Warner Bros. Cartoons

Background

Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. Pictures, primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon short subjects. It was one of the most successful animation studios in American history. Founded in 1933 as Leon Schlesinger Productions, it was sold to Warner Bros. in 1944, who continued to operate it as Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. until 1963, when the studio shut down its in-house cartoon division. Warner Bros. Cartoons head David H. DePatie, together with veteran director Friz Freleng, formed DePatie-Freleng Enterprises to continue production on Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The leftovers of the completed cartoons were released by Warner Bros. for theatrical release until 1964. The studio briefly re-opened in 1967 under the name of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation before shutting down for good in 1969. The studio would later reopen as Warner Bros. Animation in 1980, remaining in operation to this day.

Contents

1st Logo (April 19, 1930-March 9, 1936)	2nd Logo (February 1, 1936-July 18, 1964)	3rd Logo (April 27, 1963-September 30, 1967)

1st Logo (April 19, 1930-March 9, 1936)

Opening Visuals: On a gray (or black) background, the words "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC." are shown, and below that, "& THE VITAPHONE CORP." is shown in a much smaller font, with "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 three sections. On the first one, "WARNER BROS." appears, followed by the electric-letter "VITAPHONE" logo and on section three, "PICTURES". Below that is the copyright information.

Variants:

For the first few cartoons with this logo, the company and series details were all on one screen. A white sign in the middle has the words "LOONEY TUNES" and in black, "A HUGH HARMAN-RUDOLF ISING MUSICAL CARTOON" below that. Below the sign in small letters are the words "LEON SCHLESINGER, ASSOCIATE PRODUCER". Above the sign is the WB and Vitaphone text without the WB shield. Holding up the sign is Bosko, a Mickey Mouse-esque 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 (a bird, a goat, and a dog, to be exact).
In 1995, Turner had the the Merrie Melodies cartoons with this logo redrawn-colorized (with some exceptions that went to the Sunset Productions package); but unlike when Warner had 79 black-and-white Looney Tunes colorized in the late 1960s, these redrawns preserve their original logos, but colorized like the rest of the cartoons as well.
- Turner also made alternative prints of these cartoons that kept their original B&W form. However, the end titles in these color-less prints are still the redrawn ones but gray-scaled, plus the 1995 DUBBED disclaimer fades in on the bottom of the screen.
- The 1995 print of Red-Headed Baby is only known to exist as the redrawn colorization with gray-scale effect, which in turn has all the titles in the redraw form but with no color.
When Leon Schlesinger took over from Harman-Ising on September 2, 1933, the shield was redrawn.
On two Cinecolor cartoons Honeymoon Hotel and Beauty and the Beast, the logo is in color, with the background being a sort of tricolor hill with musical notes spread over.
On cartoons produced in two-strip Technicolor, the logo is now on a red closed curtain background, with musical notes printed over (later on, the curtains were changed to be plain green).
From 1934-1936, the "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" line is shortened to only "WARNER BROS." with "PRODUCTIONS CORPORATION" underneath it, then the "& THE VITAPHONE CORPORATION" line, each line being smaller than the other.
On the first two-strip Technicolor Merrie Melodies, the logo is on a bullseye background, similar to the next logo.
On early Beans Gang shorts, the logo takes place on a background similar to a ship's porthole.
Colorized versions exist that were made in the 90s by computer, but they are currently not used on DVD, streaming or MeTV.

Closing Visuals:

