One Froggy Evening

Plot synopsis:
An unnamed man is working on the demolition of an old building. As he comes across the cornerstone of the building, he finds a box inside it. Contained within the box are a piece of paper commemorating the creating of the building in 1892, as well as a frog (still alive after more than 50 years). The man soon is amazed when the frog grabs a miniature cane, puts on a top hat, and begins to sing "Hello, My Baby." Sensing a way to get rich quickly, the man puts the frog back in the box, and sneaks away.He next ends up in the office of a talent agency, but the frog refuses to perform. After the man is kicked out of the office into an empty hallway, the frog begins to sing and dance to "The Michigan Rag." The man eagerly rushes back to let the talent agency employee see, but the frog goes silent before he can show him. Unknown to the man, the frog will only perform for him.Shortly afterwards, the man attempts to try to capitalize on the frog again. Using up all his money, he purchases a theater promoting the frog. However, when the curtain rises, the frog once again refuses to sing. The man shortly thereafter goes bankrupt, and ends up on the streets.One late evening, an officer overhears the frog singing "Largo al factotum." The officer finds the man sitting on the bench with the (now silent) frog. When the officer inquires who was disturbing the peace, the man angrily points to the frog. This causes the officer to arrest the man and have him committed to an asylum.When he finally gets out, the old man sees a new building about to be dedicated. Sneaking onto the site, he drops the box with the frog into the new building's cornerstone, and sneaks off as the frog sings "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone."Over a hundred years later, the new building is being demolished, when a worker comes across the cornerstone. Inside, like the previous man, he finds the singing frog, who sings "Hello, My Baby" just for him. Just like the previous man, this one feels he can profit from the singing amphibian, and sneaks off the site with it, unaware of what will happen to him.

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
What is there to say about Chuck Jones's 'One Froggy Evening' that hasn't been said already, not just one of the greatest cartoons ever made but one of the best things to ever happen anywhere ever!
The story of a demolition worker who discovers a singing frog in the cornerstone of a building and attempts to exploit the creatures talents for profit, 'One Froggy Evening' is often called "the 'Citizen Kane' of animated shorts".
Jones tells the story (from a uniquely brilliant script by Michael Maltese, the author of many of the greatest cartoon scripts of all time) completely silent apart from the singing of the frog, who bursts into song at precisely the most hilarious moments possible.Aside from being side-splittingly funny, 'One Froggy Evening' also works on a deeper level as a profound parable about greed.
Presented with this wondrous of a singing frog, the demolition worker's immediate and only impulse is to use it to make money.
There's a sense of the supernatural in both a singing frog and a frog that can last for years sealed inside the cornerstone of a building, which always leads me to think of the frog in slightly more sinister terms, as a karmic lesson enforcer!
The final image of 'One Froggy Evening' coupled with the distant echo of the frog's song always sends a shiver down my spine.Aside from all this, there's the wonderful animation and the glorious soundtrack.
From the moment the frog leaps out of the box, his back foot slipping a couple of times, he is one of the great animated creations.
The demolition worker, meanwhile, goes through a wonderful range of Chuck Jones's trademark expressions.
The music is great throughout, with a virtuoso performance from singer Bill Roberts who sings a range of classic Tin Pan Alley songs, a snatch of opera and, best of all, a cracking original composition by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese themselves.
Called 'The Michigan Rag', the song is not only the best and catchiest in the whole cartoon, it also provided a name for the frog character when, overwhelmed by the popularity of the film and inundated with requests for the character's name, Jones dubbed him Michigan J.
Despite this popularity, Jones wisely refused to use Michigan in any other cartoons, ensuring 'One Froggy Evening' remains a true one-off and one of the greatest strokes of genius animation has ever seen.In the interests of keeping it brief, I'll leave it there but I could gush about 'One Froggy Evening' for pages and pages.
It really is a landmark piece of film history and more than justifies its appearance on every single list of greatest animated cartoons that's worth a damn..
10/10 Bethany Cox. Delightful cartoon highlights a singing frog....
Anyone who's ever had a frog in his voice should enjoy this endearing cartoon from Chuck Jones.
Not only is the frog beautifully animated when he goes into his song and dance routines, but the songs range from "Hello, Ma Baby" to an operatic aria from "The Barber of Seville." The simple story has an unusual premise.
A man discovers a frog living inside the cornerstone of a building just demolished.
Immediately the man has dollar signs in his eyes and decides to make the rounds of agents willing to feature his singing frog as the main attraction.Has to be one of the most original of all the Chuck Jones cartoons, fresh and funny as ever despite the crazy concept of a singing and dancing frog.
In "One Froggy Evening" Chuck Jones tells the story of a construction worker demolishing a building and discovers a frog in the cornerstone.
The only problem, the frog will only sing for this one guy.
You know, I would virtually tell everyone to watch EVERY short that Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese collaborated on.
But the two most important ones, the first ones that everyone should watch when beginning their curiosity should be Feed the Kitty, which inspired Joe Dante and Chris Columbus, and this short, One Froggy Evening, which influenced Steven Spielberg.A laborer at a demolition site discovers a frog that can sing and dance.
