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Sport Chumpions is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.

Title[]

The title is a play on "sport champions."

Plot[]

A spoof on sports champions and sporting events, "bringing you lowlights in the world of sports," includes ping pong, skiing, track and field, basketball, baseball, football at "Avery Memorial Stadium", auto racing, swimming, and billiards. Gags include an archery expert hitting the bulls-eye every time; then the camera pulls back to reveal the champion standing a foot away from the target. A gag on a bicycle race has the racers going around and around and around, then stopping suddenly to say, "Monotonous, isn't it?" A diving exhibition shows such popular dives as the swan dive, the jackknife, and Sloppy Joe's.

Caricatures[]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • The "Avery Memorial Stadium" is a reference to Tex Avery. Since Avery was still alive at the time of this cartoon's release, the "memorial" part could be a reference to how Tex Avery was fired from Warner Bros. following the controversy behind the original ending to "The Heckling Hare".
  • This is the final cartoon to use the yellow-orange rings.
  • The scene of the football players piling on top of each other is recycled from "Screwball Football".
  • This cartoon entered the public domain in 1969 after United Artists (successor of Associated Artists Productions) failed to renew its copyright in time.
  • The EU 1995 Dubbed print of this short retains its original ending music cue, while the US counterpart has its original ending music theme replaced with 1938-41 "Merrily We Roll Along" one.
  • MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of this short on Toon In with Me. However, the restoration has a fake cutaway at the very start of the cartoon.
  • Vitaphone release number: 77

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. (3 October 2022) Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2 (in en). BearManor Media, page 93. 



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