From: nowikoam@ucbeh.san.uc.edu (Tony Nowikowski)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation,rec.arts.tv,alt.tv.tiny-toon
Subject: Re: Warner Brothers (was: Why tinytoons?)
Date: 15 Oct 92 02:36:44 EST
Distribution: na,world
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati

In article <Bw2qK1.K5M@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>, mwdenney@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Michael W. Denney) writes:
> In article <1992Oct9.224756.1800@athena.mit.edu> amberle@athena.mit.edu (Amberle S Ferrian) writes:
> 
>> ...all the wacky parodies, celebrity cameos, and
>>such that are rampant in TTA, which I might add are kinda lacking in classic
>>Warner animation. 
> 
> Whoa! That one almost slipped by me. :)  I think your reason for saying this
> is that the "wacky parodies, celebrity cameos, and such" that are very frequent
> in classic WB are so familar that they seem to belong to the cartoons.  Since
> many of the references are from the time period, today's viewer may miss them
> and think they are just part of the cartoon.
> 
> Therefore to enlighten :) :
> 
>   Bugs Bunny's line: "Of course you know, THIS means war!" is borrowed from
>    Groucho Marx.
> 
>   Daffy Duck's voice is a parody of Leon Schlesinger, the producer.
>   Beaky Buzzard's voice is taken from Mortimer Snerd, a radio character.
>   
>   In "Falling Hare", the plane runs out of gas and Bugs states:
>    "You know how it is with these A cards" - this is a reference to the ration
>    cards used in WWII.
> 
>   All the Coyote and Road Runner cartoons open with freeze frames of the
>   characters with fake latin names below them.
> 
>   "I wish my brother George was here." - said in a couple cartoons is a quote
>   from Liberace.
> 
>   In uncountable cartoons, caractiures of the WB staff are used as extras.
> 
>   In "Spaced Out Bunny", Bugs gives Hugo a "Mickey Martian Watch".
> 
>   "What's Opera Doc?" is a parody of Disney's Fantasia.
> 
>   In "Elmer's Pet Rabbit", twice Bugs yells "Turn off that light!".  This is
>   a slogan used in the war to promote the saving of energy.
> 
>   Edward G. Robinson makes a cameo as a gangster in a Friz Freleng cartoon.
> 
>   The elephant who threatens to give Elmer "such a pinch" does so in Curly 
>   Joe's voice.
> 
>   "You sound just like that guy on the radio, the Great Gildersleeve." - this
>   is a reference to an actual person.
> 
> As you can see, I could go on and on.  This is just some that came to me off
> the top of my head.  I should add, however, that WB had several cartoons that
> did not have any major cartoon stars but were filled with caractiures.
> 
> Michael
>  a.k.a. The Phantom Scribbler
> 
> - "He don't know me very well, do he?"   - yes this is another example.

One of the better-known lines, "Which way did he go, George, which way did he
go?" comes from a film adaptation (starring Lon Chaney Jr.) of Steinbeck's _Of
Mice and Men_. 

And speaking of caricatures, Bob McKimson did several cartoons that cast mice
in parodies of famous TV shows of the period (late '50's).  "The Mouse that
Jack Built" was a take on Jack Benny (and Mary Livingston, Rochester, et al,)
while "The Honey-Mousers" was one of several parodies of the characters from
Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners".

-- 

+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
|  Tony Nowikowski            | "Wotta gulli-bull!  Wotta nin-cow-poop!"       |
|  University of Cincinnati   |                                                |
|  nowikoam@ucbeh.san.uc.edu  |                                                |
+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation,alt.slack