Mister Bug Goes to Town

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Mister Bug Goes to Town
Mister Bug Goes to Town original one-sheet poster.
Directed by	Dave Fleischer Al Eugster Reuben Grossman Abner Kneitel Hal Seeger Nick Tafuri Dave Tendlar John Walworth Bob Wickersham Shamus Culhane
Produced by	Max Fleischer Dave Fleischer
Written by	Dave Fleischer Dan Gordon Ted Pierce Izzy Sparber Graham Place Bob Wichersham Bill Turner Cal Howard
Starring	Kenny Gardner Gwen Williams Jack Mercer Tedd Pierce Carl Meyer Stan Freed Pauline Loth
Music by	Leigh Harline Frank Loesser
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	December 9, 1941 (USA)
Running time	78 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$713,511
IMDb profile

Mister Bug Goes to Town also known as Hoppity Goes to Town, is an animated feature produced by Fleischer Studios and released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on December 9, 1941. It was originally meant to be an adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the Bee, but the Fleischers were unable to get the rights to the book, and the studio came up with its own story inspired by The Life of the Bee instead. The film was produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer, who was credited as director. The sequences of the film were directed by Al Eugster, Reuben Grossman, Abner Kneitel, Hal Seeger, Nick Tafuri, Dave Tendlar, John Walworth, Bob Wickersham, and an uncredited Shamus Culhane.

Mister Bug was the second and final feature animated film from the Fleischer Studios. Having the misfortune of opening two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mister Bug was financially unsuccessful and lead to the ousting of Max and Dave Fleischer from the studio they had established in 1919. ^[1]

[edit] Plot outline

The plot describes the return of Hoppity the Grasshopper, after a period spent away, to an American city. He finds that all is not as he left it, and his good insect friends (who live in the 'lowlands' just outside the garden which belongs to a songwriter and his wife) are now under threat from the 'human ones', who are trampling through the broken down fence which prefaces the property, using it as a shortcut.

Insect houses are being flattened by their feet, and are also often burned by cast away cigar butts and matches. Old Mr Bumble and his beautiful daughter Honey (Hoppity's childhood sweetheart) are in grave danger of losing their Honey Shop to this threat.

To compound their problems, devious insect 'property magnate' C. Bagley Beetle has romantic designs on Honey Bee himself, and hopes, with the help of his henchmen Swat the Fly and Smack the Mosquito, to force Bumble to give him her hand in marriage.

[edit] Production and release

Mister Bug Goes to Town was beset by problems early on. To produce their first animated feature, 'Gulliver's Travels, the Fleischers had moved their studio from New York City to Miami, Florida, and expanded their staff, at great expense. ^[2] Immediately after Gulliver was completed and released, the studio began development on a second feature, eventually going into production on Mister Bug Goes to Town. The studio was already deeply in debt, and the Fleischers were forced to sell their studio to Paramount mid-way through production on Mister Bug, on May 24, 1941. ^[1] Paramount kept the Fleischers in production, but they were required to deliver unsigned letters of resignation to Paramount, to be used at the studio's discretion. ^[1]

Upon the failure of Mister Bug, Paramount fired the Fleischers and reorganized the company as Famous Studios. ^[1] Paramount later re-released Mister Bug as Hoppity Goes to Town, the name it is currently distributed under; the original title is a parody of the title of the 1936 film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. ^[1] The film cost $713,511 to make, and had only made $241,000 back by 1946. ^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons. New York: Oxford University Press. Pgs. 303-305. ISBN 0-19-516729-5.
2. ^ Barrier, Michael (1999). Pgs. 292-293.