches the Egg
30. Tortoise Wins by a Hare

31. Little Boy Boo
32. Rhapsody Rabbit
33. Feed the Kitty
34. Rabbit Fire
35. Ali Baba Bunny
36. Zoom and Bored
37. I Love to Singa
38. Thugs with Dirty Mugs
39. Devil May Hare
40. Russian Rhapsody

41. Kitty Kornered
42. The Old Grey Hare
43. Cinderella Meets Fella
44. Little Red Riding Rabbit
45. You Ought to Be in Pictures
46. Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs
47. Swooner Crooner
48. Robin Hood Daffy
49. The Daffy Doc
50. The Fog Horn Leghorn

01/8/09  4:22pm
John Hartnett says:

Criteria:
-“universality”: whatever that may mean to you, to me it means that pretty much any human will “get” it, from Brooklyn to the North Pole to Albuquerque to the moon and beyond.

- “wit”: to wit, intellectual humor. This does predispose any list towards Bugs Bunny, but then, it’s Daffy who has the honor of saying “Pronoun trouble.” Too, wit does not have to be spoken in cartoons. In “High Diving Hare”, of the nine times that Sam takes the plunge, in two of them you never see or hear the gag that results in Sam’s descent, and those are all the funnier for it.

- “inversion”: oh gee, too high falutin’ a word here, but no other better describes taking the audience’s expectation and twisting it gleefully or taking the story or gag’s direction and sending it oppositely. Hubie and Bert want to be eaten by the cat. Comedy Relief Porky saves the day after all of Dripalong Daffy’s vainglorious failures. A lowly “minah” bird is apparently an untouchable god.

- “voice”: Warner’s had so many voices; clear, strong sensibilities that though the cartoons were the result of teamwork, still they bore the unmistakable imprint of the director, not the generic honk of a committee.

- “laughs”; yeah, just being funny. Different things will elicit different kinds of laughter from different people. But the Warner cartoons, the greats, all had a higher payoff of laughs per second than any other media that I’m aware of.

Now, with all that said, the following list is in my personal, idiosyncratic best-of in order of greatness from 1 to 50. The cartoons all have at least one element that I’ve discussed, most have more than one element.

Can I dissect the cartoons to discern what proportion of elements each cartoon has? Nein, herr Doktor, else the frog vill croak.

I’ll let the magic of Termite Terrace speak for itself. Ya gotta let the frog sing and dance, and appreciate it for that.

Rabbit Seasoning
Rabbit Fire
High Diving Hare
Buccaneer Bunny
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
A Bear For Punishment
Robin Hood Daffy
Drip Along Daffy
Duck Amuck
Feed the Kitty
Fair And Worm-er
Chow Hound
Fresh Airedale
Cheese Chasers
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Ali Baba Bunny
Dover Boys
Bully For Bugs
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
One Froggy Evening
Operation: Rabbit
Scaredy Cat
Little Red Rabbit Hood
Wackiki Wabbit
Bunker Hill Bunny
Baseball Bugs
Daffy Duck And The Dinosaur
Porky Pig’s Feat
The Big Snooze
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Inki And The Minah Bird
Bugs Bunny And The Three Bears
The Hypo-Chrondri-Cat
Boyhood Daze
Deduce, You Say
Bunny Hugged
Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid
Coal Black an’ de Sebben Dwarfs
Daffy the Commando
The Three Little Bops
Canned Feud
Ballot Box Bunny
Big House Bunny
Super Rabbit
It’s Hummer Time
I Love To Singa
Tortoise Wins By A Hare
The Hare Brained Hypnotist
Rhapsody In Rivets
Hare-Way to the Stars

Best wishes to you, Mr. Beck, and thank you.

01/8/09  5:58pm
Steve says:

Hi, Guys:

Can’t resist, but I trust no surprises:

Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Duck Amuck
Coal Black
Big Snooze
Book Revue
Tortoise Wins by a Hare
Kitty Kornered
Porky Pig’s Feat
Gruesome Twosome
Corny Concerto
Falling Hare
Old Grey Hare
Draftee Daffy
Dover Boys
Swooner Crooner
Hare-Raising Hare
Long-Haired Hare
Scrap-Happy Daffy
Rhapsody Rabbit
Wabbit Twouble
Acrobatty Bunny
Gorilla My Dreams
What’s Up, Doc?
Tin Pan Alley Cats
Porky’s Preview
Fair and Wormer
Rhapsody in Rivets
A Lad-in-His Lamp
Bushy Hare
Rabbit Seasoning
Operation: Rabbit
What’s Opera, Bub?
One Froggy Etc.
Russian Rhapsody
Baby Bottleneck
Bear for Punishment
Bowery Bugs
Rabbit Transit
Daffy Doodles
A Ham in a Role
Feed the Kitty
Porky in Wackyland
Bunny Hugged
Rabbit Punch
Baseball Bugs
Hillbilly Hare
You Oughta Be On This List
Thugs w/Dirty Mugs
The Aristo-Cat
Mississippi Hare
Slick Hare
Horton Hatches the Egg
High Note

01/8/09  11:16pm
Joshua Kreitzer says:

There’s some arbitrariness in these selections and their order, and I suspect if I compiled my rankings again a week later, there would be quite a bit of variations.

1. Hare Do
2. The Three Little Bops
3. One Froggy Evening
4. The Old Grey Hare
5. Rabbit of Seville
6. What’s Opera, Doc?
7. Duck Amuck
8. Tweetie Pie
9. A Wild Hare
10. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
11. Tortoise Beats Hare
12. Porky in Wackyland
13. Rabbit Seasoning
14. Tortoise Wins by a Hare
15. Book Revue
16. Knighty Knight Bugs
17. You Ought to Be in Pictures
18. Hillbilly Hare
19. Big Snooze, The
20. Hare Tonic
21. Dover Boys, The
22. Bugs and Thugs
23. Crowing Pains
24. Hare-Way to the Stars
25. I Haven’t Got a Hat

Thanks for taking this poll.

01/9/09  12:13am

This is one of the most difficult yet thoroughly enjoyable tasks I’ve done in a while, choosing what I consider to be the fifty greatest cartoons produced by Warner Bros. It wasn’t easy, picking just fifty out of the thousand-plus shorts. Where does one even begin??

I certainly didn’t want to just play favorites, and I wanted to make sure every major director and character were represented. There were so many tough choices to make, and I definitely mourned a number of cartoons I had to exclude.

A scant few entries for historical or technical significance aside, I tried to compile the list purely on entertainment value. Hopefully I’ve been able to cover the gamut of the studio’s output and form a list of the very cream of the crop…the greatest of Warner Bros.’ greatest hits.

1. What’s Opera, Doc? (1957)
2. Duck Amuck (1953)
3. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)
4. One Froggy Evening (1955)
5. Porky in Wackyland (1938)
6. Rhapsody Rabbit (1946)
7. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1953)
8. Book Revue (1946)
9. Porky’s Duck Hunt (1937)
10. The Rabbit of Seville (1950)
11. You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940)
12. Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
13. I Love to Singa (1936)
14. Robin Hood Daffy (1958)
15. Rabbit Fire (1951)
16. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943)
17. Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948)
18. Drip-Along Daffy (1951)
19. The Three Little Bops (1957)
20. A Corny Concerto (1943)
21. Long-Haired Hare (1949)
22. The Big Snooze (1946)
23. Tweetie Pie (1947)
24. Bully For Bugs (1953)
25. The Old Grey Hare (1944)
26. Show Biz Bugs (1957)
27. The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950)
28. Baseball Bugs (1946)
29. The Dover Boys (1942)
30. What’s Up, Doc? (1950)
31. For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)
32. Hopalong Casualty (1960)
33. Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944)
34. From A to Z-z-z-z (1954)
35. A Wild Hare (1940)
36. Greedy For Tweety (1957)
37. Tortoise Wins By a Hare (1943)
38. Porky Pig’s Feat (1943)
39. Kitty Kornered (1946)
40. To Beep or Not to Beep (1963)
41. Porky’s Preview (1941)
42. Tree For Two (1952)
43. Mouse Wreckers (1949)
44. Speedy Gonzales (1955)
45. Detouring America (1939)
46. Dough Ray Me-Ow (1948)
47. The Foghorn Leghorn (1948)
48. The Hole Idea (1955)
49. Picador Porky (1937)
50. Sinkin’ in the Bathtub (1930)

Thank you so much, Mr. Beck, for this opportunity for all of us!

