Frank Tashlin

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Template:Infobox person Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash,<ref name="lambiek.net">Template:Cite web</ref> was an American animator and filmmaker. He was best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated shorts for Warner Bros., as well as his work as a director of live-action comedy films.

Animator and brief career as cartoonist

File:The Goldbrick.ogv
The Goldbrick, Private Snafu cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin in 1943

Born in Weehawken, New Jersey, Tashlin drifted from job to job after dropping out of high school in New Jersey at age 13.<ref>Lenburg, Jeff. Who's who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television's Award-winning and Legendary Animators, p. 333. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2006. Template:ISBN. Accessed April 28, 2017. "Tashlin, Frank b: February 19, 1913, Weehawken, New Jersey; d: May 5, 1972, Hollywood, California."</ref> In 1930, he began working for John Foster as a cartoonist on the Aesop's Fables cartoon series, then worked briefly for Amadee J. Van Beuren, but he was just as much a drifter in his animation career as he had been as a teenager.<ref name="Seife/2012/Tashlin">Template:Cite book</ref> Tashlin joined Leon Schlesinger's cartoon studio at Warner Bros. as an animator in 1933, where he was known as a fast animator. He used his free time to start his own comic strip in 1934 called Van Boring, inspired by former boss Van Beuren, which ran for three years.<ref name="strippersguide/van-boring">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Van-Boring-He-Never-Says-a-Word – Facebook fan page</ref> He signed his comic strip "Tish Tash", and used the same name for his cartoon credits (at the time it was considered extremely unprofessional to use anything except one's birth name among animators, but Tashlin was able to get away with this due to the anti-German sentiment of that era).<ref name="bampfa/nonsense-tashlin">Template:Cite web PDF</ref> Tashlin was fired from the studio when he refused to give Schlesinger a cut of his comic strip revenues. He joined the Ub Iwerks studio in 1934,<ref name="lambiek.net"/> and moved to Hal Roach's studio the next year as a writer.

Tashlin returned to Schlesinger in 1936 as an animation director, where his diverse interest and knowledge of the industry brought a new understanding of camerawork to the Warners directors. "He used all different kinds of camera angles, montages, and pan shots, vertical and horizontal."<ref name="Sigall2">Sigall (2005), p. 71</ref> He directed 16 or 17 shorts from 1936 to 1938. He was making $150 a week. At one point he had an argument with studio manager Henry Binder and resigned. In 1938, he worked for Disney in the story department, where he made 50 dollars a week.<ref name="Sigall2"/><ref name="sensesofcinema/tashlin">Template:Cite news</ref>

Afterward, he served as production manager at Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems animation studio in 1941. He effectively ran the studio and hired many former Disney staffers who had left as a result of the Disney animators' strike. He launched The Fox and the Crow series, one of the better products of the studio. He was fired over an argument with the executives of Columbia.<ref name="Sigall3"/>

Tashlin rejoined the Warner directors of "Termite Terrace" in 1942.<ref name="Sigall3">Sigall (2005), pp. 71–72</ref> One of his directorial efforts was Porky Pig's Feat (1943), the final black-and-white appearance of Porky Pig.<ref name="Sigall3"/> He stayed with the studio during World War II and worked on numerous wartime shorts, including the Private Snafu educational films. Shortly after he left Warner Bros. in late 1944, he directed some stop-motion puppet films for John Sutherland in 1946.<ref name="michaelbarrier.com">Template:Cite web</ref> Robert McKimson took over his unit after his departure from the studio.

His only Bugs Bunny shorts were The Unruly Hare and Hare Remover. The latter was also his last credit at Warner Bros.<ref name="Sigall4">Sigall (2005), p. 73</ref>

Martha Sigall described him as "Here today, gone tomorrow. Now you see him, now you don't. That was Frank Tashlin, who would be working at Leon Schlesinger's one day, and, suddenly, gone the next day."<ref name="Sigall">Sigall (2005), p. 70</ref>

Film director and writer

Tashlin moved on from animation in 1946 to become a gag writer for the Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball, and others, and as a screenwriter for stars such as Bob Hope and Red Skelton. His live-action films still echo elements of his animation background;<ref name="lambiek.net"/> Tashlin peppered them with unlikely sight gags, breakneck pacing, and unexpected plot twists.

Tashlin began his career directing feature films when he was asked to finish directing the 1951 film The Lemon Drop Kid starring Bob Hope.

Beginning with the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It, with its satirical look at early rock and roll,<ref name="tcmdb/Frank-Tashlin/">Template:Cite web</ref> Tashlin had a streak of commercial successes with the Martin and Lewis film Hollywood or Bust in 1956, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? in 1957, which, like 1956's The Girl Can't Help It, starred actress and Playboy model Jayne Mansfield, and six of Jerry Lewis' early solo films (Rock-A-Bye Baby, The Geisha Boy, Cinderfella, It's Only Money, Who's Minding the Store?, and The Disorderly Orderly).

Moreover, in the 1950s Tashlin came to the approving attention of French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, in reviews that the director dismissed as "all this philosophical double-talk." In 2000, the broad, colorful satire of Madison Avenue advertising in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? earned the film a place on the National Film Registry. In 2014, his stop-motion animation short The Way of Peace was also added to the Registry.

In the 1960s, Tashlin's films lost some of their spark, and his career ended in the latter part of that decade, along with those of most of the stars with whom he had worked. His final film was The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell starring Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller in 1968.

