Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (late 1935-1938)

Looney Tunes and (its spin-off Merrie Melodies) is an American animated short film theatrical series by Warner Brothers that ran from 1930 until 1969.

Tiring of Buddy, Friz Freleng created a new cast of characters under the short "I Haven't Got A Hat". Then Tex Avery came on board and transformed Looney Tunes into its own thing, starting with "The Gold Diggers of '49". At the end of 1935, Disney's exclusive contract for Technicolor's three-strip process expired, allowing other animation studios to make the switch to the three-strip process; with Warner Bros. doing so beginning with "Flowers for Madame". With three-strip Technicolor on board, Avery started to experiment with his shorts in color (namely "Page Miss Glory" and "I Love to Singa"). Jack King was let go in 1936 to return to Disney as a director and his timing improved further from his days at Warner Bros. Then came 1937 with the introduction of the first screwball comedy character, Daffy Duck, in "Porky's Duck Hunt", with another one in the following year's short, "Porky's Hare Hunt" (in that case, Proto-Bugs Bunny; aka. Happy Rabbit).

This article will be talking about the shorts from "A Cartoonist's Nightmare" to "The Mice Will Play"

1935
(production order)


 * "A Cartoonist's Nightmare" (King; September 14; with Beans; first Looney Tunes short in this era; first Beans solo short; premiered with Special Agent)
 * "Little Dutch Plate" (Freleng; October 19; one-off; first Merrie Melodies short in this era; premiered with Dr. Socrates)
 * "Hollywood Capers" (King; October 19; with Beans, Little Kitty and Oliver Owl; premiered with Dr. Socrates)
 * "Gold Diggers of '49" (Avery; November 2; with Porky Pig, Little Kitty and Beans; first short that was directed by Tex Avery)
 * "Billboard Frolics" (Freleng; November 9; one-off; last Warner Bros. cartoon filmed in 2-strip Technicolor; premiered with The Payoff)
 * "Flowers for Madame" (Freleng; November 30; one-off; last short to use the 1934-1935 Merrie Melodies curtains opening and Jester closing end card; first WB cartoon produced in three-strip Technicolor; premiered with Frisco Kid)
 * "The Fire Alarm" (King; December 23; with Ham and Ex, and Beans) {1}