01/9/09  12:46am

1 One Froggy Evening
2 Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs
3 The Great Piggy-Bank Robbery
4 What’s Opera, Doc?
5 Porky In Wackyland
6 Duck Amuck
7 Book Revue
8 Three Little Bops
9 Rhapsody Rabbit
10 A Corny Concerto
11 Porky’s Romance
12 Rabbit Of Seville
13 The Heckling Hare
14 A Gruesome Twosome
15 A Bear For Punishment
16 Pigs In A Polka
17 Duck Dodgers In The 24 1/2th Century
18 Kitty Kornered
19 The Case Of The Stuttering Pig
20 Fast And Furry-ous
21 Tortoise Wins By A Hare
22 I Love To Singa
23 The Dover Boys
24 Porky Pig’s Feat
25 Baby Bottleneck
26 Porky’s Duck Hunt
27 Feed The Kitty
28 Birdy And The Beast
29 Long Haired Hare
30 Scaredy Cat
31 The Daffy Doc
32 Rabbit Fire
33 Two Gophers From Texas
34 Scrap Happy Daffy
35 Puss ‘N Booty
36 You Ought To Be In Pictures
37 Inki and the Minah Bird
38 Hillbilly Hare
39 Have You Got Any Castles
40 A Wild Hare
41 Tweetie Pie
42 Miss Glory
43 Joe Glow The Firefly
44 Clean Pastures
45 The Ducktators
46 Satan’s Waitin’
47 Robin Hood Daffy
48 Old Glory
49 Now Hear This
50 I Haven’t Got A Hat

01/9/09  2:30am

Ranking cartoons as great as those from Warner’s (and a good many of them qualify as “great”) is a nearly impossible task, as I’ve come to discover. To my surprise the “usual suspects” didn’t come up very often. There are no Freleng cartoons in this top 25, no groundbreaking cartoons like A WILD HARE. There are many artistically interesting Warner’s cartoons that belong on a more comprehensive list, but for my “best of” compilations, I am overwhelmingly, unashamedly biased toward the funny cartoons. I sought to include those I thought woefully underrepresented, like Art Davis, and have even included a Bosko cartoon here. (You’ll see why shortly). At any rate, here are my top 25:

1. COAL BLACK AND DE SEBBEN DWARFS (1943, Clampett):

I know, I know. This cartoon is at the top of just about anyone’s list, but it deserves to be. This is Bob Clampett’s magnum opus: we’re fooled into thinking it’s going to be a standard Warner Bros. fairy-tale parody–for about a nanosecond. Then all bets are off. An exercise in just how enegertic a cartoon can get before our nervous systems collapse, it combines Clampett’s faster-than-lightspeed pacing with Rod Scribner’s elastic animation and the musical and voice talents of the best black talent of the day for seven minutes of absolute perfection. It has everything a Warner’s cartoon should have–pop-culture references from Disney to wartime rationing to “Citizen Kane”, a hip, wiseguy attitude and a healthy amount of sex. Pity that most of us can only see grainy, umpteenth-generation copies, if we’re lucky.

2. THE GREAT PIGGYBANK ROBBERY (1946, Clampett):

What can one say about a cartoon in which Daffy Duck gives us a dozen different expressions–and emotions–in half as many seconds? (Probably an exaggeration, but only slightly). Then tops that with a Chester Gould-style rogues’ gallery the “Dick Tracy” creator couldn’t have imagined if he were on psychadelic drugs? Only this–”why isn’t there more of it?” Ag-o-ny, a-go-NEE!!

3. EASTER YEGGS (1947, McKimson):

What? A Bob McKimson cartoon in the top three? You better believe it! Bugs substitutes for a sad-sack Easter Bunny (with the voice of Mel Blanc’s “Happy Postman” character from the Burns and Allen radio show) and quickly wishes he hadn’t. He not only inevitably runs afoul of Elmer Fudd (intent on turning him into “Easter Wabbit stew”) but in a running gag, he tries to shake off a pint-size Dead End Kid (”I wanna Easter egg! I wanna Easter egg!”) McKimson was fond of sticking the normally unflappable Bugs into nutty situations that tested the limits of the rabbit’s patience, and he never did it better than in this cartoon. You’ll definitely “keep smiling.”

4. BABY BOTTLENECK (1946, Clampett):

The premise is simple enough–the stork, overwhelmed with orders for babies, brings in Porky Pig and Daffy Duck to speed up production. A fairly standard cartoon in the hands of most animation directors–but this is Bob Clampett we’re talking about. In this, one of his last cartoons before leaving Warner’s, Clampett really turned his animators and background artists loose. The result can be seen in backgrounds that are often little more than a large area of color, and characters for whom “anatomy” is a foreign concept. (Daffy’s leg gets stretched to about 500 yards long at one point). Chracters walk through doors by literally walking THROUGH them (a wonderful bit of animation by the late Bill Melendez). In short, it’s a LU-LU!

5. (tie) RABBIT SEASONING, RABBIT FIRE, and DUCK! RABBIT DUCK! (1951-52, Jones)

Not so much three separate cartoons as one super-extended running gag, Jones–like Clampett before him–wrung considerable humor from Daffy Duck’s frazzled state of mind. Unlike Clampett, however, he could do it with the flick of an eye or the disgusted cluck of a tongue. (Well, that and seeing just how many ways a duck’s bill can be shot cockeyed). The earliest cartoons to pair Daffy with Bugs, they established the relationship between the two characters for all time. (Though with the unfortunate result of eventually making Daffy far less daffy). Elmer Fudd, the poor dope caught in the middle, plumbs new depths of imbecility–and for once, it works. Thanks to writer Mike Maltese, however, the dialogue is as memorable as the gags (such as the famous “pronoun trouble” line in RABBIT SEASONING) a rare feat for any cartoon. Yet Maltese and Jones pulled it off three times.

8. DOUGH RE ME-OW (1948, Davis):

Pity poor Art Davis, the Rodney Dangerfield of the animation industry. Director of the unfairly-overlooked LITTLE MATCH GIRL at Mintz and some wonderfully odd but hilarious cartoons for a few years at Warner’s, he never got quite the recognition of directors like Jones, Freleng, McKimson or even Clampett. This is probably the best of his brief directorial stint at Warner Bros., and proof that a mere “one-shot” can also be a classic. (If this cartoon isn’t proof enough, see below). The main character here, a newly-rich cat named Heathcliff, enters uncharted territories of “dumb”–so stupid he crushes nuts by holding them in his mouth and putting his head in a vise, and even has trouble remembering to breathe. Yet as if to prove the saying “God protects drunks, children, and fools,” he’s also virtually indestructable, as the parrot trying to do him in finds out.

9. RABBIT’S KIN (McKimson, 1952):

To steal the spotlight from Bugs Bunny is quite a feat for any character, let alone a “one-shot,” but a certain Pete Puma did just that. Perhaps the most popular “one-shot” character in animation history (next to a certain dancing Chuck Jones frog, of course) our Pete was helped along in no small measure by Stan Freberg’s Crazy Guggenheim-imitation voice and Pete’s own exceptional stupidity. Not to mention a “whole lotta lumps.” Freberg–and Pete–saved this cartoon from mediocrity and certain obscurity.

10. KITTY KORNERED (1946, Clampett):

Once Bob Clampett made COAL BLACK, going back to making conventional cartoons would have been like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube. From that point on, therefore, one could expect anything to happen, and no person, animal, or object would hold its shape for long. Against a seemingly mundane “Porky putting the cats out for the night” plot, characters stretch even beyond the normal bounds of animated physics. When the quartet of cats tries to trick Porky by posing as men from Mars, Porky’s subsequent bug-eyed take not only fills the screen, but his head seems to rise three stories as he screams in terror. Everything–and everyone–has a wonderful plasticine quality as characters jump through keyholes and send themselves down drains. Clampett had always had good ideas, but only now were his animators fully able to bring them to life. Notable also for the appearance of what seems to be a prototype Sylvester, showing Clampett not only created Tweety, but Tweety’s future nemesis as well.

11. BOOK REVUE (1946, Clampett):

The last–and perhaps the best–of the “labels/signs/magazine covers come to life” cartoons, if only for an appearance by Daffy Duck (who pops out from an issue of Looney Tunes comics). Daffy’s turn as an imitation Danny Kaye and his unique “one huge eyeball” take are the standout bits in this entry. (TINY TOON ADENTURES paid tribute to the “huge eyeball” take by dubbing it a “Clampett Corneal Catastrophe”and making it the plot point of one episode).

12. A BEAR FOR PUNISHMENT (1951, Jones):

The last of five Chuck Jones “Three Bears” cartoons, it might perhaps be better titled “Chuck Jones’ Revenge On Fathers’ Day” for what he has Papa Bear go through at the hands of Mama Bear and lummox son Junior (or is it Junyer?). Just think–if Chuck’s daughter had just given him a tie, we wouldn’t have seen this cartoon or the ridiculous “tribute” the bear family puts on for “good ol’ Pa!” Moral: don’t have Junior Bear fill your pipe for you or you’ll learn WHY smoking is hazardous to your health (”G-U-N-P-O-W-D-E-R…tobacco!”)

13. KATNIP KOLLEGE (1938, Dalton/Howard):

As with Harman and Ising’s cartoons, it took some time for this little gem to work its charm on me–but thanks to old recordings made by Benny’s Goodman’s band, I fell in love with swing, acquiring a newfound love for this cartoon in the process. Like this cartoon’s little Harold Lloyd-like protagonist, the “rhythm bug” bit me, too. The vocals by Johnny “Scat” Davis and Mabel Todd certainly helped.

14. BOOBS IN THE WOODS (1950, McKimson):

This manages to rise a step or two above the average “Daffy drives Porky bananas” cartoon by its sheer silliness, from Daffy’s nonsensical opening ditty (”…oh, you can’t bounce a meatball, you’ll try with all your might/Turn on the radio, I want to fly a kite!”) to his various attempts to frustrate Porky’s landscape-painting efforts (”I’m the old man of the mountains, and I DON’T WANT ‘EM painted!!”). Then there’s the “license” running gag (Porky has a license to sell hair tonic to bald eagles in Omaha, Nebraska, among others). I should also mention my favorite, the “John Smith and Pocahontas” bit, and…oh, trust me, it’s funny. To those who long for the earlier, crazier Daffy, cartoons like this are what they’re talking about.

