WARNER BROTHERS
CARTOON COMPANION

by E.O. Costello

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Introduction

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

H

HAIR IN THE PROJECTOR GAG

One of Tex Avery’s most famous gags from Magical Maestro (MGM, 1952) involves an animated hair, possibly rotoscoped, which appears caught in the gate of the projector. Spike, who is trying to sing to the audience through this distraction, pulls the hair out and throws it away, picking up exactly where he left off.

Avery first used the gag at Schlesinger’s, in Aviation Vacation (1941) during a rendition of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”. In the Warner Brothers cartoon, the singer yells to the projectionist to take the hair out. The hair in this earlier cartoon, incidentaly, is much less convincingly animated the one in Magical Maestro.

“HALLELUJAH, I’M A BOMB”

Text on the bomb being used by The Missing Lynx in Confusions of a Nutzy Spy (McCabe, 1942). This is a parody on the title to the popular Depression-era song “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum”.

HALL JOHNSON CHOIR

Musical group that performed the splendid rendition of “O, Dem Golden Slippers” at the end of Clean Pastures (Freleng, 1937).

HAM & EX

In one of the recurring attempts to create a lasting cartoon star, the Schleisinger studio, acting on a recommendation of Bob Clampett, created an Our Gang-like group of young animals. Ham and Ex were two identical twin puppies, who appeared in a handful of cartoons made in 1935-6. I Haven’t Got a Hat (Freleng, 1935) is probably their most memorable role, in which they sing the title song.

Filmography:

• I Haven’t Got a Hat (Freleng, 1935)
• The Fire Alarm (King, 1935)
• The Phantom Ship (King, 1936)
• Westward Whoa! (King, 1936)

HAMILTON, ROLLIN (“HAM”)

Animator at Warners in the 1930s and early mentor to Chuck Jones, who marveled in his autobiography at the patience that Hamilton showed toward Jones’ early efforts.

Bob Clampett in Funnyworld #12 describes how Hamilton would capture numerous flies, glue tiny paper airplanes to their wings, and let them go, creating a number of fluttering “airplanes” around his head.

HANNA, BILL

One half of the duo of Hanna-Barbera, who would provide the stiffest competition for the Warner Brothers studio with their Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM in the forties and fifties. For better or for worse, he and his partner Joe Barbera went on to revolutionize the animation industry with their mass production techniques of “limited animation” for television starting in the late 1950s.

The obituary in Variety for Hugh Harman lists Bill Hanna as having worked at the Warner Brothers studio. His own autobiography indicates that he had started out there as a custodian/“gofer”, later graduating to a position as a cel washer -- which was also the entry point for Chuck Jones into the industry. He was eventually put in charge of the then very small ink and paint department (clearly indicating the mobility of workers in the industry at that time). Hanna claims that Harman and Ising incorporated some songs that he wrote into some of the Bosko cartoons, though he does not identify any in particular.

Hanna left the studio when Harman and Rudy Ising split with producer Leon Schlesinger in 1933. The rest, as they say, is history.

HANSEN, BERNICE

Voice actress who seems to have done a great deal of work in cartoons, and apparently nowhere else. For a number of years, Hansen was credited with all of the high-pitched “small” voices in Warner-released cartoons. While it is certain Hansen did work for Warners, exactly which voices she provided is subject to debate. Recent research suggests Hansen did not do the principal voice work for Sniffles. Cartoons that appear to use Hansen voices include:

• I Haven’t Got a Hat (Freleng, 1935)
• Golddiggers of ’49 (Avery, 1936)
• Plane Dippy (Avery, 1936)
• Page Miss Glory (Avery, 1936)
• Pigs is Pigs (Freleng, 1937)
• Little Brother Rat (Jones, 1939)
• Wacky Wildlife (Avery, 1940)

Maltin credits Hansen with work at MGM, doing the voice of Little Cheezer in certain cartoons of Rudy Ising.

HARDAWAY, JOSEPH BENSON (“BUGS”)
(1895-1957)

Hardaway had a long and checkered career in animation. Like fellow Kansas City natives Ub Iwerks, Carl Stalling, and Walt Disney, Hardaway had worked for the United Film Ad Service, in his case between 1922 and May, 1931. Between August, 1931 and October, 1933, he was a writer for Ub Iwerks. After a very brief sojourn with Disney (October-November 1933), he was lured away by the promise of more money to work for Leon Schlesinger, for whom he worked initially from November, 1933 to March, 1939. Between October, 1939, and December 1947, he worked for Walter Lantz. His most significant contribution at the Lantz studio was to Knock Knock (1940), directed by Walter Lantz, which featured the debut of Woody Woodpecker. Hardaway supplied Woody’s voice for a brief period after Mel Blanc ceased playing the part. Hardaway returned to Warner Brothers in November, 1948 and stayed through April, 1949. By the summer of 1949, he was seeking help from his former commanding officer, Harry Truman, for a government job.

