A Corny Concerto
Encyclopedia
A Corny Concerto is an American
animated cartoon
short produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions
and distributed by Warner Bros.
It was directed by Bob Clampett
, written by Frank Tashlin
, animated by Robert McKimson
and released as part of the Merrie Melodies
series on September 25, 1943. A parody of Disney
's 1940 feature Fantasia
, the film uses two of Johann Strauss
' best known waltzes, Tales from the Vienna Woods and The Blue Danube
, adapted by the cartoon unit's music director, Carl Stalling
and orchestrated by its arranger and later, Stalling's successor, Milt Franklyn
. Long considered a classic for its sly humor and impeccable timing with the music, it was voted #47 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field in 1994. The title, in tune with the name of the unit's other cartoon series, Looney Tunes
, suggests another Disney titling parody, that of the pioneering series Silly Symphonies
.
, which was the debut for a number of characters, of which only one became a major star. Elmer Fudd
appears as the musicologist/composer (as Deems Taylor
was in Fantasia) introducing each segment. The first segment, Tales from the Vienna Woods, stars Bugs Bunny
and Porky Pig
, the former as the prey and the latter as the hunter. In addition, a number of people consider the main character in the second segment, The Blue Danube, to be a young Daffy Duck
.
This was the only cartoon in the "classic" era to feature Bugs and Porky starring together. Two other cartoons have one making a cameo in the other's cartoon: Porky Pig's Feat
features Bugs in a cameo as another patron locked in the hotel Porky and Daffy stayed at, and the 1964 version of Dumb Patrol
(with Bugs and Yosemite Sam
) has Porky cameoing as a World War I
soldier. Also, in 1938's Porky's Hare Hunt
, Porky hunts the Bugs Bunny Prototype.
Several other cartoons made by WB would follow the casting formula that debuted in this cartoon. Among these cartoons are 1947's Crowing Pains
(which stars Foghorn Leghorn, the Barnyard Dawg
, Sylvester the Cat
, and Henery Hawk
), 1950's The Scarlet Pumpernickel
(starring Daffy, Elmer, Porky, and Sylvester, among others), 1953's Hare Trimmed
(starring Bugs, Yosemite Sam, and Granny), 1953's Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century (starring Daffy, Porky, and Marvin the Martian
), 1955's Beanstalk Bunny
(starring Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer), 1955's This is a Life?
(starring Bugs, Daffy
, Elmer, Yosemite Sam
, and Granny
), 1956's A Star is Bored
(starring Bugs, Daffy, Elmer, and Yosemite Sam), 1960's Person to Bunny
(starring Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer, in their final pairing with Elmer), 1964's Dumb Patrol
(starring Bugs in his 4th to last appearance, Porky in his 2nd to last appearance, and Yosemite Sam in his final appearance), 1965's It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House
(starring Daffy, Speedy, Granny, and Sylvester), 1965's The Wild Chase
(starring Sylvester, Speedy Gonzales
, and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
) 1965's Corn on the Cop
(starring Daffy, Porky, and Granny), a series of cartoons from 1951-53 featuring both Bugs and Daffy as potential game for Elmer, AKA the "Hunter's Trilogy" and "Duck Season/Rabbit Season Trilogy" (consisting of Rabbit Fire
, Rabbit Seasoning
, and Duck! Rabbit, Duck!), and any of the numerous "Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety
" cartoons.
