Pink, Plunk, Plink

Pink, Plunk, Plink
Pink Panther series
Directed by	Hawley Pratt
Produced by	David H. DePatie Friz Freleng
Music by	Walter Greene
Animation by	Norm McCabe Dale Case LaVerne Harding Warren Batchelder George Grandpré Don Williams
Backgrounds by	Tom O'Loughlin
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	May 25, 1966
Color process	Deluxe
Running time	6' 23"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	The Pink Blueprint
Followed by	Smile Pretty, Say Pink

Pink, Plunk, Plink is the 19th cartoon produced in the Pink Panther series. A total of 124 6-minute cartoons were produced between 1964 and 1980.

Plot

The Pink Panther is a small-time violinist who desperately tries to play with the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. His ultimate goal is to have the group perform his own theme music in place of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. After quietly playing his theme on his violin during the symphony, the angered conductor comes over to the group of violinists to inspect their violin bows. The Panther's bow manages to fire a blast of smoke like a gun into the conductor's face, prompting the ejection of the pink feline a second time.

The Pink Panther tries to look inconspicuous in Pink, Plunk, Plink.

The sly panther manages to sneak back into the Hollywood Bowl, and starts utilizing both a tuba and a trumpet to blast his theme song once again. The conductor becomes even more infuriated, and tries a third time to remove the Panther from the proceedings. Pinky disguises himself against the fancy pedestal of a harp, making himself invisible to the enraged conductor. Thinking he has succeeded in ridding the music hall of the panther, the conductor returns to his podium, unaware that the Panther has substituted his baton with a small rocket. The rocket then shoots into the air and takes the conductor up with it, and then the rocket explodes and drops the conductor far away, allowing the Pink Panther to conduct the orchestra in a rousing rendition of his Pink Panther theme. In the end, Henry Mancini makes a brief cameo, applauding the panther's performance.

Notes

• Composer Henry Mancini, best known for composing the Pink Panther theme song, makes an uncredited appearance at the end of the film. Fittingly, he portrays himself, as the sole attendee in the audience, applauding for the Panther's rendition of his famed theme song.
• This was also the first Pink Panther short that credits Walter Greene for the music. Greene ushered in the era of prerecorded musical scores for the series, which was a considerable savings for the studio. Previously, each entry had its own unique score composed by William Lava, created to match the action of the scene. Greene composed several compositions for the Pink Panther shorts, many which featured variations on Henry Mancini's classic theme song. These scores would be utilized regularly until a new set of tunes were written by Steve DePatie for the made-for-television entries starting in 1978.
• The scene where a coughing audience member is shot by the conductor is a gag reused by Friz Freleng from his earlier cartoon, Rhapsody Rabbit.

External links

• Pink, Plunk, Plink at the Internet Movie Database
• Watch Pink, Plunk, Plink here
• DePatie-Freleng website