The Roadrunner Story

Martha Goldman Sigall worked at the Termite Terrace, Leon Schlesinger's Studios in 1949 when the Roadrunner was created by Mike Maltese.

He had seen roadrunners around the pool at Desert Hot Springs and was inspired.

The first Roadrunner cartoon was Fast and Furry-ous (1949). Background artist Paul Julian was known to say "beep, beep" when trying to get around people in the hallway. Maltest thought that would be a good sound for the Roadrunner. Julian was recorded but never paid or credited for saying beep beep.

Martha Sigall worked in animation for 53 years and when she was 88, published Living Life inside the lines: Tales from the golden age of animation. It's available from Amazon.com. In 2005, she was given a Lifetime Achievement Annie award.

Martha speaks to conventions and groups in Los Angeles. Contact her at Sigall@Yahoo.com.

Her son, Bob Sigall, recorded this in her home studio in Culver City California in June of 2009.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• The Roadrunner Story
• Mike Maltese
• Michael Maltese

[superleviathan]

I don't feel at all comfortable with stripping Chuck Jones of all creation credit for the Road Runner. At the very least, wouldn't it be fair to give creation to both Jones and Maltese?

[sigall]

I talked to Martha today about this. She said the idea for Roadrunner was Michael Maltese's. However, Chuck Jones was the director and played a role in the production of all the cartoons he directed. It was standard practice for the director to get ALL the credit. This video, she feels, sets the record straight. Bob Sigall

[sigall]

Yes, Martha is my mother. I spoke with her today. She worked in animation from 1936 until 1989.

[tinoking]

great lady great story

[caropixarfan]

great story

[superleviathan]

@sigall Chuck Jones did designs and all layouts for his unit's cartoons (like Robert McKimson, and unlike Friz Freleng, who had Hawley Pratt do layout for his unit). He did artwork for the cartoons (that you can find on various blogs online) that looks virtually identical to the drawings that showed up onscreen.

Chuck fully deserves at the bare minimum co-creator credit, IMO.

[hellorodney]

excellent,,,thanks,,,,beep beep

[wildstein22]

u are EPIC!!!!!!!!

[kennethfiguerola]

Great story ! thanks for share

[TomKennyIsLovely]

She's amazing! I'd never bore of her stories.

[zup98]

wow these are great gives you the background knowledge you need 2 know do u know her?

[wahoo76]

Im so grateful for this series of videos. Martha has no ax to grind and tells it the way she remembers it. These videos have the ring of truth to them, unlike so many of the stories weve heard about Looney Tunes over the years. (Be sure to check out Martha's recollections on the creation of Bugs Bunny.) While were at it, lets give a shout-out to Marthas son Bob Sigall, who puts these remarkable videos together.