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Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes Hardcover – October 5, 2021

by Jaime Weinman (Author)

4.8 47 ratings

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Looney Tunes cartoons, writes celebrated television critic Jaime Weinman, are the high-water mark of American filmed comedy.

Surreal, irreverent, philosophical, and riotously funny, they have maintained their power over audiences for generations and inspired such giants of the cinema as Mel Brooks, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. Here, finally, Weinman gives Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Sylvester, and the whole cast of animated icons their long-awaited due. With meticulous research, he takes us inside the Warners' studio to unlock the mystery of how an unlikely band of directors and artists working in the shadow of Walt Disney created a wild, visually stunning and oh-so-violent brand of comedy that has never been matched for sheer volume of laughs. The result is an unexpected and fascinating story that matches the Looney Tunes themselves for energy, humor, and ingenuity.

Print length

375 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Sutherland House Books
Publication date

October 5, 2021
Dimensions

6 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches
ISBN-10

1989555462
ISBN-13

978-1989555460
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite, Jaime Weinman, scholarly and thorough, traces the evolution (and decline) of these two pop-culture brands. His is a devotee’s single-minded attention to detail and historical context. Call him a ‘toon nerd in the very best sense; his enthusiasm and dogged fascination underline every paragraph." - Bob Duffy, Washington Independent Review of Books

"Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite, a new biography of Looney Tunes by the former Maclean’s editor Jaime Weinman, offers a thorough if breezy overview of the cartoons, characters, and controversies that have marked the franchise for nearly a hundred years... Weinman’s book provides a much-needed update." - Alexander Sallas, Literary Review of Canada

"This book is a nice read— Jaime really knows what he’s talking about. It’s a nostalgic look back at a time and place I thought I knew all about until I started reading this book." - Jason Chatfield, Chatfield

"Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite could be a deadly dull read, but the former Maclean's magazine staffer is animated enough about his subject matter to keep you entertained." - Neal Justin, Star Tribune

"One of the pleasures of the book is Weinman’s focus on the dichotomy between the early anarchic, edgier works and the perhaps more famed and acclaimed works from the 1950s, dominated by the lofty creative goals and ideals of animation giant Chuck Jones." - Steven Gaydos, yahoo!Life

About the Author

Jaime Weinman is an expert on television and popular culture; he has written for Vox, Vice, Maclean's, Literary Review of Canada, and Canadian Screenwriter.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sutherland House Books (October 5, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 375 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1989555462
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1989555460
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.11 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #319,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #170 in TV Shows
- #180 in Animation Graphic Design (Books)
- #410 in Art of Film & Video

Customer Reviews:
4.8 47 ratings

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Kindle Customer

Finally, Someone Who Shares My Take on Space Jam!

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2024

Verified Purchase

For years I have held the opinion there was no way Bugs Bunny would have ever needed Michael Jordan's help to beat the MonStars. (Shawn Bradley was a MonStar, enough said). Bugs got the best of Yosemite Sam, Elmer Fudd, Daffy, Gossamer, Giovanni Jones, Marvin the Martian, Blacque Jacque Shelacque, and Rocky. Bugs even filled in for Roadrunner when RR strained a giblet and got the best of Wile E. Coyote, Genius.
If you enjoyed the original made for theaters Looney Tunes, you will enjoy this book.

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adaks

Excellent. Lots of new information. Good analysis and historical context.

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

Great history with insights. Finally, we get a little of the inner workings of the WB studio, with rivalries and hurt feelings. Had no idea that Friz Freleng didn't like to use Elmer Fudd. Did not know that Art Davis was "tentative" as a director. (I personally love his shorts: "Two Gophers from Texas" still makes me roll on the floor with laughter every time.)
The chapter on the "Censored 11" spends most of its time on "Coal Black", and I get it, but it's still an amazing cartoon, and I can appreciate it while still recognizing its major faults. I'd love to have seen the rest of those cartoons given the same kind of discussion.
Definitely a worthwhile addition to my library. Kudos to the author.

4 people found this helpful

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Joel Canfield

A New Hot Take on Bugs and Company

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

This was the Looney Tunes book I didn’t know I needed! Really a wonderful take on these amazing cartoons from a modern perspective and damn, I never knew Chuck Jones HATED Bob Clampett. Breezy read and well worth it if you grew up loving these shorts as I did.

3 people found this helpful

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Paul L. Martin

A trip down Memory Lane with Bugs Bunny and Friends

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2021

Jaime Weinman, in his book Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes (Sutherland House, 2021) takes a deep dive into the legendary and wildly popular Warner Brothers cartoons created between 1930 and 1963 featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester and Tweety, and the irrepressible Foghorn Leghorn among a host of others. The cartoons were created to be the hors d’oeuvre to the main course of whatever Warner Brothers picture was scheduled at the local movie theater, but most of us of a certain age remember Bugs and company from Saturday mornings on one of the big three networks back in the day.

