Timeline

Leon Schlesinger ( SHLESS-in-jər; May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer and businessman who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, later known as Warner Bros. Cartoons, a prolific producer of animated short films during the Golden Age of American animation. Schlesinger was a distant relative of the Warner brothers and was closely associated with Warner Bros. Pictures throughout his career.

Isadore "Friz" Freleng ( FREE-ləng; August 21, 1905 – May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons (WB) on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total, he created more than 300 cartoons. He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam (to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance), Granny, and Speedy Gonzales.

Looney Tunes is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series Merrie Melodies, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released theatrically as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, filmmaker, painter, and voice actor, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of shorts. He wrote, produced, and/or directed many classic animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, and Porky Pig, among others. Jones started his career in 1933 alongside Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, and Robert McKimson at the Leon Schlesinger Production's Termite Terrace studio, the studio that made Warner Brothers cartoons, where they created and developed the Looney Tunes characters.

Porky in Wackyland is a 1938 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short film, directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on September 24, 1938, and stars Porky Pig venturing out to find the last do-do bird, which he finds in Wackyland, a land that makes no sense.

Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films, released by Warner Bros. Pictures. An early iteration of the character first appeared in Ben Hardaway's Porky's Hare Hunt (1938), before Bugs's definitive characterization debuted in Tex Avery's A Wild Hare (1940). Bob Givens, Chuck Jones, and Robert McKimson are credited for defining Bugs's visual design.

The Scarlet Pumpernickel is a 1950 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The cartoon was released on March 4, 1950, and stars Daffy Duck along with a number of other prominent Looney Tunes characters. The title is a play on the 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Duck Amuck is an American surreal comedy animated short film directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on February 28, 1953, as part of the Merrie Melodies series, and stars Daffy Duck.

One Froggy Evening is a 1955 American Technicolor animated musical short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn. The short, partly inspired by a 1944 Cary Grant film entitled Once Upon a Time involving a dancing caterpillar in a small box, marks the debut of Michigan J. Frog: an anthropomorphic frog with a talent for singing and dancing that he demonstrates for no one except whoever possesses the box wherein he resides. This popular short contained a wide variety of musical entertainment, with songs ranging from "Hello! Ma Baby" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry", two Tin Pan Alley classics, to "Largo al Factotum", Figaro's aria from the opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The short was released on December 31, 1955, as part of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.

What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on July 6, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

Seven Arts Productions was a film production company established in 1957 by Eliot Hyman, Ray Stark, and Norman Katz. It produced films for distribution by other studios.

The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1931–32, to the present. From 1932 until 1970, the category was known as Short Subjects, Cartoons; and from 1971 to 1973 as Short Subjects, Animated Films. The present title began with the 46th Awards in 1974. During the first 5 decades of the award's existence, awards were presented to the producers of the shorts.

Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the Looney Tunes franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally produced from 1931 to 1969 during the Golden Age of American animation, Merrie Melodies was revived in 1979 with new shorts being sporadically released until 1997.

The Looney Tunes Golden Collection is a series of six four-disc DVD sets from Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts originally released from the 1930s to 1960s. The initial run of the series was in folding cardboard packaging issued gradually from October 28, 2003, to October 21, 2008. A boxed set combining all six volumes was released in 2011, and each volume was reissued separately in standard Amaray-style cases in 2020.