Chuck Jones's Letters to His Daughter, Linda #4

Friday, October 3, 1952Good morning, my darling!

We put the finishung touches on “Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½th Century”

yesterday, saw it complete with music, sound, color—the works, in

short.  It’s a parody on the “Space Cadet”, “Captain Video”, type

television show, but the funny thing is, it came out not only quite

funny, but exciting, too.  The backgrounds were beautiful and very 24 ½

th cen-tury-ish.  Try to say 24 ½ th century.  It’s very difficult, is

it “twenty-fourth and a half” or “twenty-four and a halfth”?

There’s a nice word in the first sentence up there:  “Fin-ishung”,

sounds like a Chinese fabric.  SPECIAL TODAY!!  GENUINE FINISHUNG,

Imported from Lontung, China!!  $2.34 a yard!!  Don’t be pitied by your

neighbors!  You, too, can be dressed in fashionable, easy-to-clean

FINISHUNG!!

My diet ends tomorrow.  I have lost ten and one half pounds and look

quite stylish.  [We are going to a] dinner party tomorrow night and I

presume the food will be quite fancy.  I hope I have the good sense to

take it easy as my stomach has become used to what are genially called

“bland” foods.  You know, Linda, I really haven’t minded it.  I’ve

gotten to appreciate the rabbit’s point of view: green vegetables are

really delicious, especially raw.

I hear the Le Conte [Jr. High School] bugle tootling away behind me

(I’m at the studio pretty early, hm?)  and all the activity of the

schoolyard pauses for a moment. I look out occasionally, surprised to

realize that none of you kids are still there.  From a distance the

children look pretty much alike.  I became aware, only while you

attended Le Conte [Junior High School], that they were not the same

children year after year.  It is quite conceivable that there are

children of children attending school this year.  It will be twenty

years next March that I have worked on this lot.  It is hard to think

of myself as sixteen, having worked here that long, it means I started

four years before I was born.

I wrote to [my sister] Dottie on her birthday, Sept. 27th, and got a

lovely letter back.  She sends her love and highest regards to you.  A

very, very fine person, mother, and sister.

I’m sending a myriad of kisses this morning because I have always wanted to use that word and because it means innumerable.

Love lOve loVe lovE LOVE! …….

s/Chuck (thy sire)

Chuck Jones's Letters to His Daughter, Linda #3

Wednesday…September 24, 1952Dearest Linda;

Another day, another letter and my damned typewriting doesn’t seem to improve. The two initial fingers of my right hand do all the work and others just go along for the ride.  The index finger of my left hand pushes the shift key.  I suppose it thinks it’s earning its keep.  It just pointed out to me by doing so that it also returns the carriage.  Big deal!!  Do you know I used a typewriter for about six years before I discovered what the tabular key is for?  I felt like I’d just invented it.

I’m on a diet.  I found to my horror Sunday morning that I weighed 194 pounds.  Pure flab.  So when Donn  came over I challenged him to a two-week diet: no sugars, sweets, starches, breads, potatoes, butter, milk, salad dressings or etcetera.  No beer!  We agreed on a $50.00 penalty if either broke it, so I think I’ll go through with it.  What a dreadful thing it is to have no will power.

I saw [two of your friends] last evening.  They came tripping past the house, giggling and gabbling.  They were in bathing suits, had just been swimming.  They want you to write to them.  Write to me instead, hm?

Has the Senator Nixon controversy struck the school?  I hope not.  It’s a hopeless sort of argument.  Had to do, as I suppose you know, as to whether he should gave accepted $18,000 as a sort of expense fund to help his income.  In my opinion he is, at best, naive, and dammit, I don’t want a naïve vice-president.  My advice to you, if you need it, is, while over there, to indulge in political controversies sparingly.  You’re probably in a nest of children from Republican families so you won’t win many converts to the Democratic Party.  

  ‘Bye for now.

Chuck Jones's Letters to His Daughter, Linda #2

Sept. 22, 1952…Monday morningDear Linda;

At work, by Joe, at 8:15 and awake, too.  An amazing thing.  My co-workers look a little shocked, why? We spent Saturday night and Sunday day with [friends], so we had little chance to get lonely for you.  Good thing, too.  You must be a pretty big girl because you leave a very large hole in our household.

I got a fifth of I.W. Harper bourbon, a very, very fine and old whiskey for my birthday.  A nice gesture from [the guy who sent it], but there is no way I could tell him that I’m not used to good liquor and that it would probably just give me the pip.

The weather continues very hot and muggy.  As Henry Morgan used to say, “Muggy, followed by Tueggy, Weggy, Thurgy and Frygey.”  At ten o’clock last night we went for a ride through the Hollywood hills in the convertible, with top down, and the air was precisely the same as our bodies.  Sort of like floating in a lukewarm lake.

I am going to start a carving.  I found that one of those pieces of driftwood was very nice inside.  I don’t know what it will be, but it will be fun.  Nothing else in the world quite resembles the effect one gets from handling wood.  Try it some time. Received your telegram at 9:30 Sunday morning.  Thanks very much. Keep us informed when inclined and when convenient.  I know you have other correspondents.