Friz Freleng

Isadore "Friz" Freleng (21 August 1905 - 26 May 1995) was one of the earliest directors of Looney Tunes. He and fellow director Chuck Jones dominated the Warner Bros. animation studio after Leon Schlesinger left in 1944.
The nickname "Friz" came from his friend Hugh Harman, who initially nicknamed him "Congressman Frizby" after a fictional senator who appeared in satirical pieces in the Los Angeles Examiner. Over time, this shortened to "Friz".http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-friz-freleng-1621602.html
== Early Career ==
Freleng was born in Kansas City, Missouri, 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 and 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 Walt 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.Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age p153
== Freleng as Director ==
=== Early Schlesinger Cartoons ===
Harman and Ising parted ways with Schlesinger 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 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, 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.
As a director, Freleng gained the reputation of a tough taskmaster. His unit, however, consistently produced high quality animated shorts under his direction.
=== Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ===
In 1937, Freleng left Schlesinger's after accepting an increase in salary to direct for the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio 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.Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, pg. 283. Though skillfully animated, the characters could not compete with the "funny animals" 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 cartoon shorts directed by Freleng during his second tenure at the studio was "You Ought to Be in Pictures", a cartoon 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.
=== 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 timing. 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.
Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones (In fact, Freleng actually was the one who hired Joneshttp://chuckjonescenter.org/about/chuck.) 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 continued also 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). 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's cartoon "Show Biz Bugs" (1957), with Daffy Duck vying with Bugs Bunny for theatre audience appreciation, was arguably a template for the enormously successful format to The Bugs Bunny Show that premiered on television in the autumn of 1960. Furthermore, Freleng directed some cartoons with the Goofy Gophers encountering the relentless wheels of human industry, those being "I Gopher You" (1954) and "Lumber Jerks" (1955). He also directed three cartoons sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that told of the virtues of free-market capitalism. Those cartoons are "By Word of Mouse" (1954), "Heir-Conditioned" (1955), and "Yankee Dood It" (1956), all three of which involved Sylvester. Freleng directed all three of the vintage Warner Brothers cartoons in which a drinking of Dr. Jekyll's potion (of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) induces a series of monstrous transformations, "Dr. Jerkyl's Hide" (1954), "Hyde and Hare" (1955), and "Hyde and Go Tweet" (1960) being those three cartoons. Other Freleng fancies were man at war with the insect world (as in "Of Thee I Sting" (1946) and "Ant Pasted" (1953)), an inebriated stork delivering the wrong baby (in "A Mouse Divided" (1952), "Stork Naked" (1955), and "Apes of Wrath" (1959)), and characters marrying for money and finding themselves with a shrewish wife and a troublesome step-son ("His Bitter Half" (1949) and "Honey's Money" (1962)).
=== In-Jokes ===
Freleng was occasionally the basis of many in-jokes within the cartoons themselves. Freleng's name would frequently appear on items such as a jar of hair tonic or on a billboard. Some cartoons, including "The Hasty Hare" (1952) and "Honey's Money" (1962), feature caricatures of him. Yosemite Sam's appearance was based on Freleng.
This happened to most of the Warner staff, but Freleng was the most prominent. 
=== Musical Knowledge and Technique ===
Freleng was somewhat of a composer who, along with story man Warren Foster, would come up with a gag the best way possible by working on musical bar sheets. This way, Freleng wrote out the music and placed the right moment for the gag to appear. He was one of a very few directors at Warner Bros. to have musical knowledge of making cartoons.
=== DePatie-Freleng Enterprises ===
Freleng left Warner Bros. Cartoons in November 1962, seven months before the studio closed, to take a job at Hanna-Barbera as story supervisor on their feature Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! After the Warner studio closed in May 1963, Freleng rented the same space from Warners to create cartoons with his now-former boss, producer 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 star 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 designed Freleng 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, Hoot Kloot, Roland and Rattfink, Tijuana Toads (later rereleased as Texas Toads), Blue Racer, Misterjaw, The Dogfather, and Crazylegs Crane, 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. DePatie-Freleng also contributed special effects to the original version of Star Wars, particularly the animation of the lightsaber blades.
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, which renamed it Marvel Productions.
=== Later Career and Death ===
Freleng later served as an executive producer 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 his Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982), and Daffy Duck's 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.
