One Froggy Evening
Encyclopedia
One Froggy Evening is an approximately seven-minute long Technicolor
animated short film written by Michael Maltese
and directed by Chuck Jones
, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn
.The short makes the debut of Michigan J. Frog
.This popular short contained a wide variety of musical entertainment, with songs ranging from "Hello! Ma Baby
" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry
", two Tin Pan Alley
classics, to "Largo al Factotum
", Figaro's aria from the opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia
. The short was released on December 31, 1955 as part of Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodies
series of cartoon
s.
Steven Spielberg
, in the PBS
Chuck Jones biography Extremes & Inbetweens: A Life In Animation, called One Froggy Evening "the Citizen Kane
of animated film." (Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 5, Disc 2) In 1994 it was voted #5 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In 2003 the United States
Library of Congress
deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry
.
The film is included in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2
DVD box set (Disc 4), along with an Audio commentary
, optional music-only audio track (only the instrumental, not the vocal), and a making-of documentary
, It Hopped One Night: A Look at "One Froggy Evening".
worker involved in the demolition
of the J. C. Wilber Building finds a box inside a cornerstone. He opens it to reveal a singing, dancing frog
, complete with top hat
and cane. The box also contains a commemorative document dated April 16, 1892. The man tries exploiting the frog's talents for money - but as it turns out, it will not perform in front of anyone else. It merely devolves into croaking. The man frantically tries to demonstrate the frog's abilities to the outside world—first by trying to get an agent to accept him, then by renting out a theater for it to perform in—all to no avail.
Eventually, the man becomes homeless—after spending all his money renting the theater—and is living on a park bench, where the frog still performs only for him. A policeman overhears this and approaches the man for disturbing the peace
, but after the man points out the frog as having done the singing, he takes the man in. He is committed to a psychiatric hospital
along with the frog, who continues serenading the hapless patient. Following his release, the haggard man spies a construction site and joyfully hides the box (with the singing frog again enclosed) in the cornerstone of the future "Tregoweth Brown
Building". He then tiptoes away to freedom. The timeline then jumps to 2056 (100 years and at least one day after the cartoon's debut). The Brown Building is being demolished using futuristic ray guns, and the box with the frog is discovered yet again by a 21st-century demolition man, who gets visions of dollar signs, starting the process all over again....
Ironically, it is revealed in a 1995 sequel, "Another Froggy Evening
", that the Frog
's croaking noise is actually Martian for "Would you like to hear me sing?" This sequel is actually a prologue which shows that Michigan J. Frog has lived for centuries, from the caveman to the space age — and with the same result for both the frog and its hapless finder.
and Tin Pan Alley
hits with a dash of opera
, showing the Frog's versatility.
The singer was uncredited, and for years his identity was shrouded in some degree of mystery. Various names were proposed in the past, but the Looney Tunes Golden Collection unequivocally credits the vocals to baritone
Bill Roberts, a Los Angeles nightclub entertainer in the 1950s.
The Frog had no name when the cartoon was made, but Chuck Jones later named him Michigan J. Frog
after the original song. The character became the mascot of The WB television network in the 1990s. In a clip shown in the DVD specials for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection
, Jones states that he started calling the character "Michigan Frog" in the 1970s. During an interview with writer Jay Cocks
, Jones decided to adopt "J" as the Frog's middle initial, after the interviewer's name.
The DVD points out that the names of the buildings in the picture, as shown on the cornerstones, are names of Warner production people on the cartoon. A plate-glass window likewise is adorned with the layout artist's name.
The date on the cornerstone in which the Frog was sealed predates most of the songs he sings. Papers found in the box with him state that it was sealed in 1892, but "Hello! Ma Baby
", for instance, was not written until 1899.
A production shortcut can be observed in the final scene, in which the futuristic demolition worker finds the Frog in the box. The wide shot of the worker shows modern metal fencing in the background, while the closeup shot of the Frog has the background of rubble identical to the first scene.
, a horned toad
which was claimed to have survived 31 years sealed in the cornerstone of the courthouse in Eastland, Texas
. The cornerstones in both cases had been laid in the 1890s.
