It’s the 43rd Anniversary of the book on the left – the 1981 first edition of the Warner Bros. cartoon filmography by Will Friedwald and myself. And this year also marks the 35th Anniversary of the 1989 completely re-written second edition Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide To The Warner Bros. Cartoons (center). But most do not know there was a “one-and-a-half edition”. A 1997 reprint of the 1981 version, with a green cover (on the right, above) – and no other text changes.
Scarecrow Press contacted us in 1996 to say they had, after fifteen years, sold out of the inventory of books they had originally published back then (I have no idea how many they initially published – a thousand?). That excited us – as that version of the book had numerous errors and omissions, and we had a newly revised edition published elsewhere, which most considered (in those pre-internet years) to be a definitive filmography (at the time).
However, Scarecrow wanted to keep the original book in print – as is. They still got orders for it and wanted to keep it in stock. Okay… so I asked if we could correct some of the most glaring boo-boo’s – and perhaps add two cartoons we somehow omitted back then. No – they just wanted to reprint the book – and was letting us know. I asked if we could do anything to inform the readers of this book where we stood today. All they could offer us was the opportunity to write a two page “preface” to this new edition.
I’ve recently become aware that very few people even knew of this reprint – and never read our little preface. So without anyone’s permission, I’ll celebrate the 1997 reprint’s 27th Anniversary by posting the preface we wrote below. Re-Reading this, I would have written it a little differently and a little better… but here it is in case you haven’t seen it. My way of commemorating this little book project that has always meant a lot to me and Will – and still does.
The 1997 Preface
Once upon a time, way back in 1981, two die-hard fans put together a bunch of loose notes, wise-ass comments and whatever factual data they could muster about their favorite Hollywood cartoons and sent the collected information to a publisher. The book you hold in your hands is the result of that work.
There obviously needed to be a guide to the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, but nobody then knew exactly why. We only knew that we needed a book like this, if only to check off the cartoons we had seen or to make sure our collection was complete. When did the first Warner Bros. cartoon come out? What was the difference between a Looney Tune and a Merrie Melodie? And just how many of those crummy Rudy Larriva Road Runner cartoons are there? Those are just a few of the questions we sought to answer.
Until the publication of this book, even the simplest bits of information were hard to come by. We watched and took notes on hundreds of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for years, using private collectors 16mm prints and afternoon television broadcasts as our primary sources (this was at a time before VCRs and home video compilations were common). We tried to get permission from Warner Bros. to print still photos and cartoon images, but at the time that door was tightly closed. Scarecrow Press took a big chance with this rag-tag cartoon filmography.
And the rest, they say, is history. Apparently there were others who had some use for a pictureless catalog on animated pictures. The book sold well for Scarecrow and the good folks at Warner Bros. Cartoon Department in Burbank loved it. Even Friz Freleng, Chick Jones and Bob Clampett told us how much they appreciated the book. But it soon became evident that there was a lot we did not know, and there were mistakes that needed correction.
When we first worked on this book, gaining complete and accuarate screen credits was impossible. The Private Snafu filmography was woefully incomplete. Two cartoons, Paying The Piper (1949) and The Egg-cited Rooster (1952), were missing. And, among many other typos, we would like to thank David Mruz for having to live with his first name misspelled in the acknowledgements all this time.
So a few years after its publication, we yearned for the opportunity to revise the book, correct the errors, add illustrations, and complete the filmography. Many fans wrote to us with corrections and additions, and we were grateful. Warner Bros. awarded us a second chance with a revised edition (and completely rewritten) paperback edition, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide To The Warner Bros. Cartoons (Henry Holt), published in 1989.
But for some reason, this original Scarecrow edition has endured. Many people tell us that they like this earlier work, because we were able to tell it like it is. If Bob Clampett made the funniest cartoons of the 1940s, we say so; if a 1960s Daffy and Speedy cartoon stinks, you’ll read it in here.
So here it is – warts and all – the ranting and ravings of two enthusiastic young fans who, in an era before fanzines and web pages, wrote in the spirit of their humor about the cartoons they love. Enjoy it, but don’t take it too seriously – this book, like the cartoons it chronicles, is supposed to be fun.
