The Looney Tunes Storymen from A to Z

I couldn’t find any photos or birth and death info of him (great start right?), but a man named Howard Baldwin is credited on Ben Hardaway’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt” (1938).

More known as a screenwriter for Hanna-Barbera, Tony Benedict wrote one cartoon for Warner Bros., the Cool Cat cartoon “Hippydrome Tiger” (1968).

No photos found for him, but Nick Bennion (1935-1994) wrote a few cartoons in the 1960’s: the last Foghorn Leghorn cartoon from the Golden Age, “Banty Raids” (1963; directed by Robert McKimson, of course), and two of the Roadrunner cartoons directed by Rudy Larriva: “Hairied and Hurried” (1965) and “Shot and Bothered” (1966).

Al Bertino was a storyman for Disney and also wrote Rudy Larriva’s sixth Roadrunner cartoon, “Highway Runnery” (1965).

He was only at the studio during World War II as he wrote a few cartoons for Norm McCabe and one for Frank Tashlin (1943’s “Scrap Happy Daffy”).

Another Hanna-Barbera writer, Tom Dagenais wrote two of Rudy Larriva’s Roadrunner cartoons (1965’s “Chaser on the Rocks” and 1966’s “Clippety Clobbered”), McKimson’s second and last Roadrunner cartoon, “Sugar and Spies” (1966) and all three of Larriva’s Daffy and Speedy cartoons from 1967.

A former Disney writer, Detiege wrote several cartoons for McKimson in the early 1960’s and a few of the DePatie-Freleng produced Looney Tunes from the mid-1960’s (mostly the McKimson-directed entries with Daffy Duck pitted against Speedy Gonzales).

In the early 1960’s, Dunn became the head writer of the studio, due to the departure of the three principal writers (Michael Maltese, Warren Foster, and Tedd Pierce; Pierce did write a few cartoons released after 1961). Working for all three units, Dunn nonetheless managed to write several enjoyable cartoons. After the original studio closed, Dunn became the head writer at DePatie-Freleng, writing most of their cartoons starring their original characters, such as the Pink Panther. He also wrote a few of DePatie-Freleng’s first Looney Tunes cartoons that they produced for Warner.

One of the three principal writers of the Looney Tunes, Warren Foster was at the studio from 1938 up until the end of the 1950’s. He first started out with Bob Clampett and wrote almost all of his cartoons up until the point where Clampett left. Foster also wrote most of Frank Tashlin’s 1940’s cartoons around this same time. When both Tashlin and Clampett left, Foster became the storyman for Robert McKimson for the rest of the 1940’s up until 1951 (and occasionally wrote a few cartoons for McKimson after that). In the 1950’s, Foster was the storyman for Friz Freleng and they turned out some consistently funny cartoons (the Friz-Foster era, if you will).

Ernest Gee wrote a few of Bob Clampett’s black and white Porky Pig cartoons from the late 1930’s.

He was a character designer and layout artist, but Givens was given story credit for three cartoons from Chuck Jones’ early period: “The Little Lion Hunter”, “The Curious Puppy” (both released in 1939), and “The Egg Collector” (1940).

A writer for both Walter Lantz and DePatie-Freleng, Hale wrote Rudy Larriva’s best Roadrunner cartoon, “Out and Out Rout” (1966).

We talked about him last week as he had a directorial stint, but Hardaway was mostly a storyman and wrote a few cartoons for Warner Bros. He left in 1940, but returned to write only one cartoon for Warner Bros., Friz Freleng’s “A Bone for a Bone” (1951).

Hill was the first storyman for Arthur Davis and only wrote three cartoons for him: “Mouse Menace” (1946), “The Foxy Duckling” (1947), and “The Pest That Came to Dinner” (1948).

Hogan was a storyman for Warner Bros. from 1938 to early 1942, mostly writing for Chuck Jones during his stint. He later became one of the main storymen for Tex Avery at MGM.

Other than directing three cartoons with animator Cal Dalton, Howard was a storyman at Warner Bros. and is given credit on two of Tex Avery’s cartoons: “Little Red Walking Hood” (1937) and “The Sneezing Weasel” (1938). Like Norm McCabe, Howard returned to the Looney Tunes after a long while. In Howard’s case, he wrote nearly all of the Warner cartoons from the final years of the Golden Age- the Seven Arts era from 1967 to 1969.

Birth and death dates are unknown, but Janson is given credit for the third of Rudy Larriva’s 11 Roadrunner cartoons, “Boulder Wham” (1965).

Another artist more known for his work at Hanna-Barbera, Jurwich wrote the Rudy Larriva Roadrunner cartoons “Just Plane Beep” (1965) and “The Solid Tin Coyote” (1966), the first of Larriva’s three Daffy and Speedy cartoons, “Quacker Tracker” (1967), and one of the best cartoons from the Seven Arts era (directed by Alex Lovy), “Chimp and Zee” (1968).

