Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes

by Jaime Weinman

Looney Tunes cartoons, writes celebrated television critic Jaime Weinman, are the high-water mark of American filmed comedy.

Surreal, irreverent, philosophical, and riotously funny, they have maintained their power over audiences for generations and inspired such giants of the cinema as Mel Brooks, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas.

Here, finally, Weinman gives Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Sylvester, and the whole cast of animated icons their long-awaited due. With meticulous research, he takes us inside the Warner Bros studios to unlock the mystery of how an unlikely band of directors and artists working in the shadow of Walt Disney created a wild, visually stunning and oh-so-violent brand of comedy that has never been matched for sheer volume of laughs. The result is an unexpected and fascinating story that matches the Looney Tunes themselves for energy, humor, and ingenuity.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Film, Humor

375 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2021

Reviews

[Darya Silman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole package of the beloved Looney Tunes characters in comprehensive historic wrapping.

If Jamie Weinman aimed to take his writing for magazines to the next level, he did the best he could: he wrote a book, appealing simultaneously to several generations. 'Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes,' brings back sweet memories of when we were enjoying Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, and other characters just out of pure joy, without thinking of who created them and what was their backstory, if any. Without being a killjoy, the author unfoldes the history of Looney Tunes in chronological order from the 1920s till the present day (excluding 'Space Jam 2', now airing in theaters). The author uses the mixed approach. Some chapters are dedicated solely to one character, and others focus on specifics of cartoon creating, like timing or music, while the third category briefly covers the whole decades.

Two chapters stand out as being slightly different. An apparent personal viewpoint marks the first chapter. I couldn't fully relate to the author's experience with the cartoons because I was born in another country and saw the first Looney Tunes when I was a teenager. Nevertheless, I don't think the first chapter would slow down reading for others as it was for me.

The last chapter is the quintessence of analysis, demonstrated throughout the book. The author uses a single cartoon as the case to be observed from different angles.

Understandable language, a logical transition from one chapter to another, and the comprehensiveness of an approach are the book's main advantages. As a base for his study, the author used history books on American cartoon making, blog posts and online communities of cartoon history experts. His experience as a professional writer contributed significantly to the book's overall lively writing style.

I'd recommend the book to almost all ages, from young adults to the contemporaries of Looney Tunes' golden years.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the iconic Looney Toons that generations grew up with and many still remember with nostalgia. The humor, the gags, the pranks and the characters. Oh, there were characters - like Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Pepe, Tweety, Pepe, Gossamer - do you know who Gossamer was?

Weinman takes the readers along on a trip back to the beginning of the start of the cartoon and animation studios - certainly Disney immediately comes to mind, but there was Universal with Woody Woodpecker, Fleischer with Popeye and Betty Boop, Hanna-Barbera with Tom & Jerry along with The Flintstones, TerryTones with Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle. And of course, there was Warner Bros with Bosko the Talking Ink Kid and of course, Merrie Melodies and the Looney Tunes.

With a focus on Warner, he talks about the directors, the writers, the artists and how the characters were developed. The so-called classic Looney Tunes - which admittedly, were violent, rude, abusive and in some cases, racist - that have basically disappeared from television and cable networks.

Weinman looks at the attempts to transition out of just television with the mixed the animated/live action movies - with the token female in Lola Rabbit - which has the characters not being portrayed in a manner that those familiar would recognize. In turn, they are characters that the studio is assuming the viewers are familiar with - cartoon characters that have - in many cases - not seen by the movie-going public in years, if not decades. Then there are the attempts to re-tool and reboot the franchise but it's just isn't the same. The unconventionality of some gags just didn't make the transition. Why was there a bomb? Just because.

One of the best parts was the end where he dissected the classical toon "Racketeer Rabbit". The credits - who these people were. Some of the subtle gags that were slid in - like director Friz Freleng had his name appeared somewhere in the background - in this case, cars driving by a billboard advertising Hotel Friz. The interaction with the audience as well as the caricatures of notable studio actors from the time period. Did you ever notice that in some cases, when the toons are interacting with the audience, their eyes look 'down' as the movie audience would be below the screen?

Definitely a profound look at the iconic Looney Tunes, how they managed to endure over the decades as well as providing insight in the massive amount of talent and work involved in creating every one of these short bits of entertainment.

For those who don't recall - Gossamer (named by Marvin the Martian) was the name of the big orange hairy monster in tennis shoes with a heart shaped head.

