The story is set at a local movie theater. The short opens with a view of the building's exterior. A sign advertises the double feature of the day, 36 Hours to Kill (1936) and His Brother's Wife (1936). The camera moves to another sign, advertising the midnight show. A total of 15 features for the price of 15 cents. The features offered reportedly include "rejected shorts".[3] The camera next moves to the interior of the building, where an audience of cartoon animals has taken seat. At first two viewers stand up and change seats, likely seeking a better viewing position. This introduces a scene where every other member of the audience decides to change seats, resulting in constant re-positioning.[3]
The film show begins with a newsreel called "Goofy-Tone News", produced by "Warmer Bros.". The production company of the newsreel is a pun on Warner Bros., while the newsreel itself parodies Movietone News. The slogan of Movietone, Sees All, Hears All, Knows All is parodied as Sees All - Knows Nothing. Presenter "Dole Promise" (Lowell Thomas) has trouble recalling his own name, and someone whispers it to him.[3] The first news item is that the United States are involved in a shipbuilding race and have just constructed the longest ocean liner. The depicted ship is huge and actually covers part of the Atlantic Ocean. Its "journeys" between London and New York City actually require only the slightest of movements.[3] The next news item features "Heddie Camphor" (Eddie Cantor) interviewing Little Oscar, a long-lost insect. Oscar rants in a high-pitched voice, and the interviewer translates for the audience: Oscar would rather stay lost.[3]
As the newsreel continues, the camera's attention shifts to the audience. An usher points out an empty seat to a late-arriving gentleman. But the new viewer discovers that his seat only allows him to view the screen through a strange angle. He moves himself to a new seat, with no better results. Having nowhere else to go, the viewer keeps his seat and sulks in frustration.[3] Elsewhere, a hippo has to leave his seat for some reason. He passes through a row of seats on his way to the corridor, pressing on a lot of fellow viewers while asking them to pardon him.[3]
On screen, another newsreel begins: Nit-Wit News, featuring "Who Dehr" (Lew Lehr). His news story takes place in the town of Boondoggle, Missouri, where the bite of a mad dog has had strange effects on the population. This segment depicts townspeople acting like dogs, the mayor fighting with an actual dog over a bone, and matronly socialite Mrs. Ben Astorville acting as a pampered dog, albeit one still served by a butler. As Dehr concludes his report, he is himself bitten by one of the affected townspeople.[3] Back in the theater, the hippo returns to his seat, pressing on his fellow viewers again.[3]
Following the newsreels, the next part of the program is a sing-along. Maestro "Stickoutski" (Leopold Stokowski) plays his "fertilizer" (Wurlitzerpipe organ), while lyrics appear on screen for the audience to follow in singing. The lyrics are accompanied by illustrations of what they describe. The song of the day is "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter".[3] In a gag, an irrelevant sign is depicted among the lyrics, and the audience sings its message: "please do not spit on the floor".[3]
Afterwards, the main feature is presented, with a parody of the Leo the Lion (MGM) logo who crows like a rooster instead of roaring at the start. A parody of The Petrified Forest (1936) entitled The Petrified Florist is then shown featuring Bette Savis (Bette Davis) and Lester Coward (Leslie Howard), with rather long cast credits (the hero (Lester Coward), the shero (Bette Savis), rich man (John P Sockefeller), poor man (John Dough), beggar man (Kismet), thief (Oph Bagdad), doctor (Jekyll), lawyer (Ima Shyster), then repeats: poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer several times).[3] The film opens with "Coward" attempting to secure transportation via hitchhiking while reading a book. Meanwhile, in the theater, a donkey member of the audience chooses this moment to start acting as a hawker. He starts advertising various food items that he is selling in a loud voice, which results in the audience kicking him out of the building.[3]
On screen, Howard makes his way to a desert inn and introduces himself to the waitress, Davis. When she figures him for a poet, Howard attempts to recite something. He gives a mangled rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb (1830).[3] In the theater, a baby goose is seated next to his father and keeps annoying the parent through constantly speaking. Either asking questions about the film they are viewing, asking for a drink of water, or asking to see a cartoon. The constant speaking annoys other audience members, who try to silence the child by intimidation. When the father protests, he is punched in the face. When the baby goose tries whispering his annoying questions to his father, his father attempts to slap his annoying kid, who runs away.[3]
The unsupervised child makes its way to the projection room and starts toying with the movie projector. He accidentally speeds up the film (resulting in Howard and Davis speaking too fast for the audience to understand), then has it going backwards (resulting in Howard and Davis' meeting being reversed). Realizing the damage he has caused, the child attempts to fix the projector. But he gets caught within the machine. The film ends with the child getting covered in film reels and struggling to break free, while cussing in the garbled fast-forwarded talk from the ruined movie.[3]
Analysis
The film depicts the typical audience of a movie theater in the early sound film era. The film-going audience of the era did participate in sing-alongs and group activities within the theater. But this lively-participating audience then had to turn silent. Due to technical limitations, the theaters offered poor sound quality. Listening to the dialogue of a sound film required silence.[4] Sources of noise and distraction within a theater were annoying and disruptive to film viewers. Like other Warner Bros. animated shorts of the late 1930s, the film uses such typical nuisances and the reactions to them as a subject of comedy.[4] The hippo who keeps changing seats and the goose who keeps talking both annoy their fellow viewers. It is the reaction of said annoyed viewers which is played for laughs.[4]
Part of the film parodies The Petrified Forest (1936) and depicts caricatures of its leading actors, Leslie Howard and Bette Davis. The film is turned "funnier" by having an interference in the projecting booth altering and reversing its sequence of events.[5] Donald Crafton suggests that the film also pokes fun at another figure familiar to its creators, though not necessarily the audience. A flea emerges from a purse marked with the initials "J.W.", and during the sing-along the attacking lion is called "Jack". Crafton sees both scenes as references to Jack L. Warner, who was reputedly stingy and vindictive.[5]
There is a cameo of Adolf Hitler on screen.[5] One of the segments of the film depicts a newsreel. It is called "Goofy-Tone News" and presented by "Dole Promise", parodying respectively Movietone News and its narrator Lowell Thomas.[6] Inside the movie theater, a viewer has trouble viewing the newsreel. His seat only offers him a distorted view of the screen images, which are seen "at an extreme angle". The film image at this section of the newsreel is that of Hitler. Hitler is depicted marching in goose step and giving the Nazi salute. He is wearing an armband depicting a swastika.[6]
Beck, Jerry and Friedwald, Will, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons (Henry Holt and Company, 1989) ISBN0-8050-0894-2
Looney Tunes is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related 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.