During his tenure at the studio, Hardaway was mostly a writer, though he served two stints as a director, first in 1934-1935, when he supervised some cartoons in the Buddy series, and again between 1937-1939, when he teamed with Cal Dalton to replace Friz Freleng, who had left to work for MGM. Hardaway is credited in a number of cartoons as writer, including the following:

• Daffy Duck and Egghead (Avery, 1938)
• The Penguin Parade (Avery, 1938)
• The Bear’s Tale (Avery, 1940)
• Confederate Honey (Freleng, 1940)
• Porky’s Baseball Broadcast (Freleng, 1940)
• Little Blabbermouse (Freleng, 1940)

Hardaway also received story credit for the 1951 Freleng cartoon, A Bone for A Bone.

Hardaway is probably best remembered for directing two cartoons featuring prototypes of Bugs Bunny: Porky’s Hare Hunt (1938) and Hare-Um Scare-Um (with Dalton, 1939). Some sources list Porky’s Hare Hunt as the first Bugs Bunny cartoon (The Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats among them.) Some copies of the model sheet drawn by Charles Thorson for the rabbit in Hare-Um Scare-Um, is (ungrammatically) labeled “Bug’s Bunny”, which some sources consider the origin of the character’s name.

Hardaway was nicknamed Bugs in his days as a sergeant in Battery D of the Second Battalion, 129th Field Artillery in World War I. This unit, known as the “Dizzy D”, had a reputation for running through commanders, which was only stopped when future president Harry S. Truman took command. Hardaway seems to have kept up his relationship with Truman, who was known for having warm feelings towards his wartime comrades.

Hardaway, along with what appears to be a caricature of him, are featured in the newspaper being read by the angry meat-eating consumer at the beginning of Hare-Um Scare-Um.

Note: Adamson, for some reason, gives Hardaway’s middle name as “Benjamin”. I have opted to go with the name that Hardaway himself used. Much of the information in this entry comes from material that was supplied to me by the extremely helpful personnel at the Harry Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri.

HARE RIBBIN’

Brilliant Robert Clampett cartoon of 1944. Produced when Robert McKimson was at the peak of his powers as a senior animator, soon before his promotion to director later that year.

The cartoon at has two unusual features. One is that much of the cartoon takes place underwater, with appropriate visual effects -- quite elaborate for a Warner Brothers cartoon. The other is that two different endings were filmed, a highly irregular practice, especially given the studio’s tight budgeting. In one version, the Mad Russian dog indicates he doesn’t deserve to live; Bugs hands him a pistol, and the dog does away with himself. In another version, it is Bugs who does in the dog, by putting the pistol in the mouth of the pooch and pulling the trigger. Needless to say, neither version is broadcast today.

HARMAN, HUGH N.
(1903-1982)

Along with Rudy Ising, a journeyman animator who had the unusual distinction of having a hand in the creation of two great cartoon studios: Warner Brothers in 1930, and MGM in 1933.

Harman was an associate of Disney until 1928, when he was lured away from Disney by distributor Charles Mintz. After an abortive effort with Mintz, Harman teamed up with Ising. Together, the two produced the pilot Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929). This film secured the financial backing of Leon Schlesinger to produce cartoons for Warner Brothers distribution starting in 1930. While never approaching the level of sophistication achieved by contemporary efforts at the Disney and Fleischer studios, the studio’s cartoons from the early 1930s were popular enough to be profitable. The Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series, as established by Harman and Ising, laid the groundwork for much of the studio’s later success.

In general, Harman was responsible for the Looney Tunes while Ising worked on the Merrie Melodies. For the sake of simplicity, I give them joint credit here for the 1930-1933 output.

Harman and Ising broke with Schlesinger in 1933, principally over the issue of budgeting for cartoons. The two went on to establish the first production unit at MGM, where they would create handsome, if perhaps a bit vapid, cartoons through the late 1930s and into the early 1940s. One Harman effort, Peace on Earth (1939) is a noteworthy anti-war cartoon which received a nomination not only for that year’s Academy Award, but also for the Nobel Peace Prize. It remains the only animated cartoon ever so nominated.

HARRIS, KEN

Standout animator for the Jones unit for many years who also directed Hare-Abian Nights (1959).

The box on which the Coyote sets a booby-trapped glass of water in Beep Beep (Jones, 1952) is labeled “Harris Soups.” The hot-rod driver outpaced by the horseless carriage in There Auto Be a Law (McKimson, 1953) is almost certainly a caricature of Harris. There is speculation to the effect that he was also the model for Dan Backslide in The Dover Boys (Jones, 1942). Harris was a talented tennis player and pool player, as well as a hot-rod racer, which may explain the hot-rod and pool table gags in The Dover Boys. Chuck Jones in his memoirs also notes the resemblance of Harris to Wile E. Coyote.

