A Day at the Zoo

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A Day at the Zoo is a 1939 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series. It was directed by Tex Avery. Musical direction by Carl Stalling. Written by Melvin Millar. No voice credits are given. Mel Blanc provides most of the incidental voices. The narrator is Robert C. Bruce.

This cartoon is notable for being the final appearance of the character called Egghead, who was replaced by Elmer Fudd, in 1940's Elmer's Candid Camera. Egghead suffers a cruel final curtain call.

This is one of the cartoons that Warner would occasionally produce that featured few or none of its stable of characters, just a series of gags, usually based on outrageous stereotypes and plays on words, and topical references, as a narrator (Robert C. Bruce) describes the action. This one is about a "tour" of a zoo where the animals have nonsensical names, display anthropomorphic behavior, illustrate punnish gags, or any combination thereof. Some excerpts:

Some animals are seen in their "natural settings": a wolf at someone's door; camels smoking cigarettes; "two bucks and five scents" (two small deer and five skunks); and an "elks club".
The monkey house features a chimpanzee who yells at a lady who tries to feed him in defiance of the "do not feed animals" sign.
The bird house features an "Alcatraz jailbird", with a voice like Edward G. Robinson; and a "stool pigeon".
A skunk is seen reading How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Some winged pink elephants are seen, "left over from New Year's Eve".
A running gag features Egghead teasing a ferocious lion, with the narrator repeatedly warning him to stop it. Egghead then slinks away but keeps coming back. Finally, the lion is seen alone, and the narrator comments that Egghead has learned his lesson. The lion smiles and opens his mouth. The eyes of Egghead appear from within the lion's belly, and Egghead invokes Lou Costello's catch-phrase: "I'm a baaad boy!" Iris-out.

The cartoon is available on Cartoon Craze volume 14 from Digiview Entertainment. It has not yet been released on Looney Tunes Golden Collection, as of the start of 2008.