The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons [Hardcover]

Jerry Beck (Editor), Leonard Maltin (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2010

In a world of rascally rabbits, megalomaniacal ducks, and stuttering pigs, what defines greatness? This question was posed to thousands of cartoon fans, historians, and animators to create The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons, the definitive Looney Tunes collection. Evaluated on their comedic brilliance, innovative animation, historical significance, and creative merit, cartoon historian Jerry Beck and the Cartoon Brew team of animation experts reveal the amusing anecdotes and secret origins behind such classics as “What’s Opera, Doc?,” “One Froggy Evening,” and “Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.” Featuring more than 300 pieces of original art from private collectors and the Warner Bros. archives, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons settles the debate on the best of the best, and poses a new question: Is your favorite one of the greatest?

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Insight Editions (July 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1608870030
• ISBN-13: 978-1608870035
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 9.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jerry Beck is an animation historian and cartoon producer. His over fifteen books on the subject include The Animated Movie Guide, Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide and The 50 Greatest Cartoons. He is also co-founder/co-writer of the popular animation blog, Cartoon Brew.

Beck is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney, and is currently a consulting producer to Warner Bros., Universal and Disney for their classic animation dvd compilations. Beck has programmed retrospectives for the Annecy and Ottawa Animation Festivals, The Museum of Modern Art and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. He has taught animation history at NYU, SVA, the AFI and UCLA. He is the host/producer of the annual "Worst Cartoons Ever" screening at the Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Beck started his career in film distribution, working at MGM/UA, Orion Classics, Cannon Films and Expanded Entertainment (Tournee of Animation), before starting his own company, Streamline Pictures in 1989, the first U.S. distributor to import anime features such as Otomo's Akira and Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle In The Sky. Beck was instrumental in launching Animation Magazine, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Beck was also the West Coast Bureau Chief for Kidscreen magazine in 2000. He has also created, written and produced animated films for various clients. His latest animation project, Hornswiggle, recently aired on the Nicktoons Network.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely book, would have liked a bit more text, June 25, 2010

By 

Readz Alot (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons (Hardcover)

Jerry Beck surveyed animation fans and historians to come up with a list of the 'creme de la creme' of Looney Tunes -- the best 100 cartoons (out of over a thousand) released by Warner Brothers between 1930 and the mid-1960's. The results are printed in this beatifully produced (and eminently reasonably priced) book that any animation fan will want to own.

I'm sure the comments area of this site will now have multiple discussion threads devoted to arguments over which cartoons should have been included but weren't (and I have some ideas of my own), but all of the 'tunes that made the cut are certainly worthy of a place in this book. The list even includes "Coal Black" .. a short that we will probably never get to see. Shorts are listed in alphabetical order, there was no attempt to rank the cartoons from 1 to 100.

Following a couple of brief introductions, each cartoon gets its own two page spread. One page is devoted to stills from the cartoon (usually sharp and crisp; a few are rather fuzzy -- these seem to be from cartoons that have not been released on DVD and so haven't yet been restored), and the other to text. And that is the slightly disappointing part. A heading in large type, a brief quote from the short in almost-as-large type, a boxed sidebar with production information (director, voices, etc.), a summary of the plot, and then, from an animation expert or historian, a VERY brief discussion of some aspect of the film. I was really hoping for more in-depth discussions of the shorts; couldn't some of the abundant white space on the page been used for this? (Though, realistically, I guess it's hard to get TOO profound when talking about Looney Tunes -- they were never meant to be deep or meaningful ... just funny and entertaining.)

Despite this disappointment, still a must-buy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hours and Hours of Quality Entertainment, October 24, 2010

By 

P. Wong (Federal Way, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons (Hardcover)

I gave this book a 5-star rating, not only because my all-time favorite Looney Tunes cartoon (Satan's Waitin') made the greatest 100, but because this book brings back so many fond memories of my childhood watching these great cartoons. As I thumbed through the book for the first time, I quoted to myself some famous lines from a couple of the cartoons, then found as I read the text about them that these quotes were included!

That first evening when I got this book, it was getting close to my bedtime and the need for sleep before the next work day, but I just couldn't put it down! Thankfully, I have most of these cartoons on the Golden Collection DVD series as well and can watch them whenever I have time. That makes reading this book that much more enjoyable.

A message to those who'd like a more in-depth analysis of the cartoons: Just watch them and enjoy! That's all the writers intended to be done with them anyway.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Awesome pictures/layout ... little substance, July 30, 2010

By 

Freddy - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons (Hardcover)

The book is surprisingly quite small and there is little substance. I was hoping for more insight into each of the cartoons they picked. Each of the 100 "greatest" (I would have used great, as greatest is as they acknowledge very up for debate) cartoons has well printed photos from it, which is what I enjoy the most. I really like the layout and the background print as well.

As for information about the cartoons, there is not that much. Most of the short amount of text devoted to the cartoon is a summary or sometimes even a step by step description of what goes on in the cartoon. It should be assumed that the reader has the cartoon to watch or remembers it. As just reading the plot synopsis does not do it justice and is unnecessary for someone who can just watch it. What I was looking for was more explanation of why this cartoon is one of the top 100. There is little about that.

I would say this book serves better as a collectors item, a book with colorful pictures, rather than an informational book about the Looney Tunes.