''Crazy Cruise'' is a 1942

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' cartoon. The short was released on March 14, 1942. It was directed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...

and

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' T ...

, whose names do not appear on the surviving print of the cartoon. Because Tex left the studio for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

in September 1941 before production was completed (it was the last he worked on), Clampett finished it, and both names were officially left off the credits. The only credits given are the story by

Michael Maltese Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably " ...

, animation by

Rod Scribner Roderick H. Scribner (October 10, 1910 – December 21, 1976) was an American animator best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons. He worked during the Golden age of A ...

, and musical direction by

Carl Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by Wa ...

Plot

This is one of the cartoons that Warner would occasionally produce that featured practically none of its stable of characters, just a series of gags, usually based on outrageous stereotypes and plays on words, as a narrator (voice of

Robert C. Bruce Robert Cameron Bruce Jr. (October 6, 1914 – August 24, 2003) was an American voice actor and the son of Robert Cameron Bruce (1887–1948) who was a cinematographer and documentary producer. He was the narrator for a number of Warner Bros. car ...

) describes the action: * On a plantation in the Southern United States (The Sportsmen Quartet harmonize on "Swanee River" in the background), a tobacco worm is seen munching on a tobacco leaf. A rotoscoped hand holds a microphone near the worm. The worm launches into the fast-talking patter of a tobacco auctioneer, ending with "Sold to an American!" (parodying the tobacco auctioneer's famous chant, usually ending with "Sold to American!", meaning

American Tobacco The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

, in the

Lucky Strike Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Throughout their 150 year history, Lucky Strike has had fluctuatin ...

cigarette commercials heard on radio's

Your Hit Parade ''Your Hit Parade'' was an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year ru ...

) and expectorates the chewed tobacco into an off-screen

spittoon A spittoon (or spitoon) is a receptacle made for spitting into, especially by users of chewing and dipping tobacco. It is also known as a cuspidor (which is the Portuguese word for "spitter" or "spittoon", from the verb "cuspir" meaning "to sp ...

. * A map showing

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

also traces the path of a cruise vessel. It takes a straight line from the Gulf Coast to Havana for a stop at

Sloppy Joe's Sloppy Joe's Bar is a historic American bar in Key West, Florida located at the corner of Duval and Greene street since 1937. Description Sloppy Joe's was purchased September 8, 1978 by Sid Snelgrove and Jim Mayer and has been owned by the ...

bar (the one

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

frequently hung out at). The drunken ship then takes a meandering series of aimless spirals, while "

How Dry I Am "The Near Future" is a song written by Irving Berlin and performed in the '' Ziegfeld Follies of 1919''. It is better known for the small part of its lyric that took on a life of its own: "How Dry I Am". Origins The origins of the song and its c ...

" plays in the underscore. * Now sailing along the ocean, the narrator points out the use of

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

for a warship called the ''S.S. Yehudi'' (referencing one of Jerry Colonna's recurring jokes- "Who's Yehudi?"), which is invisible except for its crew, flags and the smoke billowing from its chimney. * Now soaring over the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...

, a "low flying" airplane is seen skimming up and down the mountainsides like a skier. * Still in the Alps, a comic

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * In ...

shows a St. Bernard dog with a small keg of

Scotch Scotch most commonly refers to: * Scotch (adjective), a largely obsolescent adjective meaning "of or from Scotland" **Scotch, old-fashioned name for the indigenous languages of the Scottish people: ***Scots language ("Broad Scotch") *** Scottish G ...

around its neck, followed by another St. Bernard with a keg of soda, and finally a St. Bernard pup carrying a smaller keg, containing " Bromo". * An agile

mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs a ...

springs from peak to peak, finally diving over a cliff and out of frame to a funny sound effect. * In the "

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

", a number of

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...

s appear, the narrator talking of how ancient they are - including stone renditions of the

Trylon and Perisphere The Trylon and Perisphere were two monumental modernistic structures designed by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhoux that were together known as the Theme Center of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Perisphere was a tremendous s ...

, which originally appeared at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Pur ...

. * The

Sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches o ...

is seen next, with the narrator describing how the stone figure just sits there, century after century. The Sphinx (voiced by

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 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 comedy ra ...