Friz Freleng died of natural causes in Los Angeles, aged 88. The WB animated TV series The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, and the Looney Tunes cartoon "From Hare to Eternity" (which was the last one directed by Chuck Jones), were both dedicated to his memory. Freleng is interred in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
== Looney Works ==
=== As a Director ===
See List of cartoons supervised by Friz Freleng
=== As a Writer ===
* "Sinkin' in the Bathtub" (1930) (uncredited) 
* "So Much for So Little" (1949) (with Chuck Jones [uncredited]) (uncredited) N/A 
* "Stooge for a Mouse" (1950) (uncredited) 
* "Rabbit Every Monday" (1951) (uncredited) 
* "Orange Blossoms for Violet" (1952) (with Chuck Jones) N/A 
* "Tweet Dreams" (1959) (with Warren Foster) 
* "From Hare to Heir" (1960) 
* "Lighter Than Hare" (1960) 
* "The Rebel Without Claws" (1961) 
* "The Jet Cage" (1962) 
* "Devil's Feud Cake" (1963) (with Warren Foster) 
* "The Wild Chase" (1965) (uncredited) 
* "Corn on the Cop" (1965) 
* "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol" (1979) (with Tony Benedict and John W. Dunn) 
* "Fright Before Christmas" (1979) (with Tony Benedict [uncredited] and John W. Dunn [uncredited]) (uncredited) 
=== As a Producer ===
* "Pancho's Hideaway" (1964) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Road to Andalay" (1964) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Zip Zip Hooray!" (1965) (with David H. DePatie [uncredited]) (uncredited) 
* "It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Cats and Bruises" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Roadrunner a Go-Go" (1965) (with David H. DePatie [uncredited]) (uncredited) 
* "The Wild Chase" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Moby Duck" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Assault and Peppered" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Well Worn Daffy" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Suppressed Duck" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Corn on the Cop" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Rushing Roulette" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Tease for Two" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Tired and Feathered" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Boulder Wham!" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Chili Corn Corny" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Just Plane Beep" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Hairied and Hurried" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Go Go Amigo" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Highway Runnery" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Chaser on the Rocks" (1965) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "The Astroduck" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Shot and Bothered" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Out and Out Rout" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Mucho Locos" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "The Solid Tin Coyote" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Mexican Mousepiece" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Clippety Clobbered" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Daffy Rents" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "A-Haunting We Will Go" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Snow Excuse" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "A Squeak in the Deep" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Feather Finger" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Swing Ding Amigo" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Sugar and Spies" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "A Taste of Catnip" (1966) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Daffy's Diner" (1967) (with David H. DePatie) 
* "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol" (1979) 
* "Fright Before Christmas" (1979) (with David H. DePatie [uncredited] and Hal Geer [uncredited]) 
* "The Yolks on You" (1980) (with David H. DePatie [uncredited] and Hal Geer [uncredited]) (uncredited) 
* "The Chocolate Chase" (1980) (with David H. DePatie [uncredited] and Hal Geer [uncredited]) (uncredited) 
* "Daffy Flies North" (1980) (with David H. DePatie [uncredited] and Hal Geer [uncredited]) (uncredited) 
== Trivia ==
* In most of his shorts, Freleng's nickname ("Friz") is shown in ads (usually as the brand name for a soda or a gelatin dessert).
* Freleng made a cameo appearance as a caricatured version of himself in the Animaniacs episode "Back in Style", along with Chuck Jones.
* In Loonatics Unleashed, one planet is called Freleng.
