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{{Infobox Shorts wTabs
{{Infobox_Shorts
 
 
|name = Book Revue
 
|name = Book Revue
|image = Bookrevue.jpg
+
|image = <tabber>
  +
|-|Original=[[File:3_(6).jpg|274px]]
  +
|-|Reissue=[[File:Bookreview.gif|274px]]
  +
</tabber>
 
|Director = [[Bob Clampett|Robert Clampett]]
 
|Director = [[Bob Clampett|Robert Clampett]]
|producer = [[Eddie Selzer]]
+
|producer = [[Eddie Selzer]] (uncredited)
 
|airdate = January 5, 1946
 
|airdate = January 5, 1946
 
|series = [[Looney Tunes]]
 
|series = [[Looney Tunes]]
 
|Voice = [[Mel Blanc]] (uncredited)<br>[[Bea Benaderet]] (uncredited)<br>[[Sara Berner]] (uncredited)<br>[[Richard Bickenbach]] (uncredited)<br>[[The Sportsmen Quartet]] (uncredited)
 
|Voice = [[Mel Blanc]] (uncredited)<br>[[Bea Benaderet]] (uncredited)<br>[[Sara Berner]] (uncredited)<br>[[Richard Bickenbach]] (uncredited)<br>[[The Sportsmen Quartet]] (uncredited)
|Starring = [[Daffy Duck]]<br>[[Little Red Riding Hood]]<br>[[Big Bad Wolf]]<br>Bobby-Soxer<br>Lady on 'Freckles' Cover<br>Elizabeth of York<br>Swooning Girls<br>Cop<br>Cuckoo<br>Sailor<br>Henry VIII<br>Mice<br>Vocalists
+
|Starring = [[Daffy Duck]]<br>[[Little Red Riding Hood]]<br>[[Big Bad Wolf]]
 
|previous = [[Nasty Quacks]]
 
|previous = [[Nasty Quacks]]
 
|next = [[Baseball Bugs]]
 
|next = [[Baseball Bugs]]
|video = [[File:Daffy Duck - (Ep. 36) - Book Revue|thumb|250px]]
+
|video = [[File:Looney Tunes - Book Revue|thumb|center|280px]]
 
[[File:Book Revue US Dubbed Version|thumb|center|280px]]
 
|Writer = [[Warren Foster]]
 
|Writer = [[Warren Foster]]
 
|Animators = [[Rod Scribner]]<br>[[Bill Melendez|C. Melendez]]<br>[[Manny Gould]]<br>[[Robert McKimson]]
 
|Animators = [[Rod Scribner]]<br>[[Bill Melendez|C. Melendez]]<br>[[Manny Gould]]<br>[[Robert McKimson]]
Line 16: Line 20:
 
|Background-artist = [[Thomas McKimson]]<br>[[Cornett Wood]]
 
|Background-artist = [[Thomas McKimson]]<br>[[Cornett Wood]]
 
|Sound effects = [[Treg Brown]] (uncredited)
 
|Sound effects = [[Treg Brown]] (uncredited)
|Musician = [[Carl W. Stalling]]}}
+
|Musician = [[Carl W. Stalling]]
  +
}}
[[File:Bookreview.gif|thumb|Blue Ribbon Re-Issue Titles, under the new name, "Book Review."]]
 
'''Book Revue''' (later re-issued as '''Book Review''') is a 1945 [[Looney Tunes]] cartoon short featuring [[Daffy Duck]], released in 1946. It is directed by [[Bob Clampett]], written by [[Warren Foster]] and scored by [[Carl Stalling]]. An uncredited [[Mel Blanc]] and [[Sara Berner]] provided the voices. The title is a pun, as a Revue is a variety show, while a Review is an evaluation of an artwork.
+
'''Book Revue''', later re-issued as '''Book Review''', is a [[1946]] ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short directed by [[Bob Clampett]].
   