Some of the Frog's physical movements are evocative of ragtime-era greats such as Bert Williams
, who was known for sporting a top hat and cane, and performing the type of flamboyant, high-kick cakewalk
dance steps demonstrated by the Frog in Hello! Ma Baby.
In 1995 Chuck Jones
reprised Michigan J. Frog
in a cartoon entitled Another Froggy Evening, with Jeff McCarthy
providing the Frog's voice. The cartoon had a sequel of sorts in an episode of the Warner Brothers series Tiny Toon Adventures
, with the Frog falling into Hamton J. Pig
's possession. Another cameo of Michigan J. Frog was in an episode of Animaniacs
when a scene from MacBeth
is recreated. Michigan J. Frog, wearing his top hat, is placed into a boiling cauldron
along with other cartoon characters.
The two men who find the Frog are the only persons who see him singing. However, the theatre audience probably heard him behind the closed curtain and the police officer definitely heard him singing in the park. (The Frog stops singing before he can be seen either by the theatre audience or by the police officer.)
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
animated short film written by Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese
Michael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
and 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...
, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn
Milt Franklyn
Milton J. Franklyn was a musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes animated cartoons....
.The short makes the debut of Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog is an animated cartoon character who debuted in the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening , written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones...
.This popular short contained a wide variety of musical entertainment, with songs ranging from "Hello! Ma Baby
Hello! Ma Baby
"Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson . Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone...
" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry
I'm Just Wild About Harry
"I'm Just Wild About Harry" is a song written in 1921 with lyrics by Noble Sissle and music by Eubie Blake for the Broadway show Shuffle Along. "I'm Just Wild About Harry" was the most popular number of the production, which was the first financially successful Broadway play to have...
", two Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
classics, to "Largo al Factotum
Largo al factotum
Largo al factotum is an aria from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, sung at the first entrance of the title character; the repeated "Figaro"s before the final patter section are an icon in popular culture of operatic singing...
", Figaro's aria from the opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
. The short was released on December 31, 1955 as part of Warner Brothers' 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 of cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s.
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, in the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
Chuck Jones biography Extremes & Inbetweens: A Life In Animation, called One Froggy Evening "the Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
of animated film." (Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 5, Disc 2) In 1994 it was voted #5 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In 2003 the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.
The film is included in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 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:...
DVD box set (Disc 4), along with an Audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
, optional music-only audio track (only the instrumental, not the vocal), and a making-of documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, It Hopped One Night: A Look at "One Froggy Evening".
The Plot
A mid-1950s constructionConstruction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
worker involved in the demolition
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
of the J. C. Wilber Building finds a box inside a cornerstone. He opens it to reveal a singing, dancing frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
, complete with top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
and cane. The box also contains a commemorative document dated April 16, 1892. The man tries exploiting the frog's talents for money - but as it turns out, it will not perform in front of anyone else. It merely devolves into croaking. The man frantically tries to demonstrate the frog's abilities to the outside world—first by trying to get an agent to accept him, then by renting out a theater for it to perform in—all to no avail.
Eventually, the man becomes homeless—after spending all his money renting the theater—and is living on a park bench, where the frog still performs only for him. A policeman overhears this and approaches the man for disturbing the peace
Disturbing the Peace
Disturbing the Peace is the second studio album by Alcatrazz, and is the only one featuring Steve Vai on guitar. One of the singles, God Blessed Video, can be found on the fictional radio station, V-Rock, on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Weeks on Chart: 7, Peak: #133...
, but after the man points out the frog as having done the singing, he takes the man in. He is committed to a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
along with the frog, who continues serenading the hapless patient. Following his release, the haggard man spies a construction site and joyfully hides the box (with the singing frog again enclosed) in the cornerstone of the future "Tregoweth Brown
Treg Brown
Tregoweth Edmond "Treg" Brown was a motion picture sound editor who was responsible for the sound effects in Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons starting in 1940. He also won the 1965 Academy Award for Sound Effects for his work on the film The Great Race.In the famous Warner...
Building". He then tiptoes away to freedom. The timeline then jumps to 2056 (100 years and at least one day after the cartoon's debut). The Brown Building is being demolished using futuristic ray guns, and the box with the frog is discovered yet again by a 21st-century demolition man, who gets visions of dollar signs, starting the process all over again....