, here called "Corny-gie Hall", becomes the setting for the stately appearance of a distinguished musicologist, most notably exemplified by Deems Taylor
, who introduced Fantasia. Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
is heard over the opening credits. The "eminent personality" here, presented in the same grandiose fashion as Taylor, turns out to be none other than Elmer Fudd
(voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan
) who, while wearing Deems Taylor-style eyeglasses, although notably oversized, exhibits all of his own familiar mannerisms, including the nervous giggle and characteristic rhotacism
: "And as we hear the whythmic stwain of the haunting wefwain, wisten to the wippwing wefwain of the woodwind, as it wolls awound and awound, and it comes out here..."(quoting the lyrics to the popular song The Music Goes Round and Round
). In a staple of cartoon humor, Elmer is unable to control his starched tuxedo shirt front, which keeps rolling up in the manner of a window shade into his face while he tries to introduce the Vienna Woods segment. Returning for the introduction of the slightly-longer Blue Danube segment, he continues to be frustrated by the incessantly recalcitrant front and finally rips it away, causing his trousers to fall down and eliciting a final giggle of embarrassment. The two introductions contain the only spoken words in the cartoon since, apart from a few isolated non-verbal vocal sounds, the soundtrack of the musical segments consists of the Strauss waltzes.
and his unnamed hunting dog are in the presumed woods of the title, as Porky, in the role usually reserved for Elmer Fudd's rabbit/duck hunter character, holds up the sign "I'm hunting that @!!*@
rabbit!!" (which turns out to be none other than Bugs Bunny
) and the dog holds a sign of his own which simply states "DITTO". Other than the 1930s incarnation of Porky hunting a Bugs Bunny
prototype in Ben "Bugs" Hardaway's and Cal Dalton
's Porky's Hare Hunt
(1938), this is Porky's sole outing as a "rabbit hunter", but since both Porky and Bugs are also bereft here of their familiar voices, the primary motivator of the plot becomes the expressiveness of the characters' "balletic performance". The "@!!*@ rabbit", dancing to the beat of the music, manages to continue outwitting both Porky and his dog and, at one point, as the dog points to Bugs' hiding hole, a sign stating "It ain't polite to point!" emerges from the hole, along with Bugs' hands holding a book of etiquette, which he slams shut on the spherical nose at the tip of the dog's snout. Bugs then emerges from his hole, standing on a theater-style elevated platform, pirouettes out like a ballerina, dance-kicks the dog in the face and ties his tail to a tree, making the dog spring back and crash into the flimsy stump, breaking it.
Porky and the dog hide in a bush, only to find Bugs already there. Bugs confuses the duo and makes the dog jump in the bush, then runs out and pretends to be the dog, pointing to the bush. The dog pops out just before Porky pulls the trigger, followed by Bugs' grabbing the shotgun and throwing it into a tree's knothole, where a squirrel, irked by the entry of the object into his abode, fires the weapon. The impact of the gunshot causes each main character to assume his own fatal wounding. As Porky and the dog examine themselves and find no bullet mark, Bugs, appearing to be mortally hit, falls to the ground. Porky and the dog start mourning him, with Porky trying to undo Bugs' fingers around his chest. However, once he does so, Bugs is revealed to have a baby blue bra underneath! Emitting a scream of feminine modesty, he rises as a ballerina wearing a tutu
and pointe shoes
that matches the same color of his bra, slapping Porky's face three times, ties them to each other with the bra, flipping his tutu to revealed his pink bloomers to the audience, and gracefully dances off into the distance, leaving his two antagonists with puzzled and dismayed expressions on their faces.
, pre-dating Baby Looney Tunes
by nearly 60 years) tries to join them. The mother shoos him away, and when the lonesome little duckling tries again, using his underwater bubble tactic, the mother becomes angry at the little pest, now floating encased in a big bubble, and slaps him back to the water.