==Plot==
+
== Title ==
  +
The title is a pun, as a Revue is a variety show, while a Review is an evaluation of an artwork; this pun is however not retained in the reissue.
The plot is a send-up of [[Warner Bros.]]' own "books come to life" cartoons of the type that frequently appeared under the ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' banner (such as 1938's ''[[Have You Got Any Castles?]]''). The cartoon is loaded with puns and pop culture references, even by Warner standards. After this lampoon, Warner never issued another of that genre.
 
   
  +
== Plot ==
The cartoon starts out in the same, pastoral "after midnight at a closed bookstore" fashion of previous versions, to the strains of Moonlight Sonata. The storefront is realistic, suggesting it was rotoscoped. Initially the cartoon has a serious feel to it. Then, an inebriated "cuckoo bird" pops out of a cuckoo clock to announce the arrival of midnight (and signaling the "cuckoo" activities to follow), the cartoon's first lampoon and pun appears, a book cover called ''COMPLETE WORKS of Shakespeare''. Shakespeare is shown in silhouette while his literally-rendered "works" are clockwork mechanisms, along with old-fashioned "stop" and "go" traffic signals, set to the "ninety years without slumbering, tick-tock, tick-tock" portion of "My Grandfather's Clock".
+
After midnight at a closed bookstore, there are strains of "Moonlight Sonata". The storefront is realistic, suggesting it was rotoscoped. Then, an inebriated "cuckoo bird" pops out of a cuckoo clock to announce the arrival of midnight (and signaling the "cuckoo" activities to follow). On a book cover called ''COMPLETE WORKS of Shakespeare'', Shakespeare is shown in silhouette while his literally-rendered "works" are clockwork mechanisms, along with old-fashioned "stop" and "go" traffic signals, set to the "ninety years without slumbering, tick-tock, tick-tock" portion of "My Grandfather's Clock".
   
Cut to a book titled ''Young Man with a Horn''; a caricature of Harry James breaks loose with a jazz trumpet obbligato similar to James' "You Made Me Love You", instead resolving into the standard, "It Had to Be You". A striptease is about to begin on the cover of ''Cherokee Strip''. Book covers for ''The Whistler'' and ''The Sea Wolf'' show their characters shouting and whistling at the off-screen action. (The Sea Wolf's howl segués into a sentence, sometimes rendered as "How ooooold is she?" but that phrasing is unclear, perhaps purposely.) The now-panting Shakespeare silhouette's inner workings explode in a shower of gears and clocksprings.
+
On a book titled ''Young Man with a Horn'', a caricature of Harry James breaks loose with a jazz trumpet obbligato similar to James' "You Made Me Love You", instead resolving into the standard, "It Had to Be You". A striptease is about to begin on the cover of ''Cherokee Strip''. Book covers for ''The Whistler'' and ''The Sea Wolf'' show their characters shouting and whistling at the off-screen action. The Sea Wolf's howl segués into a sentence, "How ooooold is she?" The now-panting Shakespeare silhouette's inner workings explode in a shower of gears and clocksprings.
   
The catcalls continue with Henry VIII also howling like a wolf and then barking like a seal. Referencing a catchphrase of the popular radio program, ''The Aldrich Family'', the king's "mother" calls out, "Hen-REEEE! Henry the Eighth!" "Coming, mother!" is the king's cracking-voice reply, and he runs to the book cover where Mother waits. As she begins to spank her "naughty boy", a new singing voice and caricature appear, namely that of Frank Sinatra. The gray, blanketed, emaciated character, overemphasizing Sinatra's real-life physique, enters the cartoon on the cover of ''The Voice in the Wilderness''. A large, male orderly pushes the Sinatra character across the screen in a wheelchair. Sinatra begins to croon the lyrics of "It Had to be You" into a ribbon microphone.
+
The catcalls continue with Henry VIII also howling like a wolf and then barking like a seal. Referencing a catchphrase of the popular radio program, ''The Aldrich Family'', the king's "mother" calls out, "Hen-REEEE! Henry the Eighth!" "Coming, mother!" is the king's cracking-voice reply, and he runs to the book cover where Mother waits. As she begins to spank her "naughty boy", a new singing voice and caricature appear, namely that of Frank Sinatra. The gray, blanketed, emaciated character, overemphasizing Sinatra's real-life physique, enters on the cover of ''The Voice in the Wilderness''. A large, male orderly pushes the Sinatra character in a wheelchair. Sinatra begins to croon the lyrics of "It Had to be You" into a ribbon microphone.
   