1936

 * "Plane Dippy" (Avery; January 4; with Porky Pig, Oliver Owl, Little Kitty and Beans)
 * "I Wanna Play House" (Freleng; January 11; one-off; first cartoon to use the color rings in opening titles; premiered with The Murder of Dr. Harrigan)
 * "Alpine Antics" (King; January 18; with Beans and Porky Pig; premiered with Freshman Love)
 * "The Phantom Ship" (King; February 1; with Beans, Ham and Ex; first short to use the zooming WB Shield; premiered with The Widow from Monte Carlo)
 * "The Cat Came Back" (Freleng; February 8; one-off; premiered with The Petrified Forest)
 * "Boom Boom" (King; February 29; with Beans and Porky)
 * "Page Miss Glory" (Avery; March 7; one-off; first color cartoon Tex Avery directed, as well as his first Merrie Melodies short; premiered with Boulder Dam)
 * "The Blow Out" (Avery; April 4; with Porky Pig; his first solo short; premiered with Snowed Under)
 * "I'm A Big Shot Now" (Freleng; April 11; one-off; premiered with The Singing Kid)
 * "Westward Whoa" (King; April 25; with Porky Pig, Beans, Little Kitty and Ham and Ex; final appearance of Beans, Little Kitty and Ham and Ex in the Golden Age of American Animation; premiered with I Married a Doctor)
 * "Let It Be Me" (Freleng; May 9 with Emily the Chicken; also her first appearance; premiered with Times Square Playboy)
 * "I'd Love To Take Orders From You" (Avery; May 16; one-off; premiered with The Law in Her Hands)
 * "Fish Tales" (King; May 23; with Porky Pig; premiered with The Golden Arrow)
 * "Bingo Crosbyana" (Freleng; May 30; one-off; premiered with Sons o’ Guns)
 * "Shanghaied Shipmates" (King; June 20; with Porky Pig; premiered with Hearts Divided)
 * "When I Yoo Hoo" (Freleng; June 26; one-off)
 * "Porky's Pet" (King; July 11; with Porky Pig; premiered with Two Against the World)
 * "I Love To Singa" (Avery; July 18; one-off; premiered with Hot Money)
 * "Porky The Rain-Maker" (Avery; August 1; with Porky Pig and Phineas Pig; final cartoon that was scored by Norman Spencer in Looney Tunes label; premiered with The Green Pastures)
 * "Sunday Go The Meetin' Time" (Freleng; August 8; one-off; part of the Censored Eleven)
 * "Porky's Poultry Plant" (Tashlin; August 22; with Porky Pig; first cartoon that was scored by Carl W. Stalling in Looney Tunes label; premiered with China Clipper and Love Begins at 20)
 * "At Your Service Madame" (Freleng; August 29; with Piggy; final cartoon that was scored by Norman Spencer in Merrie Melodies label; premiered with Anthony Adverse)
 * "Porky's Moving Day" (King; September 12; with Porky Pig; final cartoon directed by Jack King before return to Disney; premiered with Stage Struck)
 * "Toy Town Hall" (Freleng; September 19; one-off; first cartoon that was scored by Carl W. Stalling in Merrie Melodies label; final MM cartoon that used Blue-Purple Rings in the opening and use "I Think You're Ducky" as its theme music)
 * "Milk and Honey" (Avery; October 3; with Porky Pig and Phineas Pig)
 * "Boulevardier From The Bronx" (Freleng; October 10; with Emily the Chicken; cameo appearance of Porky Pig; first MM cartoon to use "Merrily We Roll Along" as the opening theme and to use the 1936-37 Blue Color Rings; premiered with Isle of Fury)
 * "Don't Look Now" (Freleng; November 7; one-off; final MM cartoon that used Blue-Purple Rings in the closing)
 * "Little Beau Porky" (Tashlin; November 14; with Porky Pig; final cartoon to use the Buddy's theme song ("Beauty and the Beast") in the opening titles; premiered with California Mail and The Captain’s Kid)
 * "The Coo-Coo Nut Grove" (Freleng; November 28; one-off; first MM cartoon that used Blue Color Rings in the closing; premiered with Fugitive in the Sky)
 * "The Village Smithy" (Avery; December 5; with Porky Pig and Narrator; also his first appearance; first cartoon to use "Porky's Signature" theme as the opening theme)
 * "Porky In The North Woods" (Tashlin; December 19; with Porky Pig; premiered with King of Hockey)