Ironically, it is revealed in a 1995 sequel, "Another Froggy Evening
Another Froggy Evening
Another Froggy Evening is a 1995 cartoon by Chuck Jones and a sequel to his 1955 cartoon One Froggy Evening.The short features Michigan J. Frog and Marvin the Martian who reveals that Michigan's croaking noise is actually Martian for "Would you like to hear me sing?" This sequel is actually a...
", that the Frog
Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog is an animated cartoon character who debuted in the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening , written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones...
's croaking noise is actually Martian for "Would you like to hear me sing?" This sequel is actually a prologue which shows that Michigan J. Frog has lived for centuries, from the caveman to the space age — and with the same result for both the frog and its hapless finder.
Production notes
The cartoon has no spoken dialogue, in fact no vocals at all except by the Frog, otherwise relying on pantomime and other visuals, sound effects and music. The songs include ragtimeRagtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
and Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
hits with a dash of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, showing the Frog's versatility.
The singer was uncredited, and for years his identity was shrouded in some degree of mystery. Various names were proposed in the past, but the Looney Tunes Golden Collection unequivocally credits the vocals to baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Bill Roberts, a Los Angeles nightclub entertainer in the 1950s.
The Frog had no name when the cartoon was made, but Chuck Jones later named him Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog is an animated cartoon character who debuted in the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening , written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones...
after the original song. The character became the mascot of The WB television network in the 1990s. In a clip shown in the DVD specials for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection
Looney Tunes Golden Collection
The Looney Tunes Golden Collection was an annual series of six four-disc DVD box sets from Warner Bros.' home video unit Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts...
, Jones states that he started calling the character "Michigan Frog" in the 1970s. During an interview with writer Jay Cocks
Jay Cocks
Jay Cocks is a film critic and motion picture screenwriter.He is a graduate of Kenyon College. He was a critic for Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone, among other magazines, before moving into film writing....
, Jones decided to adopt "J" as the Frog's middle initial, after the interviewer's name.
The DVD points out that the names of the buildings in the picture, as shown on the cornerstones, are names of Warner production people on the cartoon. A plate-glass window likewise is adorned with the layout artist's name.
The date on the cornerstone in which the Frog was sealed predates most of the songs he sings. Papers found in the box with him state that it was sealed in 1892, but "Hello! Ma Baby
Hello! Ma Baby
"Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson . Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone...
", for instance, was not written until 1899.
A production shortcut can be observed in the final scene, in which the futuristic demolition worker finds the Frog in the box. The wide shot of the worker shows modern metal fencing in the background, while the closeup shot of the Frog has the background of rubble identical to the first scene.
Inspirations
The story may have been inspired by the real-life tale of Ol' RipOl' Rip the Horned Toad
Ol' Rip was a horned lizard whose supposed 31-year hibernation as an entombed animal is believed by some and doubted by others. His name is a reference to the fictional character Rip Van Winkle...
, a horned toad
Short-horned Lizard
The Short-horned Lizard is a small lizard that occurs in North America. Like other horned lizards, it is often wrongly called the "Horned Toad" or "Horny Toad," but it is not a toad at all. It is a reptile, not an amphibian. It is one of five species of lizards in Canada...
which was claimed to have survived 31 years sealed in the cornerstone of the courthouse in Eastland, Texas
Eastland, Texas
Eastland is a city in Eastland County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,769 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Eastland County.During the 1920s, Eastland, like nearby Cisco, Ranger, and Desdemona, were petroleum boomtowns....
. The cornerstones in both cases had been laid in the 1890s.
Some of the Frog's physical movements are evocative of ragtime-era greats such as Bert Williams
Bert Williams
Egbert Austin "Bert" Williams was one of the preeminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He was by far the best-selling black recording artist before 1920...
, who was known for sporting a top hat and cane, and performing the type of flamboyant, high-kick cakewalk
Cakewalk
The Cakewalk dance was developed from a "Prize Walk" done in the days of slavery, generally at get-togethers on plantations in the Southern United States. Alternative names for the original form of the dance were "chalkline-walk", and the "walk-around"...
dance steps demonstrated by the Frog in Hello! Ma Baby.
