| 1 | [[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bobclampett001.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:305:The Man from Wackyland.]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | If it was Creator/TexAvery who realized that animation can do anything and Creator/ChuckJones who took subtle humor and stylization to new heights in animation, then it was Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) who took the good, old-fashioned "rubber hose" style that animation had in the 1930s and gave it a wackier makeover. One of the most popular directors of the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' series of cartoon shorts made by Creator/WarnerBros during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation (second only to Chuck Jones in popularity), Bob Clampett was nothing short of a mischief maker, being both a real life version of WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, in addition to being a real life WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck (of the early, screwy variety). |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Being inspired by the strange works of artist Creator/SalvadorDali, as well as the other animation studios like Disney and [[Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer Fleischer]] and even newspaper comic artists like Milt Gross, Clampett eventually began working at the Warner Bros. distributed animation unit of Leon Schlesinger, after failing to get a job at the Disney studios. (Disney ''had'' wanted to hire him, due to Clampett's excellent drawing skills, but they had all the animators they needed.) There, Clampett and his soon to be mentor, Fred "Tex" Avery, went to work in a crumbling wooden shack assigned to them, not far from the main Schlesinger lot. There, they discovered they were not alone -- specifically, said shack appeared to be infested with termites. Still, being comfy there, the duo blessed upon the place the affectionate nickname ''Termite Terrace'', which would soon become the unofficial name for the entire WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes animation studio as a whole. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Avery left the studio in 1941, but Clampett, having learned quite a thing or two from him, began experimenting with his own style of animation -- a very wacky, surreal one which combined the early principles of rubber hose animation from UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfAnimation, with the more modern, higher quality principles and art productions of a Disney short. The results were some of the finest cartoons ever made in general, let alone by the Warner Bros. animation unit. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Mainly because of restlessness, Clampett left Warner Bros. in 1945, bouncing between other studios' animation units for a few years, then scoring an early television success by creating the puppet show ''Time For Beany''. He later started his own animation studio, and adapted the earlier show into ''WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil''. By TheSeventies he more publicly embraced his ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' legacy, giving numerous talks and interviews and appearing prominently on camera in the 1975 documentary ''Bugs Bunny Superstar'' (featuring a bunch of archival material from the Termite Terrace years that Clampett had saved). He died in 1984 in UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} after suffering a heart attack while on a tour promoting a ''Beany and Cecil'' video release. Interestingly, news coverage of his death tended to list his creation of [[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Tweety Bird]] as his main accomplishment. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | While for many years he was considered a less-prominent director (his influenced downplayed in favor of the other directors, plus his smaller output compared to them limiting his profile), his cartoons have gained a surprisingly large fanbase in recent years, receiving praise and admiration from professionals like [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Milt Gray]], [[UsefulNotes/NoteworthyDisneyStaff Eric Goldberg]] and Creator/JohnKricfalusi (the latter being his protege and biggest fan, is heavily influenced by him, and is also partly responsible for getting Bob's shorts back into the limelight). |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | [[folder:Filmography]] |
| 16 | [[index]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | !1927 |
