Category: Merrie Melodies

Cartoons that were labeled as such.

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Hollywood Steps Out

“50 dollars!?”

It’s a cartoon caricaturing famous Hollywood stars! (And they look rather creepy, I might add. Good thing the impressions are spot on!) Carry Grant buys some cigarettes from Greta Garbo and she uses her shoe to light it. Panning to the right we see a Leon Scheslinger cameo as well as a table set for Blondie and Dagwood, and a fire hydrant for Daisy. (Odd choice.)

Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Geore Raft pitch pennies and Harpo Marx gives Garbo a hot foot. Bing Crosby introduces our musical act as Stokowski composes. Boris Karloff dances stiffly, the 3 stooges poke each other to the beat, and Olliver Hardy dances with 2 women at once. Sally Ran does a bubble dance (She even tosses the bubble up, but we don’t see any nudity, you pervs.) Peter Lorre comments on the beauty of the bubble, and Henry Fonda gets punished by his mother for watching.

The dance ends when Harpo pops the bubble. (Good thing she was wearing a barrel underneath.) This whole time, Clark Gable has been chasing a blonde. He catches her only to find out it was Groucho in drag.

Personal Rating: 3 (unless you are a real film buff who knows who the parodies are today, then it just might reach the 4 tier.)

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Have you got any Castles?

“Hear ye, Hear ye, Hear ye.”

In another of the “books coming to life” series of cartoons, we come across a bookshop at midnight. The town crier announces that we are in for a treat as 4 famous literary monsters do a cute little dance. All the characters applaud and cheer while “The Good Earth” prays. Everyone begins to dance and “Green Pastures” sings along with Cab Calloway. A thin man goes to fatten himself at the “white house cookbook”, and the “Little Women” and “Little Men” sing about Old King Cole.

They are joined by the house of “Seven (Clark) Gables” and “Bulldog Drummin.” Louis Pasteur blows himself to “Seventh Heaven” and all the while, Rip Van Winkle is annoyed by lack of sleep. The 3 musketeers sing our title song, but I guess they are the villains as they take “The Seven Keys of Baldpate” and free “The Prisoner of Zenda.” Everyone else starts shooting at them, until Rip, who’s had enough, opens up a hurricane on them all, thus making them “Gone with the Wind.”

Personal Rating: 3

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A Corny Concerto

“Gweetings, music wovers.”

Its a parody of “Fantasia” which is one of the finest films ever. So what would a Looney Tune based on it be? About 629,087,356.5 times better!  (Give or take.)

Our host is Elmer (as parody of Deems Taylor) and he lets us know the first segment will be “Tales from the Vienna woods” (All the while his dicky is giving him problems) It is a classic tale of a hunter going after Bugs. Since Elmer is on host duty, it’s none other than Porky who takes on the job. (One of the very few times Porky appeared on screen with Bugs.) Porky’s dog finds Bugs and learns that this will not be so easy.

Porky and the dog dive into a bush which Bugs is hiding in, and soon Bugs tosses their gun away. It lands in a tree infuriating a squirrel who takes aim and fires. The three hold their chests assuming the worst. Porky and the dog turn out to be fine, but when Bugs peeks at his supposed wound he passes out. Porky and the dog try to get his hands open to see the wound and instead find a BRA! Bugs screams, places the brassiere on the two’s heads, and dances into the sunset.

Elmer informs us that the next segment will be “The Blue Danube” (As his pants fall down now) It is a tale of the ugly duckling. This time however, it really is a duckling as opposed to a swan. A baby Daffy to be precise. (There you have it. Clampett also created “Baby Looney Tunes”) He wants to join a family of swans, but the mother refuses to have him around. The family is spotted by a vulture who decides to have the cygnets for brunch. (He doesn’t want Daffy either)

The mother swan passes out when she finds out, and Daffy flies to their rescue. He knocks the vulture out and hands him TNT which kills him. (I’ve seen this part on an episode of Bill Nye) Daffy is now accepted as part of the swans family and swims with them. (His reflection crashes into a tree)

Personal Rating: 5

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Back Alley Oproar

“Boy, am I Sweepy!”

A remake of an old cartoon called “Notes to You” (I should really talk about these cartoons in chronological order. I apologize for any confusion)

Elmer is tired. So tired in fact, that he leaps into his bed before the light goes out. Unfortunately, Sylvester has chosen his fence to sing for the night. Elmer throws many objects at him to shut up but the only one that manages to hit is a pair of shoes. Sylvester used these to stomp out the second Hungarian rhapsody but Elmer ties him up and covers his mouth. (Did those shoes just change color?)

Soon the putty tat is at it again and he greases Elmer’s steps and scatters tacks at the bottom. Elmer gets a golf club and slips and hurts his feet, then turns around and does it again to get his gun. Sylvester has his understudy come in to take his place, but Elmer pins him up against a wall with the gun anyway. He lures Fudd back to sleep with a lullaby and as soon as he is back in bed wakes him up again. Elmer has had enough and grabs some dynamite. But as soon as he lights the fuse, it blows up. In heaven, Elmer takes some solace that he should be able to get some sleep, but Sylvester was caught in the blast too, and now Elmer has to put up with his 9 (Or is it 19?) lives as well.

Personal Rating: 4

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Old Glory

“You don’t know why you should learn the pledge of allegiance to the flag?”

