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1[[quoteright:342:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/friz_freleng_larger_1903.jpg]]
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3Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1906 – May 26, 1995) was a prominent animator and director of Creator/WarnerBros' classic ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' animated shorts during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Friz got his start during the twilight years of UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfAnimation, working for Creator/WaltDisney alongside Creator/UbIwerks and Creator/HarmanAndIsing on the WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit 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.
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5However, he would later leave the studio to go to the then new Leon Schlesinger cartoon studio alongside Creator/HarmanAndIsing when they requested his help in making their WesternAnimation/BoskoTheTalkInkKid short subjects. He worked as an animator on the early Looney Tunes, with an early work of his being the opening scene of Bosko and Honey playing the piano and tap dancing in "Bosko In Person". Even after Harman and Ising left the studio in '33, Friz came back to Leon to help him touch up some rejected comedies. Friz would continue to be a prominent director in the '30s, cranking out many classic cartoons such as 1935's "WesternAnimation/IHaventGotAHat" (the debut of WesternAnimation/PorkyPig). However, toward the end of that decade Freleng became enticed by [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]]'s more big-budget animation department and quit Leon's studio to work there – only to be put onto the less-than-positive "Captain and the Kids" series, with little to none of the creative freedom that he'd enjoyed under Schlesinger. Friz despised working on those cartoons, and as soon as his contract expired, he fled the studio and went straight back to Termite Terrace, where he would work until its demise in the early 60's.
6
7Freleng is sometimes (and unfairly and nonsensically) taken for granted by critics because his sense of humor and visual style were more reserved than those of the other WB directors. However, Friz is legendary among animation fans for his strong emphasis on literal, mechanical musical timing – while all of the staff at the WB studio were capable of this, nobody used it in quite the way Friz did. Having directed more cartoons than any other director at the studio, Freleng directed many, many worthy classics, such as the groundbreaking RogerRabbitEffect short "Film/YouOughtToBeInPictures", "WesternAnimation/TheWabbitWhoCameToSupper", "WesternAnimation/RhapsodyInRivets", "WesternAnimation/TheThreeLittleBops", and the Academy Award-winning "WesternAnimation/KnightyKnightBugs", among others. He also directed the majority of the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons, including the critically-acclaimed "WesternAnimation/BirdsAnonymous", which was one of four Freleng cartoons to win Warner Bros. an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, more than any other director.
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9After the original Warner Bros. animation studio shut down in 1963, Friz teamed up with its last chief executive, David [=DePatie=], to form a new studio: Creator/DepatieFrelengEnterprises, based at the former WB facilities in Burbank. With this studio, they not only attempted to revive Warner Bros. cartoons but also created the smash hit ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther Pink Panther]]'' theatrical and TV cartoons. (Freleng's first Pink Panther short, ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPhink'', won him another Oscar.) He also assumed creative duties from Creator/ChuckJones on TV adaptations of Creator/DrSeuss books after Jones's studio closed down. Friz also directed animation for the bridging segments of ''WesternAnimation/TheBugsBunnyRoadRunnerShow'' and even made a few compilation movies like ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyLooneyLooneyBugsBunnyMovie'' and ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunnysThirdMovie1001RabbitTales''.
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11Friz passed on in 1995; Creator/ChuckJones dedicated his last cartoon short, made the following year, to his passing.
12
13Some claim that he was the inspiration for his own creations WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam from ''Looney Tunes'' and the Little Man from the ''Pink Panther'' cartoons, as both characters were (like Freleng himself) short-statured, hot-tempered, and mustachioed.
14
15-----
16!!Filmography:
17[[folder: Warner Bros. Theatrical Cartoon Filmography]]
18!1928
19
20* Fiery Fireman: An WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit short.
21
22!1929
23
24* Homeless Homer
25* Hen Fruit
26* The Wicked West
27* Weary Willies
28
29!1933: All shorts are probably co-directed with Creator/HarmanAndIsing.
