One Froggy Evening

One Froggy Evening is a 1955 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a play on a "foggy evening."
== Plot ==
A demolition worker finds Michigan J. Frog in a box in the cornerstone of a building and sees him singing. Hoping for fame and fortune, he takes the frog to see a talent agent. However, Michigan won't sing in front of the agent. He then sees a theater for rent, takes out his life savings, and has Michigan sing on stage. Michigan keeps singing until the curtain opens, to which the audience boos when Michigan won't sing in front of them. Michigan continues singing when nobody except its owner is around. As for Ernie, he is soon penniless and living on a park bench during cold winters. Michigan keeps performing for the man, and his singing is so loud it attracts the attention of a policeman. When the cop demands to know what was all the noise, Ernie points to Michigan doing it. When the frog makes a feeble croak for the policeman, the cop arrests Ernie for disturbing the peace, whereupon he is remanded to a psychiatric hospital for attempting to blame it on the frog. Sometime later, Ernie is released. Broken by his feeble attempts at fame and fortune, he regains his composure by putting the frog back in the box. Ernie passes by the construction site of the "Tregoweth Brown 40-Story Building", and entombs the frog by placing the box inside the new cornerstone which is soon sealed. 
In 2056, the building is taken apart by a futuristic demolition worker who finds Michigan's box and hears the frog sing "Hello, My Baby". The 21st century construction worker starts thinking to himself about big bucks, and sneaks off with the frog's box.
== Musical Numbers ==
The songs performed by Michigan J. Frog are the following, in order of appearance:
* "Hello, My Ragtime Gal"
*"The Michigan Rag"
*"I'm Just Wild About Harry"
*"Largo al factotum a.k.a. Figaro"
*"Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone"
==Availability==
W UK10550 LooneyTunesVideoShowNo15The.jpg|(1984) VHS The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 15
Lt salute cj.jpg|(1985) VHS A Salute to Chuck Jones
LOONEY TUNES CURTAIN CALLS.jpg|(1993) LaserDisc Looney Tunes Curtain Calls: Classic Music and Show Business Cartoons
lt little giants.jpg|(1995) VHS Little Giants (to coincide with Michigan J. Frog's 40th anniversary)
Bumper03.jpg|(1996) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 3)
LTCE VOL 5 MUSICAL MASTERPIECES.jpg|(2000) VHS Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 5: Musical Masterpieces
Golden Collection box 2.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2, Disc Four
Large.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 2 Disc 2
lt cas3.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 3
51LA0AzTVqL. SL500 AA300 .jpg|(2011) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two
LTPC VOL 1 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection- Looney Tunes.jpg|(2013) DVD Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes, Disc 1
lt spotlight df.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 2-3 Repack
Lt musical masterpieces.jpg|(2015) DVD Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces
lt mtf.jpg|(2016) DVD Music Triple Feature
lt spotlight v1-3.jpg|(2018) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack
===Streaming ===
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2024 - )
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes ( - ) (restored)
==Censorship== 
*When this episode aired in ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show and in The WB's The Bugs and Daffy Show, the scene where the man tries to attract patrons to his theater to hear Michigan J. Frog sing is cut to remove the part where, after his "FREE ADMISSION" sign fails, he creates a "FREE BEER" sign and draws a crowd. The edited version makes it look like the man's "FREE ADMISSION" sign was enough to draw a crowd (surprisingly, this was not cut on Cartoon Network or Boomerang, given that both channels have edited out alcohol references; the scene is also intact on the WB Kids YouTube channel).
==Notes==
*This short is one of the four shorts produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons to be selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the National Film Registry. The other shorts are "Porky in Wackyland", "Duck Amuck", and "What's Opera, Doc?" It is also the third Chuck Jones short to be selected for it.
*This short is the first featuring Michigan J. Frog, who at the time was not named. Its popularity, including the aforementioned induction into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, led to Michigan starring in a later cartoon ("Another Froggy Evening") and being the mascot for The WB network. 
**Though Jones temporarily named him "Enrico" in the bridging sequences of The Bugs Bunny Show in the 1960s, the character was later officially given the name "Michigan J. Frog" when the character's debut cartoon "One Froggy Evening" was announced in the 1970s to be on the following week's episode of The Bugs Bunny Show. The name comes from "The Michigan Rag", a song written for the cartoon that the frog sings at one point. The middle initial was later added as a suggestion made to Chuck Jones in an interview.
*This short was later included in Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, but the ending where the futuristic construction worker finds Michigan J. Frog and restarts the cycle of trying to exploit the frog's talents was cut, making it end when Ernie puts him back and runs off.
*The name of the faux song, "The Michigan Rag", is a spoof on "The Varsity Drag", a song from the musical Good News.
*The business located next to the Acme Theatrical Agency is Gribbroek Theatrical Shoes, named after the layout artist Robert Gribbroek.
*The construction site of the "Tregoweth Brown 40-Story Building" is named after the film editor Treg Brown.
==Gallery ==
One Froggy Evening (1955) - Credits.jpg|Opening credits
OneFroggyEvening Lobby Card.png|Lobby card 
8daf62124f24807226ec048b9b7445ad.png|Lobby card
ImagesDYBZB1A0.jpg|Colorized lobby card
Worker3.jpg
Onefroggyevening.jpg
Onefroggyevening2.jpg
Onefroggyevening7.jpg
Onefroggyevening8.jpg
One Froggy Evening (1955) - ACME Theatrical Agency.jpg
Onefroggyevening6.jpg
Worker2.jpg
Worker4.jpg
Onefroggyevening5.jpg
Onefroggyevening3.jpg
Onefroggyevening4.jpg
758-PMC1.png|Production model cel
758-LD1.png|Layout drawing by Chuck Jones
758-LD2.png|Layout drawing by Chuck Jones
===TV Title Cards===
Screenshot 2020-12-27 at 7.24.55 PM.png|The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (Final Season)
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:1955
Category:Michigan J. Frog Cartoons
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons animated by Abe Levitow
Category:Cartoons animated by Richard Thompson
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist
Category:One-Shot Cartoons