The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons by Jerry Beck (2010-07-06)

Jerry Beck is probably the biggest authority on Looney Tunes cartoons, so you know you are getting a quality book. With synopses and commentary, this book is an essential purchase for Looney Tunes fans.

As a fan (but no hardcore(!) fan knowing every single episode every made!) of looney tunes cartoons I really like this book! As I practically grew up with Bugs & Co. while going through the pages of this amazing book there a lot of cartoons I recognize from many years ago watching this very same cartoons on television.. therefor a lot of good memories come floating back..But that there is not ONE SINGLE "pepé le pew" (with 'le chat') cartoon in the book was a big disappointment for me - as Pepé is my favourite caracter ever made! There are not many caracters with Pepé as the main character but the one's existing are awesome! Therefor I can only give 3 stars!I'd recommend this book for Looney Tunes fans and people who got to know & like them in their childhood!

American animation historian Jerry Beck has written a number of first class publications on some of the best loved cartoons of all time, and in 2010 he delivered 'The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons'. This lavishly illustrated coffee table book provides an entertaining, and educational reference work to the golden age of animation from Warner Bros, when the Looney Tunes were delighting cinema audiences for the first time.For someone who is just discovering the timeless antics of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and co, this provides an excellent introduction to what the author, other experts, keen fans, and for the most part myself, the most memorable and influential cartoons from this long-running, and prolific series of shorts.Each cartoon is presented over two pages each, where the reader is given a detailed synopsis, with personal input and opinions from Beck and his team of fellow historians, and is illustrated with good quality screen grabs, and rare art.To name just six of the hundred cherry-picked cartoons, the book features Chuck Jones' musical masterpiece 'What's Opera, Doc?' (1957), with Bugs and Elmer Fudd, his Daffy Duck and all-star show spectacular 'The Scarlet Pumpernickel' (1950), the legendary 'Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century' (1953), Bob Clampett's wacky Porky Pig adventure 'Porky in Wackyland' (1930), his wonderful Daffy short 'The Great Piggy Bank Robbery' (1946), and 'Walky Talky Hawky', a cartoon by Robert McKimson, which marked the debut of my favourite 'Looney Tunes' character Foghorn Leghorn.As someone who watched these cartoons avidly as a kid in the late Nineties and early Noughties, it was a great for me to relive those evergreen shorts on these pages, and learn something more about them in what is truly a first class publication. I would like to congratulate Jerry Beck on his fine work, and recommend 'The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes' cartoons as a gift to anyone who has grown up, but still appreciates how wonderful these animated shorts were, or to somebody you're trying to convert. If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself digging out the DVDs, or heading onto YouTube to watch some of the cartoons after reading about them.

the book was amazing! very pleased with this purchase :)

For this aged baby - boomer who grew up watching and loving these cartoons this book is a perfect fit and gift. The Warner Brothers {WB} cartoons and their characters are {in my opinion} by far the best known, best loved and most entertaining cartoons of the golden age of Hollywood that not even Walt Disney cartoons can top !!. The 100 cartoons represented in this book are the like the cream from them skimmed right off the top. I couldn't quarrel or dispute any of the choices and I applauded and appreciated the informative, pithy narrative and comments allied to the excellent pictures. My favorite character "Yosemite Sam" was well represented but pride of place in the book goes to Bug Bunny, Tweedy, Slyvester and Daffy Duck whose comic personna's continually evolved to keep them fresh and up to date.The marvelous creative team of the WB cartoon department is beyond exemplar - cartoon directors Bob Clampett, Fritz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Arthur Davis and Robert Mckimson, music director Carl Stalling, the unique voices created by Mel Blanc, Bea Benadaret and June Foray {that always perfectly match the characters}, story lines by Frank Tashlin, Michael Maltese and Ted Pierce and all the other technicians and artists get well deserved kudos for their contributions that make these cartoons so entertaining and special. WB produced almost 1000 cartoons and it is astonishing that the cartoon department was able to keep the frantic pace, humor and creative energy at such a high level of excellence for almost 3 decades.Most of us have one particular favorite cartoon and mine is on page 112 - "Little Red Riding Rabbit" with Bugs, a cross dressing, dim-witted wolf and an obnoxious Bobby Soxer Red Riding Hood {unforgettably voiced by Bea Benadaret} with Red skreeching "HEY GRANDMA !!" one time too many galvanizing Bugs to take an 180 degree turn to settle with her "once and for all ". I love these cartoons, loved this book and I give it 5 stars - Highly recommended.

I love the old studio-era cartoons, and recently saw Chuck Jones on a Dick Cavett show re-run. Very, very interesting, and that inspired me to start checking out cartoon history and cartoon overview books. Chuck Jones mentioned that Warner Brothers had trashed, or otherwise discarded, hundreds of thousands of cartoon cels and drawings, which both he and Cavett thought was a historical loss of major proportions.

The Looney Tunes book arrived quickly & was in excellent condition for a so-called "used" book (no way!) - especially since it cost just a fraction of the price. This book gives you the complete history of how Looney Tunes came to be. I didn't realize how little I knew. It was fun reading about my favorite episodes even though there were so many I'd never seen before. Anyone that likes watching the older cartoons will enjoy reading this book.

