Friz Freleng | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Isadore Freleng (1905-08-21)August 21, 1905 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | May 26, 1995(1995-05-26) (aged 89) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Other names | I. Freleng Congressman Frizby |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1923–1986[2][3] |
| Employer(s) | Walt Disney Studio (1927–1928) Winkler Pictures (1928–1930) Harman-Ising (1929–1933) Leon Schlesinger Productions/Warner Bros. Cartoons (1933–1937, 1939–1962) MGM (1937–1939) Hanna-Barbera (1962–1963) DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (1963–1981) Warner Bros. Animation (1981–1986) |
| Spouse | [4][5] |
| Children | 2 |
| Signature | |
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Isadore "Friz"Freleng (/ˈfriːləŋ/FREE-ləng;[6] August 21, 1905[a] – May 26, 1995),[5] credited asI. Freleng early in his career, was an Americananimator,cartoonist,director,producer, andcomposer known for his work atWarner Bros. Cartoons on theLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies series ofcartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total he created more than 300 cartoons.
He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, includingBugs Bunny,Porky Pig,Tweety,Sylvester,Yosemite Sam (to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance),Granny, andSpeedy Gonzales. The senior director at Warners'Termite Terrace studio, Freleng directed more cartoons than any other director in the studio (a total of 266), and is also the most officially-honored of the Warner directors, having won fiveAcademy Awards and threeEmmy Awards. After Warner closed down the animation studio in 1963, Freleng and business partnerDavid H. DePatie foundedDePatie–Freleng Enterprises, which produced cartoons (includingThe Pink Panther Show), feature film title sequences, andSaturday-morning cartoons. After the company's dissolution in 1981, Freleng joinedWarner Bros. relaunched animation division and produced severalLooney Tunes one-off specials and compilation films.
The nickname "Friz" came from his friend,Hugh Harman, who initially nicknamed him "Congressman Frizby" after a fictional senator who appeared insatirical pieces in theLos Angeles Examiner, due to the character's strong resemblance to him. Over time, this shortened to "Friz".[2][10]
William Schallert claimed that Freleng was the model forMr. Magoo due to his physical appearance.[11]
Freleng was born to Louis Mendel Freleng, aPolish Jewish immigrant fromKutno, and Elka (née Ribakoff) Freleng, aUkrainian Jewish immigrant fromOdesa Oblast,[12] inKansas City, Missouri, where he attendedWestport High School from 1919 to 1923[8] and where began his career in animation at the United Film Ad Service.[2][13] There, he made the acquaintance of fellow animatorsHugh Harman andUb Iwerks. In 1923, Iwerks's friend,Walt Disney, moved toHollywood and put out a call for his Kansas City colleagues to join him. Freleng, however, held out until January 1927, when he finally moved to California and joinedthe Walt Disney studio. He worked alongside other former Kansas City animators, including Iwerks, Harman,Carman Maxwell, andRudolf Ising. While at Disney, Freleng worked on theAlice Comedies andOswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons for producersMargaret Winkler andCharles Mintz. Friz said in an interview withMichael Barrier that Walt had shown patience and remorse in letters prior to joining him, but did not show that attitude after he joined Disney and instead Disney became abusive and harassed him.[2][14][13][15] In 1928, Freleng left the studio, due to Disney saying he "forfeited his bonus" along with comments on his animation mistakes. Freleng moved back to Missouri to work at his old job at the United Film Ad Service.[16]
Freleng soon teamed up with Harman and Ising (who had also left Disney's employ) to create their own studio. The trio produced a pilot film starring a newMickey Mouse-like character namedBosko. Looking at unemployment if the cartoon failed to generate interest, Freleng moved toNew York City to work on Mintz'sKrazy Kat cartoons,[13][14] all the while still trying to sell the Harman-Ising Bosko picture. Freleng was very unhappy living in New York and made the best of it until another opportunity opened for him. Bosko was finally sold toLeon Schlesinger, who would produce the series forWarner Bros. At first, Freleng was reluctant to return to California whenHarman-Ising asked him to work on the series. At the insistence of his sister Jean, Freleng soon moved back to California to work on the Bosko series, ultimately released under the titleLooney Tunes.[13] A prominent animator on the series, Freleng was eventually delegated co-directorial duties on shorts such asBosko's Picture Show.
