1955

Robert McKimson's one-shot The Hole Idea is completely animated by the director himself

Friz Freleng redesigns Mexican mouse Speedy Gonzales for an Oscar-winning self-titled short

Chuck Jones creates one of his most memorable one-shot shorts in One Froggy Evening

1955 marked another Golden Age year for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Friz Freleng nets another Academy Award for the studio by taking Robert McKimson's once-obscure character, Speedy Gonzales, and overhauling him into a Tweety-based Mexican mouse. Meanwhile, McKimson would begin reassembling his unit from scratch after the shutdown from 1953, eventually recruiting animators such as Ted Bonnicksen to his unit.

Thirty-one shorts were released this year.

Notes

• The TV distribution rights to all of the black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts and all of the black-and-white Merrie Melodies not produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising are sold to Guild Films. The copyrights to the cartoons in the package are assigned to Sunset Productions, a division of Warner Bros. This included all of the Bosko and Buddy cartoons as well as ninety-nine B&W Porky Pig cartoons.
• This year, the opening themes of both Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were arranged by Milt Franklyn. However, some cartoons still continued to use the older themes even after the first short with a new theme was created. For the first seven cartoons, only the older themes were used. Then from 26 March to 25 June, the newly arranged Milt Franklyn versions of the opening and closing themes, and the older Carl Stalling versions of the themes, including the 1941 Merrie Melodies closing theme, 1945 Merrie Melodies opening theme, and 1946 Looney Tunes opening and closing themes were used concurrently. Beginning in July 1955, the Color Rings changed from red rings with blue background to green rings with red background, starting with "This is a Life", at the end of the cartoon. "Double or Mutton" was the first to use the green rings entirely, however, some cartoons from the 1955-1956 season continued to use the red rings and blue background at the end only. When the change in Color Rings happened in July 1955, they no longer used the older themes, with the exception of Blue Ribbon reissues of older cartoons.

Theatrical Shorts

1.  "Pizzicato Pussycat" (Freleng/January 1)
2.  "Feather Dusted" (McKimson/January 15)
3.  "Pests for Guests" (Freleng/January 29) 
4.  "Beanstalk Bunny" (Jones/February 12)
5.  "All Fowled Up" (McKimson/February 19) 
6.  "Stork Naked" (Freleng/February 26)
7.  "Lighthouse Mouse" (McKimson/March 12) 
8.  "Sahara Hare" (Freleng/March 26)
9.  "Sandy Claws" (Freleng/April 2) 
10.  "The Hole Idea" (McKimson/April 16) 
11.  "Ready.. Set.. Zoom!" (Jones/April 30)
12.  "Hare Brush" (Freleng/May 7)
13.  "Past Perfumance" (Jones/May 21)
14.  "Tweety's Circus" (Freleng/June 4)
15.  "Rabbit Rampage" (Jones/June 11)
16.  "Lumber Jerks" (Freleng/June 25)
17.  "This Is a Life?" (Freleng/July 9)
18.  "Double or Mutton" (Jones/July 23)
19.  "Jumpin' Jupiter" (Jones/August 6)
20.  "A Kiddies Kitty" (Freleng/August 20) 
21.  "Hyde and Hare" (Freleng/August 27)
22.  "Dime to Retire" (McKimson/September 3)
23.  "Speedy Gonzales" (Freleng/September 17) 
24.  "Knight-Mare Hare" (Jones/October 1)
25.  "Two Scent's Worth" (Jones/October 15)
26.  "Red Riding Hoodwinked" (Freleng/October 29)
27.  "Roman Legion-Hare" (Freleng/November 12)
28.  "Heir-Conditioned" (Freleng/November 26) 
29.  "Guided Muscle" (Jones/December 10)
30.  "Pappy's Puppy" (Freleng/December 17)
31.  "One Froggy Evening" (Jones/December 31) 

Miscellaneous shorts

• "A Hitch in Time" (Jones) 

Blue Ribbon Reissues

1954-55 Season

1. "Back Alley Oproar" (February 5)
2. "You Were Never Duckier" (February 26)
3. "House Hunting Mice" (April 2)
4. "Crowing Pains" (April 23)
5. "Hop, Look and Listen" (June 4)
6. "Tweetie Pie" (June 25)
7. "The Goofy Gophers" (July 23)
8. "What's Brewin', Bruin?" (August 20)

1955-56 Season

1. "Doggone Cats" (September 10)
2. "The Rattled Rooster" (October 22)
3. "Fair and Worm-er" (November 5)
4. "The Mouse-Merized Cat" (November 26)
5. "The Foghorn Leghorn" (December 24)

Character Debuts

• Speedy Gonzales (finalized design)
• Michigan J. Frog

People

Births

• February 9 - Jerry Beck
• May 1 - Eric Goldberg
• August 3 - Corey Burton
• August 7 - Wayne Knight
• September 9 - John Kricfalusi
• December 3 - Andrea Romano
• ? - George Daugherty

Warner Club News Stories and Art

January 1955 - Part 1

January 1955 - Part 2

February 1955

Front cover of the March 1955 issue

March 1955

Front cover of the April 1955 issue

April 1955 - Part 1

April 1955 - Part 2

May 1955 - Part 1

May 1955 - Part 2

June 1955 - Part 1

June 1955 - Part 2

July 1955 - Part 1

July 1955 - Part 2

August 1955 - Part 1

August 1955 - Part 2

August 1955 - Part 3

October 1955 - Part 1

October 1955 - Part 2

November 1955 - Part 1

November 1955 - Part 2

November 1955 - Part 3

WCN - December 1955 - Part 1

WCN - December 1955 - Part 2

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