Looney Tunes:
- April 19, 1930 - August 26, 1932: Bosko (voiced by Carman Maxwell, Bernard B. Brown, and Johnny Murray) peeks out from behind the left of a sign reading "A LOONEY TUNE" and emerges, along with a dog (the same dog from the series title card). Bosko holds out his hands and says "That's all, folks!", grinning in the end. The dog jumps and barks several times. Below it, in black, are the words "A HUGH HARMAN-RUDOLF ISING SOUND/MUSICAL CARTOON/PRODUCTION", and "Licensed under BRAY-HURD patents".
- September 3, 1932 - August 26, 1933: Same as the last closing logo, except the lettering on the sign is in a different font, and the "BRAY-HURD" text is in italics. Later, the "BRAY-HURD" text is replaced with "Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.".
- September 2, 1933 - December 9, 1933: The title is set in a forest, where there is a fence with a billboard pinned to it. On the billboard is the series logo and below it is written "Produced by LEON SCHLESINGER". On the bottom of the screen are the credits "Distributed by WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC.". Suddenly, Buddy (voiced by Bernard B. Brown) is either jumping or poking out from behind the fence saying “That’s all, Folks!”.
- January 5, 1934 - August 24, 1935: On a stage, we see Buddy (voiced by Jack Carr) announcing "That's all, Folks!". To his left is the "LOONEY TUNES" series logo. On the bottom of the screen there is "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER" and below that "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC." Buddy would get redesigned twice on the logo, to match to how his appearance evolved in the cartoons themselves. Also, later on, "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC." is changed to "WARNER BROS. PRODUCTIONS CORP."
- September 14-November 2, 1935: Same as on the previous three endings, except that Beans The Cat (voiced by Tommy Bond) appears instead of Buddy saying "That's all, folksǃ" to the title. This end variation was only used on three cartoons: A Cartoonist's Nightmare, Hollywood Capers and Gold Diggers of '49.
- March 9, 1936: Same as the next logo for description.

Merrie Melodies:
- August - October 31, 1931: Against a gray (or black) background, Foxy (voiced by Johnny Murray) stands in front of his marching-band drum reading "A MERRIE MELODY" (in plain black text) and says "So long, Folks!" or "That's all, Folks!" Below it, in white, are the words "A HUGH HARMAN-RUDOLF ISING CARTOON PRODUCTION" and below that, in italic script, is "Licensed under Bray-Hurd Patents".
- November 28, 1931 - August 26, 1933: Same as before, except for Piggy (or a cartoon-specific one-shot character) in place of Foxy. The word "CARTOON" is removed from the Harman/Ising credit. Also different, later in this logo's run: the words "Licensed under Bray-Hurd Patents" are replaced by "Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc." (the former words were also seen below this new block of text on a few cartoons from this season).
- September 23, 1933 - October 20, 1934: Same as the second Looney Tunes variation, but instead of Buddy, a different one-shot character from the cartoon just ending is seen, saying “That’s all, Folks!” (or in some cases here, "So long, folksǃ"). Also, the Leon Schlesinger credit appears below the series logo and is a bit smaller.
- November 10, 1934-November 20, 1935: Same as the previous, except we now see a jester in place of any given one-shot character against the closed curtain BG, announcing the usual "So long, folks!" or "That's all, Folks!" cadence. The text "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC." in the "Distributed by" field is changed to "WARNER BROS. PRODUCTIONS CORP.".
  - The very first cartoon to use this logo, Those Beautiful Dames, had a rather unusual variation of the common end card. The difference is that the jester, instead of holding up his scepter and having a gay smile, instead bounces to the stage from the right of the screen and gives an angry facial expression to the viewers, while holding the scepter down and showing the Merrie Melodies logo with his left hand. The fact the respective short revolved around toys may have had to do with the jester being used on the end card, while from the second short afterwards (Pop Goes Your Heart) they finally decided to use him as the trademark character of the end logo.
- January 11-February 8, 1936: See the next logo for details.

Technique: The opening variant uses a still cel sheet. The closing uses traditional animation.

Audio:

Looney Tunes:
- April 19, 1930 - September 10, 1932: "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" by Theodore Metz is the series theme.
  - The very first cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, uses a slightly different recording with animal sounds.
  - Starting with the 1931 short Bosko the Doughboy, a new recording in a different key was used, and in the middle of the theme, the classic WB "trombone gobble" sound effect can be heard.
- September 17, 1932 - August 26, 1933, November 11, 1933: "Whistle and Blow Your Blues Away", composed by Carmen Lombardo and Joseph Young.
- September 2, 1933 - March 9, 1936: A very bright, over-emphatically child-like arrangement keeping with theme of the family vibe of the title cards.
  - For later cartoons, the theme is faster-paced.

Merrie Melodies:
- August 2, 1931 - August 26, 1933: "Get Happy" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler.
- September 23, 1933 - February 8, 1936: "I Think You're Ducky" composed by Gerald Marks, Sidney Clare, and Charles Tobias.

Availability: Appeared on almost every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon until Alpine Antics.