2022-105

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies were my favorite cartoons growing up, all the way to my university years. It was nice reading a book that brought back happy memories. I enjoyed the analysis of the characters and how they changed over time. The book was also an eye-opener, with discussions of the people involved in the production of the cartoons. I had also never considered the racist aspect of the cartoons, which the book brought to light. On the other hand, it was difficult to understand some of the discussion without going on the internet to try to find some of the older cartoons and sometimes things got lost in translation between the cartoon and the book. Overall though, this is a good book for fans of the cartoons. Thank you to Netgalley and Sutherland House for the advance reader copy.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looney Tunes cartoons", writes celebrated television critic Jaime Weinman, "are the high-water mark of American filmed comedy." Surreal, irreverent, philosophical, and riotously funny, they have maintained their power over audiences for generations and inspired such giants of the cinema as Mel Brooks, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas.

Here, finally, Weinman gives Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Sylvester, and the whole cast of animated icons their long-awaited due. With meticulous research, he takes us inside the Warner Bros. studios to unlock the mystery of how an unlikely band of directors and artists working in the shadow of Walt Disney created a wild, visually stunning and oh-so-violent brand of comedy that has never been matched for sheer volume of laughs. The result is an unexpected and fascinating story that matches the Looney Tunes themselves for energy, humor, and ingenuity.

Sutherland House Publishing, out of Canada, released Weinman's Anvils, Mallets and Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes in October of 2021. I was very pleased to have a chance to review an early galley of the book.

Like the author, I grew up on watching these classic cartoons on television, both on Saturday mornings and part of afternoon after-school syndication in the 1970's. However, being a bit over a decade older than he, I also can remember seeing some cartoon shorts on the big screen before a feature film. Thus, I had that extra touchstone as a child on how these shorts from the 1940's and 1950's might have played on in their original medium. All that together puts this book right into my pop-culture wheelhouse.

I truly appreciate Weinman's attention to detail, especially when he was describing particular shorts to illustrate his points about the artwork, the music, the trademark Looney Tunes humor and more. I found myself seeking out some of these online via YouTube and DailyMotion, just to refresh my memories of them - and I found myself smiling again as I had as a kid. I highly recommend to readers that they do so similarly; it definitely enhances the reading experience of this volume.

Weinman also takes time to discuss the various creative talents and their styles that made these cartoons such classics. Animation icons Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, and Leon Schlesinger are all celebrated in the pages of this book.

For fans of animation as well as American pop-culture, I would highly recommend this book.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot of information in this book, but probably the most enlightening to me was that my house was a Looney Tunes house, not a Disney house. Now, we watched the animated features (Lion King, etc.), but were never really into cartoons that featured Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the rest. There were Looney Tunes cartoons described by Weinman that I haven't seen in twenty years and I could still easily recall exactly what he was talking about.

The book covers the history of Looney Tunes, back when they were pretty blatantly racist, ripping off other characters, or both. It goes over the creation and evolution of most of the major characters, both in terms of animation styles and their personalities. Much of it is focused on the creators, but it gets into how the audiences and executives perceived them too. There's a touch of analysis of the cartoons themselves but not enough to be a proper analysis.

It's probably not a perfect book, but it's very readable and full of information. I enjoyed it.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weinman covered a lot of material that I haven't seen before in other LT history books, which I appreciated. But as much material was covered, it also felt like there wasn't as much detail as I would have liked. I'm not sure how much someone with no knowledge of LT history would get out of this. When I was young I was OBSESSED and considered being an animation historian just because of how much I loved LT and all the ins and outs of making them, so it was fine for me, and a fun trip down memory lane, as I haven't thought of a lot of this stuff in a long time.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Durn it! I wanted to like this book! I loved the start of pointing out the output of Disney animated stuff in comparison to Warner Brothers and other's product. This is rarely done and the preconceived notion Disney is greatest of all is validated by ignoring the different results. The points of the shrewd cleverness of the Warner Brothers' output I was cheering on. Then the editorializing of silly nonsense set in. Can't author's these days try and stay factual??? This is why I shied away from the NetGalley stock for months. I had one successful encounter in non-fiction there, Les Standiford's 'Battle for the Big Top'. He could do it! Why do so many sink so very, very low???

