Bob Clampett | |
|---|---|
 Clampett drawingBugs Bunny in the early 1940s | |
| Born | Robert Emerson Clampett (1913-05-08)May 8, 1913 San Diego,California, U.S. |
| Died | May 2, 1984(1984-05-02) (aged 70) |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Otis College of Art and Design |
| Occupation(s) | Animator, director, producer, puppeteer |
| Years active | 1931–1984 |
| Employers |
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| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 3 |
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an Americananimator,director,producer andpuppeteer best known for his work on theLooney Tunes animated series fromWarner Bros. as well as the television showsTime for Beany andBeany and Cecil. He was born and raised not far fromHollywood and, early in life, showed an interest in animation and puppetry. After dropping out of high school in 1931, he joined the team atHarman-Ising Productions and began working on the studio's newest short subjects,Looney Tunes andMerrie Melodies.
Clampett was promoted to a directorial position in 1937. During his 15 years at the studio, he directed 84 cartoons later deemed classic, and designed some of the studio's most famous characters, includingPorky Pig,Daffy Duck andTweety. Among his most acclaimed films arePorky in Wackyland (1938) andThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946). He left Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1946 and turned his attention to television, creating the puppet showTime for Beany in 1949. A later animated version of the series,Beany and Cecil, was initially broadcast onABC in 1962 and rerun until 1967. It is considered the first fully creator-driven television series and carried the byline "a Bob Clampett Cartoon".
In his later years, Clampett toured college campuses and animation festivals as a lecturer on the history of animation. His Warner cartoons have seen renewed praise in decades since for theirsurrealistic qualities, energetic and outrageous animation, and irreverent, wordplay-laden humor. Animation historianJerry Beck lauded Clampett for "putting the word 'looney' inLooney Tunes.
Clampett was born on May 8, 1913 in San Diego, California to Robert Caleb Clampett and Mildred Joan Merrifield.[2][3] His father was born inNenagh,County Tipperary,Ireland in 1882, and immigrated to the United States with his parents at age two in 1884.[4][5]
Clampett showed art skills by the age of five.[6] From the beginning, he was intrigued with and influenced byDouglas Fairbanks,Lon Chaney,Charlie Chaplin,Buster Keaton,Harold Lloyd,Laurel & Hardy andThe Marx Brothers and began making film short-subjects in his garage when he was 12.[7][8] Living inHollywood as a young boy, he and his mother Joan lived next door toCharlie Chaplin and his brotherSydney Chaplin. Clampett also recalled watching his father playhandball at theLos Angeles Athletic Club with another of the great silent comedians, Harold Lloyd.[5] He also loved to read comics fromMilt Gross,Bill Holman andGeorge Lichty, the latter of which influenced his animation style in the 1940s.[8]
From his teens on, Clampett showed an interest inanimation. He was also influenced bySalvador Dalí,Winsor McCay,Otto Messmer,Pat Sullivan,Max Fleischer,Walt Disney andTex Avery. He had madehand puppets as a child and, before adolescence, completed what animation historian Milt Gray describes as "a sort of prototype, a kind of nondescript dinosaur sock puppet that later evolved into Cecil." In high school, Clampett drew a full-page comic about the nocturnal adventures of a cat, later published in color in a Sunday edition of theLos Angeles Times.King Features took note and offered Clampett a "cartoonist's contract" beginning a $75 a week after high school. King Features allowed him to work in their Los Angeles art department on Saturdays and vacations during high school. King Features occasionally printed his cartoons for encouragement, and paid his way throughOtis Art Institute, where he learned to paint in oils and to sculpt.[9]
