''Book Revue'' is a 1946

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' cartoon directed by

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the te ...

. The cartoon was released on January 5, 1946, and features

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...

. A semi-remake of Clampett's earlier short '' A Coy Decoy'' (1941), it also incorporates plot elements of Frank Tashlin's '' Speaking of the Weather'' (1937) and '' Have You Got Any Castles'' (1938).

Plot

A collection of books becomes animated after midnight, starting with the ''Complete Works of Shakespeare'', depicted as clockwork mechanisms to the tune of " My Grandfather's Clock". The narrative transitions to various book covers, including '' Young Man with a Horn'', where a caricature of

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but ...

begins playing " It Had to Be You" in jazz style. An emaciated caricature of

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

sings the song amidst the revelry, captivating other book cover characters. A jam session ensues, featuring a variety of characters from different books. Daffy Duck interrupts the festivities and commands the music to stop. He reminisces in an accent akin to Danny Kaye's Russian characters before inadvertently teasing the Big Bad Wolf, who pursues Daffy through various book scenes. The police apprehend the Wolf, who is then sentenced to

life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

by a magazine cover

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

. The Wolf flees, but inadvertently falls into the cover of

Dante's Inferno ''Inferno'' (; Italian for ' Hell') is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century narrative poem '' The Divine Comedy'', followed by and . The ''Inferno'' describes the journey of a fictionalised version of Dante himsel ...

with the assistance of Sinatra. The celebration continues as the characters dance to "''

Carolina in the Morning "Carolina in the Morning" is a Popular music, popular song with Lyrics, words by Gus Kahn and music by Walter Donaldson (songwriter), Walter Donaldson, first published in 1922 by Jerome H. Remick & Co. The song debuted on Broadway theatre, Broa ...

''," but the Wolf emerges from Dante's Inferno, demanding an end to the dancing.

Voice cast

* Sara Berner as Mrs. Aldrich, Swooning Girls *

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales, including some of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales''. Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory ant ...

, Mice, Cop, Cuckoo Clock, Sailor *

Bea Benaderet Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that s ...

Bobby-Soxer Bobby-soxers were a subculture of young women in the mid-to-late 1940s. Their interests included popular music, in particular that of singer Frank Sinatra, and wearing loose-fitting clothing, notably bobby socks. Their manner of dress, which div ...

, Lady on ''

Freckles Freckles are clusters of concentrated melaninized cells which are most easily visible on people with a fair complexion. Freckles do not have an increased number of the melanin-producing cells, or melanocytes, but instead have melanocytes that ...

'' cover, Red *Screams provided by Bea Benaderet *The Sportsmen Quartet as Singing Group * Richard Bickenbach as

* Robert C. Bruce as

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

Influence

*Later releases of the short had the title card replaced with Warner Brothers' "Blue Ribbon" title card on which the title was misspelled (see below). The original title card has since been located and the fully restored short can be seen on the ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Vol. 2'' four-DVD box set, the ''Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Vol 2'' two-DVD set and on the '' Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2'' Blu-ray set *In 1994 it was voted #45 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. *''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American Animated series, animated Comedy television, comedy Musical film, musical television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Television Animation. It originally aired on Fox Broadcasting Company ...

'' paid tribute to the short in an episode segment titled "Video Review" (first aired on November 23, 1993), which takes place in a video rental store and sees Yakko, Wakko, and Dot facing off against a

tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

who emerges from the cover of a copy of ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton, centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of De-extinction#Cloning, cloned dinosaurs. It bega ...

'', in a similar vein to Daffy squaring off against the Big Bad Wolf. *In 2015, the image of Daffy Duck in a zoot suit became an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...

. Posters will frequently post images of Daffy proclaiming that he is "literally them" or reply to images with sentiments such as "Where did you get this pic of me?". The image later became associated with the anime series ''

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly manga magazine ''Ultra Jum ...

'' due to Daffy's similarity to characters from the franchise. *In the

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

''Looney Tunes World of Mayhem'', Daffy appears as Zoot Suit Daffy, with the same outfit used in the short.

Production notes

The film was reissued in 1951, as ''Book Review''.Book Revue (1946) - Trivia
/ref> The original title is a pun, as a

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

is a variety show, while a

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

is an evaluation of an artwork; this pun is however not retained in the title of the reissue.

Reception

Animation historian Steve Schneider writes that many of the cartoon's references are dated, "but who cares? ... Better simply to revel in ''Book Revues headlong brio, overlapping settings, meticulous economy of gesture, intertwining narratives, resourceful color effects, super-efficient use of screen space—and a great, great turn by a duck called Daffy, as he dances, scat-sings, cavorts, and distorts in one of his true moments of glory... ''Book Revue'' is an encyclopedia of what can be done in the animated medium if you're brilliant enough."

References

External links

*
List of the "50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time"

''Book Revue'' on the Internet Archive
{{Daffy Duck in animation, state=collapsed 1946 films Looney Tunes shorts Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Daffy Duck films Films directed by Bob Clampett 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films Cultural depictions of W. C. Fields Cultural depictions of Frank Sinatra Cultural depictions of Jimmy Durante Animation based on real people Films scored by Carl Stalling Cultural depictions of Henry VIII Films based on Little Red Riding Hood Films set in bookstores Internet memes introduced in 2015 Films with screenplays by Warren Foster 1946 animated short films