1937

 * "He Was Her Man" (Freleng; January 2; one-off; premiered with Guns of the Pecos and Smart Blonde)
 * "Porky the Wrestler" (Avery; January 9; with Porky Pig; premiered with Sing Me a Love Song)
 * "Pigs Is Pigs" (Freleng; January 30; with Piggy; the final appearance of Piggy in the Golden Age In American Animation; premiered with Black Legion)
 * "Porky's Road Race" (Tashlin; February 7; with Porky Pig)
 * "Picador Porky" (Avery; February 27; with Porky Pig; first cartoon to feature the voice of Mel Blanc)
 * "I Only Have Eyes for You" (Avery; February 27; one-off)
 * "The Fella with the Fiddle" (Freleng; March 27; one-off; premiered with The King and the Chorus Girl)
 * "Porky's Romance" (Tashlin; April 3; with Porky Pig and Petunia Pig; also her first appearance; last LT cartoon that Joe Dougherty voiced Porky Pig)
 * "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter" (Freleng; April 10; one-off; premiered with Marked Woman)
 * "Porky's Duck Hunt" (Avery; April 17; with Porky Pig and Daffy Duck; also the first appearance of Daffy Duck; first LT cartoon in which Mel Blanc voices Porky; premiered with Call It a Day and That Man’s Here Again)
 * "Ain't We Got Fun" (Avery; May 1; one-off; premiered with Melody for Two)
 * "Porky and Gabby" (Iwerks/Clampett/Jones; with Porky Pig and Gabby Goat; also his first appearance)
 * "Clean Pastures" (Freleng; May 22; one-off; part of the Censored Eleven; premiered with The Go Getter)
 * "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" (Avery; July 12; one-off; part of the Censored Eleven)
 * "Porky's Building" (Tashlin; June 19; with Porky Pig; premiered with Fly-Away Baby)
 * "Streamlined Greta Green" (Freleng; June 19; one-off; premiered with Fly-Away Baby)
 * "Sweet Sioux" (Freleng; June 25; one-off; last cartoon to not have a "zooming sound" in the "Merrily We Roll Along" opening cue theme)
 * "Porky's Super Service" (Iwerks/Clampett/Jones; July 3; with Porky Pig; final LT cartoon to have stock music playing on the ending titles; premiered with The Singing Marine)
 * "Egghead Rides Again" (Avery; July 17; with Egghead; also his first appearance; first cartoon to have a zooming sound" in the "Merrily We Roll Along" opening cue there)
 * "Porky's Badtime Story" (Clampett/Jones; July 24; with Porky and Gabby; first short that was directed by Bob Clampett; premiered with Talent Scout)
 * "Plenty of Money and You" (Freleng; July 31; one-off; first short to end with the "Merrily We Roll Along" theme)
 * "Porky's Railroad" (Tashlin; August 7; with Porky Pig; premiered with San Quentin)
 * "A Sunbonnet Blue" (Avery; August 21; one-off; final short to have stock music playing on the ending titles; premiered with The Footloose Heiress and Mr. Dodd Takes the Air)
 * "Get Rich Quick Porky" (Clampett/Jones; August 28; with Porky Pig and Gabby Goat; premiered with Confession)
 * "Speaking of the Weather" (Tashlin; September 4; one-off; premiered with Varsity Show)
 * "Porky's Garden" (Avery; September 11; with Porky Pig; premiered with Prairie Thunder and Wine, Women and Horses
 * "Dog Daze" (Freleng; September 18; one-off; premiered with That Certain Woman)
 * "I Wanna Be a Sailor" (Avery; September 25; one-off; premiered with Back in Circulation)
 * "Rover's Rival" (Clampett/Jones; October 9; with Porky Pig; first short to use "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" as the Looney Tunes opening theme, and feature the end card with Porky tearing through the drum to stutter "Th-th-th-that's all folks!"; premiered with They Won’t Forget)
 * "The Lyin' Mouse" (Freleng; October 16; one-off; premiered with Over the Goal)
 * "The Case of the Stuttering Pig" (Freleng; October 30; with Porky Pig and Petunia Pig; premiere with The Great Garrick and West of Shanghai)
 * "Little Red Walking Hood" (Avery; November 6; with Egghead, Little Red Riding Hood, Big Bad Wolf, and Granny (then known as Proto-Granny); also the first appearance of all three; premiere with Alcatraz Island)
 * "Porky's Double Trouble" (Tashlin; November 13; with Porky Pig and Petunia Pig; first short that uses an alternate version of the 1937-38 opening theme of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"; premiered with The Adventuous Blonde)
 * "The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos" (Tashlin; December 4; one-off; premiered with First Lady)
 * "Porky's Hero Agency" (Clampett/Jones; December 4; with Porky Pig; premiered with First Lady)
 * "September in the Rain" (Freleng; December 18; one-off; premiered with She Loved a Fireman)

