In retrospect, after holding it in my hands and frantically dipping through the pages to see if my favorites have been included, I actually now think the proportions are perfect (at roughly nine inches wide by seven inches tall by one inch thick, or slightly bigger than an oversized DVD package), but given the publicity images one could have assumed it would be twice as big, or the size of a typical Art Of… tome. We’ll get to the choices of cartoons in a moment but I think, for me personally, the slight disappointment initially came with the design side of things, beginning with the size of the book. It’s hard to write an unbiased, and ultimately tough, review of the result when the reviewer is such an admirer themselves of the wonderful work the author/editor has done over the years to keep classic animation alive (just as much in reminding the Studios of what they own and should make available as being a champion for the fans who lap it all up), but I have to say the final product, while being tremendously good value and absolutely lavishly illustrated with frame stills, rare art and a smattering of original posters, doesn’t quite make The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes an absolutely essential addition to the line up of such books, many of which Jerry had a hand in too, of course. Termite Terrace to deliver a somewhat definitive list compiled with the assistance of “thousands of cartoon fans, historians and animators”. The question must be asked: how the heck does anyone pick just 10% of the overall output from a supplier that retained an extraordinary level of quality throughout its existence? Well, that’s just what animation historian and cartoon brewmaster Jerry Beck has done for his latest book, sifting through the more than one thousand Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger and the crazed artists at Warner Bros.
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