Open Wide

Wide-open mouths aplenty in the only Art Davis-directed Bugs Bunny cartoon, “Bowery Bugs.” And finger gestures, too. They don’t move as wildly as in a Bob McKimson cartoon about this time, but the movement isn’t as restrained as in a Jones or Freleng Bugs.



Some drawings of Bugs have him with long, thin front teeth while others have him with shorter, chisel-shaped ones. Emery Hawkins, Basil Davidovich, Bill Melendez and Don Williams are the credited animators.

Starring Art Davis

Artie Davis not only animates, but appears in the 1933 Scrappy cartoon “The World’s Affair.” It’s a spoof of the inventions displayed at that year’s Chicago World’s Fair.

In a hair-restoration scene, a man has hair brushes help grow hair on the top of his head, but lose it on the sides. Then, it’s vice versa. Next the brushes up top create a dent in his head. A mallet bashes his chin from below and the head becomes round again, with one hair up top. The man is delighted.



Art was already bald when the Charlie Mintz studio packed up at left New York for Los Angeles in 1930 when he was 24. He stayed with the studio for a while after Mintz died in late 1939, then moved over to Warner Bros. where he achieved his greatest fame and made his best cartoons.

My thanks to Milton Knight for tipping me off about this cartoon.

Instant Duck Shower

“What Makes Daffy Duck” may be the best cartoon made by the Art Davis unit at Warners. There are wonderful drawings of Daffy, lippy dialogue, non-stop action and a few nutty gags.

The camera pans to a lonely bullrush, which starts shaking.



The bullrush turns out to be Daffy disguising himself from hunters. Here are consecutive drawings.



Daffy pulls a shower from behind his back. These drawings are consecutive, two frames per drawing.



Bill Melendez, Basil Davidovich, Emery Hawkins and Don Williams get the animation credits.

I'm Here to Help Ya, Son

Sureshot the exterminator shows up to help Porky Pig with the termite problem in “The Pest That Came to Dinner.”

The animation of the smiling Sureshot is lots of fun all through the cartoon. There are lots of multiples and brush strokes when he flings open Porky’s front door, grabs the phone next the supine pig’s and tells him “I’m here to help ya, son.” I suspect it’s all Don Williams’ work.



These drawings are consecutive. They’re each shot on two frames.



Multiple eyes.



These drawings are also consecutive on twos.



There are lots of great gestures, like Sureshot supporting his body in mid-air with the plunger, and reactions by Porky that you can really appreciate viewing this part of the cartoon frame-by-frame.

Bill Melendez, John Carey and Basil Davidovich get animation credits besides Williams in another fine cartoon from the Art Davis unit (though the final scene strikes me as superfluous).

Through the Eyes of a Parrot

Here’s a look at Don Williams’ multiple eyes in “Dough Ray Meow,” from the Art Davis unit at Warners.



Emery Hawkins, Basil Davidovich and Bill Melendez were also credited with animation in this one. Unfortunately, studios weren’t raking in money from cartoons in the late ‘40s and the Davis unit was a casualty. When the unit died, so did Williams’ career at Warners. He resurfaced on a freelance basis at Hanna-Barbera in 1959 before moving on to DePatie-Freleng a few years later.

Pork Chops

The Art Davis unit went out on top with what was arguably its best cartoon, “Bye Bye Bluebeard” (released 1948). The story and gags are solid, the timing is tops and there are some neat layouts.

The silhouette/guillotine scene sets up Porky’s horror beautifully.



Davis’ layout artist was Don Smith, who disappeared after the unit folded. He may be the William D. Smith who worked for Harman-Ising in the ‘30s.

The Twirling Pants of Fear

Last week, we featured an Avery-like eye-bulge take from the Art Davis unit at Warners in “Porky Chops.” Here are some drawings from an even wilder take of the heckling squirrel when he sees and angry bear galloping toward him. Notice how the squirrel’s pants twirl in fear.



Larry Trembley has identified the animator as Bill Melendez, yes, the one who brought you the kind, gentle, almost immobile Peanuts characters on TV. Emery Hawkins, Don Williams and Basil Davidovich were also credited as animators.

This cartoon shows Davis and his writers Bill Scott and Lloyd Turner had the Warners style down pat. Puns, takes, silly dialogue, lippy antagonists from New York who called people names, characters zipping from one place to the next. And Davis carries it off with a one-shot character who doesn’t have audience familiarity going for him. Great stuff.

Not That Screwy Squirrel

Two cartoon directors in Hollywood got screwed. One was Don Patterson, who showed his capabilities at the cost-conscious Walter Lantz studio, but never got another shot at directing after Tex Avery arrived. The other was Art Davis, whose unit was deemed superfluous and decimated at Warner Bros. Davis had a couple of good animators, two great storymen (who developed after they left the studio), and was able to revive a virtually dead Porky Pig and turn him back into an amusing character.

One of Davis’ lesser-known delights is “Porky Chops” where the pig takes on a heckling squirrel from Flatbush. It’s the cartoon where the squirrel removes the blade from Porky’s axe, and the pig responds with the line “Gee, you don’t have to fly off the handle like that.”

Here are a couple of drawings from one of the takes.



There’s even a better take by the squirrel later in the cartoon. It’ll appear in a future post.

Artie, you got screwed.

The credited animators are Emery Hawkins, Bill Melendez, Don Williams and Basil Davidovich.

You Ain’t No Good Luck Charm

Art Davis directed Bugs Bunny only once. Whether that was through desire or the other directors at the studio sopped up the quota of Bugs cartoons, I don’t know. But “Bowery Bugs” is a pretty good cartoon, with a different feel than those of the other three directors of Warners at the time.

There’s a neat little scene where Steve Brodie takes Bugs into a gambling den as a good luck charm—and Bugs proceeds to help Brodie lose all his money. Bugs grabs a coin from Brodie’s pocket and deposits in a slot machine. Whoever’s animating the scene has Bugs’ fingers moving around.



Brodie anticipates a jackpot. But the slot comes up three lemons. We don’t see that. We just see the lemons roll out.



Bugs does a little slide step to get out of the way of Brodie’s punch.



The bouncer that chucks Brodie out of the place isn’t just nicknamed “Gorilla.” He is one. With fangs, even.



I’ve always liked how Brodie is tossed to the curve, then the lemons follow him. After just enough time, the gag is capped. A little sympathetic dog trots into the scene, licks Brodie, gives a take, then spits.



The animation credits go to Don Williams, Emery Hawkins, Basil Davidovich and Bill Melendez. Bill Scott and Lloyd Turner came up with the story.