30
31* Bosko in Dutch
32* Bosko in Person
33* Beau Bosko
34* Bosko's Picture Show
35
36!1934
37* Buddy the Gob
38* Buddy and Towser
39* [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast1934 Beauty and the Beast]]
40* Buddy's Trolley Troubles
41* Goin' to Heaven on a Mule
42* How Do I Know It's Sunday
43* Why Do I Dream Those Dreams
44* The Girl at the Ironing Board
45* The Miller's Daughter
46* Shake Your Power Puff
47* Those Beautiful Dames
48* Pop Goes Your Heart
49
50!1935
51
52* Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name
53* Country Boy
54* WesternAnimation/IHaventGotAHat
55* Along Flirtation Walk
56* My Green Fedora
57* Into Your Dance
58* The Country Mouse
59* The Merry Old Soul
60* The Lady In Red
61* Little Dutch Plate
62* Billboard Frolics
63* Flowers for Madame
64
65!1936
66
67* I Wanna Play House
68* The Cat Came Back
69* I'm a Big Shot Now
70* Let It Be Me
71* Bingo Crosbyana
72* When I Yoo Hoo
73* WesternAnimation/SundayGoToMeetinTime
74* At Your Service Madame
75* Toy Town Hall
76* Boulevardier from the Bronx
77* The Coo Coo Nut Grove
78
79!1937
80
81* He was Her Man
82* WesternAnimation/{{Pigs Is Pigs|1937}}
83* The Fella With the Fiddle
84* She was an Acrobat's Daughter
85* Clean Pastures
86* Streamlined Greta Green
87* Sweet Sioux
88* Plenty of Money and You
89* Dog Daze
90* The Lyin' Mouse
91* September in the Rain
92
93!1938
94
95* My Little Buckeroo
96* WesternAnimation/JungleJitters
97* A Star is Hatched
98* Poultry Pirates
99* A Day at the Beach: First MGM cartoon.
100* The Pygmy Hunt
101* The Captain's Christmas
102
103!1939
104
105* Petunia Natural Park
106* Seal Skinners
107* Mama's New Hat
108* The Bookworm
109* The Mad Maestro
110
111!1940
112
113* Confederate Honey
114* The Hardship of Miles Standish
115* Film/YouOughtToBeInPictures
116* Little Blabbermouse
117* Porky's Baseball Broadcast
118* Malibu Beach Party
119* Calling Dr. Porky
120* Porky's Hired Hand
121* Shop Look & Listen
122
123!1941
124
125* The Fighting 61 1/2th
126* The Cat's Tale
127* Porky's Bear Facts
128* The Trial of Mr. Wolf
129* WesternAnimation/HiawathasRabbitHunt
130* The Wacky Worm
131* Sport Chumpions
132* Notes to You
133* Rookie Revue
134* WesternAnimation/RhapsodyInRivets
135
136!1942
137
138* Hop, Skip and a Chump
139* Porky's Pastry Pirates
140* WesternAnimation/TheWabbitWhoCameToSupper
141* Saps in Chaps
142* Lights Fantastic
143* Double Chaser
144* Foney Fables
145* Fresh Hare
146* The Sheepish Wolf
147* The Hare-Brained Hypnotist
148* Ding Dog Daddy
149
150!1943
151
152* WesternAnimation/PigsInAPolka
153* The Fifth-Column Mouse
154* WesternAnimation/GreetingsBait
155* Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk
156* Yankee Doodle Daffy
157* Gripes
158* Hiss and Make Up
159* WesternAnimation/DaffyTheCommando
160* Rumors
161
162!1944
163
164* WesternAnimation/LittleRedRidingRabbit
165* Meatless Flyday
166* Hare Force
167* Snafuperman
168* WesternAnimation/BugsBunnyNipsTheNips
169* Duck Soup to Nuts
170* Slightly Daffy
171* Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears
172* Pay Day
173* Three Brothers
174* Target Snafu
175* Stage Door Cartoon
176
177!1945
178
179* WesternAnimation/HerrMeetsHare
180* WesternAnimation/LifeWithFeathers
181* Hare Trigger
182* Ain't That Ducky
183* Hot Spot
184* Peck Up Your Troubles
185* Operation Snafu
186
187!1946
188
189* WesternAnimation/BaseballBugs
190* Holiday for Shoestrings
191* Hollywood Daffy (uncredited)
192* Of Thee I Sting
193* WesternAnimation/RacketeerRabbit
194* WesternAnimation/RhapsodyRabbit
195
196!1947
197
198* The Gay Anties
199* WesternAnimation/TweetiePie
200* Rabbit Transit
201* WesternAnimation/AHareGrowsInManhattan
202* WesternAnimation/AlongCameDaffy
203* WesternAnimation/SlickHare
204
205!1948
206
207* WesternAnimation/BackAlleyOproar
208* I Taw a Putty Tat
209* WesternAnimation/BuccaneerBunny
210* Bugs Bunny Rides Again
211* Hare Splitter
212* Kit for Cat
213
214!1949
215
216* Wise Quackers
217* Hare Do
218* WesternAnimation/HighDivingHare
219* Curtain Razor
220* Mouse Mazurka
221* Knights Must Fall
222* Bad Ol' Putty Tat
223* Dough for the Do-Do: Remake of WesternAnimation/PorkyInWackyland.
224* Each Dawn I Crow
225* Which is Witch
226
227!1950
228
229* WesternAnimation/HomeTweetHome
230* Mutiny on the Bunny
231* The Lion's Busy
232* Big House Bunny
233* WesternAnimation/HisBitterHalf
234* All a Bir-r-r-rd
235* Golden Yeggs
236* Bunker Hill Bunny
237* Canary Row
238* Stooge for a Mouse
239
240!1951
241
242* WesternAnimation/CannedFeud
243* WesternAnimation/RabbitEveryMonday
244* WesternAnimation/PuttyTatTrouble
245* The Fair Haired Hare
246* A Bone for a Bone
247* Room and Bird
248* His Hare Raising Tale
249* Tweety's S.O.S.
250* WesternAnimation/BallotBoxBunny
251* Tweet Tweet Tweety
252
253!1952
254
255* Gift Wrapped
256* 14 Carrot Rabbit
257* Foxy By Proxy
258* Little Red Rodent Hood
259* Ain't She Tweet
260* Cracked Quack
261* A Bird In a Guilty Cage
262* WesternAnimation/TreeForTwo
263* WesternAnimation/HareLift
264
265!1953
266
267* Snow Business
268* A Mouse Divided
269* Fowl Weather
270* Southern Fried Rabbit
271* Ant Pasted
272* Hare Trimmed
273* Tom Tom Tomcat
274* A Street Cat Named Sylvester
275* Catty Cornered
276* Robot Rabbit
277
278!1954
279
280* Dog Pounded
281* I Gopher You
282* WesternAnimation/CaptainHareblower
283* [[WesternAnimation/BugsAndThugs Bugs and Thugs]]
284* Dr Jerkyl's Hide
285* Muzzle Tough
286* [[WesternAnimation/SatansWaitin Satan's Waitin']]
287* Yankee Doodle Bugs
288* Goo Goo Goliath
289* By Word of Mouse
290
291!1955
292
293* WesternAnimation/PizzicatoPussycat
294* Pests for Guests
295* Stork Naked
296* Sahara Hare
297* WesternAnimation/SandyClaws
298* WesternAnimation/HareBrush
299* Tweety's Circus
300* Lumber Jerks
301* This is a Life?
