3/27/2023 0 Comments Ragtime frogDuring an interview with writer Jay Cocks, Jones decided to adopt "J" as the Frog's middle initial, after the interviewer's name. 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. The character became the mascot of The WB television network in the 1990s. Jones and his animators studied real-life frogs to achieve the successful transition from an ordinary frog to a high-stepping entertainer. Frog after the song "The Michigan Rag", which was written for the cartoon. The frog had no name when the cartoon was made, but Chuck Jones later named him Michigan J. The frog's vocals are provided by singer and bandleader Bill Roberts. The cartoon has no spoken dialogue or vocals except by the frog. The box with the frog is discovered again by a 21st-century demolition man who, after also envisioning a cash bonanza, absconds with the frog, beginning the cycle anew. In 2056, a century later, the Brown Building is itself being demolished using futuristic tools. Following his release, the now haggard and destitute man, still carrying the box with the frog inside, notices the construction site where he originally found the box and happily dumps it into the new cornerstone for the future " Tregoweth Brown Building" before running away, overjoyed to finally get rid of what has become his burden. When the frog again presents himself as ordinary, the policeman arrests the man for disturbing the peace and has him committed to a psychiatric hospital along with the frog, who continues serenading the hapless patient. A policeman overhears the singing and approaches the man, who points to the frog as the singer. The booing crowd pelts the man with rotten vegetables.Īs a result of these failures, the man is now homeless and living on a park bench, where the frog still performs only for him. As the curtain begins rising, the frog winds down the song and, by the time he is fully revealed to the crowd, he has again reverted to being an ordinary frog. The frog performs atop a high wire behind the closed curtain while the man struggles to get an audience, succeeding with the promise of "Free Beer". After getting kicked out due to the frog's apparent inability to act, he uses all of his life savings to rent an abandoned theater to showcase the frog on his own. Remaining unaware of this reality, the man first takes the frog to a talent agent. After the frog suddenly performs a musical number, the man sees an opportunity to cash in on the frog's anthropomorphic talents and sneaks away from the site with the frog in the box under his arm.Įvery attempt the man makes to exploit the frog fails: the frog will perform only when his owner alone is present, and he finishes each performance, devolving into an ordinary croaking frog, before the man can show anyone else his talent. The unnamed man opens the box and finds, along with a commemorative document dated April 16, 1892, a live frog inside with an appropriately-sized top hat and cane. Wilber Building" pries off the top of the cornerstone and finds a metal box within. It was also attached to the theatrical release of Little Giants in 1994 and was subsequently featured on that film's VHS release.Ī mid-1950s construction worker involved in the demolition of the "J. 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". In 2003, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1994, it was voted No. 5 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. The short was released on Decemas part of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. 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, partly inspired by a 1944 Cary Grant film entitled Once Upon a Time involving a dancing caterpillar in a small box, marks the debut of Michigan J. One Froggy Evening is a 1955 American Technicolor animated musical short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn.
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