Clampett attendedGlendale High School andHoover High School inGlendale,California, but left Hoover a few months short of graduating in 1931. He found a job at a doll factory owned by his aunt,Charlotte Clark. Clark was looking for an appealing item to sell and Clampett suggestedMickey Mouse, whose popularity was growing. Unable to find a drawing of the character anywhere, Clampett took his sketchpad to themovie theater and came out with several sketches. Clark was concerned with copyright, so they drove to the Disney studio.Walt andRoy Disney were delighted, and they set up a business not far from the Disney studio. Clampett recalled his short time working for Disney: "Walt Disney himself sometimes came over in an old car to pick up the dolls; he would give them out to visitors to the studio and at sales meetings. I helped him load the dolls in the car. One time his car, loaded with Mickeys, wouldn't start, and I pushed while Walt steered, until it caught, and he took off."[9]
Clampett was, in his words, so "enchanted" by the new medium of sound cartoons that he tried to join Disney as an animator. While Disney wanted to hire Clampett, they ultimately turned him down due to them having had enough animators at that time, so Clampett instead joinedHarman-Ising Studios in 1931 for ten dollars a week.Leon Schlesinger viewed one of Clampett's 16mm films and was impressed, offering him an assistant position at the studio.[7] His first job was animating secondary characters in the firstMerrie Melodie,Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (1931). The same year, Clampett began attending story meetings after submitting an idea eventually used forSmile, Darn Ya, Smile!. The two series were produced at Harman-Ising until mid-1933 when Harman and Ising left Schlesinger, who went on to foundLeon Schlesinger Productions. Clampett left Harman and Ising and joined the new studio. In his first years at the studio, Clampett mostly worked forFriz Freleng, under whose guidance Clampett grew into an able animator.[9] By the time he joined Harman-Ising, Clampett was only 17 years old.[6]
By 1934, Schlesinger was in a bit of a crisis trying to find a well-known cartoon character. He noted that theOur Gang series consisted of nothing but "little kids doing things together," and a studio-wide drive to get ideas for an animal version ofOur Gang commenced. Clampett submitted a drawing of a pig (Porky) and a black cat (Beans), and, in an imitation of the lettering on a can ofCampbell's Pork and Beans, wrote "Clampett's Porky and Beans." Porky debuted in the Friz Freleng-directedI Haven't Got a Hat in 1935. Around the same time, Schlesinger announced a studio-wide contest, with a money prize to whichever member of the staff turned in the best original story. Clampett's story won first prize and was made intoMy Green Fedora, also directed by Freleng.[9]
Clampett felt encouraged after these successes and began writing more story contributions. After Schlesinger realized he needed another unit, he made a deal withTex Avery, naming Clampett his collaborator. They were moved to a ramshackle building used by gardeners and WB custodial staff for storage of cleaning supplies, solvents, brooms, lawnmowers and other implements.[7] Working apart from the other animators in the small, dilapidated wooden building in the middle of theVitaphone lot, Avery and Clampett soon discovered they were not the only inhabitants - they shared the building with thousands of tinytermites. They christened the building "Termite Terrace", a name eventually used by historians to describe the entire studio. The two soon developed an irreverent style of animation that would set Warner Bros. apart from its competitors.[6] They were soon joined by animatorsChuck Jones,Virgil Ross andSid Sutherland, and worked virtually without interference on their new, groundbreaking style of humor for the next year. It was a wild place with an almostcollege fraternity-like atmosphere. Animators would frequently pull pranks such as gluing paper streamers to the wings of flies.Leon Schlesinger, who rarely ventured there, was reputed on one visit to have remarked in his lisping voice, "Pew, let me out of here! The only thing missing is the sound of a flushing toilet!!"
