Bob Clampett

Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett (8 May 1913 - 2 May 1984) was an American director, producer, animator, and puppeteer. He is best known for his work with both of Warner Bros.' cartoon series, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
== Early Years ==
Robert Emerson Clampett was born in San Diego, California, to Joan and Robert Clampett. When he was a toddler, he and his family moved to Hollywood, where they lived next door to actor Charlie Chaplin and his brother Syd.https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/the-irish-american-animator-who-put-the-looney-into-looney-tunes-1.3582190 While growing up in Hollywood, Bob was interested in and influenced by actors Douglas Fairbanks, Lon Chaney, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd.https://www.awn.com/animationworld/desert-island-bob-clampett At the ages of four and five, Bob showed extraordinary drawing talent which led to him wanting to do art, but decided to step up to cartooning and make comic strips.Jerry Beck, John Kricfalusi, Ruth Clampett, Milton Gray, Leonard Maltin et al. (2004). Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. Special Features: Man from Wackyland: The Art of Bob Clampett (DVD). Warner Home Video. Later, Bob showed an interest in animation, filmmaking and puppetry. He also began making his own short films subjects in his garage.
At the age of twelve, Bob had his cartoons published by the Los Angeles Times including a full-page comic about the nocturnal adventures of a pussycat that was published in color in the Sunday edition. King Features Syndicate saw this and offered him a contract to start at seventy-five dollars a week when he finished high school. However, when Bob saw animation for the first time, he decided to become an animator and work for Warner Bros. cartoons, where he was paid ten dollars a week.http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Funnyworld/Clampett/interview_bob_clampett.htm
Bob attended both Glendale High School and Hoover High School in Glendale, California, but dropped out of Hoover a few months short of graduating. One of his early jobs was working at a doll factory that was run by his aunt, Charlotte Clark. Bob helped design the first Mickey Mouse doll, due to the rising popularity of the character, but he was unable to find a drawing of the character so he decided to go to a movie theater and sketch some drawings of Mickey from what he saw.
== Career ==
=== Looney Tunes ===
Bob started working at the Harman-Ising Studio in 1931, and the first cartoon that he animated was the first Merrie Melodies cartoon, "Lady, Play Your Mandolin!" He had also worked on the Merrie Melodies short "I Haven't Got a Hat" which introduced the character Porky Pig, whom Clampett helped develop, and who would eventually become a star. Later when Tex Avery joined in 1935, Clampett joined his unit alongside Chuck Jones, Virgil Ross, Sid Sutherland, Cecil Surry, Elmer Wait, and Robert Cannon. Clampett left Tex's unit in 1937 alongside Chuck Jones to work for Ub Iwerks at his studio in Beverly Hills where he directed his first cartoon "Porky's Badtime Story". He had also directed the animated opening sequence in the 1937 Joe E. Brown film When's Your Birthday?https://www.cartoonbrew.com/animators/bob-clampetts-first-film-5428.html Clampett had directed the Looney Tunes cartoons which were produced in black and white under the management of Ray Katz, Leon Schlesinger's brother-in-law.Lenburg, Jeff. Who’s Who in Animated Cartoons. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2006. After Tex Avery left Warner Bros. in 1941 to work for Jerry Fairbanks, Clampett took over his unit while Norman McCabe took over Clampett's old unit until he was drafted into the Army and was replaced by Frank Tashlin and eventually Robert McKimson. He left on 7 May 1945 to pursue a career in television and following his departure, Arthur Davis took over his unit until it was disbanded in 1947 due to budget problems that Warner Bros was facing.https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/robert-mckimsons-a-ham-in-a-role/ Clampett left behind four cartoons that he planned to direct: "The Goofy Gophers" and "Bacall to Arms", which were both finished by Arthur Davis.https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animator-profiles-arthur-davis/ After Arthur had finished both cartoons, he threw out the other two cartoons that he had in production and gave them to Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson to finish. "Tweetie Pie" was finished by Friz Freleng, and "Birth of a Notion" was finished by Robert McKimson. 
=== After Looney Tunes ===
After Looney Tunes, Clampett left to work at the Screen Gems cartoon studio for which former Warner Bros. producers Ray Katz and Henry Binder served as producers. He worked as a story editorhttps://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/columbia-screen-gems/https://www.whataboutthad.com/2012/02/09/lost-and-found-a-new-taste-sensation/ on several cartoons including "Cockatoos for Two" and "Boston Beanie" which were both written by Warner Bros. storymen Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce.https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/comics-by-michael-maltese/ In 1947, he directed one cartoon titled "It's a Grand Old Nag" starring Charlie Horse.https://www.cartoonbrew.com/brewtv/grandoldnag-8686.html Two years later, he also created the show Time for Beany (which was parodied in a Pinky and the Brain short), and its animated spin-off Beany and Cecil.