I have some specific memories of these beloved cartoons. While my mother slept in, I would take some money from her purse and bike to the local Alta Dena bakery for a dozen chocolate and a dozen powdered donuts. While my siblings and I munched away, we watched the Road Runner continually outwit Wiley E. Coyote, leaving him smashed, bashed, and broken. We watched while Bugs dressed as a woman to seduce the rather thick Elmer Fudd and send him off to hunt Daffy instead of Bugs, thoroughly convinced it was duck season instead of “wabbit” season. No Beanie and Cecil for me, and Scooby Doo’s stoner act got old quickly. Bugs Bunny, the trickster extraordinaire, never seemed tired. Considering we were watching cartoons created in the 1940s and 1950s, our interest never waned even as we watched from the far future of the late 1960s and 70s.

Looney Tunes could be violent, and the popular characters rarely faced consequences for their actions, but we loved them. Weinman theorizes that kids did not always connect with Looney Tunes characters “because we know that nothing has consequences for them, and they seem to know it too.” I admired Bugs’ facility with words, his ability to con Porky or Elmer or Daffy, and always come out on top. Rarely is he flustered or thrown off his game. Weinman believes the cartoons adopted an “anything for a laugh” philosophy, which “isn’t what we expect of first-rate art.” Is a cartoon first-rate art? Arguably, yes!

Weinman goes on to write that “To celebrate the greatness of works of art, you have to acknowledge their limitations, the sides of the world that they don’t or can’t see. Looney Tunes cartoons leave out a lot of human experience, and speak to only one kind of mood. But what we ask of art is not that it tell us everything, but that it tell us something, that it have a style and a viewpoint that makes sense to us. Every good Looney Tunes cartoon has that.”

The book offers a deep and well-researched history of the cartoons, along with how characters were perceived by the public, which ones became popular, and which ones were eventually phased out. There were also several instances in their long history that characters were subtly, or even dramatically altered when different animation teams and producers took over. Many of the most successful characters had speech impediments exploited for humor, something in our more careful age would not fly. But these “vocal quirks” endeared them to audiences over generations. It is also interesting to note which characters the studio thought would be the breakout stars. For instance, they placed their faith in Daffy Duck as the definitive Looney Tunes cartoon character. Of course, Bugs Bunny changed that. The cartoons also attacked common themes in the culture, like hunting as a sign of manliness. Porky Pig destroyed that fanciful notion, as did Elmer Fudd in his hunting cap, chasing both Bugs and Daffy with disastrous results. However, Weinman points out that what makes Looney Tunes great is the ability of the writers and artists “to portray the maximum amount of comedy violence while still being charming, fun, family entertainment.”

Of course, the cartoons were produced during some of the most fraught times in the twentieth century, and they often reflected those crises specifically or tangentially. When the cartoons were combined into packages and sold into syndication, several were removed for their overt racism. They were singled out for their racist stereotypes and black-face gags, wholly inappropriate today and in the late 1960s and 1970s when they were a major block of Saturday morning programming for kids.

So what happened to Bugs and the gang? Well, the syndication packages were divided and reassembled and then redivided again. Many are available on YouTube. Check your local listings, as the saying goes. The characters did return to prominence in the Space Jam movies, the most successful project for Looney Tunes since the original Warner Brothers cartoon studio shut down.

If you are a fan of the cartoons, Jaime Weinman’s book is a must-have. For the casual cartoon connoisseur, or someone who remembers the taste of chocolate and powdered donuts on a Saturday morning along with the telescoping concentric circles receding into the distance with “That’s all Folks!” that marked the end of each cartoon, this is an insightful and interesting book, as much about childhood and memory as American culture and a rabbit, who despite the odds, always came out on top, the trickster heading off into the sunset, on top of the world.

2 people found this helpful

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Mike Russo

The Definitive Looney Tunes History

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

Want to learn about the greatest animated cartoons and characters in cinema history? Then you owe it yourself to get this book immediately. Everything you need to know is here, from the earliest days of Bosko and Buddy to modern TV revivals. Jamie Weinman is a true fan of these cartoons, and it comes through in every page. It's a book that's impossible to put down until you're done. I can not recommend it enough.

6 people found this helpful

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Kristen Longfield

A Great Hollywood History!

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book details the production history of the Looney Tunes, which is tremendously illuminating and, I think, little known to modern Looney Tunes fans. The impact of the way they were created on the stories and characters becomes undeniable, and highlights why it's been so difficult for anyone else to replicate that success. If you love the Looney Tunes or animation in general, this should be a must-read.

6 people found this helpful

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