HARRIS, PHIL
(d. 1995)

Bandleader for a number of years on the Jack Benny radio program, eventually on his own radio show with his wife Alice Faye. Harris played a conceited Southern playboy who loved flashy cars, hard liquor and fancy clothes. Harris is caricatured as “Pill Harris” in Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940).

HATA MARI

Character in Plane Daffy (Tashlin, 1944) who uses her ample avian feminine wiles to seduce carrier pigeons into spilling military secrets on behalf of the Axis. She uses all of her wits to attempt to make Daffy do the same -- she gets his secret, all right, but with dire consequences for certain of the Nazi leadership. The name refers to the World War I spy Mata Hari, to whom legend ascribes similar actions and technique.

A recent Warner Brothers television show, Tiny Toons Adventures, has used Hatta Mari on at least one occasion.

HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES?

One of the Frank Tashlin cycle of “Things-Come-to-Life” cartoons from 1938.

Note that during the Thin Man/White House Cookbook gag, there is a note pad in the background on which the phrase “Ask Boss for a raise” is written. A reflection, perhaps, on the notorious tight-fistedness of Leon Schlesinger?

The segment in which Bill Robinson dances “The 39 Steps” and Cab Calloway sings “Swing for Sale” in “Seventh Heaven” is cut from prints shown today. Much of this segment re-uses animation from Clean Pastures (Freleng, 1937).

A segment showing a bell-ringing caricature of Alexander Woolcott at the beginning of the cartoon was removed from reissue prints at his insistence.

“HAVE YOU HAD YOUR IRON TODAY?”

Tagline for Ironized Yeast in the 1940s. The line is said by one of the Gophers in The Goofy Gophers (Davis, 1947) just before the application of shovel to canine skull, and in a varation by Daffy Duck in Dripalong Daffy (Jones, 1951), just after Nasty Canasta has eaten part of his six-shooter.

HAYS OFFICE

The Lou Costello-like cat in A Tale of Two Kitties (Clampett, 1942) is addressed by the Bud Abbott-like cat, who asks the former to give him the bird (referring here not only to the prototypical Tweety but also to an obscene gesture). The pudgy pussy observes that if the Hays Office would only let him, he’d “give him the bird all right!”

The Hays Office was the popular name for Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc. named after its founder, Will Hays. The MPPDA administered the Production Code during the golden age of Hollywood, and molded the content of Hollywood films using a complex system of “dos and don’ts”, censoring material that went against the Code, including “giving people the bird”.

Cartoons were not exempt from this code. Red Hot Riding Hood (Avery at MGM, 1943) is a prime example of a cartoon that was clipped by the Hays Office. The original ending, which had the grandmother marrying the Wolf in a shotgun wedding, and a closing scene in the nightclub with Wolf pére and cubs all howling at Red have all been cut. The system was eventually replaced by the voluntary rating scheme which remains in place today.

HEART GAG

Gag in which a valentine-shaped heart is visible, usually owing to some enormous fright, pounding in the chest or neck of a character. Typical examples can be seen in Porky’s Last Stand (Clampett, 1940), the 4-F heart of Bugs Bunny in Falling Hare (Clampett, 1943), and the heart of a fox in his mouth in The Foxy Duckling (Davis, 1947).

“HE DON’T KNOW ME VEWY WELL, DO HE?”

One of the catch-phrases of Junior, the Mean Widdle Kid character of Red Skelton. A typical response when someone has misjudged his Demon Seed nature.

Said by Bugs Bunny at the end of Hare Trigger (Freleng, 1945), and by Daffy and Chloe as Junior at the end of The Impatient Patient (McCabe, 1942).

HEE, THORNTON (“T. HEE”)

Animator probably best remembered for his work in Fantasia as director of the “Dance of the Hours” segment. Hee had worked at Warners during the 1930s, and was responsible for many of the well-done celebrity caricatures of that era, such as can be seen in The Coo-coo Nut Grove (Freleng, 1936). Hee also drew a Christmas card in 1936 of staff caricatures which was used heavily in the creation of the Russian Gremlins in Russian Rhapsody (Clampett, 1944). The card is reproduced in Schneider’s book (p. 24).

“HEERE I YAAAM!”

Catch phrase associated with the Clem Kaddiddlehopper country bumpkin character of Red Skelton. One example of its use is by Bugs in Stage Door Cartoon (Freleng, 1944).

“HELLO, STRENZER!”

Tag line used by the Sam Hearn character of Schlepperman on the Jack Benny Radio Program. It is used as a greeting by Owl Jolson in I Love to Singa (Avery, 1936) and by Professor Mockingbird in I Only Have Eyes for You (Avery, 1937).