A large buzzard
in a "hep cat
" hairdo spots the troupe using his eyes which can extend like binoculars. Salivating in anticipation of a meal, he sprinkles salt and pepper on one of the little swans, but the powdery substance makes the baby swan sneeze. Then, one by one, the buzzard picks off the baby swans (one propelled by a tiny outboard motor). He also picks up the little black duck, but immediately puts him back, stamping the apparently unpalatable creature with, as befits a World War II
cartoon, an "unfit-for-military-service" 4F label. The mother swan turns around and, seeing her charges gone, panics, looks all over and even lifts the little duckling and peers underneath him, as if he were an inanimate object, and then falls into a faint. The duckling sees the buzzard taking the baby swans away, and becomes enraged. Suddenly turning into a super-duck, briefly shown morphed
into a representation of the P-40 Warhawk fighter, he chases the buzzard, who flies past a clasp of trees which suddenly become alive as they react to the passing object. The buzzard sees the enraged duckling chasing him in the manner of a fighter plane and literally turns yellow, dropping the baby swans, each of whom opens a little parachute on the way down, allowing them to drop safely. The duckling continues chasing the buzzard, now seemingly a symbolic representation of our wartime enemies and, as the buzzard is knocked out, hands him a drum of TNT and drops him from the sky. The big boom explodes the buzzard who is then seen strumming on a harp and floating towards some form of afterlife, held aloft by a balloon tied to his tail.
The final scene shows the heroic black duckling, savior of the family, as part of the mother swan's brood, "quacking" along to the beat rhythm of the waltz's finalé—with only his own little water-borne reflection having a hard time keeping up with the rest of them and banging into a tree.
DVD set and also appears in the documentary Bugs Bunny: Superstar
, which is available as a special feature on Discs 1 and 2 of Volume 4
.
Since this cartoon has fallen into public domain
, it can also be seen on various low-budget VHS and DVD cartoon releases.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
short produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
and distributed by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
It was directed by Bob Clampett
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
, written by Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin, born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, also known as Tish Tash or Frank Tash was an American animator, screenwriter, and film director.-Animator:...
, animated by Robert McKimson
Robert McKimson
Robert "Bob" Porter McKimson, Sr. was an American animator, illustrator, and director best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros., and later DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
and released as part of the Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
series on September 25, 1943. A parody of Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
's 1940 feature Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
, the film uses two of Johann Strauss
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
' best known waltzes, Tales from the Vienna Woods and The Blue Danube
The Blue Danube
The Blue Danube is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 , a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866...
, adapted by the cartoon unit's music director, Carl Stalling
Carl Stalling
Carl W. Stalling was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.-Biography:Stalling was born to Ernest and...
and orchestrated by its arranger and later, Stalling's successor, Milt Franklyn
Milt Franklyn
Milton J. Franklyn was a musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes animated cartoons....
. Long considered a classic for its sly humor and impeccable timing with the music, it was voted #47 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field in 1994. The title, in tune with the name of the unit's other cartoon series, Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
, suggests another Disney titling parody, that of the pioneering series Silly Symphonies
Silly Symphonies
Silly Symphonies is a series of animated short subjects, 75 in total, produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939, while the studio was still located at Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles...
.
Character cast
This cartoon was a milestone, as it was the first WB cartoon ever to feature more than two of their major characters in starring roles (though not all appeared on screen at the same time); not counting I Haven't Got a HatI Haven't Got a Hat
I Haven't Got a Hat is a 1935 animated short film, directed by Isadore Freleng for Leon Schlesinger Productions as part of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies series. Released by Warner Bros. on March 9, 1935, the short is notable for featuring the first appearance of several Warner Bros. cartoon...
, which was the debut for a number of characters, of which only one became a major star. Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
appears as the musicologist/composer (as Deems Taylor
Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor was a U.S. composer, music critic, and promoter of classical music.-Career:Taylor initially planned to become an architect; however, despite minimal musical training he soon took to music composition. The result was a series of works for orchestra and/or voices...
was in Fantasia) introducing each segment. The first segment, Tales from the Vienna Woods, stars Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
, the former as the prey and the latter as the hunter. In addition, a number of people consider the main character in the second segment, The Blue Danube, to be a young Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
.