The author gets in a tirade about caricatures. I wish the bulk of those that write about caricature understood what that and stereotypes are. Instead the addiction to outrage peddles on with nonsense written in this book. All cartooning involves caricaturing and typically fleshes out the written caricature of all subjects. The subject, in this case, cartooning is the combination of simplifying, exaggerating and making fun of. That is cartooning. It IS caricature and stereotyping. If there is no caricature or stereotyping, then the artists are not doing their job. If one wishes to get in a huff for workers doing their job, that is a personal issue and should not turn into a bullying tactic.
Thus, those wishing to eliminate cartooning are getting their wish as cartooning is washed into the mess we see most of today. Creativity out the window to make the small, overly sensitive crowd happy...which consistently appears to be impossible...back to the addiction of outrage.

At one point the author writes that a set of animated shorts are "the product of their time". Of course, this entirely ignores that the writing of the author is ALSO a product of it's time and should be more cognizant that such ideas may be out of fashion down the road. All animated cartoons and the author's book are fashioned to accomplish one thing: Profits. Thus the those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones phrase comes to mind here.

This kind of narrow minded-junk political correctness, and frankly actual racism, writing pops up far too often throughout this book. Thus this book is more editorial comment than any kind of factual history.

Thee biggest problem and severely missing from this book is the economics of creating these animated cartoons. There are mentions of budgets and pay and even, irrationally, women's pay. But zero of what was actually going on. All the while, as I wrote above, spewing nonsense of political correctness.

Since writing this much while reading the book, I've since finished the blasted thing with much more to write. Instead, I'll turn to my podcast and add it here after that's completed in a few days.

Bottom line: I do not recommend this book. 3 out of ten points.

My access to this book is via NatGalley.com, which I'm taking another dip in non-fiction involving, film director, Billy Wilder. Starting off great...

[Monkleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting read. I admit it felt more like something I would have read academically, and the bibliography is a joy for anyone studying animation. Hugely distracting for this geek, but it just meant I have other things to read off the back of this. I would have loved to have known the author's thoughts on Animaniacs, but we can't have everything. Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.

[Paul Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jaime Weinman, in his book Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes (Sutherland House, 2021) takes a deep dive into the legendary and wildly popular Warner Brothers cartoons created between 1930 and 1963 featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester and Tweety, and the irrepressible Foghorn Leghorn among a host of others. The cartoons were created to be the hors d’oeuvre to the main course of whatever Warner Brothers picture was scheduled at the local movie theater, but most of us of a certain age remember Bugs and company from Saturday mornings on one of the big three networks back in the day.

I have some specific memories of these beloved cartoons. While my mother slept in, I would take some money from her purse and bike to the local Alta Dena bakery for a dozen chocolate and a dozen powdered donuts. While my siblings and I munched away, we watched the Road Runner continually outwit Wiley E. Coyote, leaving him smashed, bashed, and broken. We watched while Bugs dressed as a woman to seduce the rather thick Elmer Fudd and send him off to hunt Daffy instead of Bugs, thoroughly convinced it was duck season instead of “wabbit” season. No Beanie and Cecil for me, and Scooby Doo’s stoner act got old quickly. Bugs Bunny, the trickster extraordinaire, never seemed tired. Considering we were watching cartoons created in the 1940s and 1950s, our interest never waned even as we watched from the far future of the late 1960s and 70s.

Looney Tunes could be violent, and the popular characters rarely faced consequences for their actions, but we loved them. Weinman theorizes that kids did not always connect with Looney Tunes characters “because we know that nothing has consequences for them, and they seem to know it too.” I admired Bugs’ facility with words, his ability to con Porky or Elmer or Daffy, and always come out on top. Rarely is he flustered or thrown off his game. Weinman believes the cartoons adopted an “anything for a laugh” philosophy, which “isn’t what we expect of first-rate art.” Is a cartoon first-rate art? Arguably, yes!

Weinman goes on to write that “To celebrate the greatness of works of art, you have to acknowledge their limitations, the sides of the world that they don’t or can’t see. Looney Tunes cartoons leave out a lot of human experience, and speak to only one kind of mood. But what we ask of art is not that it tell us everything, but that it tell us something, that it have a style and a viewpoint that makes sense to us. Every good Looney Tunes cartoon has that.”