Harman and Ising (alongside their crew of animators) left Schlesinger's employ over disputes about budgets in 1933. Schlesinger was left with no experienced directors and therefore lured Freleng away from Harman-Ising to successfully fix cartoons directed byTom Palmer which Warner had rejected. The young animator rapidly became Schlesinger's top director, helming the majority of the higher-budgetedMerrie Melodies shorts during the mid-1930s, and he introduced the studio's first true post-Bosko star,Porky Pig, in the film,I Haven't Got a Hat (1935). Porky was a distinctive character, unlike Bosko or his replacement,Buddy.[13]
As a director, Freleng gained the reputation of a tough taskmaster. His unit, however, consistently produced high-quality animated shorts under his direction.[17]
Friz Freleng directed the largest number of cartoons on theCensored Eleven, a group ofLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. that were withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) in 1968 because the use of ethnic stereotypes in the cartoons, specifically African stereotypes, was deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences.
David DePatie, when asked about the Japanese beetle inBlue Racer in 1996, said this about Friz's view on race, "It seems like poking fun at certain ethnic groups had always spelled success. Friz had always felt that way in his cartoons, especially with Speedy."[18]
In September 1937, Freleng left Schlesinger after accepting an increase in salary to direct for the newMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio headed byFred Quimby. Freleng served as a director onThe Captain and the Kids, an animated series adapted from thecomic strip of the same name (an alternate version ofThe Katzenjammer Kids). In November 1938, Freleng became a "junior director" under Hugh Harman but quit after 6 months in April 1939.[19]
Freleng happily returned to Warner Bros. in mid-April 1939[20] when his MGM contract ended. One of the firstLooney Tunes cartoon shorts directed by Freleng during his second tenure at the studio wasYou Ought to Be in Pictures, a cartoon short which blended animation with live-action footage of the Warner Bros. studio (and included staff such as story manMichael Maltese and Schlesinger himself). The plot, which centers around Porky Pig being tricked byDaffy Duck into terminating his contract with Schlesinger to attempt a career in features, echoes Freleng's experience in moving to MGM.
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Schlesinger's hands-off attitude toward his animators allowed Freleng and his fellow directors almost complete creative control and room to experiment with cartoon comedy styles, which allowed the studio to keep pace with the Disney studio's technical superiority. Freleng's style quickly matured, and he became a master ofcomic timing. DuringWorld War II, he directed several propaganda cartoons, contributing to thePrivate Snafu series and directing shorts likeDaffy – The Commando (1943),Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) andHerr Meets Hare (1945). Often working alongside layout artistHawley Pratt and writerWarren Foster, he also introduced or redesigned a number of Warner characters, includingYosemite Sam in 1945, the cat-and-bird duoSylvester andTweety in 1947, andSpeedy Gonzales in 1955.
Freleng andChuck Jones would dominate the Warner Bros. studio in the years afterWorld War II, with Freleng largely concentrating on the above-mentioned characters, as well asBugs Bunny. Freleng continued to produce modernized versions of the musical comedies he animated in his early career, such asThree Little Bops (1957) andPizzicato Pussycat (1955). He won fourOscars during his time at Warner Bros., for the filmsTweetie Pie (1947),Speedy Gonzales (1955),Birds Anonymous (1957) andKnighty Knight Bugs (1958). Other Freleng cartoons, such asSandy Claws (1955),Mexicali Shmoes (1959),Mouse and Garden (1960) andThe Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961) were Oscar nominees.
Freleng's cartoon,Show Biz Bugs (1957), with Daffy Duck vying with Bugs Bunny for theatre audience appreciation, was arguably a template for the successful format ofThe Bugs Bunny Show that premiered on television in the autumn of 1960. Further, Freleng directed the cartoons with the erudite and ever-so-politeGoofy Gophers encountering the relentless wheels of human industry, them beingI Gopher You (1954) andLumber Jerks (1955), and he also directed three cartoons (sponsored by theAlfred P. Sloan Foundation) extolling the virtues of free-market capitalism:By Word of Mouse (1954),Heir-Conditioned (1955) andYankee Dood It (1956), all three of which involved Sylvester. Freleng directed all three of the vintage Warner Brothers cartoons in which a drinking of Dr. Jekyll's potion (ofThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) induces a series of monstrous transformations:Dr. Jerkyl's Hide (1954),Hyde and Hare (1955) andHyde and Go Tweet (1960). Other Freleng fancies were man at war with the insect world (as inOf Thee I Sting (1946) andAnt Pasted (1953)), an inebriated stork delivering the wrong baby (inA Mouse Divided (1952),Stork Naked (1955) andApes of Wrath (1959)), and characters marrying for money and finding themselves with a shrewish wife and a troublesome step-son (His Bitter Half (1949) andHoney's Money (1962)).
