Elmer's Candid Camera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elmer's Candid Camera
ElmersCandidCamera.png
Lobby card
Directed byCharles Jones
Story byRich Hogan
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Music byCarl W. Stalling
Animation byBob McKimson
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • March 2, 1940 (1940-03-02)
Running time
7:49
LanguageEnglish

Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Chuck Jones.[1] The short was released on March 2, 1940, and features Elmer Fudd.[2]

This is the first appearance of a redesigned Elmer Fudd, a character previously known as Egghead (and now voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan). It is also the fourth appearance of the prototype rabbit that would later evolve into Bugs Bunny. Apart from making a fool of Elmer Fudd, the usual characteristics are absent; the voice used by Mel Blanc is closer to Daffy Duck (without the lisp) than its mature form.

Plot[]

The title card of Elmer's Candid Camera

Elmer is reading a book on how to photograph wildlife. He walks along whistling as he holds the camera. He finds a rabbit and wants to take a picture of him. The rabbit finds himself a convenient victim to harass as Elmer tries to photograph him. Elmer points to where the rabbit was sleeping and tells him that he wants to take a picture of him. This tormenting eventually drives Elmer insane, causing him to jump into a lake and nearly drown. The rabbit saves him, ensures that Elmer is perfectly all right – and promptly kicks him straight back into the lake. Then, the rabbit throws Elmer's "How To Photograph Wildlife" book on his head, thus ending the cartoon as the screen irises out.

Comments by Chuck Jones[]

Chuck Jones would go on to express his dissatisfaction as to how the short turned out. In his autobiography Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, he stated:

"In this cartoon we find Bugs stumbling, fumbling, and mumbling around, vainly seeking a personality on which to hang him dialogue and action, or— in better words than mine—"walking around with his umbilical in his hand, looking for someplace to plug it in." It is obvious when one views this cartoon, which I recommend only if you are going to die of ennui, that my conception of timing and dialogue was formed by watching the action in the La Brea tar pits. It would be complimentary to call it sluggish. Not only Bugs suffered at my hands, but difficult as it is to make an unassertive character like Elmer Fudd into a flat, complete shmuck, I managed. Perhaps the kindest thing to say about “Elmer's Candid Camera” is that it taught everyone what not to do and how not to do it." [3]

Home media[]

  • VHS- Cartoon Moviestars: Elmer!
  • VHS- Looney Tunes Collectors Edition: Wabbit Tales
  • Laserdisc- Bugs! and Elmer!
  • Laserdisc- Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol 2
  • DVD- Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
  • DVD- Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 1
  • DVD- The Essential Bugs Bunny
  • Blu-ray- Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2[4]

References[]

  1. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 99. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 77–79. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. ^ Jones, Chuck (1999). Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-374-52620-7.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2016-09-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links[]

Preceded by Bugs Bunny prototype Cartoons
1940 		Succeeded by
None
Stub icon

This Merrie Melodies–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""