Bosko shorts are no longer seen on TV due to their "ethnic offensiveness". A handful of cartoons featuring this logo are available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6 DVD release. Many of them are now in the public domain, and several of them are on various online video websites. Some Bosko cartoons, however, replace this logo with the Sunset Productions copyright card, and often have a Guild Films "THE END" logo plastered over the closing card (with Bosko's "That's all, Folks!" and the dog barking heard underneath), but a few of them have the logo replaced with an early-1960s Seven Arts Associated title card (with pictures of various LT characters surrounding it and the 1936-1937 LT closing theme playing underneath).
- It was also attached to Buddy, earlier Beans Gang and early Porky shorts.
Some of the Merrie Melodies cartoons featuring this logo are spotted on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets, and one on another unknown set. Some of the shorts can also be found on HBO Max. The color version was only used on two cartoons from the 1933-1934 season that were made in Cinecolor (Honeymoon Hotel and Beauty and the Beast), as the studio was still producing black-and-white shorts while experimenting with the color budget they had at that time. It won't be until one year later when all Merrie Melodies shorts would be released in Technicolor. At least one of the two shorts that uses this logo, that being Beauty and the Beast, can be currently seen on HBO Max. As of August 1, 2016 on Boomerang, some cartoons from this 1934 era have aired, nearly 10 years since this logo was last seen on American television. A few of the cartoons have also resurfaced on MeTV's Toon In With Me program, and some can also be found on HBO Max. It was last used on two three-strip Merrie Melodies, I Wanna Play House and The Cat Came Back.

Legacy: After Schlesinger took over production, this logo has a somewhat bad reputation for appearing on the unpopular Buddy cartoons.

2nd Logo (February 1, 1936-July 18, 1964)

Opening Visuals:: 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 below. 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 (most likely based on the then-current film logo).

Closing Visuals:

Looney Tunes:
- February 1, 1936-September 11, 1937: On a blank, black screen, at the center, the world-famous "That's all Folks!" logo writes itself on. Then the other title card details appear suddenly, all at once. "LOONEY TUNES" is seen curved at the top-left with "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER" on the bottom-right, while "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PRODUCTIONS CORP." is at the very bottom. When Porky took over as its centerpiece on October 3, 1936, the text is in a different font.
- October 9, 1937-May 4, 1946: Porky Pig (voiced by Mel Blanc) breaks out of a drum saying his famous "T-T-T-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. PRODUCTIONS CORP.". Behind the drum is a curtain background. In 1938, starting with Porky's Spring Planting, "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PRODUCTIONS CORP." is changed to "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC.". In 1939, starting with Pied Piper Porky, a new version of Porky Pig comes out of the drum. On Meet John Doughboy (1941), Porky doesn't blink. When Looney Tunes jumped to color, the background became solid red. The Bugs Bunny cartoons Hare Tonic (1945) and Baseball Bugs (1946) have a variant where Bugs (also voiced by Blanc) 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 "PRODUCED BY WARNER BROS. CARTOONS INC." and then "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON".
- June 8, 1946-July 18, 1964: 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, with "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" appearing word-by-word near the bottom. From 1960-1964, the titles bore an additional legend: “A VITAGRAPH RELEASE”. The background was the circles/bullseye used in the opening logo. For pre-1989 Thames Television airings, it fades into the 1969 From Thames In Colour endcap.

Merrie Melodies: Starts with the "That's all Folks!" script being written out (or just "THE END" in plain letters, which were used on reissued prints from 1952-53), and then "MERRIE MELODIES" appearing at the top, curved as in the 3rd logo (and later refined). Near the bottom, either the Leon Schlesinger (or Warner Bros. Cartoons) text/Distributed (or Released) by WB Productions Corp. combo (1936-44) or "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" (1944-64) was used. From 1960-64, the titles bore the additional legend: "A VITAPHONE RELEASE". The background was the circles/bullseye used in the opening logo.

Closing Logo Variant: On Porky's Duck Hunt, an end title gag is used. The font is same as the one shown on the Beans cartoons, but Daffy is jumping and dancing across the end title card.

