August 21: Freleng’s Merrie Melodies

Isidore (“Friz”) Freleng, the animator and cartoon director who introduced Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Tweety Bird to the world through the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of Warner Brothers, was born in Kansas City, MO on this date in 1905. Freleng was friends with Walt Disney in their home town and worked at the Disney and MGM studios in Hollywood before settling down with Leon Schlesinger at Warner Brothers, where Freleng added innovative elements of characterization, comic timing, and live-action footage to some 266 cartoons. In 1964, Freleng introduced the Pink Panther character, and in 1992, he received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Other characters whom he made into cartoon celebrities were Elmer Fudd, Syvlester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, and Speedy Gonzalez. Freleng (the nickname “Friz” came from his frizzy hair) was a four-time winner of Academy Awards for Short Films. He died at 89 in 1996. To watch his 1942 send-up of fairytales and fables, click here.
“I never knew if a film I was making would be Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies, and what the hell difference would it make, anyway?”—Friz Freleng
Watch “You Ought to Be in Pictures” (1940), one of the first cartoons Freleng directed when he rejoined his former partner, Leon Schlesinger, at Warner Brothers. In a mix of live action and animation Daffy Duck persuades Porky Pig to break his cartoon contract with Schlesinger (who plays himself) so he can act in feature films.