On the side, Clampett directed a sales film, co-animated byChuck Jones and in-betweened by Robert Cannon. Clampett filmed Cannon in live action as the hero androtoscoped it into the film. Clampett planned to leave Leon Schlesinger Productions, but Schlesinger offered him a promotion to director and more money if he would stay. Clampett was promoted to director in late 1936, directing a color sequence in the featureWhen's Your Birthday? (1937). This led to what was essentially a co-directing stint with fellow animator Chuck Jones for the financially ailingUb Iwerks, whom Schlesinger subcontracted to produce several Porky Pig shorts. These shorts featured the short-lived and generally unpopularGabby Goat as Porky's sidekick. Despite Clampett and Jones' contributions, however, Iwerks was the only credited director. Clampett's first cartoon with a directorial credit wasPorky's Badtime Story. Under the Warner system, Clampett had complete creative control over his own films, within severe money and time limitations (he was only given $3,000 and four weeks to complete each short).[9] During production ofPorky's Duck Hunt in 1937, Avery created a character that would becomeDaffy Duck and Clampett animated the character for the first time.[9]
Clampett was so popular in theaters that Schlesinger told the other directors to imitate him, emphasizing gags and action.[6] When Tex Avery departed in 1941, his unit was taken over by Clampett whileNorman McCabe took over Clampett's old unit. Clampett finished Avery's remaining unfinished cartoons. When McCabe joined the armed forces,Frank Tashlin rejoined Schlesinger as director, and that unit was eventually turned over toRobert McKimson. Milton Gray notes that fromThe Hep Cat (1942) on, the cartoons become even more wild as Clampett's experimentation reached a peak.[6]
DuringWorld War II, Clampett directed several propaganda shorts, including thePrivate Snafu series, but also one-shorts likeAny Bonds Today? (1942),Russian Rhapsody (1944) andDraftee Daffy (1945).
Clampett later created the character ofTweety, introduced inA Tale of Two Kitties in 1942. His cartoons grew increasingly violent, irreverent, and surreal, not beholden to even the faintest hint of real-world physics, and his characters have been argued to be easily the most rubbery and wacky of all the Warner directors'. Clampett was heavily influenced by theSpanish surrealist artistSalvador Dalí, as is most visible inPorky in Wackyland (1938), wherein the entire short takes place within aDalí-esque landscape complete with melting objects and abstracted forms. Clampett and his work can even be considered part of the surreal movement, as it incorporated film as well as static media.[6] It was largely Clampett's influence that would impel the Warners directors to shed the final vestiges of all Disney influence. Clampett was also known for creating some brief voices or sound effects in some of the cartoons. One of these became a personal trademark: a vocal sound accompanying the iris-out closing of every Clampett cartoon ("Bay-woop!")[9] Clampett liked to bring contemporary cultural movements into his cartoons, especiallyjazz; film, magazines, comics, novels, and popular music are referenced in Clampett shorts, most visible inBook Revue (1946), where performers are drawn onto various celebrated books.[6]
Clampett was a good source for censorship stories, though the accuracy of his recollections has been disputed. According to an interview published inFunnyworld #12 (1971), Clampett had a method for ensuring that certain elements of his films would escape the censors' cuts. He added extremely suggestive or objectionable gags aimed just at the censors; they would focus on cutting those and thus leave in the ones he actually wanted.[10]
Clampett left the studio in May 1945,[11] leaving a handful of shorts unfinished before they were picked up again by other studio directors. The generally accepted story was that Clampett left over matters of artistic freedom, despite some people claiming that he left the studio on his own. Clampett's style was becoming increasingly divergent from those of Freleng and Jones. In any event, Clampett was fired by Leon Schlesinger's successor,Edward Selzer, who was far less tolerant of him than Schlesinger had been. The Warner style that he was so instrumental in developing was leaving him behind. Warner Bros. had recently bought the rights to the entireLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies studio from Schlesinger and, while his cartoons of 1946 are today considered on the cutting edge of the art for that period, at the time, Clampett was ready to seek new challenges.[9] He left at what some considered the peak of his creativity and against everyone's advice.[7] Clampett's position as director after his departure was given toArthur Davis, whom would direct cartoons with his unit until it was dissolved in late-1947 over budgetary issues.[12]
In 1946, two years after Warner Bros. bought out Leon Schlesinger's studio, his key executives Henry Binder and Ray Katz went toScreen Gems, the cartoon division ofColumbia Pictures, and asked Clampett to join them as the studio's creative head.[13] He ultimately worked as a screenwriter and gag writer for the studio. Clampett was now working for three studios at the same time: Warner Bros., Screen Gems, and his new independent studio, Bob Clampett Productions. Deciding "this was too much of a good thing" and seeking more creative freedom than WB would allow, he made the decision to leave WB shortly after joining Screen Gems.[9] That same year,Republic Pictures incorporated animation (byWalter Lantz) into itsGene Autry feature filmSioux City Sue. It turned out well enough for Republic to dabble in animated cartoons. Bob Clampett, now working solely for his own studio, directed a single cartoon for Republic,It's a Grand Old Nag, featuring the equine character Charlie Horse and produced at Bob Clampett Productions. Republic management, however, had second thoughts due to dwindling profits, and they discontinued the series.[14] Clampett took his direction credit under the name "Kilroy".