15. THE STUPOR SALESMAN (Davis, 1948)

My favorite Art Davis Daffy, as the little black duck is still in his “annoying pest” phase. (Chuck Jones’ dubious personality makeover of the character is still a couple of years away.) And what better job for this version of Daffy than a door-to-door salesman? Daffy being Daffy, he WOULD find the only house around for miles, which just happens to be occupied by Slug McSlug, a bank robber on the lam. As with any Davis cartoon, the characters’ expressions put it over (I’m thinking of the “have I brass knuckles?” scene in particular, as Daffy scratches his head in bewilderment). The closing line deserves to be recognized as classic, just after the robber’s hideout gets blown to smithereens: “Hey, bub! You need a HOUSE to go with this doorknob!”

16. TORTOISE WINS BY A HARE (Clampett, 1943)

People used to the cool, self-assured Bugs Bunny might be shocked seeing this cartoon. He’s practically bipolar here, shifting from spittle-spraying fury to euphoria (”I’m gonna win! I’m gonna win!! Yeah–modern design!!”) and back–due in no small measure to the acting ability of voice man Mel Blanc. Not the Bugs we know, yet in this cartoon, it wouldn’t work to have him any other way. This was Clampett’s answer to–and vast improvement on–Tex Avery’s earlier TORTOISE BEATS HARE. Here, not only does Cecil Turtle engineer Bugs’ undoing, so do (unwittingly) members of the rabbit underworld, who think they’re actually helping “their” boy. Yes, Bugs loses–but like Wile E. Coyote a few years later, he defeats himself more than anyone else does.

17. AN ITCH IN TIME (Clampett, 1943):

“Hey, I better cut this out–I might get to like it!!” Need I say more?

18. TWO GOPHERS FROM TEXAS (1948, Davis)

While I never so much cared for the Alphonse and Gaston-like Goofy Gophers, I AM fond of the character who acted as their antagonist in the earliest Gophers cartoons (unnamed as far as I know–I just refer to him as the Shakespearean Dog). This series of cartoons had been begun by Bob Clampett shortly before his departure, and even at this late date one can still see some crazy, loose Clampettian touches in the animation (thanks to Emery Hawkins and Bill Melendez) that can most clearly be seen in the dog’s wild-eyed expressions. These alone elevate this from an average proto-Road Runner spot gag cartoon to one of the studio’s best. Watch the dog’s face as he tries to mow down the two gophers with a series of (deadly) musical instruments, while at the same time belting out some pretty good jazz. His expressions magnify the humor of the gag tenfold. Best bit: The Shakespearean Dog, having plummeted down a treacherous hill in a baby carriage, dusts himself off and remarks, “Obviously they did not rrreckon me great inner strrrength!” Thud.

19. BOSKO IN PERSON (1933, Hugh Harman):

It comes as a surprise, I’m sure, to see a Harman-Ising Warner’s toon on the list, and admittedly Bosko cartoons are an acquired taste. But the usually nondescript, happy-go-lucky Bosko and Honey exhibit a personality and charm here not seen in many Looney Tunes of this period (thanks largely to a young animator named Bob McKimson). It’s hard not to like the ventriloquist-like bit Bosko does with an anthropomorphic version of his own glove, and Honey’s brief little bluesy rendition of “That’s The Human Thing To Do”. It makes one wonder how the characters might have progressed had Harman and Ising stayed with Schlesinger.

20. ALI BABA BUNNY (1957, Jones)

One of the few late Jones cartoons I can actually tolerate, and the best use of Jones’ “greedy self-preservationist” version of Daffy. Jones often said his Daffy is what we would be if we could, and in this cartoon I can believe it. Who wouldn’t, upon seeing a cave bursting with more treasure than all four Indiana Jones movies put together, be tempted to scream, “It’s mine, you understand? Get back in there! Mine mine MINE! Down down down! Go go GO!!” Tell me you wouldn’t, I dare you. Note: I was always a bit tickled by the sound the Sultan’s tiny camel made at the beginning–Treg Brown apparently dubbed in a noise that sounds like a tricycle with a squeaky wheel.

21. (tie) BUCKAROO BUGS and THE OLD GREY HARE (both 1944, Clampett):

It proved impossible to determine which was the better of the two here–both have a sense of the screwball, with the dumb-beyond-dumb Red Hot Ryder of the first cartoon, and the warped lunacy and milestones of the second (OLD GREY HARE was the first to provide Bugs and Elmer with a backstory, and even gives us a glimpse into their doddering, decrepit future). BUCKAROO BUGS not only provided us with an obligatory Clampett “naughty” joke (when asked who he is, Red Hot Ryder briefly points to his horse’s rear before pointing to himself, implying he’s a horse’s…well, you know) but as John Kricfalusi has been known to point out, gave us some of the funniest drawings seen in a Warner’s cartoon at that time. THE OLD GREY HARE left an impression on me when I first viewed it thirty or so years ago–not just because it goes outside the usual Bugs-and-Elmer formula, but because of the originality of the gags (a final explosion does not go off until the “That’s All Folks” appears on-screen, vibrating the tital card).

23. THE SCARLET PUMPERNICKEL (1950, Jones)

Attention, Hollywood–here’s why you shouldn’t let actors make their own films. Daffy, upset with “J.L.” over being continually typecast, provides an overblown costume epic worthy of Mel Gibson, with an animated “cast of thousands” and the inevitable overwrought climax (floods, volcano eruptions and overpriced kreplach). The subtleties, if such a cartoon can be called subtle, appealed to me here, such as the Grand Duke’s (Sylvester’s) Yiddish-inflected response when told by Daffy what happens to the villain in costume pictures (”So what’s to know?”). Possibly the first appearance of the conceited, incompetent Jones version of Daffy, and one of the funniest.

24. HILLBILLY HARE (1950, McKimson)

You’ll never look at square dancing quite the same way again, as Bugs leads two hillbillies bent on plugging “that thar rabbit critter” through the most brutal dance routine ever seen: “Grab a fencepost, hold it tight, whomp your partner with all your might/Hit him the shin, hit him in the head, hit him again, the critter ain’t dead…” One of a special, select group of Warner’s cartoons that made me laugh out loud when I first saw it–and still does today.

25. HORTON HATCHES THE EGG (1942, Clampett):

I’ve loved Dr. Seuss from the moment I could hold a book, so this is a remarkable little piece of “Seussiana”, if only because it’s so unusual. The cartoon melds Bob Clampett’s sense of humor with Seuss’ whimsy, giving us a wonderfully odd little combination of Warner’s and Seuss (Maisie Bird’s sudden Katherine Hepburn imitations, and my personal favorite, the Peter Lorre fish). On the surface it seems like mixing mustard and ice cream, but we end up with a more than palatable combination.

01/9/09  3:28am
El Kabong says:

Since you posted this, I wanted to rewatch some of the older stuff I’m less familiar to, but didn’t have the time…
So I think I’ll just stick with the more common ones, which are my favorites anyway, so…

1) Duck Amuck - cannot think about any better way to use the potential of the animation medium
2) What’s Opera Doc?
3) Feed the Kitty
4) Rabbit Fire - I’ll just pick my favorite of the three
5) Bully for Bugs
6) Duck Dodgers in….
7) Birds Anonymous
8) For Scent-imental Reasons
9) One Froggy Evening
10) The Lion’s Busy - far from perfect, but I liked it a lot when I was a kid

Real name: Gabriele Francolini

01/9/09  4:24am

1- One Froggy Evening
2- Porky in Wackyland
3- The Rabbit of Seville
4- Book Revue
5-Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
6- Porky Pig’s Feat
7- You Ought to Be in Pictures
8- The Dover Boys
9- The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
10- What’s Opera, Doc?
11- High Diving Hare
12- Duck Amuck
13- Porky’s Romance
14– Porky’s Duck Hunt
15- What’s Up, Doc?
16- Fast and Furry-ous
17- The Three Little Bops
18- Birds Anonymous
19- The Foghorn Leghorn
20- What Makes Daffy Duck?
21- Bugs Bunny Rides Again
22- Baby Bottleneck
23- A Wild Hare
24- Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
25- A Tale of Two Kitties
26- Case of the Missing Hare
27- Daffy Doodles
28- Slick Hare
29- Haredevil Hare
30- Mouse Mazurka
31- Bowery Bugs
32- Rabbit Fire
33- For Scent-imental Reasons
34- The Heckling Hare
35- The Hole Idea
36- The Scarlet Pumpernickel
37- Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century
38- Kitty Kornered
39- Inki and the Mynah Bird
40- Porky’s Preview
41- I Love to Singa
42- Russian Rhapsody
43- Racketeer Rabbit
44- The Aristo-Cat
45- The Swooner Croone
46- Rebel Rabbit
47- Bear Feat
48- Bad Ol’ Putty Tat
49- Devil May Hare
50- Speedy Gonzales

01/9/09  4:43am
Roberto Naldi says:

A Tale of two Kitties
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Kitty Kornered
Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
Porky in Wackyland
Book Revue
Russian Rapsody
A gruesome twosome
Baby Bottleneck
The Hep Cat
The Henpecked Duck
Big Snooze
Eating On the Cuff
One Froggy Evening

01/9/09  6:57am

I tried to pick 5, then 10, so here’s 15:
One Froggy Evening
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Duck Dodgers In The 24 and A Half Century
Feed The Kitty
Bully For Bugs
Coal Black An De Sebben Dwarfs
Porky In Wacky Land
A Wild Hare
The Rabbit Of Seville
Zoom And Bored
I Love To Singa
Tweety Pie
Hillbilly Hare
Rocket bye Baby
Hare-Um, Scare-Um

01/9/09  7:57am

I’ve been putting this off because, as others have rightly said, not only is it impossible to select a mere handful from an outstanding thirty-plus year history, but every person’s list changes from minute to minute as moments of other cartoons drift into view. but here are ten that have astonished and will continue to astonish me with their brilliance. So here in alphabetical order is my top ten (had to limit myself to ten, otherwise I’d list them all), trying to avoid the ones everyone else has already voted for a million times already…

Ali Baba Bunny: Just as funny and character-driven as the more recognised rabbit seasoning, and more visually interesting. (It was a toss up between this and Show Biz Bugs, but this is one is just set in such a unique location.)

Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips: A cartoon as funny and ingenious as the best of this period, yet often overlooked for obvious reasons, and rendered hard to see for the same reasons. That said, those reasons do add a novelty value most other cartoons don’t have. Just be careful where you show it!

The Ducksters: This is some weird stuff! So sharp, so satirical, so media-savvy, so insane! It’s about twenty years before Monty Python, and even precedes MAD.

Falling Hare: Bugs is great in a rare outing as put-upon stooge, and it’s even rarer he meets a character wackier than himself. As used in Gremlins 2: the New Batch (home video version only).

Hyde and Hare: There is nothing more perfect than the way Bugs’ piano playing changes from delightful to horrified, without even turning around. Literally nothing!

The Hypo-Chondri-Cat: Psychological manipulation is not what you expect from a cat and mouse cartoon. Hubie and Bertie were always in more intelligent shorts than the norm, and had such great voices and mannerisms too (I still say “Riot!” whenever highly amused), but this cartoon wins because of the surreal fever dream sequence.

I Love To Singa: It’s a parody! It’s a morality tale! It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s toe-tapping! It’s the feelgood owl-based musical of the century! It’s Billy West’s favourite cartoon! It’s absolutely faultless (and only just knocks One Froggy Evening off the list for its quotability: “Stop, stop! Enough is too much!”).

Plane Daffy: Suicide, seduction, poetry and Nazis. This is a cartoon about a zany duck?? (This knocked The Great Piggy Bank Robbery off this list, but only for the novelty of having sex and swastikas all over it.)

Three Little Bops: So unlike anything else, yet a perfect demonstration of how much hipper Warner was than any other cartoon studio..

Zoom and Bored: Hard to pick one Wile E Coyote/Road Runner over the others as they all follow the same basic structure, but this one features a twist ending and the instantly-exploding bomb, which may very well be the best set-up of a visual gag in motion pictures.

01/9/09  8:23am
Paul J. Mular says:

What’s Opera, Doc?
Rabbit of Serville
One Froggy Evening
Duck Dogers in the 24 1/2th Century
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
A Cartoonist’s Nightmare
It’s Hummer Time
Feed the Kitty
The Dover Boys
Baby Bottleneck
Baby Buggy Bunny
Bartholomew Versus The Wheel
Little Red Riding Rabbit
You Ought to Be in Pictures
Porky In Wackyland
Robin Hood Daffy
The Daffy Doc
Rabbit Hood
Rabbit Fire
Duck A Muck
Drip-A-Long Daffy
Stupor Duck
The High Note
Now Hear This
Pigs in a Polka
Wholly Smoke
Book Revue
Billboard Frolics
Birth Of A Notion
Scaredy Cat
Boobs In The Woods
Boston Quackie
The Cat’s Bah
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Russian Rhapsody
Much Ado About Nutting
A Corny Concerto
Tortoise Wins By A Hare
A Tale of Two Kitties
Stage Door Cartoon
Tweety Pie
Daffy Doodles
The Ducksters
The Ducktators
Broom Stick Bunny
Bugs Bunny & The Three Bears
Hare Tonic
Hare Conditioned
The Hypo-Chondri-Cat
Horton Hatches the Egg
I Love to Singa
From A to Z-Z-Z
The Big Snooze
Wabbit Twouble
The Pest That Came to Dinner
Porky Pig’s Feat
A Wild Hare
Cinderella Meets Fella
Porky’s Duck Hunt
Banty Raids
Ali Baba Bunny
Daffy Duck in Hollywood
Bewitched Bunny
Bugs And Thugs
Mutiny on the Bunny
Three Little Bops
Stop! Look! Hasten!
Walky Talky Hawky
The Foghorn Leghorn
Slick Hare
Hare-Way to the Stars
Super-Rabbit
Mississippi Hare
Draftee Daffy
Porky & Daffy
For Scent-imental Reasons
Homeless Hare
The Ducksters
Baton Bunny
The Bashful Buzzard
Bad Ol’ Putty Tat
A Bear for Punishment
A Pest in the House
The Ducksters
Kiss Me Cat
Claws for Alarm
The Stupor Salesman
Porky’s Badtime Story
The Hasty Hare
The Unruly Hare
Beanstock Bunny
Wearing of the Grin
Wet Hare

01/9/09  8:24am
Gary Hoffman says:

Offered without comment (because I was adding the comments online after having cut-and-pasted the pure list, and then my fingers slipped on a banana peel next to some birdseed…)

Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Seasoning
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Rabbit of Seville
Duck Amuck
Hyde & Go Tweet
Tortoise Beats Hare
Robin Hood Daffy
Tweety and the Beanstalk
Birds Anonymous
I Love to Singa
The Coo Coo Nut Grove
Horton Hatches the Egg
Double Chaser
The Hole Idea
One Froggy Evening
The Honey-Mousers
Cheese It, The Cat!
The Mouse That Jack Built
High Note
Now Hear This
Scaredy Cat
A Tale of Two Kitties
Tree For Two
Fool Coverage
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
Dime To Retire
Deduce, You Say
Often an Orphan
Feed the Kitty
Feline Frame-Up
Walky Talky Hawky
A Fractured Leghorn
Leghorn Swoggled
Wabbit Twouble
Baseball Bugs
High Diving Hare
Long-Haired Hare
Operation: Rabbit
Hillbilly Hare
Bully For Bugs
Cheese Chasers
Terrier Stricken
No Barking
You Ought to Be in Pictures
Believe It or Else
Jumpin’ Jupiter
Bugs And Thugs
Lumber Jerks
Don’t Give Up The Sheep

01/9/09  8:35am
Daniele Iaschi says:

On my laugh-o-meter:

1 - Haredevil Hare
2 - Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
3 - Robin Hood Daffy
4 - Hair-Raising Hare
5 - Falling Hare
6 - Slick Hare
7 - Devil May Hare
8 - Rabbit Fire
9 - Fast and Furry-ous
10 - A Pizza Tweety Pie

(I know: the last one is not everyone’s pick. I haven’t seen it in years, but you know, the mere hearing of someone singing “Santa Lucia” still makes me laugh at this day)

01/9/09  8:58am
Iain says:

My list has been slightly updated:

1. Duck Amuck
2. One Froggy Evening
3. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
4. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
5. Robin Hood Daffy
6. What’s Opera, Doc?
7. Draftee Daffy
8. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century!
9. Falling Hare
10. The Scarlet Pumpernickle

I’ve actually made a YouTube playlist of them (Duck Dodgers and Falling Hare had been pulled):
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=BFFD52531FADFC69

01/9/09  9:33am
Kris says:

A couple of my favorites:

Fast and Furryous
Tortoise Beats Hare
From A to Z-Z-Z-Z

and everyone knows without saying, but:

One Froggy Evening
What’s Opera Doc?
Duck Amuck
Duck Dodgers in the 24th and 1/2 Century
Feed the Kitty

As long as all of these make the team I’m happy.

01/9/09  10:26am
Jim says:

I only have a Top 1 list: Feed the Kitty is the alpha and omega of Warner Bros. cartoons.