This is a listing of the shorts, feature films, television programs, and television specials in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon series, extending from 1929 through the present day. Altogether, 1,002 animated shorts alone were released under the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies banners from the 1930s through the 1960s. From the beginning to the present day, 1,041 theatrical shorts have been created.
Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was the star of thirty-nine Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros. He was voiced by Carman Maxwell, Bernard B. Brown, Johnny Murray, and Philip Hurlic during the 1920s and 1930s and once by Don Messick during the 1990s.
Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the Looney Tunes franchise 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.
Golden Yeggs is a 1950 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng. The cartoon was released on August 5, 1950, and stars Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. A forerunner of the Rocky and Mugsy characters appear, with Rocky already in his present-day form.
Petunia Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. She looks much like her significant other, Porky Pig, except that she wears a dress and has pigtailed black hair.
The CooCoo Nut Grove is a 1936 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short animated film, set in the famed Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. This is a caricature cartoon, with recreations of celebrities from the time. The cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng, with animation by Robert McKimson and Sandy Walker, caricature design by T. Hee, and musical score by Carl Stalling. The short was released on November 28, 1936.
Rhapsody Rabbit is a 1946 American animated comedy short film in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny. The movie was originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 9, 1946. This short is a follow-up of sorts to Freleng's 1941 Academy Award-nominated Rhapsody in Rivets, which featured the "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt. The "instrument" used to perform the "Hungarian Rhapsody" in Rhapsody in Rivets is a skyscraper under construction, while this short features Bugs playing the piece at a piano while being pestered by a mouse.
Hollywood Steps Out is a 1941 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Tex Avery and produced by Leon Schlesinger. The short was released on May 24, 1941.
What's Cookin' Doc? is a 1943-produced, 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Bob Clampett, and stars Bugs Bunny. The short was also written by Michael Sasanoff, and was animated by Robert McKimson, along with uncredited work by Rod Scribner, Phil Monroe and Virgil Ross. The film was released on January 8, 1944.
The Lady in Red is a 1935 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on September 7, 1935.
Rabbitson Crusoe is a 1956 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on April 28, 1956, and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.
Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Rudolf Ising. The short was released on November 28, 1931, and stars Piggy.
Bosko's Picture Show is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short directed by Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng. It was the last Looney Tunes Bosko cartoon produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising for Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. The duo moved on to produce cartoons for MGM, the first of which were released in 1934. The music score was a work of Frank Marsales.
This Is a Life? is a 1955 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, written by Warren Foster, and produced by Edward Selzer, with music directed by Milt Franklyn. The short was released on July 9, 1955, and stars Bugs Bunny. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan, and June Foray in her first work for Warner Bros. This is one of the few Bugs Bunny cartoons whose title does not contain Bugs, bunny, rabbit/wabbit or hare.
Bacall to Arms is a 1946 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies series short planned by Bob Clampett and finished by Arthur Davis, in his second-to-last cartoon at Warner Bros. The short was released on August 3, 1946.
Porky's Preview is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on April 19, 1941, and stars Porky Pig.
Old Glory is a 1939 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on July 1, 1939, and stars Porky Pig. The cartoon was commissioned by Warner Bros. as a counterpart for a series of live-action films about American patriotism.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 is a DVD box set from Warner Home Video that was released on October 25, 2005. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical short subject cartoons, nine documentaries, 32 commentary tracks from animators and historians, 11 "vintage treasures from the vault", and 11 music-only or music-and-sound-effects audio tracks.
Buddy's Theatre is an American animated short film, released and first shown in theaters on April 1, 1935. It is a Looney Tunes cartoon, featuring Buddy, the second star of the series. It was supervised by Ben Hardaway; and musical direction was by Norman Spencer.
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