Chuck Jones: Conversations (Conversations With Comic Artists Series) (Paperback)

~ (Editor) "Ray Bradbury is forty-seven, and he has the presence and the appearance of a moderately unsuccessful Shakespearean actor..." (more)
Key Phrases: Bugs Bunny, Warner Bros, Chuck Jones (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Chuck Jones (1912-2002), responsible for a host of classic Warner Brothers cartoons and the Road Runner's creator, was the most thoughtful and articulate great animation director. These dozen interviews, all conducted after Warners closed its animation unit in 1962, come from Jones' long stint as an elder statesman of animation and attest to how much thought and skill went into what are casually viewed as simple, seven-minute cartoons. The interviews come from various sources, including newspapers and radio shows. The best are lengthy conversations with well-informed interlocutors from film journals and animation zines. Jones attractively balances justifiable pride in his accomplishments and humorous self-deprecation. Although he received an honorary Academy Award in 1996, and his One Froggy Evening (1956) is on the Library of Congress's National Film Registry, he repeatedly states that he and his crew didn't regard themselves as artists while they were producing the cartoons, which they figured were pretty ephemeral. Their handiwork's persistent popularity on TV and in lavishly produced DVD sets shows how wrong they were. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Chuck Jones: Conversations brings to life the legendary Warner Bros. artist who helped shape the history of American animation, defining our impressions of such characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, and Pepé le Pew. These interviews span more than thirty years, beginning with a 1968 conversation in which Jones (1912-2002) shares the spotlight with science fiction giant Ray Bradbury.

Throughout, the interviews illustrate the development of Jones's career, including shifts that came after the Warner Bros. animation unit closed in the early 1960s-from the uncertain years of American animation during that decade and the 1970s through the "rediscovery" of Jones and Hollywood studio animation during the 1980s and 1990s. Jones candidly discusses his aesthetic sensibilities, providing tips for aspiring animators and describing Warner Bros. animation in its heyday.

Jones was an art college graduate who struggled through the Depression, trying to establish himself within the Hollywood industry. In these conversations he emerges as a witty raconteur and a well-read, inspiring advocate for animation art, intent on nurturing future generations of animators. Jones recalls vividly the Golden Age of studio animation from the 1930s to the 1950s, including his connections with the Walt Disney studio and United Productions of America. With pleasure, insight, and depth, he describes his family and early life as well as his post-Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies days. These interviews reveal Jones's struggles as an artist, the many influences upon him, and the creative process that made him famous. This volume contains previously unpublished material along with classic interviews.

Maureen Furniss, Savannah, Georgia, professor of animation and film at Savannah College of Art and Design, is the founding editor and publisher of Animation Journal. She is the author of Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics, and her work has appeared in many periodicals.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (March 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578067294
• ISBN-13: 978-1578067299
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,119,889 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars List of Authors, April 7, 2005

By	Mark Twain "Arrow" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chuck Jones: Conversations (Conversations With Comic Artists Series) (Hardcover)

Here are the list of authors that appear in this book:

The Fantasy Makers: A Conversation with Ray Bradbury and Chuck Jones
Mary Harrington Hall/1968
From Psychology Today, April 1968

An Interview with Chuck Jones
Michael Barrier and Bill Spicer/1969
From Funnyworld 13, 1971

Witty Birds and Well-Drawn Cats: An Interview with Chuck Jones
Joe Adamson/1971
Combined interviews from March and December 1971, partly published in edited form within Gerald Peary and Danny Peary, The American Animated Cartoon (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980)

Chuck Jones
Greg Ford and Richard Thompson/1972
From Film Comment, January/February 1975

The Art of Chuck Jones
John Lewell/1982
From Films and Filming 336, September 1982

Live from Trumps
Charles Solomon/1985
Radio broadcast, KUSC-FM, April 16, 1985

Interview with Chuck Jones, 1988
Steven Bailey/1988

Chuck Jones and the Daffy World of Cartoons: The Warner's Legend Remembering the Glory Days in an Animated Autobiography
Tom Shales/1989
From The Washington Post, November 26, 1989

Chuck Jones: Animation Pioneer
Academy of Achievement/1993
From the Academy of Achievement website, online at http://www.achievement.org

Interview with Chuck Jones
Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps/1996
From the "Mark & Brian" radio show, KLOS-FM, April 1996

The Inner Daffy: Chuck Jones and the Creative Process
Jo Jürgens/1996

Chuck Jones
Stephen Thompson/1998
From The Onion, online at http://www.theonionavclub.com

Chuck Jones, in his own words
Ron Barbagallo/1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to your Chuck Jones library, April 26, 2005

By	Steven Bailey "Cinemaven" (Jacksonville Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I highly recommend this book, and not just because I'm in it. (I highly easily finagled a telephone interview with Chuck Jones in 1988--not the greatest interview in the book, but surely one of the highlights of my life.)

If you're a fan of the legendary animation director, this book is the Holy Grail of interview books. It includes interviews by Richard Thompson and Greg Ford (who later did his own Looney Tunes cartoon, THE DUXORCIST) from Film Comment's legendary 1975 issue devoted to animation; an interview by film-buff supreme Joe Adamson (who also did his own Bugs Bunny cartoon, A POLITICAL CARTOON--geez, when do I get to do *my* Looney Tunes??); and several other great and extensive interviews with the master. An invaluable look into the mind of one of the great popular artists of our time.