01/9/09  10:46am

** A Bear for Punishment **
The Rabbit of Seville
The Dover Boys
Rabbit Fire
Long Haired Hare
One Froggy Evening
A Wild Hare
Yankee Doodle Daffy
Easter yeggs
Mississippi hare

01/9/09  11:49am
David L. Crooks, Jr. says:

This is hard…It was hard to pick just 50, and it’s hard to put them in any kind of order! I think it changes with my mood…
Here’s the order of the moment:
1. Three Little Bops
2. Russian Rhapsody
3. Scaredy Cat
4. Claws for Alarm
5. Terrier Stricken
6. Baby Bottleneck
7. Chow Hound
8. The Case of the Stuttering Pig
9. Bully for Bugs
10. Hillbilly Hare
11. Mouse Wreckers
12. Much Ado About Nutting
13. It’s Hummer Time
14. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
15. Porky in Wackyland
16. The Big Snooze
17. Book Revue
18. Daffy Doodles
19. High Note
20. Jumpin’ Jupiter
21. Robin Hood Daffy
22. Operation: Rabbit
23. Rabbit of Seville
24. Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2th Century
25. Duck Amuck
26. Daffy the Commando
27. The Dover Boys
28. Early to Bet
29. The Wearing of the Grin
30. Injun Trouble (1938)
31. Coal Black and de Debben Dwarfs
32. Cinderella Meets Fella
33. Dough for the Do-Do
34. House Hunting Mice
35. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
36. Tortoise Wins by a Hare
37. I Love to Singa
38. The Hypo-Chondri-Cat
39. Little Orphan Airedale
40. Dangerous Dan McFoo
41. Don’t Give Up the Sheep
42. Hyde and Go Tweet
43. Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
44. Rabbit Seasoning
45. The Aristo-Cat
46. Horton Hatches the Egg
47. Ali Baba Bunny
48. The Coo-Coo Nut Grove
49. One Froggy Evening
50. What’s Opera, Doc?

01/9/09  12:37pm
Peter Neski says:

1-Thugs With Dirty Mugs
2-Coal Black & De Sebben Dwarfs
3-Polar Pal’s
4-The Blow Up
5-Rover’s Rival
6-Porkys’ Tire Trouble
7-The Hardship of Miles Standish
8-Baby Bottleneck
9-Fresh Airedale
10-Prehistoric Porky
11-The Fighting 691/2th
12-Goofy Groceries
13-We the Animals Squeak
14-Brother Brat
15-Lights Fantastic
16-Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
17-Miss Glory
18-Porky’s Poultry Plant
19-The Hep Cat
20-Little Red Riding Rabbit
21-Porky’s Romance
22-Tortoise Wins By A Hare
23-I Love To Singa
24-Pigs In A Polka
25-Wabbit Twouble
26-Baseball Bugs
27-Coo Coo Nut Grove
28-Pigs Is Pigs
29-Porky the fireman
30-Porky’s Building
31-Porky’s Spring Planting
32-Super Rabbit
33-Rhapsody in Rivets
34-The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
35- Brother Brat
36-Porky Pig’s Duck Hunt
37-Porky In Wackyland
38-A Tale of Two Kitties
39-Hollywood Steps Out
40-Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
41-One Froggy Evening
42-The Penguin Parade(
43-Horton Hatched The Egg
44-Porky’s Party
45-A Hare Grows in Manhattan
46-Naughty Neighbours
47-The Dover Boys
48-Buccaneer Bunny
49-The Daffy Doc
50-Wagon Heels

Gee I am Sure I forgot some

01/9/09  1:49pm
Chris DeWitt says:

1. Rabbit Of Seville
2. One Froggy Evening
3. What’s Opera, Doc?
4. Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
5. Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
6. Tweet Tweet Tweety
7. The Foghorn Leghorn
8. The Dover Boys…
9. 8 Ball Bunny
10. Rocket-Bye Baby
11. Sock A Doodle Do
12. Stupor Duck
13. Tokio Jokio
14. Two Gophers From Texas
15. Rhapsody Rabbit
16. Run Run Sweet Road Runner
17. Sahara Hare
18. Yankee Doodle Bugs
19. Yankee Doodle Daffy
20. You Ought To Be In Pictures

01/9/09  2:50pm
Windy Lawley says:

1. Whats Opera Doc
2. Odor-Able Kitty
3. The Abominable Snow-Rabbit
4. You Ought to be in pictures
5. Wideo Wabit
6. Transylvania 6-5000
7. Slap Happy Pappy
8. A Sheep In the Deep
9. Rhapsody In Rivets
10. Rabbit Stew And Rabbits Too!

01/9/09  2:55pm
Joey Waggoner says:

1. Hair-Raising Hare
2. Rabbit Fire
3. Duck Amuck
4. You Ought To Be in Pictures
5. The Big Snooze
6. Falling Hair
7. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
8. Fast and Furry-ous
9. S.S. Tweety
10. For Scent-imental Reasons

01/9/09  4:19pm
gdX says:

Mostly 40s, lotsa Clampett:

1 Coal Black & De Sebben Dwarfs
2 Baby Bottleneck
3 Plane Daffy
4 Haredevil Hare
5 Nasty Quacks
6 The Daffy Doc
7 Wagon Heels
8 Easter Yeggs
9 The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
10 Crowing Pains
11 Duck Amuck
12 Kitty Kornered
13 Porky Pig’s Feat
14 Swooner Crooner
15 Hair-Raising Hare
16 Two Gophers From Texas
17 Pigs In A Polka
18 Doggone Cats
19 Rabbit of Seville
20 Duck Dogers in the 24 1/2th Century
21 Bugs Bunny Rides Again
22 The Scarlet Pumpernickel
23 The Big Snooze
24 Porky in Wackyland
25 A Pest in the House
26 Gruesome Twosome
27 An Itch In Time
28 I Taw a Putty Tat
29 Fair and Worm-er
30 Russian Rhapsody
31 Feed the Kitty
32 One Froggy Evening
33 Scrap Happy Daffy
34 Gee Whiz-z-z-z
35 You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’
36 Robin Hood Daffy
37 A Corny Concerto
38 Hillbilly Hare
39 Racketeer Rabbit
40 Back Alley Oproar
41 The Dover Boys
42 Baseball Bugs
43 Cheese Chasers
44 Tweety Pie
45 Ready, Set, Zoom!
46 Hamateur Night
47 Drip-Along Daffy
48 Hop, Look and Listen
49 Buccaneer Bunny
50 Scaredy Cat

01/9/09  4:32pm
Eric B says:

I hope it’s not too late. Not in order, but here’s a hundred, grouped in different categories (the categories themselves are in order of best areas of ideas).
Hundred didn’t cover as much as I thought. so much had to be cut out!

INGENIUS

Rabbit Fire (Jones
Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (Jones
Rabbit Seasoning (Jones
Bugs Bonnets (Jones
Fair and Worm-er (Jones

POPULAR REFERENCES (spoofs, etc)

Thugs with Dirty Mugs (Avery
Nutty News (Clampett
Horton Hatches the Egg (Clampett
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (Clampett
A Corny Concerto (Clampett
Little Red Riding Rabbit (Freleng
What’s Cookin’ Doc? (Clampett
The Swooner Crooner (Tashlin
Super Rabbit (Jones
Book Revue (Clampett
Hollywood Canine Canteen (McKimson
Hollywood Daffy
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Clampett
Slick Hare (Freleng
The Windblown Hare (McKimson
The Scarlet Pumpernickel (Jones
What’s Up Doc? (McKimson
Rabbit of Seville (Jones
The Turn-Tale Wolf (McKimson
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (Jones
This is a Life? (Freleng
Red Riding Hood winked (Freleng
Three Little Bops (Freleng
What’s Opera, Doc? (Jones
Birds Anonymous (Freleng
The Last Hungry Cat (Freleng
Goldimouse and the Three Cats (Freleng
Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (Ford and Lennon

HISTORY

Hare We Go (McKimson
Yankee Doodle Bugs (Freleng
Napoleon Bunny-Part (Freleng
Rebel Without Claws (Freleng
Old Glory (Jones

FUNNY

I Love to Singa (Avery
Daffy Duck and Egghead (Avery
The Henpecked Duck (Clampett
Daffy’s Southern Exposure (McCabe
The Wacky Wabbit (Clampett
The Squawkin’ Hawk (Jones
The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (Freleng
Tortoise Wins by a Hare (Clampett
The Wise Quacking Duck (Clampett
An Itch in Time (Clampett
Tick Tock Tuckered (Clampett
Kitty Kornered (Clampett)
Hare Ribbin’ (Clampett
Brother Brat (Tashlin
The Stupid Cupid (Tashlin
Draftee Daffy (Clampett
The Unruly Hare (Tashlin
Life With Feathers (Freleng
Ain’t That Ducky (Freleng
Wagon Heels (Clampett
Hare Tonic (Jones
The Bashful Buzzard (Clampett
Nasty Quacks (Tashlin
Baby Bottleneck (Clampett
Hare Remover (Tashlin
Walky Talky Hawky (McKimson
The Mouse-Merized Cat (McKimson
One Meat Brawl (McKimson
The Birth Of A Notion (McKimson
Rabbit Transit (Freleng
Easter Yeggs (McKimson
Nothing But the Tooth (Davis
What Makes Daffy Duck? (Davis
Hot Cross Bunny (McKimson
Hippety Hopper (McKimson
8 Ball Bunny (Jones
Cheese Chasers (Jones
Operation: Rabbit (Jones
Gift Wrapped (Freleng
Rabbit Rampage (Jones
Don’t Axe Me (McKimson
Birds of a Father (McKimson
The Abominable Snow Rabbit (Jones
Hoppy Go Lucky (McKimson
Wet Hare (McKimson
Roadrunner A Go Go (Jones

