Apes of Wrath

Friz Freleng began animating cartoons with Hugh Harman and Ub Iwerks at United Film Ad Service in the mid-1920s, then moved with his associates to the Disney studios. Freleng left Disney in 1929 and after directing his first cartoon for Walter Lantz at Universal (Wicked West), joined the Warner Brothers animation department. There his black-and-white cartoons of the mid-‘30s showed a special flair for integrating music and action, especially in his “Bosko” series. Freleng began directing Warners’ color series of Merrie Melodies cartoons in 1934 and over the next three decades made many of Warners’ funniest cartoons, creating such memorable characters as Yosemite Sam (said to be a self-caricature) and Speedy Gonzalez, as well as developing the identities of such iconic figures as Porky Pig (Porky’s Hired Hand), Bugs Bunny (Racketeer Rabbit, Rhapsody Rabbit), Daffy Duck (Ain’t That Ducky), and Sylvester and Tweety (Tweetie Pie, Birds Anonymous). After Warners’ cartoon unit folded, Freleng formed DePatie-Freleng Enterprises with David H. DePatie in 1963; there he reprised several of his Warners’ characters, but achieved his greatest success with their Pink Panther cartoons, starting with The Pink Phink, co-directed with Hawley Pratt. In the early ‘80s Freleng created linking animation scenes for feature-length reissue anthologies of Warners cartoons: Friz Freleng’s Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Bugs Bunny’s 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, and Daffy Duck’s Movie: Fantastic Island. —allmovie guide