1938

 * "Daffy Duck and Egghead" (Avery; January 1; with Daffy Duck and Egghead; premiered with Sergeant Murphy)
 * "Porky's Poppa" (Clampett/Jones; January 15; with Porky Pig; final short where Chuck Jones was an assistant director; final short to use the alternate version of the 1937-38 opening theme of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"; premiered with Hollywood Hotel)
 * "My Little Buckaroo" (Freleng; January 29; one-off)
 * "Porky at the Crocadero" (Tashlin; February 5; with Porky Pig; premiered with Blondes at Work)
 * "Jungle Jitters" (Freleng; Feburary 19; one-off; part of the Censored Eleven)
 * "What Price Porky" (Clampett; February 26th; with Porky Pig and Daffy Duck; premiered with Penrod and His Twin Brother)
 * "The Sneezing Weasel" (Avery; March 12th; one-off; premiered with Love, Honor and Behave)
 * "Porky's Phoney Express" (Howard/Dalton; March 19th; with Porky Pig; first short directed by Howard and Dalton; premiered with He Couldn’t Say No)
 * "A Star Is Hatched" (Freleng; April 2, with Emily the Chicken, final appearance of Emily the Chicken in the Golden Age of Animation, as well as the last cartoon directed by Friz Freleng before his temporary departure to MGM; premiered with Over the Wall)
 * "Porky's Five & Ten" (Clampett; April 16th; with Porky Pig; premiered with Fools for Scandal)
 * "The Penguin Parade" (Avery; April 23rd; one-off; premiered with Women Are Like That)
 * "Porky's Hare Hunt" (Hardaway/Dalton (latter uncredited); April 30; with Porky Pig and Happy Rabbit (aka. Proto-Bugs), also the latter's first appearance; premiered with The Beloved Brat)
 * "Now That Summer Is Gone" (Tashlin; May 16; one-off)
 * "Injun Trouble" (Clampett; May 21; with Porky Pig; premiered with Mystery House)
 * "The Isle of Pingo Pongo" (Avery; July 12; with Egghead; earliest of Avery's "travelogue" cartoons, also part of the Censored Eleven)
 * "Porky the Fireman" (Tashlin; June 4th; with Porky Pig; premiered with Little Miss Thoroughbred)
 * "Katnip Kollege" (Howard/Dalton; June 11th; one-off; premiered with Gold Diggers in Paris)
 * "Have You Got Any Castles?" (Tashlin; June 25th; one-off)
 * "Porky's Party" (Clampett; June 25th; with Porky Pig)
 * "Love and Curses" (Hardaway/Dalton; July 9th; one-off; premiered with Cowboy from Brooklyn and My Bill)
 * "Porky's Spring Planting" (Tashlin; July 25th; with Porky Pig)
 * "Cinderella Meets Fella" (Avery; July 23rd; with Egghead)
 * "Porky & Daffy" (Clampett; August 6th; with Porky Pig and Daffy Duck)
 * "The Major Lied 'Til Dawn" (Tashlin; August 13th; one-off)
 * "A-Lad-In Bagdad" (Howard/Dalton; August 27th; with Egghead; final short directed by the former; premiered with Boy Meets Girl)
 * "Wholly Smoke" (Tashlin; August 27th; with Porky Pig; premiered with Boy Meets Girl)
 * "Cracked Ice" (Tashlin; September 10th: with W.C. Squeals; final appearance of W.C. Squeals in the Golden Age of Animation; premiered with Secrets of an Actress)
 * "A Feud There Was" (Avery; September 24th; with Egghead)
 * "Porky in Wackyland" (Clampett; September 3; with Porky Pig and the Do-Do Bird; also his first appearance; premiered with Four’s a Crowd)
 * "Little Pancho Vanilla" (Tashlin; October 8th; one-off; premiered with Broadway Musketeers)
 * "Porky's Naughty Nephew" (Clampett; October 15th; with Porky Pig and Pinky Pig; first appearance of Pinky Pig in the Golden Age of Animation)
 * "Johny Smith and Poker-Huntas" (Avery; October 22nd; with Egghead; premiered with Girls on Probation)
 * "Porky in Egypt" (Clampett; November 5th; with Porky Pig; premiered with Hard to Get)
 * "You're an Education" (Tashlin; November 5th; one-off)
 * "The Night Watchman" (Jones; November 19; one-off; first short that was directed by Chuck Jones; premiered with Nancy Drew...Detective)
 * "The Daffy Doc" (Clampett; November 26th; with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig; premiered with Angels with Dirty Faces)
 * "Daffy Duck in Hollywood" (Avery; December 3rd; with Daffy Duck; premiered with Comet Over Broadway)
 * "Count Me Out" (Hardaway/Dalton; December 17th; with Egghead)
 * "Porky the Gob" (Hardaway/Dalton; December 17th; with Porky Pig)
 * "The Mice Will Play" (Avery; December 31; one-off; premiered with Going Places)

