About Friz Freleng

“I found Yosemite Sam to be the perfect opponent for Bugs, as there are so subtleties in Sam’s character. The moment he appeared on the scree, there was no doubt about his character, or motives. He was an absolute villain. When another adversary appeared, we would have to build a motive for the unknown character. I really thought Elmer was the wrong guy to oppose Bugs, because he was weak and stupid."

"Who said the silents were dead? The Panther Cartoons were just that, purely visual cartoons accompanied by a lively ragtime musical soundtrack."

"When I made Sylvester cartoons, the only restriction I had was to be sure to keep him as an alley cat with vicious intent. I think that he was really responsible for the suc­cess of the Tweety cartoons."

Isadore "Friz" Freleng (1905-1995) got his start during the twilight years of The Silent Age of Animation, working for Walt Disney alongside Ub Iwerks and Harman And Ising on the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit comedy shorts. After Disney left, he stuck around with Hugh and Rudy at the Charles Mintz studio, even getting the chance to direct on one Mintz Oswald, "Fiery Fireman", before they were fired.
However, he would later leave the studio to go to the then new Leon Schlesinger cartoon studio alongside Harman And Ising when they requested his help in making their Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid short subjects. Even after Harman and Ising left the studio in '33, Friz came back to Leon to help him touch up some rejected "Buddy" comedies.
Friz would continue to be a prominent director in the 30's, cranking out many classic cartoons-including "I Haven't Got A Hat", the birth of the embryological Porky . However, in the late 30's, Friz became interested in MGM's big budget animation department and quit Leon's studio to work there...only to be put onto the mediocre "Captain and the Kids" cartoon series with little to no creative freedom. Friz despised working on the cartoons, and as soon as his contract expired, he fled the studio and went straight back to Termite Terrace where he cranked out a LOT of classics. Yeah, so what he sometimes wore his formulas thin ? ALL Termite Terrace had their own formulas , he is not an exception .

Friz is, simply put, a legend ! He perfected the literal, mechanical musical timing-while and deserves more respect than he gets. ! And as far as drawings go , I have to say that Hawley Pratt is way too overlooked .

Let me give you some of Freleng's contributions :
- His take on Bugs Bunny was particularly vital for the smart-alec rabbit. Freleng’s Bugs has an playful, amiable quality yet still has a certain recklessness to him.
- It was really Friz who first dealt with the ego and darwinism of Daffy with “You Ought to Be in Pictures”(with of course, Clampett, McCabe, Tashlin and others later expanding on those dimensions) years before Chuck finally found a comfort zone with the duck.
- The greatest Friz character is Sylvester "Sthufferin' sthucotash " Pussycat !
- He was the inspiration for the character of Yosemite Sam (both short, red-haired, mustachioed, and hot-tempered. Maltese and Pratt may have done that as a shout out to Friz).
- Friz and Pratt improved Speedy Gonzales's design
-When Bob Clampett exitted the studio Friz asked if he could pair Bob's little Tweety bird with his cat Sylvester; HISTORY WAS MADE !
-Friz won 4 Oscars for the cartoons Tweetie Pie (1947), Speedy Gonzales (1955), Birds Anonymous (1957) and Knighty Knight Bugs (1958).

After the original Warner Bros. animation studio shut down, Friz teamed up with David Depatie to form a new studio on the original lot named "Depatie-Freleng Enterprises". With this studio, they not only attempted to revive Warner Bros. cartoons (I shall explain why Daffy did, voluntarily, team with Speedy...) but also created the smash hit Pink Panther theatrical and TV cartoons. Friz also directed animation for the bridging segments of The Bugs Bunny Show and even made a few anthology movies like The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie and 1001 Rabbit Tales.

God bless you Friz.

And to all the snobbish retrograds that belittle the man's achievments , this may be the best answer [link]

As usual the game is to try and guess which cartoons I am referring to in this image .