No photos or birth and death info of him were found but Carl Kohler co-wrote two Warner cartoons released in 1962: “Quackodile Tears” (with John Dunn) and “Martian Through Georgia” (with Chuck Jones himself).

Later the founder of Kurtz and Friends Animation, Kurtz’s sole Warner Bros. credit was the cartoon that introduced the title character, “Cool Cat” (1967).

Landsman only received one Warner Bros. credit, which was for Frank Tashlin’s 1938 cartoon, “Porky at the Crocadero”.

Lou Lilly wrote five cartoons for Warner Bros. in 1944 and 1945, four of which (“Russian Rhapsody”, “Hare Ribbin”, “Buckaroo Bugs”, and “Draftee Daffy”) were for Bob Clampett, and one of which (“Angel Puss”) was for Chuck Jones.

Inarguably the best of the three principal writers and the best ever writer for the Looney Tunes, Michael Maltese was originally an animator but he was immediately promoted to storyman when he was revealed to have a fantastic sense of humor. Maltese mostly worked for Friz Freleng in the early 1940’s and from 1946 to 1948, wrote cartoons together with Tedd Pierce for both Freleng and Chuck Jones. Without question, the greatest point in Maltese’s career was when he was the storyman for Chuck Jones from 1948 to 1960. Jones and Maltese proved to be a very powerful team, as they ended up turning out some of the very best cartoons ever made, not just from Warner Bros, but throughout all of animation.

George Manuell was only at Warner Bros. for a short period, but wrote a handful of cartoons, mostly for Frank Tashlin.

Sid Marcus worked at a variety of studios. At Warner Bros., he had three stints. In 1949, he wrote two cartoons: “Bye Bye Bluebeard” (the last cartoon from Arthur Davis’ unit) and “A Ham in a Role” (directed by Robert McKimson). In 1954 and 1955, Marcus wrote a handful of cartoons for McKimson, one of which, “Devil May Hare” (1954), was the debut of Taz. Marcus’ third stint was during the DePatie-Freleng era where he wrote two of the best Daffy and Speedy entries, “A Squeak in the Deep” and “Swing Ding Amigo” (both released in 1966).

Nicknamed “Tubby”, Millar was a storyman for Warner Bros. from 1937 to early 1945. He mostly worked with Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin, Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton, and Norm McCabe. Millar’s hometown, Portis, Kansas, is also referenced in a few cartoons from the mid-1930’s.

Miller was only at the studio for less than three years (1938-1941) and wrote two cartoons for Frank Tashlin (both released in 1938): “Have You Got Any Castles” and “Cracked Ice”, a few for Tex Avery as well as Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton, and most of Friz Freleng’s first cartoons upon his return from MGM.

Monahan was a storyman from 1938 to 1942 working for almost all of the units at some point (with the notable exception of Bob Clampett). In 1942, he was drafted and left for a while. In 1947, after the war, he returned and wrote four cartoons for Arthur Davis before leaving for a final time.

There are no photos found of him, but Fred Neiman (March 14, 1912-March 29, 1997) was given credit for Frank Tashlin’s masterpiece “Now That Summer is Gone” (1938). It was the only time Neiman ever worked on a cartoon. Animation historian Michael Barrier’s commentary for that cartoon on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 DVD set mentions at one point that Tashlin and Neiman were good friends.

No photos of him either but Michael O’Connor (1938-1992) is given credit for four Daffy and Speedy cartoons from the DePatie-Freleng era (all of which are among the best cartoons from that era): “Daffy Rents”, “Feather Finger”, “A Taste of Catnip” (all released in 1966), and “Daffy’s Diner” (1967).

The third of the three principal writers of Looney Tunes, Tedd Pierce was briefly at the studio in the late 1930’s before returning in the early 1940’s and staying until the early 1960’s. Pierce was said to be a ladies’ man (in fact, Pepe Le Pew is partially based off of his “womanizing” abilities) and it’s perhaps not accidental that several romantic-centered Warner cartoons are written by him. Pierce was also the only one of the main three to work with the three main directors. He worked for Chuck Jones for most of the 1940’s, and after writing a few cartoons for both Jones and Friz Freleng together with Michael Maltese, Pierce became Freleng’s writer from 1948 to 1950. From 1951 to 1961, he was Robert McKimson’s writer.

Later of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame, William Scott was teamed with fellow storyman Lloyd Turner in Arthur Davis’ unit, writing most of his absolute best cartoons.

Teamed with William Scott in Arthur Davis’ unit, Turner wrote most of Davis’ cartoons. After Scott left, Turner wrote three cartoons solo: “Dough Ray Me-Ow”, “Odor of the Day” (both released in 1948), and “Holiday for Drumsticks” (1949).