The book offers a deep and well-researched history of the cartoons, along with how characters were perceived by the public, which ones became popular, and which ones were eventually phased out. There were also several instances in their long history that characters were subtly, or even dramatically altered when different animation teams and producers took over. Many of the most successful characters had speech impediments exploited for humor, something in our more careful age would not fly. But these “vocal quirks” endeared them to audiences over generations. It is also interesting to note which characters the studio thought would be the breakout stars. For instance, they placed their faith in Daffy Duck as the definitive Looney Tunes cartoon character. Of course, Bugs Bunny changed that. The cartoons also attacked common themes in the culture, like hunting as a sign of manliness. Porky Pig destroyed that fanciful notion, as did Elmer Fudd in his hunting cap, chasing both Bugs and Daffy with disastrous results. However, Weinman points out that what makes Looney Tunes great is the ability of the writers and artists “to portray the maximum amount of comedy violence while still being charming, fun, family entertainment.”

Of course, the cartoons were produced during some of the most fraught times in the twentieth century, and they often reflected those crises specifically or tangentially. When the cartoons were combined into packages and sold into syndication, several were removed for their overt racism. They were singled out for their racist stereotypes and black-face gags, wholly inappropriate today and in the late 1960s and 1970s when they were a major block of Saturday morning programming for kids.

So what happened to Bugs and the gang? Well, the syndication packages were divided and reassembled and then redivided again. Many are available on YouTube. Check your local listings, as the saying goes. The characters did return to prominence in the Space Jam movies, the most successful project for Looney Tunes since the original Warner Brothers cartoon studio shut down.

If you are a fan of the cartoons, Jaime Weinman’s book is a must-have. For the casual cartoon connoisseur, or someone who remembers the taste of chocolate and powdered donuts on a Saturday morning along with the telescoping concentric circles receding into the distance with “That’s all Folks!” that marked the end of each cartoon, this is an insightful and interesting book, as much about childhood and memory as American culture and a rabbit, who despite the odds, always came out on top, the trickster heading off into the sunset, on top of the world.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anvils, Mallets & Dynomite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes by Jaime Weinman is an informative and entertaining read that is part tribute to the cartoons while also analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.

What made this book fun to read, in addition to it being about cartoons I loved, was Weinman's writing style. He could be analytic while also having fun with the material. He covered the creators themselves as well as doing some close readings of specific cartoons to highlight what worked as well as some of the more problematic aspects, particularly to our contemporary ears and sensibilities (well, except for cartoonists who worked with Glenn Beck who sees political correctness whenever anyone's feelings are considered other than their own, but more on that later).

A lot of emphasis is given to the earlier cartoons for both artistic consideration and because of the marked difference between them. That said, the entire history is indeed covered. While this is a history it is less of simply a chronological history that gives equal weight to every period. This is a critical history that argues for why these cartoons are, in the writer's opinion, the apex of cartoons. So if you want just a chronological regurgitation of who came first, then who, and so on, this will just barely meet your needs. But if you want to understand the differences between Disney and WB, or between early and later Looney Tunes, this is the book for you.

In looking at any art of the past we have to walk a tightrope of looking at the art as art as well as what it says about that time. When addressing, for example, racism in the cartoons Weinman avoids dumping out the baby with the bath water. He does put everything in historical context but doesn't absolve anyone of using what even then were acknowledged as racist portrayals. They were just more widely accepted so they were used.

This paragraph is less about the book and more about some reviews that are simply nuts, so feel free to skip this paragraph. You know someone is racist when the only response they have to an analysis of racism in early 20th century cartoons is the dog whistle "political correctness." Also when they offer just a partial discussion of caricatures and stereotypes, without mentioning the artists responsibility in creating that caricature. But then, anyone associated with Glenn Beck is not only a racist idiot, they are lying bags of you know what. So ignore any racist, bigoted, and moronic reviews that scream "political correctness" rather than honestly (a trait they lack) engaging. But they do love their little victimhood conspiracies, so let the little impotent boys play, just ignore them until they tread too far, then stand your ground, to use their concept.

Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Looney Tunes as entertainment as well as those interested in them as part of mid-twentieth century popular culture.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Vladimir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is quite insightful look into the world of Looney Tunes, from humble beginnings to modern day atrocities with nostalgic aura.

Weinman goes about it mostly chronologically and easily lays out how the cartoons got made, who made 'em, when, sometimes delving even in what techniques were being used. But the most precious attempt of this book is to differentiate all, and I mean literally all, versions of each Looney Tunes character. Even in comics. You can literally pop a Looney Tunes DVD or, you know, stream cartoons and go by this book to see all the differences that exist in, for example, Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. Not just his surroundings (farm or... city) but his sidekicks, enemies and demeanor (in some cartoons he spoke without accent, than suddenly became Southerner).