 
Now the women take their turn at hysteria. Henry's mother, bobby-soxed versions of Little Women, Whistler's Mother and Mother Goose (and her hatchling) begin to whistle and catcall (just as the men did for ''Cherokee Strip''), and swoon and faint at the sound of Sinatra's voice, each of them uttering the catchphrase "Fraaankie!" before passing out.
 
Now the women take their turn at hysteria. Henry's mother, bobby-soxed versions of Little Women, Whistler's Mother and Mother Goose (and her hatchling) begin to whistle and catcall (just as the men did for ''Cherokee Strip''), and swoon and faint at the sound of Sinatra's voice, each of them uttering the catchphrase "Fraaankie!" before passing out.
   
A full-blown jam session begins, with a lively swing version of "It Had To Be You". Joining Harry James are the Indian on the cover of ''Drums Along the Mohawk'', who morphs into a realistic-looking Gene Krupa (his drumset is labeled "GK"); Benny Goodman (as The Pie-Eyed Piper; some mice cheer, "Yeah, Benny!"); and Tommy Dorsey.
+
A full-blown jam session begins, with a lively swing version of "It Had To Be You". Joining Harry James are the Indian on the cover of ''Drums Along the Mohawk'', who morphs into a realistic-looking Gene Krupa (his drum set is labeled "GK"); Benny Goodman (as The Pie-Eyed Piper; some mice cheer, "Yeah, Benny!"); and Tommy Dorsey.
   
 
Annoyed by the revelry, Daffy Duck steps out of the cover of a ''Looney Tunes'' comic book (in the background is a book by "Ann Anonymous" titled ''The Invisible Man: A Biography of Robert Clampett''), dons a zoot suit and a curly, blond wig, shouts for the celebration to "STOP!" and the jam session screeches to a halt. Daffy stands in front of the cover of ''Danny Boy'', and effects Danny Kaye's Russian-accented characterization heard in Kaye's debut 78 album. Daffy says "POOEY!" to jazz and swing music, and reminisces about his "native willage" and "the happy peoples sitting on their balalaikas, playing their samovars" (misusing those two Russian terms).
 
Annoyed by the revelry, Daffy Duck steps out of the cover of a ''Looney Tunes'' comic book (in the background is a book by "Ann Anonymous" titled ''The Invisible Man: A Biography of Robert Clampett''), dons a zoot suit and a curly, blond wig, shouts for the celebration to "STOP!" and the jam session screeches to a halt. Daffy stands in front of the cover of ''Danny Boy'', and effects Danny Kaye's Russian-accented characterization heard in Kaye's debut 78 album. Daffy says "POOEY!" to jazz and swing music, and reminisces about his "native willage" and "the happy peoples sitting on their balalaikas, playing their samovars" (misusing those two Russian terms).
   
Daffy starts talking about a girl named "Cucaracha", parodying Lucky Strike cigarette ads: "so round, so firm, so fully packed, so easy on the draw!" Daffy does a wild, short version of "La Cucaracha" in his normal character mode, including his "hoo-hoo" bit. This short segment has a plain background, suggesting it was cartooned separately and inserted tentatively, to be dropped seamlessly in case the censors objected to the somewhat suggestive comments about "Cucaracha".
+
Daffy starts talking about a girl named "Cucaracha", parodying Lucky Strike cigarette ads: "so round, so firm, so fully packed, so easy on the draw!" Daffy does a wild, short version of "La Cucaracha" in his normal character mode, including his "hoo-hoo" bit.
   
