From A to Z-Z-Z-Z

From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
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Airdate:	16 October 1954 Blue Ribbon reissue: 16 November 1963
Series:	Looney Tunes
MPAA Number:	16150
Production Number:	1297
Vitaphone Number:	2360
Runtime:	7 minutes, 9 seconds
Copyright Renewed:	1 March 1983
Starring:	Ralph Phillips
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc (uncredited) Dick Beals (uncredited) Norman Nesbitt (uncredited) Marian Richman (uncredited)
Director:	Charles M. Jones
Written By:	Michael Maltese
Producer:	Eddie Selzer
Animated By:	Ben Washam Ken Harris Lloyd Vaughan
Layout Artist:	Maurice Noble
Background Artist:	Philip DeGuard
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl Stalling

From A to Z-Z-Z-Z is a 1954 Looney Tunes short directed by Charles M. Jones.

Plot

At Valley View School, pupils are learning arithmetic, but Ralph Phillips is daydreaming. He imagines flying with the birds until the teacher calls on him to do a problem on the blackboard. The numbers on the board begin to laugh at him so he fights with them with a chalk gun. The teacher asks him to bring a letter to the mailbox so he does it Pony Express style, which involves riding on a horse and shooting American Indians along the way.

During the geography lesson, he watches the fish tank and imagines himself a Deep Sea Diver for the Navy without gear, fighting a saber-toothed tiger shark as he rescues a submarine from the depths. When the kraken's tentacle grabs him, it's really the teacher taking him to stand in the corner for daydreaming in class, where he then imagines himself as a boxer at the corner of the boxing ring. He pummels his opponent until the bell rings, but it's really the school bell signaling the end of the day. As he leaves the classroom he becomes General Douglas MacArthur vowing "I shall return."

Caricatures

• Douglas MacArthur

Availability

(1984) VHS
The Looney Tunes Video Show, Volume 17

(1993) LaserDisc
Looney Tunes: Assorted Nuts

(1995) VHS
Classic Collection (WHSmith Exclusive Video)

(1999) VCD
Cheese Chasers

(2007) DVD
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1998 dubbed version, without notice)

(2008) DVD
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, Disc 3 (original titles restored)

(2013) DVD
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes, Disc 1

(2011) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two (original titles restored)

(2012) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two (original titles restored)

Censorship

• On Cartoon Network (except on The Chuck Jones Show, which showed this short uncut) and Boomerang USA airings, the scene in Ralph's Western fantasy where he is shooting at American Indians attacking him was cut.

Notes

• This short marks the first appearance of Ralph Phillips.
• This short was nominated for an Academy Award in 1954, but lost to the Disney cartoon "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom".
• Reused footage of this short is included in Adventures of the Road-Runner.
• This cartoon was shown in theaters with the 1954 remake of A Star Is Born during its original release.
• Having been first restored with it's Blue Ribbon titles as a "THIS VERSION" print in standard-definition in 1998, and then re-restored with it's original titles in high-definition in 2008, this is the first post-1948 cartoon that was remastered with both its Blue Ribbon and original titles.
  • Other post-1948 shorts with Blue Ribbon reissues that have been remastered with both its Blue Ribbon and original titles include "Canned Feud", "The Hypo-Chondri-Cat and "Canary Row". Co-incidentally, the former two shorts were first restored with it's Blue Ribbon titles as 1998 "THIS VERSION" prints much like this short, while the latter short was first restored with it's Blue Ribbon titles for the I Love Tweety: Volume 3 Japanese DVD release in 2001.

Gallery

Lobby card

Lobby card