Looney Tunes
Written and Compiled by Matt Williams and Daniel DeCosta
1st Logo
(1930-1932)
Nicknames: “Bosko titles 1.”
Studio Logo: On a gray background, the words "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC." appeared, and below that "& THE VITAPHONE CORP." appears in a much smaller font, with the "VITAPHONE" using "electric" style letters. Below that is a very small WB shield, and in script, "Present". Behind it there is the drawing of a flag, "waving" so it looks like it is in 3 sections. On the first one, "WARNER BROS." Appears, followed by the electric-letter "VITAPHONE" logo and on section 3, "PICTURES". Below that is the copyright information.
Series Logo: A white sign in the
middle has the words "LOONEY TUNES" and in black,
"A HUGH HARMAN-RUDOLF ISING PRODUCTION" below that.
Below the sign in small letters are the words "LEON
SCHLESINGER, PRODUCER". Holding up the sign is Bosko, a
Mickey Mouse-type character who was WB's current star at the
time. Poking out from behind the sign and standing around the
logo are stereotypical 30s cartoon animals.
Early Variant: For the first cartoons with this logo, it is altogether in one card. Under “Looney Tunes,” it reads “A Hugh Harman-Rudolf Ising Musical Cartoon.” “Producer” also was back then as “Associate Producer.” Above the sign is the WB and Vitaphone text without the WB shield.
End Title: Bosko stands in front of a sign saying "A LOONEY TUNE" and says "That’s all, Folks!" Below it, in black, are the words "A HUGH HARMAN-RUDOLF ISING PRODUCTION" (or “MUSICAL CARTOON” earlier), and "Licensed under BRAY-HURD patents".
FX: No animation except for the closing.
Music: "A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight" by Theodore Metz is the series theme.
Availability: Near extinction as Cartoon Network never reruns Bosko shorts due to their "ethnic offensiveness".
Scare Factor: None
2nd Logo
(1932-1933)
Nicknames: “Bosko titles
2.”
Studio Logo: Same as LT logo 1
Series Logo: Same as LT Logo 1, but this time the only animal is a bird, and helping Bosko hold up the sign is his girlfriend Honey.
End Title: Same as LT logo 1 except the lettering on the sign is in a different font and the "BRAY-HURD" text is in italics, and it is later changed into “DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC.”
FX: Not enough animation
Music: Same as last logo, until it was replaced with "Whistle And Blow Your Blues Away" composed by Carmen Lombardo & Joseph Young.
Availability: Again, very rare due to the reason listed above.
Scare Factor: None
3rd Logo
(1933-1935)
Nicknames: “The logo with
Buddy.”
Studio Logo: Again, same as LT logos 1 and 2.
Series Logo: On a curtain
backdrop to the right, WB's newest (and admittedly crappiest)
cartoon star, Buddy, appears, holding his left hand up Vanna
White-style. On the upper left side of the screen the words
"LOONEY TUNES" appear and below Buddy and the curtain
the words "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER" appear.
Early Variant: For the first cartoons with this logo, “LOONEY TUNES” is on a sign on a fence with birds on it and on the left, Buddy stands there, and on the right, his girlfriend named Cookie stands there in a sexy pose. Under that is the Leon Schlesinger credit.
End Title: Same as the Series
Logo except Buddy is animated saying "That’s all,
Folks" and below the Leon Schlesinger credit the words
"Distributed by WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC."
Early Variant: Same as the early series logo except with Buddy jumping from behind the fence saying “That’s all, Folks!” with an iris out on the logo.
FX: As with LT Logos 1 and 2, there's not much animation. However, that was soon to change
Music: Same as last logo until "Beauty And The Beast" by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.
Availability: Rare again, but thankfully so as these cartoons are among the dullest in existence.
Scare Factor: None
4th Logo
(1935-1936)
Nicknames: “The Beans Gang
Titles”, “The Zooming WB Shield.”
Studio Logo: At the top of the screen, curved, the word "VITAPHONE" appears in the same electric letter font used previously, and on the very bottom is the word "Presents" in script, followed by the copyright info. The background is similar to a ship's porthole. And the WB Shield's most famous role is cemented-it zooms in from a long distance in the center of the screen to a huge size.
Variant: For the very first cartoons using the "porthole", a logo similar to LT logo 1 appears, but the "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" line is shortened to only "WARNER BROS." With "PRODUCTIONS CORPORATION" underneath it, then the "& The Vitaphone Corporation" line.
Series Logo: Using the same porthole background, in the center, "LOONEY TUNES" appears. The Beans Gang, WB's current stars, which consists of (going counterclockwise starting at the top right) Beans, his girlfriend, Oliver Owl, and Porky Pig, appear around it. Below "LOONEY TUNES", "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER" appears.
