Book Revue
Also known as: Book Review (Blue Ribbon Reissue)
- Studio
- Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc.
- Distributor
- Warner Bros.
Synopsis
A series of book-related gags.
Characters
Daffy Duck, Little Red Riding Hood, Wolf
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Robert Clampett
Producing
- Producer
- Edward Selzer
Writing
- Writer
- Warren Foster
Voices
- Voice
- Mel Blanc (Daffy Duck, Wolf, Cuckoo Bird, Sailor, Henry VIII, Mice, Cop), Bea Benedaret (Bobby-Soxer, Lady on "Freckles" Cover, Screams), Sara Berner (Elizabeth of York, Swooning Girls), The Sportsmen Quartet (Vocalists)
Music
- Music
- Carl W. Stalling
Animation
- Animator
- Robert McKimson, Rod Scribner, Manny Gould, C. (Bill) Melendez
- Layouts
- Cornett Wood
Art Department
- Backgrounds
- Thomas McKimson, Cornett Wood
Production notes
The current version of this short is often mis-titled "Book Review."
Book cover titles satirize Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, W.C. Fields, Henry VIII, Danny Kaye, Jimmy Durante, the Big Bad Wolf, Martha Raye and many others. Daffy Duck impersonates Kaye, spoofing both his fake Russian accent and his scat-singing.
Harry James, Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa are also caricatured.
In September of 1943, beginning with A Feud There Was, Warner Bros. began re-releasing select color cartoons in their Blue Ribbon program. Typically the Blue Ribbon reissues received new opening sequences with Blue Ribbon title cards and standardized music. Cartoon production credits were also removed. Between ten and fifteen cartoons were released in any given year, with cartoons coming from as far back as 1935. The reissues continued until the close of the studio in the 1960's.
All Blue Ribbon cartoons were released as "Merrie Melodie" cartoons regardless of the original series. The first "Looney Tunes" short to be included in the Blue Ribbon series was The Hep Cat, which was added in 1949. The only current prints of many of these cartoons are the Blue Ribbon releases, although restoration of these cartoons with original elements and titles is always ongoing.
Songs: "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" (Cliff Friend-Dave Franklin),
"She Broke My Heart in Three Places" (Milton Drake-Al Hoffman-Jerry Livingston),
"Moonlight Sonata" (Beethoven-arr. Carl Stalling),
"Gruen Watch Time Signal Jingle" (Writer Unknown),
"Grandfather's Clock" (Carl Stalling),
"It Had to Be You" (Gus Kahn-Isham Jones),
"Dark Eyes" (Unknown-arr. Carl Stalling),
"La Cucaracha" (Unknown-arr. Carl Stalling),
"Carolina in the Morning" (Gus Kahn-Walter Donaldson),
"Big Bad Wolf" (Carl Stalling),
"Light Cavalry Overture" (Unknown-arr. Carl Stalling),
"In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" (Egbert Van Alstyne-Harry Williams),
"Calling All Cars" (Carl Stalling),
"Sextette from Lucia (Parody)" (Donizetti-arr. Carl Stalling),
"Escape" (Carl Stalling),
"It Had to Be You" (Gus Kahn-Isham Jones),
"Book Revue" (Carl Stalling),
"Carolina in the Morning" (Gus Kahn-Walter Donaldson).
The part in which Daffy is chased through Uncle Tom's Cabin is edited on Cartoon Network (except in The Bob Clampett Show).
Book cover titles satirize Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, W.C. Fields, Henry VIII, Danny Kaye, Jimmy Durante, the Big Bad Wolf, Martha Raye and many others. Daffy Duck impersonates Kaye, spoofing both his fake Russian accent and his scat-singing.
Harry James, Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa are also caricatured.
In September of 1943, beginning with A Feud There Was, Warner Bros. began re-releasing select color cartoons in their Blue Ribbon program. Typically the Blue Ribbon reissues received new opening sequences with Blue Ribbon title cards and standardized music. Cartoon production credits were also removed. Between ten and fifteen cartoons were released in any given year, with cartoons coming from as far back as 1935. The reissues continued until the close of the studio in the 1960's.
All Blue Ribbon cartoons were released as "Merrie Melodie" cartoons regardless of the original series. The first "Looney Tunes" short to be included in the Blue Ribbon series was The Hep Cat, which was added in 1949. The only current prints of many of these cartoons are the Blue Ribbon releases, although restoration of these cartoons with original elements and titles is always ongoing.
Songs: "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" (Cliff Friend-Dave Franklin),
"She Broke My Heart in Three Places" (Milton Drake-Al Hoffman-Jerry Livingston),
"Moonlight Sonata" (Beethoven-arr. Carl Stalling),
"Gruen Watch Time Signal Jingle" (Writer Unknown),
"Grandfather's Clock" (Carl Stalling),
"It Had to Be You" (Gus Kahn-Isham Jones),
"Dark Eyes" (Unknown-arr. Carl Stalling),
"La Cucaracha" (Unknown-arr. Carl Stalling),
"Carolina in the Morning" (Gus Kahn-Walter Donaldson),
"Big Bad Wolf" (Carl Stalling),
"Light Cavalry Overture" (Unknown-arr. Carl Stalling),
"In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" (Egbert Van Alstyne-Harry Williams),
"Calling All Cars" (Carl Stalling),
"Sextette from Lucia (Parody)" (Donizetti-arr. Carl Stalling),
"Escape" (Carl Stalling),
"It Had to Be You" (Gus Kahn-Isham Jones),
"Book Revue" (Carl Stalling),
"Carolina in the Morning" (Gus Kahn-Walter Donaldson).
The part in which Daffy is chased through Uncle Tom's Cabin is edited on Cartoon Network (except in The Bob Clampett Show).
Pictures
Reviews
Book Revue
I own this short on the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection:volume 2" and it really brings out the duck's "Daffy" personalitty. I espically enjoy the song "Carolina in the Morning".
I hope you people found my review hepful.
Book Revue
From 1942 to 1946, Robert Clampett directed an unequalled string of cartoon masterpieces. While Chuck Jones developed later (in fact, he seemed to really hit his stride after Clampett left WB) and was a superior "artist" in many ways, for sheer hilarity (especially humor teetering a little on the sick side)Clampett was the master. "Book Revue" is one of his best. It is a dizzying, rapid-fire series of ingenious ideas and GREAT animation. While Clampett didn't have the affinity for backrounds and layouts like Jones (see "Baby Bottleneck" as an example:some of the backrounds are just solid color panels), his crew of animators achieved a precision seldom equalled, even by Jones and Freleng. Clampett did have a weakness: Relying too much on references to contemporary catch-phrases and a bit too much of reliance on "Powerhouse" in the musical scoring. But those are very minor transgressions. "Book Revue" does not suffer from those weaknesses. Or ANY OTHERS.
Book Revue
The very best of Clampett and one of my personal favourites. If I could make a cartoon half as good as this one, I'd be a millionare.