Friz Freleng
Encyclopedia
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator
, cartoonist
, director
, and producer
best known for his work on the Looney Tunes
and Merrie Melodies
series of cartoon
s from Warner Bros.
He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny
, Porky Pig
, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the cat
, Yosemite Sam
(to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance) and Speedy Gonzales
. The senior director at Warners' Termite Terrace studio, Freleng directed more cartoons than any other director in the studio (a total of 266), and is also the most honored of the Warner directors, having won four Academy Awards
. After Warners shut down the animation studio in 1963, Freleng and business partner David DePatie
founded DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
, which produced cartoons (notably The Pink Panther Show
), feature film title sequences, and Saturday morning cartoon
s through the early 1980s.
The nickname "Friz" came from how "frizzy" his hair was at one time. He began going by "Friz" during World War II, after having been credited as "I. Freleng", since the outbreak, after there had been concerns about his German-sounding name.
, where he began his career in animation at United Film Ad Service. There, he made the acquaintance of fellow animators Hugh Harman and Ub Iwerks
. In 1923, Iwerks' friend Walt Disney
moved to Hollywood, put out a call for his Kansas City colleagues to join him. Freleng, however, held out until 1927, when he finally moved to California and joined the Disney studio. He worked alongside other former Kansas City animators, including Iwerks, Harman, Carmen Maxwell
, and Rudolph Ising. While at Disney, Freleng worked on the Alice Comedies
and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
cartoons for producers Margaret Winkler and Charles Mintz.
Freleng soon teamed up with Harman and Ising to try to create their own studio. The trio produced a pilot film starring a new Mickey Mouse
-like character named Bosko
. Looking at unemployment if the cartoon failed to generate interest, Freleng moved to New York City
to work on Mintz' Krazy Kat
cartoons, all the while still trying to sell the Harman-Ising Bosko picture. The cartoon finally sold to Leon Schlesinger
, who soon secured Harman and Ising to star Bosko in the Looney Tunes
series he was producing for Warner Bros.
Freleng soon moved back to California to work with Harman and Ising once again.
which Warner Bros rejected. The young animator became Schlesinger's top director, and he introduced the studio's first true post-Bosko star, Porky Pig
, in the 1935 film I Haven't Got a Hat
. The film is notable for being one of the earliest examples of characterization in a cartoon. Porky was a distinctive character, unlike Bosko or his replacement, Buddy
.
headed by Fred Quimby
. To Freleng's chagrin, he found he would be working on The Captain and the Kids, adapted from the popular comic strip
The Katzenjammer Kids. The series failed to achieve much success, much as Freleng had predicted: Though skillfully animated, the characters could not compete with the "funny animal
s" that prevailed at the time.
, a short which blended animation with live-action footage of the Warner Bros. studio (and of Schlesinger veterans such as story man Michael Maltese
and even "Leon" himself). The plot, which centers around Porky Pig being tricked by Daffy Duck into terminating his contract with Schlesinger to attempt a career in features, echoes Freleng's experience in moving to MGM.
. Often working alongside layout artist Hawley Pratt
, he also introduced or redesigned a number of famous Warner characters, including Yosemite Sam
in 1945, the cat-and-bird duo, Sylvester and Tweety in 1947, and Speedy Gonzales
in 1955.
Freleng and Chuck Jones
would dominate the Warner Bros. studio in the years after World War II
, Freleng largely concentrating on the above mentioned characters and Bugs Bunny
. Freleng also continued to produce modernized versions of the musical comedies he animated in his early career, such as The Three Little Bops (1957) and Pizzicato Pussycat
(1955). Freleng won four Oscars during his time at Warner Bros., for the films Tweetie Pie
(1947), Speedy Gonzales (1955), Knighty Knight Bugs
(1958) and Birds Anonymous
(1957). And other Freleng cartoons such as Sandy Claws
(1955), Mexicali Shmoes
(1959), Mouse and Garden (1960), and The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961) were Oscar nominees.
Freleng was occasionally the subject of in-jokes in Warner cartoons, with billboards in the background of scenes advertising various products called "Friz" in Canary Row
, the "Friz Motel" in Racketeer Rabbit
, and "Frizby the Magician" in High Diving Hare
as one of the acts Bugs is pitching.
