Rhapsody Rabbit (1946) Vs. Cat Concerto (1947)

Vs.

It is a little surprising that the end of the semester is already here.  We have only a couple weeks of classes left, which means this is going to be the last blog of the semester.  Most of you who have read my blogs know that I talk about Merrie Melodies or some sort of old cartoon.  I have been doing this because I think it is interesting to learn about the cartoons that I have watched most of my life.  I actually didn’t even know that I watched Merrie Melodies all the time.  Anyways, as I was looking through some more cartoons, I noticed two animations that I used to watch frequently.  Surprisingly, they have many similarities and minor differences.  I found this interesting because of the fact that they were both produced by different companies.  These cartoons are Rhapsody Rabbit from Warner Brothers (a Merrie Melodies animation) and Cat Concerto from MGM.  In this post, I will just discuss the similarities and controversy between these animations.

Both of these animations deal with the nuisance of a mouse during a piano performance.  In  Rhapsody Rabbit, you have Bugs Bunny playing the piano being bothered by a random mouse.  In Cat Concerto, you have Tom playing the piano with Jerry bothering him.  Both Bugs and Tom play the “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2″ by Franz Liszt (whom was referenced in the Rhapsody Rabbit episode with a telephone call) with the piano.  There are also similarities with the jokes in the animations.  For example, both of the mice in each cartoon always play the piano through the inside, either confusing or messing up the characters of Bugs Bunny or Tom the cat.  Another way the mice are similar in their behaviors are each of them steal the show at the end, taking credit for the work and effort of playing the piano.  This then makes Tom and Bugs similar as well, considering they both lose the battle at the end.

Overall, both cartoons are enjoyable.  However, there was and still is a controversy over the two animations.  The creators of Rhapsody Rabbit believe MGM Animation Studios plagiarized Warner Brothers Animation because of the similarities.  MGM Studios believe they were plagiarized by Warner Brothers.  There was no court case involving this belief.  But you can imagine that it might have started a “battle” (if you will) between the two distribution companies.  Another interesting fact is MGM’s Cat Concerto won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons.  The two cartoons were produced the same year, however, they released on different dates, Rhapsody Rabbit in 1946 and Cat Concerto in 1947.  So, even though this is the last post, I have to ask one more question, Do you think MGM plagiarized the work of Warner Brothers Animation Studios?  Or do you think the opposite?

ETA: I commented on the Blogs of Jessica Martin and Chuck Soo-Hoo.

Have a Great Summer…

Blog Post #12: Confederate Honey (1940)

Throughout the semester, I have watched some cartoons with racial stereotypes in them.  However, this one is much more stereotypical than other cartoons that I have watched.  This most likely is due to the fact that the cartoon is supposed to take place during the Civil War.  It is known that there was slavery during the Civil War.  This cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng and produced by Leon Schlesinger.  It is also another one of Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoons.  It was released on March 30, 1940.  In this blog post, I will give a brief summary of the cartoon and talk about the portrayal of the racial stereotypes.

This animation begins with some landscape and a sign saying Kentucky, as it points to the right.  The narrator says the story takes place in 1861 B. Sea, Before Seabiscuit, which was making fun of the term B.C. and saying it took place before the start of the famous race horse, Seabiscuit (from the late 1930s to early 1940s).  The camera then tracks to Colonel O’Hairoil, whom is a literal blue-blooded plantation owner in the literal bluegrass state of Kentucky.  The camera then cuts and tracks to “Uncle Tom’s Bungalows,” giving a reference to the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin (an anti-slavery novel published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe).  The camera then shows some slaves doing work on the tobacco and cotton plantation fields.  It then cuts to Crimson O’Hairoil, who is getting ready for potential men to marry her.  However, she loves the strong and brave Ned Cutler (who is actually the Elmer Fudd character).  Ned is seen riding a horse and gives it to a slave kid to watch while he enters the building.  Before Elmer can finish asking Crimson his question, they hear a bomb explosion.  Ned tells her he has to set off to war.  Crimson is impressed by her love’s decision to be patriotic and says she will give light through her window until he returns.  Ned leaves, while the kid is still watching the horse.