Why It's More "Looney-er" Then Ever

 * 1) First and foremost, this era was a huge improvement over the bland Buddy era.
 * 2) This era introduced the creative genius of Tex Avery, who introduced fourth wall breaks, plot twists and interactive narration in the animation field.
 * 3) * Frank Tashlin also contributed to this era with his newfound abilities of live-action style camera angles and truck ins, making his shorts more cinematic than any of the shorts directed by Freleng, Avery or King.
 * 4) **It also introduced the wacky director that made Looney Tunes label go very "Looney", namely Bob Clampett.
 * 5) Daffy Duck was the first screwball character to help define the style of Looney Tunes.
 * 6) The timing of the animation got more fast paced than in the previous era.
 * 7) Wonderful gems, such as:
 * 8) * Porky in Wackyland (the peak of this era)
 * 9) * I Love to Singa
 * 10) * Porky's Duck Hunt
 * 11) * My Little Buckaroo
 * 12) * The Blow Out
 * 13) * Page Miss Glory
 * 14) * Porky's Poultry Plant
 * 15) * Porky and Gabby
 * 16) * Injun Trouble (the 1938 version; despite having Native American stereotypes)
 * 17) * Wholly Smoke
 * 18) * The Night Watchman
 * 19) * Daffy Duck and Egghead
 * 20) * Porky's Poppa
 * 21) * Gold Diggers of '49
 * 22) Mel Blanc and Treg Brown were brought in by early 1937. The former took over Porky Pig for Joe Dougherty (who had a real stuttering problem).
 * 23) This era brought back plenty of the visual gags that originated under Harman-Ising in 1930-31, but much more fast-paced and humourous.
 * 24) This era, as well, the Merrie Melodies series was best known for shifting from Disney style musicals into fast paced slapstick comedies, which matured into the 1940s.
 * 25) Other studios began to break away from Disney-esque musicals in favor of Tex Avery's style, usually with successful results.
 * 26) After Freleng's temporary departure, the cartoons started to move away from the rubber hose style of animation (namely the person we all know and love, Chuck Jones).
 * 27) Carl W. Stalling updates the music scores by following closely to the action and movement of the characters unlike Norman Spencer. His music scores were added after the dialogue had been pre-recorded.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Friz Freleng's shorts were originally rooted in the Buddy era, but eventually got influenced by Tex Avery's shorts at the end of the era.
 * 2) Unfortunately, the shorts gone downhill because of two words of the one person. Chuck Jones. Though it is justified since he wasn't the one who wrote them, as he just simply directed them.
 * 3) * Friz Freleng departed the studio in mid-1938 to work at MGM. Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton took his place during that time.
 * 4) Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton's shorts, while not terrible, are the weakest shorts ever made (for the most part).
 * 5) There's still some bad or weak shorts (mostly for Merrie Melodies) such as:
 * 6) * Clean Pastures
 * 7) * Porky's Romance
 * 8) * Uncle Tom's Bungalow
 * 9) * Sunday Go to Meetin' Time
 * 10) * Sweet Sioux
 * 11) * Westward Whoa
 * 12) * The Isle of Pingo Pongo (though the first half is decent)
 * 13) * Jungle Jitters (the absolute worst of not just the Censored Eleven, but the entire Merrie Melodies series in this era.)
 * 14) Out of all of the characters (like Porky Pig and Daffy Duck) in this era, Beans is often considered to be possibly the least looney Looney Tunes character (if not just one of the least looney) in this era, as he was just a poor, blander, inferior version of Buddy (who himself wasn't any better, but they both have some fans).
 * 15) * Other characters like Little Kitty, Oliver Owl and Gabby Goat didn't last long either.

Trivia

 * "I Love to Singa" was later heard on The Looney Tunes Show as part of the Merrie Melodies series of music videos.
 * Schlesinger and Warner Bros. had problems with "Clean Pastures" from the start. Hollywood censors alleged that the film ran afoul of the Hays Production Code because it burlesqued religion and glamorized gambling, drinking, and sex. Later commentators surmise that the censors also objected to the portrayal of a Heaven run by African Americans and the very idea that Satan himself gets into Heaven because of how popular it's become.
 * "Let It Be Me" and "Bingo Crosbyana" were the two Warner Bros. shorts which Bing Crosby initiated lawsuits to suppress because they portrayed him in what Crosby considered a defamatory light.
 * Paramount Pictures sued Warner Bros. alongside Crosby and they wanted the distribution of the two short subjects to end, but Paramount and Bing Crosby lost their case and the two short subjects were allowed to continue distributing.