I had no idea there was a sequel to the Chuck Jones classic One Froggy Evening, which introduced the world to Michigan J. Frog. Nor had I realized the "Michigan Rag" isn't an historic ragtime song; it was written for the original cartoon.
We get a few more lines in Another Froggy Evening.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
8 comments:
"Ragtime"!? That's gotta be racist by now.
That's the first Looney Tune I've seen in, roughly, 100 years. Thanks for the chuckles.
Cop Car, you;re welcome! Tam and I have become very fond of the Me-TV Saturday morning cartoon lineup, three hours of well-curated animation. Yesterday, the Warner Brothers hour was especially well-curated, including "One Froggy Evening."
Me-TV, which shows up on over-the-air "dot channels," NN.M, in which "M" is an integer greater than one, emulates a well-run independent TV station from the 1970s or earlier, complete with a weekday cartoon host and a Saturday night "ghoul" hosting (campy) horror and SF films. Their approach to bringing back Saturday morning cartoons has been a typical of that approach, with Fleischer Brothers (Betty Boop and Popeye) and their successors (Pink Panther, The Inspector, etc.) followed by MGM (mostly Tom & Jerry) and then Warner Brothers. (Sundays, the "after church/pre-lunch" stretch from 11 a.m. to noon features Hanna-Barbara's "The Flintstones" followed by "The Jetsons.") It may not be high art, but it's good, clean fun.
Mike-SMO, that's why education is an antidote to racism. "Ragtime" was named after the syncopated or "ragged" beat. It was the first major infusion of Black music into popular music, resulting in a distinctly American sound and leading into jazz, big band, swing music, blues and rock and roll, all of which swept through wider Western culture.
Composers like Scott Joplin showed they had skills equal to any Old World composer. So no, the term "ragtime" isn't even close to racist -- unlike many of the early titles. We all got better over time.
I always wondered who sang. I doubt it was Mel Blanc.
Michigan J. Frog was the inspiration for a scene in Space Balls that almost caused to fall out of my chair in the theater and hurt myself.
Oh, that was delightful. I had to look up when it was made (1995) because it has much of the feel of the vintage-50s cartoons - but then there's the Siskel and Ebert cameo in the Roman scene.
I had never seen that one, despite knowing the original incredibly well from the fact that every Saturday morning of my childhood I was planted in front of the TV, and back then Looney Tunes (sometimes chopped a bit for content, sometimes chopped a bit to fit in more ads) were a staple.
Randy, I know the scene you're referencing and I also laughed mightily at it.
The singer was a gent named Bill Roberts, a well known nightclub singer around Hollywood. He died in 1997. Great baritone.
The "Michigan Rag" was actually composed in-house by Chuck Jones...
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