End Title: A black screen with "LOONEY TUNES" curved at the top-left with "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER" on the bottom-right. "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PRODUCTIONS CORP." is at the very bottom, and at the center, the world-famous "That's All Folks!" logo writes itself on.
Early Variant: The first cartoons with this logo feature an end title similar to the last logo, but with Beans saying “That’s all, Folks!” to the ending of the cartoon’s underscore.
Music: The music used for the previous logo was used at the beginning.
FX: The "writing on" of the "That's All Folks!", the infamous "zooming shield".
Availability: Can be seen on a few Beans' Gang LT shorts and the early Porky shorts. It’s usually computer colorized.
Scare Factor: None really, the "zooming" shield didn't get scary until later on.
5th Logo
(1936-1937)
Nicknames: “The Zooming Shield,” “Fat Porky Pig.”
Studio Logo: Against a background of musical notes, the WB shield zooms in with "VITAPHONE" above and "PRESENTS" below.
Series Logo: "LOONEY TUNES" is curved near the top, with "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHESINGER" at the bottom. Porky Pig’s head is in the center.
End Title: The same black screen as above.
Music: Same as logo 4 until a new unidentified theme by M.K. Jerome is used. In mid 1937, the shield has its sound effect-the famous "twanging" noise created by Treg Brown.
FX: The "zooming shield".
Availability: Seen on cartoons from the period, though mostly colorized.
Scare Factor: Median. The zooming noise can scare some, but this logo is pretty tame.
6th Logo
(1937-1942)
Nicknames: “Zooming
Shield,” “Porky in a drum.”
Studio Logo: Same as last time. Later on, "VITAPHONE" is changed to "WARNER BROS." And "Presents" is changed to "Present".
Series Logo: "LOONEY
TUNES" is curved near the top, with "PRODUCED BY LEON
SCHESINGER" at the bottom. Porky Pig does the following
poses listed.
(1937-1938) Porky is
on the right side facing left.
(1938-1939) Porky is
in the center facing right.
(1939-1940) Porky is
holding a hat.
(1940-1941) Porky is
seen sitting in an open drum.
(1941-1942) Porky is
sitting on a fence.
End Title: Bob Clampett redesigned Porky Pig by this period. Afterwards, his place in world history is assured as he breaks out of a drum saying his famous " Eee ba da eee ba da eee ba da Th-Th-Th-That's All Folks!" line. On the top of the drum is "LOONEY TUNES" and below it is "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER". At the bottom is "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES".
Music: The distinctive Looney Tunes theme, "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" is introduced.
FX: The "zooming shield".
Availability: Seen on many 30s and early 40s Porky Pig cartoons, though mostly colorized.
Scare Factor: Median because of the zooming noise.
7th Logo
(1942-1964)
Nicknames: “The bullseye,” “The concerted circles,” “The zooming shield.”
Studio Logo: Similar to the previous logos, only now the famous "Circles/Bullseye" backdrop that has become a trademark of Warner Bros. Is in place. Below the "WARNER BROS.", "PICTURES INC." is added.
Series Logo: Above the "bullseye" and on the same background, "LOONEY TUNES" appears in its now-distinctive font. Below it appears "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER." In 1944, this was changed to “PRODUCED BY WARNER BROS. CARTOONS” and then "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON". On color cartoons with this logo, it says (1942-1945) “IN TECHNICOLOR,” (1945-1956) “COLOR BY TECHNICOLOR,” or (1956-1964) “TECHNICOLOR.”
End Titles: Until 1945, the "Porky In A Drum" closing was used, however on some Bugs Bunny cartoons a variant was used where Bugs broke the drum and said "And That's The End!" while sitting in the open drum and munching on a carrot. Starting in 1944, the "LEON SCHLESINGER" text was changed to "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON". In 1945, a new closing was used. It started with the "That's All, Folks!" script being written out, and then "LOONEY TUNES" appearing at the top, curved as in the "black screen" logo. Near the bottom, either the Leon Schlesinger text/Released by WB combo was used (1943-44) or "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" (1944-1963) was used. From 1960-1964, the titles bore an additional legend: “A VITAGRAPH RELEASE.” The background was the circles/bullseye used in the Studio Logo. The colors of the backdrop vary by year, but a list of the colors would be too long to put here. Instead, check out Dave Mackey's site here.
Variations: There were many variations to this logo, and here are some of them:
Music: "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down". In 1945, this theme is shortened somewhat.
FX: The "zooming shield".