302* A Kiddies Kitty
303* Hyde and Hare
304* WesternAnimation/{{Speedy Gonzales|1955}}
305* Red Riding Hoodwinked
306* WesternAnimation/RomanLegionHare
307* Heir-Conditioned
308* Pappy's Puppy
309
310!1956
311
312* Tweet and Sour
313* Rabbitson Crusoe
314* Tree Cornered Tweety
315* Napoleon Bunny-Part
316* Tugboat Granny
317* A Star is Bored
318* Yankee Dood It
319* Two Crows from Tacos
320
321!1957
322
323* WesternAnimation/TheThreeLittleBops
324* Tweet Zoo
325* Tweety and the Beanstalk
326* Piker's Peak
327* WesternAnimation/BirdsAnonymous
328* Bugsy and Mugsy
329* Greedy for Tweety
330* WesternAnimation/ShowBizBugs
331* Gonzales Tamales
332
333!1958
334
335* Hare-Less Wolf
336* A Pizza Tweety-Pie
337* A Waggily Tale
338* WesternAnimation/KnightyKnightBugs
339* A Bird in a Bonnet
340
341!1959
342
343* Hare-Abian Nights
344* Trick or Tweet
345* Apes of Wrath
346* WesternAnimation/MexicaliShmoes
347* Tweet and Lovely
348* WesternAnimation/WildAndWoollyHare
349* Here Today, Gone Tamale
350* Tweet Dreams
351
352!1960
353
354* Horse Hare
355* Goldimouse and the Three Cats
356* WesternAnimation/PersonToBunny
357* WesternAnimation/HydeAndGoTweet
358* WesternAnimation/MouseAndGarden
359* WesternAnimation/FromHareToHeir
360* Trip for Tat
361* WesternAnimation/LighterThanHare
362
363!1961
364
365* D'Fightin' Ones
366* The Rebel without Claws
367* WesternAnimation/ThePiedPiperOfGuadalupe
368* The Last Hungry Cat
369
370!1962
371
372* Crows' Feat
373* WesternAnimation/HoneysMoney
374* Mexican Boarders
375
376!1963
377
378* Devil's Feud Cake
379* Mexican Cat Dance
380* Chili Weather
381* The Unmentionables
382
383!1964
384* Nuts and Volts
385* Pancho's Hideaway
386* Road to Andalay
387
388!1965
389
390* It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House
391* Cats and Bruises
392* The Wild Chase
393
394[[/folder]]
395
396[[folder: Other Freleng-directed theatrical shorts]]
397
398!1964
399
400* WesternAnimation/ThePinkPhink
401* The Pink Pajamas
402
403!1965
404
405* Dial 'P' for Pink
406* The Great [=DeGaulle=] Stone Operation
407* Pinkfinger
408* The Pink Ice
409* The Pink Tail Fly
410* Shocking Pink
411* We Give Pink Stamps
412
413!1969
414
415* The Ant and the Aardvark
416[[/folder]]
417
418----
419!!Tropes that apply to Freleng and his work:
420* AmusingInjuries: Like most cartoons of that era.
421* ArtEvolution: As with all of the ''Looney Tunes'' directors. Of particular note is his cartoons after 1944, when not only did Hawley Pratt start doing layouts for him (and has been noted by Phil Monroe that Pratt was a better illustrator than Friz was), but he shed some of his former staff (Gil Turner, Jack Bradbury, Dick Bickenbach).
422* ButtMonkey: Before inflicting this on his own crew, Friz himself claimed he was a victim of this. When he first got a job animating on WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit for Creator/WaltDisney, Walt and Friz did not get along, mainly because Walt proved to be a harsh taskmaker, constantly forcing Friz to rework scenes. His fellow animators, including Creator/HarmanAndIsing, loved playing pranks on him, including setting stacks of paper on fire under his chair, and poking fun at his short height by dragging him along off the ground.
423* CreatorThumbprint:
424** Detailed backgrounds that often show an implied FunnyBackgroundEvent (such as the sinking ship after it exploded on "Buccaneer Bunny" or the mangled Army surplus rabbit finder on "Hare Do") or the names of fictional products and companies named after Friz Freleng himself or any member of his animation unit (usually Hawley Pratt, whose name was shown as "Hadley Pert").
425** Characters going to Heaven or Hell (mostly Hell) is featured.