Color Schemes:

1936: Blue-purple rings, black background, red shield
Late 1936-1937: Blue rings, black background, blue shield
Late 1937-1938: Orange-yellow rings, black background, blue shield
1938-1939: Green-yellow rings, black background, red shield
1939-1940: Red, white and blue rings, cloudy sky background, transparent red shield
1940: Red, white and blue rings, black background, red shield
1940-1941: Orange rings, black background, red shield
1941-1942: Dark blue-purple rings, black background, red shield
1942-1944: Red rings, black background, red shield
1944-1945: Blue rings, red background, red shield
1945-1946: Red rings, black background, red shield
1946-1947: Blue-red rings, red background, red shield
1947-1948: Red rings, blue background, red shield
1947-1949: Green rings, red background, red shield
1948-1949: Orange-yellow rings, blue background, red shield
1950: Green-yellow rings, green background, red shield
1950-1951: Red/yellow rings, black background, red shield
1951-1953: Blue-red rings, red background, red shield
1952-1953: Green-yellow rings, red background, red shield
1953-1955: Orange-yellow rings, blue background, red shield
1954-1956: Pink rings, blue background, red shield
1955-1957: Green-yellow rings, red background, red shield
1956-1957: Red-yellow rings, green background, red shield
1957-1959: Blue rings, red background, red shield
1959-1964: Crimson rings, blue background, red shield

Variants:

Colorized variants exist that were made in the 90s by computer, but they are currently not used on DVD, streaming (except Boomerang) or on MeTV.
On later Beans Gang era-Looney Tunes, the background is the same ship porthole as in the first variation, but the wall now has a wooden texture while the hole has been remodeled, looking fancier.
On Looney Tunes cartoons from September 3, 1936 to September 5, 1942, the background is a set of musical notes.
On Merrie Melodies' and Looney Tunes beginning on October 3, 1942 and beyond, the background is a bullseye, which by 1942, became a trademark. The Looney Tunes version has less, more thicker rings compared to the Merrie Melodies version.
Starting in 1939, "VITAPHONE" was changed to "WARNER BROS.," and "Presents" was changed to "Present". From 1944 onwards (after Leon Schlesinger's retirement from the studio), it bore the additional legend "PICTURES, INC.".
Some older Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were re-released as part of the "Blue Ribbon" series, and lost their title cards as a result. The re-releases of the pre-1941 cartoons kept whatever music variation it had at the end (except for the 1935 cartoons that originally ended with the jester's sign-off), and any cartoon re-released before 1945 would retain its original end title as well. Most of the pre-1948 cartoons had the long version of the "Merrily" opening theme. The re-releases of the post-1948 cartoons had the short version at the open and retained their full credits. Oddly enough, however, one pre-1948 Merrie Melodies short from 1940 (which was reissued in 1953-54), Mighty Hunters, retained its original screen credits.
The most famous one of these has Bugs Bunny relaxing on top of the shield as it zooms in. He chomps on his carrot for a few seconds, looks "angry" at the "camera", after which we cross-fade to the next logo, the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies logo. This was only used on Bugs Bunny cartoons starting in 1941, until 1948.
- On the first cartoon to use this animated card, The Heckling Hare (1941), Bugs instead pulls down the next title like a window shade. This variation was not used on any more of his shorts, instead going for the sequence above, though beginning with Hare Trigger (1945), they remade the sequence with the newly-redesigned modern-looking Bugs, now going back to pulling the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies logo like the window shade.
The shield fades into a face (usually oversized, jaw open) of the featured character in the cartoon it's used in. This was used mostly on Bugs Bunny cartoons, although Daffy's and/or Porky's heads were used a few times as well. On most Bugs Bunny cartoons and at least two Daffy Duck cartoons, the fade happens a second after the shield settles, while on other cartoons with this variant the face was on the series title card.
On The Old Grey Hare (1944), an ending gag involving a stick of dynamite had a still "That's All, Folks!" title card fading up as the fuse was heard sizzling, and then the logo shakes violently to the sound of the dynamite exploding. When reran on Cartoon Network / Boomerang in the USA and Latin America, it was replaced with the regular "That's All, Folks!" title, the dynamite exploding still being heard but the title not shaking. European Turner prints kept the original end title intact, albeit with the "DUBBED VERSION" disclaimer fading in at the end.
On The Major Lied 'Til Dawn (1938), it ends with a zoom-up of the elephant with him saying "That's all, folks!". The usual text fades in in white, with a much quicker and higher-pitched version of the end theme playing over it.
In 1942, the shield was made smaller.
- On some cartoons, the shield zooms in with no text below or above it, then the featured character's face and "Warner Bros. Present" fade in.
On the 1953 Bugs Bunny short Lumber Jack-Rabbit, the shield zooms way too far and then zooms back to its correct position (like a yo-yo), as this was the first Bugs Bunny short to be released in 3D. It also didn't fade to Bugs Bunny's face.
Sometimes, one of the character's heads would be seen on the series logo. It is usually either Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, or both of them. This was primarily seen in the 1940s.
Some Looney Tunes were re-released as "Blue Ribbon" Merrie Melodies and lost their title cards. While these re-releases used the Merrie Melodies version of the bullseye logo (with more rings), they kept the Looney Tunes music (first at the closing titles only and then the full opening sequence as well), so it is painfully easy to spot former Looney Tunes that were reissued as Merrie Melodies. Examples include A Bear for Punishment and House-Hunting Mice.
A still variation of the end title as seen on the 1953-54 season re-releases of the pre-1948 cartoons (with the early 1300 series production #s) had the phrase "THE END" (in the Mixolydian font) in place of the "That's all Folks!" script with the original closing music from whatever short's end title was originally there. This also happened on United Artists prints of these films as an attempt to remove any reference to Warner Bros, i.e. with an orange bullseye and red center.
Another still variation of the end title, this time with the usual "That's all Folks!" script, was spotted on the 1954-55 season re-release of the last 2-strip Technicolor-processed MM short, The Cat Came Back (Blue Ribbon #1361, originally released in 1936).
On the 1961 short Nelly's Folly, there was a different end card, in which after the cartoon faded out with the title "THE END", it fades up to the Merrie Melodies text in purple, with "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" and "A VITAPHONE RELEASE" underneath it, on a black background. There was no music used here.
In 1995, Turner Entertainment created the infamous "dubbed version" re-releases of the pre-1948 LT and MM cartoons, which share the same end card ("Porky in a Drum" or the "Bullseye Circles" in either orange (1937-1938) or red (1947-1948) rings) with copyright text chyroned in below. The variant with the 1937-1938 closing also freeze-frames before the "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PRODUCTION CORP." byline appears so the "dubbed version" copyright text can take its place below. In many cases, the original closing music from the cartoon ending is utilized, but once in a while, the incorrect closing music may be heard. Some of these are still seen on TV (mainly on Boomerang, but MeTV airs mostly restored prints of the cartoons, with only a small batch still being shown as Turner prints) and as bonus features on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs.

