Ghost Wanted

Ghost Wanted is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a pun on "host wanted".
== Plot ==
In his house, a little ghost is reading a book titled How to Haunt Houses, which shows various recommended haunting positions that are usually successful for ghosts. He tries out a few of the positions by posing and then reads the Haunt Ads in the Saturday Evening Ghost (dated Saturday 13 December 1939).
He comes across a haunting job that doesn't require experience at the address of 1313 Dracula Drive that he likes. He changes from his white "suit/sheets" into a new light blue-colored "suit" and white hat, and is invisible for the interim between changing "suits". Even though he can pass through closed doors like an ordinary ghost, he prefers opening them while passing through.
He arrives at the house at 1313 Dracula Drive, which is on a mountain, and tries out for the house-haunting job, but winds up getting terrorized by a bigger ghost interviewing him for the position.
The ghost terrorizes him by yelling boo and scaring him, sending him a Ghostal Telegraph that says "Boo!", and dropping a lit firecracker that resembles an M-80 that the little ghost just barely runs away from.
The bigger ghost's plans backfire on him when the fuses of the fireworks he put in his "back pocket" are ignited by the lit match he dropped and send him flying throughout the house after the little ghost and ultimately into a well somewhere outside the haunted house.
== Caricatures ==
* Chuck Jones - the big ghost is based on him.
== Availability ==
658tgfrd5ertgifudr7cfivkfds.jpg|(1989) VHS Sniffles the Mouse in Toy Trouble
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol. 4.jpg|(1993) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 4, Side 2
346061 front.jpg|(2023) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 2 (restored)
== Censorship ==
* The Cartoon Network and Boomerang versions shown in the United States cut the scene of The Big Ghost offering The Little Ghost a cigarette and a shot of his pack of Old Ghoul Cigarettes. Despite this, the scenes where the Big Ghost smokes the cigarette and blows out a puff of smoke that reads "BOO" were left in.http://chomikuj.pl/lucky-lakunia/*e2*99*a3BAJKI/*e2*97*88+Zwariowane+melodie+(Swiat_Bajek)/081040+Ghost+Wanted+MM+CN+Zwariowane+Melodie+Looney+Tunes+and+Merrie+Melodies+(1940),2269631686.mpg(video)https://archive.org/details/Toonheads_225_One_Toon_Wonders
== Notes ==
* According to the ToonHeads episode "One Toon Wonders", the unnamed little ghost from this cartoon inspired the creation of the Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons by rival studio Famous Studios (formerly Fleischer Studios at the time this cartoon was made) in 1945, even though the Casper character was originally created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo for a 1939 children's book named The Friendly Ghost.https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/24/guardianobituaries.books
* The little ghost does not speak in this short, instead relying entirely on pantomime, similar to Chuck Jones' other Disney-esque characters, Inki and The Two Curious Puppies.
* This is one of the few cartoons not directed by Tex Avery in which he worked as a voice actor.
== Gallery ==
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162417.443.png|The little ghost finds an ad in the newspaper for a job offering for ghosts
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162401.376.png|The little ghost doing a haunt pose in his white suit
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162458.331.png|The little ghost leaves his house in his white hat after locking his door.
File:Rabbit Ghost.png|The Big Ghost looks through the door window to find a customer (The Little Ghost) 
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162532.082.png|The little ghost meets the big ghost, who is invisible and is wearing a hat, at the interview and is offered an Old Ghoul brand cigarette.
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162550.401.png|The Big Ghost tries to scare the Little Ghost
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162606.602.png|The Big Ghost heckles the Little Ghost
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162613.357.png|The big ghost gets fireworks from a dresser filled with Scare Devices and puts them in his back pocket.
File:(1940-8-10) Ghost Wanted.mkv 20240214 162622.086.png|The Big Ghost drops fireworks on the Little Ghost
S-l400.jpg|The two ghosts from this short appear on this 1998 Looney Tunes window decoration
Little ghost.jpg|Model sheet by Bob Givens
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111003.png|Model sheet by Bob Givens
Ghostwantedpartial.jpeg|Lobby card
== References ==
 
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:1940
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons animated by Rudy Larriva
Category:Cartoons with layouts by John McGrew
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Paul Julian
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 produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Tex Avery