| One Froggy Evening | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer (uncredited) |
| Starring | William "Bill" Roberts (Michigan J. Frog - uncredited) |
| Edited by | Treg Brown (uncredited) |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | |
| Layouts by | Robert Gribbroek |
| Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 6:56 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English (Only the singing voice of Michigan J. Frog) |
One Froggy Evening is a 1955 AmericanTechnicolor animatedmusical short film written byMichael Maltese and directed byChuck Jones, with musical direction byMilt Franklyn. The short, partly inspired by a 1944Cary Grant film entitledOnce Upon a Time involving a dancing caterpillar in a small box, marks the debut ofMichigan J. Frog: an anthropomorphicfrog with a talent for singing and dancing that he demonstrates for no one except whoever possesses the box wherein he resides. This popular short contained a wide variety of musical entertainment, with songs ranging from "Hello! Ma Baby" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry", twoTin Pan Alley classics, to "Largo al Factotum", Figaro's aria from the operaIl Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). The short was released on December 31, 1955, as part ofWarner Bros.'Merrie Melodies series ofcartoons.
In 1994, it was voted No. 5 ofThe 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.[2] In 2003, the United StatesLibrary of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and selected it for preservation in theNational Film Registry.[3][4]
The film is included in theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 DVD box set (Disc 4) and theLooney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray box set (Disc 2), along with anaudio commentary, optional music-only audio track (only the instrumental, not the vocal), and a making-of documentary,It Hopped One Night: A Look at "One Froggy Evening". It was also featured on the VHS release ofLittle Giants.
In 1955, a construction worker involved in the demolition of the "J. C. Wilber Building" pries off the top of the cornerstone and finds a metal box within. The unnamed man opens the box and finds, along with a commemorative document dated April 16, 1892, alive frog inside, who dons a top hat and cane. After the frog suddenly performs a musical number on the spot, the man sees an opportunity to cash in on the frog's anthropomorphic talents and sneaks away from the site with the frog in the box under his arm.
Every attempt the man makes to exploit the frog fails: the frog performs exclusively for his owner and instantly devolves into an ordinary frog the second anyone else sees him. Remaining unaware of this reality, the man takes the frog to a talent agent. After getting kicked out over the frog's apparent inability to act, he uses his life savings to rent an abandoned theater so he can showcase the frog on his own. The frog performs atop a high wire behind the closed curtain, while the man struggles to get an audience and succeeds with the promise of "Free Beer". As the frog winds down the song, the man breaks the cord of the curtain he is trying to open. By the time the man reaches and pulls what remains of the cord, fully revealing the frog to the crowd, the frog has again reverted to his ordinary state. The angry crowd pelts the man with rotten vegetables.
Following these failures, the man is now homeless and living on a park bench; there, the frog still performs only for him. When a policeman overhears the singing in the middle of the night, he approaches the man, who points to the frog as the singer. When the frog again presents himself as ordinary, the policeman arrests the man, ostensibly forvagrancy but also as insane. The man is committed to a"Psychopathic" Hospital along with the frog, who continues serenading the hapless patient. Following his release, the now haggard anddestitute man — still carrying the box with the frog inside — notices the construction site where he originally found the box. He joyously dumps it into the new cornerstone for the future "Tregoweth Brown Building" and runs away, finally rid of what has become his burden.
101 years later, in 2056, the Brown Building is being disintegrated by futuristic demolition workers. The box with the frog is discovered again, this time by one of the 21st-century crew members. After envisioning a cash bonanza of his own, the worker absconds with the frog in the box, thus beginning the cycle anew.
The cartoon has no spoken dialogue or vocals except by the frog. The frog's vocals are provided by singer and bandleader Bill Roberts.[5] The frog had no name when the cartoon was made, butChuck Jones later named himMichigan J. Frog after the song "The Michigan Rag", which was written for the cartoon. Jones and his animators studied real-life frogs to achieve the successful transition from an ordinary frog to a high-stepping entertainer.[6] The character became the mascot ofThe WB television network in the 1990s. In a clip shown in the DVD specials for theLooney Tunes Golden Collection, Jones states that he started calling the character "Michigan Frog" in the 1970s. During an interview with writerJay Cocks, Jones decided to adopt "J" as the Frog's middle initial, after the interviewer's name.[7]
In 1995, Chuck Jones reprised Michigan J. Frog in a cartoon titledAnother Froggy Evening, withJeff McCarthy providing the frog's voice. InAnother Froggy Evening, Michigan is shown to have always existed. Men from theStone Age (during the erection ofStonehenge),Roman Empire (under the reign of "SaladusCaesar"), andAmerican Revolutionary War, all of whom resemble the man from the original short, fail to profit off the singing frog, who still performs early 20th-century-style showtunes regardless of the time period. In some shots, the frog displays a degree of anthropomorphism, but not musical talent, in front of others by willingly hiding himself in his box. Finally, just as Michigan is about to be eaten by acastaway (who also resembles the original man) on a small, deserted island, he is abducted aboard aflying saucer byMarvin the Martian, who discovers the frog understands the Martian language. The frog invites Marvin to hear him sing, and they perform a duet as the saucer flies away.
The background crowd in the Roman Empire includes caricatures of Jones, animated by Warren O'Neill, andSiskel and Ebert, animated byMort Drucker.[8]
The premise ofOne Froggy Evening has some similarity to that of the 1944 Columbia Pictures filmOnce Upon a Time starringCary Grant in which a dancing caterpillar is kept in a shoebox. It was common for Warner Bros. to parody scenes from well-known live action films for itsMerrie Melodies productions.Once Upon a Time, in turn, was based on "My Client Curley", a 1940 radio play adapted byNorman Corwin from a magazine story byLucille Fletcher.[9]Ol' Rip, ahorned toad "discovered" in an 1897 time capsule inside the cornerstone of theEastland County, Texas courthouse in 1928, is also said to have inspired the premise.[10]
Film criticJay Cocks said that the short "comes as close as any cartoon ever has to perfection" in a 1973Time profile of Chuck Jones.[11] In the 2000 documentary filmChuck Jones: Extremes & Inbetweens – A Life in Animation, filmmakerSteven Spielberg called the short "the Citizen Kane of the animated short".[12]
In 1994, it was voted No. 5 ofThe 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.[2]
About half of the songs performed by the frog were written after he was presumably sealed into the cornerstone, dated 1892.
But I couldn't stop there, so I had the [alien] creature go on to sing and dance "Hello My Baby"[sic] complete with waving a straw hat and a cane!
