"That's all folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation" by Steve Schneider with a Foreword by Ray Bradbury was originally published in 1988 by Henry Holt & Company while I read a copy reprinted in 1999 by Barnes & Noble Books. I think that original 1988 publication date is important in understanding the context as author Schneider notes in his Introduction to this excellent history of the scrappy studio and its scrappy characters whose creators had their contributions minimized, obfuscated, and at times erased as they labored in the promethean shadow of Walt Disney. As finally a new generation began to discover, celebrate, and praise the Warner Cartoons and their characters "But the culmination of this came in September 1985, when Warner's became the first animation studio to be given a full-scale retrospective by New York's Museum of Modern Art." (I was lucky enough to attend this remarkable exhibition). After an Author's Note and an enthusiastic Foreword by Ray Bradbury the book is divided into two sections Part One: The Studio and Part Two: The Characters plus a Filmography. As Schneider notes in his first chapter Building A Studio: 1930-1935 "Like most everything in Hollywood animation, the Warner Bros. cartoon studio had its origins in the work of Walt Disney." It began as a combination of art and commerce as two former Disney animators Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising looking to establish themselves as independent producers had created a three minute talking animated short called "Bosko the Talkink Kid" featuring their own character Bosko they linked up with businessman Leon Schlesinger who was looking to branch out himself as his company Pacific Art and Title the leading producer for movie title cards was anticipating a decline in business as films shifted from silent to talkies. Schlesinger sold the idea to Warner Bros. as way to promote the songs in their recently acquired music publishing company. The company was launched with its first Looney Tune cartoon "Sinkin' in the Bathtub" featuring Bosko on May 6, 1930. The Looney Tunes series was so successful that in 1931 they launched a second series called Merrie Melodies. In addition to essentially copying the name of Disney's Silly Symphonies series they really got flagrant with a character called Foxy who looked identical to Mickey Mouse except his round ears had points and his tale was bushy. After Harman & Ising left in mid-1933 taking their character Bosko with them the studio turned to a new character called Buddy and began to give directing opportunities to another former Disney animator named Friz Freleng who would become one of the iconic directors of Warner Cartoons. The next important development came when realizing Buddy was not a particularly successful character they produced a kind of audition cartoon about a classroom called "I Haven't Got A Hat" directed by Freleng which featured a number of potential new characters including their first breakout star Porky Pig. That same year they hired a new animation director Fred "Tex" Avery who would help pull the studio out of Disney's shadow and that studio's increasingly restrictive approach in pursuit of 'realistic' animation by returning to the anything goes celebration of the unreality that cartoons where capable of in cartoons like "Porky in Wackyland". The Warner cartoon style would continue to develop under leading directors including Frank Tashlin, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Robert McKimson with help from writers like Michael Maltese plus the incomparable vocal contributions of Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan (voice of Elmer Fudd), Stan Freberg, and Bea Benedaret (a successful character actress who contributed many female voices including Little Red Riding Hood, Witch Hazel, Miss Prissy, and Granny among others). All of it underscored for decades by the incredibly adaptable music of Carl Stalling who was able to compose and conduct using Warner's 50 piece studio orchestra. In Part Two: The Stars Schneider provides a profile of the character including their introduction and development plus identifies some of their greatest cartoons. These star profiles are done in chronological order on Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny, Tweety and Sylvester (with lists of their best cartoons as a team and as solo characters), The Three Bears, Pepe Le Pew, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, The Goofy Gophers, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, and the Tasmanian Devil. Some interesting facts include that at a time when Disney was spending $60,000 on average and occasionally up to $100,000 on their cartoons the Warner Cartoons were contracted at $9,000 each with Leon Schlesinger taking his own cut off the top, so the actual production budgets where probably under $7,000 dollars. Daffy Duck was the second breakout star in 1937 in Porky's Duck Hunt directed by Tex Avery. The next year laziness proved a virtue when director Ben "Bugs" Hardaway decided to slap a rabbit suit on the duck for a virtual remake in Porky's Hare Hunt featuring a nameless screwy rabbit whose name later came about when a character sheet was labeled Bug's Bunny. Wile E. Coyote had three separate series where he was a different character in each. The Road Runner series where neither one of them has dialogue, a series with Bugs Bunny where he talks and introduces himself with a card Wile E. Coyote - Genius, then in the Sheepdog series where he is Ralph Wolf and his nose is red and he and Sam Sheepdog are working stiffs who punch in each morning and even take lunch breaks together between his trying to steal the sheep and the dog stopping him. The Warner Cartoons won Five Academy Awards Four for Friz Freleng and One for Chuck Jones although they were usually collected by a studio representative. After Schlesinger sold his production company to Warner Bros. a humorless executive called Edward Selzer was put in charge and fortunately under both men the animation directors were given a free hand or just ignored their directives, however one time Selzer told Director Robert McKimson he did not want to see anymore Tasmanian Devil cartoons produced, however about a year later he was over-ruled when Jack L. Warner commanded him to bring the character back. On the other hand Jack Warner briefly closed the animation studio in 1953 when he thought all films would be made in 3D fortunately he changed his mind after four months otherwise we might not have had classics like What's Opera, Doc?. The Filmography that closes the book is in chronological order with every cartoon produced from 1930 to the studio's closing in 1969 plus the 1987 cartoon The Duxorcist with each including the name of the director and the featured characters. Although the book mentions some of the work done outside of the Theatrical cartoons such as for films and starting in the 1960s for television none of these are listed or noted in this section. My only real quibble is that some more profiles could have been included on some of the other contributing artists such as writer Michael Maltese and voice actor Bea Benaderet plus maybe an overall profile on some of the supporting animated characters like Witch Hazel and Sam the Sheepdog and an index would have been helpful. Maybe someday a revised, updated and expanded edition could be produced of this fantastic book. Just wish I had read it sooner! ( )

A lavish and beutifully illustrated reference and history of the classic Warner Bros. cartoons. I always preferred them to the Disney cartoons, their chief competitor. These cartoons were witty, light, fast-moving, and just plain funny! Includes a history of the studio, the cartoon stars, and a filmography. A must for the connoisseuer of these great cartoons, which I love today as much as I did as a kid. With a foreword by Ray Bradbury. ( )

Very engaging history of the Warner Brothers animation unit. Includes lots of sketches and cel reproductions.