In 1995 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...
reprised Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog is an animated cartoon character who debuted in the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening , written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones...
in a cartoon entitled Another Froggy Evening, with Jeff McCarthy
Jeff McCarthy
-Television:He made guest star appearances on television shows such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ed, Designing Women, Cheers, Freddy's Nightmares, Matlock, and In the Heat of the Night. McCarthy was the voice of the Chuck Jones' creation, Michigan J. Frog, for the WB television network...
providing the Frog's voice. The cartoon had a sequel of sorts in an episode of the Warner Brothers series Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
, with the Frog falling into Hamton J. Pig
Hamton J. Pig
Hamton J. Pig is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. He is arguably the fourth main character on the show. Hamton is voiced by Don Messick. Hamton is a young male pig with blue overalls. He attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme...
's possession. Another cameo of Michigan J. Frog was in an episode of Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
when a scene from MacBeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
is recreated. Michigan J. Frog, wearing his top hat, is placed into a boiling cauldron
Cauldron
A cauldron or caldron is a large metal pot for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, with a large mouth and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger.- Etymology :...
along with other cartoon characters.
Censorship
- Airings of this cartoon on ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and the WBThe WB Television NetworkThe WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
cut the part where the man creates a "Free Beer" sign to rope in audience members into seeing the singing frog. The humor of that piece showed a bunch of drunks bullcharging into the theatre. The way it is cut on both channels makes it seem that the audience came in because of the "Free Admission" sign the man creates before the "Free Beer" sign. The uncut scene where the man first shows "Admission: $2", then "Free Admission", then "Free Beer" is shown on the Merrie Melodies compilation video. The short appears as a bonus on the Little GiantsLittle GiantsLittle Giants is a 1994 family comedy film, starring Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill as brothers in a small Ohio town, coaching rival Pee-Wee Football teams.-Synopsis:...
VHS, with the "Free Beer" scene intact.
- The compilation movie Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit TalesBugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit TalesBugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales is a 1982 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
cut the ending sequence where the demolition worker from 2056 rediscovers the singing frog and makes off with it, in the hopes of exploiting it the same way that the man from 1955 had tried. The compilation's edit makes it appear as if the cartoon ends with the original construction worker abandoning the frog, and running off.
Songs featured
Several of the songs performed by the frog were written after he was presumably sealed into the cornerstone, dated 1892.- "Hello! Ma BabyHello! Ma Baby"Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson . Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone...
"
- Words and Music by Ida Emerson and Joseph E. HowardJoseph E. HowardJoseph E. Howard was a Broadway composer, lyricist, and librettist. His Broadway credits include The District Leader, The Land of Nod and The Song Birds, The Time, the Place and the Girl, The Flower of the Ranch, The Girl Question, Stubborn Cinderella, The Goddess of Liberty, Maurice Chevalier in...
(1899)- "The Michigan Rag"
- Words and Music by Milt FranklynMilt FranklynMilton J. Franklyn was a musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes animated cartoons....
, Michael MalteseMichael MalteseMichael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
and Chuck JonesChuck JonesCharles 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...
; written for the cartoon but similar to George OlsenGeorge OlsenGeorge Edward Olsen, Sr. was an American band-leader.Born in Portland, Oregon, he played the drums and attended the University of Michigan, where he was drum major. Here he formed his band, George Olsen and his Music, which continued in the Portland area...
's hit song "Varsity Drag" from the musical Good NewsGood News (musical)Good News is a musical with a book by Laurence Schwab and B.G. DeSylva, lyrics by DeSylva and Lew Brown, and music by Ray Henderson.The show opened on Broadway in 1927, the same year as Show Boat, but its plot was decidedly old-fashioned in comparison to Show Boats somewhat tragic and daring...
(1927)- "Come Back to Erin"
- Words and Music by Claribel (pseudonym of Charlotte Alington BarnardCharlotte Alington BarnardCharlotte Alington Pye Barnard was an English poet and composer of ballads and hymns, who often wrote under the pseudonym Claribel.-Life:...