But if you do listen to the frog, I guarantee you at one point in your life you will sing that song in your head.
When people at my work ask me to try to tune out some song in their head, I pop out, "Hello My Baby," or, "Michigan Rag." They end up having one of those songs permanently stuck in their head.
The definitive Chuck Jones cartoon..
Jones did a great variety of work, but he was at his best with little or no dialog, a visual cartoon that wasn't just slapstick visuals.
Chuck Jones and company created another masterpiece with "One Froggy Evening", about a man finding a singing frog who only sings for him, leading to many unpleasant situations.
I think that there's absolutely no doubt that this and many other cartoons from that era will stay firmly ingrained as part of our national heritage forever.One thing I notice is that Mel Blanc didn't do Michigan J.
This is the best Chuck Jones short ever (no easy feat), and will be with else to entertain countless generations of the young and young at heart.
This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.
The last two times I saw One Froggy Evening it was in a censored version.
In the original, the guy rents a theatre to show the singing frog and peppers the building with posters but no-one comes.
This is not only a stupid thing to do in itself; it also makes no sense since there is no reason why crowds would rush in so enthusiastically to see the singing frog if the only attraction was free admission.
The whole point is that no-one believes in the singing frog.
In the box is a frog who is an accomplished song and dance man.
This cartoon takes us on an uncomfortable ride as the poor man who has been victimized by the frog embarrasses himself over and over, trying to get people to see his amphibian act.
There is just something about this cartoon that makes you want to get up and sing.
M.J. Frog is the most entertaining character in the Looney Tunes bunch, which is a mystery to me why they didn't feature more cartoons with him.
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.
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.
A man futilely struggles to make his fortune with a frog that sings and dances, but only when it is alone with the owner.The cartoon's premise closely follows that of the 1944 Columbia Pictures film "Once Upon a Time" starring Cary Grant in which a dancing caterpillar is kept in a shoebox.
Everyone has seen the frog sing and dance and can reference it.
His songs were great too, especially "McClosky Fight" and "Michigan Rag."  Overall, I really like that character.
It is a shame that he wasn't in more cartoons, but it's fortunate that the WB kept him around as the network's mascot:"Watch the frog.".
the best cartoon made by Mankind, the music, animation, EVERYTHING is perfect!!!
Do not get me wrong, this is an absolutely brilliant Looney Tunes cartoon!
Michigan J Frog is a very sweet little character (and I personally think he should have appeared in more cartoons) and his singing actor is very good.
However, the remake, "Another Froggy Evening", is a cartoon I prefer.
If "Another Froggy Evening" did not exist, it would be my second favourite Looney Tunes cartoon.
I have watched about a hundred Looney Tunes cartoons in my time, so saying this is my third favourite of them all is saying something.
In "One Froggy Evening", an old building is about to be taken down to build a modern skyscraper, when one of the builders finds a huge stone box.
Inside is a smaller green box, where Michigan J Frog lives!
The reason why this frog is so special is because he can sing!
Will the frog prove great success for him..?Here are the things I like about this cartoon which are not in/changed in the remake:1.
2. I thought the man with Michigan in this cartoon was better than all of the men in "Another Froggy Evening".
3. Unlike in this cartoon, there is a cameo appearance in the remake (which I include as one of the surprises), which is delightful.I recommend this lovely cartoon to anyone who likes a different, cheery, not so slapsticky Looney Tunes.
The foreman raises an eyebrow and pictures himself a rich man by exhibiting a singing frog.The rest is pure hell for the foreman.
The frog ruined his life.....and will keep doing it to others years from now, as we see at the end of the cartoon when the little monster is re-discovered in the middle of this century!
That silly little man, why couldn't he just be a normal person and learn to appreciate the frog for himself without trying to exploit him for profit, then he might've been happy and not left a broke man in more ways than one, and the poor frog's gift wouldn't get treated like a curse and he wouldn't have to be tossed into oblivion forever until the next greedy sap with stars in his eyes woke him up and started of the hilariously sad cycle all over again!
"One Froggy Evening" is a classic Warner Bros.
cartoon written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones.
The star of this cartoon is what you might call a one-hit wonder: the singing & dancing Michigan J.
Hence the film becomes a wonderful story of greed & frustration as the poor construction worker tries to convince others that this frog that he found can indeed sing and dance.
But everyone else reacts negatively to an otherwise very ordinary-looking, lifeless frog devoid of any personality.My favorite moments from "One Froggy Evening" include the following.
Aided by Milt Franklyn's music score to "Hello, Ma Baby," the construction worker inaudibly tries to impress upon a stuffy, humorless theatrical agent the special talents of the frog.
A "Free Beer!" sign attracts the barhopping crowd to a local theater where the frog is singing & dancing on a tightrope; the crowd boos when the curtain goes up to reveal a lonely, lifeless, croaking frog on stage.
The construction worker, now a hobo, is hilarious by simply pointing downward toward the frog when a policeman approaches him for supposedly disturbing the peace with singing; this lands the poor guy in a psychopathic hospital, where the frog sings "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" outside of the frustrated gentleman's padded cell."Subtlety" is a good word to describe "One Froggy Evening"; this cartoon makes excellent use of subtle facial expressions to convey meaning - without the necessity of any words!