The previous background returns, along with Daffy's fake Russian accent, as he sings "Carolina In The Morning" ("nothing could be feener than to be in Caroleena..."). Then we see Little Red Riding Hood (based on Margaret O'Brien) going to "Gran'Ma's House." Daffy danced over there inadvertently teasing the Big Bad Wolf, who at this point is still in the window of "Gran'Ma's House"; Daffy beats a hasty retreat to stage left. Meanwhile, Little Red Riding Hood, skips past Daffy and toward Gran'Ma's House.
+
Daffy's fake Russian accent returns as he sings "Carolina in the Morning" ("nothing could be feener than to be in Caroleena..."). Then [[Little Red Riding Hood]] (based on Margaret O'Brien) is going to "Gran'Ma's House." Daffy dances over there inadvertently teasing the Big Bad Wolf, who at this point is still in the window of "Gran'Ma's House"; Daffy beats a hasty retreat. Meanwhile, Little Red Riding Hood skips past Daffy and toward Gran'Ma's House.
   
 
Noticing Red, Daffy zooms back and stations himself between her and the house, launching into a wild scat - again a reference to the same Danny Kaye debut album - to warn her of the wolf, complete with mock chewing on her leg for emphasis. The wolf appears, and Red screams and runs away. The wolf begins to sprinkle salt and pepper on Daffy's leg. Daffy halfway notices, turns back to "bite" the now-gone Red, then turns toward the wolf with a startled and outrageous double-take, turning into a giant eyeball for a couple of seconds.
 
Noticing Red, Daffy zooms back and stations himself between her and the house, launching into a wild scat - again a reference to the same Danny Kaye debut album - to warn her of the wolf, complete with mock chewing on her leg for emphasis. The wolf appears, and Red screams and runs away. The wolf begins to sprinkle salt and pepper on Daffy's leg. Daffy halfway notices, turns back to "bite" the now-gone Red, then turns toward the wolf with a startled and outrageous double-take, turning into a giant eyeball for a couple of seconds.
   
The wolf chases Daffy through Uncle Tom's Cabin and other classics, and is stymied trying to cut down Daffy who is hiding in the Petrified Forest. Meanwhile, the police have been alerted ("Calling all cars!") and the wolf is apprehended by The Long Arm of the Law just as he was about to kill Daffy. The Judge sentences the wolf to ''Life'', as the wolf sings part of the sextette from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor - "You can't do dis to me / I'm a citizen, see!" The wolf is suddenly bonked over the head with a nightstick, and then makes his Escape and runs through the volumes.
+
The wolf chases Daffy through Uncle Tom's Cabin and other classics, and is stymied trying to cut down Daffy who is hiding in the Petrified Forest. Meanwhile, the police have been alerted ("Calling all cars!") and the wolf is apprehended by The Long Arm of the Law just as he was about to kill Daffy. The Judge sentences the wolf to ''Life'', as the wolf sings part of the sextette from Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' - "You can't do dis to me / I'm a citizen, see!" The wolf is suddenly bonked over the head with a nightstick, and then makes his Escape and runs through the volumes.
   
Jimmy Durante, incongruously illustrating the cover of ''So Big'', turns toward the wolf, and his huge nose trips the wolf, who goes sliding down Skid Row, nearly falling into Dante's Inferno. The wolf scrambles to the top, but the Sinatra caricature reappears, held in the orderly's hands as if he were a doll. The Wolf, being in the grandma archetype, swoons at the sound of "Frankie!", just as the female characters did, and skids head first into the inferno.
+
Jimmy Durante, illustrating the cover of ''So Big'', turns toward the wolf, and his huge nose trips the wolf, who goes sliding down Skid Row, nearly falling into Dante's Inferno. The wolf scrambles to the top, but the Sinatra caricature reappears, held in the orderly's hands as if he were a doll. The Wolf, being in the grandma archetype, swoons at the sound of "Frankie!", just as the female characters did, and skids head first into the inferno.
   
