Monday, July 09, 2007

What's Opera, Doc?

Back in December I posted a little item about the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time. One of those cartoons is a Warner Brothers classic by the great Chuck Jones:

What's Opera, Doc?

There's a neat article in the Toronto Star about the 50th birthday of What's Opera, Doc.

And now, without further ado, one of the best pieces of animation ever:


9 comments:

Dale said...

Bubs, you're so damned excellent for posting this (and for many other reasons).

I forgot about this but recall mentioning somewhere in my blog comments that my infatuation with opera may well have started with Bugs singing - Welcome to my shop, let me cut your mop. Now I have to go look for that.

jin said...

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Ditto Dale's first line!

You know, I never think of looking for things like this when I'm youtube browsing.

One of my all-time faves.

Fantastic, Bubs!

:-D

Splotchy said...

Always loved that cartoon -- thanks for posting about it. That's a nice article, too.

I remember being really sad at the end when i saw this as a kid.

It still makes me sad.

Anonymous said...

That wascaliy wabbitt...
Although I gotta say I'm pretty partial to the "Rabbit of Seville". "One froggy evening" is pretty great too.

On a different note, the anamaniacs videos are definitely worth paying attention to. Try out "Anamaniacs Sing the countries" Reminiscent of Tom Lehrer's "Elements" (Lehrer's the guy that brought us "Silent E" on the electric company.)

All on youtube. None should be left in our childhood memories.

Cup said...

That was my introduction to opera. Chuck Jones & Co. were brilliant ...

Johnny Yen said...

I love that one. It's Adam's favorite Bugs Bunny episode, too.

My friend The Elk owns an animation cel from that bit.

Joe said...

Johnny, I remember there used to be a shop downtown, I think on Michigan Av, that specialized in animation cells. I used to walk by there and window shop all the time.

Beth, one of my favorite books is the autobiography of Chuck Jones, titled "Chuck Amuck". MizBubs got it for me years ago.

Sin, thanks for reminding me!

Splotchy, it's ok--it's only a cartoon.

Jin, you're welcome!

Dale, thank you! I think those old Bugs Bunny cartoons taught lots of us about classical music and opera. Part of their brilliance is the way they weave together slapstick humor, pop culture references of the 30's, 40's and 50's, and highbrow culture.

Dino said...

LOL LUV BUGS AND AND DAFFY AND TOM AND JERRY. (I used to have a crush on Jerry)

BeckEye said...

Even though I'm a die-hard Daffy girl, this is a great cartoon. I don't even need to play it...I think I know most of the dialogue off by heart. My favorite part was always when Elmer sings, "Oh Brunhilda, you're so lovely, " and Bugs replies, "Yes, I know it, I can't help it." That cracks me up every time.

My favorite WB cartoon is still "Rabbit Seasoning," one of the great trilogy of Daffy-Bugs-Elmer hunting cartoons. (The others were "Rabbit Fire" and "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!) Daffy has some of his greatest lines ever in that one.