Author

Tashlin wrote and illustrated three books, The Bear That Wasn't (1946), The Possum That Didn't (1950), and The World That Isn't (1951).<ref name="Sigall4"/> These are often referred to as "children's books" although all contained satirical elements; The Bear That Wasn't was adapted as an animated cartoon by Tashlin's former Warner Bros. colleague, Chuck Jones, in 1967.<ref name="lambiek.net"/> Another children's story which Tashlin wrote in 1949 was recorded by Spike Jones: How the Circus Learned to Smile. Tashlin also wrote and self-published an instructional booklet entitled How to Create Cartoons (about cartoon drawing, not animation) in 1952.

Death

Tashlin died on May 5, 1972<ref name="nyrb/frank-tashlin">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="britannica/Frank-Tashlin">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="nytimes/1972/05/28/tashlin">Template:Cite news</ref> at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after being stricken with a coronary thrombosis three days before at his Beverly Hills home. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Filmography

Cartoon shorts

Year Title Series Role
1932 Piano Tooners Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) Animator (Uncredited)
1933 Magic Mummy
Hook and Ladder Hokum Co-Director with George Stallings
Buddy’s Beer Garden Looney Tunes Animator
1936 Porky's Poultry Plant Director
Little Beau Porky
Porky in the North Woods
1937 Porky's Road Race
Porky's Romance
Porky's Building
Porky's Railroad
Speaking of the Weather Merrie Melodies
The Case of the Stuttering Pig Looney Tunes
Porky's Double Trouble
The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos Merrie Melodies
1938 Porky at the Crocadero Looney Tunes
Now That Summer Is Gone Merrie Melodies
Porky the Fireman Looney Tunes
Have You Got Any Castles? Merrie Melodies
Porky's Spring Planting Looney Tunes
The Major Lied 'Til Dawn Merrie Melodies
Wholly Smoke Looney Tunes
Cracked Ice Merrie Melodies
Little Pancho Vanilla
You're an Education
1941 The Great Cheese Mystery Fables Writer
The Fox and the Grapes Color Rhapsody Writer, Director
The Tangled Angler Fables
1942 A Hollywood Detour Color Rhapsody
Wacky Wigwams Writer, Producer
Under the Shedding Chestnut Tree Fables Producer, Supervisor
Dog Meets Dog Phantasy
Concerto in B Flat Minor Color Rhapsody
Wolf Chases Pigs Fables
Cinderella Goes to a Party Color Rhapsody
A Battle for a Bottle Phantasy
The Bulldog and the Baby Fables
Woodman, Spare That Tree Color Rhapsody Producer, Supervisor (Uncredited)
Old Blackout Joe Phantasy
Song of Victory Color Rhapsody Supervisor
1943 Porky Pig's Feat Looney Tunes Director
Scrap Happy Daffy
The Goldbrick Private Snafu
A Corny Concerto Merrie Melodies Writer
The Home Front Private Snafu Director
Puss n' Booty Looney Tunes
1944 I Got Plenty of Mutton
Swooner Crooner
Brother Brat
Censored Private Snafu
Plane Daffy Looney Tunes
Booby Hatched
Target Snafu Private Snafu
The Stupid Cupid Looney Tunes
1945 The Unruly Hare Merrie Melodies
Behind the Meat-Ball Looney Tunes Director (Uncredited)
Tale of Two Mice
Nasty Quacks Merrie Melodies
1946 Hare Remover
The Lady Said No Daffy Ditties Writer, Director
Choo Choo Amigo Director
Pepito’s Serenade
1947 The Way of Peace N/A Writer, Director
1967 The Bear That Wasn't A MGM Cartoon Author of Original Story

Feature films

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1940 Pinocchio Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
1945 Delightfully Dangerous Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Story co-written with Irving Phillips and Edward Verdier
1946 A Night in Casablanca Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
Monsieur Beaucaire Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
1947 Variety Girl Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Monte Brice, Edmund Hartmann and Robert L. Welch
1948 The Fuller Brush Man Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Devery Freeman
One Touch of Venus Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Harry Kurnitz
The Paleface Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Edmund Hartmann
1949 Miss Grant Takes Richmond Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Devery Freeman and Nat Perrin
Love Happy Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Mac Benoff
A Woman of Distinction Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Additional dialogue
1950 The Good Humor Man Template:No Template:Yes Template:No
Kill the Umpire Template:No Template:Yes Template:No
The Fuller Brush Girl Template:No Template:Yes Template:No
1951 The Lemon Drop Kid Template:Partial Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Edmund Hartmann and Robert O'Brien
My Favorite Spy Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
1952 The First Time Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Jean Rouverol, Hugo Butler and Dane Lussier
Son of Paleface Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Joseph Quillan and Robert L. Welch
1953 Marry Me Again Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No
1954 Red Garters Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
Susan Slept Here Template:Yes Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
1955 5 Against the House Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
Artists and Models Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Hal Kanter and Herbert Baker
1956 The Lieutenant Wore Skirts Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Albert Beich
The Scarlet Hour Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Alford Van Ronkel and John Meredyth Lucas
The Best Things in Life Are Free Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
The Girl Can't Help It Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Co-written with Herbert Baker
Hollywood or Bust Template:Yes Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes
1958 Rock-A-Bye Baby Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No
The Geisha Boy Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Rudy Makoul
1959 Say One for Me Template:Yes Template:Partial Template:Yes Script revisions
1960 Cinderfella Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No
1961 Snow White and the Three Stooges Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
1962 Bachelor Flat Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Budd Grossman
Gigot Template:No Template:Partial Template:No Script revisions
It's Only Money Template:Yes Template:No Template:No
1963 The Man from the Diner's Club Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with William Peter Blatty
Who's Minding the Store? Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with Harry Tugend
1964 The Disorderly Orderly Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No
1965 The Alphabet Murders Template:Yes Template:No Template:No
1966 The Glass Bottom Boat Template:Yes Template:No Template:No
1967 Caprice Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Co-written with John Kohn
1968 The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No

References

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Bibliography

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