426** The American Civil War is often referenced or used for laughs, specifically the Confederate side (as seen on "The Rebel Without Claws", "Southern Fried Rabbit", and "Confederate Honey"), though "Hare Trimmed" implied that Emma (the old widow who looks like Granny from the Sylvester and Tweety shorts) was once courted by Union soldiers (her line about how the last time she was chased by a man was when "...the boys got back from Gettysburg").
427** Did a handful of cartoons that showed insects going after humans. Mostly, it was the cliched scenario of ants at a picnic (as seen with "Ant Pasted"[[note]]a 1953 short where Elmer Fudd -- in one of the rare times he's not hunting Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck -- sets up a Fourth of July picnic and causes a war with some ants after tossing fire crackers at them[[/note]], "The Gay Anties", "The Fighting 69 1/2th", and even "Ballot Box Bunny" had a sequence showing Bugs setting up a picnic and Yosemite Sam using ants to ruin it), but "Of Thee I Sting" centered on mosquitos trying to sting a man with a screened-off porch.
428** Food and hunger also feature heavily in his cartoons (this isn't to say that Jones or [=McKimson=] didn't have this theme in their cartoons. It just crops up a lot in the Freleng shorts as a character motivation and source of humor), specifically the Sylvester and Tweety ones, the Sylvester short "Canned Feud" where Sylvester is left behind when his owners go on vacation, finds that the milk supply has been cut off for two weeks, and fights with a mouse over a can opener after discovering that the only food in the house is all in cans; and the Yosemite Sam ones where Sam tries to capture and cook Bugs ("Rabbit Every Monday", "Shiskabugs," and "Rabbitson Crusoe").
429** Music is often featured in his cartoons, whether it's the early cartoons that were used as a flimsy excuse to exploit Warner Bros. music library or something like "The Three Little Bops", which has a more fleshed-out story. Though, unlike most cartoons that have music in them, Freleng's shorts have a stronger sense of musical literacy and timing. Also: the piano is often used as the centerpiece of a gag in Freleng's shorts, whether it's a character getting trapped in a piano and hit by the hammers that hit the strings to make the notes (as seen in "Stage Door Cartoon" where it happens to Elmer or "A Hop, Skip, and a Chump" where it happens to two crows who look like Laurel and Hardy) or the gag where someone booby-traps a piano to explode when someone plays the first notes of "Those Endearing Young Charms" (though "Showbiz Bugs" substituted a piano for a xylophone).
430** References to Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" featured in three or four of his cartoons for Warner Bros, specifically "Hyde and Hare" (with Bugs Bunny), "Dr. Jerkyl's Hide" (with Sylvester), and "Hyde and Go Tweet" (Sylvester and Tweety). Over at Depatie-Freleng, there was "The Inspector" episode "Sicque! Sicque! Sicque!" where Sgt. Deux-Deux drinks the classic potion and becomes a monster, the Pink Panther short "Pink Lightening" had the same thing happen to The Pink Panther's car and "Watch The Birdie" is pretty much a remake of "Hyde and Go Tweet" with "The Dogfather" characters instead.
431** A lot of NoodleIncidents and implied humor are seen in his shorts, such as the beginning of "Bad Ol' Puddy Tat" where the cartoon opens on Tweety's birdhouse being perched on a pole with some barbed wire wrapped around it as we pan down to a scratched-up Sylvester staring up at it (implying that he tried to climb it and got hurt) or Granny's line on "Hare Trimmed" about how she hasn't had any male attention since "...the boys got back from Gettysburg."
432* DerangedAnimation: Most of it coming from Art Davis and John Carey (who was briefly in his unit in the early '50s).
433* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Arguably more-so than the other directors; he didn't direct ''any'' dedicated Porky cartoons before his return to the studio in 1940 despite having created the character (pretty much every other director had done so), and most of his cartoons from the '34-38 period were one-shot musicals/blackout sketch cartoons. It's a far cry from his far more oft-remembered work with Bugs, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester and Tweety, and Daffy.
434* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Was a big fan of this. Shorts taking place here include "WesternAnimation/SundayGoToMeetinTime," "Devil's Feud Cake," "Satan's Waiting" and "The Three Little Bops."