Colorized Variants: Again, there are hand-colorized and digitally-colorized versions of these cartoons, with the latter often retaining the original logos.

Some of the hand-colorized cartoons (mostly the public domain cartoons, colorized in the late 1960s) feature "fake" redrawn versions of the opening titles. On at least one cartoon retaining the original studio logo, the WB shield simply fades in on the musical-note background instead of zooming in. However, some redrawn-colorized prints of The Village Smithy feature a "colorized" variant of the closing logo where on a red background, an outline of the cursive "That's all, folks!" is seen with a red card underneath being pulled away to reveal white, as an attempt at emulating the text "writing" itself on.
On some digitally-colorized 1940-1943 cartoons, the early (1937-1939) Porky Pig in a Drum closing is utilized instead of the correct version, due to an editing mistake in the colorization process. Some examples include A Coy Decoy, Daffy's Southern Exposure and Porky Pig's Feat. This same mistake happens on the recent restoration of Daffy's Southern Exposure when resurfaced on MeTV.

Technique: Traditional animation.

Audio: Like the last logo, it depends. In mid-1937, the WB shield has its sound effect--the famous "twanging" noise created by Treg Brown. In 1945, this theme (the opening version) was shortened somewhat. The long version of the opening theme was used up through the Blue Ribbon reissues of the pre-1948 cartoons. Oddly enough, however, one Merrie Melodies short, Horton Hatches the Egg (originally from 1942) did air in syndication (at one time) with the Looney Tunes sig "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" playing at the end, which is standard for Looney Tunes re-issued as Merrie Melodies. Also, the Merrie Melodies short, Tweety and the Beanstalk, released in 1957, features the Looney Tunes sig "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" playing at the beginning and the end.

