One Froggy Evening (1955)

Director:

Chuck Jones

Writer:

Michael Maltese (story)

Release Date:

31 December 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family | Musical

Plot:

A man futilely struggles to make his fortune with a frog that sings and dances, but only when it is alone with the owner.

Plot Keywords:

Future | Michigan J. Frog | Vaudeville | Ray Gun | Beer

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bill Roberts

...

Michigan J. Frog (singing voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16892)

Company:

Warner Bros. Animation

Trivia:

The main character's name, "Michigan J. Frog", was created long after the cartoon was produced. Michigan J. Frog later became the mascot of the Warner Brothers television network ("The WB").

Goofs:

Continuity: When the owner of the frog gets thrown out of the talent agency, there's a hand-print on the wall to the side of the door he is thrown from. In the next shot it's gone.

Quotes:

Michigan J. Frog: [singing] Everybody do the Michigan Rag / everybody likes the Michigan Rag / every Mame and Jane and Ruth / from Weehawken to Duluth / slide, ride, glide the Michigan / stomp, romp, pomp the Michigan / jump, clump, pump the Michigan Rag / that lovin' rag.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Lisa's Sax (#9.3)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

The Michigan Rag

(croak)

Among my favorites of the Warner Brothers Merry Melodies shorts is the one with Michigan J Frog (which, like "the Man with No Name" in Leone films, is a marketing gimmick). It's basically a silent film only with a singing, dancing frog, right from the swamp into vaudeville as it were (ho-ho). His owner decides to make it rich with what is, well, a singing and dancing frog in such a reality-driven world as a cartoon. No one notices the frog's talents as it stops just as people are put in front of it; this even extends to an audience promised free beer. In the end, it's fairly tragic, however just in the sense of a Merry Melodies cartoon. This is one of those shorts, like Duck Amuck (my favorite), that brilliantly winks to the audience 'hey, we know this is all so irreverent and absurd, we'll play with it till it drops to the floor'. This time instead of the characters actively talking to the audience, we get the interplay between reality and fantasy played out between a man and an animal. It's funny, of course, because of the owner's attempts to get it to dance in front of others. And its timeless because it has this message of not being able to cross fantasy into reality, which is why all the Merry Melodies shorts, even the lessor ones, have this cool little quality to them. In short, one of Jones/Matleses' triumphs.