The other book cover characters loudly cheer and dance to a jazz/swing version of "Carolina In The Morning", the Wolf makes one final appearance to shout, "Stop that dancing up there! ... ya sillies!" This last bit is the actual title of a 1944 song by Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, along with a lisping delivery of "sillies" caricaturing Joe Besser. Clampett's famous "bee-woop!" vocalization ends the cartoon on a sort of "shaggy dog" note.
+
The other book cover characters loudly cheer and dance to a jazz/swing version of "Carolina in the Morning", the Wolf makes one final appearance to shout, "Stop that dancing up there! ... ya sillies!" This last bit is the actual title of a 1944 song by Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, along with a lisping delivery of "sillies" caricaturing Joe Besser.
   
==Gallery==
+
== Notes ==
  +
* Daffy's short segment has a plain background, suggesting it was cartooned separately and inserted tentatively, to be dropped seamlessly in case the censors objected to the somewhat suggestive comments about "Cucaracha".
  +
* According to the ''[[Toonheads]]'' episode "Midnight in the Bookstore", "Book Revue" is considered the ultimate midnight-in-the-bookstore cartoon, even though this genre of cartoons was on the wane years prior.
  +
  +
== Legacy ==
  +
* In the ''[[Animaniacs]]'' episode "[[Video Review]]", Yakko, Wakko, and Dot hold a Video Review after being released in a videostore. Just like the books, they run in and out of films and mingle with movie characters. Daffy Duck makes a cameo in the episode.
  +
* In one segment of the ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' episode "[[Inside Plucky Duck]]", [[Plucky Duck|Plucky]] performs Daffy's giant eye double-take (dubbed "a Clampett Corneal Catastrophe"), only to be stuck in eye form, unable to restore himself to normal until the segment's end.
  +
  +
== Censorship ==
  +
* On [[Cartoon Network]] (barring its appearance on ''The Bob Clampett Show'') and [[Boomerang]], the scene of Daffy and the wolf running into the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (with Daffy as the black slave woman running through the frozen river to get away from the wolf) is cut.<ref name=CensoredLTMM>http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-b.aspx</ref>
  +
* In addition to the cut made by Cartoon Network and Boomerang, [[The WB]] cuts out the scene where Daffy says "So round, so firm, so fully packed, so easy on the draw", a catchphrase for Lucky Strike cigarettes back in the 1940s.<ref name=CensoredLTMM/>
  +
  +
== Availability ==
  +
* VHS - ''[[Cartoon Moviestars]]'': Daffy! (MGM/UA Home Video)
  +
* LaserDisc - [[Cartoon Moviestars]]: Daffy! and Porky!
  +
* LaserDisc - ''[[The Golden Age of Looney Tunes]]'': Vol. 1, Side 8: 1940's Zanies (MGM/UA Home Video)
  +
* VHS - ''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'': Vol. 8: 1940's Zanies (MGM/UA Home Video)
  +
* VHS - ''[[Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition]]'', Vol. 7: Welcome to Wackyland (1995 USA Turner Dubbed Version)
  +
* DVD - ''[[Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2]]'', Disc 4 (original opening and closing titles restored) (Warner Home Video)
  +
* DVD - Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2
  +
* DVD - [[The Essential Daffy Duck|''The Essential Daffy Duck'']]'', ''Disc 1 (original opening and closing titles restored) (Warner Home Video)
  +
* Blu-ray, DVD - ''[[Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2]]'', Disc 1 (original opening and closing titles restored) (Warner Home Video)
  +
  +
== Gallery ==
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
  +
1531772199651.jpg
 
Book Revue scene.jpg|Daffy Duck and Little Red Riding Hood during the scat singing scene in front of Gran'Ma's House
 
Book Revue scene.jpg|Daffy Duck and Little Red Riding Hood during the scat singing scene in front of Gran'Ma's House
  +
SmBookRevueTomMcK.jpg|Model sheet by [[Thomas McKimson|Tom McKimson]]
  +
extr2.jpg|[[Lobby Cards|Lobby Card]]
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
   
==Video==
+
== References ==
  +
{{reflist}}
[[File:Beware the Big Bad Wolf|thumb|center|335px]]
 
 
 