The whole run of classic Looney Tunes from the 1930s through the 1960s totals somewhere around 1000 films. This book does a decent job of cutting that jungle down to size, sifting out the best, the funniest, the most acclaimed, the most influential. For somebody not already steeped in Looney Tunes knowledge, this is an outstanding introduction.So what's missing? Pepe Le Pew is represented only by a single brief appearance. Taz, Witch Hazel and Pete Puma are nowhere to be seen. The list is understandably biased toward the 1940s and 1950s while revealing little of the B&W learning curve of the 1930s (Foxy and Bosco didn't make the cut either) or the awkward, budget-starved efforts of the 1960s. In his introduction Jerry Beck freely admits, "One hundred slots weren't nearly enough to cover all the greats!" This book doesn't try to be an exhaustive guide or history book, and I think that's OK.Each cartoon is given a two-page spread with photos, a plot summary, commentary from various cartoon scholars and professionals, statistics and credits, and often a brief additional comment from Mr. Beck. They're presented in alphabetical order, which I think was a good call. At the beginning is a thumbnail index which makes it easy to find any cartoon in seconds. In the back is both a director index and a character index, also mighty convenient.This is a small book, which some have complained about. To me it seems like a convenient size, and big enough to show what needs to be shown. By its nature it's a summary. Instead of showing lots of big, beautiful pictures, it assumes you'll proceed to watch the actual cartoons!

The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons is an essential reference for anyone interested in animation, especially the golden age of animation from Warner Bros.Each featured animation is given a thoughtful profile with samples and synopsis plus other neat bits of info and insight.

Jerry Beck surveyed animation fans and historians to come up with a list of the 'creme de la creme' of Looney Tunes -- the best 100 cartoons (out of over a thousand) released by Warner Brothers between 1930 and the mid-1960's. The results are printed in this beatifully produced (and eminently reasonably priced) book that any animation fan will want to own.I'm sure the comments area of this site will now have multiple discussion threads devoted to arguments over which cartoons should have been included but weren't (and I have some ideas of my own), but all of the 'tunes that made the cut are certainly worthy of a place in this book. The list even includes "Coal Black" .. a short that we will probably never get to see. Shorts are listed in alphabetical order, there was no attempt to rank the cartoons from 1 to 100.Following a couple of brief introductions, each cartoon gets its own two page spread. One page is devoted to stills from the cartoon (usually sharp and crisp; a few are rather fuzzy -- these seem to be from cartoons that have not been released on DVD and so haven't yet been restored), and the other to text. And that is the slightly disappointing part. A heading in large type, a brief quote from the short in almost-as-large type, a boxed sidebar with production information (director, voices, etc.), a summary of the plot, and then, from an animation expert or historian, a VERY brief discussion of some aspect of the film. I was really hoping for more in-depth discussions of the shorts; couldn't some of the abundant white space on the page been used for this? (Though, realistically, I guess it's hard to get TOO profound when talking about Looney Tunes -- they were never meant to be deep or meaningful ... just funny and entertaining.)Despite this disappointment, still a must-buy.

I've really enjoyed this listing of 100 great Warner Brothers cartoons.As a 39 year old, I grew up with these cartoons, and still there are some I don't recognize.If you are a fan of the era, I recommend this highly.Could it have been longer, sure, but you could say that about most non-Robert Jordan books.

This was bought for a gift for my granddaughter who is a Looney Tunes fan and a very good graphic artist. She loves it.

Wonderful book. Very clear. I just wish there was Volume II because I know there are even more Greatest Cartoons out there not mentioned.

I gave this book a 5-star rating, not only because my all-time favorite Looney Tunes cartoon (Satan's Waitin') made the greatest 100, but because this book brings back so many fond memories of my childhood watching these great cartoons. As I thumbed through the book for the first time, I quoted to myself some famous lines from a couple of the cartoons, then found as I read the text about them that these quotes were included!That first evening when I got this book, it was getting close to my bedtime and the need for sleep before the next work day, but I just couldn't put it down! Thankfully, I have most of these cartoons on the Golden Collection DVD series as well and can watch them whenever I have time. That makes reading this book that much more enjoyable.A message to those who'd like a more in-depth analysis of the cartoons: Just watch them and enjoy! That's all the writers intended to be done with them anyway.

While there are so many Looney Tunes to choose from, the author did a great job of narrowing it down to the top 100. There are some great ones in there including Barber of Seville and Whats Opera Doc, as well as some that you may not be familiar with! Included is a summary of the cartoon, who was the director as well as its importance in the Looney Tunes collection. Check it out to see if your favorite made the cut!

My son loves this book. Great pictures and enough text to keep him interested.

I choose this rating cause it was the right choice nice product , Yes I would recommend this to all my friends THE SERVICE WAS GOOD THANKS AGAIN

This book is like a quick bio. of Bugs and friends. This was a Christmas gift for our autistic son who is completely in love with this cartoon series. He actually picked this book out on Amazon and likes to read it before going to sleep. There are not many pictures but each page has clips or drawings from the animated cartoon that is titled in the chapter. If you love the cartoon you should enjoy this hard cover book.