One Froggy New Year’s Eve in 1955, Michigan J. Frog made his Looney Tunes television debut. This endearing and enduring character is a fan favourite. I happened to catch it on television the other day. The 7 minute animated short featured a curious little frog who wore a top hat, carried a cane and incessantly sang Ragtime and Tin Pan Alley hits while he danced in the style of early 20’s century Vaudeville. He was accidentally discovered by a man who immediately became greedy and wanted to use the frog’s talents for profit. But we all know that this plan was not to be. Eventually the man lost his money and his sanity while Michigan J. kept singing on into the new millennium.
"One Froggy Evening” is a really fun and entertaining short film which illustrates the people of its time, the music they listened to and their style of humour. It’s also amusing to see what their vision of 2056 is going to be like. We’re only 46 years away from that space age time. Somehow I don’t think that Duck Rogers will appear to us in the 24 ½th century!This talented frog’s repertoire consisted of songs from the 19th and early 20th centuries:
“Hello, Ma Baby” 1899
“Michigan Rag” 1955
“Come Back to Erin” 1866
“I’m Just Wild About Harry” 1921
“Throw him down, McCloskey” 1890
“Won’t You Come Over To My House” 1906
“Largo al Factotum” (Barber of Seville) 1816
“Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” 1930
Michigan J. Frog production Cel - signed by Chuck Jones
2 comments:
Hehe, great post title- made me smile :)
Little Rachael
Http://littlerachaelvintage.blogspot.com
he was also the mascot for the WB channel for awhile.
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