Rod Scribner

Scribner had an interest in drawing in high school. Drawing was one of his subjects (along with English and political science) when he attended Denison University for three years. Later, after an interlude spent as a manager of a "hunting marsh", he studied art in Toledo, Ohio, and at the Chouinard Art Institute before he joined the Schlesinger animation staff.{{Cite web|url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/WhatsNewArchives/2007/WhatsNewArchivesDec07.htm#rodscribneratwork|title=Rod Scribner at Work|date=December 20, 2007|access-date=September 13, 2020|publisher=MichaelBarrier.com}}

Scribner started as an assistant animator for Friz Freleng in 1935, then as a animator for Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton (and, briefly, Chuck Jones). Following the dissolution of Hardaway and Dalton's unit in 1939, he joined Tex Avery's unit and worked with Robert McKimson, Charles McKimson, Virgil Ross, and Sid Sutherland.[https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/irv-spence-and-rod-scribner-one-shot-moonlighters/ Irv Spence and Rod Scribner, One-Shot Moonlighters]{{Cite web|last=Hartley|first=Steven|date=November 2, 2013|title=Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie: 309. Of Fox and Hounds (1940)|url=http://likelylooneymostlymerrie.blogspot.com/2013/11/309-of-fox-and-hounds-1940.html|access-date=September 18, 2020|website=Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie}}

File:Tokyo Woes 190611 LTGC.webm and Robert McKimson, with the loose Lichty style that Scribner proposed. It also features some stereotypes of Japanese people, which was common during the war.]]

In late 1941, after Tex Avery left to direct Speaking of Animals series for Jerry Fairbanks Productions, he was replaced as the unit director by Bob Clampett. Scribner's animation matched Clampett's expansive and energetic cartoons. This was caused by Scribner animating in ink with a pen or a brush, and since Scribner's animation, in Bill Melendez's words, was "very bold and kind of dirty", it would cause crises in the Ink and Paint Department, and the women had to choose which lines to trace. Clampett classics such as A Tale of Two Kitties (1942), Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943), and The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) showcase some of his trademark "Lichty style" of animation, which he proposed to Clampett. Clampett left Warner Bros. in 1946 to pursue a career in puppetry and television.{{Cite book|title=Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age|last=Barrier|first=Michael|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|pages=436|isbn=978-0-19-503759-3|url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodcartoon00barr}}[https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/in-his-own-words-bob-clampett-at-warners/ In His Own Words: Bob Clampett at Warners] Following Clampett's departure, Scribner was transferred to the unit of recently-promoted fellow Clampett alumnus Robert McKimson, although Scribner would only animate on a small number of shorts prior to being hospitalized in late 1946.

He briefly was a cartoonist on Happy Comic's Rowdy Runner and a January 1945 issue of a military magazine called "Service Ribbin". There are some claims from Scribner's family that Chuck Jones stole the Road Runner from Scribner, including a claim from Scribner's son Ty, who claims that he saw a Coyote chasing a Road Runner and that Scribner "pitched" it to Jones, although this claim is very unlikely and dubious since Scribner was at McKimson's unit.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJmApVrn5NE Chuck Jones STOLE the Roadrunner From Rod Scribner? | Riding the Shield | Looney Tunes Critic]

After three years of hospitalization due to tuberculosis, Scribner returned to Warner Bros. in 1950 under Robert McKimson's unit. His animation became noticeably more subdued during this period owing to both McKimson's more rigid directorial standards and Scribner's own deteriorated physical state, but he still got away with energetic scenes, like in Hillbilly Hare (1950), Hoppy Go Lucky (1952) and Of Rice and Hen (1953).[https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/robert-mckimsons-of-rice-and-hen-1953/ Robert McKimson's "Of Rice and Hen" (1953)][https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/robert-mckimsons-hillbilly-hare-1950/ Robert McKimson's "Hillbilly Hare" (1950)]

According to Warner Brothers animator Lloyd Turner in an interview, Scribner frequently engaged in behavior perceived as "crazy", recollecting Scribner to have burned his house down, and that he had a disdain towards his colleague Arthur Davis, potentially because Davis replaced Clampett after his departure. Resultantly, Scribner played a lot of pranks on Davis at McKimson's unit, inclusive of a notable incident Turner recounted within the interview in which Scribner, sighting Davis on a telephone line in a phone booth, elbowed Turner with a "watch me fix Davis", ran to the other side of the booth and tipped the telephone into a 45-degree angle, leading it to emit a booming sound disconcertingly similar to a bomb. Having successfully alarmed Davis, Scribner tipped the phone back, ran and, according to Turner "laughed like he was possessed", inciting Davis' wrath when he emerged from the booth.{{Cite web|url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Turner/interview_lloyd_turner.htm|title=Lloyd Turner: An Interview by Michael Barrier|access-date=September 13, 2020|website=MichaelBarrier.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224180029/http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Turner/interview_lloyd_turner.htm|archive-date=February 24, 2024}} Clampett described him as a mischievous elf.https://www.cartoonbrew.com/animator-spotlight/animator-spotlight-rod-scribner-244595.html