In 1949, Clampett turned his attention to television, where he created the famous puppet showTime for Beany. The show, featuring the talents of voice artistsStan Freberg andDaws Butler, would earn Clampett threeEmmys.Groucho Marx andAlbert Einstein were both fans of the series.[15] In 1952, he created theThunderbolt the Wondercolt television series and the 3D prologue toBwana Devil featuring Beany and Cecil. In 1954, he directedWilly the Wolf (the first puppet variety show on television), as well as creating and voicing the lead in theBuffalo Billy television show. In the late 1950s, Clampett was hired byAssociated Artists Productions to catalog the pre-August 1948[16] Warner cartoons it had just acquired. He also created an animated version of the puppet show calledBeany and Cecil, whose 26 half-hour episodes were first broadcast onABC in 1962 and were rerun on the network for five years.[17]
Clampett's studio was at 729 Seward Street in Hollywood,[18][19][20] later aKlasky Csupo studio.
In his later years, Bob Clampett toured college campuses and animation festivals as a lecturer on thehistory of animation. In 1974, he was awarded anInkpot Award at theSan Diego Comic Convention.[21] In 1975, he was the focus of a documentary entitledBugs Bunny: Superstar, the first documentary to examine the history of the Warner Bros. cartoons. Clampett, whose collection of drawings, films and memorabilia from the golden days of Termite Terrace was legendary, provided nearly all of the behind-the-scenes drawings and home-movie footage for the film; furthermore, his wife, Sody Clampett,[22][23] is credited as the film's production coordinator. In an audio commentary recorded forBugs Bunny: Superstar, director Larry Jackson claimed that in order to secure Clampett's participation and access to Clampett's collection of Warners history, he had to sign a contract that stipulated Clampett would host the documentary and also have approval over the final cut. Jackson also claimed that Clampett was very reluctant speaking about the other directors and their contributions.[24]
Though Clampett's contribution to the Warner Bros. animation legacy was considerable and inarguable, he has been criticized by his peers as "a shameless self-promoter who provoked the wrath of his former Warner's colleagues in later years for allegedly claiming credit for ideas that were not his."[15] Some of this animosity appears to have come from Clampett's perceived "golden boy" status at the studio (Clampett's mother was said to be a close friend of cartoon producerLeon Schlesinger), which allowed him to ignore studio rules that everyone else was expected to follow. In addition,Mel Blanc, the voice actor who worked with Clampett at the same studio for ten years, also accused Clampett of being an "egotist who took credit for everything."[25]
Beginning with a magazine article in 1946, shortly after he left the studio, Clampett repeatedly referred to himself as "the creator" of Bugs Bunny, often adding the side-note that he usedClark Gable's carrot-eating scene inIt Happened One Night as inspiration for his "creation". (Clampett can be observed making this claim inBugs Bunny: Superstar) The other two directorial fathers Bugs is claimed to have had areTex Avery, who directedA Wild Hare, his first official short; andRobert McKimson, who drew the definitive Bugs Bunny model sheet. However some argue that, based on a viewing of the early Bugs cartoons of the late 1930s and early 1940s, the character was not "created" by one director, but evolved in personality, voice, and design over several years through the collective efforts of Clampett, Avery,Chuck Jones,Friz Freleng, McKimson, Mel Blanc,Cal Dalton,Ben Hardaway andRobert Givens. InBugs Bunny: Superstar, Clampett also takes credit for several model sheets drawn by other artists, such as one from the firstPorky Pig cartoon,I Haven't Got a Hat (1935), even though it was actually drawn by Freleng.[26]
Chuck Jones, despite initially working alongside Clampett in their formative years, would become his most outspoken rival by the 1970s. Animation historian Milton Gray details the long and bitter rivalry between Clampett and Jones in his essay "Bob Clampett Remembered". Gray, a personal friend of Clampett, calls the controversy "a deliberate and vicious smear campaign by one of Bob's rivals in the cartoon business". He reveals that Jones was angry at Clampett for making numerous generalizations in his 1970 interview withFunnyworld that gave Clampett too much credit, including taking sole credit for not only Bugs and Daffy but also Jones's characterSniffles and Freleng'sYosemite Sam. He writes that Jones began making additional accusations against Clampett, such as that Clampett would "go around the studio at night, looking at other directors' storyboards for ideas he could steal for his own cartoons."