| 19 | * The Golf Widow: An independently made silent live action comedy filmed by Clampett, and also starring Clampett as one of the actors. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | !1937: All entries are Porky Pig shorts. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | * When's Your Birthday?: 1937 live action Warner Bros. film. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KGSxF8nnLQk#! Has a brief animated segment]] that is attributed to be Bob Clampett's directorial debut. |
| 24 | * WesternAnimation/PorkyAndGabby: Allegedly directed by Creator/UbIwerks, but actually co-directed by Clampett and Creator/ChuckJones. First Looney Tunes short outsourced to the Iwerks studio. |
| 25 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysSuperService: Same as above. Second Iwerks Looney Tune. |
| 26 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysBadtimeStory 7-24: A Porky Pig and Gabby Goat cartoon. Third of the four WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes outsourced to the Ub Iwerks studio. Clampett's official directorial debut. |
| 27 | * WesternAnimation/GetRichQuickPorky 8-28: Final Iwerks outsourced Looney Tune. |
| 28 | * WesternAnimation/RoversRival 10-09 |
| 29 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysHeroAgency 12-04 |
| 30 | |
| 31 | !1938: All entries are Porky Pig shorts. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysPoppa 1-15 |
| 34 | * WesternAnimation/WhatPricePorky 2-26 |
| 35 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysFiveAndTen 4-16 |
| 36 | * [[WesternAnimation/InjunTrouble1938 Injun Trouble]] 5-21: This short would later be remade in color as "Wagon Heels". Curiously, the cartoon was aired on Cartoon Network in a digitally colorized form despite the Native American stereotyping and the fact that the precense of a color remake made it superfluous to air it, but the airings always trimmed out a small gag from it. This short should also not be confused with the 1969 Robert McKimson cartoon of the same name, which was the last Looney Tunes ever made. |
| 37 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysParty 6-25 |
| 38 | * WesternAnimation/PorkyAndDaffy 8-06: First teamup of WesternAnimation/PorkyPig and WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck. |
| 39 | * WesternAnimation/PorkyInWackyland 9-24: One of The 50 Greatest Cartoons, and one of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 40 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysNaughtyNephew 10-15 |
| 41 | * WesternAnimation/PorkyInEgypt 11-05 |
| 42 | * WesternAnimation/TheDaffyDoc 11-26: A Daffy and Porky teamup, although Porky is a victim to him. Both Clampett and Chuck Jones grew to hate this short due to the backlash they got for using an Iron Lung as a gag prop when Polio deaths were on the rise. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | !1939: All entries are Porky Pig shorts. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | * WesternAnimation/TheLoneStrangerAndPorky 1-07 |
| 47 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysTireTrouble 2-18 |
| 48 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysMovieMystery 3-11 |
| 49 | * WesternAnimation/ChickenJitters 4-01 |
| 50 | * WesternAnimation/KristopherKolumbusJr 5-13 |
| 51 | * WesternAnimation/PolarPals 6-03 |
| 52 | * WesternAnimation/ScalpTrouble 6-24: A Porky and Daffy team-up. |
| 53 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysPicnic 7-15 |
| 54 | * WesternAnimation/WiseQuacks 8-05 |
| 55 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysHotel 9-02 |
| 56 | * WesternAnimation/JeepersCreepers 9-23 |
| 57 | * WesternAnimation/NaughtyNeighbors 10-07: Proto-Bugs cameo |
| 58 | * WesternAnimation/PiedPiperPorky 11-04 |
| 59 | * WesternAnimation/TheFilmFan 12-16 |
| 60 | |
| 61 | !1940: All entries are Porky Pig shorts. |
| 62 | |
| 63 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysLastStand 1-06 |
| 64 | * WesternAnimation/AfricaSqueaks 1-27 |
| 65 | * WesternAnimation/AliBabaBound 2-10 |
| 66 | * WesternAnimation/PilgrimPorky 3-16 |
| 67 | * WesternAnimation/SlapHappyPappy 4-13 |
| 68 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysPoorFish 4-27 |
| 69 | * WesternAnimation/TheChewinBruin 6-08 |
| 70 | * WesternAnimation/PatientPorky 8-24 |
| 71 | * WesternAnimation/PrehistoricPorky 10-12 |
| 72 | * WesternAnimation/TheSourPuss 11-02 |
| 73 | * WesternAnimation/TheTimidToreador 12-21: Directorial debut of Norm [=McCabe=], who co-directed this short with Bob. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | !! 1941 |
| 76 | |
| 77 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysSnoozeReel 1-11: Co-directed by Norm [=McCabe=]. |