Scribner was laid off from Warner's in 1953 and worked for UPA, Cascade Studios, Jay Ward and Storyboard Inc. from the 50's to the mid 60's.[https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/commercials-animated-by-rod-scribner/ Commercials Animated By Rod Scribner] In his later years, Scribner worked with former colleague Bill Melendez on various Charlie Brown movies and television specials that worked in Snoopy Come Home (1972), There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown (1973) and It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974), eventually starting at a studio called Playhouse Pictures, which produced commercials for over 45 years.[https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/playhouse-potpourri/ Playhouse Potpurri] His only completed work not associated with UPA or his former colleague Melendez is a 1968 training video for IBM called A Computer Glossary and two credits on the first two episodes of Yogi's Gang.{{Cite web|url=https://mubi.com/films/a-computer-glossary|title=A Computer Glossary}}[https://www.eamesoffice.com/the-work/a-computer-glossary-2/#:~:text=1968,Fair%20in%20San%20Antonio%2C%20Texas.&text=The%20film%20goes%20on%20to,thereby%20creating%20a%20computer%20glossary. A Computer Glossary][https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2016/03/under-water-over-acting.html Under Water, Over Acting] Scribner went to work on Fritz the Cat at Bakshi Studios, but eventually sat down with Bakshi and tearfully proclaimed that he "can't do this anymore". Scribner's deteriorated mental state had rendered his work unusable (with Bakshi describing his drawings as "absolutely hideous"), and most of his animation was thrown out or overhauled as a result. Scribner died a few months after leaving the studio, and Bakshi regarded his departure as the saddest experience of his life.{{Cite news|title=A Conversation with Ralph Bakshi|last=Anders|first=Jason|date=November 2009|access-date=September 16, 2020|work=Fulle Circle Magazine|url=https://www.fullecirclemagazine.com/2009/11/conversation-with-ralph-bakshi.html}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20200918030051/https://twitter.com/allnewzbadnewz/status/1306790200174096384 Thad Komorowski]

File:Examples of Scribner.png

After being arrested and put on suicide watch in Patton State Hospital, Scribner died there on December 21, 1976, from tuberculosis, which he had contracted during World War II in 1945 during the production of One Meat Brawl and due to an outbreak of the disease during the war, in which he didn't return to Warners until March 1948. His last project was Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown, released posthumously in Summer 1977.{{Cite web|url=http://www.toonzone.net/forums/threads/question-about-rod-scribner.3657641/|title=Question about Rod Scribner|date=June 26, 2004 }}{{Cite web|url=http://dmgermain.blogspot.com/2006/03/rod-scribner.html|title = David Germain's blog: Rod Scribner|date = March 21, 2006}}{{Cite book|title=Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age|last=Barrier|first=Michael|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|pages=468|isbn=978-0-19-503759-3|url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodcartoon00barr}} Bill Plympton says his work on Coal Black "is a masterpiece of animation and distortion" and that the animation in the Clampett cartoons blew his mind.[https://books.google.com/books?id=UPCyDwAAQBAJ&dq=rod+scribner&pg=PA351 On Animation: The Directors Perspective pg. 351][https://books.google.com/books?id=u5Go1ZEY2cMC&dq=rod+scribner&pg=PA111 Making Toons That Sell Without Selling pg. 111] Cartoon Brew puts him on Number 18 on the list of "25 Great Cartoonists You Should Know"[https://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/25-cartoonists-you-should-know-98875.html 25 Great Cartoonists You Should Know] Animator John Kricfalusi is a self-described "fanatic" for Scribner.[http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Feedback/feedback_johnk.htm An Exchange with John K.]{{Cite news|title="When Cartoons Were Cartoony:" John Kricfalusi Presents|url=https://www.awn.com/animationworld/when-cartoons-were-cartoony-john-kricfalusi-presents|last=Goodman|first=Martin|date=September 1, 2004|access-date=September 14, 2020|work=Animation World Network}}[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/07/story-of-rod-scribner.html A Story of Rod Scribner]

• A Tale of Two Kitties
• Hare Ribbin'
• All This and Rabbit Stew
• A Corny Concerto
• The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
• Private Snafu
• Of Rice and Hen
• The Night Watchman[https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/chuck-jones-the-night-watchman-1938/ Chuck Jones' "The Night Watchman" (1938)]
• Falling Hare
• Gruesome Twosome
• Russian Rhapsody
• Draftee Daffy
• A Wild Hare
• The Prize Pest
• Quack Shot
• An Itch in Time
• Porky's Hare Hunt
• A-Lad-In Bagdad
• Tortoise Wins by a Hare
• Bars and Stripes Forever
• Nutty News{{cite web |title=Rod Scribner animation Nutty News part 1 – GIF on Imgur |url=https://www.imgur.com/AY42n7P |access-date=January 21, 2021 |language=en}}

• Kool Aid (1964–65) (mostly directed by Tex Avery and features Bugs and Elmer){{Cite news|title=1965 Bugs Bunny commercial by Tex Avery & Rod Scribner|url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/advertising/tex-avery-rod-scribner-1965-bugs-bunny-commercial-34120.html|date=December 29, 2010|access-date=August 19, 2020}}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du3qGXwfr0E Bugs Bunny Kool-Aid Commercial]
• Hawaiian Punch (1961–1975)
• Cheerios with Rocky and Bullwinkle (1960s)
• Bank of America
• Foremost
• ABC Saturday Morning

• A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature
• Urbanissimo

• George of the Jungle

• Fritz the Cat

• Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown
• Snoopy Come Home
• There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown
• It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

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• {{IMDb name|id=0780120|name=Rod Scribner}}
• [https://dmgermain.blogspot.com/2006/03/rod-scribner.html A letter] concerning the circumstances a few years before his death.

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Category:1910 births

Category:1976 deaths

Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis

Category:American animated film producers

Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons people

Category:Hanna-Barbera people

Category:Tuberculosis deaths in California