Introduction II: The Vaudeville Legacy | Show Biz Bugs (1957)

Welcome back! It's the Season 2 premiere, so the podcast is reseting as we transition to a more chronological, narrative driven format. We begin with a discussion of vaudeville, list our favorite Friz Freleng cartoons, and talk about one of the all-time great Bugs and Daffy shorts! Host/Producer: J.D. Hansel Guest: Anthony Strand Cartoon Content Warning: self-immolation. Episode Content Warning: mentions suicide; describes of minstrel shows. Go to 00:35:28 to skip past the minstrelsy history. Go to 00:42:02 to skip the vaudeville and radio history and go straight to the cartoon history. Go to 00:58:08 to skip to the Show Biz Bugs section. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can contribute on Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/jdhansel. Notes The cold open for this episode and the premise for this season were largely inspired by Donald Crafton's book Shadow of a Mouse. The book proposes that the cartoon characters can be thought of as performers, develops a framework for understanding cartoon performativity, considers the function of the classic cartoon as a "memory palace" of vaudeville, and examines the development of cartoon acting in the years after the appearance of Mickey Mouse. Relatedly, this interview with Crafton is how I found out that early Paul Terry shorts received funding from a vaudeville circuit. I got my vaudeville information from the PBS American Masters episode about it. To hear more about the connections between vaudeville and cartoons - especially their use of slapstick comedy - seek out the documentary short Vaudeville, Slapstick and Tom and Jerry from the Blu-Ray Tom & Jerry Golden Collection: Volume One. My Friz Freleng info can mostly be attributed to the documentary Friz on Film - specifically the fact that this cartoon was one of Friz's favorites of those he directed. I believe I got the idea that the filmmakers behind Show Biz Bugs seem to be expressing a frustration they felt about Bugs Bunny's stardom usurping Daffy's from a quote from Jerry Beck in the "Behind the Tunes" featurette "Hard Luck Duck": "It’s funny that the animators themselves acknowledged that Daffy wants to be the star. ‘He is the star, and who’s this rabbit?’ ‘Cuz I think that’s the way they felt. And we can identify with his frustrations." Other cartoon shorts referenced: What's Cookin' Doc? (1944), What's Up, Doc? (1950), Yankee Doodle Daffy (1943), Three Little Bops (1957), Back Alley Oproar (1948), Canned Feud (1951), Baseball Bugs (1946), High Diving Hare (1948), Daffy – The Commando (1943), The Chuck Jones Hunting Trilogy (Rabbit Fire [1951], Rabbit Seasoning [1952], Duck! Rabbit, Duck! [1953]), Ali Baba Bunny (1957), Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1953), Drip-Along Daffy (1951), Deduce, You Say! (1956), Robin Hood Daffy (1958), You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940), Tick Tock Tuckered (1944), Booby Traps (1944), Ballot Box Bunny (1951), Hair-Raising Hare (1946), Broom-Stick Bunny (1956), Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939), The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950), Rhapsody in Rivets (1941). Fig Leaf Rag by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100701 Artist: http://incompetech.com/