One Froggy Evening is a 1955 American Technicolor animated musical short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn. The short, partly inspired by a 1944 Cary Grant film entitled Once Upon a Time involving a dancing caterpillar in a small box, marks the debut of Michigan J. Frog: an anthropomorphic frog with a talent for singing and dancing that he demonstrates for no one except whoever possesses the box wherein he resides. This popular short contained a wide variety of musical entertainment, with songs ranging from "Hello! Ma Baby" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry", two Tin Pan Alley classics, to "Largo al Factotum", Figaro's aria from the opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The short was released on December 31, 1955, as part of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.
Rupert Bear is a British children's comic strip character and franchise created by Herbert Tourtel and illustrated by his wife, the artist Mary Tourtel, first appearing in the Daily Express newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. In 1935, the stories were taken over by Alfred Bestall, who was previously an illustrator for Punch and other glossy magazines. Bestall proved to be successful in the field of children's literature and worked on Rupert stories and artwork into his nineties. More recently, various other artists and writers have continued the series. About 50 million copies have been sold worldwide.
Michigan Jackson Frog is an animated cartoon character from the Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies film series. Originally a one-shot character, his only appearance during the original run of the Merrie Melodies series was as the star of the One Froggy Evening short film, written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones. In this cartoon, partly inspired by a 1944 Cary Grant film entitled Once Upon a Time, Michigan is a male frog who wears a top hat; carries a cane; and sings pop music, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley hits, and other songs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries while dancing and performing acrobatics in the style of early 20th century vaudeville. Michigan is discovered by a hapless construction worker who plans to profit off his talents but catches on too late that the frog performs exclusively for his owner, and behaves like an ordinary frog in front of anyone else. When he does perform, he finishes each song before the man can showcase his talent, thus thwarting his dreams of wealth.
"Joy to the World" is a song written by Hoyt Axton and made famous by the band Three Dog Night. The song is also popularly known by its opening lyric, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog". Three Dog Night originally released the song on their fourth studio album, Naturally, in November 1970, and subsequently released an edited version of the song as a single in February 1971.
Tropic Island Hum, released in 2004, but originally recorded in 1987, is a song from Paul McCartney's second animated film for children. The associated single reached #21 in the UK and #30 in Ireland.
The Fireman is an English experimental music duo of Paul McCartney and Youth formed in 1993. Their music catalogue ranges from rock to electronica, evolving over more than two decades and three albums. Although officially anonymous until 2008 with the release of the album Electric Arguments, the group members' names had been known to the public since soon after the release of their first album.
Rupert and the Frog Song is a 1984 animated short film based on the comic strip character Rupert Bear, written and produced by Paul McCartney and directed by Geoff Dunbar. The making of Rupert and the Frog Song began in 1981 and ended in 1983. The film was released theatrically as an accompaniment to McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street. The song "We All Stand Together" from the film's soundtrack reached No. 3 when released in the UK Singles Chart. It was released in 2004 as one of the segments of Paul McCartney: Music & Animation.
The Beatles, also referred to as The Beatles Cartoon, is an animated television series featuring representations of the popular English rock band of the same name. It was originally broadcast from 1965 to 1967 on ABC in the United States, with reruns airing until 1969.
"We All Stand Together" is a song by Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus.
Tuesday, written and illustrated by David Wiesner, is a 1991 wordless picture book published by Clarion Books. Tuesday received the 1992 Caldecott Medal for illustrations and was Wiesner's first of three Caldecott Medals that he has won during his career. Wiesner subsequently won the Caldecott Medal in 2002 for The Three Pigs, and the 2007 medal for Flotsam.
The Oriental Nightfish is a 1978 animated film directed by Ian Emes which accompanies the Linda McCartney composition "The Oriental Nightfish". The film has a running time of 4m 30s and features animation by Ian Emes with the track "The Oriental Nightfish" performed by Wings, the band Linda and her husband Paul McCartney were members of.
Sir James Paul McCartney is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, and musical eclecticism, exploring genres ranging from pre–rock and roll pop to classical, ballads, and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon is the most successful in modern music history.
Give My Regards to Broad Street is a 1984 British musical-drama film directed by Peter Webb. It stars Paul McCartney, Bryan Brown and Ringo Starr. The film covers a fictional day in the life of McCartney, who wrote the film for the screen, and McCartney, Starr and Linda McCartney all appeared as themselves. Despite Give My Regards to Broad Street being unsuccessful, both financially and critically, its soundtrack album sold well. The title is a take on George M. Cohan's song "Give My Regards to Broadway" and refers to London's Broad Street railway station.
High in the Clouds is a children's adventure novel written by musician/songwriter Paul McCartney and Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Geoff Dunbar, and published by Faber and Faber in October 2005. As writer/producer and animator/director, McCartney and Dunbar had collaborated on the 1984 animated film Rupert and the Frog Song, and High in the Clouds was scripted and sketched for several years by the two of them as another film.
The fictional animated singing group Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian have appeared in eight feature-length films since their debut.
"Little Lamb Dragonfly" is a song by Paul McCartney and Wings, composed by Paul and Linda McCartney and originally released on the 1973 album Red Rose Speedway. The song was originally recorded during the sessions for McCartney's Ram album in early 1971, and thus Hugh McCracken plays guitar on the recording rather than Wings' guitarist Denny Laine. However, Laine did provide backing vocals during the production work for Red Rose Speedway. McCartney originally intended to use the song as part of his Rupert and the Frog Song animated film project. Chip Madinger and Mark Easter noted that drummer Denny Seiwell may have assisted in writing the song, although he was not credited.
Paul McCartney: In the World Tonight is a 1997 documentary about the making of Paul McCartney's Flaming Pie album. The film takes its name from the album's second track, "The World Tonight".
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a 1948 animated short film produced and directed by Max Fleischer for Jam Handy based on the 1939 Robert L. May poem of the same name, about a flying reindeer who helps Santa Claus.
Geoff Dunbar is an English animator and director known for his animated music video Rupert Bear and the Frog Song for Sir Paul McCartney and The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends from the stories by Beatrix Potter. He championed a hand-sketch style of animation.