For Porky’s first color cartoon, (Yes his debut was in color. But he wasn’t the star) we find him struggling to learn the pledge to the flag. He can’t get the hang of it and he gives up. He takes a nap and Uncle Sam appears and begins to teach his subconsciousness about the history of America. From Paul Revere warning of the British, to the pioneers heading out west to find more land. (That already belonged to someone, but that part doesn’t paint the country in the best lights. Let’s omit it.)

After the history lesson Porky awakens and is able to recite the pledge form memory. (Owl eared listeners will notice he doesn’t say “under God” that part was not added yet.) This cartoon may not be as funny as its numerous siblings, but it’s enjoyable none the less. It reminds us how hard it was to be young and to understand. It also helps us remember to help others.

Personal Rating: 4 (If you can’t stand to see cartoons be serious, than it might not be for you. I stand by my rating, though)

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Tweetie Pie

“Kiss the ittle birdie!”

This is it! this is THE cartoon. What is THE cartoon? This is the first Looney Tune that won an Oscar. (Ironicly “Tom and Jerry” had been winning tons of Oscars. Why? Are Tom and Jerry better than Looney Tunes? Fun fact: not always) Actually, in this cartoon Sylvester is called Thomas. Oh, and this is the canary and putty tat’s first time together, too.

It’s winter and Tweety is out warming himself by a cigar butt. Thomas (Sylvester) grabs him and almost immediately gets caught by his owner. She takes Tweety in and puts him in a cage, warning the cat to leave him alone. When she’s gone, Sylvester builds a stack of furniture that Tweety chops down. (The owner hits Sylvester with a broom) He builds one out of metal furniture and Tweety uses a blowtorch to destroy it. (Sylvester gets hit with the broom again)

At one point Sylvester has Tweety under a glass so Tweety can’t call for help. So the bird pokes Sylvester with a pin and the owner throws him out. After failing to get in through the fireplace, and a Rube Golberg device doesn’t work, he saws the area around the cage which brings the whole ceiling down. Sylvester throws the broom in the fire only to get hit by a shovel. Wielded by Tweety.

Personal Rating: 3

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Room and Bird

“Thomas Jefferson? Hes not the president no more, he’s dead.”

Sorry for the lack of videos. I can’t seem to find any worthy enough of getting a place on my blog of awesome.

This cartoon starts with a view of a hotel. Despite the fact that animals are not allowed inside, Tweety ans Sylvester are both snuck in by their owners: Granny and Not Granny. As luck would have it, their rooms are right next to each other and Sylvester overhears Tweety singing his trademark song. The chase is on but they have to worry about some man, (I assume he works at the hotel) who is on the look out for possible animals.

They have many close calls, but in the end, the man is sure that there are animals in the building, (although he has no proof) and demands, over the intercom, that whoever has them, to remove them. Just as he says this, he is caught in a stampede of animals.

Personal Rating: 3

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Bad ol’ Putty Tat

“I tawt I taw a *wolf whistle!*

The cartoon must have started without us, since we begin by seeing a hurt looking Sylvester starting at Tweety’s barbed wire covered tree house. For his next attempt he constructs a trampoline and bounces up. Every time he comes up however, Tweety hurts him in various ways.

Tweety escapes on a clothes line, but learns it’s connected to Sylvester’s tooth. Tweety attaches his end to a rocket, and the putty tat loses his teeth. Sylvester paints his finger to look like a female canary (See? Tweety IS a boy) and Tweety takes the bait. He only discovers what’s happening after he tries to pull her to safety and her hat flies off, revealing a claw. Tweety switches hats, and Sylvester chomps a delicious finger.

Now, Tweety runs to a badminton game, and accidentally ends up as the birdie. Sylvester joins the game, but only gets a firecracker in his belly. Finally, he disguises his head as Tweety’s house and Tweety falls for it. Yep, Sylvester got him. But the bird’s not in his stomach, he’s in his head. Playing train, Tweety makes the putty tat crash into a brick wall.

Personal Rating: 3

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A Bear for Punishment

“I hate breakfast in bed!”

I know. I should have talked about a Mother’s day cartoon, but i couldn’t find one. Father’s day works fine. This cartoon was based on Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese’s fathers days they experienced. (That’s harsh)

One morning, Henry Bear wakes up to many alarm clocks. He learns that its fathers day and his family wants to treat him right. Junyer spills breakfast on him, and tries to shave him with a broken razor. He can’t even fill his dad’s pipe without an injury. (“g-u-n-p-o-w-d-e-r, deh, tobacco”)

Finally, they perform a show. Junyer recites a poem about how he loves his father, Ma does a dance, and as a finale they dress up Henry as the stature of liberty and launch fireworks. He is too shocked to protest. (And thus the 3 bears cartoons ended)

Personal Rating: 3

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Mouse Wreckers

“What’d I do? What’d I do?”

Hubie and Bertie are happy to find a new place to call home, but there’s one problem with it: Claude. According to all those trophies, he’s a champion mouser and the mice are going to have to get rid of him if they are to live there. They hide on the roof, and Hubie lowers Bertie down the chimney to the cat, to torment him and get away quickly. They use sticks, bellows, and even a dog to drive Claude crazy. They even tie a rock to his tail and throw it off the roof, dragging him along with it.

Claude is shaken to say the least, but he convinces himself it was all a dream. While he sleeps the mice try their coupe-de-gracie. They nail all the furniture to the ceiling, somehow get the celing lamp to point upward and put it on the floor, and wake up Claude. He is scared to find himself on the ceiling but freaks out even more when he climbs into the next room, and finds its right side up, but the windows show upside down horizons and underwater scenery. He runs screaming from the house as the mice get comfortable

Personal Rating: 3