Looney Tunes:
- February 1-November 14, 1936: Same as the later music variant of the last logo.
- December 8, 1936-September 11, 1937: A new theme by M.K. Jerome known as the "Porky Signature" is used. There were many variations on this opening theme.
- October 9, 1937-July 18, 1964: The distinctive Looney Tunes theme, The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down, is introduced, composed by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin, and arranged by Carl Stalling. An abridged version at a different key is also used for the closing theme. In 1945, the theme was shortened somewhat.

Merrie Melodies:
- March 7-September 19, 1936: Same as the last music version used in the last logo.
- October 10, 1936-June 27, 1964: The famous "Merrily We Roll Along", arranged by Carl Stalling, first heard during Eddie Cantor's scenes in the 1935 short Billboard Frolics.

Closing Logo Music: Until 1937, the last piece of the short's score played over in the end title. Starting in mid-1937, an abridged version of the opening theme song was heard in the end title.

Audio Variants: Many, depending on the years:

Looney Tunes:

October 1937-November 1938: Most well-known version of the opening and closing theme from the early era. Two closing themes are used, with the second one debuting in July 1938.
November 1937-January 1938: Rare, sparsely modified opening theme variant used only on three cartoons. Closing theme is the same as October 1937.
November 1938-March 1941: Heavily modified opening theme with a more "lighter" sound, with prominent woodwinds. Closing theme is the same as July 1938.
March 1941: Specially-modified opening theme for a one-shot cartoon called Joe Glow the Firefly, with a different key in the first section of the theme, said to be arranged by Milt Franklyn. Closing music is the same as July 1938.
March 1941-June 1945: Heavily modified opening and closing themes, now at a faster tempo and with more brass, second most-well-known version.
May 1945-July 1946: Abridged opening theme, now dominated by brass and woodwinds, same closing theme as March 1941 (except for Kitty Kornered; with the sole exception of the final cartoon with these themes, Acrobatty Bunny, where there was no voiceover at all, Porky's voiceover was always used, with a couple of Bugs Bunny cartoons instead having Bugs saying, "And that's the end!").
June 8, 1946, October 20, 1951: On Kitty Kornered and A Bear for Punishment, the closing variant of "Merrily We Roll Along" was used over the closing ID.
July 1946-June 1955: Abridged themes. Heavily modified opening and closing themes done in a "goofy" manner. Was still used for the Blue Ribbon reissues of cartoons originally released up to 1955. The opening version also accidentally shows up on Boston Quackie (June 22, 1957) in place of the May 1955 theme.
May 1955-July 1964: Heavily modified opening and closing themes, this time arranged by Milt Franklyn, with the zooming shield "twang" sounding like it was produced on an electric guitar. Sparsely used for Blue Ribbon reissues.
In 1968, Warner Bros. colorized many of its black-and-white cartoons for television. The 1979-1980 prints of these shorts plastered its opening WB shield and closing IDs with the more contemporary "bullseye" design (in most cases taken from the 1956 short Deduce, You Say) with a 1967 copyright disclaimer plaster onto the original, but the original cartoon's audio remained intact. In many cases, the second half of one of the 1935-43 themes would play underneath the opening, but a few redrawn prints with these logos (such as Wholly Smoke and An Ill Wind) have the entire opening theme play underneath. Also during the closing, you could still hear the drum breaking open and Porky Pig saying "Th-th-that's all, folks!" at the end of the cartoons, but you couldn't see him. In some cases, the "That's all, folks!" screen would then fade to the 1972 "Big \\' " closing "Distributed by Warner Bros." logo.
A few of the 1990s digital colorizations of these cartoons feature this logo with the 1936-1937 opening theme playing over the opening logo instead (the later version with the zooming noise at the beginning). This was not how the cartoons originally started, and was an error made during their colorizations. Such examples include The Henpecked Duck, We the Animals Squeak!, Porky's Pastry Pirates, Notes To You, Porky's Midnight Matinee, Porky's Cafe, Daffy's Southern Exposure and Slap-Happy Pappy. The ending titles, however, feature the correct closing themes that they originally utilized. This also happened on the recent HD restorations of The Henpecked Duck and Daffy's Southern Exposure when resurfaced on MeTV.
Clean versions of the 1937 and 1938 closing themes, without Porky Pig's line, can be heard at the end of Breakdowns of 1938 and Breakdowns of 1939, respectively.