| 78 | * WesternAnimation/GoofyGroceries 3-29: Clampett's first Merrie Melodies short, and first oneshot cartoon. Uses the staple "Things come to life in a store" formula. First Clampett cartoon in color. |
| 79 | * WesternAnimation/FarmFrolics 5-10: Second [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] outing. |
| 80 | * WesternAnimation/ACoyDecoy 6-07: A Porky Pig and Daffy Duck short. |
| 81 | * WesternAnimation/MeetJohnDoughboy 7-05: A WartimeCartoon parodying then state of the art war weaponry. Porky Pig appears as the narrator. |
| 82 | * WesternAnimation/WeTheAnimalsSqueak 8-09: A Porky Pig short. |
| 83 | * WesternAnimation/TheHenpeckedDuck 8-30: A WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck short. |
| 84 | * WesternAnimation/TheBugParade 10-11: Initially directed by Creator/TexAvery, but Clampett finished it. |
| 85 | * WesternAnimatin/TheCageyCanary 11-22: Initially directed by Avery, finished by Clampett. |
| 86 | * WesternAnimation/WabbitTwouble 12-20: Clampett's first WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon. Originally planned by Tex Avery, but finished by Clampett. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 87 | * WesternAnimation/PorkysPooch 12-27: Debut of Charlie Dog (or a prototype of him in any instance). Starring Porky Pig. |
| 88 | |
| 89 | !! 1942 |
| 90 | |
| 91 | * WesternAnimation/AlohaHooey 1-31: Started by Avery, finished by Clampett. |
| 92 | * WesternAnimation/CrazyCruise 3-14: Started by Avery, finished by Clampett. |
| 93 | * WesternAnimation/AnyBondsToday 4-2: Commissioned by the government, and technically not a Looney Tunes cartoon (though it's generally listed as one anyway), this very short WartimeCartoon featured Bugs Bunny (and briefly, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd) promoting the purchase of war bonds. |
| 94 | * WesternAnimation/HortonHatchesTheEgg 4-11: An adaptation of the classic Creator/DrSeuss story, with Clampett's humor injected into it. |
| 95 | * WesternAnimation/TheWackyWabbit 5-02: Second Clampett Bugs Bunny short. |
| 96 | * WesternAnimation/NuttyNews 5-23 |
| 97 | * WesternAnimation/BugsBunnyGetsTheBoid 7-11: Third Bugs Bunny short he directed. Debut of Killer / Beaky the Buzzard. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes, and runner-up on The 50 Greatest Cartoons list. |
| 98 | * WesternAnimation/WackyBlackout 7-11: A oneshot WartimeCartoon, parodying wartime instructional films. |
| 99 | * [[WesternAnimation/EatinOnTheCuff Eatin' on the Cuff (or The Moth Who Came To Supper)]] 8-22: Features usage of the RogerRabbitEffect. Clampett's final black and white cartoon. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 100 | * WesternAnimation/TheHepCat 10-03: First Looney Tunes short in color. A oneshot cartoon. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 101 | * WesternAnimation/ATaleOfTwoKitties 11-21: Debut of [[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Tweety Bird]]. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. Runner-up on The 50 Greatest Cartoons. |
| 102 | |
| 103 | !! 1943 |
| 104 | |
| 105 | * WesternAnimation/CoalBlackAndDeSebbenDwarfs 1-16: One of The 50 Greatest Cartoons and one of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes--and one of the WesternAnimation/CensoredEleven. A jazzy, deranged parody of Disney's Snow White. |
| 106 | * WesternAnimation/TortoiseWinsByAHare 2-20: A follow up to the Creator/TexAvery short "Tortoise Beats Hare". One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 107 | * WesternAnimation/TheWiseQuackingDuck 5-01: A WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck short. |
| 108 | * WesternAnimation/TinPanAlleyCats 7-17: One of the WesternAnimation/CensoredEleven and one of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. Features StockFootage of ''WesternAnimation/PorkyInWackyland'', but in color. |
| 109 | * WesternAnimation/ACornyConcerto 9-25: One of The 50 Greatest Cartoons and one of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. A parody of Disney's WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}. |
| 110 | * WesternAnimation/FallingHare 10-30: A WartimeCartoon, featuring a famous encounter WesternAnimation/BugsBunny has with a gremlin. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 111 | * WesternAnimation/AnItchInTime 12-04: An Elmer Fudd short, featuring a mischievous flea irritating his dog. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 112 | * WesternAnimation/FightingTools: One of two ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'' shorts that he directed. |
| 113 | |