This was the only cartoon in the "classic" era to feature Bugs and Porky starring together. Two other cartoons have one making a cameo in the other's cartoon: Porky Pig's Feat
Porky Pig's Feat
Porky Pig's Feat is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Looney Tunes series, produced in black-and-white and released to theatres on June 13, 1943 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Frank Tashlin with musical supervision by Carl Stalling, and produced by Leon Schlesinger...
features Bugs in a cameo as another patron locked in the hotel Porky and Daffy stayed at, and the 1964 version of Dumb Patrol
Dumb Patrol
"Dumb Patrol" is a Looney Tunes cartoon short released 18 January 1964 starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam with a cameo appearance by Porky Pig. This cartoon short was directed by Gerry Chiniquy, a longtime animator in Friz Freleng's unit...
(with Bugs and Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
) has Porky cameoing as a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
soldier. Also, in 1938's Porky's Hare Hunt
Porky's Hare Hunt
Porky's Hare Hunt is a 1938 animated short movie directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and Cal Dalton, which starred Porky Pig as a hunter whose prey is an unnamed rabbit - a prototype of Bugs Bunny, Warner's biggest star and the second most popular character at that time behind Disney's Mickey Mouse...
, Porky hunts the Bugs Bunny Prototype.
Several other cartoons made by WB would follow the casting formula that debuted in this cartoon. Among these cartoons are 1947's Crowing Pains
Crowing Pains
Crowing Pains is a cartoon in the Looney Tunes series that was released in 1947. The cartoon, directed by Robert McKimson, stars Henery Hawk, Sylvester, and Foghorn Leghorn and The Barnyard Dawg, all of whom are voiced by Mel Blanc. It is also the first cartoon to feature more than two Looney Tunes...
(which stars Foghorn Leghorn, the Barnyard Dawg
Barnyard Dawg
Barnyard Dawg is a Looney Tunes character. An adult anthropomorphic basset hound, he is the archenemy of Foghorn Leghorn. He was created by Robert McKimson, who also created Foghorn and was voiced by Mel Blanc...
, Sylvester the Cat
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
, and Henery Hawk
Henery Hawk
Henery Hawk is a cartoon character from the American Looney Tunes series, who appeared in twelve cartoons. His first appearance was The Squawkin' Hawk, directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Leon Schlesinger. Henery's next appearance was Walky Talky Hawky which also featured Foghorn Leghorn and...
), 1950's The Scarlet Pumpernickel
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
The Scarlet Pumpernickel is a 1949 animated Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1950, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese....
(starring Daffy, Elmer, Porky, and Sylvester, among others), 1953's Hare Trimmed
Hare Trimmed
Hare Trimmed is a 1953 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster, which features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, voiced by Mel Blanc, and Granny voiced by uncredited Bea Benaderet.- Plot :...
(starring Bugs, Yosemite Sam, and Granny), 1953's Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century (starring Daffy, Porky, and Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian is a fictional character appearing in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars.-Conception and creation:...
), 1955's Beanstalk Bunny
Beanstalk Bunny
Beanstalk Bunny, a 1954 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon was released on 12 February 1955. This theatrical cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones, and starred Mel Blanc as the voices of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Elmer Fudd, voiced by Arthur Q...
(starring Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer), 1955's This is a Life?
This Is a Life?
This Is a Life? is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon of the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng, written by Warren Foster, and produced by Edward Selzer, with music directed by Milt Franklyn. Originally released to theatres on July 9, 1955, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Yosemite Sam are...
(starring Bugs, Daffy
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, Elmer, Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
, and Granny
Granny (Looney Tunes)
Granny is a co-star of many Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird animated shorts throughout the 1950s and 1960s, is a Looney Tunes character that was created by Tex Avery. She is the owner of Tweety . Granny's voice was first provided by Bea Benaderet from 1937 through 1953...
), 1956's A Star is Bored
A Star Is Bored
A Star Is Bored is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon of the Looney Tunes series, directed by Friz Freleng. The cartoon expands upon the rivalry depicted between Bugs and Daffy in such films as Chuck Jones' Rabbit Fire, this time placing the action in a show-biz setting...