{{DaffyDuckShorts}}
 
{{DaffyDuckShorts}}
   
==External Link==
+
== External Links ==
*[http://www.supercartoons.net/cartoon/724/book-revue.html Book Revue] at SuperCartoons.net
+
* "[http://www.supercartoons.net/cartoon/724/book-revue.html Book Revue]" at SuperCartoons.net
  +
* "[https://video.meta.ua/2489822 Book Revue]" (Original Blue Ribbon Reissue Print/LaserDisc)
  +
  +
  +
{{-}}
 
[[Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons]]
 
[[Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons]]
[[Category:Little Red Hiding Hood Cartoons]]
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[[Category:Little Red Riding Hood Cartoons]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett]]
 
[[Category:Shorts]]
 
[[Category:Shorts]]
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[[Category:Looney Tunes Shorts]]
 
[[Category:Looney Tunes Shorts]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons written by Warren Foster]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons written by Warren Foster]]
[[Category:Cartoons animated by Robert McKimson]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons animated by Rod Scribner]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons animated by Manny Gould]]
 
 
[[Category:Cartoons animated by Bill Melendez]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons animated by Bill Melendez]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with layouts by Thomas McKimson]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with layouts by Thomas McKimson]]
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[[Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Bea Benaderet]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Bea Benaderet]]
[[Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Sara Berner]]
 
 
[[Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn]]
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[[Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer]]
  +
[[Category:Caricatures of real people]]
 
[[Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package]]
  +
[[Category:The Big Bad Wolf Cartoons]]
  +
[[Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist]]

Revision as of 21:12, 23 January 2020

Template:Infobox Shorts wTabs Book Revue, later re-issued as Book Review, is a 1946 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett.

Title

The title is a pun, as a Revue is a variety show, while a Review is an evaluation of an artwork; this pun is however not retained in the reissue.

Plot

After midnight at a closed bookstore, there are strains of "Moonlight Sonata". The storefront is realistic, suggesting it was rotoscoped. Then, an inebriated "cuckoo bird" pops out of a cuckoo clock to announce the arrival of midnight (and signaling the "cuckoo" activities to follow). On a book cover called COMPLETE WORKS of Shakespeare, Shakespeare is shown in silhouette while his literally-rendered "works" are clockwork mechanisms, along with old-fashioned "stop" and "go" traffic signals, set to the "ninety years without slumbering, tick-tock, tick-tock" portion of "My Grandfather's Clock".

On a book titled Young Man with a Horn, a caricature of Harry James breaks loose with a jazz trumpet obbligato similar to James' "You Made Me Love You", instead resolving into the standard, "It Had to Be You". A striptease is about to begin on the cover of Cherokee Strip. Book covers for The Whistler and The Sea Wolf show their characters shouting and whistling at the off-screen action. The Sea Wolf's howl segués into a sentence, "How ooooold is she?" The now-panting Shakespeare silhouette's inner workings explode in a shower of gears and clocksprings.

The catcalls continue with Henry VIII also howling like a wolf and then barking like a seal. Referencing a catchphrase of the popular radio program, The Aldrich Family, the king's "mother" calls out, "Hen-REEEE! Henry the Eighth!" "Coming, mother!" is the king's cracking-voice reply, and he runs to the book cover where Mother waits. As she begins to spank her "naughty boy", a new singing voice and caricature appear, namely that of Frank Sinatra. The gray, blanketed, emaciated character, overemphasizing Sinatra's real-life physique, enters on the cover of The Voice in the Wilderness. A large, male orderly pushes the Sinatra character in a wheelchair. Sinatra begins to croon the lyrics of "It Had to be You" into a ribbon microphone.

Now the women take their turn at hysteria. Henry's mother, bobby-soxed versions of Little Women, Whistler's Mother and Mother Goose (and her hatchling) begin to whistle and catcall (just as the men did for Cherokee Strip), and swoon and faint at the sound of Sinatra's voice, each of them uttering the catchphrase "Fraaankie!" before passing out.

