It Can Happen Here
I am quite sure this is the first Spoony Melody made, and if you watch it you can easily see why they never made many more. It starts with some guy singing, and we see some woods. A boat FLIES by, and we see the moon. After that, we see a city and the boat returns. That’s it, the end. Now it is not really bad, but it is just freaking weird. This is the kind of thing that would have messed me up as a child. These are just the kind of things we have to put up with.
Personal Rating: 1
Looney Tunes was doing so well that Leon Schlesinger thought that these would be a good idea. What they would do is replace the real organist usually found in a theater, with a musical short in live action. Needless to say, you probably never heard of these, because only four of these were ever made.Although today you can not really find any of these, I was lucky enough to find one, and tomorrow, I shall talk about it. See you then.
When it comes to early Looney Tunes, you can not go any earlier than this guy. Bosko was our first Looney Tune and the father of all shorts. He was created when two of Disney’s ex-animators left Disney to start their own company. Their character was Bosko, a happy go lucky talk-ink kid. (who a lot of people these days think is a racist caricature. Well, he is only black and white and I am sure black showed up better against the background, I am sure they never meant to offend. Me personally, I always thought he was some kind of ape. And I’m aware that isn’t necessarily a good thing.)
After him, many others would soon follow but the magic started here. Bosko is not completely forgotten. (Watch “Space Jam” and keep your eyes open. There is a picture of him.)
It is time to upgrade this place and so, pics. and videos will now be available! To celebrate, I decided to talk about one of my favorite childhood shows: ToonHeads. Yeah, I know it was not only focused on Looney Tunes, but it featured them prominently and it taught me to love them. (Yes, as a kid I was scared that all the characters got killed.)
This show had a great soundtrack which was just a drumbeat. Each episode showed a certain theme. Like cartoon caricatures or musical cartoons. We would see two shorts and then a trivia question. After that they would show us the final short, and call it a half hour. Ahh, those were the good ole’ days. Cartoon Network was great and I loved it. I think it was the best out of the three networks I watched. (Which included Nickelodeon and Toon Disney. R.I.P.)
Personal Rating: 3 (I mean, not only are the shorts sometimes edited, but not every episode can even be viewed these days.)
“Here comes the toitle.”
In what may be the first Looney Tunes clip show, we see footage from Bugs’ first race against Cecil Turtle. As we all know, Cecil won, and Bugs is ticked. How did he do it? He goes to Cecil’s house in disguise and asks for the secret. Cecil tells him that his shell is streamlined and that rabbits are retards. Bugs is mad and runs off to make sure he’ll win the next race. Cecil of course knew who it was the whole time and speculates that another race is about to happen.
The day of the race arrives and the rabbits are betting everything on the rabbit, and they are sure to have some tricks. They begin and Bugs puts on a metal tortoise shell in hopes of raising his aerodynamics. However, Cecil is now wearing a rabbit suit and as mentioned before, rabbits are dumb. They clobber Bugs and carry Cecil to the finish. Bugs reveals who he is and the rabbits commit suicide.
Personal Rating: 4
“Shh! I’m a-stalking a victim.”
Its Beaky Buzzard’s debut and he is sent by his mother to get food for dinner. (While she stays home and does who knows what) Beaky wants no part of this, but his mom kicks him out saying to at least get a rabbit. (We all know where this is heading)
The Snerd bird sees Bugs and grabs him. Bugs says he must shower first, but Beaky catches on. He leaps into the hole only to find Bugs dressed as a woman. Bugs smacks him with his towel and runs. Beaky catches him and flies off. Bugs rips out one of his feathers and tickles him into letting go. Bugs lands in front of a skeleton and mistakes it for his own. On seeing his feet he realizes he is okay.
He goes off but Beaky grabs him. They dance and Bugs puts him in front of the skeleton. Beaky calls for his mom and she is ticked. Bugs reveals that her “leetle keeler” is fine and she declares him a hero instead!
Personal Rating: 4
“Hello, Fred.”
This is the first appearance of Ralph and Sam, and it shows. Sam is erroneously called Ralph, and the real Ralph looks less like a coyote and more like a starving animal.
It starts with Sam going to work. He greets Fred Sheepdog and they switch places for the day. Ralph shows up and plans to get the sheep. He sets the time-clock ahead and this works. Until Sam sees the village clock and runs back to the field. (One thing to keep in mind, Ralph usually gets his prey. He just does not get to eat it.)
3 more scenes deserve mention. Ralph digs under the ground to get the sheep but he gets greedy and takes them all. Sam sees this and rushes down. The wolf grabs him. POW! Ralph uses a rope swing to swing down and get a sheep, bur he grabs Sam. Finally, Sam quits for the day and Fred greets him. Sam starts pounding him and we see it’s really Ralph in disguise. The real Fred shows up and takes over Sam’s Ralph pounding.
Personal Rating: 3
Sorry it has been a while, just been busy.
I wish more people knew about these two. They are really hilarious. While most Looney Tunes who are always paired together try to kill each other, these two are best friends. They wake up greet each other and go to work. Sam’s job is to guard a flock of sheep while Ralph’s is to steal them. Thus, they fight and bicker but its not because of malice but because their jobs are so different. Ralph also looks familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…
“Don’t you dare bring one more thing into this house!”
A little kitten comes across a big dog. He tries to frighten her, but she treats him as her bed. Falling for her, Marc Antony takes her with him to her new home. The mistress of the house decides the dog has enough material objects and warns him to not bring in anymore things. So now he must try to keep the kitten hidden. This lady never stops moving and frequently runs into it. Puppy has to pass it off as a toy and a powder puff just to keep it safe.
When she comes into the kitchen, he hides it in the flour bin. Wouldn’t you know it, she is about to make cookies. He tries to save her, but the mistress throws him out. Unbeknownst to him, his kitty crawls out of the bowl but not before he thinks she has been beaten, rolled out, cut into shapes, and baked. The dog is reduced to a blubbering wreck and the woman tries to cheer him up with a cat shaped cookie. (Seriously, who makes cookies shaped like cats?) He puts it on his back and cries, but surprise! She’s alive! The woman finally gets wise and says if he takes care of it, he can keep it. A happy ending for all.
Rating: 5
If there is one thing I hate, it is cats. To me, they are fat, ugly, annoying, and they stink to boot. Cartoons are a different manner, and this includes the cutest Looney Tune ever: Pussyfoot! She (I’m pretty sure it’s a she, even if the shorts use masculine pronouns.) is just a baby kitten who does not know any better and ambles around having adventures.
Her “big brother” is a bulldog named Marc Antony. He at first tried to scare her, but when she used his back as a bed, he fell for her and kept her as his pet. Since she is only a baby however, he must protect her from everything. From his master, to Claude Cat he has his paws full. But at the end of the day, her love and affection makes his efforts worthwhile. I think everyone needs a Pussyfoot in their life.