Chuck Jones Tonight!

A retrospective of Chuck Jones' animated shorts gets kicked off tonight with a new 30 minute documentary.

Turner Classic Movies and filmmakers Peggy Stern and John Canemaker, who earned Oscars® for the animated short The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, have collected the memories of one of Hollywood’s greatest animators in a unique, half-hour film entitled CHUCK JONES: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD. This film, which combines an interview with the legendary animator with newly created animated segments, is premiering on TCM in March 2009.

Mr. Jones had a chance to view a rough cut of the new documentary before he died, "and pronounced it “delightful.”

Here's the East Coast schedule (full descriptions of each are on the TCM site):

8 p.m. CHUCK JONES: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD (2009) – Premiere
8:30 p.m. “The Night Watchman” (1938)
8:40 p.m, “Prest-O, Change-O” (1939)
8:50 p.m, “Sniffles and the Bookworm” (1939)
9 p.m, “Elmer’s Candid Camera” (1940)
9:10 p.m, “Scent-imental Over You” (1947)
9:20 p.m. “Haredevil Hare” (1948)
9:30 p.m. “Duck Amuck” (1953
9:40 p.m. “One Froggy Evening” (1955)
9:50 p.m. “What’s Opera, Doc?” (1957)
10 p.m. “The Dot and the Line” (1965)
10:15 p.m. “The Bear that Wasn’t” (1967)
10:30 p.m. CHUCK JONES: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD (2009) – Encore
11 p.m. The Phantom Tollbooth (1969)
12:30 a.m. “The Night Watchman” (1938)
12:40 a.m. “Prest-O, Change-O” (1939)
12:50 a.m. “Sniffles and the Bookworm” (1939)
1 a.m. “Elmer’s Candid Camera” (1940)
1:10 a.m. “Scent-imental Over You” (1947)
1:20 a.m. “Haredevil Hare” (1948)
1:30 a.m. “Duck Amuck” (1953)
1:40 a.m. “One Froggy Evening” (1955)
1:50 a.m. “What’s Opera, Doc? ” (1957)
2 a.m. “The Dot and the Line” (1965)
2:15 a.m. “The Bear that Wasn’t” (1967)
2:30 a.m. CHUCK JONES: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD (2009) – Encore
3 a.m. The Phantom Tollbooth (1969)

Related: Chuck Jones was the first cartoonist I ever met.

A big hat tip to my pal Sean Kelly for reminding me about this! Thanks, Sean!