Baby Bottleneck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Baby Bottleneck Looney Tunes (Daffy Duck/Porky Pig) series |
|
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Clampett |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc Sara Berner (uncredited) |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by | Rod Scribner Manny Gould Bill Melendez I. Ellis |
| Layouts by | Thomas McKimson |
| Backgrounds by | Dorcy Howard |
| Studio | Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 16, 1946 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7 min. |
| Language | English |
Baby Bottleneck is a 1945 Warner Brothers Looney Tunes (reissued as a Blue Ribbon) theatrical cartoon short released in 1946 and directed by Robert Clampett and written by Warren Foster.
[edit] Plot
The cartoon opens with an overworked stork (a clear Jimmy Durante reference) getting drunk in the Stork Klub {"I do all the woik...and the fadders get all the credit!"). There is an emergency delivery in which inexperienced animals take the babies to their parents. As a result, babies are getting sent to the wrong parents (such as a baby Hippopotamus to a Scottish Terrier, a baby alligator to a pig and a baby skunk to a goose). To clear up the confusion, Porky Pig is brought in to manage the factory, with Daffy Duck as his assistant. The babies are seen going through a conveyor belt (to the tune of Raymond Scott's famous "Powerhouse") and getting sent by various animals, while Daffy mans the phones (making quick references to Bing Crosby (who had four sons), Eddie Cantor (five daughters and no sons) and the Dionne Quintuplets {"Mr. Dionne, puh-leeze!!", is Daffy's shocked reaction)).
When a stray egg is found without an address, Porky decides to have Daffy sit on it until it hatches. However, Daffy (nor Porky, for some reason) refuses to sit around on top of an egg. Porky chases Daffy around the factory (complete with an imitation of Porky by Daffy), until they wind up trapped on the conveyor belt. The belt winds up stuffing both of them into one package (with Porky as the legs and Daffy as the top half) and send them off to Africa, where a gorilla is waiting for her arrival. When the gorilla looks at the "baby," Porky peeks through the diaper, causing the gorilla to cry on the telephone, "Mr. Anthony, I have a problem!!" (a reference to John J. Anthony, who conducted a daily radio advice program at the time, "The Goodwill Hour"; its stock phrase was, "I have a problem, Mr. Anthony").
[edit] Influence
Animator John Kricfalusi has mentioned this cartoon as a major influence on his own cartoons, particularly due to its manic pace and very unusual animation of Daffy and Porky.
A clip from this episode can be seen in the opening credits of the Futurama episode The Series Has Landed.
[edit] Production
 |
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) |
- The voice of the ethnic sounding pig was provided by actress Sara Berner. All other character voices, including the narrator, were performed by Mel Blanc.[citation needed]
[edit] Availability
- The DVD version of this cartoon (available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 box set) has the original title cards instead of the Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies card that has been used on TV for years (in addition, the short is restored, as those prints used for TV were badly-faded ones).[citation needed]
[edit] Censorship
- On Cartoon Network (except for The Bob Clampett Show where cartoons aired uncut), the dubbed version partially removed the baby alligator delivered to the mother pig, so that the cut did not seem as abrupt as it is when the cartoon is unedited here. There is an abrupt fade to black after a newspaper headline says that, "Daffy Duck (is) appointed Assistant Traffic Manager," although nothing was edited. Also removed was the scene near the beginning of the cartoon, with the drunken stork at the Stork Club.
- It is suspected that the abrupt cut occurring with the baby gator and the mother pig may have been done to satisfy the censors at the time of initial release. It has been said that the original scene ended with Mama Pig saying to the alligator: "Ah, ah, ah, don't touch that dial!" (a reference to the famous introduction of the Blondie radio program).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