Dave DePatie (the final producer hired by Warners to oversee the cartoon division), forming DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
. When Warner Bros decided to reopen their cartoon studio in 1964, they did so in name only; DePatie-Freleng produced the cartoons into 1966.
While much of Freleng's post-Warner work is considered of lesser quality than his earlier achievements, the DePatie-Freleng studio's signature achievement was The Pink Panther
. DePatie-Freleng was commissioned to create the opening titles for the 1963 film The Pink Panther
, for which layout artist and director Hawley Pratt
and Freleng created a suave, cool cat character. The Pink Panther cartoon character became so popular that United Artists
, distributors of The Pink Panther, had Freleng produce a short cartoon starring the character, The Pink Phink
(1964).
After The Pink Phink won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons)
, Freleng and DePatie responded by producing a whole series of Pink Panther cartoons. Other original cartoon series, among them The Inspector
, The Ant and the Aardvark
, and Hoot Kloot
, soon followed. In 1969, The Pink Panther Show
, a Saturday morning anthology program featuring DePatie-Freleng cartoons, debuted on NBC
. The Pink Panther and the other original DePatie-Freleng series would remain in production through 1980, with new cartoons produced for simultaneous Saturday morning broadcast and United Artists theatrical release.
DePatie-Freleng is credited with the creation of Frito-Lay
's Chester Cheetah
, on the Food Network
show "Deep Fried Treats Unwrapped"; as well as creating the colored opening title sequence to I Dream of Jeannie
.
By 1967, DePatie and Freleng had moved their operations to the San Fernando Valley
. Their studio was located on Hayvenhurst Avenue in Van Nuys. One of their projects featured Bing Crosby
and his family called, Goldilocks and had songs by the Sherman Brothers
. At their new facilities they continued to produce new cartoons until 1980, when they sold DePatie-Freleng to Marvel Comics
, who renamed it Marvel Productions
.
on three 1980s Looney Tunes compilation features, which linked together several of the classic shorts with new animated sequences. The Freleng-produced compilation features were The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
(1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales
(1982), and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983).
In 1986, Freleng stepped down and gave his position at Warner Bros. to his secretary at the time, Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, who ended up being the second-longest producer of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies franchise, only behind Leon Schlesinger
.
(which was the last one directed by Chuck Jones) were both dedicated to his memory.
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
, cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
best known for his work on the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
and Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
series of cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s from Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the cat
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
, Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
(to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance) and Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales is an animated caricature of a mouse in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent...
. The senior director at Warners' Termite Terrace studio, Freleng directed more cartoons than any other director in the studio (a total of 266), and is also the most honored of the Warner directors, having won four Academy Awards
Academy Award for Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
. After Warners shut down the animation studio in 1963, Freleng and business partner David DePatie
David DePatie
David Hudson DePatie was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons cartoon studio and was charged with closing it in 1963. Afterward, DePatie and longtime Warners animator Friz Freleng formed DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, with many former Warners animators joining them...
founded DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises was a Hollywood-based animation production company, active from 1963 to 1981. They produced theatrical cartoons, animated series, commercials, title sequences and television specials. Notable among these is The Pink Panther film titles and cartoon shorts and the Dr....
, which produced cartoons (notably The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show is a showcase of cartoon shorts produced by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng between 1969 and 1979. The television series was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and was broadcast on two American TV networks:...
), feature film title sequences, and Saturday morning cartoon
Saturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
s through the early 1980s.
The nickname "Friz" came from how "frizzy" his hair was at one time. He began going by "Friz" during World War II, after having been credited as "I. Freleng", since the outbreak, after there had been concerns about his German-sounding name.
Early career
Freleng was born in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, where he began his career in animation at United Film Ad Service. There, he made the acquaintance of fellow animators Hugh Harman and Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
. In 1923, Iwerks' friend Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
moved to Hollywood, put out a call for his Kansas City colleagues to join him. Freleng, however, held out until 1927, when he finally moved to California and joined the Disney studio. He worked alongside other former Kansas City animators, including Iwerks, Harman, Carmen Maxwell
Carmen Maxwell
Carman Griffin "Max" Maxwell was an American animator and voice actor.Maxwell was born in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and later moved to Kansas City, Missouri...