| 114 | !! 1944 |
| 115 | |
| 116 | * WesternAnimation/WhatsCookinDoc 1-08: A Bugs Bunny short, featuring StockFootage from "WesternAnimation/HiawathasRabbitHunt." |
| 117 | * WesternAnimation/TickTockTuckered 4-08: [[ShotForShotRemake Shot for Shot Color Remake]] of "Porky's Badtime Story", but with Daffy Duck replacing Gabby Goat. |
| 118 | * WesternAnimation/RussianRhapsody 5-20: A WartimeCartoon, with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler having an airplane encounter with a colony of singing gremlins. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 119 | * WesternAnimation/HareRibbin 6-24: A Bugs Bunny short. Notable for having an infamous alternate ending, in which Bugs murders the dog that was chasing him. This footage was restored for Vol. 5 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection series as the "director's cut" of the cartoon. |
| 120 | * WesternAnimation/BirdyAndTheBeast 8-19: Second appearance of Tweety Bird, and the first one where he is named. |
| 121 | * WesternAnimation/BuckarooBugs 8-26: The only short where Bugs Bunny is flat out portrayed as a villain, [[TheTrickster for the given value of a villain.]] |
| 122 | * WesternAnimation/TheOldGreyHare 10-28: One of the strangest Bugs shorts ever made. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes, and runner-up on The 50 Greatest Cartoons. |
| 123 | * WesternAnimation/BoobyTraps: Second of two ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'' shorts that he directed. |
| 124 | |
| 125 | !! 1945 |
| 126 | |
| 127 | * WesternAnimation/DrafteeDaffy 1-27: A Daffy Duck WartimeCartoon. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 128 | * WesternAnimation/AGruesomeTwosome 6-09: Third appearance of Tweety Bird. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 129 | * WesternAnimation/WagonHeels 7-28: Color remake of "Injun Trouble." |
| 130 | * WesternAnimation/TheBashfulBuzzard 9-05: Second appearance of Beaky Buzzard. |
| 131 | * WesternAnimation/TokyoWoes: A ''Mr. Hook'' cartoon that was only shown to military audiences. |
| 132 | |
| 133 | !! 1946 |
| 134 | |
| 135 | * WesternAnimation/BookRevue: 1-05: One of The 50 Greatest Cartoons and one of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. A ruthless parody of the "Things come to life in a store" genre of cartoons, and is cited as the short that put the [[GenreKiller final nail of the coffin]] of the already passe genre of cartoon. |
| 136 | * WesternAnimation/BabyBottleneck 3-16: A Porky and Daffy cartoon. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 137 | * WesternAnimation/KittyKornered 6-08: A Porky Pig cartoon, featuring a prototype of Sylvester. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes, and runner-up on The 50 Greatest Cartoons. |
| 138 | * WesternAnimation/TheGreatPiggyBankRobbery 7-20: A Daffy Duck short, and No. 16 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons, and one of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. |
| 139 | * WesternAnimation/BacallToArms: 8-03: A oneshot short started by Clampett, but finished by Art Davis (both uncredited). |
| 140 | * WesternAnimation/TheBigSnooze 10-05: Last released Clampett cartoon. A Bugs Bunny short. One of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes, and runner-up on The 50 Greatest Cartoons list. |
| 141 | |
| 142 | !! 1947 |
| 143 | |
| 144 | * WesternAnimation/TheGoofyGophers 1-25: Planned by Clampett, but finished by Art Davis. |
| 145 | * WesternAnimation/ItsAGrandOldNag: Last theatrical cartoon Clampett produced, independently produced for Republic Pictures. For years it was lost until it resurfaced, along with storyboards and a pencil test, on Vol. 2 of the ''WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'' DVD sets. See it [[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/brewtv/grandoldnag-8686.html here,]] with commentary by historians [[Blog/CartoonBrew Jerry Beck]] and Mark Kausler. |
| 146 | |
| 147 | !!1962 (WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil series)[[note]]It is unknown at present if Bob himself actually directed all of the episodes of Beany & Cecil or not[[/note]] |
| 148 | |
| 149 | * Spots Off A Leopard / Invasion of Earth By Robots / Singing Dinosaur |
| 150 | * Little Ace From Outer Space / Super Cecil / Wildman From Wildsville |
| 151 | * Davey Crickett / Strange Objects / Tearalong The Dotted Lion |
| 152 | * Trip to the Schmoon / Grime Doesn't Pay / Beany's Buffalo Hunt |
| 153 | * Monstrous Monster / Tommy Hawk / Yo Ho Ho and a Bubble of Gum |
| 154 | * 7th Voyage of Singood / Cecil Meets Cecilia / Thunderbolt the Wondercolt |
