Rod Scribner | |
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 Scribner in 1945 | |
| Born | Roderick Henry Scribner[1] (1910-10-10)October 10, 1910 Joseph, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | December 21, 1976(1976-12-21) (aged 66) Patton, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Roderick Scribner Harry Scribner |
| Occupation | Animator |
| Years active | 1935–1976 |
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| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 3[5] |
Roderick Henry Scribner (October 10, 1910 – December 21, 1976) was an Americananimator. He was best known for his work on theLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies series ofcartoons fromWarner Bros. Cartoons. He worked during theGolden age of American animation.
Scribner had an interest in drawing in high school. Drawing was one of his subjects (along with English and political science) when he attendedDenison University for three years. Later, after an interlude spent as a manager of a "hunting marsh", he studied art in Toledo, Ohio, and at theChouinard Art Institute before he joined the Schlesinger animation staff.[6]
Scribner started as an assistant animator forFriz Freleng's unit in 1935, then as a animator forBen Hardaway andCal Dalton (and, briefly,Chuck Jones). Following the dissolution of Hardaway and Dalton's unit in 1939, he joinedTex Avery's unit and worked withRobert McKimson,Charles McKimson,Virgil Ross, andSid Sutherland.[7][8][9]
In late 1941, after Tex Avery left to directSpeaking of Animals series forJerry Fairbanks Productions, he was replaced as the unit director byBob Clampett. Scribner's animation matched Clampett's expansive and energetic cartoons. This was caused by Scribner animating in ink with a pen or a brush, and since Scribner's animation, in Bill Melendez's words, was "very bold and kind of dirty", it would cause crises in the Ink and Paint Department, and the women had to choose which lines to trace. Clampett classics such asA Tale of Two Kitties (1942),Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943), andThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) showcase some of his trademark "Lichty style" of animation, which he proposed to Clampett. Clampett left Warner Bros. in 1946 to pursue a career inpuppetry and television.[7][8][10] Following Clampett's departure, Scribner was transferred to the unit of recently-promoted fellow Clampett alumnus Robert McKimson, although Scribner would only animate on a small number of shorts prior to being hospitalized in late 1946.
He briefly was a cartoonist on Happy Comic's Rowdy Runner and a January 1945 issue of a military magazine called "Service Ribbin".[7] There are some claims from Scribner's family that Chuck Jones stole the Road Runner from Scribner, including a claim from Scribner's son Ty, who claims that he saw a Coyote chasing a Road Runner and that Scribner "pitched" it to Jones, although this claim is very unlikely and dubious since Scribner was at McKimson's unit.[11]
After three years of hospitalization due totuberculosis, Scribner returned to Warner Bros. in 1950 under Robert McKimson's unit. His animation became noticeably more subdued during this period owing to both McKimson's more rigid directorial standards and Scribner's own deteriorated physical state, but he still got away with energetic scenes, like inHillbilly Hare (1950),Hoppy Go Lucky (1952) andOf Rice and Hen (1953).[2][12][13]
According to Warner Brothers animator Lloyd Turner in an interview, Scribner frequently engaged in behavior perceived as "crazy", recollecting Scribner to have burned his house down, and that he had a disdain towards his colleagueArthur Davis, potentially because Davis replaced Clampett after his departure. Resultantly, Scribner played a lot of pranks on Davis at McKimson's unit, inclusive of a notable incident Turner recounted within the interview in which Scribner, sighting Davis on a telephone line in a phone booth, elbowed Turner with a "watch me fix Davis", ran to the other side of the booth and tipped the telephone into a 45-degree angle, leading it to emit a booming sound disconcertingly similar to a bomb. Having successfully alarmed Davis, Scribner tipped the phone back, ran and, according to Turner "laughed like he was possessed", inciting Davis' wrath when he emerged from the booth.[14] Clampett described him as a mischievous elf.[15]
Scribner was laid off from Warner's in 1953 and worked forUPA, Cascade Studios,Jay Ward andStoryboard Inc. from the 50's to the mid 60's.[16] In his later years, Scribner worked with former colleagueBill Melendez on variousCharlie Brown movies andtelevision specials that worked inSnoopy Come Home (1972),There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown (1973) andIt's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974), eventually starting at a studio called Playhouse Pictures, which produced commercials for over 45 years.[17][18] His only completed work not associated with UPA or his former colleague Melendez is a 1968 training video forIBM calledA Computer Glossary and two credits on the first two episodes ofYogi's Gang.[19][20][21] Scribner went to work onFritz the Cat at Bakshi Studios, but eventually sat down with Bakshi and tearfully proclaimed that he "can't do this anymore". Scribner's deteriorated mental state had rendered his work unusable (with Bakshi describing his drawings as "absolutely hideous"), and most of his animation was thrown out or overhauled as a result. Scribner died a few months after leaving the studio, and Bakshi regarded his departure as the saddest experience of his life.[22][23]
After being arrested and put on suicide watch inPatton State Hospital, Scribner died there on December 21, 1976, fromtuberculosis, which he had contracted during World War II in 1945 during the production ofOne Meat Brawl and due to an outbreak of the disease during the war, in which he didn't return to Warners until March 1948. His last project wasRace For Your Life, Charlie Brown, released posthumously in Summer 1977.[24][17][2]Bill Plympton says his work on Coal Black "is a masterpiece of animation and distortion" and that the animation in the Clampett cartoons blew his mind.[25][26] Cartoon Brew puts him on Number 18 on the list of "25 Great Cartoonists You Should Know"[27] AnimatorJohn Kricfalusi is a self-described "fanatic" for Scribner.[28][29][30]
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