It then cuts to Union strikes.  The strikers have signs that say “The Army is Unfair to the Union.”  Then it cuts to soldiers getting ready for the war with a sign saying the clothes are furnished by Northern Underwear.  The animation cuts to an officer talking to his men about “Stoneball” Jackson, a “southpaw,” who is pitching and if they win, they will meet him in the South at the Cotton Bowl.  During this scene there are also faces of the soldiers shown.  These are the characteristics of the creators, giving themselves a reference in the animation.  An interesting scene is when the officer throws his cigar, the soldiers fight over it.  I’m assuming this references a shortage of cigars or cigarettes during the war, or even the value of tobacco.  Then there are several different cannons being fired off in a musical theme.  After this, there is a trumpet boy who breaks out in a solo with a drummer, creating some of that good old wacky humor.  A nervous confederate officer paces back and forth when information is being sent to him through telegraph, however, we find out it is just racing results.  Ned then shoots off a cannon that acts as a pinball machine, making him “tilt.”  The Colonel hears about the Yanks winning another victory, which makes him angry.  The animation also shows the slave boy waiting with the horse still.  It cuts back to Ned reading a letter.  A signal rocket follows turning into an ad for Mammy’s Shack.  Meanwhile, Crimson has a strong light coming from her window that it sets Paul Revere off screaming “the British are coming.”  The war ends in 1865 and Ned returns to Crimson.  We finally find out that his question for her was if she could validate his parking.  Crimson, upset, stamps a big “revoked” across his forehead.

After watching the animation, I’d like to bring up some of the racial stereotypes within the cartoon.  All of these stereotypes were actually censored in later screenings.  The first being the “Uncle Tom’s Bungalows” sign.  Uncle Tom’s Cabin was an anti-slavery book created during the time period of the Civil War.  It is known to be a very racial book.  In the animation they poke fun at the fact that these were places for slaves to sleep and live.  There are also the African American cotton pickers, or the slaves in general.  You have the plantation slaves, the slave who fixes Crimson’s dress, and the slave who watches the horse for Ned.  There is also a slave who is stamping the Parking tickets.  In the edited version this scene was cropped to just reveal a hand stamping the ticket.  Also, notice the portrayal of African American slaves in this animation.  Their lips are drawn to be big and exaggerated.  This is another racial stereotype of the African American population in this cartoon.  All of these scenes with the African American slaves were cut due to censorship issues of the animation today.  Who would of thought that animation could be so stereotypical?  Another interesting piece of information about this cartoon is that it is supposed to make fun of the film, Gone With The Wind.

ETA: I commented on the Blogs of Bonnie Hansen and Chuck Soo-Hoo.

Til Next Week…

Blog Post #11: Old Glory (1939)

Throughout the last several weeks, I’ve been talking about Warner Bros. and Merrie Melodies.  I know it would seem that I look obsessed with these cartoons, however, that is not the case.  Unlike Schlesinger’s other works’, this one is entirely different.  This cartoon is actually a very serious cartoon, compared to the usual funny antics Merrie Melodies.  This is what surprised me the most about this cartoon.  I’m actually a little shocked that Merrie Melodies produced something that was this serious.  There is no humor at all.  If you watch the animation above, you’ll see what I mean.  In this post, I will give a brief summary of the animation, talk about the style of animation, as well as, discuss the historical aspect of the animation.

The animation begins with Porky trying to learn the Pledge of Allegiance.  However, while trying to recite it properly, he gets bored and falls asleep.  Young Porky then has a dream where Uncle Sam comes and talks to him about the history of the United States.  Uncle Sam begins to tell Porky about the thirteen colonies and how they founded America.  He says that they came to this land for freedom, but instead they got “oppression, unfair taxes, tyranny, unfair laws, injustice (this word is repeated several times – it can be seen as a gag, but it is the only one if it is considered a gag).  It then cuts to Patrick Henry reciting the “give me liberty or give me death” speech.  At the end of his speech, it his image is superimposed with an image of a shooting canon.  The smoke from the fired canon transitions to Paul Revere riding on horseback yelling “to war.”  The image cuts to people marching down a street with weapons to the song Yankee Doodle.  Then the footsteps of the men are matched with the gavel of John Hancock, as he signs the Declaration of Independence.  Another canon transition occurs and shows the year 1776.  In that scene, there are three men playing the drums and flute marching towards the camera.  There image is superimposed with the liberty bell ringing.  This transitions to the U.S. Constitution being signed by George Washington.  Then Porky asks what happens next and Uncle Sam tells him the expansion to the West.  This is shown by an empty U.S. Map as silhouettes of people and wagons walking across the screen as states appear on the map.  It then cuts back to Porky and Uncle Sam.  This is where Uncle Sam calls Abraham Lincoln a great American, paying tribute to a statue of him.  Then Porky wakes up and recites the Pledge of Allegiance as the camera goes up the flag pole to reveal the waving U.S. American Flag.

If you have seen other Merrie Melodies animations, then you may be able to see a difference in the animation.  For example, if you look at the face of Porky, he is very shiny looking.  The more noticeable appearance is the way Uncle Sam is portrayed.  His face is very clean and defined, almost as a collectible plastic doll of some kind.  This is also seen with all of the other people.  It looks much more like a refined cartoon than an actual wacky cartoon.  It has a much more realistic feel to it than most other animations.  This animation is actually heavily based in rotoscope, which is a different style from what is usually done.  Chuck Jones was the director of this piece and was known for his Disney-like animation.  This is the reason Schlesinger had Jones do this piece of animation.

How historical does this piece get?  The answer to that question is simple; it is all historical.  This whole animation deals with the history of America.  You have the infamous Uncle Sam telling the story.  There are the original thirteen colonies to begin with.  We all know Patrick Henry gave a famous speech and was one of the nation’s founding fathers.  We also know about Paul Revere’s patriotism and how he rode on horseback to warn the Americans the British were coming during his midnight rides in the American Revolution.  Then there is John Hancock, who was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, a very important document.  There was also the Constitution signed by Washington, which is an extremely important document, giving everyone freedoms.  At the end, Uncle Sam includes Abraham Lincoln as a great American.  We all know about Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address and Emancipation Proclamation.  Not to mention he was the 16th President of the United States.  There are also a couple of historical significance from year this animation was created.  At the end of the animation, if you listen to the Pledge of Allegiance Porky recites, there is no “Under God” section in what he says.  This is because that section of the Pledge was not put in until 1954, however this animation was made in 1939.  Also, if you count the number of stars on the U.S. Flag at the end, there are only 48 stars.  This is because Hawaii and Alaska did not become official states until 1959.  There is one last interesting thought about this animation.  It was released 3 days before Independence day in 1939.  I find it interesting that it came out 2-3 months before the start of WWII.  Do you find this interesting?

ETA: I commented on the Blogs of Courtney Webber and Samantha Francis.

Til Next Time…

Blog Post #10: Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1947)

For many blog posts, I have been looking at Merrie Melodies.  I know it is a little repetitive, but I find these cartoons hilarious.  Also, I remember watching them when I was a kid.  This is why the Merrie Melodies cartoon, Bugs Bunny Rides Again caught my eye.  I used to watch this episode a lot.  The part that gave it away was the scene when Bugs Bunny is dancing to the music and then makes Yosemite Sam dance into an open mine shaft.  I knew I could never forget about that part.  This cartoon brings back many memories for me.  In this Blog Post, I will give a brief summary of the cartoon, as well as, talk about some of the censorship issues.

The cartoons starts out with bullets being fired.  There is a gag where the bullets stop at a red light and once the crossing of the other bullets are done, they resume.  It then cuts to a saloon where a couple of men are drinking and one of the men shoots the other one.  When Yosemite Sam enters, everyone is scared of him.  This is where he makes a Gandhi joke, which will be discussed later.  Then all the “skunks” leave the bar, the last one being an actual skunk.  Yosemite Sam sees someone trying to escape and starts firing at him, which turns into a shooting dummy.  After, Bugs challenges Yosemite and he says the town isn’t big enough for the two of them.  So Bugs runs out and builds a city (another gag).  Yosemite Sam still says it isn’t big enough and starts to make Bugs “dance.”  This is where Bugs turns it around and makes Yosemite dance in an open mine shaft.  Bugs then dares Yosemite to cross a line.  This is repeated until Yosemite Sam crosses a line, falling off a cliff.  Bugs puts a mattress down, saying he has a guilty conscious, however he said he didn’t that day and took it away.  Then they chase each other on horse in with a western tune.  This is where Bugs builds a brick wall, making Yosemite Sam and his horse crash into a wall.  Seeing that this wasn’t going anywhere, the two of them decide to play cards to see who stays.  However, Bugs tells Yosemite Sam which card to put down and Bugs wins.  When they go to the train station (where Yosemite Sam is supposed to get on), they both notice a numerous amount of beautiful women going to Miami.  Bugs pulls Yosemite’s hat over him and gets on the train, allowing Bugs to be with all the women alone.

As seen above, this cartoon has several gags.  However, there are many different censorship issues that were corrected in order to show a viewing audience.  The Gandhi gag was taken out for an important reason.  Gandhi was assassinated earlier that year in January, which is the reason why that part of the cartoon is censored out to say “mamby-pamby” instead.  However, on this one above, the original version is shown so you can see that part at the beginning.  Another interesting censorship issue with this cartoon is when it aired on the WB.  When it aired on this station, there were three parts that were cut:  the part with the bullets stopping at traffic lights, the part where the man killed the other man and took his whiskey, and the part where Yosemite Sam is using a person as a target for practice.  I’m assuming these parts were edited out due to the violence.  However, I feel it was unnecessary to take those out.  It is cartoon violence and not real violence.  Ultimately, I don’t see the problem, however, the network apparently did.  It’s interesting what is actually censored in cartoons and why.

ETA: I commented on the Blogs of Jessica Martin and Samantha Francis.

Til Next Time…