GoldenAgeCartoons presents a brief Q&A with Jerry Beck about his new book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons which is now available in bookstores and on Amazon.com. You can also "like" the book on Facebook.
GAC: How long did it take to go through all those Top 100 lists people submitted last year? Seems like it would be quite a task!
JB: I think I worked on it for two full days. I made sure every title submitted was counted and everything was double checked. The most important thing was to make sure this list reflected the voters - not my own preferences.
GAC: I was surprised no Pepe Le Pew cartoon made the list. What were some of the biggest surprises you encountered while compiling the book? Were there any cartoons among the final list of the 100 Greatest that you didn't expect to see?
JB: There was no agenda by me (or Warner Bros. or my publisher) to include (or exclude) specific characters. I was surprised by the variety of characters we ended up with and relieved that Bugs Bunny did not dominate the choices. I truly feared that 60% or more of the book would be Bugs Bunny and 40% would be Daffy cartoons.Bugs ended up with about a third of the titles as it is and that seems about right. I also feared that Chuck Jones films would far out number Clampett and Freleng films - and he does, but not by as many as I thought. Overall, It's a pretty good list. I'm okay with the outcome. As for titles I didn't expect -- I'm still scratching my head over Mexicali Shmoes and Guided Muscle... but they got the votes.
GAC: If you could pick one personal favorite of yours that didn't make the list, what would it be?
Oh gosh... there are a lot of goodies that didn't make it. The Wise Quacking Duck is one of my personal favorites that isn't here. Also, Horton Hatches The Egg.
GAC: I enjoyed the choice of having the cartoons listed alphabetically. What cartoon would have ranked #1 if you listed them numerically instead? (I think I know the answer to this, but was still curious...)
JB: You know the answer: What's Opera Doc? That very fact, plus that the number 2, 3 and 4 choices were close to the same choices in my 50 Greatest Cartoons (1994) book, forced me (and my publisher) to consider doing the book alphabetically . It should really be renamed "The One Hundred Looney Tunes You Really Need To See".
GAC: Cartoons like "Coal Black", "Tin Pan Alley Cats" and "Russian Rhapsody" were among the 100 Greatest. Did you run in to any objections to including those controversial cartoons?
JB: Surprisingly, no. I think Warners and the Editors knew this was possible - and we knew the readers would find it inauthentic if we didn't include at least one of those. Like you, I'm bummed they used those crummy, reddish frame grabs from Tin Pan Alley Cats, but hey, the cartoon made the cut.
GAC: On a similar note, it was nice to see the years cartoons were released printed in the book. This information has been absent on many book and DVD projects in recent years for legal reasons. Did you have to fight to include this information or did you work out a compromise of some sort?
JB: I always include release date info when I do credits and leave it to the powers that be to tell me otherwise or edit it out. This time the dates made it to publication. Could this be the start of a new trend? Mmmmm ... could be!
GAC: Thanks for your time, Jerry! All of us Looney Tunes fans here at GAC appreciate everything you do. Anything you'd like to add before we say "That's all, folks"?
JB: I really appreciate the support the kind words of support (and occasional criticism) from the GAC readers. I especially want to thank all the GAC regulars who sent in their selections - and to David Gerstein and Thad K. for some expert assistance.
