1953

Daffy faces the ultimate animation showdown in Duck Amuck

Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century establishes one of Daffy's most notable identities in a literal war of the worlds

Lumber Jack-Rabbit, the first WB short released in 3D

1953 is another year in the Golden Age of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The Warner Bros. studio experiments with the new 3D technology by releasing a test-run cartoon featuring the new innovation, "Lumber Jack-Rabbit". However, with a heavy backlog of releases and an ongoing budget crisis during the 3D craze, the studio would briefly shutdown for half of the year. Thirty-one cartoons are released this year.

Events

• Robert McKimson's unit at Warner Bros. Cartoons is disbanded early in April.
• The Warner Bros. animation studio is shut down on June 19, and would remain shut down until January 4, 1954. Everybody is laid off, save for ten unnamed staffers. The reasons given for the shutdown are a heavy backlog of releases until late 1954 and uncertainty about whether to make the cartoons in 2D or 3D.
• Chuck Jones goes to work at the Walt Disney studio on the film Sleeping Beauty.
• Michael Maltese heads to Walter Lantz Productions and is credited as writer on several Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
• "Punch Trunk" is the final cartoon to use the older-styled, larger rings in its opening credits, however, the closing credits would continue to use them through 1955.

Theatrical Shorts

1.  "Don't Give Up the Sheep" (Jones/January 3) 
2.  "Snow Business" (Freleng/January 17) 
3.  "A Mouse Divided" (Freleng/January 31)
4.  "Forward March Hare" (Jones/February 14) 
5.  "Kiss Me Cat" (Jones/February 21)
6.  "Duck Amuck" (Jones/February 28)
7.  "Upswept Hare" (McKimson/March 14) 
8.  "A Peck o' Trouble" (McKimson/March 28) 
9.  "Fowl Weather" (Freleng/April 4) 
10.  "Muscle Tussle" (McKimson/April 18) 
11.  "Southern Fried Rabbit" (Freleng/May 2) 
12.  "Ant Pasted" (Freleng/May 9)
13.  "Much Ado About Nutting" (Jones/May 23)
14.  "There Auto Be a Law" (McKimson/June 6)
15.  "Hare Trimmed" (Freleng/June 20)
16.  "Tom Tom Tomcat" (Freleng/June 27) 
17.  "Wild over You" (Jones/July 11)
18.  "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century" (Jones/July 25)
19.  "Bully for Bugs" (Jones/August 8)
20.  "Plop Goes the Weasel!" (McKimson/August 22)
21.  "Cat-Tails for Two" (McKimson/August 29) 
22.  "A Street Cat Named Sylvester" (Freleng/September 5)
23.  "Zipping Along" (Jones/September 19) 
24.  "Lumber Jack-Rabbit" (Jones/September 25)
25.  "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" (Jones/October 3)
26.  "Easy Peckin's" (McKimson/October 17) 
27.  "Catty Cornered" (Freleng/October 31)
28.  "Of Rice and Hen" (McKimson/November 14) 
29.  "Cats A-weigh!" (McKimson/November 28)
30.  "Robot Rabbit" (Freleng/December 12)
31.  "Punch Trunk" (Jones/December 19)

Blue Ribbon Reissues

1952-53 Season

1. "Tale of Two Mice" (January 10)
2. "The Bashful Buzzard" (February 7)
3. "The Country Mouse" (March 14)
4. "Little Dutch Plate" ()
5. "Ain't That Ducky" (May 2)
6. "Mighty Hunters" (June 13)
7. "The Fighting 69½th" (2nd reissue, July 11)
8. "Sniffles Takes a Trip" (August 1)
9. "Wacky Wild Life" (August 29)

1953-54 Season

1. "Old Glory" (2nd reissue, September 12)
2. "Walky Talky Hawky" (October 17)
3. "Birth of a Notion" (November 7)
4. "The Eager Beaver" (November 28)
5. "Scent-imental over You" (December 26)

Character Debuts

• January 3 - Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog in "Don't Give Up the Sheep"
• August 8 - Toro the Bull in "Bully for Bugs"
• August 22 - The Weasel in "Plop Goes the Weasel!"
• August 29 - Speedy Gonzales in "Cat-Tails for Two"

People

Births

• January 14 - Gail Matthius
• March 25 - Mary Gross
• August 10 - Yoni Chen
• October 28 - Keith Scott
• November 27 - Richard Stone
• December 8 - Roy Firestone

Deaths

• August 2 - Hubie Karp

Warner Club News Stories and Art

January 1953

December 1953

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