, and Rudolph Ising. While at Disney, Freleng worked on the Alice Comedies
Alice Comedies
The "Alice Comedies" are a series of animated cartoonscreated by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an animated landscape....
and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s...
cartoons for producers Margaret Winkler and Charles Mintz.
Freleng soon teamed up with Harman and Ising to try to create their own studio. The trio produced a pilot film starring a new Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
-like character named Bosko
Bosko
Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros...
. Looking at unemployment if the cartoon failed to generate interest, Freleng moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to work on Mintz' Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run...
cartoons, all the while still trying to sell the Harman-Ising Bosko picture. The cartoon finally sold to Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
, who soon secured Harman and Ising to star Bosko in the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
series he was producing for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Freleng soon moved back to California to work with Harman and Ising once again.
Early Schlesinger cartoons
Harman and Ising left Schlesinger's studio over disputes about budgets in 1933. Schlesinger was left with no experienced directors, and therefore lured Freleng away from Harman-Ising to successfully fix cartoons directed by Tom PalmerTom Palmer (animator)
Anthony "Tony" Pipolo, known professionally as Tom Palmer was an Italian-American animator who was active in the 1930s and worked at several animation studios. He was born with the surname of "Pipolo" but changed his name to Palmer...
which Warner Bros rejected. The young animator became Schlesinger's top director, and he introduced the studio's first true post-Bosko star, Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
, in the 1935 film I Haven't Got a Hat
I Haven't Got a Hat
I Haven't Got a Hat is a 1935 animated short film, directed by Isadore Freleng for Leon Schlesinger Productions as part of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies series. Released by Warner Bros. on March 9, 1935, the short is notable for featuring the first appearance of several Warner Bros. cartoon...
. The film is notable for being one of the earliest examples of characterization in a cartoon. Porky was a distinctive character, unlike Bosko or his replacement, Buddy
Buddy (Looney Tunes)
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons.-Looney Tunes:Buddy has his origins in the chaos that followed the severing of relations between animators Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising from producer Leon Schlesinger...
.
MGM
In 1937, Freleng left Schlesinger's after accepting an increase in salary to direct for the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studioMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was the in-house division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture studio in Hollywood, California during the Golden Age of American animation, responsible for producing animated short subjects to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters...
headed by Fred Quimby
Fred Quimby
Frederick C. "Fred" Quimby was an American cartoon producer, best known as a producer of Tom and Jerry cartoons, for which he won seven Academy Awards...
. To Freleng's chagrin, he found he would be working on The Captain and the Kids, adapted from the popular comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
The Katzenjammer Kids. The series failed to achieve much success, much as Freleng had predicted: Though skillfully animated, the characters could not compete with the "funny animal
Funny animal
Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...
s" that prevailed at the time.
Back with Schlesinger and Warner Bros.
Freleng happily returned to Warner Bros. when his contract ended in late 1939. One of the first Looney Tunes shorts directed by Freleng during his second tenure at the studio was You Ought to Be in PicturesYou Ought to Be in Pictures
You Ought to Be in Pictures is a 1940 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short film featuring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. The film combined live-action and animation, and features live-action appearances by Leon Schlesinger, writer Michael Maltese, and other Schlesinger Productions staff members. In 1994 it...
, a short which blended animation with live-action footage of the Warner Bros. studio (and of Schlesinger veterans such as story man Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese
Michael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
and even "Leon" himself). The plot, which centers around Porky Pig being tricked by Daffy Duck into terminating his contract with Schlesinger to attempt a career in features, echoes Freleng's experience in moving to MGM.
Directorial achievements
Schlesinger's hands-off attitude toward his animators allowed Freleng and his fellow directors almost complete creative control and room to experiment with cartoon comedy styles, which allowed the studio to keep pace with the Disney studio's technical superiority. Freleng's style quickly matured, and he became a master of comic timingComic timing
Comic timing is the use of rhythm, tempo and pausing to enhance comedy and humour. The pacing of the delivery of a joke can have a strong impact on its comedic effect, even altering its meaning; the same can also be true of more physical comedy such as slapstick.A beat is a pause taken for the...