I found it funny that the author looks down on Mickey Mouse, and not-Warner studios including Disney of course, but being hard core Looney Tunes fan himself he also delves into terrible situation of what Looney Tunes became after theatrical shorts production ceased. Bleak versions of themselves. My words not his. And although I do have love for anything Looney (both Space Jams or Cartoon Network shows), he does not. Weinman informs us about it, but you can feel that he despises it.

So, for casual Looney Tunes fan, this book can be a treasure. You can get interested for a specific cartoon or character and go find it somewhere to watch it. But for hard core connoisseurs, it has glimpses of less known information and tends to get boring. That feeling was stronger with every chapter, at least for myself. But even so, I successfully found interesting facts about Warner Bros' cartoon production end cards. Why are some names smaller, why some are bigger, why are some people missing... That information alone worked for me, but it could be incredibly dull for some other people. But Weinman did a good research and created something that can be useful to people interested in history of animation, or animation itself.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review this book. As you can see, it had no effect on my feelings and thoughts about it.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Sutherland House for an advanced copy of this new entertainment and animation reference book.

Never has a title more apt for a book and its subject matter. Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite:The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes by Jaime Weinman is a complete look at the cartoons that made me the person that I am, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The book offers behind the scenes, explanations on technology and how the cartoons were created, studio politics, and studio meddling. The book has it all.

I have read some of the authorized biographies, and most of the large photo books that came out on various anniversaries. This book went much deeper into the telling, not a warts and all or gossipy kind of telling, more of a setting the record straight, a honest appraisal of who did what, creation of various characters, and other truths. Some did more than others, some did a lot less and claimed quite a bit. However this is a story told with love, and you can tell the author is a fan. Heck anyone who wrote to Roger Ebert to complain about Space Jam is a much better man than I.

Another aspect I enjoyed was the bringing the story up to the present day. I lot of the newer iterations have passed me by, the Looney Tunes Superfriends mashup sounds like a particular mess I am glad to avoid. I admit to watching the cartoons in the 70's. I remember when they switched from CBS to ABC, and how it messed up my whole viewing schedule. It was nice to review those moments, and remind me how much television I used to watch.

A great gift for animation lovers, or people who spent their childhoods wondering why every cartoon didn't have Bugs Bunny in it. A very well written informative book. I can't wait to read more by Mr. Weinman.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Looney Tunes! If you grew up before the Cartoon Network and cable ruined Saturday mornings, you would have seen the Looney Tunes gang in action. Bugs, Daffy, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe LePew, Taz, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Roadrunner, Coyote, and the rest all ran wild on Saturday mornings for decades! But as Jaime Weinman explains, they did not start out on the small screen, instead they were big screen stars!
In fourteen enjoyable chapters and a very interesting epilogue, Jaime Weiman walks the reader through the history of the Looney Tunes and Warner Brothers studio beginning with their search for a star to compete with The Mouse. Bosko did not quite work, Daffy, well, he was a bit over the top. Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig work better as straight men, so when Bugs Bunny was created, the Looney Tunes system really began to shine. The Warner Bros. Studio had Chuck Jones, Fritz Freeling, Tex Avery and many others. But another person was needed - Mel Blanc, the voice of so many Looney Tune characters. Weinman spends time analyzing the gags used in the cartoons, the switch from writing for movie screens to television screens, the rebooting and rebooting of the franchise along with the search for movie stardom with Space Jam, and spinoffs. Weinman also spends time discussing stereotyping and racism in the cartoons. Weinman then concludes the book with an in-depth look at "Racketeer Rabbit" - looking at the characters, the atmosphere, the lighting, and the gags.

If you enjoy the Looney Tunes, you should pick up this book and find out the history behind your favorite characters and episodes! You will not be disappointed!

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A passion-fueled and comprehensive history of Looney Tunes. It read like a podcast or documentary series, with a chronological history, showcasing all the characters (both drawn and behind the scenes) that made Looney Tunes what it was -- and still make Looney Tunes what it IS.

I walked away feeling like an expert (I now let my husband know if we are watching a pre or post-1948 short), without the research. Instead, I had a few-day read that keep me not only interested in what I was reading, but desperate to put the book down and find each cartoon short I was reading about. (Hey, Mr. Weinman, can we convince the streaming service to make us a companion playlist?! ;) )

It is clear that Mr. Weinman is a Looney Tunes purist, and knowing that, I hope he feels accomplished with this book. I went into this book as a passive fan, and walked away as someone eager to consume more. And maybe even watch Back in Action. Maybe ;)

Thanks to Sutherland House and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite is the definitive story of Looney Tunes. It is well-researched from a multitude of sources. Plus, it is just a fascinating read!