| 155 | * Rat Race for Space / Beany & the Boo-Birds / B & C Meet Ping Pong |
| 156 | * Greatest Schmoe on Earth / B & C Meet Billy the Squid / Capture of the 3-Headed Threep |
| 157 | * Beany & The Jack-Stalk / Humbug / Custard's Last Stand |
| 158 | * Hero By Trade / Illegal Eagle Trade / Cecil Gets Careless |
| 159 | * Sleeping Beauty And The Beast / Quackers In Bed / D.J. Meets Cowboy Starr |
| 160 | * Beany's Beany Cap Copter / Indiscreet Squeet / Phantom of the Horse Opera |
| 161 | * 20,000 Little Leaguers / Malice In Blunderland / Buffalo Billy |
| 162 | * Dirty Birdy / Man Eater Skeeters / Leading Lady Bug |
| 163 | * Rin Tin Can / Vild Vast Vasteland / Invisible Man Has Butterfingers |
| 164 | * Here Comes The Schmoeboat / T'aint Cricket, Crickett / Cecil Always Saves The Day |
| 165 | * Ain't I A Little Stinger? / Warring 20's / B & C Meet Invisible Man |
| 166 | * Ain't That A Cork in the Snorkel? / Makes a Sea-Serpent Sore / So What & The Seven Whatnots |
| 167 | * Cecil's Comical Strip / Beany's Resid-jewels / Wot the Heck |
| 168 | * Dragon Train / 10-Foot Tall and Wet / Dirty Pool |
| 169 | * Thumb Fun / Living Doll / Beanyland |
| 170 | * Beany Blows His Top / Beany Flips His Lid / Fleastone Kop Caper |
| 171 | * Mad Isle of Mad-hatten / Hammy Awards / Hare-cules & the Golden Fleecing |
| 172 | * Cheery Cheery Beany / Nya-Ha-Ha! / Swingin' Singin' Sea Serpent |
| 173 | * There Goes A Good Squid / Ben Hare / Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow |
| 174 | * Oil's Well That Ends Well / No Such Thing / D.J. The Dee Jay |
| 175 | [[/folder]] |
| 176 | [[/index]] |
| 177 | |
| 178 | [[folder:Lost Works]] |
| 179 | This section refers to a variety of projects Bob worked on outside of his mainstream cartoons. |
| 180 | |
| 181 | !1936 |
| 182 | * John Carter of Mars: An independently made short film for a proposed cartoon adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter series. |
| 183 | |
| 184 | !1938 |
| 185 | * Unnamed Stop Motion Project: In 1938, Clampett briefly opened his own studio across the street from the Warner Bros. cartoon plant and created a few sequences of silent stop motion animation for an unspecified projet. |
| 186 | |
| 187 | !1948 |
| 188 | * St. George and the Dragon: A TV pilot that experimented with drawn animation that didn't require the use of cels. |
| 189 | * Around this time, Clampett pitched a potential series called "The Monster Family" to Universal, but it never got past the storyboard stage. |
| 190 | |
| 191 | !1950 |
| 192 | * Man From Mars: An unrealized Science Fiction project that never got beyond the script stage. |
| 193 | |
| 194 | !1952 |
| 195 | * Time for Beany 3D Feature: At one point, Bob planned to do a feature length movie based on his ''Time for Beany'' puppet show and shoot it in 3-D, but the project failed to take off due to the 3-D film craze crashing and burning. Only some test footage was completed for the project. |
| 196 | |
| 197 | !1955 |
| 198 | * Rocket to Riches: A pitch for a Game Show concept, featuring live actors and puppets. |
| 199 | |
| 200 | !1957 |
| 201 | * Twig: A potential project with Don Fedderson (creator of "My Three Sons") for a TV puppet/stop motion show about a boy living on a mystical, magical isle. Only some story art, music and a few fragments of an unfinished film were done. |
| 202 | |
| 203 | !1959 |
| 204 | * Beeper and his Guided Muscle: A pilot for a cartoon show that would've combined hand drawn animation and puppetry. |
| 205 | |
| 206 | !1961 |
| 207 | * The Edgar Bergen Show: A proposed fully animated program that would've starred Ed Bergen. Audio for a pilot and production art was conceived, but nothing came of the project. |
| 208 | |
| 209 | !1962 |
| 210 | * Tex and Judy: A proposed adaptation of the ''Tex and Judy'' radio show, using a process called "Cut Up" animation, a mix of real life cartoon heads and animated bodies. A pilot film with storyboards and some animation was made. |
| 211 | |
| 212 | !1970 |
| 213 | * The Wheel: An unrealized project that never got beyond the script stages. |
| 214 | |
| 215 | !1975 |
| 216 | * Three Dimensional Man: An abandoned pitch for a TV cartoon, notably inspired by science fiction and the films of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. |
| 217 | [[/folder]] |
| 218 | ---- |
| 219 | |
| 220 | !! Tropes in the work of Bob Clampett: |
| 221 | |
