Mike Sporn posted scans of the obscenely rare Piccoli children’s book by Paul Julian, a must-see for anyone interested in the phenomenally talented artist.
As somewhat of a companion piece, here’s the Friz Freleng directed sequence from the 1948 Dennis Morgan/Jack Carson feature, Two Guys from Texas. No question that the gorgeous Julian backgrounds are the highlight of it. Julian remarked to Shamus Culhane once that he never did anything at Warners that was in his own “vision,” only Freleng’s. A surprisingly dismissive statement, given that Julian’s are regularly the best of the Warner background paintings of the 1940s. (I guess it was no good because it was all for smartass animals and stupid humor.) Also on display here are some great caricatures by Ben Shenkman (You can see the Carson caricature briefly in Freleng’s Slick Hare as well.) Watchful eyes will notice the rampant animation reuse from Tashlin’s Swooner Crooner.
I included a bit of footage from the actual movie to put it in context. (The squaw harassing Carson is a running gag throughout it.) Clearly you can see why it’s not on DVD: it’s a bad old movie. So it’s chances of release are slim to none.
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For all the humor in Warners’ cartoon department, the studio was woefully maladept over the years at doing feature-length comedies (where Paramount and Universal tended to reign supreme in the 30s and 40s). Warners’ comedies seem to try too hard — the funniest moments from Warners’ features usually were the incedental stuff in their musicals or dramas.
By the late 1940s, and after one brief trip away from Warners, Julian apparently was chomping at the bit to do something different than the backgrounds Freleng preferred in his cartoons. Of course in hindsight, the UPA style he’d go to in the 50s pretty much became the standard, and years and years of repetition of those styles by others, even at a lower-quality, make his realistic work at Warners far more interesting today for their level of skill than what he’d do for Hubley and others a few years later.
“Watchful eyes will notice the rampant animation reuse from Tashlin’s Swooner Crooner”
Yeah, it’s so hard to spot. LOL
I like how Bugs sets this guy up, sort of out of character for Freleng’s Bugs.
Probably best to avoid the word “squaw” these days. The present claim is that it is actually a reference to the female genitalia. I know too little about aboriginal American languages to know whether this claim is true or is PC rot, and the presumption that the White Man is responsible for the confusion is pure conjecture (the origin could as well be in the misogyny of an aborigine), but there’s surely no point in getting people’s backs up.
“slim” meaning maybe it’ll show up as a Warners Archive MOD release… it is owned by wb, yes? …not that many folks would be interested in paying 20 bucks to own this clunker…
Wise choice to have Stalling score the cartoon sequence.
Never liked the movement of cartoon Carson’s big toe bouncing up and down to the music. Almost as disturbing as the “toe with a human face” in Betty Boop’s “Poor Cinderella”.
Toe movement in cartoons bother me for some reason.
Thank you for explaining why the heck there is a fat Native American chick speaking Spanish chasing after Dan at the end of that cartoon dream sequence-I use to think that it was some random trippy idea…
They showed part of this on Toon Heads once.
Suddenly, the fact that Freleng remade Clampett’s “Dough for the Do-Do” makes sense, because Julian’s Dali-esque backgrounds were a natural for the surreal Wackyland.
Thad, every day I love you a little bit more.
Thanks Adam…. I think.
Frankie!