Arthur "Art" Davis (born Arthur Davidavitch; June 14, 1905 – May 9, 2000) was an American animator and director who worked for a number of studios during his career, throughout multiple eras.
He worked at Screen Gems (as an animator), Warner Bros. (as an animator and director), Hanna-Barbera (as an animator and, a couple decades later, a director), and De Patie Freleng Enterprises (as a director).
Warner Bros. Theatrical Cartoon Filmography
1946
- Bacall to Arms - Uncredited; finishing what Bob Clampett started
- Mouse Menace - Starring Porky Pig
1947
- The Goofy Gophers - Starring Mac and Tosh
- The Foxy Duckling
- Doggone Cats - Starring Sylvester the Cat
- Mexican Joyride - Starring Daffy Duck
- Catch as Cats Can - Starring Sylvester the Cat
1948
- What Makes Daffy Duck - Starring Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
- Nothing But the Tooth - Starring Porky Pig
- Bone Sweet Bone
- The Rattled Rooster
- Dough Ray Me-ow
- The Pest That Came to Dinner - Starring Porky Pig
- Odor of the Day - Starring Pepe Le Pew
- The Stupor Salesman - Starring Daffy Duck
- Riff Raffy Daffy - Starring Porky Pig and Daffy Ducknote
- A Hick, a Slick, and a Chick
- Two Gophers From Texas - Starring Mac and Tosh
1949
- Holiday From Drumsticks - Starring Daffy Duck
- Porky Chops - Starring Porky Pig
- Bowery Bugs - The only Art Davis cartoon starring Bugs Bunny Note
- Bye Bye Bluebeard - Starring Porky Pig
1962
- Quackodile Tears - Starring Daffy Duck
Tropes associated with Art Davis and his cartoons:
- Art Evolution: Davis's unit was shut down in 1947, and he was absorbed into Friz Freleng's unit, where he stayed until the early '60s. However, he was given a chance to guest direct one more cartoon at WB, 1962's "Quackodile Tears". Unfortunately, due to the slimmer budgets by the '60s, not to mention using Freleng's animators rather than his team from the late '40s, the animation was much simpler and more rigid, and the designs far less conducive to rubbery movement. Aside from a few gags in line with his old style (like Daffy's wife slapping his face off and it talking instead of the faceless Daffy and Daffy swimming through the gap between a crocodile"s eyes), it was basically Freleng lite.
- Depending on the Artist: A number of the cartoons Davis directed at WB featured heavy airbrush effects when characters moved quickly, most of them coming from animator Don Williams.
- It was always easy to tell whenever Emery Hawkins was animating, as his animation was arguably the most rubbery and floaty.
- Deranged Animation: As with his predecessor, Bob Clampett. Unlike Clampett, Davis's style of animation was more restrained in movement and focused more on the weirdness and lapses in logic.
- Limited Animation: Quackodile Tears. Due to the extensive budget cuts that happened in the interim since he last directed a cartoon, this one is a good deal stiffer than his rubbery cartoons from the 1940s.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon:
- "The Foxy Duckling", "Doggone Cats", "Odor of the Day" (aside from "Gesundheit!" at the end).
- "Bone Sweet Bone" is mostly this, though there is some dialogue.
- One-Shot Character: Many of his 1946-1948 cartoons starred one-shot characters. It's been theorized this is because he was the newest director and thus had to establish himself before being trusted with the major characters, although that theory falls flat because not only would you have to consider Daffy Duck and Porky Pig not major characters, but Robert McKimson was promoted to director around the same time and was allowed to direct Bugs Bunny cartoons as soon as his third short.
- Paying Their Dues: Want to know why Art only directed one Bugs Bunny cartoon? It's because there was an unofficial rule that new directors couldn't touch the studio's biggest cartoon star until they had proven themselves capable as a director first. Unfortunately, by the time Art was allowed to direct one ("Bowery Bugs"), the studio closed his unit.
- Production Posse:
- Was an animator for Friz Freleng during the '50s.
- He frequently worked with writer Sid Marcus during his time at Screen Gems, Warner Bros., and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. The duo even co-created the characters Toby the Pup and Scrappy (the latter of which being Screen Gems' headlining star during the 30s). In fact, Marcus left Warner Bros. Cartoons shortly after Davis was demoted back to animator (although he made a brief return in the early 50s as a writer for Robert McKimson, before leaving again after the 1953 shutdown).
- Signature Style: Davis was arguably the Warner Bros. director who most emulated Bob Clampett's rubbery style, which is no surprise, considering Davis inherited Clampett's unit after Clampett left the studio.
