High Diving Julian

Try this—picture the great cartoon “High Diving Hare” (1949) with a score by Bill Lava, backgrounds by Tom O’Loughlin and those late-‘50s box-head character designs that Hawley Pratt came up with. Doesn’t work as well, does it? It shows you how everything and everyone had to mesh to make a Warner Bros. cartoon, and how moving to a more representational style of drawing after the ‘40s didn’t make things as entertaining on the screen in some cases.

Friz Freleng played a winning hand with the early Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoons. “Bugs Bunny Rides Again” may be my favourite, but this is among the tops. It features subtle but expressive animation, Friz’s perfect gag timing, a right amount of silliness and, of course, Sam always explodes and Bugs always wins. Oh, and Paul Julian provided great sets. I’ve always liked how he uses colour changes to simulates highlights.

I wish the opening background that’s panned was in someone’s collection and on-line. Here it is in three frames.





Julian plants a reference to Friz in the last one. Frizby is a magician appearing on the bill. Some more backgrounds.









And one background is used as a gag. Sam falls for it. Literally.



The cartoon was released in April 1949 but still playing in theatres as late as January 1951. Here it is on one of those Saturday matinees for kids. One Bugs and three Terrytoons. You remember The 3 Magpies, don’t you? And, yes, people couldn’t spell in 1950, either.

If you want to know more about the animators on this one, drop by HERE.