Merrie Melodies:

October 1936-November 1936: A fast-paced opening theme is heard, and more dominated with woodwinds.
November 1936-January 1937: Similar to the October 1936 theme, but has some of the more distinct traits in the theme now.
March-early July 1937: A slower-paced version of above opening theme.
Late July-early September 1937: The opening theme now begins with the aforementioned (yet famous) "twang" sound created by Treg Brown using a dobro/steel guitar. The closing theme version also makes its debut, on Plenty of Money and You, which also begins with the "twang" sound.
Late September 1937-early January 1938: The opening theme now has a largely woodwind-dominated arrangement, same went for the closing theme.
Late January-July 1938: The opening theme is sparsely modified, same closing theme version as late September 1937.
August 1938-early January 1939: The opening theme is now dominated by brass and strings. The closing theme is also adapted from the opening version beginning in November 1938.
Late January 1939-early September 1940: This is the second most well-known version of "Merrily We Roll Along". It is heavily modified, and the first "perfected" version of the opening theme. Same closing theme as November 1938 version.
Late September 1940-March 1941: Opening theme modified somewhat, which sounds like a hybrid of the August 1938 and late January 1939 versions. Same closing theme as November 1938 version.
April 1941-March 1945: Most well-known version of "Merrily We Roll Along". Heavily modified, more "brassy" opening and closing themes. The long version continued use through the Blue Ribbon reissues of cartoons originally released prior to December 1948.
A slight variation of the end theme, with a livelier finish, was used on The Wacky Wabbit and Peck Up Your Troubles, as well as the Blue Ribbon version of Tick Tock Tuckered.
May 1945-June 1955: Abridged opening theme, same closing theme as April 1941. Was still used for the Blue Ribbon reissues of cartoons originally released up to 1955.
June 18, 1949: On some prints the Blue Ribbon reissue of Horton Hatches the Egg, the 1946 arrangement of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" played over the closing title, which is typically the norm for former Looney Tunes shorts from 1946-48 reissued as Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies.
May 1955-July 1964: Heavily modified opening and closing themes, this time arranged by Milt Franklyn, with the zooming shield "twang" sounding like it was produced on an electric guitar. Sparsely used for Blue Ribbon reissues.
July 1955: Opening theme sparsely modified by Milt Franklyn, most notably with a different electric guitar "twang" sound, only used on This Is a Life?. Closing music is unchanged.
October 1956-July 1964: On Tweety and the Beanstalk, Blue Ribbon reissues of Looney Tunes shorts, and the end of the Looney Tunes short Boston Quackie, the 1946 or 1955 arrangement of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" was used.
Occasionally, MGM/UA releases had the 1949 Blue Ribbon variant plastered over the Looney Tunes opening rings on Looney Tunes shorts while retaining the 1941 arrangement of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down". This can be seen on Brother Brat, featured on international releases of Porky Pig Cartoon Festival Featuring Nothing But the Tooth.

Availability: Used on almost every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon from The Phantom Ship to False Hare.

The porthole version can be seen on a few Beans Gang Looney Tunes shorts and the early Porky shorts if rerun. This was also attached to Sunset Productions' re-issue prints of the Beans Gang shorts and the early Porky shorts.
The musical notes version is the most recognized, as it was seen on many '30s and early '40s B&W Looney Tunes Porky Pig cartoons. They are sometimes rerun on MeTV and are available on DVD and HBO Max, but do not air on Boomerang. The Porky's Duck Hunt variant was seen on TV back in the 90s and has aired at least a few times on MeTV, and is also well preserved on DVDs and HBO Max.
All of the early Porky and the Beans Gang shorts are also seen on HBO Max.
The bullseye version appears on most of the Merrie Melodies being rerun on MeTV and Boomerang, along with on HBO Max and the Boomerang streaming service (the former has them all restored in high-definition, some of which were removed from the service in January 2023). It was used on over five hundred Merrie Melodies shorts, including famous ones like What's Opera, Doc? and One Froggy Evening. They can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection and Looney Tunes Super Stars DVD sets, and the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Blu-Ray sets. The I Wanna Play House variant appeared on said short. The "THE END" reissue closing variant is not easy to find, as many cartoons that used it have had a "That's all, Folks!" closing plastered over during the 1990s; it is intact on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection release of The Bashful Buzzard and on the recent restoration of Daffy Doodles.
The second bullseye version can be found on many of the Looney Tunes shorts airing on MeTV and Boomerang, along with the Boomerang and HBO Max streaming services (the latter has them all restored in high-definition, most of which were removed from the service in January 2023). It also can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection and Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs and Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Blu-ray sets from Warner Home Video. This logo was used on over a hundred classic Looney Tunes shorts, including Rabbit of Seville and False Hare, among many others.