HENERY HAWK

Pint-sized predator who is eternally in search of chicken, voiced by Mel Blanc. One handicap: his youth and inexperience means he does not know what a chicken looks like. Hence the plot for nearly all of his appearences in Foghorn Leghorn shorts. Usually, these are the same: little tough hawk comes around, pesters Foggy, Foggy gets him to go after the resident dog, and the war goes back and forth.

The best performance of this character, in my view, came in a film directed by his creator, Chuck Jones. In You Were Never Duckier (1948), he meets up with Daffy Duck, who is trying to pass himself off as a rooster to get a 5,000 dollar first prize, as opposed to a fiver for best duck. Henery has all the little tough-guy attributes, but here he is paired with Daffy at his best, plus his menacing father, George K. Chickenhawk.

Depending on your point of view, Henery had his debut in either The Squawkin’ Hawk (Jones, 1942), where he is identified specifically a chickenhawk, or the slightly earlier The Bird Came C.O.D. (Jones, 1942), where he is a prop in a magic act, bedevilling Conrad Cat. An even earlier example may be Stage Fright (Jones, 1940), which used a character similar in appearance.

HENIE, SONJA
(1910-1969)

Olympic figure skating champion of 1928, 1932, and 1936 who enjoyed a brief film career in the late 30s, usually in films with skating routines surrounded by not much in the way of plot. She can be seen dancing with Tyrone Power in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941). The long skating routine in Land of the Midnight Fun (Avery, 1939) is basically a Henie routine. The sequence is rotoscoped, but whether from Henie herself is uncertain.

HEPBURN, KATHERINE
(1907-fl. 1997)

Highly successful actress whose career spans decades. She was a popular target for caricature because of her Bryn Mawr enunciation and her unique “horsey” face. She won three Oscars for Best Actress roles in Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and The Lion in Winter. She has been nominated no less than eight additional times, for Alice Adams, The Philadelphia Story, Woman of the Year, The African Queen, Summertime, The Rainmaker, Suddenly Last Summer, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Warner Brothers cartoonists caricatured her with glee in numerous cartoons. The following is not by any means a complete list, but it does give an idea of how much the joke was loved.

• I Only Have Eyes for You (Avery, 1937) as the Canary being wooed by the iceman bird and shunning him, because she is waiting for a crooner.
• A Star is Hatched (Freleng, 1937) in which Emily the chicken does a Hepburn turn in stating her desire to become a Hollywood star.
• A Gander at Mother Goose (Avery, 1940) as Mistress Mary.
• Dangerous Dan McFoo (Avery, 1939) as the heroine and girlfriend of Dan.
• The Coo-coo Nut Grove (Freleng, 1936) complemented by W.C. Fields, and drawn as a horse.
• Horton Hatches the Egg (Clampett, 1942) in which the Maizie Bird occasionally slips into Hepburn mode.
• Fighting Tools (Clampett, 1943) Private Snafu short in which one of the little ducks that flies out of an ill-maintained artillery piece gives the usual Bryn Mawr “really it is”.
• Elmer’s Pet Rabbit (Jones, 1941) Bugs delivers the Hepburnesque line “You dance divinely, really you do” to Elmer.

HERBERT, HUGH
(1887-1952)

Vaudeville and stage comic who appeared in over 100 films from the early talkies era, mostly as a supporting actor. Fidgety movements and an excited “woo-woo!” catchphrase were his trademarks. A not-dissimilar “woo woo!” went on to be one of Daffy Duck’s earliest vocal signatures. Two of Herbert’s funniest roles were as a fussy censor in Footlight Parade and as Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Herbert caricatures appear in Speaking of the Weather (Tashlin, 1937), The Coo-coo Nut Grove (Freleng, 1936), Porky’s Movie Mystery (Clampett, 1939), as the Stonewall Jackson parody in Confederate Honey (Freleng, 1940), and quite prominently in The Hardship of Miles Standish (Freleng, 1940) as the title character.

In the text next to his caricature in Speaking of the Weather, one can note references to his roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Coo-coo Nut Grove, as well as his habit of tickling himself with a feather duster.

HILL, GEORGE

Story man at Warner Brothers in the mid-1940s. Credits include Mouse Menace (Davis, 1946) and The Pest That Came To Dinner (Davis, 1948).

HILLBILLY HARE

Robert McKimson cartoon from 1950. Classic confrontation between Bugs and the Martin brothers Curt and Pumpkinhead, set in the Ozarks. The short features an extended square dance segment, the lyrics to which are as follows:

Sourbelly trio:

 Lets all square dance!

 Places, all.
 Bow to your corner, bow to your own.

 Three hands up and round you go,
 break it up with a do-si-do.
 Chicken in the breadpan, kickin’ out dough,
 skip to m’loo, my darlin’.

 The old lady out, you pretty little thing,
 promenade around the ring.
 Big foot up and little foot down,
 make that big foot jar the ground.