A full-blown jam session begins, with a lively swing version of "It Had To Be You". Joining Harry James are the Indian on the cover of Drums Along the Mohawk, who morphs into a realistic-looking Gene Krupa (his drum set is labeled "GK"); Benny Goodman (as The Pie-Eyed Piper; some mice cheer, "Yeah, Benny!"); and Tommy Dorsey.

Annoyed by the revelry, Daffy Duck steps out of the cover of a Looney Tunes comic book (in the background is a book by "Ann Anonymous" titled The Invisible Man: A Biography of Robert Clampett), dons a zoot suit and a curly, blond wig, shouts for the celebration to "STOP!" and the jam session screeches to a halt. Daffy stands in front of the cover of Danny Boy, and effects Danny Kaye's Russian-accented characterization heard in Kaye's debut 78 album. Daffy says "POOEY!" to jazz and swing music, and reminisces about his "native willage" and "the happy peoples sitting on their balalaikas, playing their samovars" (misusing those two Russian terms).

Daffy starts talking about a girl named "Cucaracha", parodying Lucky Strike cigarette ads: "so round, so firm, so fully packed, so easy on the draw!" Daffy does a wild, short version of "La Cucaracha" in his normal character mode, including his "hoo-hoo" bit.

Daffy's fake Russian accent returns as he sings "Carolina in the Morning" ("nothing could be feener than to be in Caroleena..."). Then Little Red Riding Hood (based on Margaret O'Brien) is going to "Gran'Ma's House." Daffy dances over there inadvertently teasing the Big Bad Wolf, who at this point is still in the window of "Gran'Ma's House"; Daffy beats a hasty retreat. Meanwhile, Little Red Riding Hood skips past Daffy and toward Gran'Ma's House.

Noticing Red, Daffy zooms back and stations himself between her and the house, launching into a wild scat - again a reference to the same Danny Kaye debut album - to warn her of the wolf, complete with mock chewing on her leg for emphasis. The wolf appears, and Red screams and runs away. The wolf begins to sprinkle salt and pepper on Daffy's leg. Daffy halfway notices, turns back to "bite" the now-gone Red, then turns toward the wolf with a startled and outrageous double-take, turning into a giant eyeball for a couple of seconds.

The wolf chases Daffy through Uncle Tom's Cabin and other classics, and is stymied trying to cut down Daffy who is hiding in the Petrified Forest. Meanwhile, the police have been alerted ("Calling all cars!") and the wolf is apprehended by The Long Arm of the Law just as he was about to kill Daffy. The Judge sentences the wolf to Life, as the wolf sings part of the sextette from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor - "You can't do dis to me / I'm a citizen, see!" The wolf is suddenly bonked over the head with a nightstick, and then makes his Escape and runs through the volumes.

Jimmy Durante, illustrating the cover of So Big, turns toward the wolf, and his huge nose trips the wolf, who goes sliding down Skid Row, nearly falling into Dante's Inferno. The wolf scrambles to the top, but the Sinatra caricature reappears, held in the orderly's hands as if he were a doll. The Wolf, being in the grandma archetype, swoons at the sound of "Frankie!", just as the female characters did, and skids head first into the inferno.

The other book cover characters loudly cheer and dance to a jazz/swing version of "Carolina in the Morning", the Wolf makes one final appearance to shout, "Stop that dancing up there! ... ya sillies!" This last bit is the actual title of a 1944 song by Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, along with a lisping delivery of "sillies" caricaturing Joe Besser.

Notes

  • Daffy's short segment has a plain background, suggesting it was cartooned separately and inserted tentatively, to be dropped seamlessly in case the censors objected to the somewhat suggestive comments about "Cucaracha".
  • According to the Toonheads episode "Midnight in the Bookstore", "Book Revue" is considered the ultimate midnight-in-the-bookstore cartoon, even though this genre of cartoons was on the wane years prior.

Legacy

  • In the Animaniacs episode "Video Review", Yakko, Wakko, and Dot hold a Video Review after being released in a videostore. Just like the books, they run in and out of films and mingle with movie characters. Daffy Duck makes a cameo in the episode.
  • In one segment of the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Inside Plucky Duck", Plucky performs Daffy's giant eye double-take (dubbed "a Clampett Corneal Catastrophe"), only to be stuck in eye form, unable to restore himself to normal until the segment's end.

