Template:Infobox Shorts wTabsSpeaking of the Weather is a 1937 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin.
Plot
It's midnight at a drug store, and suddenly the characters from the books and magazines inside come to life and get together for a musical. However, a thug from a magazine entitled The Gang Magazine attempts to rob a bank, using girls as a distraction, but he gets caught and sentenced to LIFE. Luckily, there's a magazine detailing the secrets of "Alacarazz", which he uses to get out of prison. Walter Snitchell, a play on radio newsman Walter Winchell, oversees this and then alerts police, leading to a feud between the thug and the other magazines.
Availability
- (1991) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 1, Side 1: 1930s Musicals
- (1991) VHS - Ths Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1: 1930s Musicals
- (2005) DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc 2 (original titles restored - ending uses wrong soundtrack)
- (2006) DVD - Gold Diggers of 1937 (1995 Turner dubbed version, added as a bonus)
Censorship
- Cartoon Network airings of this cartoon delete the short scenes containing Zulu natives running towards the camera and throwing spears, although their hollering can still be heard in the background when the thug bounces on the spears thrown at him.[1]
Notes
- Comedian Bob Burns appears at the beginning of the cartoon (under the name of "Bob Boins"), playing his "bazooka", which he famously referred his trombone as.
- Musician Ted Lewis also appears at the beginning saying, "Is everybody happy?", a catchphrase he used.
- Hugh Herbert appears throughout the cartoon, giggling; the magazine he appears in also mentions him as having appeared in The CooCoo Nut Grove.
- Walter Snitchell is a take on then-popular newswriter and commentator Walter Winchell. The parody also uses one of Winchell's catchphrases, "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. North America!"
- This cartoon was re-released into the Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies program on July 21, 1945.
- This cartoon, in terms of Blue Ribbon reissues, was the last release to have the WB shield appear before the copyright and "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC." fade in. After this reissue, "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC." and the copyright will appear before the shield appears.
- The original opening, credits, and ending titles were found and restored on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 DVD.
- However, because the audio from the 1995 "dubbed version" was used, the ending music is mistakenly a rendition used from 1941 to 1955. [2]
- The PAL Dubbed Version audiotrack of this short (Castellanian Spanish), however, has its original ending music cue left intact.[3]
Gallery
Faded Blue Ribbon Release Title Card
Lobby Card
Production Cell
Animation Drawing