 The lady step back and two gents in,
 back you go and forward again.
 Step right up with an elbow swing;
 skip to m’loo, my darlin’.

 Allemande left with your old left hand,
 follow through with a right left grand.
 Meet your honey with a great big smile;
 promenade, Indian-style.

Bugs takes over:

 Promenade across the floor,
 sashay right on out the door.
 Out the door and into the glade,
 and everybody promenade!

 Step right up, youre doin’ fine,
 I’ll pull your beard, you’ll pull mine.
 Yank it again like you did before,
 break it up with a tug-of-war.

 Now, into the brook and fish for the trout,
 dive right in and splash about.
 Trout, trout, pretty little trout,
 one more splash and come right out!

 Shake like a hound dog, shake again;
 wallow around in the old pigpen.
 Wallow some more, you all know how,
 roll around like an old fat sow.

 Allemande left with your left hand,
 follow through with a right left grand.
 Now leave your partner, the dirty old thing,
 follow through with an elbow swing.

 Grab a fence post, hold it tight,
 whomp your partner with all your might.
 Hit him in the shin, hit him in the head,
 hit him again; the critter ain’t dead!

 Whop him low and whop him high,
 stick your finger in his eye.
 Pretty little rhythm, pretty little sound,
 bang your head against the ground.

 Promenade all around the room,
 promenade like a bride and groom.
 Open up the door and step right in,
 close the door and into a spin.

 Whirl, whirl, twist and twirl,
 jump all around like a flyin’ squirrel.
 Now, don’t you cuss and don’t you swear,
 just come right out and form a square.

 Now right hand over and left hand under,
 both join hands and run like thunder.

 Over the hill and over the dale,
 duck your head and lift your tail.

 Don’t you stray and don’t you roam,
 turn around and promenade home.
 Corn in the crib, wheat in the sack,
 turn your partner, promenade back.

The Martins walk over the cliff

 And now you’re home; bow to your partner.
 Bow to the gent across the hall.
 And that is all!

Fade out.

HIPPETY HOPPER

The baby kangaroo repeatedly mistaken for a giant mouse in a long-running -- perhaps too long-running -- series of cartoons by Bob McKimson that started with Hop, Look and Listen (1948). Since the character was silent, and the plots in the series have few variations, these tend to be among the more stilted of the the Warner Brothers cartoons, perhaps only rivaled by the Speedy Gonzales series for overall mediocrity.

Filmography (all directed by Robert McKimson):

• Hop, Look and Listen (1948)
• Hippety Hopper(1949)
• Pop ’Im Pop (1950)
• Who’s Kitten Who (1952)
• Hoppy Go Lucky (1952)
• Cats Aweigh (1953)
• Bell Hoppy (1954)
• Lighthouse Mouse (1955)
• Too Hop to Handle (1956)
• The Slap-Hoppy Mouse (1956)
• Mouse-taken Identity (1957)
• Hoppy Daze (1961)
• Freudy Cat (1964)

HIROHITO

Emperor of Japan from 1926 to his death in 1989. During the Second World War, Hirohito was an occasional target of ridicule in cartoons. What appears to have been meant as a caricature of Hirohito is seen in the Private Snafu short Spies (Jones, 1943) as one of the three figures next to a newsstand where Snafu is buying magazines to read on his troopship. The other two caricatures are of Mussolini and Göering. Hirohito appears as a duck, singing a varation on “Japanese Sandman” in The Ducktators (McCabe, 1942).

HITLER, ADOLF
(1889-1945)

A man who hardly needs an introduction, given his role as Führer of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and during World War II. With his shock of black hair and toothbrush-like mustache, one of the most widely recognisable and easily caricatured persons of the 20th century.

His first appearance in a Warner-released cartoon is from Bosko’s Picture Show (1933), in which he chases Jimmy Durante with a axe. Hitler appears briefly in She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter (Freleng, 1937), at a very odd angle as seen by a patron with a poor view of a movie screen showing a newsreel.

His wartime appearances are numerous. It could be said that he starred in Russian Rhapsody (Clampett, 1944), in which his attempts to bomb Moscow are thwarted by “Ruskie” Gremlins. Hitler also makes significant appearances in The Ducktators (McCabe, 1942) along with Benito Mussolini and Hirohito, as well as towards the end of Herr Meets Hare (Freleng, 1945), awarding Hermann Göering a medal. (Bugs uses mud to disguise himself as Hitler earlier in the film). A Hitler character is repeatedly kicked in Tin Pan Alley Cats (Clampett, 1943) by a Joseph Stalin caricature. Hitler is also referred to as “Shickelgrüber” -- allegedly his birth name, but actually the family name of his illegitimate father, Alois -- in Brother Brat (Tashlin, 1944). A caricature of Hitler can also been seen on the letterhead of the letter being read by Überkompt von Vultur in Daffy The Commando (Freleng, 1943). A Hitler jack-in-the-box is used to scare a kid’s hair on end in Nutty News (Clampett, 1942). In Scrap Happy Daffy (Tashlin, 1943), Daffy comments that Mussolini is in the scrap heap, and Hitler should be junked as well, which causes Hitler to chew the rug (along the dotted line, yet). The Missing Lynx has a Hitler mask in his box of disguises in Confusions of a Nutzy Spy (McCabe, 1942).

