Rooty Toot Toot | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Hubley |
Story by | John Hubley Bill Scott |
Produced by | Stephen Bosustow (executive producer) John Hubley (producer) |
Starring | Thurl Ravenscroft (Johnny), Annette Warren (Frankie and Nellie Bly), Bill Lee (Attorney) [1] |
Music by | Alan Alch (lyrics) Phil Moore (music) |
Animation by | Art Babbitt Pat Matthews Tom McDonald Grim Natwick |
Layouts by | Paul Julian |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 7 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Rooty Toot Toot is a 1951 American black comedy musical film noir cartoon [2] directed by John Hubley. [3] It was released by Columbia Pictures and produced by UPA. [4] Annette Warren provides the voices of both Frankie and Nelly Bly. Thurl Ravenscroft is the voice of Johnny and Honest John the Crook.
The film is an adaptation of the song "Frankie and Johnny", a murder ballad. In the song, a woman shoots her unfaithful lover. The film depicts her trial for murder. Her crooked lawyer manages to have her declared not guilty, and expresses an interest in marrying his client. When she sees the lawyer walking away with another woman, the defendant kills him in front of witnesses.
The short retells the classic popular song "Frankie and Johnny". Frankie is on trial for the murder of her piano-playing lover, Johnny. The prosecuting attorney accuses her of shooting Johnny "rooty toot toot/right in the snoot". Nellie Bly the singer ("That's a lie! That's a lie! She's no singer!" shouts Frankie) claims she witnessed the shooting.
The case is looking bad for Frankie until her lawyer, Honest John the Crook, spins a wild story involving innocent Frankie, a jealous Johnny, and an incredible ricochet. Honest John then declares that if Frankie were free, he would take her for his wife. The jury convenes and finds Frankie "not guilty". Frankie is thrilled, until she sees Honest John walking away with Nellie Bly.
She quickly picks up Exhibit A (the gun) and shoots Honest John "rooty toot toot/right in the snoot" in front of the entire court room. The prosecuting attorney celebrates as the police escort Frankie to jail.
It received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1951, but lost out to Tom and Jerry's 6th award-winning cartoon The Two Mouseketeers . [5]
In 1994 it was voted #41 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. [6]
United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio and later distribution company founded in 1941 as Industrial Film and Poster Service by former Walt Disney Productions employees. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures such as the Mr. Magoo series. In 1956, UPA produced a television series for CBS, The Boing-Boing Show, hosted by Gerald McBoing Boing. In the 1960s, UPA produced syndicated Mr. Magoo and Dick Tracy television series and other series and specials, including Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol. UPA also produced two animated features, 1001 Arabian Nights and Gay Purr-ee, and distributed Japanese films from Toho Studios in the 1970s and 1980s.
Arthur Harold Babitsky, better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and also developed the character of Goofy. Babbitt worked as an animator or animation director on films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo, among others. Outside of Disney, he also animated The Wise Quacking Duck for Leon Schlesinger Productions.
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John Kirkham Hubley was an American animated film director, art director, producer, and writer known for his work with the United Productions of America (UPA) and his own independent studio, Storyboard, Inc.. A pioneer and innovator in the American animation industry, Hubley pushed for more visually and emotionally complex films than those being produced by contemporaries like the Walt Disney Company and Warner Brothers Animation. He and his second wife, Faith Hubley, who he worked alongside from 1953 onward, were nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning three.
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Frankie and Johnny is a 1966 American Western musical film starring Elvis Presley as a riverboat gambler. The role of "Frankie" was played by Donna Douglas from The Beverly Hillbillies TV series. The film reached #40 on the Variety weekly national box office list for 1966. The budget of the film was estimated at $4.5 million. The director was Frederick De Cordova, who in 1970 went on to become the director and producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
The Racket is a 1951 black-and-white film noir drama directed by John Cromwell with uncredited directing help from Nicholas Ray, Tay Garnett, and Mel Ferrer. The production features Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan, and William Conrad. Future Perry Mason regular cast members William Talman and Ray Collins appear in key roles.
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"Frankie and Johnny" is a murder ballad, a traditional American popular song. It tells the story of a woman, Frankie, who finds her man Johnny making love to another woman and shoots him dead. Frankie is then arrested; in some versions of the song she is also executed.
Madeleine is a 1950 British film noir directed by David Lean, based on a true story of Madeleine Smith, a young Glasgow woman from a wealthy family who was tried in 1857 for the murder of her lover, Emile L'Angelier. The trial was much publicised in the newspapers of the day and labelled "the trial of the century". Lean's adaptation of the story starred his wife, Ann Todd, with Ivan Desny as her character's French lover. Norman Wooland played the respectable suitor and Leslie Banks the authoritarian father, both of whom are unaware of Madeleine's secret life. Lean made the film primarily as a "wedding present" to Todd, who had previously played the role onstage. He was never satisfied with the film and cited it as his least favourite feature-length movie.
Decoy is a 1946 American film noir starring Jean Gillie, Edward Norris, Robert Armstrong, Herbert Rudley, and Sheldon Leonard. Directed by Jack Bernhard, it was produced by him and Bernard Brandt as a Jack Bernhard Production, with a screenplay by Nedrick Young based on an original story by Stanley Rubin.
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Annette Warren is an American vocalist and popular jazz stylist who dubbed the singing voices of such stars as Lucille Ball in Sorrowful Jones (1949) and Fancy Pants (1950), and Ava Gardner in the 1951 film version of Show Boat. She was still actively performing in 2017 at the age of 95.
Events in 1951 in animation.