Where are all the classical cartoon characters?

By Matt DeTurck, Megan Mack, Julie Williams

Published August 23, 2024 at 2:16 PM EDT

Two smiling men wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk show: the man on the left has short dark hair and a dark beard and is wearing glasses and a blue short sleeved t-shirt; the man on the right has a beard and is wearing a red baseball cap, a black t-shirt with yellow lettering and a black short sleeved button down shirt with a yellow, green and red pattern. He is holding a book with a coyote on a brown background. — Dan Sendker with guest host Matt DeTurck on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, August 23, 2024

A smiling man sits in front of a microphone at a table in a radio talk studio: he is wearing a red baseball cap, a black short sleeved t-shirt with yellow lettering and a black short sleeved button down shirt with a red, yellow and green pattern. — Guest host Matt DeTurck on "Connections with Evan Dawson"

Classic cartoon characters from early animation are some of our most iconic pop culture characters, but modern studios seem to be having a tough time figuring out what to do with those characters.

Many classic animated shorts aren’t available online, and new media aren’t being released.

Guest host Matt DeTurck focuses on Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes, specifically, Coyote and Road Runner (there's a new book out), and we discuss the restoration of classic Fleischer ‘toons, including Betty Boop, Superman, and more.

Our guests:

Dan Sendker, author of “Dance of the Comedians: 75 Years of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote”
Ray Pointer, animation historian and author of “The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer”