To Beep or Not to Beep
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To Beep or Not to Beep is a Merrie Melodies animated short starring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Released December 30, 1963, the cartoon was written by Chuck Jones and John Dunn, and directed by Jones (Maurice Noble received credit as co-director).
The title is a play on the famous line in Shakespeare play Hamlet. This installment of the Coyote-Road Runner series marked the first time that no Latin-esque terms are used to indicate who each character is.
Almost all of the footage was originally made as part of a television pilot named Adventures of the Road-Runner. The pilot never sold, and several gags from the short were rearranged into this cartoon. A whole new soundtrack was crafted by musician Bill Lava and editor Treg Brown.
[edit] Plot
The opening scene shows Wile E . Coyote reading a "Western Cookery" recipe book in total peace. Completely unaware that his prey has zoomed up behind him to sneak a peek at his book, he slurps at the prospect of a road-runner banquet featuring "Road Runner Surprise" (and gets answered by another slurp). Turning to find himself face-to-face with the Road Runner, the Coyote gives himself a real headache responding to a surprise "Beep-Beep" from point-blank range.
Later on, as the usual chase takes place, the Road Runner manages to uproot and pull along several cactus plants for the run. The scene ends with the contraction of a bridge and one cactus sliding into the ravine directly atop the screaming Coyote's behind.
Wile E. Coyote tries a series of traps activated by ropes, pulleys, and boulders. No matter where he stands, however, the boulder or wrecking ball always lands on him as his prey zooms merrily by.
The final segment features six attempts to flatten the Road Runner with a boulder hurled by a catapult. Unfortunately for Wile E. Coyote, the catapult finds multiple ways to malfunction, and the boulder always finds a way to wind up on top of the Coyote. On the sixth attempt, the catapult jams and the Coyote, petrified at first, tries to free it. It finally unjams, something that Wile E. Coyote initially fails to notice until he sees he is suddenly being hurled toward the side of a large rock formation. He is flattened, hurled through the desert air again when he bounces off light wires, and flattened once and for all after bouncing off the sling and landing next to the catapult.
After that final disaster, the audience discovers the reason for the catapult's "artificial intelligence" as the camera zooms in towards the manufacturer's nameplate and reveals that when the catapult had been built, not the Coyote's Usual Supplier ACME, but by the "Road Runner Manufacturing Company — Phoenix * Taos * Santa Fe * Flagstaff." The Road Runner on the nameplate gives us a "Beep-Beep" and then zooms off.
[edit] Crew
- Co-Director: Maurice Noble
- Story: John Dunn, Chuck Jones
- Animation: Richard Thompson, Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, Ken Harris
- Backgrounds: Philip DeGuard
- Effects Animator: Harry Love
- Film Editor: Treg Brown
- Music: Bill Lava
- Voices: Mel Blanc, Paul Julian
- Director: Chuck Jones
