Just to try and get an interesting discussion rolling here again...Of the most underrated directors at WB in the 40s, who is your favorite? Norm McCabe, Frank Tashlin, or Art Davis?

Norm McCabe:
-His Daffy cartoons (Daffy's Southern Exposure, The Impatient Patient, The Daffy Duckaroo) were the first to really nail the character down.
-The backgrounds in The Impatient Patient and The Daffy Duckaroo are among the earliest uses of "modern" design in classic cartoons, neck-and-neck with Chuck Jones's uses of it. (The former, in fact, was released on the same day as Jones's Fox Pop, and comes before The Dover Boys in terms of release date.)
-He continued Frank Tashlin's usage in the 30s of unusual camera angles.
-He managed to turn wartime propaganda into a great satirical cartoon (The Ducktators).

Frank Tashlin (from 1943-46):
-He used cinematic camera angles as a way of making his scenes more effective and entertaining, in addition to creating a cinematic feel.
-Fast cuts from shot to shot served the same purpose. (At times, a shot could last only a few frames...like the shot of Porky flying up the building in "Porky Pig's Feat".)
-The animation revels in being drawn, a result of his background in print cartooning; by this time, he began making his cartoons angular and stylized enough to be proto-UPA. His best animator in this regard (and in general) was Art Davis.
-The backgrounds in his black-and-white cartoons, in particular, are similarly modern.
-He managed to get Bugs Bunny correct on his first cartoon starring the character (The Unruly Hare).
-All five of his cartoons with Daffy are among the quintessential Daffy cartoons of the 40s.
-He liked drawing gags out to their full potential, or just adding unique quirks to otherwise mundane scenes. It could be things like characters getting flattened whenever they smashed into something, massive destruction resulting from an impact (the cat in Tale of Two Mice is a great example of both of these! ), or even needless violence in scenes that would normally be played straight (the cat being pummeled by the delivery truck in Puss N' Booty, the dog slamming his head into the top of his entrance at the beginning of Behind the Meat-Ball)!
-His leg fetish. Need I say more?

Art Davis:
-He kept "cartoony" animation going in his cartoons, especially with great animators like Emery Hawkins and Bill Melendez.
-He introduced the Goofy Gophers to the world.
-His cartoons have a distinct feel from the other WB cartoons.
-In addition to working with the main characters (most notably Porky), he made several one-shots that were at least interesting (though they weren't always good). Sometimes they starred characters that looked like the main ones but weren't (Doggone Cats, Odor of the Day).

Obviously, I like Tashlin the most...in fact, he's neck-and-neck with Jones as my all-time favorite animation director! Though I like the other directors' best cartoons too.

When posting, please include your reasons for liking one of these three directors.

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I can't see placing Tashlin in the minor directors group. I have often wondered if he should be considered with Tex as one of the two main directors who introduced the Warner Bros. cartoon style.

Porky's Poultry Plant, especially after the vultures start attacking, seems closer to a good 40's cartoon than the films that Tex was directing during the same period.

Indeed, Tashlin's 30s cartoons helped advance what became the WB style. Here, I'm referring specifically to his 1943-46 period, when his cartoons were particularly distinct from the other WB directors. He stated in Mike Barrier's interview with him that he had lost his "seniority" because he had left, and had to "move up" (he had taken over Norm McCabe's unit); in the meantime, he "envied the other guys who were working with the rabbit" while he was stuck with Porky. "It takes him so long to talk." (Tashlin even made fun of Porky's stuttering at one point in Brother Brat.)

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Frank Tashlin was definitely the best of those in terms of consistency, in my opinion, by quite a long way. I will give an honourable mention to Art Davis, though, as Dough Ray Me-ow is possibly my single favourite short by one of the "minors".

Arthur Davis
Unique,possible series-launching cartoons (read: "pilots") such as "Doggone Cats","A Hick,a Slick, and a Chick"(very unusual design and open title,too),"Bone Sweet Bone",etc.

Probaly one of the best users of Daffy Duck

Unusual cartoony feel from the others.

Rubbery animation


Frank Tashlin
gave us Carl Stalling (1936's "Porky's Poultry Plant") Petunia Pig and Mel Blanc (both in "Porky's Romance"),

Unusual camera angels (Petunia in the debut mentioned from a first-person's eye-view pursing Porky as mentioned and shown in 1980 by Leonard Maltin in his historic
"Of Mice and Magic") to get her Valentine's candy.

Agreed on the getting Bugs right the first time part.

Gave us the great debut of Porky into Egyptian terrority in 1936 ("Little Beau Porky")

Introduced later Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" in 1943 ("Porky's Pig Feat", his return, during the spiral staircase scene).

I can't see placing Tashlin in the minor directors group. I have often wondered if he should be considered with Tex as one of the two main directors who introduced the Warner Bros. cartoon style.

Porky's Poultry Plant, especially after the vultures start attacking, seems closer to a good 40's cartoon than the films that Tex was directing during the same period.

And Carl Stalling made his WB debut with this as I mentioned in my original reply. :D

That alone makes "PPP" a major debut..

Introduced later Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" in 1943 ("Porky's Pig Feat", his return, during the spiral staircase scene).

It was actually the scene right before that, when the manager is trying to break into the room.

So far, I'm surprised at how surprised I am that Art Davis has the most votes; he always seems pretty popular with the more "serious" (though not exactly hardcore) WB fans. Perhaps because I find Tish Tash more fully satisfying....

I can't help but think that if McCabe hadn't ended his directorial career with "Tokio Jokio", people would be willing to look at his other, better cartoons more.

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Art Davis is my favorite lesser known director of WB in the 40's since he did what Clampett didn't. By doing his own verse of the Looney Tunes characters, and making his own humorous characters. His cartoons were also weird but funny at the same time.

My personal favorite is Dough Ray Me-Ow. How I like it when Louie tries to kill Heathcliff many times, but fails.

I can't see placing Tashlin in the minor directors group. I have often wondered if he should be considered with Tex as one of the two main directors who introduced the Warner Bros. cartoon style.

Porky's Poultry Plant, especially after the vultures start attacking, seems closer to a good 40's cartoon than the films that Tex was directing during the same period.

And Carl Stalling made his WB debut with this as I mentioned in my original reply. :D

That alone makes "PPP" a major debut..

That Carl Stalling score sets it apart from the cartoons before. The music is so dramatic, as if it is meant for a live action feature, and not a cartoon about a cartoon pig farmer and his baby chicks.