Hitler also makes an appearance in the Private Snafu short Spies (Jones, 1943), sending instructions by radio to a U-Boat fleet, again as a devil-like character.

Note the rather prescient headline “Hitler Commits Suicide” seen in the 1943 Clampett cartoon Tortoise Wins by a Hare.

HOBBY HORSE LAFFS

McCabe cartoon from 1942 which is a parody of the then-current Hobby Lobby radio program on CBS.

HOFFA, PORTLAND
(1907-1990)

Wife of Fred Allen and his partner on radio, usually playing a ditz. Hoffa is caricatured as a bunny rabbit who points out to the Fred Allen-like fox that he is singing the wrong song in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937). She also makes an appearence in Toytown Hall (Freleng, 1936).

HOFFMAN, DAVE

Story man at Schlesinger’s studio around 1940 whose sole screen credit is for Africa Squeaks (Clampett, 1940).

HOGAN, RICH

Story writer at the studio in the 1930s and 1940s. Credits include the following:

• The Major Lied Till Dawn (Tashlin, 1938)
• Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas (Avery, 1938)
• Dog-Gone Modern (Jones, 1939)
• Prest-O Change-O (Jones, 1939)
• Sniffles and the Bookworm (Jones, 1939)
• Elmer’s Candid Camera (Jones, 1940)
• Cross-Country Detours (Avery, 1940)
• Tom Thumb in Trouble (Jones, 1940)
• A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940)
• Bedtime for Sniffles (Jones, 1940)
• Elmer’s Pet Rabbit (Jones, 1941)
• The Crackpot Quail (Avery, 1941)
• Inki and the Lion (Jones, 1941)
• Brave Little Bat (Jones, 1941)

Hogan followed Avery to MGM, where he worked on such cartoons as The Blitz Wolf (1942) and Bad Luck Blackie (1949).

The firewalker “Hotfoot Hogan” in Circus Today (Avery, 1940) is named for Hogan.

“HOLD THE ONIONS”

Mysterious catchphrase that pops up in a fair number of Warner-released cartoons, including Pigs is Pigs (Freleng, 1937), The Fighting 69th 1/2 (Freleng, 1941), The Gay Anties (Freleng, 1947), French Rarebit (McKimson, 1951), and Wackiki Wabbit (Jones, 1943).

THE HOLE IDEA

One of the better McKimson shorts of the 1950s, released in 1955, about the invention of the portable hole. The cartoon has one highly unusual feature: the director is also credited with the animation. While most directors, of course, did at least a few hundred of the drawings for a cartoon, it is very rare to see a director also get screen credit for the animation. McKimson, having been a lead animator at Warner Brothers before his promotion (and more notable in this role than any other director), was probably the best qualified to pull this off. Beck and Friedwald are probably right when they call this film “one of his proudest moments”.

HOLIDAY FOR SHOESTRINGS

Freleng cartoon of 1945 that revolves around a series of shoemaker elf gags. Curiously, Tex Avery made a very similar cartoon a few years later: The Peachy Cobbler (1950).

HOMMA, MASAHARU

Japanese general of World War II. Homma was the commanding general in the operation that defeated Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1941-1942 in the conquest of the Philippines. The relative slowness of the conquest -- it took Homma one month to capture Manila, but five months to capture Bataan and six to caputre Corregidor -- plus, ironically, his opposition to the war, led him to be relieved of command, after which he did not hold any further posts of conquest. His Chief of Staff, Colonel Masanobu Tsuji, is generally believed to have been responsible for the Bataan Death March of prisoners caputred in the campaign, but it was Homma who was executed for it.

Homma is referred to as “General Hammer” in Tokio Jokio (McCabe, 1943), first seen panicking during an attack, and then sharing a log with a disgusted skunk.

HOMOSEXUALS

Remarkably, there are a number of references made in WB cartoons to gays, usually in the “fairy” context. See, for example, the ferry boat in Land of the Midnight Fun (Avery, 1939) and the reaction of the cowboy after getting sprayed by perfume in I Like Mountain Music (Harman/Ising, 1933). Then, of course, there is the effeminate pose by the booby-prize Oscar in What’s Cookin’, Doc? (Clampett, 1944).