Jones sent a letter toTex Avery in 1975 (prior to the release ofBugs Bunny: Superstar) that jotted down numerous alleged false claims made by Clampett from a 1970 interview with Michael Barrier,[15] and according to Gray, distributed copies to every fan he met—seemingly the genesis of the growing controversy. Gray asserts that Clampett was a "kind, generous man [who was] deeply hurt and saddened by Jones's accusations. […] I feel that Bob Clampett deserves tremendous respect and gratitude for the wonderful work that he left us."[27] Jones would later not include Clampett as one of Bugs' "fathers" in his 1979 compilation filmThe Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, which was made to refute claims made in the documentary, though he did briefly mention working with Clampett in his 1989 autobiographyChuck Amuck: The Life and Times of An Animated Cartoonist and his 1998 interview for the American Television Archive.[28]
Clampett died of aheart attack on May 2, 1984, inDetroit, Michigan, six days before his 71st birthday,[29][30] while touring the country to promote thehome video release ofBeany & Cecil cartoons. He is buried inForest Lawn Hollywood Hills.[31][32]
Since 1984, The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award has been given each year at theEisner Awards. Recipients of the award includeJune Foray,Jack Kirby,Sergio Aragonés,Patrick McDonnell,Maggie Thompson,Ray Bradbury andMark Evanier.[33]
Clampett'sTin Pan Alley Cats (1943) was chosen by theLibrary of Congress as a "prime example of the music and mores of our times" and a print was buried in a time capsule inWashington, D.C., so future generations might see it.[9]Porky in Wackyland (1938) was inducted into theNational Film Registry of theLibrary of Congress in 2000, deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[34]
AnimatorJohn Kricfalusi, best known for being the creator ofNickelodeon'sThe Ren & Stimpy Show, got to know Clampett in his later years and has reflected on those times as inspirational. Kricfalusi cited Clampett as his favorite animator and Clampett'sThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) as his favorite cartoon: "I saw this thing and it completely changed my life, I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen, and I still think it is."[35]
Animation historianLeonard Maltin has called Clampett's cartoons "unmistakable". Milton Gray believes that Schlesinger put Clampett in charge of the black and white cartoon division in order to save it, and many historians have singled out a scene inPorky's Duck Hunt, in which Daffy exits, as a defining Clampett moment. Maltin called it "a level of wackiness few moviegoers had ever seen".[citation needed]
Historian Charles Solomon noted a rubbery, flexible animation quality visible in all Clampett's shorts, and Maltin noted an "energetic, comic anarchy". While Clampett's cartoons were not as well known in the latter half of the 20th century because television syndicators only had the rights to the post-1948 Warner cartoons, his creations have increased in notoriety and acclaim in recent decades.[6]
Martha Sigall recalled Clampett as "an enthusiastic and fun type of guy". She describes him as consistently nice to her and very generous when it came to gifts or donations to a cause.[36] She had left the Termite Terrace in 1943 and did not meet Clampett again until 1960. She did, however, hear from people whom Clampett helped break into the animation business and/or mentored.[37]
Clampett is survived by his three children, who preserve his work. They are Robert Clampett Jr., who worked for his father as a puppeteer at Bob Clampett Productions; Ruth Clampett, an author of several books, including a book about an animated couple (she also founded Clampett Studio collections after her father's death); and Cheri Clampett, a therapeutic yoga specialist.[32][38][39]
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