Who's Who in the Zoo

For television series, see Taronga: Who's Who in the Zoo.

Who's Who in the Zoo
Title Card
Directed by	Norman McCabe
Story by	Melvin Millar
Produced by	Leon Schlesinger
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	John Carey
Color process	Black and White Color (1992 computer colorized version)
Production company	Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	February 14, 1942 (1942-02-14)(Valentine's Day)
Running time	7 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Who's Who in the Zoo is a 1942 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Norman McCabe. ^[1] The short was released on February 14, 1942. ^[2]

Plot

Who's Who in the Zoo is one of the cartoons that Warner would occasionally produce, particularly in the World War II era, that featured a series of loosely related gags, usually based on outrageous stereotypes and plays on words, as a narrator (in this case Robert C. Bruce) describes the action. The plot is substantially similar to that of 1939's A Day at the Zoo , except that Porky Pig (voiced by Mel Blanc as usual) appears as the zookeeper of the "Azusa Zoo", and that the now-discontinued Elmer Fudd is absent. Some excerpts:

• In a comic "triple", a timber wolf is shown, then a gray wolf, then a "Hollywood wolf" (a frequent reference in the 1940s WB cartoons).
• Other creatures include a "missing lynx", a "tortoise and the hair", "March hares" who march to a drumbeat, a down-on-his-luck "bum steer", an "Indian" elephant (an elephant attired as an American Indian), and a bald eagle wearing a toupee.
• There is also a running joke about a lion who is awaiting the arrival of the ice cream truck.
• An Alaskan Bear who's known for hugging its prey to death picks up and starts hugging a defenseless sheep. When the narrator begs the bear to stop hugging the sheep, the sheep responds, in a feminine voice sounding like Sterling Holloway: "Oh, for goodness' sake, mind your own business!"
• A group of seals that the narrator says only eat fresh mountain trout. Porky attempts to feed them a mackerel instead, claiming it to be indistinguishable, but a seal plants a sign saying "No substitutes accepted".
• The famous Capistrano swallows are featured. The narrator asks them why they always go back to Capistrano, to which they, in unison, reply, "I dunno. I guess we're just in a rut."
• Some gags reference the then-ongoing World War II, including a black panther drinking cream from its dish, then noticing the dish is aluminum and throwing it into a scrap pile, a reference to the Salvage for Victory campaign; as well as a distressed rabbit father of dozens of babies given a note from the government to "increase your production 100%," as the song "What's The Matter with Father" plays in the background.

See also

• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)
• List of Porky Pig cartoons

References

1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 125. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 100–102. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved June 6, 2020.

External links

• The short film Who's Who in the Zoo is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive .
• Who's Who in the Zoo at IMDb
• Who's Who in the Zoo on YouTube