American animator (1908-1981). One of the
cartoon writers for the
classic Warner Brothers cartoons. He was born in
Manhattan to a
poor Italian family. As a
child, he enjoyed making
funny drawings, but in his teens, he worked as a
plumber's
helper. He eventually
quit that job,
disgusted with having to work in extremely
cold conditions (he went to work one morning to find that his
overalls had
frozen solid).
Soon afterwards, he lucked into a job as an
in-betweener for the
Terrytoons studio (in his
job interview, he suggested a
slogan for a
cartoon elevator:
Good to the Last Drop. He was, of course, offered the job). He worked for Terrytoons for about a year before moving to the Warner Brothers cartoon studio in
Los Angeles.
Many of the cartoons that Maltese wrote were created in
partnership with director
Chuck Jones, including "
Fast and Furry-ous" (the first
Roadrunner cartoon), "
For Scent-imental Reasons" (an Oscar winner), "
The Rabbit of Seville," "
Rabbit Fire," "
Feed the Kitty," "
Beep, Beep," "
Rabbit Seasoning," "
Duck Amuck," "
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century," "
Bully for Bugs" (another Oscar winner), "
Duck! Rabbit! Duck!," "
One Froggy Evening" (he helped
compose that cartoon's "
Michigan Rag"), "
Ali Baba Bunny," "
Robin Hood Daffy," "
What's Opera, Doc?," and many others. He also appeared as a
security guard in "
You Ought to Be in Pictures," a classic
Friz Freleng cartoon that mixed
animation with
live action.
Primary research from Chuck Jones' brilliant autobiography "Chuck Amuck".