The book starts at the beginning of animation in Hollywood with a brief mention of Disney and other animation studios’ styles before jumping in with Warner Bros’ history. It describes many of the directors’ methodologies in detail. Even many of the iconic cartoons receive a deep drive into their creation.

Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite is the perfect gift for the cartoon fan in your life! They are sure to learn many things by reading this engrossing book. 5 stars!

Thanks to Sutherland House and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative book on the inner workings of the various groups responsible for the cartoons we love from our childhood. The author spends a good portion in the latter half of the book discussing the more modern takes on the classic characters and how they may/may not have spoiled the classics for those that aren't able to view the cartoons from the heyday of Looney Tunes that easily (due to repeated transfer of rights, or limited viewing due to availability.

While losing the thread, in my opinion, at points Weinman does a good job of weaving a tale of how these classic bits of comedy were created and how they influenced those that came after.

Now pardon me, I have a lot of cartoons to rewatch.

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title and cover of this book grabbed my attention -- and was excited to learn more about the Saturday morning cartoons I enjoyed as a child every Saturday morning in the 1960's and 1970's. Reading the background on the Looney Tunes' characters as well as the writers really enriched my knowledge of these classic cartoons. I got a better sense on how the cartoons evolved in terms of jokes and comic timing. I liked learning about the "making of" many of my favorite cartoons. Weinman does not shy away from addressing what happened to the controversial cartoons and historical context. I recommend this book -- it is very well researched and it brought back positive memories of my childhood.

[Clint Hannah-Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reads like an academic journey in the absolute best of ways. Treating the cartoons with historical and scrutiny leads to a really interesting read. My only complaint (and this might be unfair considering potential copyright claims or licensing costs) is that I really wish there were so, so many more photos throughout. Specific gags shown alongside the writing. A really great read for any fan of Looney Tunes though.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahh!! I loved this book! I was looking for an insider's glimpse into the Looney Tunes world, and boy did I get it! I loved the clever way the author told the behind the scenes information. This was an excellent biography of a much-loved batch of cartoon characters. It took me back in time, and that meant so much to be able to read about things from my childhood.

[Mr. Wavvy]

I am listed as a citation in this book. I had no idea until I finished it and turned to the bibliography section (although I must say, when I was reading the sentence that cites me, I couldn’t help but feel how it was near-identical do the response Ivan Reitman gave me about the making of Space Jam)

I’m befuddled but overall, honoured to be a part of a true Looney history book. Thanks, Jaime!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish we could give half stars because it’s more of a 3.5 star book for me. It was an interesting read though on the dry side and took some time to really get going, which was hard for me because I love old school looney tunes. More visuals and pictures would have been nice

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jaime Weinman provides a great perspective of the cultural and social history of Looney Tunes in this fabulous book. If you are a pop culture fanatic, or just grew up loving these cartoons, you will enjoy it.

[Anthony Strand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weinman’s online and magazine writing has always been wonderful, and it’s a real treat to see him spend a whole book joyfully digging in to Looney Tunes. Highly recommended to any fan of the franchise!

[Sean Wicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very barebones overview of the history of Warner Bros. cartoons. Die hard fans of the series might walk away with a few tidbits, anyone with no knowledge may walk away with some more but also wanting more given that overall, it's pretty rudimentary.

[Kevin Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t love it , didn’t hate it. The author’s NPR interview was better than the book. Interesting story but told more like a play by play than a compelling narrative. Multiple typos throughout the text were an irritant. That’s a huge pet peeve of this reader!

[Ricky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read that brings back so many fond memories. The author is a true fan but he still brings a discerning eye to Looney Tunes.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have been 150 pages, super repetitive and the author analyzes everything to much.

[Kegan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting history about general entertainment and animation too

[Bob Roper · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful read that brought back some wonderful memories.

[mib6475654 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My entire childhood revolved around watching Looney Tunes cartoons so when I saw the opportunity to read this book I jumped on it! This book really celebrates the quirky, zany entertainment of watching Looney Tunes cartoons and explores their history in a way that is super insightful and entertaining. It's definitely a must-read for sure!