Old Glory (1939 film)
Encyclopedia
Old Glory is a Merrie Melodies
animated
cartoon directed by Chuck Jones
, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions
, and released to theatres by Warner Bros. Pictures
and The Vitaphone Corporation
. It premiered at the famed Carthay Circle Theater at Los Angeles on July 1, 1939 - three days before Independence Day
.
. Porky Pig
plays a child forced to learn the Pledge of Allegiance
. He becomes quickly bored and falls asleep. In his dream, Uncle Sam
(voiced by John Deering http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0214385/) comes to life and teaches Porky about history from Colonial America
through the midnight ride
of Paul Revere
(voiced by Daws Butler
) and the American Revolutionary War
to the expansion of the American Old West
, briefly alluding to Abraham Lincoln
. Upon awakening, Porky snaps into a salute
and recites the pledge as the Flag of the United States
waves overhead and the words "The End" pan over the waving flag. There are no Merrie Melodies
rings at the end, as in other shorts, or the words "That's All, Folks!" (The Flag of the United States
has only 48 stars, as this short was made before Hawaii
and Alaska
were admitted to the Union. Also, this Pledge of Allegiance as recited by Porky does not yet include the phrase "under God
". That phrase was not added until 1954.)
d, different from the usual Warner Bros. style. Director Chuck Jones was known for his Disney
-like style during this period, and Schlesinger assigned him to make this cartoon for that reason. The scene with Patrick Henry
(voiced by John Litel
) saying his "Give Me Liberty
" speech was rotoscoped from the Warner Bros. color 2-reel historical short, Give Me Liberty. That short won the Academy Award
for Best Short Subject - Color
of 1936.
The original ending was cut when the cartoon was reissued twice as a Blue Ribbon Merrie Melody once on August 25, 1945 during the 1944-45 season (evident from the style opening rings used: orange rings with a black background) and again on September 12, 1953 during the 1953-54 season (evident from the style opening rings used: orange rings with a blue background). A version with a restored ending can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2
, Disc 3. This copy retains the Blue Ribbon opening, but also the original opening shot of the flag and its music cue.
Old Glory is Jones's first short to feature Porky Pig. It is also Porky's first appearance in a color Merrie Melody since his debut in 1935's I Haven't Got a Hat
, and his first short in three-strip Technicolor.
During the late 60s, Old Glory was regularly screened between rock
acts at the Fillmore
in San Francisco. Many of the Fillmore's patrons drew great amusement from a pig (or "cop"
in 60s slang) saluting the American flag.
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,...
animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
cartoon directed by Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
, 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 released to theatres by Warner Bros. Pictures
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,...
and The Vitaphone Corporation
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
. It premiered at the famed Carthay Circle Theater at Los Angeles on July 1, 1939 - three days before Independence Day
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
.
Synopsis
The uniquely serious Schlesinger-produced cartoon retells the origins of the United States of AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. 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...
plays a child forced to learn the Pledge of Allegiance
Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942...
. He becomes quickly bored and falls asleep. In his dream, Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam is a common national personification of the American government originally used during the War of 1812. He is depicted as a stern elderly man with white hair and a goatee beard...
(voiced by John Deering http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0214385/) comes to life and teaches Porky about history from Colonial America
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
through the midnight ride
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy , and Cambridge, near Boston...
of Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
(voiced by Daws Butler
Daws Butler
Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
) and the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
to the expansion of the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
, briefly alluding to Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. Upon awakening, Porky snaps into a salute
Salute
A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organizations and civil people also use salutes.-Military salutes:...
and recites the pledge as the Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
waves overhead and the words "The End" pan over the waving flag. There are no 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,...
rings at the end, as in other shorts, or the words "That's All, Folks!" (The Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
has only 48 stars, as this short was made before Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
were admitted to the Union. Also, this Pledge of Allegiance as recited by Porky does not yet include the phrase "under God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
". That phrase was not added until 1954.)
Analysis
The animation in Old Glory is realistic and heavily rotoscopeRotoscope
Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator...
d, different from the usual Warner Bros. style. Director Chuck Jones was known for his Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
-like style during this period, and Schlesinger assigned him to make this cartoon for that reason. The scene with Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
(voiced by John Litel
John Litel
John Litel was an American film actor. During World War I, Litel enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery....
) saying his "Give Me Liberty
Give me Liberty, or give me Death!
"Give me Liberty, or Give me Death!" is a quotation attributed to Patrick Henry from a speech he made to the Virginia Convention. It was given on March 23, 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, and is credited with having swung the balance in convincing the Virginia House of Burgesses...
" speech was rotoscoped from the Warner Bros. color 2-reel historical short, Give Me Liberty. That short won the Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Short Subject - Color
Academy Award for Live Action Short Film
This name for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film was introduced in 1974. For the three preceding years it was known as "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The term "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects" was used from 1957 until 1970. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate...
of 1936.
The original ending was cut when the cartoon was reissued twice as a Blue Ribbon Merrie Melody once on August 25, 1945 during the 1944-45 season (evident from the style opening rings used: orange rings with a black background) and again on September 12, 1953 during the 1953-54 season (evident from the style opening rings used: orange rings with a blue background). A version with a restored ending can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2
Looney 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:...
, Disc 3. This copy retains the Blue Ribbon opening, but also the original opening shot of the flag and its music cue.
Old Glory is Jones's first short to feature Porky Pig. It is also Porky's first appearance in a color Merrie Melody since his debut in 1935's I Haven't Got a Hat
I 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...
, and his first short in three-strip Technicolor.
During the late 60s, Old Glory was regularly screened between rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
acts at the Fillmore
The Fillmore
The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods.In 1968,...
in San Francisco. Many of the Fillmore's patrons drew great amusement from a pig (or "cop"
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
in 60s slang) saluting the American flag.