| 222 | * AnimationBump: Shorts directed by Clampett had some of the most fluid, well-drawn animation to ever come out of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Even his B&W cartoons had surprisingly good animation, considering he was saddled with shoestring budgets of $3,000 per cartoon, had the least skilled animators in the studio working under him and only had 4 weeks to slam together each one. Surprisingly, even his ''Beany & Cecil'' cartoons had above-average animation for a 1960's TV cartoon, despite relying on LimitedAnimation and (proportionally) having even ''lower'' budgets than his black and white Looney Tunes. |
| 223 | * AuthorAppeal: Bob was a big movie buff, a huge fan of jazz music, and absolutely ''loved'' comic books and newspaper and magazine comics, particularly those of cartoonists Milt Gross, Bil Holman and George Litchty. You can find the influence of these in virtually all of his cartoons, but most notably in ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery'', which was a big love letter by Bob to both comics like ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' and film noir movies. He was also a big fan of Creator/FleischerStudios, and basically made ''Porky in Wackyland'' as a tribute to their surreal style of cartoon animation. |
| 224 | * CatchPhrase: Clampett often ended his cartoons with a funny vocal sound effect (usually rendered as "Bee-woop!") that he performed himself. This would end up becoming a StockSoundEffect occasionally used by other directors, such as Creator/FrizFreleng. |
| 225 | * CreatorCameo: |
| 226 | ** Clampett occasionally inserted caricatures of himself into his cartoons, such as a statue in ''WesternAnimation/PorkysHeroAgency'', his head being part of a MotionBlur gag in ''Porky and Daffy'' ([[FreezeFrameBonus you need to still frame it to see it clearly]]) on a wanted poster in ''The Lone Stranger and Porky'', and as a gremlin in ''WesternAnimation/RussianRhapsody''. |
| 227 | ** Clampett would also insert caricatures of his staff into some his cartoons (and also name drop or make puns of them in backgrounds as little in-jokes). The picket line of statues in ''Porky's Hero Agency'' and the tourists in ''Porky in Egypt'' are made up of many of these. Animators John Carey and Ernest Gee also make a freeze frame cameo in ''Porky and Daffy''. Business manager Ray Katz also makes a cameo on a wanted poster in ''The Lone Stranger and Porky''. Assistant Henry Binder and animators Cal Dalton and Ken Harris cameo in ''Nutty News''. Many of the gremlins in ''Russian Rhapsody'' are based on the Looney Tunes staff. |
| 228 | * DependingOnTheArtist: Clampett gave his animators far more leeway in [[OffModel deviating from the model sheets]] and animating in their individual styles than his contemporaries. As a result, his cartoons are some of the easiest to pick out individual artist styles from. |
| 229 | * DerangedAnimation: |
| 230 | ** A trademark of Clampett's, even when compared to the works of Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer. It's very easy to see why Creator/JohnKricfalusi -- and a lot of other animation show runners and directors who brought DerangedAnimation back to kids' cartoons in the 1990s (particularly those who worked on ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheTwistedTalesOfFelixTheCat'') love the man. |
| 231 | ** Two of his animators specialized in this type of animation: Rod Scribner and Manny Gould, Clampett said in one interview that these two understood his style the most. |
| 232 | * DigitalDestruction: Unfortunately, several of his cartoons have gotten hit with this on the DVD releases, some worse than others. |
| 233 | ** ''A Corny Concerto'' and ''Book Revue'' both got hit with a nasty case of Digital Interlacing when it was included on Vol. 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, which made the picture super flickery and hard to watch. The issue with ''Book Revue'' was rectified for its inclusion on ''The Essential Daffy Duck'', same with ''Concerto'''s inclusion on the Platinum Collection Vol. 3 Blu-ray. |
| 234 | ** Several of his cartoons got hit with DVNR on the Golden Collections, most notably ''WesternAnimation/TheBigSnooze''. This was rectified for its inclusion on Vol. 3 of the Platinum Collection, though. |
| 235 | ** While the prints of his cartoons on the ''Porky Pig 101'' DVD set have no interlacing or DVNR problems, four of the cartoons accidentally use the wrong opening music cues[[note]]''Get Rich Quick Porky'' has its opening cue from ''Confusions of a Nutsy Spy'', several cartoons (''The Lone Stranger and Porky'', ''Chicken Jitters'' and ''Naughty Neighbors'') use the opening theme from ''Porky's Tire Trouble''.[[/note]] This is especially egregious in ''Naughty Neighbors'', because not only is the music looped twice in a row, the misplaced cue completely ruins the opening gag, which was dependent on its [[MoodWhiplash music abruptly changing]] [[FakeOutOpening after the peaceful opening.]] |
