Jungle Jitters

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Jungle Jitters
series = Merrie Melodies
director = Friz Freleng
writer = George Manuell
animator = Phil Monroe
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
producer = Leon Schlesinger
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
release_date = February 19, 1938 (USA)
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 8 min (one reel)
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0030300

"Jungle Jitters" is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject in the "Merrie Melodies" series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on February 19, 1938 by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger and directed by an uncredited Friz Freleng, with musical supervision by Carl W. Stalling and voices by Mel Blanc.

ynopsis

"Jungle Jitters" opens to a scene of an African jungle showing the natives going about their day, with the jungle elements being intertwined with modern-day elements, IE: the people dancing around a tent when it turns into a makeshift merry-go-round, to the tune of Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.

A traveling salesman comes by to offer them the latest in "assorted useful, useless, utensils." The natives capture him, throw him into a pot of boiling water, and ransack his goods. They proceed to familiarize themselves with vacuum cleaners, batteries, light bulbs, etc.

When the salesman is introduced to the village queen, she takes a liking to him, imagining the cartoon dog as none other than Clark Gable. The salesman finds himself with the choice between a forced marriage with the homely queen, or the boiling pot of water. He chooses the pot.

Appearances

"Jungle Jitters" has fallen into the public domain, and is available on many public domain home video collections.

Censorship

*Due to the film's racial stereotyping, "Jungle Jitters" has not been seen on television since 1968, and is one of the "Censored Eleven" group of banned "Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies" shorts.

External links

*imdb title|0030300
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im27FD077zk Watch "Jungle Jitters"] on YouTube
* [http://www.archive.org/details/MerrieMelodies-JungleJitters Download "Jungle Jitters"] on the Internet Archive