(starring Bugs, Daffy, Elmer, and Yosemite Sam), 1960's Person to Bunny
Person To Bunny
Person to Bunny is a 1959 Merrie Melodies Bugs Bunny cartoon released on April 2, 1960. It stars Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd. The cartoon is posthumous because Arthur Q. Bryan died before the release of the cartoon.- Plot :...
(starring Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer, in their final pairing with Elmer), 1964's Dumb Patrol
Dumb Patrol
"Dumb Patrol" is a Looney Tunes cartoon short released 18 January 1964 starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam with a cameo appearance by Porky Pig. This cartoon short was directed by Gerry Chiniquy, a longtime animator in Friz Freleng's unit...
(starring Bugs in his 4th to last appearance, Porky in his 2nd to last appearance, and Yosemite Sam in his final appearance), 1965's It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House
It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House
It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House is a Looney Tunes cartoon animated short starring Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester and Granny. Released January 16, 1965, the cartoon is directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt...
(starring Daffy, Speedy, Granny, and Sylvester), 1965's The Wild Chase
The Wild Chase
The Wild Chase is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises featuring Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester, with Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner along for the race. It was directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt, and was released February 27, 1965. This cartoon was the...
(starring Sylvester, Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales is an animated caricature of a mouse in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent...
, and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
) 1965's Corn on the Cop
Corn on the Cop
Corn on the Cop is a "Merrie Melodies" animated cartoon short starring Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Granny. Released July 24, 1965, the cartoon is directed by Irv Spector; the only time that Spector, who was mostly known as a story artist, ever acted as director on a theatrical cartoon...
(starring Daffy, Porky, and Granny), a series of cartoons from 1951-53 featuring both Bugs and Daffy as potential game for Elmer, AKA the "Hunter's Trilogy" and "Duck Season/Rabbit Season Trilogy" (consisting of Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Fire is a 1951 Looney Tunes cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, The short is notable for being the first film in Jones' "hunting trilogy"—the other two films being Rabbit Seasoning and Duck! Rabbit, Duck!. It is also...
, Rabbit Seasoning
Rabbit Seasoning
Rabbit Seasoning is a 1952 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. It is the sequel to Rabbit Fire, and the second entry in the "Hunting trilogy" directed by Jones and written by Michael Maltese...
, and Duck! Rabbit, Duck!), and any of the numerous "Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety
Tweety
Tweety Bird is a fictional Yellow Canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds...
" cartoons.
Opening scene: introduction
The film's name is explained in the first shot as Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, here called "Corny-gie Hall", becomes the setting for the stately appearance of a distinguished musicologist, most notably exemplified by Deems Taylor
Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor was a U.S. composer, music critic, and promoter of classical music.-Career:Taylor initially planned to become an architect; however, despite minimal musical training he soon took to music composition. The result was a series of works for orchestra and/or voices...
, who introduced Fantasia. Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in the summer of 1879 and again in December 1888. The first version received heavy criticism from Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky's desired pianist....
is heard over the opening credits. The "eminent personality" here, presented in the same grandiose fashion as Taylor, turns out to be none other than Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
(voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Quirk Bryan was a United States comedian and voice actor, remembered best for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr...
) who, while wearing Deems Taylor-style eyeglasses, although notably oversized, exhibits all of his own familiar mannerisms, including the nervous giggle and characteristic rhotacism
Rhotacism
Rhotacism refers to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r :*the excessive or idiosyncratic use of the r;...
: "And as we hear the whythmic stwain of the haunting wefwain, wisten to the wippwing wefwain of the woodwind, as it wolls awound and awound, and it comes out here..."(quoting the lyrics to the popular song The Music Goes Round and Round
The Music Goes Round and Round
-History:The music was written by Edward Farley and Mike Riley, the lyrics by Red Hodgson, and was published in 1935. It was included on the 1961 Ella Fitzgerald album Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie . The song was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and became a hit in 1936. The song was the musical...