== Later Career ==
In his later years, Bob Clampett toured college campuses and animation festivals as a lecturer on the history of animation.
Clampett died of a heart attack in his hotel room in Detroit, Michigan,https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2013/05/bobs-book-revue.html six days before his 71st birthday, while touring the country to promote the home video release of Beany & Cecil cartoons.https://web.archive.org/web/20090207012049/http://www.toontracker.com/beanytoon/beanytoons.htm
== Dispute ==
Despite his legacy, Bob has been savaged by his coworkers at Warner Brothers, many of whom called him a "shameless self-promoter who provoked the wrath of [his] former [coworkers in later years] for allegedly claiming credit for ideas which were not [his]." Chuck Jones particularly disliked him, and therefore made no mention of him in his 1979 compilation-film The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie, or his biography Chuck Amuck. In addition, voice-actor Mel Blanc accused Bob of being an "egotist who took credit for everything." Some of this antipathy may have been connected to Bob's "golden boy" status at the studio (his mother was said to be a close friend of producer Leon Schlesinger), which allowed him to ignore rules that everyone else was expected to follow. He also mentioned many things that were not true, in Bugs Bunny Superstar.
== Looney Works ==
=== Director ===
=== Animator ===
* Ain't We Got Fun
* The Blow Out
* Buddy of the Legion
* Buddy Steps Out
* A Cartoonist's Nightmare
* Don't Look Now
* Gold Diggers of '49
* I Haven't Got a Hat
* I Love to Singa
* I Only Have Eyes for You
* I'd Love to Take Orders from You
* Lady, Play Your Mandolin!
* Little Dutch Plate
* Milk and Money
* Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name
* My Green Fedora
* Page Miss Glory
* Pettin' in the Park
* Picador Porky
* Porky and Gabby
* Porky's Badtime Story
* Porky the Rain-Maker
* Porky the Wrestler
* Porky's Duck Hunt
* Porky's Super Service
* Shake Your Powder Puff
* Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!
== Characters Created ==
Tweety1.gif|Tweety
File:Petunia Pig Vector.png|Petunia Pig (modern)
Babbitandcatstello.jpg|Babbit and Catstello
File:Doggy.png|The Dog
File:Tosh and Mac .webp|Goofy Gophers
Strifebeaky.jpg|Beaky Buzzard
Mama buzzard.png|Mama Buzzard
YoYoDodo.jpg|Yoyo Dodo
File:The gremlin.png|The Gremlin
Russian Dog.jpg|Russian Dog
Babybottleneck (1).jpg|The Drunk Stork
An Itch in Time.jpg|A. Flea
Mr. Meek.png|Mr. Meek
File:Captura de pantalla 2023-04-28 191424.png|Red Hot Ryder
Little Man from the Draft Board.png|The Little Man from the Draft Board
1477136080237.jpg|So White
PDVD 082.12.jpg|Prince Chawmin'
Sloppy.png|Sloppy Moe
Injun Joe.jpg|Injun Joe
Lt mrs daffy wise quacks 1939.jpg|Mrs. Daffy Duck
Zzz.jpg|Rosebud
Pinky Pig.PNG|Pinky Pig
BacallToArmstake1.jpg|Wolf
Bandicam 2020-01-23 00-23-35-561.jpg|Moth
Cuff08.jpg|Honey Bee
Vlcsnap-2020-03-01-19h33m07s453.png|Black Widow Spider
Birdy and the Beast (11).jpg|Schnooks
Leopold cropped.jpg|Leopold the Dog
Hepcat1.jpg|The Hep Cat
Milt gross like dog.jpg|Rosebud the Dog
Bandicam 2019-04-02 16-19-07-968.jpg|Gremlins from the Kremlin
Cygnet clampett.jpg|Cygnet
AS13.png|Cake-Icer
Porkyanddaffy pelican.jpg|Pelican Boxer Host
Porkyanddaffy face.jpg|The Champ
Goosey.png|Goosey
Penguin from Porky's Party.jpg|Penguin
Porky-mom.jpeg|Porky's Mother
== Characters Voiced ==
Poppa duck.jpg|Duck (Porky's Poppa)
Price porky duck soldier.jpg|Duck Soldier (What Price Porky)
File:5373754890 a0fd6b390d.jpg|Three-Headed Creature ("Porky in Wackyland")
Mrs. DD.jpg|Mrs. Daffy Duck (Wise Quacks)