HONEY

Girlfriend of Bosko in the series of Looney Tunes produced by Harman and Ising between 1930 and 1933. After the duo left for MGM in 1933, they took the character with them. She eventually morphed into a realistic African-American girl opposite a similarly realistic Bosko for a short-lived series of cartoons.

The recent Warner Brothers TV show Tiny Toon Adventures devoted an entire show to reuniting Bosko and Honey. Babs Bunny, one of the show’s characters, was in search of a female mentor, and searched for Honey.

“HONEYMOUSERS”

A three-cartoon series produced by the McKimson unit, consisting of The Honey Mousers (1956), Cheese It, the Cat (1957), and Mice Follies (1960). The series was closely based on the Honeymooners television sketches of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. At one point, according to Solomon, Gleason threatened to block The Honey Mousers release; however, he was so pleased with the print that McKimson sent him that he withdrew his objections.

The voices of Ralph, Morton and Alice -- based on the characters played by Gleason, Carney and Audrey Meadows, respectively -- were provided by Daws Butler and June Foray.

HOOK (or MR. HOOK)

Character developed by ex-animator and future creator of Dennis the Menace Hank Ketcham during World War II. While the first film in the series was a nine-minute cartoon produced in color at the Walter Lantz studio, entitled Take Heed, Mr. Tojo, later films were produced at Warners, as Ketcham notes in his autobiography. Solomon reproduces a model sheet from early 1944 which bears the notation “Leon Schlesinger Productions” showing Hook.

Unlike his army counterpart Private Snafu, Hook seems to have been treated rather more gently. The films, at least the surviving ones, are largely war bond commercials. Arthur Lake, who played Dagwood Bumstead in the Blondie series on radio and film, provided his voice.

Some films starring Hook have recently been located in the garage of a film technician who worked on the series, and it is hoped that this series will get the same kind attention that Private Snafu has received.

This series features some of the last Warner Brothers work of Bob Clampett, as well as the first directorial work of Bob McKimson (incidentally, also McKimson’s only work in black-and-white).

Hook filmography:

• Take Heed, Mr. Tojo (Ketcham, Lantz, 1943?)
• The Good Egg (Jones)
• The Return of Mr. Hook (McKimson?)
• Tokyo Woes (Clampett)

While production dates remain uncertain at writing, these films were probably produced in 1945 and released between 1945 and 1946.

HOOVER, J. EDGAR

Longtime publicity-conscious head of the FBI (and, according to some sources, even more of a cross-dresser than Bugs).

Hoover is caricatured as the chief G-man in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941) saying nothing but “Gee!”, and is referred to by Daffy in Daffy Doodles (McKimson, 1946), when he threatens to tell “J. Edgar Whositz” about the actions of Porky in allegedly robbing the mail.

HOPE, BOB
(né Leslie Townes Hope, 1903- fl. 1997)

One of the best-known and longest-running radio and television comedians, Hope had a very popular radio show in the 1930s and 1940s with a truly diverse cast, spawning a number of catch-phrases and many memorable characters. (See also entries for Jerry Colonna and Brenda and Cobina.)

Hope himself made relatively few appearances in WB cartoons. In Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940) Hope is seen coming up the walk to the Benny beach house, and in Hollywood Canine Canteen (McKimson, 1946) Hope and a Colonna caricature doing the Professor Colonna routine from the radio show.

Hope has been a much more popular target for contemporary WB animators, particularly in the Animaniacs program, and to a certain extent in Taz-Mania opposite a Bing Crosby-like character, a foil in many of the “Road to...” pictures the two made together for Paramount.

HOWARD, CAL

Story writer for the studio in the 1930s and the 1950s. Screen credits include Little Red Walking Hood (Avery, 1937) and Canned Feud (with Warren Foster for Freleng, 1951). Howard co-directed Porky’s Phoney Express (1938) and A Lad in Bagdad (1938) with Cal Dalton. Howard also provided the voice for Gabby Goat in the handful of cartoons in which this character appeared.

Howard was famous at Schlesinger’s for running what amounted to a miniature delicatessen out of his desk, complete with efficiency stove and supplies of ice, mustard, etc. A basket system allowed him to distribute foodstuffs to upstairs offices. Menu prices were listed on a board that could be reversed to show an autographed (?!?) picture of Jesus with the legendary inscription, “To my pal, Cal, from Jesus.” (See Chuck Amuck, pp. 61-65.)

Along with Tedd Pierce, Howard left Warners to work for the Fleischer studio in Miami in the late 1930s, during the expansion of that studio which had arisen from their attempts to produce feature-length animated films. Howard is one of the writers credited for Gulliver’s Travels (1939). According to Solomon, he also served in this film, padding on his thighs, as the rotoscope model for Prince David. Howard put in stints at Screen Gems around 1946-47, Walter Lantz around 1933-35 and again between 1962-65; Terrytoons, where he worked on the Deputy Dawg series around 1965, and Disney around 1930.

