- Gorilla My Dreams
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For the Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys episode, see Gorilla My Dreams (Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys).
Gorilla My Dreams Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny) series Directed by Robert McKimson Produced by Edward Selzer Story by Warren Foster Voices by Mel Blanc Music by Carl Stalling Animation by Charles McKimson
Manny Gould
John CareyDistributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Release date(s) January 3, 1948 (USA) Color process Technicolor Running time 7' 25" Language English Gorilla My Dreams is a 1947 Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical animated short, released in 1948, starring Bugs Bunny. The story is a parody of the many 'jungle' movies that were prominent in the 1930s and 40s, including the Tarzan movies. The title is a play on the expression "Girl o' My Dreams". The short featured Gruesome Gorilla, who reappeared as a boss in Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters.
The cartoon was remade in 1959 as Apes of Wrath.
Contents
Plot
"Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart" plays briefly under the title card, and the cartoon opens with a trail of carrot tops floating on the seas. Bugs is stranded in a barrel in the middle of the ocean, but he doesn't seem to mind - he's reading Esquire magazine (considered an "adults only" magazine at that time) and singing the song "Down Where the Trade Winds Play" (a song made popular by Bing Crosby).
On the island of 'Bingzi-Bangzi - Land of the Ferocious Apes', the population is made up of gorillas that act like humans - they read the newspaper and read books such as "The Apes of Wrath", have families and live in huts. (In the underscore, one of Stalling's orchestrations of Raymond Scott's jungle themes is heard, its official title being "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals"). One of the apes, Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla, is sad that she doesn't have any children - though her husband (voiced by Mel Blanc) couldn't care less. Mrs. Gruesome (also voiced by Blanc, using a falsetto) walks toward the water and starts to say, "I'm going to..." (suggesting despondency), but then spots Bugs floating in his barrel. Her mood instantly changes, and she takes him back to her treetop (at one point, yielding the right-of-way to a Tarzan look-alike). (Bugs finishes "Trade Winds" just as Mrs. Gruesome picks up the barrel, and segués into a full verse of "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat", which he finishes just as he discovers himself in the clutches of the ape.) Mrs. Gruesome wants Bugs to be her 'baby'. At first, Bugs doesn't want to, but when she starts crying, he gives in ("That's my soft spot - dames crying.")
Mrs. Gruesome then presents Bugs to Mr. Gruesome - who is none too happy about having a baby in the house. Bugs tries to fit in, playing like a 'monkey'. Mr. Gruesome takes Bugs out for 'play', but Bugs soon realizes that he's in for a beating if he sticks around. A long chase ensues (including a frenetic version of Stalling's jungle theme), and Bugs finds himself trapped against the edge of a cliff. Bugs gives up and allows Gruesome to catch him. However, Gruesome quickly tires out and drops from exhaustion, with Bugs knocking him over with a mere puff of breathe. Emerging as the 'victor', Bugs jumps up and catches a hanging branch, again playing 'monkey' (another short clip of the jungle theme is heard in the underscore, along with the time-honored "jungle" sound of a kookaburra) at iris-out.
Notes
A similar sequence where Bugs is adrift on the ocean was used again in Rabbitson Crusoe (1956).
Music
- Trade Winds, uncredited, by Cliff Friend, Lyrics by Charles Tobias
- Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals, uncredited, by Raymond Scott
- Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat, uncredited, by Leon René, Otis René and Emerson Scott
- Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart, uncredited, by Ray Noble
- Congo, uncredited, by M.K. Jerome
- Goombay Drum, uncredited, by Charles Lofthouse, Schuyler Knowlton and Stanley Adams
- Ahí, viene la conga, uncredited, by Raúl Valdespí
- Hey, Doc, uncredited, by Music by Edgar M. Sampson
- Valurile Dunarii (Danube Waves), uncredited, by Music by Iosif Ivanovici
Availability
Gorilla My Dreams is available, uncut and restored, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 (Disc 1).
See also
External links
Preceded by
Slick HareBugs Bunny Cartoons
1948Succeeded by
A Feather in His HareCategories:- English-language films
- 1948 films
- 1940s comedy films
- Looney Tunes shorts
- Films directed by Robert McKimson
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