| 236 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His black and white cartoons have a fairly different drawing and animation style from the cartoons he made once he inherited Tex Avery's unit in 1941 (likely due to the cartoons made at his old unit having a much lower budget), and due to a studio mandate, Porky Pig was the star (but not always the focus) of almost all of his b&w cartoons. |
| 237 | * JumpCut: At their peak, Bob's cartoons had very sophisticated film cutting and timing. Some of his fastest scenes, like the scene in ''A Tale of Two Kitties'' where Catsello is falling towards a pitchfork and the camera cutting back and forth between his reactions and the fork, barely last a few frames on screen. |
| 238 | * MagicAIsMagicA: Clampett's cartoons have surreal elements, but they're always consistent with ''how'' they go about being crazy by having their own internal logic that prioritizes engaging the audience with the weird world and surprising them (while still making some kind of sense in the context of the cartoon) instead of trying to rationalize the weirdness. His films often use their weird elements as a way to surprise the audience with a foreshadowed punchline later in the cartoon--for example, in ''The Bashful Buzzard'', it's established that Killer's brothers have [[SuperStrength ludicrous strength]] that allows them to carry things like a parade of elephants to their nest. Later in the cartoon, we see Killer get in a fight with a dragon, and his fate is uncertain at first. Later that night, it's revealed that not only did he survive the fight, [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome he somehow]] ''[[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome won]]'' and carried the massive dragon all the way back to his family's nest. |
| 239 | * NoBudget: His B&W cartoons were made on shoestring budgets of $3,000 (even in 1937, that was paltry) and tight deadlines of just four weeks. He still directed many very good cartoons in spite of all this. |
| 240 | * {{Pun}}: Clampett loved cheesy puns and frequently used them in his cartoons. His ''Beany and Cecil'' show relies heavily on puns in the dialogue. |
| 241 | * ThePrankster: Clampett preferred to work with this archetype. His interpretations of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny are notable for being wackier, sillier and more sociopathic than anyone else's. |
| 242 | * SeenItAllSuicide: A frequent gag in many Looney Tunes cartoons, but especially Clampett's. Notable examples include ''Horton Hatches the Egg'', ''An Itch in Time'', and ''The Sour Puss''. A variant also occurs in ''Tortoise Wins by a Hare'' (the gangsters shoot themselves after Bugs reveals he's the rabbit). |
| 243 | * StockFootage: Several of Clampett's cartoons occasionally reuse bits of animation from previous Looney Tunes shorts. Most of the examples only consist of brief and minor scenes, but ''WesternAnimation/WhatsCookinDoc'' is especially liberal with this--the cartoon only has around two minutes of new animation, with the rest either being still photos, footage reused from ''Film/{{A Star Is Born|1937}}'' (1937) and ''WesternAnimation/HiawathasRabbitHunt'' (1941). |
| 244 | * StrictlyFormula: [[DefiedTrope Defied.]] Bob hated formula and went out of his way to avoid it in his cartoons. Part of the reason he made so few Bugs Bunny cartoons was because he felt the series had already fallen into a formula and made him feel "trapped", and the few he did direct often went out of their way to subvert what the character was about. |
| 245 | * {{Surrealism}}: Many of Bob's cartoons employ surrealistic elements. While his mentor Tex Avery and contemporary Frank Tashlin tinkered with parodies and Chuck Jones tinkered with postmodernism, Bob's films tended to be fun little cartoon worlds that had all sorts of crazy, impossible things happening, yet the characters believed in what was going on, and the cartoons still operated on their own [[InternalConsistency silly internal logic]], with only mild hints of irony (but plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor) popping up. ''WesternAnimation/PorkyInWackyland'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatPiggyBankRobbery'' are probably the most oft-cited examples of him using this, if just because of how weird they are all around. |
| 246 | * WorldOfHam: It'd be easier to list off characters who ''aren't'' over the top and extroverted in Clampett's cartoons. |
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