435** "Back Alley Oproar" (the 1948 Sylvester cartoon that was more-or-less a remake of the Porky cartoon "Notes to You") is an interesting twist on how Friz Freleng showed Hell in his cartoons. While "Back Alley Oproar" does end with Elmer going to Heaven after his attempt at blowing up Sylvester failed, it turns out to be Hell for him because Sylvester also died and Elmer has to put up with Sylvester and his nine lives singing the sextet from Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' for all eternity (which causes Elmer to jump off his cloud after his halo gets taken).
436* GrayingMorality: He {{inverted|Trope}} this with his interpretations of Elmer Fudd (who got a severe case of AdaptationalJerkass and AdaptationalIntelligence because Freleng didn't like how UnintentionallyUnsympathetic Bugs could get picking on someone as mild-mannered and harmless as Elmer sometimes was), Tweety (who eschewed his borderline-SociopathicHero ways of dealing with Sylvester and other puddy-tats in favor of being protected either by Granny or Hector the Bulldog) and Sylvester Jr. (who became a SpoiledBrat in "Goldimouse and the Three Cats," his only short directed by Freleng instead of his creator Robert [=McKimson=]).
437* InkSuitActor: Freleng can be seen as one of the Gremlins From The Kremlin in ''WesternAnimation/RussianRhapsody'' (along with a lot of other animators and members of the Warner Bros. Animation Department, such as Creator/ChuckJones, Henry Binder, Ray Katz, Leon Schlesinger, etc) and as astronomist I. Frisby in Creator/ChuckJones' Bugs Bunny cartoon ''The Hasty Hare.''
438* InspiredBy: ''Film/YouOughtToBeInPictures'' was based on Friz's experiences of leaving WB for MGM.
439* JekyllAndHyde: Freleng was particularly fond of this trope, seeing the many cartoon installments he produced with this theme. And to different animation studios, to boot -- Creator/WarnerBros and Creator/DePatieFrelengEnterprises.. Some of the episodes feature TheFool being a Mr. Hyde-like character while his partner is unaware of it.
440* MickeyMousing: Freleng learned how to play the Violin before becoming an animator, and used his musical literacy to expertly time his cartoons to the tempo of music.
441* PrimaDonnaDirector: Friz was this, apparently (which explains why people have claimed that Yosemite Sam was Freleng's AuthorAvatar). He often forced his animators to redo scenes over and over again. One of those animators, Manuel "Manny" Perez (who was given the title "Friz's [[ButtMonkey Whipping Boy]]"), later said in an interview that he grew to hate the guy.
442* RecycledAnimation: Moreso than the other directors at Warner Bros. By the 1960s, Friz have always seemed to reuse pieces of animation from past cartoons onto the ones produced at the time in one of the most extensive uses of budget saving for his final cartoons at Warner Bros. It'd be easier to identify where the original animation came from than finding a post-1962 cartoon that didn't had recycled animation.
443* RecycledScript: Would often reuse gags (“Those Endearing Young Charms” and an exploding musical instrument in ''WesternAnimation/BallotBoxBunny'' and ''WesternAnimation/ShowBizBugs'') and general plots (''WesternAnimation/RacketeerRabbit'' and ''WesternAnimation/BugsAndThugs''). The material used was always fairly strong, however, and occurrences would happen years apart, unlikely to be noticed by a general theatrical audience.
444* RogerRabbitEffect: ''Film/YouOughtToBeInPictures''.
445* TakeThat: Friz Freleng clearly did not like Music/BingCrosby, because two of his shorts (''Let It Be Me'' and ''Bingo Crosbyana'', both from 1936) depicted animal caricatures of him as womanising {{Jerkass}}es. In ''Let It Be Me'', he's an unfaithful rooster who coldly abandons his first date; and in ''Bingo Crosbyana'', he's a complete DirtyCoward who abandons the female flies when a spider comes into the kitchen, then gets put in his place after the spider's been dealt with. Crosby saw these shorts and was so mad that he attempted to sue Warner Bros.

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