) (1866)- "I'm Just Wild About HarryI'm Just Wild About Harry"I'm Just Wild About Harry" is a song written in 1921 with lyrics by Noble Sissle and music by Eubie Blake for the Broadway show Shuffle Along. "I'm Just Wild About Harry" was the most popular number of the production, which was the first financially successful Broadway play to have...
"
- "I'm Just Wild About Harry
- Words and Music by Eubie BlakeEubie BlakeJames Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans...
and Noble SissleNoble SissleNoble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:...
, written for the musical Shuffle AlongShuffle AlongShuffle Along is the first major successful African American musical. Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1921.-Plot:...
(1921)- "Throw Him Down, McCloskey"
- Words and Music by John W. Kelly (1890)
- "The Michigan Rag" reprise
- "Won't You Come Over To My House"
- Words by Harry Williams
- Music by Egbert Van AlstyneEgbert Van AlstyneEgbert Anson Van Alstyne was a United States songwriter and pianist. Van Alstyne was the composer of a number of popular and ragtime tunes from the early 20th century.He was born in Marengo, Illinois...
(1906)- "Largo al factotumLargo al factotumLargo al factotum is an aria from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, sung at the first entrance of the title character; the repeated "Figaro"s before the final patter section are an icon in popular culture of operatic singing...
"
- "Largo al factotum
- Composed by Gioachino Rossini for the opera The Barber of SevilleThe Barber of SevilleThe Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
(1816)- "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm GonePlease Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone"Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" was written by Sam H. Stept with lyrics by Sidney Clare. Original publication also credited singer Bee Palmer as co-composer. The song was published in 1930...
"
- "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
- Words and Music by Sidney ClareSidney ClareSidney Clare was an American comedian, dancer and composer. His best known songs include "On the Good Ship Lollipop" , "You’re My Thrill" , and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" .In 1929, Clare wrote his...
, Sam H. SteptSam H. SteptSamuel Howard Stept was an American songwriter who wrote for Broadway, Hollywood and the big bands. He became known simply as Sam Stept or Sam H. Stept — he almost never used his full middle name.-Family:Born in Odessa, Russia, Stept came to the U.S. at the age of three and grew up in...
and Bee PalmerBee PalmerBee Palmer , was a United States singer and dancer. She was born Beatrice C. Palmer in Chicago.Palmer first attracted significant attention as one of the first exponents of the "shimmy" dance in the late 1910s...
(1930)- "Hello! Ma Baby" reprise
The two men who find the Frog are the only persons who see him singing. However, the theatre audience probably heard him behind the closed curtain and the police officer definitely heard him singing in the park. (The Frog stops singing before he can be seen either by the theatre audience or by the police officer.)
Other media
- One Froggy Evening was referenced in Mel BrooksMel BrooksMel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
's 1987 film SpaceBallsSpaceballsSpaceballs is a 1987 American science fiction comedy parody film co-written by, directed by, Mel Brooks and starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Mel Brooks & Rick Moranis. It also features, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on...
, in a scene where John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
plays a man who collapses as a small alien bursts from his stomach, recreating a similar scene Hurt performed in the 1979 movie AlienAlien (film)Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
. Hurt says "Not again!" before dying, and the alien sings "Hello! Ma Baby" as it dances across a counter and out a window. After seeing this, Lone Starr & Barf leave without eating. - Michigan J. Frog was later reincarnated as the mascot of The WB Television NetworkThe WB Television NetworkThe WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
from its outset in 1994 until its merger with UPN in 2006 to become The CW. The last image seen on the WB was a profile of Michigan J. Frog when the network signed off. - In an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, a character that looks extremely similar to the construction worker is shown living in a car with his wife and son.
- In another reference to One Froggy Evening, the South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode CancelledCancelled (South Park)"Cancelled" is the season 7 premiere episode and the overall 97th episode, although intended to be the 100th, of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on March 19, 2003.- Plot :...
(2003) featured the likeness of Saddam Hussein briefly singing and dancing to "Hello! Ma Baby", sporting a top hatTop hatA top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
. - The original cartoon was used as a part of the plot of Son of the MaskSon of the MaskSon of the Mask is a 2005 American fantasy family-comedy film directed by Lawrence Guterman, starring Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist from Fringe City who has just had his first child born with the powers of the Mask. It is the stand-alone sequel to the successful 1994 film The...
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