Looney Toons (or Tunes)

Looney Toons (or Tunes)

I can remember watching Looney Tunes as a kid. All of these crazy characters doing the weirdest things were just so funny! The funniest show was about these three kids ( I think they were mice, I can’t remember) that lived in the WB Water Tower. There were two boys and one girl. They were banished to live in there because of their outrageous behavior. But, everyday they would sneak out and do the silliest things. Or should I say, they wreaked havoc. This show came on right after school, so by the time I got there it was already on.
Of course there were the all time favorite like bugs bunny and the Tazmanian Devil. I loved how “what’s his name” could never shoot Bugs Bunny, even though it would have been so easy to do so. But, Bugs Bunny outwitted him every single time. Then there’s that Tazmanian Devil that turned around and around in circles attempting to destroy everything in its path. Isn’t it odd how violent and mischievous these cartoon characters were.
The only character my brother and I attempted to copy was the Tazmanian Devil. Well—I did blow my finger up with a firecracker once like the coyote in The Roadrunner, but that’s another story. To be the Tazmanian Devil, we would go into the yard and start spinning in circles, purposely knocking things over and bumping into trees. We thought that was fun! Hmm, did T.V. have us brainwashed?
My dad’s favorite cartoon character was about a big rooster (name?). Yes, we all like to watch cartoons. He was a wise cracking rooster that thought he knew everything about everything. Maybe that’s why my dad liked him so much. Daddy would go around the house imitating the way this rooster talked. HE thought it was hilarious. The funniest thing to me was when the rooster got a son. The son was of course smarter than the dad, but the dad never realized it and continually made a fool of himself.
And the songs! The intro to Looney Toons was too catchy, almost addictive. They’re tiny, they’re looney……..I used to sing it just for the fun of it.
I watch cartoons now. My favorites are SpongeBob, Phineas and Ferb and Recess. Of course these don’t compare to The Looney Tunes series of my day, but they are worth watching. Although they say there is more violence these days, I don’t see it. The roadrunner helped the coyote to be blown up thousands of times. He fell off that cliff even more times. I don’t see this type of “I can’t be destroyed mentality” in cartoons today. However, the topics introduced seem to be far more advanced.
Whenever my brother is around my house, he always manages to find the remote and the Cartoon Network, and we soon find ourselves watching some of the shows of our youth. Tom and Jerry both should have one an academy award. These two chased each other for years—and we kept watching although there was NO TALKING taking place. There were just the occasional screams from the woman that lived in the house whenever she saw Jerry. Why didn’t they ever show her face? I didn’t like the Mammy that was portrayed on the show. This stereotype was way too outdated even for the 80s.
Looking back now, I really enjoyed sitting at the tube-sitter and watching these animations act themselves out in front of me. These are the kinds of things about childhood that I think I will always remember because they are so much a part of who I am.