To close this year before 2026,
And also to stay true to my Year-End Posts regarding the LOONEY TUNES,
Let's take a look at this gem.
This Cartoon, as Directed by the unit of CHUCK JONES, is famous for multiple things.
It's considered the CITIZEN KANE of LOONEY TUNES lore.
Anyway, it all starts with a building Demolition.
During said demolition, A man decides to steal something from a tomb.
He does pull out a box
What does the letter say?
I don't need to type it as It's already shown via this screenshot.
Then.......
A Frog leaps out of the Box.
To the Man's confusion.
This Frog is definitely up to something.
We all know what's gonna happen once he dons that Top Hat.
"Hello! ma baby, Hello! Ma honey, Hello! ma ragtime gal.
Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart's on fire!
If you refuse me, Honey, you'll lose me, then you'll be left alone;
Oh baby, telephone and tell me I'm your own!"
Once the man has seen what the Frog has done, well.....
So the Man decides to exploit the Frog's talents.
By the way,
The Frog's name is Michigan J. Frog so from here then on, I'll be using the Frog's official name going forward in this Blogpost.
Anyway,
The man goes to the ACME THEATRICAL AGENCY to present MICHIGAN FROG's talents.
However, to the shock of the man,
MICHIGAN J FROG refuses to perform in public.
The TALENT AGENCY GUY is not amused.
After several tries to convince this guy,
The Man gets kicked out.
But SURPRISE SURPRISE!!!
There's a Performance Theater in front of him.
Though as this Screengrab suggests, the Theater's been abandoned and is available for rent.
No need to worry,
The Man heads back home.
And collect his LIFE SAVINGS.
Eventually, his rental of the Theater is made complete.
Though his advertising efforts are less than spectacular.
"If FREE ADMISSION isn't enough, how about this?"
Once again, The Frog refuses to perform.
Soon, MICHIGAN FROG's proven to be a liability to the man.
Culminating in him finally abandoned the FROG at the newly christened...
Normally, I end my Theatrical Cartoon Posts halfway but this time is different due to anniversarial circumstances.
And here it's where I point out several things.
For one,
CHUCK JONES' signature art style is in full effect here for many characters.
Normally, his designs are reserved for his LUMMOX Characters
The upside of this is because this Cartoon uses none of the staple LOONEY TUNES Characters up to this point since those characters were originally designed by the likes of AVERY, FRELENG, CLAMPETT, TASHLIN, SCRIBNER,MCKIMSON, etc.
Only a few staples would originate from JONES' unit like MARVIN THE MARTIAN, SNIFFLES, WILE E COYOTE & ROADRUNNER, MICHIGAN J. FROG, etc.
Though MICHIGAN J. FROG would eventually become a staple of the LOONEY TUNES in the coming years after his solo debut Cartoon.
Speaking about that,
MICHIGAN J. FROG is so beloved that he eventually became the MASCOT for...
in the same way BUGS BUNNY's become the mascot for WARNER BROS. and eventually CARTOON NETWORK.
Another thing that dates this Cartoon to the mid-1950s is the heavy use of HIGHLY STYLIZED Flat Backgrounds.
Gone are the days of the Highly Detailed Painterly Backgrounds.
And in their place are these Flat Styled BGs that are reflective of that Neo-Art Deco style of 1950s which would eventually bleed themselves into the 1960s.....
For better or worse depending on your view of that era of LOONEY TUNES.
This Cartoon is so famous, that in 2003, the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS added ONE FROGGY EVENING into the NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY after deeming the cartoon to be Culturally, Aesthetically, or Historically Significant.
Quite the Significant Success Story indeed.
Here's another Success Story:
It was wonderfully parodied in the 1987 Mel Brooks Film SPACEBALLS.
This holds a special place in my heart because I actually saw this Cartoon during an April 1 2017 Screening of Several Looney Tunes Cartoons at my Local CINEPLEX at Metrotown Mall in Burnaby, BC.
The admission was FREE due to it being a Community Event.
All thanks goes to
Sr. Bullet Bill of THE INTERNET ARCHIVE for his Avermedia/El Gato captures of this cartoon from HBO MAX......
Before that asshole DAVID ZASLAV forced it's removal via his Tax Write-Off Fingers of Doom.
But special thanks goes to Sr. Bullet Bill for rescuing this cartoon amongst others because his help is what we need for preservation of WARNER's most important work.
I'm sure the cartoon is on MeTV TOONs as well....
However, I do not have a TELUS Cable plan as I just have the 4K Roku Box.
Although this Post should have been during NEW YEARS EVE due to the cartoon having premiered on DECEMBER 31 1955,
I decided to make this post early because Why not.
Plus, My New Years Posts are usually during reserved for my SIMPSONS New Years posts anyway so that's why.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"
Everybody sings Auld Lang Syne
