During the early 18th Century there was an incident in which an enterprising impresario rented a theater in London, and then publicized a notice that on a specific day he would present a man of only eighteen inches in height, who would be perfectly formed, but living underwater in a bottle, and who would sing for two hours, and dance for two hours, for the audience. The theater was packed when a troubled looking theater owner came out to explain that everyone had been fooled and the impresario was a liar who had fled with the box office. There was no little entertainer in a bottle, and there was no way to reimburse the swindled audience. The audience started hooting and throwing things, and finally wrecked the theater.
I don't know if that incident influenced the creation of ONE FROGGY EVENING, but it sounds like it could have. As for movies the closest that I can think of to this cartoon gem of Chuck Jones is a Cary Grant film ONCE UPON A TIME, wherein an opportunistic producer seizes upon a dancing caterpillar. But Grant finds humility in that film. That is not the case in ONE FROGGY EVENING. The protagonist, a construction worker who thinks he hit the mother load, never realizes that the "asset" he has acquired is no asset at all but a piece of living hell.
Michigan J. Frog was the star of only this cartoon, but he has since reappeared as "spokes - frog" for Channel 11, and even in one of the Tiny - Tunes that were made in the 1990s, trying to encourage another character to sing. But for his one starring role, Michigan did splendidly. He comes across as a lively singer, dancer, juggler, and acrobat. One appreciates his warbling of "My Ragtime Gal", "The Great McCloskey Fight" (it is while performing this that his juggling and acrobatics are demonstrated - behind a stuck curtain), and the specially written, bouncy "Michigan Rag". The movie audience fully appreciates that Michigan would be the world's greatest performer, but for one habit (one can't call it a failing): he only entertains his owner.
It is the owner's descent into despair, poverty, even madness that occupies the bulk of the action. He knows that Michigan is the world's greatest performer...but he can't prove it to anyone. In the course of the cartoon only one other person hears Michigan (prior to the ironic conclusion): a police officer passing behind a fence hears Michigan's excellent, but loud voice, and arrests the surprised owner whom he believes was disturbing the peace! It is like the fates are totally against the construction worker. He has only two moments of genius in the cartoon: when he finds Michigan and runs off with him, and when he finally gets rid of Michigan. One hopes his later life was more stable and pleasant. And one hopes his futuristic replacement comes to his senses in the end too.
The cartoon has had influence beyond it's own seven minutes of running time. Mel Brooks used it's situation in a typical twist in SPACEBALLS, when John Hurt suffers a situation similar to what happened to him in ALIEN, when an alien space organism that got into his body burst out killing him. With Brooks' touch it turned comic. The alien jumps out of Hurt's chest (Hurt looks upset, and says, "Not again!") and proceeds to pull out a hat and cane and sing "My Ragtime Gal!" I think Chuck Jones would have been proud.
I don't know if that incident influenced the creation of ONE FROGGY EVENING, but it sounds like it could have. As for movies the closest that I can think of to this cartoon gem of Chuck Jones is a Cary Grant film ONCE UPON A TIME, wherein an opportunistic producer seizes upon a dancing caterpillar. But Grant finds humility in that film. That is not the case in ONE FROGGY EVENING. The protagonist, a construction worker who thinks he hit the mother load, never realizes that the "asset" he has acquired is no asset at all but a piece of living hell.
Michigan J. Frog was the star of only this cartoon, but he has since reappeared as "spokes - frog" for Channel 11, and even in one of the Tiny - Tunes that were made in the 1990s, trying to encourage another character to sing. But for his one starring role, Michigan did splendidly. He comes across as a lively singer, dancer, juggler, and acrobat. One appreciates his warbling of "My Ragtime Gal", "The Great McCloskey Fight" (it is while performing this that his juggling and acrobatics are demonstrated - behind a stuck curtain), and the specially written, bouncy "Michigan Rag". The movie audience fully appreciates that Michigan would be the world's greatest performer, but for one habit (one can't call it a failing): he only entertains his owner.
It is the owner's descent into despair, poverty, even madness that occupies the bulk of the action. He knows that Michigan is the world's greatest performer...but he can't prove it to anyone. In the course of the cartoon only one other person hears Michigan (prior to the ironic conclusion): a police officer passing behind a fence hears Michigan's excellent, but loud voice, and arrests the surprised owner whom he believes was disturbing the peace! It is like the fates are totally against the construction worker. He has only two moments of genius in the cartoon: when he finds Michigan and runs off with him, and when he finally gets rid of Michigan. One hopes his later life was more stable and pleasant. And one hopes his futuristic replacement comes to his senses in the end too.
The cartoon has had influence beyond it's own seven minutes of running time. Mel Brooks used it's situation in a typical twist in SPACEBALLS, when John Hurt suffers a situation similar to what happened to him in ALIEN, when an alien space organism that got into his body burst out killing him. With Brooks' touch it turned comic. The alien jumps out of Hurt's chest (Hurt looks upset, and says, "Not again!") and proceeds to pull out a hat and cane and sing "My Ragtime Gal!" I think Chuck Jones would have been proud.