CLASSIC

A [The] Wild Hare (Avery
Of Fox and Hounds (Avery
Porky’s Pooch (Clampett
Porky Pig’s Feat (Tashlin
Falling Hare (Clampett
Buckaroo Bugs (Clampett
The Old Grey Hare (Clampett
Stage Door Cartoon (Freleng
Baseball Bugs (Freleng
Hair-Raising Hare (Jones
The Big Snooze (Clampett
A Hare Grows In Manhattan (Freleng
Hare Do (Freleng
Hare Brush (Freleng
Hyde and Hare (Freleng
Foxy By Proxy (Freleng

01/9/09  11:22pm

If there’s still time (and I hope there is, because here is where the list really gets interesting, I think) I’d like to post the latter 25 of my list. Here’s hoping Jerry has some use for it:

26. DAFFY DUCK SLEPT HERE (1948, McKimson):

Another of the “screwball/annoying pest” Daffys among my favorites, this appeals more than

anything to my love for non-sequitur humor, particularly its riff on “Harvey” (Daffy’s

friend is a six-foot invisible kangaroo named “Hymie”) and its out-of-nowhere conclusion. A

ruse by Daffy (Porky’s made to think it’s morning and he needs to catch his train, despite

being about ten stories up) gets turned on its head when Daffy spies Porky waving,

inexplicably, from the window of a train that happens to be passing by! Daffy, unfazed by

this sudden insanity, simply remarks, “That’s just plain silly! I should have bought some

magazines for him to read on the trip!!” Sometimes it’s just best not to question “toon

logic.”
27. A PEST IN THE HOUSE (1947, Jones):

Anyone seeing this cartoon is bound to get a certain sense of impending dread whenever they

hear “Pop Goes The Weasel.” Elmer Fudd certainly did, as a hotel manager charged to make

sure a certain testy customer gets his rest, a task Daffy innocently sabotages. “Innocently”

is the operative word here: for once, Daffy isn’t being a pest on purpose–he is what he is,

and can’t understand why everyone else is so upset with him. Therefore, he can do no wrong,

while poor Elmer gets the sock in the nose to the tune of the aforementioned melody. In

reviewing this cartoon for my podcast, it struck me just how well-timed it is–the irate

customer just sleepily plods downstairs every time he’s disturbed, never breaking

rhythm–one, two, three, then POW! as he flattens poor Elmer with another punch. An oddly

overlooked Jones cartoon, an experiment in pacing that puts me in hysterics.

28. MOUSE WRECKERS (1948, Jones):

Chuck Jones was always at his best when he probed the psychological states of his

characters, which would serve him well in the Road Runners later on. But he uses it to much

greater effect here, as mice Hubie and Bertie (two characters who definitely deserved more

cartoons) slowly drive a cat insane with such gimmicks as an “upside down” room. The

penultimate shot, with the cat’s huge frightened eyes peering out of a tree, is priceless,

as is his sudden burst of nervous laughter when trying to convince himself it’s all a

dream.Here again, Jones’ timing strengthens the gag, as we hear the cat laugh once…then a

pause…then another tiny nervous giggle.

29. ROUGHLY SQUEAKING (1946, Jones)

Very nearly on a par with MOUSE WRECKERS, funny not for what happens to the main characters

(a cat whom the mice convince is a lion, and a dog whom they convince is a gazelle, then a

pelican) but the reaction of a unnamed bird bystander. The frozen, slightly cross-eyed stare

of the bird as he sees the latest bit of craziness put this cartoon on the list more than

anything else.

30. BUGS BUNNY RIDES AGAIN (1948, Freleng):

I had debated putting HARE TRIGGER somewhere on this list, but this cartoon (the second

Yosemite Sam) is far funnier. It sends up the creakiest of Western cliches, including a

scene in which Sam commands Bugs to “dance”–which he does, vaudeville-style, and so well he

cons Sam into the “act.” And down the nearest mine shaft. Incidentally, the sight of Sam’s

tiny feet tapping furiously always made me laugh out loud.

31. NASTY QUACKS (1946, Tashlin)

Yet another from the “obnoxious pest” period of my favorite duck, but notable for Tashlin’s

trademark cinematic touches, as when the irate father of the little girl who owns Daffy

finally kicks him out of the house: the camera, in one long continuous shot, follows Daffy

out the front door and up in air, following him as he buries his bill in a telephone pole.

To this day I don’t know how Tashlin pulled off that shot.

32. LITTLE RED RIDING RABBIT (1944, Freleng):

How could I NOT include this? I’m not a fan of Freleng generally, but his fairy-tale

parodies rank with the best of Clampett and Avery. This ain’t the Red Riding Hood you’re

used to, folks–she doesn’t even have the saving grace of being gorgeous, like Avery’s Red.

A skinny, bobby-soxed teen with the voice of an out of tune air-raid siren, she’s nothing

but a pest to not only Bugs, but the wolf who’s supposed to eat her. So much so, Bugs and

the wolf eventually team up to shut her up, contetedly sharing a carrot as they watch her

slow torture. Believe me, if you see this, you’ll think they were too easy on her.

33. (tie) A HARE GROWS IN MANHATTAN (1947, Freleng) and WHAT’S UP, DOC? (1950, McKimson)

I rather like the cartoons that give Bugs a “real” history, as if he were just another

Warner’s contract player (and I very nearly put THE BIG SNOOZE here for that reason) but

this ultimately came out better. WHAT’S UP DOC not only explains Elmer’s later animosity

toward Bugs (he upstaged Elmer in their vaudeville act) but uses repetition to good effect,

as Bugs performs the same tired routine as an anonymous member of the chorus again and

again–and again, only to do the same in what was supposed to be HIS showcase number at the

end. The annoyed expression he has on his face at the end is a nice touch. Best line: “Then

it hit me–I was a rabbit in a human woild…”HARE GROWS IN MANHATTAN, meanwhile, puts Bugs

in his true home–not a hole in the ground, but the streets of New York (as does BOWERY

BUGS, which I’ll discuss shortly). I always felt the only hole Bugs belonged in had a subway

running through it.

35. RABBIT OF SEVILLE (1950, Jones):

Friz Freleng may have been known for his ability to blend animation to music, but Chuck

showed he was equally up to the challenge here, as he has Bugs give Elmer the “treatment” of

his life, without missing one beat of the accomanying Rossini piece. The action accelerates

as we reach the climax, with an ever-growing series of weapons (also right on-beat) until in

an odd ending, Bugs actually proposes to and marries the stunned hunter (an ending that in a

way, prefigures SOME LIKE IT HOT by a decade). After seeing this cartoon, you likely won’t

be able to hear “The Barber of Seville” without also hearing “welcome to my shop/let me cut

your mop/let me shave your crop…”, thanks to Chuck.

36. HAREDEVIL HARE (1948, Jones)

The cartoon that introduces us to Marvin Martian, even if Mel didn’t quite get the voice

right yet. I included it here for one gag and one alone: Bugs, trying desperately to contact

Earth, instead gets a radio jingle (”….looks delicious on your vest/Serve them to unwanted

guests/Stuff the mattress with the rest!”)

37. PORKY PIG’S FEAT (1943, Tashlin)

Yet another cartoon it took me many decades to appreciate, as my first exposure to it was as

a teenager, viewing the dreadful hand-colored version. This begs to be seen in its original

black and white, as to alter one frame would destroy Tashlin’s cinematic camera angles and

gags (particularly when we see, reflected in Porky and Daffy’s pupils, the hotel manager

bounce down the stairs for the umpteenth time–the shot’s nearly destroyed in the

retracing). Yet another of Tashin’s trademark long pans here, as Porky and Daffy flee the

hotel on a rope of knotted sheets with a “GERONIMO!” They don’t merely swing past the

camera, but toward it in an arc, then away from it, then toward the window of an adjoining

building–where the manager awaits. Neither too short a scene, nor too long, and visually

mesmerising.

38. RUSSIAN RHAPSODY (1944, Clampett):

Only Clampett could make a cartoon this funny with Adolf Hitler as the “star.” Of course, he

had some help from a few dozen assorted “Gremlins from the Kremliin”, bent on wrecking Der

Fuehrer’s plane. The best routine in this overlooked wartime classic is the scene in which

the gremlins give the dictator the shock of his life–literally, causing him to assume the

shape of a neon swastika and a jackass in an impressive bit of animation. Sort of a

screwball version of the “pink elephants on parade” sequence in Disney’s DUMBO, one might

say.

39. UNCLE TOM’S BUNGALOW (1937, Avery)

I first saw this courtesy of a grainy, black-and-white copy on YouTube (before it was

unceremoniously yanked down by Warner’s lawyers) but even in that imperfect form, you could

see the beginnings of Avery’s genius. Some of the gags prefigure cartoons like RED HOT

RIDING HOOD (the “cast” directly addressing the camera, the two-mile long car Uncle Tom

drives in the end). But who, upon seeing this, can forget the immortal line, “My body may

belong to you, but my soul belongs to Warner Bros.!” Personally, I got a few chuckles out of

Little Eva being portrayed as a chatty six-year-old, done perfectly by Sara Berner (”I’m six

years old, an’ I got a dolly, an’ a teddy bear, an’ I got lace on my panties, see?”)