) then speaks to the camera, doing another Jerry Colonna schtick: "Monotonous... ''is''n't it?" * An oil well somewhere in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

is about to yield a "gusher" for an axis of the United States. After some rumbling and pressure buildup, the well erupts - emitting just one large drop of oil, which lands in a spittoon (this one ''on''-screen). * Deep in the jungles of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

an insect-eating plant is about to consume a "poor little" bumblebee. The plant chomps down on the bee, which then buzzes furiously inside the plant's mouth. In yet another spit joke, the plant finally expectorates the bee with a loud (voiced by

) "OUCH!" and the bee walks away smugly. * A group of African animals is lined up at a "water hole", which turns out to be a functional drinking fountain, with an adult zebra holding a young zebra up to it. * Flying over an African landscape, the narrator describes the features, reporting their possibly-nonsense names, leading up to a female-shaped body of water called

Veronica Lake Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Lad ...

, suggesting the age of that joke that was later recycled frequently by

Rocky and Bullwinkle ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...

. * A pair of Caucasian safari hunters, dressed in white, led by a typical stereotyped

pygmy In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...

guide, are in search of giant

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

s. The trio disappears behind some trees. After a silent pause, a loud clatter is heard. The pygmy runs out from behind the trees and (voiced by Blanc) shouts excitedly to the camera, in a mixture of pseudo African double-talk and the words of "

The Hut-Sut Song "The Hut-Sut Song (a Swedish Serenade)" is a novelty song from the 1940s with nonsense lyrics. The song was written in 1941 in music, 1941 by Leo V. Killion, Ted McMichael and Jack Owens (singer-songwriter), Jack Owens. The first and most popular r ...

". Pan to the left and the giant cannibals are holding the seemingly tiny (and now stunned and disheveled) white men, who resemble rolled up cigarettes. The cannibal holding the taller of the two men remarks, "King-Size!" * Three cute little grey-and-white rabbits are playing in the jungle. The narrator's voice turns from softness to shouting panic as a vulture appears in the sky. The fearsome-looking bird, with a Japanese stereotyped face and Japanese flags on its wings, dives toward the bunnies. They run behind some weeds, which fall away revealing an

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

gun and the rabbits wearing

Civil Defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...

white helmets. They fire loud volleys at the bird, which is blown away (off-screen). The rabbit that had its back to the audience turns and is revealed to be

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Mer ...

(also voiced by Blanc as usual), who faces the audience, gives the

thumbs up A thumb signal, usually described as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, is a common hand gesture achieved by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward in approval or disapproval, respectively. These gestures have become metaphors i ...

sign with both hands, and says, "Eh, t'umbs up, Doc! T'umbs up!" At iris-out, only Bugs's ears are still on-screen, which spring into a "

V for Victory ''V for Victory'', or ''V4V'' for short, is a series of turn-based strategy games set during World War II. They were the first releases for Atomic Games who went on to have a long career in the wargame industry. Like earlier computer adaptio ...

" sign, as " We Did It Before (And We Can Do It Again)" plays in the underscore.

Reception

''Motion Picture Exhibitor'' (April 8, 1942): "A burlesque cartoon, this pokes fun at all things held sacred by serious travel cruises. High spots are a land of ferocious cannibals known as the Hut Sut tribe and a battleship camouflaged so perfectly that only men aboard are visible. It's vivisection of more pompous travel films. Good."

Home media

This cartoon was released, uncut, uncensored and digitally remastered, on the fifth volume of the ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection''.

References

External links

* * {{Tex Avery 1942 films 1942 short films 1942 comedy films 1942 animated films 1940s fantasy comedy films 1940s animated short films 1940s English-language films 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films American fantasy comedy films American animated short films Merrie Melodies short films Travelogues Bugs Bunny films Films about hunters Films set in Belgian Congo Films set in the Caribbean Films set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Films set in Egypt Animated films set in Florida Films set in Havana Films set in the Republic of the Congo Films set in Switzerland Films directed by Bob Clampett Films directed by Tex Avery Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese Films scored by Carl Stalling Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Films about worms Films set in the Southern United States

Plot

Reception

Home media

See also

References

External links