== Characters Created ==
File:Pigs.png|Porky Pig
IGH1.png|Beans
File:Tweety (SVG).svg|Tweety (modern)
File:Sylvester the Cat (SVG).svg|Sylvester
Granny.gif|Granny (modern)
File:Merrie Melodies Jester.jpg|Jester
SpeedyGonzales.png|Speedy Gonzales (With help from Robert McKimson and Hawley Pratt)
File:Yosemite Sam.png|Yosemite Sam
File:Clyde hd.png|Clyde Bunny
File:Bugs and Thugs (18).jpg|Rocky and Mugsy
Spikechester1.jpg|Spike and Chester
Jose und Manuel.jpg|Jose and Manuel
Loon1.gif|Hector the Bulldog
File:Spike hd.png|Spike (A Waggily Tale)
File:Slowpoke sd.png|Slowpoke Rodriguez
Char 45852.jpg|W.C. Squeals
Ben the bird.jpg|Ben Birdie
Blabbermouse Character Title Card.png|Little Blabbermouse
31b35e9a0.jpg|The Woodpecker
Yellow duck.jpg|Little Yellow Duck
Ham and Ex.jpg|Ham and Ex
Lilk.jpg|Little Kitty
Oliver owl.jpg|Oliver Owl
PigsisPigs1.jpg|Piggy Hamhock
CrosbyanaRESTORED.jpeg|Bingo Crosbyana
File:Emilyhd.png|Emily the Chicken
BoulevardierRESTORED.jpeg|Dizzy Dan
File:Cledhd.png|Clem
File:Mr.bingohd.png|Mr. Bingo
File:Malcolmhd.png|Malcolm Falcon
File:Wolfcharles.png|Charles M. Wolf
Von Vulture.png|Von Vultur
SchultzFrog.jpg|Schultz
Salesman from Jungle Jitters.jpg|Salesman
Vlcsnap-2020-12-25-14h05m33s567.png|The Queen
Louie.jpeg|Louie
File:Pierrehd.png|Pierre
Mouse and Garden - Friz Freleng (6).jpg|Sam Cat
File:Clarence hq.png|Clarence Cat
File:Wackywormhdcharacter.png|The Wacky Worm
File:Giantjackwabbithd.PNG|Giant
File:Stagedoorcartoonsheriff.PNG|Southern Sheriff
File:Amousedividedmrscat.PNG|Mrs. Cat
File:Baseballbugsgorillas.PNG|The Gashouse Gorillas Baseball Team
Shiskabugs screenshot.png|Spoiled King
File:Daisylouharesplitter.PNG|Daisy Lou
File:Casbahrabbitharesplitterhd.PNG|Casbah Rabbit
Goldi.jpg|Goldimouse
File:Blackpantheratreefortwo.PNG|Black Panther
File:HugoHD.PNG|Hugo
File:Rebelwithoutclawsgeneral.PNG|General Robert E. Lee
Screen Shot 2014-09-01 at 20.34.25.png|Laurel and Hardy Crow 
Screen Shot 2014-09-01 at 20.34.07.png|Hopalong Casserole
Leo the lion.jpg|Leo the Lion
== Gallery ==
Copy of freleng.jpg|A young Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng yearbook photo.jpg|Friz's high school yearbook photo
Mel friz chuck.png|Friz at the Academy Awards with Mel Blanc and Chuck Jones
DzyhbD-X0AIZmFQ.jpg|Friz (far right) with Frank Tashlin, Tex Avery, Henry Binder, Leon Schlesinger, and Ray Katz c. 1936
File:Friz Unit.jpg|Friz with his animation unit c. 1940
File:Leon and Friz.jpg|Friz with Leon Schlesinger
87f85-rossfreleng.jpg|Friz with Virgil Ross (left) going over A Street Cat Named Sylvester's storyboard c. 1952
ThreeDirectors0001.jpg|Friz with Johnny Burton, Robert McKimson, and Chuck Jones circa 1958
Tumblr nehdnrGcFD1rsovmko1 1280.jpg|Friz with Treg Brown, Robert McKimson, Chuck Jones, Eddie Selzer, and John W. Burton
77218-28bfrelengandhawleypratt215531427 c8e820542d z.jpg|Friz with Hawley Pratt
Friz at drawing bugs.jpg
Animaniacs chuck and friz.jpg|Friz Freleng with Chuck Jones caricatured in Animaniacs
DePatie-and-Freleng.jpg|Friz with David DePatie
DePatie1965.jpg|DePatie Freleng Enterprises in 1965 - (back row, l to r): Bob McKimson, Bill Tytla, John Rose, Harry Love, Tom McLaughlin, David DePatie, Treg Brown, Friz Freleng, Lee Halpern, Bab Matz, Lew Irwin, Hawley Pratt, Bill Orcutt; (front row, l to r): Cecil Eckhardt, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Leonardi, O.B. Barkley, John Dunn and Virgil Ross
12105928 969038636468878 6718631293854507990 n.jpg
Walter Lantz Chuck Jones Friz Freleng.jpg|Friz with Walter Lantz and Chuck Jones
1868210892 3295e09457 z.jpg|Friz (seated) with Joseph Barbera, John Kricfalusi, and William Hanna
Pink-panther-friz-freleng-1905-1995 1 ca3c24deb65ff5e728f050d16a07a292.jpg|A tribute to Friz following his death with the Pink Panther
Friz sam tribute.jpg|A tribute to Friz following his death with Yosemite Sam
File:RIP Friz.jpg|A tribute to Friz following his death with several Looney Tunes characters
==References==
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Category:Directors
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Category:Looney Tunes Animators
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