''A Bear for Punishment'' is a 1951
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
''
Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by
Chuck Jones.
The short was released on October 20, 1951, and stars
the Three Bears.
Plot
In the Three Bear's cave, Henry Bear is woken up from slumber by a ridiculous number of alarm clocks. Junyer Bear claps and happily exclaims, "Oh boy! At last the great day has come, at last! Oh boy, oh boy!" When he can't shut them up, Junyer silences them all by whispering "Shhhhh!" Henry loses his temper, as he often does, shoving a clock in Junyer's face. He is about to lose his temper with Ma Bear when she reminds him today is
Father's Day
Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...
. Henry feels embarrassed and (reluctantly) allows his family to treat him for Father's Day.
Unfortunately, the family's celebration of Father's Day repeatedly backfires on Henry: Junyer trips on a roller skate as he is presenting Henry with breakfast in bed, covering him in food; he accidentally fills Henry's tobacco pipe with gunpowder and causes it to explode when he lights it; and he attempts to shave his "Paw" using a broken, shattered straight razor blade, leaving Henry injured to the point where Ma and Junyer briefly thinks he's dead. However, Henry rises up and beats Junyer again, causing him to exclaim, "Paw is all right now, Maw!"
Ma and Junyer then put on an elaborate musical presentation for Father's Day, which embarrasses Henry to the extreme. This includes Junyer reciting a cheesy poem for "My Paw," Ma giving an exaggerated song-and-dance act (while keeping a dead-serious and straight face for the entire time), and Henry being grabbed and dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, while Ma and Junyer (dressed as
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
and
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
respectively) present him as a tribute to Father's Day.
The march, "Father", performed by Junior and Ma, is a special vocal written to the tune of "
Frat
A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity ...
", a long-standing Warner cartoon staple. This is also one of few shorts where
Mel Blanc does not provide a voice for any character.
Voice cast
*
Billy Bletcher
William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Disne ...
as Papa Bear
*
Bea Benaderet as Mama Bear
*
Stan Freberg as Junyer Bear
Reception
Animation historian
Greg Ford
Greg Ford is an animator, director, historian and consultant to Warner Bros. Animation. He is perhaps best known for directing the films ''Daffy Duck's Quackbusters'', ''Weezer Slander: The Movie'', and '' (Blooper) Bunny''.
Biography
During ...
writes that ''A Bear for Punishment'' is "a tour de force depicting Maw and Junyer's overzealous salute to
Father's Day
Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...
... As outrageous as
Ken Harris' animation of this pageant is, Jones' drawings of Paw, in intercut reaction shots, are even funnier... It is typical of Jones' direction that, even in the midst of one of the most energetic, floridly animated scenes in cartoon history, the primacy of the single drawing should reassert itself."
References
External links
*
1951 films
1951 comedy films
1951 animated films
1951 short films
1950s Warner Bros. animated short films
Looney Tunes shorts
Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films
Short films directed by Chuck Jones
Films scored by Carl Stalling
Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese
Animated films about bears
Father's Day
1950s English-language films
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