One Froggy Evening (1955)

Director:

Chuck Jones

Writer:

Michael Maltese (story)

Release Date:

31 December 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family | Musical

Plot:

A man futilely struggles to make his fortune with a frog that sings and dances, but only when it is alone with the owner.

Plot Keywords:

Ray Gun | Michigan J. Frog | Vaudeville | Beer | Ragtime

Awards:

1 win

Cast

(in alphabetical order)

Bill Roberts

...

Michigan J. Frog (singing voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16892)

Company:

Warner Bros. Animation

Trivia:

The singing voice of the frog is provided by Bill Roberts, a popular Hollywood nightclub singer of the 1950s. Many sources erroneously credit Terence Monk with supplying the singing voice of the frog. This error appears to be rooted in an interview in which Chuck Jones identified him as such. However, he was not the baritone heard in the film. The confusion may have been caused by the fact that Jones did use Monck in "The Cat Above and the Mouse Below", where he sang "Largo al factotum" (from Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia"/"The Barber of Seville").

Goofs:

Continuity: When the owner of the frog gets thrown out of the talent agency, there's a hand-print on the wall to the side of the door he is thrown from. In the next shot it's gone.

Quotes:

Michigan J. Frog: [singing] Everybody do the Michigan Rag / everybody likes the Michigan Rag / every Mame and Jane and Ruth / from Weehawken to Duluth / slide, ride, glide the Michigan / stomp, romp, pomp the Michigan / jump, clump, pump the Michigan Rag / that lovin' rag.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Largo al factotum

Von Stroheim Can Kiss My Singing Green ***

"Greed" is one of the great American classics, but so often we limit ourselves to thinking of a film as a multi-hour feature film with live actors. In "One Froggy Evening" Chuck Jones tells the story of a construction worker demolishing a building and discovers a frog in the cornerstone. A SINGING FROG. Naturally, the first impulse is to make money on the frog. The only problem, the frog will only sing for this one guy. Not paying crowds, not talent agents, ONLY HIM. Slowly he is driven mad, not so much by the frog but by his own failed plans with the frog. Failing to recognize the special gift he has, he sees the building going up and sticks the frog back into the cornerstone. Years pass, and when the laser demolition-man is vaporizing the building with his 21st century technology, what does he find? A SINGING FROG. "You know," he thinks, "I could make some money." And so the cycle continues. People of any time are the same, they never learn. There's your moral. Chuck Jones does in 7 minutes what Von Stroheim took 7 hours to do. A genuine masterpiece of animation.