''Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals'' (originally aired on TV as ''Carnival of the Animals'') is a 1976 live action/animated television special featuring the ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'' characters
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
and
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...
and directed by
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...
.
The special, based on
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...
' musical suite ''
The Carnival of the Animals
''The Carnival of the Animals'' () is a humorous musical suite of 14 movements, including " The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. About 25 minutes in duration, it was written for private performance by two pianos and chambe ...
'' and consisting of entirely new animation, was purposely cast in the successful mold of Jones' own earlier musical cartoons (including ''
Rabbit of Seville'', ''
Long-Haired Hare'' and ''
Baton Bunny''), and set the familiar showbiz rivalry between Bugs and Daffy against the
orchestral backdrop of conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist, and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the S ...
, in a performance based on Saint-Saëns' music and
Ogden Nash's poetry.
''Carnival of the Animals'' originally aired on
CBS on November 22, 1976, and was the first
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
-commissioned work featuring Bugs Bunny following the release of the cartoon ''
False Hare'', as well as their first ''Looney Tunes'' production following the second closure of
their original animation studio on October 10, 1969.
This is an abridged version of the work, omitting the "Tortoise", "Characters with Long Ears", "Cuckoo" and "Swan" movements and using the "Pianists" music over the ending credits.
Production
Behind the scenes
Prime-time television would seem to be the natural place for the adult humor of
Warner's classic cartoons, as was exemplified by the success of ''
The Bugs Bunny Show'' that aired Tuesday evenings on
ABC in the early 1960s. However, in the mid-1960s, the Warner Bros. cartoons had become established as kiddie entertainment. By 1968, executives at
CBS were convinced that all animated material, no matter what its original intended audience had been, belonged exclusively on Saturday mornings. However, the popular characters of ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'' and ''
Merrie Melodies
''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...
'' intentionally had enduring adult appeal from the first, and with the success of other prime-time television specials such as the various ''
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...
'' specials that were being produced at the time, network programmers were finally convinced to give the Warner Bros. animated characters another chance in prime time.
According to animation historians Kevin McCorry and Jon Cooke:
Cartoon characters, appearing in holiday-related, half-hour features, could be relied upon to garner respectable ratings and advertising revenue. Further, with the reduction of regular series episodes per season to below 26, specials were needed to fill the gaps in the 52 weeks that constituted a television season.
This special marked the first time since Warner Bros. had closed their studios in 1964 that Bugs Bunny had appeared on-screen with new material. (Bugs, unlike most of the other regular ''Looney Tunes'' characters, had not appeared in any of the outsourced productions distributed under the Warner Bros. banner from 1964 to 1969.)
Credits
Cast
*
Mel Blanc as
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
,
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...
, and
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is a cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created man ...
(voice characterizations)
*
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist, and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the S ...
as Himself
(the conductor)
Crew
*
Cinematography
Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...
by Wally Bulloch
*
Production Design
In film industry, film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and ...
by Herbert Klynn
* Animation by:
**
Phil Monroe
**
Manny Perez
**
Tom Ray
**
Lloyd Vaughan
**
Ben Washam
Benjamin Alfred Washam (March 17, 1915 – March 28, 1984) was an American animator who is best known for working under director Chuck Jones for nearly 30 years. According to his World War II draft registration, he was born in Newport, Jackson Co ...
* Produced, written, and directed by
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...
[''Carnival of the Animals'' – IMDb](_blank)
/ref>
Availability
''Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals'' was released on VHS, and later on the '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5'' DVD along with '' Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over'' and '' Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales''.DVD details for ''Carnival of the Animals'' – IMDb
/ref>
See also
* List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
* List of Daffy Duck cartoons
References
External links
*
{{Chuck Jones
1970s animated television specials
1976 in American television
1976 television specials
1970s American television specials
1970s American animated films
CBS television specials
Looney Tunes television specials
Television shows directed by Chuck Jones
Thanksgiving television specials