Howard also worked for MGM in the 1930s. According to Solomon, he taught the Cub Scout troop his son belonged to to shout “[Producer Fred] Quimby is a red-faced jerk!” when they drove past his office.

HOWARD, LESLIE
(1893-1943)

British actor who helped give Humphrey Bogart his first big movie break by insisting to Warner Brothers that Bogart reprise his role as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936) instead of the studio’s first choice, Edward G. Robinson. Two of his best known roles in American films are as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind (1939), and Philip Carey in Of Human Bondage (1934).

His role, as well as that of his co-star, Bette Davis, in The Petrified Forest is beautifully parodied with very good caricatures in She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter (Freleng, 1937). In Porky’s Road Race (Tashlin, 1937), Howard is one of the three British actors riding the Cheerio Special, the others being George Arliss and Freddie Bartholemew.

Howard was flying back to London from a secret mission to Lisbon, Portgual, when his plan was shot down by Nazi fighters.

“HOW DO YOU DO?”

Heavy emphasis on the first “do”. Tagline of Bert Gordon’s Mad Russian character on the Eddie Cantor radio program. Used in Fresh Fish (Avery, 1939) by the Whim-Wham Whistling Shark, the studio cop in Porky’s Movie Mystery (Clampett, 1939), and by one of the Gremlins greeting Hitler in Russian Rhapsody (Clampett, 1944).

“HOW OLD IS SHE?”

Usually said with a long-drawn out, wolf-like howl for the first word. Used by Clampett twice in situations where the feminine form divine is being pursued: in Book Revue (1946) by “The Sea Wolf” ogling “Cherokee Strip”, and in The Big Snooze (1946) by the Hollywood wolves ogling the cross-dressed Fudd. The Mr. Hook short Tokyo Woes (Clampett, 1946) also uses the phrase.

HUBIE AND BERTIE

“Hey, Boit! Cammeeere!!”

Pair of mischievous mice from a number of Chuck Jones cartoons of the 1940s, including Oscar-nominated Mouse Wreckers (1949). Head tricks on cats were a specialty of this duo. Mel Blanc voiced Hubie; Stan Freberg voiced Bertie.

As of Spring 1997, a new Hubie and Bertie cartoon is allegedly in production by Chuck Jones Productions, Inc.

Filmography, all directed by Jones:

• The Aristo-cat (1943)
• Trap Happy Porky (1945)
• Roughly Squeaking (1946)
• House Hunting Mice (1948)
• Mouse Wreckers (1949)
• The Hypo-chondri-cat (1950)
• Cheese Chasers (1951)

HUDSON, ROCHELLE

Person who provided the voice for Honey, the girlfriend of Bosko.

’HUNTER’S TRILOGY”

One of the names given to a well-known series of the following three cartoons, all directed by Chuck Jones and written by Mike Maltese:

1. Rabbit Fire (1951)
2. Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
3. Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953)

These cartoons, in one sense, owe a debt to the final gag from Arthur Davis’ What Makes Daffy Duck? (1948), in which switching hunting season signs likewise produced beneficial results.

The first cartoon, among other gags, has the Joe Besser elephant, the cookbooks on how to cook rabbit or duck (“rabbit au gratin de gelatine under tooled leather”, “barbecued duck meat with broiled duck bill milanaise”, &c.), Bugs doing Daffy and Daffy doing Bugs -- an impressive feat by Blanc there -- Bugs in drag as a stacked huntress with her dog (read: “duck”) Gypsy, finally ending with the declaration of Elmer season.

The second cartoon is best known for the “pronoun trouble” gag, in which Bugs trounces Daffy in a brilliant series of verbal battles, each time getting his beak blown in different directions. Bugs also dresses in drag here, doing a Lana Turner turn in order to get Elmer to plug Daffy yet one more time.

The third cartoon is the cartoon that takes places in the wintertime, with Bugs using a long series of “     Season” signs to trigger Elmer into sending the duck bill into yet another series of grotesque angles, ending with a disguised Bugs convincing a by-now goofy Elmer that it is, in fact, baseball season.

HUMAN TORPEDO

Tokio Jokio (McCabe, 1943) has a gag invovling a human torpedo with a less-than-enthusiastic pilot. Japan actually had such craft, which were called Kaiten, and were truly suicide submarines.

Oddly, the first group of these pilots did not train until August, 1944, and the first mission did not occur until November, 1944 -- it sunk a tanker. Only two ships were ever sunk by such craft, at a loss of roughly some 900 crewmen, including the occupants of the submarine.

HURRICANE

In A Feud There Was (Avery, 1938), the bird in a cuckoo clock observes that the snoring of the hillbillies sounds like a hurricane from the motion picture of the same name. The bird is referring to the 1937 John Ford film. The book the movie was based on also closes out Have You Got Any Castles? (Tashlin, 1938).