Availability: Check Cartoon Network, this is on most of the Looney Tunes shown. The early version is sort of uncommon.
Scare Factor: Median. This is a very famous logo.
8th Logo
(1963) (1964-1967)
Nicknames: “Pinwheel lines,” “The Abstract WB.”
Studio Logo: Completely different. On a black background, several series of lines come from the center of the screen zooming and swirling, 3 purple, one orange, with 2 of the purpleones diagonal, one of the purple ones vertical, and the orange one horizontal. The orange line moves down and up as the purple lines disappear one-by-one and a purple abstract "WB", with the W made up of 2 triangles and the B made up of two semicircles, appears. The orange line turns into the word "PRESENTS" over the abstract WB.
Series Logo: 2 lines from the center of the screen swirl around and then slide away to reveal a strange series logo. On the top is "LOONEY TUNES" in a weird font and on the bottom-right "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" appears in a rectangle in that same font. Below the rectangle is the word "TECHNICOLOR". To the right of that is a bannerless WB shield. (From 1964-1965, there would be no WB shield.) The lines then come back, slide back into each other, wiping away the text, and then "swirl" away into the black background.
Early Variant: For the first cartoons with this logo, this text is on a white background with no WB shield. The lines and the studio logo are still on a black background.
End Title: The abstract WB appears piece-by-piece (by two pieces each as W and then B in 1966-1967), and "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" is wiped onto the screen. When the wiping gets to the "OO" in "CARTOON", the Os turn red and "pop out" of the logo, then pop back into the logo, like two eyes doing a take. They do this three times fast (1963-1966) or two times slow (1966-1967.) On some early cartoons, they do this six times fast! "N" is then wiped on and "A VITAGRAPH RELEASE" appears.
FX: The "lines," the “OO.”
Cheesy Factor: Oh, dear-the shoddy animation was bad enough but...the initial 1962 white background version is migraine-inducing quality. The normal black background version adopted soon after, though still not easy to watch, is only slightly better. The fact that Warner Bros. had shut down its animation department and subcontracted the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts to DePatie-Freling and Format Films(and a badly-run WB animation department by the W7 era) didn't help as by 1965 DFE was clearly putting more effort into UA's Pink Panther cartoon shorts and Warners' own The Road Runner Show than on the increasingly repetitive Daffy Duck/Speedy Gonzales cartoons released during this time.
Music: A weird version of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down". The end titles originally used the Big Ben clock tower chiming instead of music, and then a tricycle honking for the OO animation.
Availability: Uncommon. Can be occasionally seen on “The Looney Tunes Show” and “Acme Hour” on Cartoon Network.
Scare Factor: Low, bordering on median. The music can annoy people, and when the lines “pop” on from a distance unexpected, it may startle many viewers. Also, the abstract WB may look a little creepy, but this logo is familiar to most WB cartoon fans.
9th Logo
(1967-1969)
Nicknames: “WB-7”, “W7,” “The Seven Arts titles.”
Studio Logo: The same as the previous logo, but the background is now blue and the 3 purple lines are now yellow and the orange one is now pink. The 3 yellow lines now disappear at the same time, as the W7 logo "draws" itself in and the shield appears around it. The horizontal line animation is the same, whereas it turns into the word “PRESENTS”.
Series Logo: Again, same as last time, only the WB shield is gone, due to updates. The rectangle is now centered and reads "A WARNER BROS.-SEVEN ARTS CARTOON".
End Title: Same as last logo,
although the "A WARNER BROS.- CARTOON" line is changed
to add in the Seven Arts information and the abstract WB is
replaced by the W7 logo, which flashes on in the beginning of the
end title. The OO goes up and down three times fast now.
Early Variant: For the first cartoons with this logo, it mimics the colors of the “Abstract WB” logo, with a black background and purple W7 shield.
Color: At least one or two Warner Bros.-Seven Arts cartoon bumpers appeared in a dark red color tint due to a camera glitch.
FX: The "lines", the
wipe, the OO, the W7 trace.
Cheesy Factor: Not bad, but the cartoons could have been worse. They had shoddy animation and flat style and even Hanna Barbera sound effects!
Music: A newer variant of the same music used last time, which is less annoying. But some recolored black and white shorts from the 30s and war years may have the 35-45 themes played over, which does not fit in with the logo AT ALL. On these shorts, the TECHNICOLOR legend is missing.
Availability: Avaliability: Near extinction. Was once highly available on Cartoon Network when they played the shorts, but these cartoons are no longer playing on Cartoon Network. It is a shame, for now you can only catch it on Boomerang.
Scare Factor: Low, this logo is probably well known by Looney Tunes fans.