Censorship

  • On Cartoon Network (barring its appearance on The Bob Clampett Show) and Boomerang, the scene of Daffy and the wolf running into the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (with Daffy as the black slave woman running through the frozen river to get away from the wolf) is cut.[1]
  • In addition to the cut made by Cartoon Network and Boomerang, The WB cuts out the scene where Daffy says "So round, so firm, so fully packed, so easy on the draw", a catchphrase for Lucky Strike cigarettes back in the 1940s.[1]

Availability

Gallery

References

Daffy Duck Cartoons
1937 Porky's Duck Hunt
1938 Daffy Duck & EggheadWhat Price PorkyPorky & DaffyThe Daffy DocDaffy Duck in Hollywood
1939 Daffy Duck and the DinosaurScalp TroubleWise Quacks
1940 Porky's Last StandYou Ought to Be in Pictures
1941 A Coy DecoyThe Henpecked Duck
1942 Conrad the SailorDaffy's Southern ExposureThe Impatient PatientThe Daffy DuckarooMy Favorite Duck
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckThe Wise Quacking DuckYankee Doodle DaffyPorky Pig's FeatScrap Happy DaffyA Corny ConcertoDaffy - The Commando
1944 Tom Turk and DaffyTick Tock TuckeredDuck Soup to NutsSlightly DaffyPlane DaffyThe Stupid Cupid
1945 Draftee DaffyAin't That DuckyNasty Quacks
1946 Book RevueBaby BottleneckDaffy DoodlesHollywood DaffyThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery
1947 Birth of a NotionAlong Came DaffyA Pest in the HouseMexican Joyride
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckDaffy Duck Slept HereThe Up-Standing SitterYou Were Never DuckierDaffy DillyThe Stupor SalesmanRiff Raffy Daffy
1949 Wise QuackersHoliday for DrumsticksDaffy Duck Hunt
1950 Boobs in the WoodsThe Scarlet PumpernickelHis Bitter HalfGolden YeggsThe Ducksters
1951 Rabbit FireDrip-Along DaffyThe Prize Pest
1952 Thumb FunCracked QuackRabbit SeasoningThe Super SnooperFool Coverage
1953 Duck AmuckMuscle TussleDuck Dodgers in the 24½th CenturyDuck! Rabbit, Duck!
1954 Design for LeavingQuack ShotMy Little Duckaroo
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareStork NakedThis Is a Life?Dime to Retire
1956 The High and the FlightyRocket SquadStupor DuckA Star Is BoredDeduce, You Say
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBoston QuackieDucking the DevilShow Biz Bugs
1958 Don't Axe MeRobin Hood Daffy
1959 China JonesPeople Are BunnyApes of Wrath
1960 Person to Bunny
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitDaffy's Inn Trouble
1962 Quackodile TearsGood Noose
1963 Fast Buck DuckThe Million HareAqua Duck
1964 The Iceman Ducketh
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the HouseMoby DuckAssault and PepperedWell Worn DaffySuppressed DuckCorn on the CopTease for TwoChili Corn CornyGo Go Amigo
1966 The AstroduckMucho LocosMexican MousepieceDaffy RentsA-Haunting We Will GoSnow ExcuseA Squeak in the DeepFeather FingerSwing Ding AmigoA Taste of Catnip
1967 Daffy's DinerQuacker TrackerThe Music Mice-TroThe Spy SwatterSpeedy Ghost to TownRodent to StardomGo Away StowawayFiesta Fiasco
1968 Skyscraper CaperSee Ya Later Gladiator
1980 The Yolks on YouThe Chocolate ChaseDaffy Flies NorthDuck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
1987 The Duxorcist
1988 The Night of the Living Duck
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1996 Superior Duck
2003 Attack of the Drones
2004 Daffy Duck for President
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody


External Links