Foster tosses in two scenes involving lions. The second has Bugs trying to get away from Sam through an underground room of sleeping lions. The drawings below tell what happened. Enjoy some of the poses.
No, I don’t know why there’s a manhole cover in ancient Rome.
Freleng was down to Art Davis, Gerry Chiniquy and Virgil Ross animating. Can’t tell you if Bob Matz, Lee Halpern or Art Leonardi were assistants at the studio at this point.
There's no explanation as to why there was a mat in front of the lion's den so they could pull Sam under the door, and shove him out again after they were finished "mauling" him, either.
ReplyDeleteYou're missing my favorite gag - the lion's paw that pops up and swivels around like a periscope. How does that even work?
ReplyDeleteIf you're a sports fan, one of the interesting gags comes early on, when there's a reference to the "unbeaten Detroit Lions" (out for the first taste of victory). The Lions were NFL champions in 1952 and 1953, and had made it to the championship game in 1954, and thus were one of the most dominant teams in professional football at the time this cartoon was in production, and before its release in November, 1955.
ReplyDeleteRome did have sewers, by the way. No word on if they had sewer-workers that were chums of chariot-drivers.
Yes, the Roman sewers were frequently mentioned in my Latin classes and Ancient World classes in school, so I think the gag was an extension of the fact that the ancient Roman sewage system was well known. And even if not intentionally referencing Roman history, it's still hilariously anachronistic to see a manhole cover in ancient Rome.
DeleteAside from the anachronistic aspect, manhole covers aren't flat on both sides. The bottom is reinforced so the cover won't collapse under heavy traffic.
DeleteWhen this made its TV debut in 1961 on "The Bugs Bunny Show", it was as the middle segment on the 30-minute "Satan's Watin'" which Friz adopted from his own Tweety & Sylvester cartoon of the same name from eight years earlier (and for which he'd crush down into the much weaker "Devil's Feud Cake in 1963). The changes included setting up the short as being a movie of ancient Rome instead of the actual thing; reanimating Nero as a Charles Laughton director, and the final bit, where the lions chase Sam out of the Coliseum (sans Nero) and cause him to jump off a cliff, where he crash lands back in Hell. It was actually as surprise around 1968 or so to discover that the cartoon really didn't end that way, when the linking segments were removed for "The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Show".
ReplyDeleteFriz reworked that "Satan's Waitin'" episode (also with excerpt from "Roman Legion Hare') for the compilation feature, The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981).
DeleteAnd in that, the devil from "Devil's Feud Cake", had his Mel Blanc voice replaced with Frank Nelson.......!Steve
DeleteArt Davis animated most if not all of the scenes shown here, especially Sam escaping from the lions. Art Leonardi was two years away from joining Warner's and he would assist Tom Ray in the McKimson unit through the late 1950s.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tony. I wondered it was Davis with the lions. As for assistants, I'm not sure who was where when. Sam Nicholson was an assistant in the Freleng unit but I thought he'd left for TV Spots by the time this cartoon was in production.
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