This evening while watching “Operation Rabbit” for the ten thousandth time with my son Jack I realized something. This might well be my favorite WB cartoon. It has so much to offer. It is one of the few where Wyle E. Coyote speaks, it has Bugs Bunny as his opposition, thereby establishing an incredible dynamic between a qualified genius buffoon coyote who cannot for the life of him create the right contraption to en-snarl the poor timid woodland creature Bugs Bunny. It has the wit, second takes and come backs of said Mr. Bunny. The gags are good and not overdone, the animation is gorgeous and, well and what else does one really need from a cartoon.
Though they are not adhered to in Operation Rabbit, I find these Wyle E. Coyote Rules of engagement that Chuck Jones used as a guideline for his cartoons starring Coyote worth a read:
Road Runner & Wyle E. Coyote Rules
1. The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going “Beep-beep!”
2. No outside force can harm the Coyote – only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products.
3. The Coyote could stop any time – if he were not a fanatic.
4. No dialogue ever, except “Beep – beep!” The Coyote may, however, speak to the audience through wooden signs that he holds up.
5. The Road Runner must stay on the road – otherwise, logically, he would not be called Road Runner.
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters – the southwest American desert.
7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote’s greatest enemy.
9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
If you would like to read more and more and more about the historical, factural, fanscinating world of Wyle E. Coyote and and Road Runner, why not check out the Wyle E. Coyote and Roadrunner page on Wiki?
And last but not least, let me have an opportunity to show you this site, which I came across about ten years ago, early in the internets development and it is still there. A database of crazed information about Looney Tunes and Warner Brothers cartoons including images and descriptions of every single introductory logo, you know the ones with the rounded, colored circles like as in “That’s All Folks” Well, can you imagine that every cartoon had a different color scheme?
The Warner Bros. Cartoons Filmography And Title Card Gallery
For a direct link to the page that has all those “That’s All Folks” (they look really cool all piled up together), go straight to the Field Guide.
