Appearing in the water....
... a Peter Lorre fish.
“Well,” Lorre Fish tells the audience, “now I’ve seen everything.” It’s a Warner Bros. cartoon so you know what’ll happen next.
Bob Clampett directed, Mike Maltese and Dick Hogan adapted Dr. Seuss’ story, with layouts by Nic Gibson. Horton Hatches the Egg was released in 1942.
Clampett and Warren Foster loved the gag, even though this reportedly the only Clampett cartoon where Mike Maltese did lead work on adapting Dr. Seuss' story. Bob and Warren would use it before and after this one, for "The Sour Puss" and "An Itch in Time", and Foster sort of used it with Tashlin in "The Stupid Cupid and with McKimson in "The Grey-Hounded Hare" (where we don't see the track announcer's suicide, but hear the gunshot).
ReplyDeleteif i remember correctly, Clampett used another Lorre caricature in a Beany and Cecil cartoon.
ReplyDeleteProbably "Beany meets the Monstrous Monster".
DeleteI was blessed to have talked with actress Andrea King on a number of occasions. I asked her what it was like to work with Peter Lorre in " The Beast with Five Fingers " over at Warner Brothers in 1946. She said Peter was a wonderful man who kept everybody on the set relaxed and laughing with his self deprecating sense of humor. Whenever he felt things were getting tense, he would do something to put the cast in stitches. From what she told me about the man, I'm sure he probably loved that cartoon.
ReplyDeletePeter Lorre, a.k.a. Joe Cairo as a fish.
ReplyDeleteKinda parallels "The Itchy and Scratchy Show".
ReplyDeleteDr. Seuss hated it, as he hated all the interpolated gags which he felt detracted from the poetry. He wasn't crazy about Chuck Jones' take on "The Grinch," and he'd probably be outraged by what's been done to his work since he stopped looking.
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