''Unnatural History'' is a 1959

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 ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'' cartoon directed by

Abe Levitow Abraham Levitow (July 2, 1922 – May 8, 1975) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and MGM Animation/Visual Arts. He is best known for his work under Chuck Jones' direction. Career Levitow was born in Los Angele ...

, with a story by Mike Maltese. The short was released on November 14, 1959. The cartoon is made up of

blackout gag A blackout gag is a kind of joke in broad, rapid-fire slapstick comedy. The term is derived from burlesque and vaudeville, when the lights were quickly turned off after the punchline of a joke to accentuate it and encourage audience laughter. It ...

s with no real story tying them together, similar to many cartoons directed by

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

Plot

Professor Beest Lee (a pun on "beastly") narrates over clips of animals and their quirky behavior. Scenes include: * An

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

rolling a round object from one anthill to another. However, in actuality, the hills are connected to the same tunnel. * An

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

(or the great ape) that sees a banana hanging from the ceiling, but uses nearby giant blocks and a saw to cut a hole in the ceiling of his cage to pull down a fridge full of food. * A mouse that scares an elephant but is then scared by a tiny elephant (in a throwback to '' Punch Trunk'') * A running gag showing a dog, named Rover, patiently waiting on the front porch for his master that hasn't been home in three long, lonesome years. * Inside a food processing factory, a hen lays cube-shaped eggs, much to the chagrin of another hen ("Showoff!"). * A man who proclaims to an entertainment agent his dog can talk whereas all the dog's answers are "ruff", particularly for the answers to the top of a house (roof), the owner's name (Ralph) and the greatest baseball player (

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ark ...

). When the agent throws them out, the dog picks himself up, dusts himself off, and asks his owner: "Maybe I should've said DiMaggio?" * Another scene with Rover lying in wait. ("Faithful friend, good dog.") * A

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

(John, who looks like

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

) sent into space and returning with an alien wife (Martian) and kids. * A

groundhog The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as the woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. A lowland creature of North America, it is found through much of the Easte ...

who uses advanced technology to predict the weather. * A

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

named Cal who can blend into different unicolor screens but cannot bring himself to attempt a multi-color plaid screen: ("I can't do it!! I just CAN'T do it!!!") * Another scene with Rover waiting for his master through a terrible storm (and a bit of a cold). * The classic "trained

pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

s" gag (used previously in ''

Curtain Razor ''Curtain Razor'' is a 1949 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on May 21, 1949, and stars Porky Pig. Plot An operatic tenor voice and piano music for the Act III Prelude from Richard Wagner's op ...

'' and ''

Show Biz Bugs ''Show Biz Bugs'' is a 1957 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' animated short directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Mel Blanc. The short was released on November 2, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Plot Upon arriving at the theater where ...

'') in which the trainer's pigeons, when released from their cage, fly past the table of miniature obstacles and out the window. * A hospital room with a dog who has his bandaged leg. The veterinarian unravels the wraps and finds a cat biting the victim's foot and won't let go. (The scene is somewhat reused in the Tom & Jerry cartoon, '' The Cat's Me-Ouch''.) * A

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

literally "

damming A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

" a river when a piece of the structure breaks off. * Spring, in the forest, where a pair of birds, skunks (Pepé Le Pew cameo appearance), and bears are cheek to cheek in love, including a pair of

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp Spine (zoology), spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two Family (biology), families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New ...

s kissing and then yelp in pain from the quills. ("All but very carefully...") * Back to the running gag, Rover's master is finally home, but then gets beat up at the cartoon's end (the master turning out to be Beest Lee himself). The dog angrily demands his supper because he is starved.

References

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