40. PORKY’S DUCK HUNT (1937, Avery)

Here mainly because it’s a groundbreaking cartoon (the introduction of Daffy Duck to the

ususpecting world). My favorite scene is not what you might expect (the scenes of Daffy

“hoo-hooing” across the lake, and in the end credits) but an unexpected gag in which fish,

rendered tipsy by spilled liquor, climb into a boat and give us a drunken version of

“Moonlight Bay” in four-part harmony. If ever there was a watershed moment, the precise

period in which Looney Tunes got looney, this is it. For the first time, we could see what

the combination of Mel Blanc’s vocal talent, Carl Stalling’s music and Avery’s humor could

bring us–and it changed cartoons forever.

41. DAFFY DUCK AND EGGHEAD (1938, Avery)

Pretty much follows the same formula as the previous cartoon on the list, but with a much

better closing gag: Egghead actually catches Daffy, only to be interrupted by a duck version

of the men in white coats, who thank him for capturing the crazy duck: “He’s wing-dingy,

looney-tuney, and oofty-ma-goofty!” (A more appropriate term for that lunatic of a duck I

can’t imagine). Of course, they all prove to be as crazy as Daffy, driving poor Egghead

crazy with them.

42. FAIR AND WORM-ER (1946, Jones)

This doesn’t get anywhere near the attention it should, and that’s a shame, since like the

Road Runner cartoons a few years later, this plays with the standard formula of the chase

cartoon (already a cliche by then). We don’t merely have one animal chasing another, but a

bird after a worm, a cat after the bird, a dog after the cat, the dogcatcher after the dog,

the dogcatcher’s wife after the dogcatcher, and a mouse after her (got that?) As if that

weren’t enough, the whole hierarchy gets disrupted by the arrival of a proto-Pepe Le Pew.

You’ll go dizzy following this, but it’s well worth it.

43. THE DOVER BOYS (1942, Jones)

Even if you don’t know the source material it parodies (I certainly didn’t when I first saw

it) you’ll find this funny, for the stiff poses the characters assume in imitation of

Victorian photographs. Much has been written about how much this style departed from the

usual animated fare of the time, so I won’t comment on that here. But little touches like

Dora, the Dover Boys’ “fiance”, moving as if her feet were on little wheels is what endeared

me to this cartoon.

44. I LOVE TO SINGA (1936, Avery)

Very atypical of Avery for the most part, more charming than raucous or sarcastic (though

there are a few signature Averyisms here and there). I admit I have a soft spot for little

“Owl Jolson”, the cute little owl who knows how to croon a tune. A parody of the “Jazz

Singer” (and far more watchable) the best element, aside from the little owl’s singing, is

the uncredited voice work of Billy Bletcher as the music snob Papa Owl (”You jazz

singer…you hotcha…you crooner…you..you…!” he blusters). Avery’s timing does get

bogged down because of the generally slow pace of thirties cartoons, the only reason this

didn’t rank higher. When the little owl switches back and forth between the signature song

and “Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes”, Avery would have done it far faster and funnier six

or seven years later. As with UNCLE TOM’S BUNGALOW, though, you could tell just where

Avery–and cartoons in general–would be heading in the next few years.

45. BOWERY BUGS (1949, Davis):

Bugs in his element, relating the story of Steve Brody and what really drove the guy to jump

off the Brooklyn Bridge. (Three guesses–the first two don’t count). It’s really the best of

both worlds, as it has Bugs in an urban setting, like Freleng’s or McKimson’s cartoons, yet

has his residence in the “forest primeval” as Jones would have it (in this case, the wilds

of Flatbush). One series of lines from this cartoon seems to have gained a certain

popularity on the Internet when an unpopular listmember shows up: “At it again, eh?” I’ll

have to call the bouncer–HEY, GORILLA!”

46. THE MOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (1959, McKimson)

A cartoon that sadly is lost on the current generation, having little knowledge of radio and

early television, where Jack Benny and his fellow former vaudevillians ruled the airwaves.

The best and most memorable of the McKimson TV parodies, as he used the voices of the actual

cast. The end gag, in which a live action Benny awakens from his “dream” to see his cartoon

counterpart scamper into a mousehole–is the perfect ending, as we see the signature Benny

“look.” (Something McKimson was able to replicate pretty well in the cartoon Benny, by the

way).

47. THE CASE OF THE MISSING HARE (1942, Jones)

You know, I watched this for years, over and over, and never noticed how the backgrounds

would change without warning, going from one solid area of color to another (such as in the

scene in which the magician “Ala Bahma” hammers boards over his magic hat, trying to trap

Bugs inside. The color changes with every hit). It only goes to show what a proper

restoration can do, as I never noticed this stylistic quirk until a restored version of the

cartoon appeared on one of the Golden Collections.

48. WALKY TALKY HAWKY (1946, McKimson)

Foghorn Leghorn, in typical fashion for him, burst on the scene in this cartoon, and nearly

fully formed as the loudmouthed rooster we know (though it took Mel a bit to refine the

voice). So overbearing (yet lovable in a strange way) was he that he stole the show from the

cartoon’s supposed star, Henery Hawk.

49. FEED THE KITTY (1953, Jones)

Volumes have been written about this already, so I have little to add, except to say this is

one of the few Jones cartoons to portray a dog in a sympathetic light, if not the only one

(they’re usually con artists, like the “hero” of FRESH AIREDALE, or Charlie Dog). You really

start to feel for the poor bulldog as he watches what he thinks is his friend the kitten

being made into cookies. The scene in which he carries a kitten-shaped cookie on his back,

just like his friend, may well have you crying and laughing at the same time. Jones could be

a bit too self-consciously “artistic” with his expressions and poses, but here it truly

gives dimension to the characters.

50. BUDDY THE GEE MAN (1935, King)

Buddy? Here? Okay, before you gag, hear me out: while not uproariously funny, this does for

Buddy what BOSKO IN PERSON did for Bosko–it gave him a little bit of personality, as a

government employee investigating a notorious prison. Ultimately, though, this isn’t Buddy’s

cartoon: the highlight is the convicts’ rendition of “Lulu’s Back In Town” (which the warden

gruffly interrupts–the meanie!) The end gag is pretty good for the time, as new warden

Buddy transforms the hellhole of a prison into a Club Med behind bars. It’s so wonderful a

tough convict even tears up his parole to stay there. For once I could watch a Buddy cartoon

without feeling *I* was being sentenced.

01/10/09  11:07am
Darren Gauthier says:

No surprises here:

Wabbit Twouble
Duck Amuck
What’s Opera Doc
One Froggy Evening
High Diving Hare
Three Little Bops
Long Haired Hare
Birds Anonymous
The Mouse That Jack Built
Rabbit of Seville
Horton Hatches The Egg
Robin Hood Daffy
Rabbit Seasoning
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Old Glory
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
What’s Up Doc
Easter Yeggs
Racketeer Rabbit
The Ducksters
The Foghorn Leghorn
Porky in Wackyland
8 Ball Bunny
Porky’s Preview
Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips (yes, it’s un-PC but its not un-funny)

01/11/09  5:07am
T. Nandi says:

I don’t want to list the obvious choices, instead some cartoons I would like to see in the top100, because they are quite undeappreciated.

Chuck Jones:
Mississippi Hare
Claws for Alarm
The Bee-deviled Bruin
Chow Hound
A Pest in the House

Bob Clampett:
The Henpecked Duck
Porky’s Party

Bob McKimson:
Boobs in the Woods
A Fractured Leghorn
It’s Hummer Time
Dog Collared

Frank Tashlin:
Porky’s Romance
Plane Daffy

Friz Freleng:
His Bitter Half
Cracked Quack
Golden Yeggs
Hyde and Go Tweet

01/12/09  8:31am
Chris Sobieniak says:

Shame to be a tad late with my list here, but I blame the weather for having put it past my mind Here’s mine just in case…

1. What’s Opera Doc
2. Duck Amuck
3. Rabbit Fire
4. Fast and Furry-ous
5. Duck Dodgers of the 24th 1/2 Century
6. Rabbit Fire
7. Feed The Kitty
8. One Froggy Evening
9. Show Biz Bugs
10. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
11. Coal Black and de Sebben Drawfs
12. The Wild Hare
13. For Scent-imental Reasons
14. The Rabbit of Seville
15. The Dover Boys
16. Ali Baba Bunny
17. This is a Life?
18. The Mouse That Jack Built
19. Sinkin’ in the Bathtub
20. Porky’s Duck Hunt
21. Now Hear This
22. From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
23. Norman Normal
24. Nelly’s Folly
25. Bartholomew Versus The Wheel

01/19/09  4:17am
jose says:

Buckaroo Bugs
hare trigger
bugs bunny rides again

01/24/09  12:17am
Nick Reymann says:

I wish I’d known about this sooner, but what the heck.

1. Duck Amuck
2. Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2th Century
3. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
4. One Froggy Evening
5. Feed The Kitty
6. What’s Opera, Doc?
7. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
8. Rabbit Of Seville
9. Ali Baba Bunny
10. The Dover Boys

02/2/09  11:33am
Nelson G. Sosa says:

I’m looking for a particular cartoon and can’t find it. The plot is a dog is served a can of dog food and he start eating thingking there is meat in it, he does not taste the meat and reads all ingridients on the can at the botton is said No meat! he starts illusinating about meat, a tennis raquet then a meat truck passes by and it drops a whole steak and he thinks is another mirage, start laughing and this little dog comes along and get the steak, another dog this one is a much bigger one and all three start taking it from each other there is a brawl at the end big cloud of dust when clear the smaller dog has eating the steak and it has a big belly and burps. the other two dogs hit themselfes with mallot and start dreaming about steaks.
Need help what is the name of the cartoon?
Thanks….Nelson

02/2/09  12:08pm

Nelson - The cartoon you are looking for is called BEHIND THE MEAT BALL (1945), directed by Frank Tashlin.

03/23/09  11:39pm
DaVon M. Walker says:

1. Injun Trouble (w/Cool Cat)
2. Dough For The Do-Do
3. Who’s Who In The Zoo
4. A Day At The Zoo
5. The Dover Boys
6. Johnny Smith And Poker-Huntas
7.Porky Pig’s Feat
8 .Daffy Duck And Egghead
9. Bugged By A Bee
10. Elmer’s Candid Camera

03/24/09  9:04pm
DaVon M. Walker says:

Sorry, for the first one I should’ve typed “Injun Trouble (1969)”. I didn’t check the eligible Warner Bros. shorts list, because I thought it might have been just a list of those that made the final cut already. Didn’t think it would matter how I specified which Injun Trouble exactly. But any way, that one is definitely among my wish list to make the list in the book.

04/16/09  12:16am
DaVon M. Walker says:

Okay, this time it will officially be my last posting/commenting on here. I have 40 other WB animated shorts that I’d like to add and that are considered my favorites. I’d just like to go ahead and name my top 50 anyway. Keep in mind that though I may have many favorites, there are some I like more than others. So making a longer list was somewhat hard for me. Here goes:

1. Injun Trouble (1969)
2. Dough For The Do-Do
3. Who’s Who In The Zoo
4. A Day At The Zoo
5. The Dover Boys
6. Johnny Smith’s And Poker-Huntas
7. Porky Pig’s Feat
8. Daffy Duck And Egghead
9. Bugged By A Bee
10. Elmer’s Candid Camera
11. Norman Normal
12. Duck Amuck
13. Sport Chumpions
14. Boobs In The Woods
15. Hare Tonic
16. Wagon Heels
17. The Lion’s Busy
18. Super Rabbit
19. A Feather In His Hare
20. The Scarlet Pumpernickel
21. One Froggy Evening
22. Sioux Me
23. Now Hear This
24. Nothing But The Tooth
25. Rabbit’s Kin
26. Falling Hare
27. The Ducktators
28. The Old Grey Hare
29. Sweet Sioux
30. One Step Ahead Of My Shadow
31. Three Little Bops
32. A Great Big Bunch Of You
33. Wakkiki Wabbit
34. The Mouse That Jack Built
35. You Ought To Be In Pictures
36. Wake Up The Gypsy In Me
37. The Weakly Reporter
38. Scaredy Cat
39. Feed The Kitty
40. Transylvania 6-5000
41. A Tale Of Two Kitties
42. Notes To You
43. Inki And The Lion
44. Horton Hatches The Egg
45. A-Lad In Bagdad
46. From A To Z-Z-Z-Z
47. The Timid Toreador
48. Lumber Jerks
49. Tom Turk And Daffy
50. Senorella And The Glass Huarache

08/27/09  8:44am

ONLY 100? Okay…

First, include every cartoon nominated or winner of an Academy Award.

Coal Black.

Give special consideration to the non-classic characters. The one-shot cartoons like Nelly’s Folly, or The Dover Boys, or Chow Hound, or High Note. Ralph Philips, The Three Bears, Bert and Herbie, Ralph and Sam…

So, I saw the book at Book Expo in May… but no data online. When’s it slated to be published?

09/4/09  6:47pm
Ian Neumann says:

Here’s my favorite Looney Tunes Cartoons:

Fast & Furry-Ous
Operation: RABBIT
Beep, Beep
Going! Going! Gosh!
Zipping Along
Stop! Look! And Hasten!
Ready– Set– ZOOM!
Guided Muscle
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z
There They GO-GO-GO!
To Hare Is Human
Scrambled Aches
Zoom & Bored
Whoa, Be-Gone!
Hook, Line And Stinker
Hip- Hip- HURRY!
Hot-Rod & Reel
Wild About Hurry
Fastest With The Mostest
Rabbit’s Feat
Hopalong Casualty
Zip ‘N’ Snort
Lickety- SPLAT!
COMpressed Hare
Beep Prepared
Zoom At The Top
Hare-Breadth Hurry
To Beep Or Not To Beep
War & Pieces
Freeze Frame
Soup or Sonic
Chariots of Fur
Little Go Beep
Whizzard of OW!
Don’t Give Up The Sheep
Sheep Ahoy
Double or Mutton
Steel Wool
Ready, Woolen and Able
A Sheep In The Deep
Woolen Under Where
Bird Anonymous
Trick or Tweet
Tugboat Granny
The Rebel Without Claws
Hyde & Go Tweet
Trip For Tat
Hawaiian Aye Aye
Cat-Tails For Two
Speedy Gonzales
Tabasco Road
Gonzales’ Tamales
Tortilla Flaps
Mexicali Schmoes
Here Today, Gone Tamale
West of the Pesos
Cannery Woe
The Pied Piper of Guadalupe
Mexican Boarders
Mexican Cat Dance
Chili Weather
A Message To Gracias
Nuts & Volts
Scaredy Cat
Claws for Alarm
Jumpin’ Jupiter
Duck Amuck
Rocket Squad
Robin Hood Daffy
Deduce, You Say
Duck Dodgers
Drip Along Daffy
The Dixie Fryer
Fox-Terror
The High & The Flighty
Mother Was A Rooster
Pullet Surprise
Crowing Pains
Really Scent
Scent-Immental Over You
Touche and Go
Devil May Hare
Bedeviled Rabbit
Ducking the Devil
Bill of Hare
Dr. Devil & Mr. Hare
From Hare To Heir
Knighty-Knight Bugs
Shishkabugs
Wild and Wooly Hare
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Hare Trigger
From Hare To Eternity
Piker’s Peak
Lighter Than Hare
Honey’s Money
Wideo Wabbit
Person to Bunny
Rabbit Romeo
Rabbit Rampage
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Seasoning
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Show Biz Bugs
Dog-Gone People
What’s My Lion?
Ali Baba Bunny
People Are Bunny
A Star Is Bored
Stupor Duck
Superior Duck
Hyde and Hare
Mad As A Mars Hare
Hare-Way To The Stars
The Hasty Hare
Haredevil Hare
This is a Life?
Rackateer Rabbit
Golden Yeggs
Catty Cornered
Bugs and Thugs
Bugsy and Mugsy
Dumb Patrol (1960’s Sam & Bugs)
French Rarebit
Hyde & Hare
Transylvania 6-5000
Hare-Raising Hare
Water, Water, Every Hare
The Abominable Snow-Rabbit
Carrotblanca
Box-Office Bunny
The Unmentionables
Bunny & Claude: We Rob Carrot Patches
The Great Carrot-Train Robbery
The Slop-Hoppy Mouse
The Unexpected Pest
Mouse-Taken Identity
Goldimouse and the 3 Cats
Mouse and Garden
Bonanza Bunny
Knight-Mare Hare
Roman-Legion Hare
Baby Buggy Bunny
Rushing Roulette
Highway Runnery
Tired and Feathered
Just Plane Beep
Boulder- WHAM!
Shot and Bothered
Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner
Harried and Hurried
Chaser on the Rocks
Out and Out Rout
Clippety Clobbered
The Solid Tin Coyote
Road Runner A-Go Go
Zip- Zip- Hooray!
Adventures of Road Runner
Daffy’s Diner
Go Go Amigo
Two Crows From Tacos
Crow’s Feat
Apes of Wrath
Backwoods Bunny
Hare-Less Wolf
A Pizza Tweety Pie
Bugs’ Bonnets
Broom-Stick Bunny
Raw! Raw! Rooster!
Beanstalk Bunny
Sahara Hare
Dime To Retire
Daffy’s Inn Trouble
One Froggy Evening
My Little Duckaroo
Southern Fried Rabbit
Bully For Bugs
Bunny Hugged
The Wearing of the Grin
Big Top Bunny
Baton Bunny
Big House Bunny
8 Ball Bunny
Frigid Hare
Bunker Hill Bunny
Rabbit of Seville
Mississippi Hare
High Diving Hare
The Windblown Hare
Dough for the Do-Do
Rabbit Punch
A Hare Grows In Manhattan
What’s Up Doc?
Along Came Daffy
Easter Yeggs
Kitty Kornered
Arcobatty Bunny
The Big Snooze
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery

10/18/09  5:43pm
J.F says:

1. Duck Amuck
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Book Revue
4. The Big Snooze
5. What’s Opera, Doc?
6. Birds Anonymous
7. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
8. Rabbit of Seville
9. Hair-Raising Hare
10. Tweetie Pie
11. Knighty Knight Bugs
12. Scaredy Cat
13. A Tale of Two Kitties
14. Bully for Bugs
15. Fast and Furry-ous
16. You Ought to Be in Pictures
17. Herr Meets Hare
18. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarf
19. Speedy Gonzales
20. For Scent-imental Reasons
21. Little Red Riding Rabbit
22. Falling Hare
23. Feed the Kitty
24. Rhapsody Rabbit
25. Pigs In A Polka

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