. Often working alongside layout artist Hawley Pratt
Hawley Pratt
Hawley Pratt was an American film director, animator, and illustrator. He is best known for his work during the heyday of Warner Bros. Cartoons and as the right-hand man of director Friz Freleng as a layout artist and later as a director...
, he also introduced or redesigned a number of famous Warner characters, including Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
in 1945, the cat-and-bird duo, Sylvester and Tweety in 1947, and Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales is an animated caricature of a mouse in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent...
in 1955.
Freleng and Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
would dominate the Warner Bros. studio in the years after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Freleng largely concentrating on the above mentioned characters and Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
. Freleng also continued to produce modernized versions of the musical comedies he animated in his early career, such as The Three Little Bops (1957) and Pizzicato Pussycat
Pizzicato Pussycat
Pizzicato Pussycat is a Merrie Melodies cartoon short, released in 1955, which was directed by Friz Freleng. A talented piano-playing mouse becomes slave to a house cat.-Story:...
(1955). Freleng won four Oscars during his time at Warner Bros., for the films Tweetie Pie
Tweetie Pie
Tweetie Pie is a 1947 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, depicting the first pairing of Tweety and Sylvester.When Tweety's creator, director Bob Clampett, left the Warner Bros...
(1947), Speedy Gonzales (1955), Knighty Knight Bugs
Knighty Knight Bugs
Knighty Knight Bugs is a 1958 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons and released by Warner Bros....
(1958) and Birds Anonymous
Birds Anonymous
Birds Anonymous is a 1957 Merrie Melodies animated short, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster, starring Tweety Bird, Sylvester and Sam...
(1957). And other Freleng cartoons such as Sandy Claws
Sandy Claws (Looney Tunes)
Sandy Claws' is a 1955 animated Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng starring Sylvester and Tweety. The voices are performed by Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet....
(1955), Mexicali Shmoes
Mexicali Shmoes
Mexicali Shmoes is a 1959 Looney Tunes cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng. Voice actors are Mel Blanc as the voices of cats Jose and Manuel and Speedy Gonzales plus an uncredited Tom Holland as the voice of Slowpoke Rodriguez....
(1959), Mouse and Garden (1960), and The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961) were Oscar nominees.
Freleng was occasionally the subject of in-jokes in Warner cartoons, with billboards in the background of scenes advertising various products called "Friz" in Canary Row
Canary Row
Canary Row is a 1949 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, released in 1950 and directed by Friz Freleng, written by Tedd Pierce, and starring Tweety Bird and Sylvester. This is the first Sylvester and Tweety cartoon to feature Granny...
, the "Friz Motel" in Racketeer Rabbit
Racketeer Rabbit
Racketeer Rabbit is a 1946 animated short film in the Looney Tunes series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. It stars Bugs Bunny, who duels with a pair of racketeers or gangsters, Rocky and Hugo forerunners who resemble Edward G. Robinson and Peter Lorre...
, and "Frizby the Magician" in High Diving Hare
High Diving Hare
High Diving Hare is a 1948-produced Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Released to theaters on April 30, 1949, the short is an expansion of a gag from Stage Door Cartoon, which was also directed by Friz Freleng...
as one of the acts Bugs is pitching.
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
After the Warner studio closed in 1963, Freleng rented the same space from Warners to create cartoons with his now-former boss, producerFilm producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Dave DePatie (the final producer hired by Warners to oversee the cartoon division), forming DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises was a Hollywood-based animation production company, active from 1963 to 1981. They produced theatrical cartoons, animated series, commercials, title sequences and television specials. Notable among these is The Pink Panther film titles and cartoon shorts and the Dr....
. When Warner Bros decided to reopen their cartoon studio in 1964, they did so in name only; DePatie-Freleng produced the cartoons into 1966.
While much of Freleng's post-Warner work is considered of lesser quality than his earlier achievements, the DePatie-Freleng studio's signature achievement was The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther (character)
The Pink Panther is the main and title character in the opening and closing credit sequences of every film in The Pink Panther series except for A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. His popularity spawned a series of theatrical shorts, merchandise, a comic book, and television cartoons...
