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A few more words about Chuck
Feb. 24th, 2002 11:00 amI was thinking that kids today won't know or remember Chuck Jones, but then again, I probably wouldn't have known him either except that I grew up to be such a geek and wanted to know about the creators of the stuff I enjoy. I was thinking - how do I explain why Chuck was important to me, and important to pushing the boundaries of animation in general?
Chuck Jones' greatest technical contribution, in my humble estimation, was the introduction of comic timing in animation. Where other animators and directors were content to do the slapstick almost by the numbers, Jones introduced the double take, the sly grin, the raised eyebrow, the sidelong glance to the audience, the after the fact retort, the downbeat remark after the punchline, the frozen moment, the resigned shrug, the "are you kidding me?" expression, into his work.
He was not afraid to pause the action just to get a wry comment in on the ludicrousness of the situations he and Michael Maltese created, ably assisted in musical cues by Carl Stalling, and this partnership added a layer of jet-age sophistication to the Looney Tunes that the others, though masterful in their own way, did not share. When you spot any of those things in a Warner Brothers' cartoon, you can be sure - that's Chuck. And if you see them again in the future, that's probably Chuck as well, or his legacy passed on to the next generation of animators.
He lent that same ability to his other projects, like Tom and Jerry, the classic Phantom Tollbooth, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The last thing I remember seeing from him was a 10 to 15-minute animated sequence in the fantasy comedy Stay Tuned, starring Pam Dawber and John Ritter, an otherwise unremarkable film which is only worth watching for those 15 minutes of pure Chuck Jones mayhem.
We should all be so blessed with such a sense of humor, or the ability to know when to rein back, and when to cut loose.
If he questioned his contributions to the world in the end, that gentle genius was dead wrong. In the end, if nothing else, his single, greatest, and most significant feat is that he made generations of children and adults bust a gut laughing at his cartoons, and will be doing so for generations to come, God willing. That's enough of a legacy for anyone.
Chuck Jones' greatest technical contribution, in my humble estimation, was the introduction of comic timing in animation. Where other animators and directors were content to do the slapstick almost by the numbers, Jones introduced the double take, the sly grin, the raised eyebrow, the sidelong glance to the audience, the after the fact retort, the downbeat remark after the punchline, the frozen moment, the resigned shrug, the "are you kidding me?" expression, into his work.
He was not afraid to pause the action just to get a wry comment in on the ludicrousness of the situations he and Michael Maltese created, ably assisted in musical cues by Carl Stalling, and this partnership added a layer of jet-age sophistication to the Looney Tunes that the others, though masterful in their own way, did not share. When you spot any of those things in a Warner Brothers' cartoon, you can be sure - that's Chuck. And if you see them again in the future, that's probably Chuck as well, or his legacy passed on to the next generation of animators.
He lent that same ability to his other projects, like Tom and Jerry, the classic Phantom Tollbooth, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The last thing I remember seeing from him was a 10 to 15-minute animated sequence in the fantasy comedy Stay Tuned, starring Pam Dawber and John Ritter, an otherwise unremarkable film which is only worth watching for those 15 minutes of pure Chuck Jones mayhem.
We should all be so blessed with such a sense of humor, or the ability to know when to rein back, and when to cut loose.
If he questioned his contributions to the world in the end, that gentle genius was dead wrong. In the end, if nothing else, his single, greatest, and most significant feat is that he made generations of children and adults bust a gut laughing at his cartoons, and will be doing so for generations to come, God willing. That's enough of a legacy for anyone.
