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Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide
Looney Tunes contains film stills, storyboards and illustrations from the Warner Bros. Archives.
143 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2003
3 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Beck
73 books25 followersJerry Beck (born February 9, 1955 in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. The author or editor of several books on classic American animation and classic character, including The 50 Greatest Cartoons (1994), The Animated Movie Guide (2005), Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons! (2007), The Flintstones: The Official Guide to the Cartoon Classic (2011), The Hanna-Barbera Treasury: Rare Art Mementos from your Favorite Cartoon Classics (2007), The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom (2013), Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide (2005), and Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons (with Will Friedwald, 1989). He is also an authority on the making of modern films, with his books detailing the art of Mr. Peabody and Sherman, DreamWorks' Madagascar, and Bee Movie. Beck is also an entertainment industry consultant for TV and home entertainment productions and releases related to classic cartoons and operates the blog "Cartoon Research." He appears frequently as a documentary subject and audio commentator on releases of A&E's Cartoons Go To War as well as DVD collections of Looney Tunes, Popeye the Sailor, and Woody Woodpecker cartoons, on which he serves a consultant and curator.
Early in his career, Beck collaborated with film historian Leonard Maltin on his book Of Mice and Magic (1980), organized animation festivals in Los Angeles, and was instrumental in founding the international publication Animation Magazine. In the 1990s, Beck taught course on the art of animation at UCLA, NYU, and The School of Visual Arts. In 1993, he became a founding member of the Cartoon Network advisory board and he currently serves as president of the ASIFA-Hollywood board. He co-produced or was a consultant on many home entertainment compilations of Looney Tunes, MGM Cartoons, Disney Home Video, Betty Boop, and others. In 1989, he co-founded Streamline Pictures and first brought such anime as Akira, Vampire Hunter D, and Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky to the United States. He himself compiled collections of cartoons of Warner Bros., Woody Woodpecker, and the Fleischer Studios. As Vice President of Nickelodeon Movies, he helped develop The Rugrats Movie (1998) and Mighty Mouse.
In 2006, Beck created and produced an animated pilot for Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon. That cartoon, "Hornswiggle", aired on Nicktoons Network in 2008 as part of the Random! Cartoons series. Currently, he is teaching animation history at Woodbury University in Burbank, California.
In 2004, Beck and fellow animation historian and writer Amid Amidi co-founded another blog, Cartoon Brew, which focused primarily on current animation productions and news. Beck sold his co-ownership in Cartoon Brew in February 2013 and started an Indiewire blog, Animation Scoop, for reports on current animation while continuing to write about classic animation at Cartoon Research.
Early in his career, Beck collaborated with film historian Leonard Maltin on his book Of Mice and Magic (1980), organized animation festivals in Los Angeles, and was instrumental in founding the international publication Animation Magazine. In the 1990s, Beck taught course on the art of animation at UCLA, NYU, and The School of Visual Arts. In 1993, he became a founding member of the Cartoon Network advisory board and he currently serves as president of the ASIFA-Hollywood board. He co-produced or was a consultant on many home entertainment compilations of Looney Tunes, MGM Cartoons, Disney Home Video, Betty Boop, and others. In 1989, he co-founded Streamline Pictures and first brought such anime as Akira, Vampire Hunter D, and Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky to the United States. He himself compiled collections of cartoons of Warner Bros., Woody Woodpecker, and the Fleischer Studios. As Vice President of Nickelodeon Movies, he helped develop The Rugrats Movie (1998) and Mighty Mouse.
In 2006, Beck created and produced an animated pilot for Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon. That cartoon, "Hornswiggle", aired on Nicktoons Network in 2008 as part of the Random! Cartoons series. Currently, he is teaching animation history at Woodbury University in Burbank, California.
In 2004, Beck and fellow animation historian and writer Amid Amidi co-founded another blog, Cartoon Brew, which focused primarily on current animation productions and news. Beck sold his co-ownership in Cartoon Brew in February 2013 and started an Indiewire blog, Animation Scoop, for reports on current animation while continuing to write about classic animation at Cartoon Research.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 26, 2015
This is one title every Warner Bros, Looney Tunes fan should have!
