| The Hole Idea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Robert McKimson |
| Story by | Sid Marcus |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Starring | Mel Blanc Bea Benaderet |
| Narrated by | Robert C. Bruce |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | Robert McKimson |
| Layouts by | Richard H. Thomas |
| Backgrounds by | Richard H. Thomas |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6:51 |
| Language | English |
The Hole Idea is a 1955Warner Bros.Looney Tunes cartoon directed and animated byRobert McKimson with character layout and background layout and paint by Richard H. Thomas.[1] The short was released on April 16, 1955.[2]
A scientist, Professor Calvin Q. Calculus, successfully creates aportable hole invention, despite disapproval from his wife, Gertrude. His creation is celebrated in anewsreel, showcasing the various uses for a portable hole: Rescuing a baby from a safe, cheating at your golf game and giving dogs a new place to bury their bones. Spurred by the film, a thief steals a briefcase containing Calvin's portable holes and uses them for criminal purposes, including emptyingFort Knox and abducting a dancing girl from aburlesque house. However, he is chased by the police until he is backed against a wall, when he uses the last portable hole in the briefcase to go through the wall and seemingly escape, it is revealed that the other side is inside a prison. Calvin reads about the arrest in the paper and is glad, but Gertrude berates him furiously for not treating her right and says that one of them must leave. In retaliation, Calvin creates one more portable hole and throws it on the floor. The nagging and domineering wife steps in it and falls through it. After a few seconds,Satan comes up the portable hole, throws her back to Earth and complains in response: "Isn't it bad enough down there without her?" as the cartoon ends.
The Hole Idea was the first shortRobert McKimson directed following Warner Bros. Cartoon's brief shutdown in 1953. McKimson has begun work on the cartoon early that year, just before his unit was disbanded two months before the entire studio was closed that June. While he was able to convince Warner Bros. to bring back his unit after the studio reopened, the lack of needed funds prevented him from retrieving his animators who were at this point scattered across the industry. McKimson served as the sole animator for the short aside from layout and background work by Richard H. Thomas.[3]
While producerEdward Selzer refused to put up the short for consideration of anAcademy Award, McKimson has said that his colleagues,Chuck Jones andFriz Freleng, praised the film.[3] The cartoon would however win an award from theUniversity of Wisconsin, as it was the only one that entered the category for best short subjects of that year.[4]
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