Legacy: This is a very famous and well-liked logo, and is beloved among those who grew up watching the Looney Tunes shorts in theaters or on television over the years.

3rd Logo (April 27, 1963-September 30, 1967)

Opening Visuals: Completely different from before. On a black background, several series of lines come from the center of the screen zooming and swirling, three purple, one orange, with two of the purple ones 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 two triangles and the B made up of two semicircles, appears. The orange line turns into the word "PRESENTS" over the abstract WB while a copyright notice appears on the bottom. Then it cuts to two lines in the center of the screen swirling around and then sliding away to reveal the even stranger series logo.

Variants:

Starting with the 1966 release year, an error where the orange line on the opening variant disappears after moving down is fixed.
On the last couple of cartoons to feature this 1964 version of the logo, a Warner Bros.-Seven Arts copyright appears on the bottom.

Closing Visuals: The abstract WB appears piece-by-piece, 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 action three times fast (1963-1965) or two times slowly (1966-1967). "N" is then wiped on and "A VITAPHONE RELEASE" (for Merrie Melodies) or "A VITAGRAPH RELEASE" (for Looney Tunes) appears on the bottom-left.

Closing Variants:

For the first three cartoons with this logo, the logo/text is on a white background with no Vitaphone/Vitagraph credit.
On Bartholomew Versus the Wheel (1963), the "OO" bounces up and down three more times after the "N" in "CARTOON" appears.
On Pancho's Hideaway (1964), it is similar to the early white background variant, but features "A VITAGRAPH RELEASE" in white text on a black parallelogram on the bottom left.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation, which was originally animated at the Chuck Jones director unit. The Pancho's Hideaway variant is animated by Norman McCabe.

Audio: An atonal version of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", arranged by William Lava, with various musical effects accompanying the line animations (most notably with WB shield-like guitar "twangs" accompanying the swirling lines zooming in and out). Unlike the pre-1964 logos, music no longer differs to each cartoon series, and has become somewhat standardized.

The first three shorts using this logo mixed the zooming sound from the 1955-1964 LT theme with the zooming sound from this logo's theme and a cymbal crash was heard when the lines stopped zooming.
The end titles originally used Big Ben chiming instead of music, and then a bicycle horn honking for the "OO" animation.
Starting in 1964 with Pancho's Hideaway (the first LT short produced by DePatie-Freleng), the 1955 zoom sound and the cymbal clash were dropped from the opening theme, and the end titles began using an abridged version of the opening theme music, with the "OO" animation synchronized with the theme.

Audio Trivia: Apparently, there was a jazzy rearrangement version of "Merrily We Roll Along" made for this logo, composed by Milt Franklyn. It was never used, because around this time Franklyn died of a heart attack in the middle of composing the score for the Tweety cartoon The Jet Cage. The recordings of Milt Franklyn's versions can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 DVD set.

Availability: It made its first appearance on Now Hear This, and was later seen on Bartholomew Versus the Wheel. It then appeared on every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon from Señorella and the Glass Huarache to Go Away Stowaway.

Still saved on the mid-1960s Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales and Daffy Duck shorts when reran on MeTV and Boomerang.
Several of the cartoons are also on the Boomerang streaming service, minus the ones with Speedy.
A handful of cartoons with this logo, including the first three using this logo with the original white background variant (with Big Ben closing) can be found on later Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets and Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs.

Legacy: It's considered a major mood whiplash from the last logos, as it came during an era of change for Warner Bros. cartoons; it was mostly used on (and associated with) DePatie-Freleng and Format Films' lower-budget Warner Bros. cartoons (usually featuring either Speedy Gonzales and Daffy Duck or the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote). Despite its overall reputation, it's seen as fitting with its debut on Now Hear This. The opening was even parodied in a 2023 episode of Looney Tunes Cartoons done as a homage to the 1960s era of the Warner Bros. cartoons.

Warner Bros. Cartoons

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation

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