Continuing with my tribute to the Oscars in the month of March, I turn my attention to Academy Award-winner, animator Chuck Jones. He won the 1966 Oscar (with Les Goldman) for the Best Short Subject, cartoon for the 1965 piece The Dot and The Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics. This is an extremely charming cartoon and a must-see if you don't already have it completely memorized--and why don't you?
Jones has also made an immense stamp on the culture of Christmas animation. He, of course, directed and produced the holiday classic 1966's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
But he also directed, produced and wrote for: 1979's Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (specifically the Road Runner sequence.)
1978's Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper. The character of the coyote is very familiar looking.
1973's A Very Merry Cricket (which was a follow-up to the popular Cricket in Times Square.)
Jones also received credit for the character design of 1981's A Chipmunk Christmas, the most well-known Alvin and the Chipmunks TV holiday programs.
Fans of this great man delight in actually seeing the legendary animator in his small appearance in the 1984 holiday film Gremlins. Jones plays 'Mr. Jones', the man sitting next to Billy at the bar with whom he exchanges a few words about his illustration, near the beginning of the movie.
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