Not to mention all the wonderful songs the frog sings: "Hello, Ma Baby," "Michigan Rag," "I'm Just Wild About Harry," "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville," and several other songs..
hilarious--one of Warner Brothers best cartoons.
But this is no ordinary frog, but one that sings and dances!
The guy runs out to find an agent, but the frog won't sing for him.
When the people come, the frog stops singing.
It seems that the frog will only sing to this guy and this guy alone.
In the end, he, too, sticks this frog in the cornerstone of a building under construction.
Later, in the distant future, another poor shmoe is seen finding the frog and assuming he, too, will become a rich man!.
During the early 18th Century there was an incident in which an enterprising impresario rented a theater in London, and then publicized a notice that on a specific day he would present a man of only eighteen inches in height, who would be perfectly formed, but living underwater in a bottle, and who would sing for two hours, and dance for two hours, for the audience.
The audience started hooting and throwing things, and finally wrecked the theater.I don't know if that incident influenced the creation of ONE FROGGY EVENING, but it sounds like it could have.
As for movies the closest that I can think of to this cartoon gem of Chuck Jones is a Cary Grant film ONCE UPON A TIME, wherein an opportunistic producer seizes upon a dancing caterpillar.
The protagonist, a construction worker who thinks he hit the mother load, never realizes that the "asset" he has acquired is no asset at all but a piece of living hell.Michigan J.
Frog was the star of only this cartoon, but he has since reappeared as "spokes - frog" for Channel 11, and even in one of the Tiny - Tunes that were made in the 1990s, trying to encourage another character to sing.
He knows that Michigan is the world's greatest performer...but he can't prove it to anyone.
And one hopes his futuristic replacement comes to his senses in the end too.The cartoon has had influence beyond it's own seven minutes of running time.
The alien jumps out of Hurt's chest (Hurt looks upset, and says, "Not again!") and proceeds to pull out a hat and cane and sing "My Ragtime Gal!" I think Chuck Jones would have been proud..
This cartoon takes an everyday daydream, a frog with great legs and a booming voice, and brings it to life.
The man who finds the frog takes him to be discovered.
The songs are great, the art direction is terrific, and above all the story is priceless.Spoiler: A construction worker demolishing a building finds a frog in a box in the cornerstone.
The frog sings and dances.
The frog sings and dances.
The frog sings and dances.
The man tries to cash in on the miraculous frog, but it will only sing for him.
I remember watching this with my brother and mum, we were laughing our heads off because of the wee frog dancing and singing his heart out unexpectedly.
Frog" appears in just one cartoon .
because that's all the Looney Tunes creators needed to tell America everything it needed to know about the State of Michigan.
This Wolverine frog title character can sing and dance to beat the band--but only when no one is watching.
Lately I've been gradually working my way through a few of Chuck Jones' classic Warner Brothers cartoons, and this one, so far, is one of my favourites.
Released on December 31 1955 as part of the Warner Brothers' 'Merrie Melodies' series, 'One Froggy Evening' is one of the most highly-regarded of all cartoons, voted #5 of all time in 1994 by members of the animation field.A 1950s construction worker has just completed demolishing a building built in 1892.
Hidden in a cornerstone, he discovers a small box containing a tired frog, which eases itself into the open air and, surprisingly, bursts into full song, performing "Hello!
Notions of fame and wealth pass through the construction worker's mind, and he snatches the frog to be used in his money-making schemes.
Still poor, dejected and having spent time in a psychopathic institution, the construction worker eventually disposes of his trouble-bringing, ragtime-performing friend, tossing his box into the cornerstone of a building under construction.
A century later, in the year 2056, another ray gun-wielding construction worker stumbles upon this mysterious box, and also discovers a certain talented frog living within.Though unnamed at the time of the cartoon's release, director Chuck Jones later dubbed his frog "Michigan J.
Frog" after one of the songs he performs.
The voice behind the frog was long considered a mystery, but the 'Looney Tunes Golden Collection' credits the vocals to baritone Bill Roberts, who was a Los Angeles nightclub entertainer in the 1950s.
Written by Michael Maltese, 'One Froggy Evening' contains no dialogue  but for the singing of the frog  and it really is highly entertaining.
Frog first emerged from the box, but the sheer absurdity of his breaking into song and dance made me laugh out loud..
***SPOILER WARNING!!!*** "One Froggy Evening" was a cartoon made in 1955 by Chuck Jones of the Warner Bros.
It's about a poor man who's working in a construction lot one day and finds a box with a singing frog inside.
The man decides to exploit the frog's talents for his own financial gain, but ends in failure because the frog only sings for its discoverer.This short is very unique because the only dialogue coming out of this film is the frog's beautiful singing voice.
It's on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 2 DVD, so grab it and watch this cartoon!
This is a cartoon from 60 years ago that deals with a guy finding a frog.
The frog is really talented at singing, but sadly every time his owner wants to put him on display, the frog refuses to show everybody his great voice and instead he makes usual frog noise.
I have to say I am very much surprised that this is one of Chuck Jones' famous cartoons today as I have seen many many which are far superior.