Animator Reel: BEN WASHAM (Patreon)

Production materials indicate animator Ben Washam worked on the first cartoon Chuck Jones directed for Warner Bros., The Night Watchman, released in 1938. Though his contributions in that film were brief given his fledgling status during that period, Washam continued to work for Jones throughout much of his career. 

Washam usually drew his characters slightly angular and gave them an appealing flexibility that certainly contributed to the “Chuck Jones style”. One unique earmark that can be easy to identify are in his scenes with Bugs Bunny—he usually drew Bugs’ teeth tapered to a point. 

With this animator reel, I also wanted to represent each of the characters Jones used for Warners—Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Pepé le Pew, Wile E. Coyote, and even secondary characters such as Hubie and Bertie and the Three Bears. Also included is at least one scene he handled from UPA, from their 1954 industrial film, Look Who’s Driving. 

Apologies if I excluded a favorite scene in the video but given the large volume of memorable sequences he worked on, it was very difficult to keep this running too long. One of the big sacrifices I had to make—again, for duration’s sake—was excluding his work from the Sib-Tower 12 era, which include the MGM Tom and Jerry cartoons and the two Dr. Seuss specials he co-directed (How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Horton Hears a Who!) 

(If you are having problems with the Google Drive embed, you can view it here.)

You might be happy to know that a future Animation Profile will be published on Cartoon Research, which will be an overview on Ben Washam's life and career. 

Enjoy!