Packed with reams of illustrations and wacky facts which are bursting at the seams, this visual history volume features all the famous Looney Tunes characters like Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny along with all those little-seen, not so famous characters - like Cecil Turtle and Sniffles the Mouse.
The book features a foreword from Dan Romanelli - the President of Warner Bros, World Wide Consumer Products - and every single page is a 'potpourri' of cool illustrations - by Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Mel Blanc; film stills; rare sketches; story boards and more which will make every Looney Tunes fans drooling over.
This hilarious book is adorned with more than 800 illustrations and covers all the aspects of the franchise - the comic books, merchandising, motion films and memorabilia.
A must have title for all the lovers of the crazy Looney Tunes family.
Packed with reams of illustrations and wacky facts which are bursting at the seams, this visual history volume features all the famous Looney Tunes characters like Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny along with all those little-seen, not so famous characters - like Cecil Turtle and Sniffles the Mouse.
The book features a foreword from Dan Romanelli - the President of Warner Bros, World Wide Consumer Products - and every single page is a 'potpourri' of cool illustrations - by Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Mel Blanc; film stills; rare sketches; story boards and more which will make every Looney Tunes fans drooling over.
This hilarious book is adorned with more than 800 illustrations and covers all the aspects of the franchise - the comic books, merchandising, motion films and memorabilia.
A must have title for all the lovers of the crazy Looney Tunes family.
August 24, 2023
DK does a great job with their pubs, so I was surprised to see a typo on page 28 : “rabbit au gratin de gelatin under tubed leather” should be “tooled leather”.
This was published in 2003, and the text is already out of touch with the times. Describing Pepé Le Pew: Pepé's first female conquest was a Mexican hairless canine called Fifi, in the film Scent-Imental Over You originally titled "Forever Ambushed”. Yep, "conquest".
And I relearned something I had forgotten:
This was published in 2003, and the text is already out of touch with the times. Describing Pepé Le Pew: Pepé's first female conquest was a Mexican hairless canine called Fifi, in the film Scent-Imental Over You originally titled "Forever Ambushed”. Yep, "conquest".
And I relearned something I had forgotten:
Jones and musical director Milt Franklyn underscored the cartoon with sections of Wagner's operas, "Kill The Wabbit." for example, was adapted from "Ride Of The Valkyries.” With cartoons, the dialog is usually recorded in advance of the animation and the music is added afterward. Bur in the case of What's Opera. Doc?, Jones wanted the characters to move in unison with the music, so he recorded the entire music soundtrack first.
January 8, 2022
Not what I was expecting.
February 3, 2013
Más que un estudio en profundidad de los Looney Tunes, un repaso ligero de sus personajes, creadores y rasgos distintivos a lo largo de toda su historia.
Lo más destacable es que vaya más allá de los personajes más conocidos (y comerciales) y que dedique tiempo a personajes, digamos secundarios (¿alguien recuerda a los Goofy Gophers? Pues yo si...), a aspectos menos evidentes de la producción, como el diseño de fondos, las voces o la música. O a curiosidades como la producción de cortos para el ejército durante la 2a Guerra Mundial o la aparición de estrellas de cine en los cortos más antiguos.
Eso si, en lo que se refiere al cine que combina animación e imagen real, bronca gorda por no mencionar Roger Rabbit y dar sólo una mezquina mención a Space Jam, mientras que a Back in Action le dedican 4 páginas.
Con todo, un libro ligero y muy visual, que entretiene al lector más casual y gustará al entusiasta de la animación.
Lo más destacable es que vaya más allá de los personajes más conocidos (y comerciales) y que dedique tiempo a personajes, digamos secundarios (¿alguien recuerda a los Goofy Gophers? Pues yo si...), a aspectos menos evidentes de la producción, como el diseño de fondos, las voces o la música. O a curiosidades como la producción de cortos para el ejército durante la 2a Guerra Mundial o la aparición de estrellas de cine en los cortos más antiguos.
Eso si, en lo que se refiere al cine que combina animación e imagen real, bronca gorda por no mencionar Roger Rabbit y dar sólo una mezquina mención a Space Jam, mientras que a Back in Action le dedican 4 páginas.
Con todo, un libro ligero y muy visual, que entretiene al lector más casual y gustará al entusiasta de la animación.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews