Bugs & Daffy's Carnival of the Animals
Eric Python
Collection Volume 5.
IMHO, this is better than most of the subsequent TV specials from the
1970's and 1980's which worked in old clips to new stories. This
special is 100% new footage, and has Bugs, Daffy and Chuck Jones in
good form.
The musical segments are all very well done, though more like
"Fantasia" than typical Looney Tunes material.
As far as I know, this special has not seen the light of day between
its initial 1976 airing and its 2008 inclusion on the DVD Golden
Collection. It's far better than one would expect from something this
well hidden.
J. Bennie
news:2ao006pa1ln89inoi...@4ax.com...
> IMHO, this is better than most of the subsequent TV specials from the
> 1970's and 1980's which worked in old clips to new stories. This
> special is 100% new footage, and has Bugs, Daffy and Chuck Jones in
> good form.
I'll have to watch it again, Eric. I was never crazy about the TV stuff. I
remember seeing 'Connecticut Rabbit' years ago and it just didn't seem right
to me.
Jim
Paul Penna
"J. Bennie" <jg.stopsp...@vcn.bc.ca> wrote:
I just hauled out the Golden Collection Vol. 5 and got through about
half of "Carnival." Deadly dull to me. The musical piece itself has been
a favorite since I was a kid, but I harbor no knee-jerk antipathy to
using it for a cartoon or anything else, if it works. This doesn't work,
big time. I also have to say I've always hated Ogden Nash's superfluous,
arch rhymes for the piece, but since this was also Chuck Jones' archest
period, I suppose it fits.
The most interesting thing I spotted was in "The Aquarium" where a
couple lines of Daffy's dialog and voice come out of Bugs' mouth.
Eric Python
>I'll have to watch it again, Eric. I was never crazy about the TV stuff. I
>remember seeing 'Connecticut Rabbit' years ago and it just didn't seem right
>to me.
I just watched "Connecticut Rabbit" about a week ago, and it's not
quite right to me either. It's not terrible, but it lacks a lot of
what made the old Looney Tunes what they were.
First, whoever did Elmer Fudd's voice was all wrong. Since Arthur Q.
Bryan (the original voice of Elmer Fudd) was deceased, I think they
should have either held open auditions to find someone who can at
least come close, or just retire the character.
Also: the music score was far below the standards of Carl Stalling,
the pace was too slow, and most importantly, there were just too few
good gags.
Nevertheless, it had a few good moments when the Bugs Bunny I know and
love was true to form.
Chuck Jones also did two new Road Runner cartoons in 1979 and 1980.
It's been years since I've seen them, but if memory serves, In my
opinion, they were both well up to the standard of the original
classics.
I thought "Carnival of the Animals" was good overall. The Bugs and
Daffy banter was very much in character and funny, while the music
sequences were imaginative and well synchronized in the mode of
"Fantasia". At 25 minutes, it was just long enough. Any shorter and it
would have seemed incomplete, while any longer would have gotten
tedious.
J. Bennie
> I just watched "Connecticut Rabbit" about a week ago, and it's not
> quite right to me either. It's not terrible, but it lacks a lot of
> what made the old Looney Tunes what they were.
Well, you can't get the pacing you have in a short. It just seemed like
there was a lot of filler.
Again, I saw it once decades ago. I'm just going with the impression it left
me.
> First, whoever did Elmer Fudd's voice was all wrong.
Didn't Mel do all the voices? I don't know, that's why I ask.
Jim
Eric Python
>
>Didn't Mel do all the voices? I don't know, that's why I ask.
In the original cartoons, Arthur Q. Bryan was the main voice of Elmer
Fudd. When he died in 1959, various actors, including Mel Blanc, tried
to replace him, but in my opinion they all sounded wrong.
Tex Avery, Bea Bernadette, Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig (best known as
Disney's Goofy), Stan Freberg, and Bernice Hanson each did a few
Warner Brothers cartoon voices during the Golden era. Did you notice
that the title character in the Daffy Duck cartoon "Conrad the Sailor"
sounded exactly like Goofy?
Still, Mel Blanc did the vast majority of the studio's cartoon voices,
including all but one of the major characters (that being the
afore-mentioned Elmer Fudd) and he often got exclusive screen credit.
David Samuel Barr
Mel Blanc received sole screen credit in lieu of a pay raise as the
result of a 1944 contract negotiation with Leon Schlesinger; as a
result, he is often mistakenly thought to have been solely responsible
for all the WB voices, even the female ones. In fact, dozens of other
actors contributed voices to the cartoons during his tenure; in addition
to those you mention (and it's Benaderet, not Bernadette; Hansen, not
Hanson), there were Daws Butler, Dave Barry, Dick Beals, Jim Backus,
Kent Rogers, Julie Bennett, Sara Berner, Andy Devine, Joe Dougherty,
Gege Person, Joan Gerber, Sheldon Leonard, Jack Lescoulie, Terrance
Monck, Victor Moore, Cliff Nazarro, Tedd Pierce, Robert C. Bruce,
Shirley Reed, Cal Howard, and Blanc's fellow castmates from The Jack
Benny Show, to name a few.
J. Bennie
> "J. Bennie" wrote:
>>
>>Didn't Mel do all the voices? I don't know, that's why I ask.
>
> In the original cartoons, Arthur Q. Bryan was the main voice of Elmer
> Fudd. When he died in 1959, various actors, including Mel Blanc, tried
> to replace him, but in my opinion they all sounded wrong.
Yes, I know, Eric. I wasn't clear in my question, I guess. We were speaking
of "Connecticut Rabbit" (despite the subject header) and Elmer Fudd. I was
asking if Mel did Elmer's voice in that.
I suppose I could look it up somewhere.
Jim
J. Bennie
news:csydndS-j7fwPrTR...@earthlink.com...
> (and it's Benaderet, not Bernadette; Hansen, not
> Hanson)
To be honest, David, nobody knows how her name is really spelled because no
one has a clue who she is. She is a complete mystery.
Jim
David Samuel Barr
I sincerely hope you're just making a feeble attempt at humour
and not just demonstrating ignorance. Bea Benaderet was a
very well-known actress, best-known for her roles in the 60s
TV sitcoms, "Petticoat Junction" and "The Beverly Hillbillies",
and as the voice of Betty Rubble for the first four years of
"The Flintstones" in addition to her extensive work in the
Warner Brothers cartoons and various radio series in the 40s
& 50s.
J. Bennie
> J. Bennie wrote:
>> "David Samuel Barr" <dsb...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>> news:csydndS-j7fwPrTR...@earthlink.com...
>>> (and it's Benaderet, not Bernadette; Hansen, not
>>> Hanson)
>>
>> To be honest, David, nobody knows how her name is really spelled because
>> no
>> one has a clue who she is. She is a complete mystery.
>
> and not just demonstrating ignorance. Bea Benaderet was a
> very well-known actress, best-known for her roles in the 60s
> TV sitcoms, "Petticoat Junction" and "The Beverly Hillbillies",
> and as the voice of Betty Rubble for the first four years of
> "The Flintstones" in addition to her extensive work in the
> Warner Brothers cartoons and various radio series in the 40s
> & 50s.
I'm talking about Bernice/Berniece Hansen/Hanson/Hansel. Clampett apparently
mentioned that name in connection with cartoons and everyone, from Leonard
Maltin onward, has followed suit without any additional information. No one
knows who she is.
Jim
Paul Penna
"J. Bennie" <jg.stopsp...@vcn.bc.ca> wrote:
Well, for what it's worth (FWIW for the internet-savvy crowd), Wikipedia
has an entry that give birth & death dates plus cause of death:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernice_Hansen
Besides that, for which there are no citations, the rest is just the
usually-heard mentions.