Now Hear This | |
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Directed by | Chuck Jones Maurice Noble |
Story by | John Dunn Chuck Jones |
Produced by | David H. DePatie |
Starring | Mel Blanc |
Music by | Bill Lava Treg Brown |
Animation by | Ben Washam Bob Bransford |
Layouts by | Maurice Noble |
Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 6:35 |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Now Hear This is a 1963 [1] Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble, and written by Jones and John Dunn. [2] The short was released on April 27, 1963. [3] It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film the following year. [4]
Satan, the Head Devil, loses his left horn, which is discovered by an elderly man in the United Kingdom and repurposed as a hearing trumpet. The man begins experiencing a series of surreal hallucinations, including bugs sounding like locomotives, butterflies creating strange patterns, and a mischievous man causing chaos. As the hallucinations become increasingly bizarre and frightening, they culminate in a gigantic explosion. Exhausted by the ordeal, the man abandons the horn for his original ear trumpet. After he leaves listening to "Rule, Britannia!", Satan appears and retrieves his missing horn, restoring it to its place with the moral: "The other fellow's trumpet always looks greener."
The title comes from a phrase used aboard American naval ships as an instruction to cease activity and listen to the announcement that will follow.
Chuck Jones later admitted confusion about the film's direction, saying "We kind of went out into — I don't know if it was left field; it was somewhere else I didn't understand. Jack Warner wasn't the only one who didn't understand that picture. I called it 'Chuck's Revenge', because it was one of the last pictures I made, and I was trying to find some way of infuriating him." [5]
This cartoon marked the debut of the modern abstract opening and closing sequences, a style later adopted for mid-1960s Warner Bros. shorts, predominantly produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (DFE) and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation. It is also notable for listing the director's name first, a rarity in the Looney Tunes series.
At the cartoon's close, a modern sequence unfolds: the Westminster Quarters introduce the "WB" lettering, while Big Ben chimes and a bicycle horn squeaks as the words "A Warner Bros. CartOOn" appear. The OO's in "Cartoon" separate to resemble eyes. This sequence, likely emphasizing the British setting, recurs in two other cartoons ( Bartholomew Versus the Wheel and Señorella and the Glass Huarache ). An updated version was used for DFE-produced cartoons, featuring Bill Lava's "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" and a black background. This concept was Chuck Jones's idea, but he was unable to direct further cartoons with this opening due to his dismissal after involvement in Gay Purr-ee with United Productions of America (UPA). This cartoon deviates from typical Warner Bros. style, resembling more the limited animation techniques of UPA cartoons. It introduces the modern abstract opening and closing sequences seen in mid-1960s Warner Bros. shorts.
Now Hear This is available on Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection , Disc 3, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6 , Disc 4 and on Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Award-Nominated Animation: Golden Gems .
Charles Martin Jones was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of shorts. He wrote, produced, and/or directed many classic animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, and Porky Pig, among others.
Looney Tunes is an American animated franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It began as a series of short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, along with its partner series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.
Isadore "Friz" Freleng, credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total he created more than 300 cartoons.
Robert Porter McKimson Sr. was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. He wrote and directed many animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Hippety Hopper, Speedy Gonzales, and the Tasmanian Devil, among other characters. He also developed Bugs Bunny's design in the 1943 short Tortoise Wins by a Hare.
Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the partner series to Looney Tunes and featured many of the same characters. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it was revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black-and-white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.
DePatie–Freleng Enterprises was an American animation studio founded by former Warner Bros. Cartoons employees in May 1963, before dissolving in 1981. Based in Burbank, California, DFE produced animation for film and television.
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation division and label of Warner Bros.
The Bugs Bunny Show is a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that was mainly composed of theatrical Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 1969. The show originally debuted as a primetime half-hour program on ABC in 1960, featuring three theatrical Looney Tunes cartoons with new linking sequences produced by the Warner Bros. Cartoons staff.
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films. The characters featured in these cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, are among the most famous and recognizable characters in the world. Many of the creative staff members at the studio, including directors and animators such as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, Arthur Davis, and Frank Tashlin, are considered major figures in the art and history of traditional animation.
Format Films was an animation studio which was founded by Herbert Klynn in 1959 with Jules Engel as vice president, Bob McIntosh and Joseph Mugnaini, all of whom were animators.
David Hudson DePatie was an American film and television producer who was the last and longest lived executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. He also formed DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, with Friz Freleng, Hanna-Barbera Productions and was an executive producer at Marvel Productions.
MGM Animation/Visual Arts was an American animation studio established in 1962 by animation director/producer Chuck Jones, producer Les Goldman and executive Walter Bien as Sib Tower 12 Productions. Its productions include the last series of Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts, the TV specials Horton Hears a Who! and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth, all released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Germain Adolph Chiniquy was an American animator known for his work with Friz Freleng at both Warner Bros. Cartoons and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.
Mad as a Mars Hare is a 1963 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble. The short was released on October 19, 1963, and stars Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian. The cartoon's title is a play-on-words of the famous phrase to be "mad as a March hare". This is Marvin's final appearance in the Looney Tunes shorts during the Golden Age of American Animation.
This is a listing of all the animated shorts released by Warner Bros. under the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies banners between 1960 and 1969. A total of 147 shorts were released during the 1960s.
Señorella and the Glass Huarache is a 1964 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Hawley Pratt and written by John W. Dunn. The short was released on August 1, 1964.
Nuts and Volts is a 1964 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on July 20, 1964, and stars Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester.
Robert Herman Givens was an American animator and character designer, responsible for the creation of Bugs Bunny. He was the leading character designer for Leon Schlesinger, creating over 25 successful characters for both Leon Schlesinger Productions and later Warner Bros. Cartoons. He also did the storyboards and layout designs. He worked for numerous animation studios during his career, including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Warner Bros. Cartoons, Hanna-Barbera, and DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, beginning his career during the late 1930s and continuing until the early 2000s. He was a collaborator with the Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes directors at Warner Bros. and Chuck Jones' production company.
Bartholomew Versus the Wheel is a 1964 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. It was released theatrically on February 29, 1964.