Back Alley Op-Roar

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Back Alley Op-Roar

Sylvester does a wild musical number in Elmer's back yard inspired by Spike Jones.
Directed by Friz Freleng
Produced by Edward Selzer
Written by Michael Maltese

Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s) March 27, 1948 (1948-03-27)
Running time 7 minutes
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile


Back Alley Op-Roar is a Warner Bros. animated short originally aired in theaters on March 27, 1948. It is billed as a Merrie Melodies and it has Sylvester and Elmer Fudd as its main characters.

Contents

[edit] Credits

[edit] Summary

Elmer is ready for bedtime, but Sylvester has other plans as he starts singing in Elmer's back yard. Elmer will try everything up his sleeve to get rid of that unwanted pest. Elmer eventually confronts Sylvester, but before Elmer can kill him, Sylvester sings a sweet, gentle lullaby to ease him to dreams. However, this doesn't last, and the insanity continues…

Elmer eventually dies from explosives from his attempts to get rid of Sylvester. He winds up in Heaven, where the spirits of Sylvester's nine lives continue to sing. Elmer can't handle the singing so he jumps off his cloud.

[edit] Production

The cartoon is a remake of the 1941 cartoon "Notes to You" also directed by Freleng. It has a similar plot (although the ending doesn't have Porky and the cat die from an explosion; instead the cat dies from getting shot by Porky and returns as nine singing angels), but the Elmer and Sylvester characters in "Notes to You" were Porky and an unnamed alley cat (that bore a striking resemblance to the cat from Bob Clampett's "The Hep Cat").

[edit] Release

This cartoon was reissued with Blue Ribbon titles and shown that way in TV for years. It was recently restored with original titles for a Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2 DVD, in which it is uncut and restored with original titles.

[edit] Censorship

When this cartoon aired on the WB!, the three times Elmer runs down the steps (which are slippery from grease) and steps on tacks when trying to stop Sylvester from singing were cut.

[edit] Pop culture references

  • Sylvester's line "You never know where you're going until you get there." was used at the beginning of Steve Schneider's book "That's All, Folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation".
  • In one scene, in an attempt to put Elmer back to sleep, Sylvester sings a variation of Brahms' Lullaby. He then carries Elmer back to his bedroom and tucks him in, still singing until he finishes. He then kisses him on the cheek sweetly and walks out the door, turning off the lights.
  • In another scene, Elmer slyly offers Sylvester a saucer of milk, which he has laced with alum. Sylvester dances a hornpipe to reach the saucer, and carefully holds a cane out in case Elmer has the site booby-trapped. The cat slurps down the milk, hornpipes back to his fence and starts to sing "Moonlight Bay" until the alum shrinks his head to the size of a ping-pong ball!
  • Sylvester apes Spike Jones with his last solo number, "You're Just an Angel in Disguise," which he performs in the manner of Jones' band--with lots of ridiculous sound effects. Elmer caps the performance by lighting a stick of dynamite--which kills Elmer and Sylvester.
  • Sylvester had also sang there American folk song Some Sunday Morning and Doris Day's Moonlight Bay.

[edit] External links