2nd hunter.jpg|2nd Hunter (Horton Hatches the Egg)
Corny concerto dog.jpg|Dog (A Corny Concerto)http://likelylooneymostlymerrie.blogspot.com/2017/04/413-corny-concerto-1943.htmlhttps://twitter.com/daffyduckaroo/status/1235362021052424198
Mother Swan.jpg|Mother Swan (A Corny Concerto)
Cygnet clampett.jpg|Cygnet (A Corny Concerto)
Concerto Daffy.jpg|Daffy Duck (A Corny Concerto)
Bugs in Falling Hare.jpg|Bugs Bunny (Lennie voice and vocal effects) (Falling Hare)
File:Sloppy.png|Sloppy Moe (Wagon Heels)
Butch bulldog.jpg|Butch (Birdy and the Beast)
== Gallery==
Bob as a boy.jpg|Bob (right) as a young boy with his father
Working bob.jpg
Bob with award.jpg|Bob with a Grand Shorts Award trophy
Clampett-unit.jpg|Clampett with his animation unit c. 1938
ClampettUnit001.jpg|Clampett with his animation unit probably taken in 1942
1626-goodman03blancclampett.jpg|Bob Clampett with Mel Blanc
TexChuckBob0001.jpg|Clampett pictured with his colleagues Virgil Ross, Sid Sutherland, Tex Avery, and Chuck Jones
Storynono01a-big.jpg|Clampett, in the center, with Michael Sasanoff, Thomas McKimson, and Hubie Karp during the production of The Great Piggy Bank Robbery circa. 1945
Clampett.png|Clampett with Melvin Millar and Warren Foster circa. 1940
Bob-and-Mike-Sasanoff.png|Bob with Michael Sasanoff seated at a table with a bottle of carrot juice, photographed for animation reference for "What's Cookin' Doc?"
Tumblr nwzjohaAh21tb16fvo1 540.jpg|Bob with a young John Kricfalusi
Super clampett.png|Clampett in Bugs Bunny: Superstar
Swbiobobclampetthdg.jpg
Bob-Clampett-and-Cecil.jpg|Bob with a puppet of Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent
Bob and Ollie.JPG|Clampett with his wife Sody and Ollie Johnston
Tumblr nn1t8cyk9z1tb16fvo4 1280.png|A caricature of Clampett drawn by Tex Avery from Bugs Bunny: Superstar
Tumblr inline no1axqKNZJ1s3enod 400.jpg
1626-goodman07clampettising.jpg|Bob receiving an award from Rudolf Ising
Bobby clampett g.jpg|Bob with Manny Gould? (left)
11820 1023213365.jpg|Bob's gravestone at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Baby bob clampett 2.jpg|A baby photo of Bob that would serve as the inspiration for Tweety.
BobAsHitler.jpg|Bob as Hitler.
DKg5lOcWkAAuPxR.jpg|Bob Clampett c. 1925
DKg6AZAXkAEBYhh.jpg|Bob in New York City c. 1945
Bob chuck norman.jpg|Bob with Norman McLaren (left) and Chuck Jones (right) at the World Retrospective of Animated Cinema, Montreal c. 1967
Clampett-yearbook-a.jpg|Bob's yearbook photo
DKg5yOUXkAAS1En.jpg|Bob during the production of "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" c. 1942
DXSshwhV4AAHaMX.jpg|Bob with Dr. Seuss and Friz Freleng
Bob and john k.jpg|Bob with John Kricfalusi
Bob & Sody.jpg|Bob with his wife Sody
Puppet-show-family-550.jpg|Bob with his wife Sody and their children holding puppets of the characters that Clampett had created.
Ruthie-and-dad-at-Studio-600.jpg|Bob with his daughter Ruth as a baby.
Dad-Reading-with-Bobby-and-Ruth-600.jpg|Bob reading Disney’s Alice in Wonderland to Ruth and Bob, Jr
WaBCLastShotsBeanyCap.jpg|One of the last photographs taken of Bob just days before he died
RIP Bob Clampett.jpg|A tribute to Bob Clampett following his deathhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/SODY-CLAMPETT-Memorial-to-Bob-Clampett-Notecard-AN-Autographed-/143661212238?autorefresh=true
==References==
 
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Category:Directors
Category:Animators
Category:Producers
Category:Looney Tunes Animators
Category:Looney Tunes Directors
Category:Real People
Category:Deceased
Category:1913 births
Category:1984 Deaths
Category:Looney Tunes Voice-Actors