Edward Selzer(1893-1970)
- Producer
- Executive
- Manager
There's some cosmic irony that a man like Edward Selzer would reign
over Warner Brothers animation division during its heyday. When Warner
Brothers bought the studio in 1944, Selzer was assigned as studio head,
essentially replacing former owner
Leon Schlesinger. Whereas Schlesinger
was undeniably cheap and disdainful of animation as art, Selzer proved
to be a humorless interfering bore who had no knowledge or love of
animation. In fact, the crew sometimes got story ideas from him out of
defiance. For example, Selzer ordered the crew never to make any
cartoons about bullfighting. Jones was immediately inspired by this
idea and created
Bully for Bugs (1953), which is
considered one of the best of the Bug's Bunny shorts. Despite their
loathing for him, Chuck Jones valued
him in retrospect as an essential nemesis that inspired them to do
their best, if only to oppose him.