). In a staple of cartoon humor, Elmer is unable to control his starched tuxedo shirt front, which keeps rolling up in the manner of a window shade into his face while he tries to introduce the Vienna Woods segment. Returning for the introduction of the slightly-longer Blue Danube segment, he continues to be frustrated by the incessantly recalcitrant front and finally rips it away, causing his trousers to fall down and eliciting a final giggle of embarrassment. The two introductions contain the only spoken words in the cartoon since, apart from a few isolated non-verbal vocal sounds, the soundtrack of the musical segments consists of the Strauss waltzes.
Tales from the Vienna Woods
In tune with the rhythm of Strauss' waltz, Porky PigPorky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
and his unnamed hunting dog are in the presumed woods of the title, as Porky, in the role usually reserved for Elmer Fudd's rabbit/duck hunter character, holds up the sign "I'm hunting that @!!*@
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
rabbit!!" (which turns out to be none other than Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
) and the dog holds a sign of his own which simply states "DITTO". Other than the 1930s incarnation of Porky hunting a Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
prototype in Ben "Bugs" Hardaway's and Cal Dalton
Cal Dalton
Cal Dalton was a cartoon director at Warner Brothers. Dalton's first commercial animation work was on an animated short version of The Wizard of Oz that was produced by Ted Eshbaugh's independent animation studio in 1933. Afterwards, Dalton left to work at the Warner Brothers animation studio,...
's Porky's Hare Hunt
Porky's Hare Hunt
Porky's Hare Hunt is a 1938 animated short movie directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and Cal Dalton, which starred Porky Pig as a hunter whose prey is an unnamed rabbit - a prototype of Bugs Bunny, Warner's biggest star and the second most popular character at that time behind Disney's Mickey Mouse...
(1938), this is Porky's sole outing as a "rabbit hunter", but since both Porky and Bugs are also bereft here of their familiar voices, the primary motivator of the plot becomes the expressiveness of the characters' "balletic performance". The "@!!*@ rabbit", dancing to the beat of the music, manages to continue outwitting both Porky and his dog and, at one point, as the dog points to Bugs' hiding hole, a sign stating "It ain't polite to point!" emerges from the hole, along with Bugs' hands holding a book of etiquette, which he slams shut on the spherical nose at the tip of the dog's snout. Bugs then emerges from his hole, standing on a theater-style elevated platform, pirouettes out like a ballerina, dance-kicks the dog in the face and ties his tail to a tree, making the dog spring back and crash into the flimsy stump, breaking it.
Porky and the dog hide in a bush, only to find Bugs already there. Bugs confuses the duo and makes the dog jump in the bush, then runs out and pretends to be the dog, pointing to the bush. The dog pops out just before Porky pulls the trigger, followed by Bugs' grabbing the shotgun and throwing it into a tree's knothole, where a squirrel, irked by the entry of the object into his abode, fires the weapon. The impact of the gunshot causes each main character to assume his own fatal wounding. As Porky and the dog examine themselves and find no bullet mark, Bugs, appearing to be mortally hit, falls to the ground. Porky and the dog start mourning him, with Porky trying to undo Bugs' fingers around his chest. However, once he does so, Bugs is revealed to have a baby blue bra underneath! Emitting a scream of feminine modesty, he rises as a ballerina wearing a tutu
Ballet tutu
A tutu is a skirt worn as a costume in a ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It might be single layer, hanging down, or multiple layers starched and jutting out.There are several types of ballet tutu:...
and pointe shoes
Pointe shoes
A pointe shoe is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointework. Pointe shoes developed from the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-like and have evolved to enable dancers to dance on the tips of their toes for extended periods of time...
that matches the same color of his bra, slapping Porky's face three times, ties them to each other with the bra, flipping his tutu to revealed his pink bloomers to the audience, and gracefully dances off into the distance, leaving his two antagonists with puzzled and dismayed expressions on their faces.