Freleng was occasionally the subject ofin-jokes in Warner cartoons. InCanary Row (1950), there were billboards in the background of scenes advertising various products called "Friz". The "Hotel Friz" was featured inRacketeer Rabbit (1946) and "Frizby the Magician" was one of the acts Bugs Bunny pitched inHigh Diving Hare (1949).
Freleng was somewhat of a musicalcomposer and a classically trained violinist who timed his cartoons on musical bar sheets. Freleng would time gags that best utilizedCarl Stalling's,Milt Franklyn's orWilliam Lava's music. He was one of a very few directors at Warner Bros. to have musical knowledge for making cartoons. Every cartoon Freleng directed from the late 1930s to 1963 was made with his creative musical technique.[1]
Warner Bros. Cartoons was closed in 1963, leading Freleng to take a job atHanna-Barbera Productions as story supervisor on their first feature,Hey There, It's Yogi Bear![21][13] Freleng rented the same space from Warners to create cartoons with his now-former boss,producerDavid H. DePatie (the final producer hired by Warner Bros. to oversee the cartoon division), formingDePatie–Freleng Enterprises. When Warner decided to reopen their cartoon studio in 1964, due to Freleng asking them if he can rent the studio, eventually settling for $500, they did so in name only; DePatie–Freleng produced the cartoons into 1966.[13]
The DePatie–Freleng studio's signature achievement wasThe Pink Panther. DePatie–Freleng was commissioned to create the opening titles for the feature filmThe Pink Panther (1963), for which layout artist and directorHawley Pratt and Freleng created a suave, cool cat character. The Pink Panther cartoon character became so popular thatUnited Artists, distributors ofThe Pink Panther, had Freleng produce a short cartoon starring the character,The Pink Phink (1964).
AfterThe Pink Phink won the 1965Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), Freleng and DePatie responded by producing a whole series of Pink Panther cartoons. Other original cartoon series, among themThe Inspector,The Ant and the Aardvark,Tijuana Toads,The Dogfather,Roland and Rattfink andCrazylegs Crane, soon followed. In 1969,The Pink Panther Show, a Saturday morning anthology program featuring DePatie–Freleng cartoons, debuted onNBC.The Pink Panther and the other original DePatie–Freleng series would remain in production through 1980, with new cartoons produced for simultaneous Saturday morning broadcast and United Artists theatrical release.
Layout artist Hawley Pratt, who worked at DePatie–Freleng during the time, is credited with the creation ofFrito-Lay'sChester Cheetah, on theFood Network show "Deep Fried Treats Unwrapped", though some sources say it wasDDB Worldwide, while others credit Brad Morgan. The studio is also known for creating the color opening title sequence for theI Dream of Jeannie television series. DePatie–Freleng also contributed special effects to the original version ofStar Wars (1977), particularly the animation of the lightsaber blades, which was done by Korean animatorNelson Shin.[22][23]
By 1967, DePatie and Freleng had moved their operations to theSan Fernando Valley. Their studio was located on Hayvenhurst Avenue inVan Nuys. One of their projects, titledGoldilocks, featuredBing Crosby and his family, and had songs by theSherman Brothers. At their new facilities, they continued to produce new cartoons until 1980, when they sold DePatie–Freleng toMarvel Comics, which renamed itMarvel Productions.
Freleng later served as anexecutive producer on three 1980sLooney Tunes compilation features,The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981),Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982), andDaffy Duck's Fantastic Island (1983), which linked classic shorts with new animated sequences. In 1986, Freleng stepped down and gave his position at Warner Bros. to his secretary at the time, Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, who ended up being the second-longest producer of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies franchise, behind onlyLeon Schlesinger.[2]
In 1994, the International Family Film Festival presented its first Lifetime Achievement of Excellence in Animation award to Freleng, and the award has since been referred to as the "Friz Award" in his honor.[24]
On May 26, 1995, Friz Freleng died ofnatural causes at theUCLA Medical Center, aged 88.[25] The WB animated TV seriesThe Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, and theLooney Tunes cartoonFrom Hare to Eternity (which was the last one directed by Chuck Jones), were both dedicated to his memory. After his death,Cartoon Network aired a variation of one of theirstation identifications with the words "Friz Freleng: 1906–1995" (the birth year is disputed) appearing and an announcer paying tribute to Freleng and his works. He is interred inHillside Memorial Park Cemetery.[2]
Freleng is portrayed byTaylor Gray in the filmWalt Before Mickey (2015).
Media related toFriz Freleng at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or aboutFriz Freleng atWikisource
