Bob Clampett Hand Drawn Maps of Warner Bros. Cartoon Studio

Rob Clampett, (Bob's son) generously gave me scans of these interesting maps Bob drew of the Warner Bros cartoon studio.
I haven't totally deciphered everything on them yet. I like all the little anecdotes Bob added of where funny stuff happened and what stars peered in the windows.



I'm guessing Bob drew these to help Mike Barrier and Milt Grey for the research they were doing for a book about the WB cartoons.
Besides the historical interest in these maps, I'm also fascinated by Bob's handwriting. It's so cartoony, stylish and spirited, just like his cartoons.

Rob showed me these the other day when Eddie, Milt and I were doing interviews for an upcoming Clampett DVD he is working on. (I made him promise no DVNR!) He will be putting a lot of rare items from the Clampett collection in the supplemental section. I hope he puts on a home movie Bob took of him visiting Milt Gross' house!

Strange Bedfellows

Ride Mickey's Ass

Here is the most beloved cartoon icon of all time.
I wonder what he does with that stick. Are those gears?
I like that his reproductive equipment sticks out of both sides. Very efficient.

Bags O' Fun VS Anguished Souls in Torment

Y'know, there are a lot of cartoon characters who may have been in godawful shows, yet they still make swell lookin' bags.
This is a sure sign of good character design if they hold up under your own gas.
I'd love to have this semi-inflated handsome Ricochet Rabbit sack. Check out his rude and inflamed olfactory unit.
Aren't you dying to blow up Mighty Mouse to see what his bag looks like? He seems to have an inflatable lump on his noggin to go with his wrong colors.

They just don't create characters who make good bags anymore. No more cartoon icons.Can ya imagine a bag of this imp freak? That would give the kiddies some nightmares.
Ever notice how modern cartoon characters look like every pose and expression involves a lot of pain and strain? It's like there are a hundred invisible demons yanking this guy's eyebrows with all their might, yet they still are barely moving. Is it hard to animate a smile today? Even the simplest expression has become a petrified detestable mask of agony.
Or how'd ya like a nice 'tude bag? Painful strained 'tude I might add. The modern theory is that animated characters have to really struggle to achieve even a fraction of a spark of life. If it isn't hard to lift an arm, then it isn't quality.

Mighty Mouse Pitch circa 1994?

Here is some presentation art from a pitch we did at Spumco in the mid 90s. I wanted to get Paramount to let me revive the Terrytoons characters. I would have shown some of this stuff earlier but it had all suffered water damage. But now, thanks to Alex, Jojo and Tommy, some of it has been restored through the magic of insufferable digital technology.

These guys here are "The Catnip Gang" who appeared in at least 2 of the original TT Mighty Mouse gang. I think that was drawn by Mike Fontanelli. Possibly inked by Shane Glines and I don't remember who colored it. Looks like water colors?...Hey I bet it was Rick Altergott! Famous creator of "Doofus".I added another character called "The Big Puss" (originally "The Big Pussy" but everyone talked me out of that). The Big Puss is the head of the crime syndicate in Catville. He is the Catnip Gang's boos and we never actually see all of him at once. Usually we just hear his gutteral grumbles from behind an imposing door in his office. Once in a while we will see just his face pressing against the frame of his open door. Jim Smith drew a hilarious storyboard about the Big Puss sending the Catnip gang on an impossible mission - to steal the shorts of Mighty Mouse. He figures that the shorts are magic and that is where Mighty Mouse gets his power from. I used this story idea later for "The Ripping Friends".

Richard Pursel had an especial fondness for these bedfellows and dubbed them "Gandy and Sourpuss: Wards Of The State". We wrote stories about them being on the dole and getting into tiffs with their unemployment officers and stuff.
Of course I included some of the characters we created for the Bakshi version of Mighty Mouse. Here's Petey Pate in his insane glory. In this story he steals all the eyebrows from the mice in mouseville and Mighty Mouse has to come save the day.
Here are his witless thugs who fear nothing - except insanity. The broken mind instills the fear of God in these poor crooked souls.
Here are my favorite characters from the Bakshi show.
These look like they also might be drawn by Mike Fontanelli.
I love the ignorant - and so did Rich. The original Deputy Dawg cartoons are pretty terrible, even for Terrytoons, but the characters are great.
Rich came up with a story about nearsighted Vincent Van Gofer marrying Deputy Dawg's pants. The set up was: Deputy, Musky and the gang are skinny dipping at the old swimming hole, when Vincent Van Gofer ambles up to the edge of the pond and sees Deputy's pants hanging over the branch of a tree. Through his blurry eyes he sees a beautiful apparition of female gofer loveliness and he whisks the pants away to the Sheriff's office for a quick wedding. Wedding bliss turns out to be less than he'd hoped for and the marriage soon sours. Meanwhile, Deputy Dawg has no pants and has to do his job while moving his hands back and forth really fast in front of himself to maintain the picture's family rating. That no-account egg-stealin' rascal, Musky takes advantage of the situation with zany-ass results.

I have lots more of this stuff if anyone else likes Terrytoons as much as I do.

Flintstone Secrets

Barney lives under a mushroom. How did I miss that in the cartoons?
I also missed his handsome nostrils.
This is before they warned girls about what can happen by riding dinosaurs.
This must be why Flintstone's lineage stopped after one child.
Coming soon...

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