The Blue Danube
Set upon a cartoon representation of the title waterway, this parody of Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon, The Ugly Duckling, is perfectly timed to the strains of the Strauss waltz. As the story opens, a mother swan is gliding with her brood, when a small black duck (which some animation historians have described as a possible representation of baby Daffy DuckDaffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, pre-dating Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes is a Canadian-American animated television series that shows Looney Tunes characters as toddlers. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation....
by nearly 60 years) tries to join them. The mother shoos him away, and when the lonesome little duckling tries again, using his underwater bubble tactic, the mother becomes angry at the little pest, now floating encased in a big bubble, and slaps him back to the water.
A large buzzard
Buzzard
A buzzard is one of several large birds, but there are a number of meanings as detailed below.-Old World:In the Old World Buzzard can mean:* One of several medium-sized, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings....
in a "hep cat
Hipster (1940s subculture)
Hipster, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic...
" hairdo spots the troupe using his eyes which can extend like binoculars. Salivating in anticipation of a meal, he sprinkles salt and pepper on one of the little swans, but the powdery substance makes the baby swan sneeze. Then, one by one, the buzzard picks off the baby swans (one propelled by a tiny outboard motor). He also picks up the little black duck, but immediately puts him back, stamping the apparently unpalatable creature with, as befits a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
cartoon, an "unfit-for-military-service" 4F label. The mother swan turns around and, seeing her charges gone, panics, looks all over and even lifts the little duckling and peers underneath him, as if he were an inanimate object, and then falls into a faint. The duckling sees the buzzard taking the baby swans away, and becomes enraged. Suddenly turning into a super-duck, briefly shown morphed
Morphing
Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes one image into another through a seamless transition. Most often it is used to depict one person turning into another through technological means or as part of a fantasy or surreal sequence. Traditionally such a depiction...
into a representation of the P-40 Warhawk fighter, he chases the buzzard, who flies past a clasp of trees which suddenly become alive as they react to the passing object. The buzzard sees the enraged duckling chasing him in the manner of a fighter plane and literally turns yellow, dropping the baby swans, each of whom opens a little parachute on the way down, allowing them to drop safely. The duckling continues chasing the buzzard, now seemingly a symbolic representation of our wartime enemies and, as the buzzard is knocked out, hands him a drum of TNT and drops him from the sky. The big boom explodes the buzzard who is then seen strumming on a harp and floating towards some form of afterlife, held aloft by a balloon tied to his tail.
The final scene shows the heroic black duckling, savior of the family, as part of the mother swan's brood, "quacking" along to the beat rhythm of the waltz's finalé—with only his own little water-borne reflection having a hard time keeping up with the rest of them and banging into a tree.
Availability
The short can be seen on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on November 2, 2004. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements.-Related releases:...
DVD set and also appears in the documentary Bugs Bunny: Superstar
Bugs Bunny: Superstar
Bugs Bunny: Superstar is a 1975 Looney Tunes documentary film, narrated by Orson Welles and produced and directed by Larry Jackson.The film includes nine Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons which were previously released during the 1940s :* What's Cookin' Doc? * The Wild Hare Bugs Bunny:...
, which is available as a special feature on Discs 1 and 2 of Volume 4
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 is a Looney Tunes collection on DVD. Following the pattern of one release each year of the previous volumes, it was released on November 14, 2006...
.
Since this cartoon has fallen into public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
, it can also be seen on various low-budget VHS and DVD cartoon releases.
See also
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)
- List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
- List of films in the public domain
External links
- Hall, PhilPhil Hall (US writer)Phil Hall is an American writer. He is a contributing editor for the online magazine Film Threat.-Writing:Hall works as an editor for Zackin Publications, editing a monthly mortgage-banking magazine called Secondary Marketing Executive....
. "The Bootleg Files: A Corny Concerto" (August 8, 2008) at the Film Threat website - Frame-by-frame examination of A Corny Concerto at the Inspiration Grab–Bag website
- Free to download Corny Concerto in Windows and Real Media format