. DePatie-Freleng was commissioned to create the opening titles for the 1963 film The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bungling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1963 with the release of the film of the same name. The role was originated by, and is most closely associated with, Peter Sellers...
, for which layout artist and director Hawley Pratt
Hawley Pratt
Hawley Pratt was an American film director, animator, and illustrator. He is best known for his work during the heyday of Warner Bros. Cartoons and as the right-hand man of director Friz Freleng as a layout artist and later as a director...
and Freleng created a suave, cool cat character. The Pink Panther cartoon character became so popular that United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, distributors of The Pink Panther, had Freleng produce a short cartoon starring the character, The Pink Phink
The Pink Phink
The Pink Phink is a 1964 animated short comedy film, directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt, featureing Blake Edwards' Pink Panther competing with the Little Man over the new colour scheme of a house...
(1964).
After The Pink Phink won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons)
Academy Award for Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
, Freleng and DePatie responded by producing a whole series of Pink Panther cartoons. Other original cartoon series, among them The Inspector
The Inspector
The Inspector is a series of 1960s theatrical cartoons produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and released through United Artists. The titular character is based on Jacques Clouseau, a comical French police officer who is the main character in the Pink Panther series of films.-Plot:Although the...
, The Ant and the Aardvark
The Ant and the Aardvark
The Ant and the Aardvark is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971.-Production:...
, and Hoot Kloot
Hoot Kloot
Hoot Kloot was a series of theatrical cartoons It was produced at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises from 1973 to 1974. 17 shorts were produced.-Plot:...
, soon followed. In 1969, The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show is a showcase of cartoon shorts produced by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng between 1969 and 1979. The television series was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and was broadcast on two American TV networks:...
, a Saturday morning anthology program featuring DePatie-Freleng cartoons, debuted on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The Pink Panther and the other original DePatie-Freleng series would remain in production through 1980, with new cartoons produced for simultaneous Saturday morning broadcast and United Artists theatrical release.
DePatie-Freleng is credited with the creation of Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay North America is the division of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets and sells corn chips, potato chips and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips,...
's Chester Cheetah
Chester Cheetah
Chester Cheetah is a fictional character and the official mascot for Cheetos brand snacks and Chester's Puffcorn. According to an article in The New York Times, DDB Needham Worldwide is responsible for the creation of Chester; however, an episode of Unwrapped claims that the mascot was created by...
, on the Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
show "Deep Fried Treats Unwrapped"; as well as creating the colored opening title sequence to I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
.
By 1967, DePatie and Freleng had moved their operations to the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
. Their studio was located on Hayvenhurst Avenue in Van Nuys. One of their projects featured Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
and his family called, Goldilocks and had songs by the Sherman Brothers
Sherman Brothers
The Sherman Brothers are an American songwriting duo that specialize in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman ....
. At their new facilities they continued to produce new cartoons until 1980, when they sold DePatie-Freleng to Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, who renamed it Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions Ltd. , last called New World Animation, was a television and film studio subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment Group , based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, then New World Entertainment and News Corporation/Fox...
.
Later career
Freleng later served as an executive producerExecutive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
on three 1980s Looney Tunes compilation features, which linked together several of the classic shorts with new animated sequences. The Freleng-produced compilation features were The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie is a 1981 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences produced by Friz Freleng, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
(1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales
Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales
Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales is a 1982 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
(1982), and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983).
In 1986, Freleng stepped down and gave his position at Warner Bros. to his secretary at the time, Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, who ended up being the second-longest producer of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies franchise, only behind Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
.
Death
On May 26, 1995, Friz died of natural causes in Los Angeles, California, aged 89. The WB animated TV series Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries and the Looney Tunes cartoon From Hare to EternityFrom Hare To Eternity
From Hare to Eternity is a 1996 Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, directed by Chuck Jones. Since this cartoon was produced after the death of legendary Looney Tunes voice actor Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs is supplied by Greg Burson and the voice of Yosemite Sam is...
(which was the last one directed by Chuck Jones) were both dedicated to his memory.