I Only Have Eyes for You is a 1937 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery.[4] The short was released on February 27, 1937.[5]
| I Only Have Eyes for You | |
|---|---|
 The Blue Ribbon title card | |
| Directed by | Fred Avery |
| Story by | Bob Clampett[2] Tedd Pierce |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger Henry Binder Raymond G. Katz[2] |
| Starring | Elvia Allman Joe Twerp Tedd Pierce Billy Paye[3] |
| Edited by | Treg Brown |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Bob Clampett Virgil Ross |
| Layouts by | Griff Jay |
| Backgrounds by | Art Loomer[2] |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release dates |
March 17, 1945 (Blue Ribbon reissue) |
Running time | about 8 minutes |
| Language | English |
The title of this short is based on the song of the same name.
Plot
editThe protagonist (voiced by spoonerism specialist Joe Twerp), who drives an ice-delivery truck, is wooed by a homely spinster bird (voiced by Elvia Allman) who hopes to entice him with her culinary talents. The iceman, on the other hand, is only interested in Katie Canary (a Katharine Hepburn impression voiced by Sara Berner),[6] who only wants to marry a radio crooner and rebuffs his overtures to the point where she prefers ordering a refrigerator.
The iceman, in order to win Katie, hires a voice imitator, Professor Mockingbird (voiced by Tedd Pierce), to simulate crooners from the back of his ice truck while the iceman lip-syncs. The scheme eventually backfires when Professor Mockingbird turns blue from the extreme cold in the ice truck, and gets sick to the point that he sneezes the top of the truck off, causing Katie to discover the iceman's ruse. Katie marries the Professor, being sufficiently impressed by his crooning ability (while replacing her radio with an electric refrigerator, as a means to keep the iceman away from her forever), while the iceman is finally won over by the spinster's cooking and baking and presumably marries her.
Notes
edit- Through eBay auctions in 2007, the original titles have been found for the cartoon, but it is unknown if they have been acquired for future video releases.[7]
- This cartoon was re-released into the Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies program on March 17, 1945.
- This short was produced before Mel Blanc joined Warner Bros.' Termite Terrace studio. However, it was released after.
- Working title: "I Only Have Ice for You"[8]
References
edit- ^ "The Film Daily (Jan-Feb 1937)". Wid's Films and Film Folk, inc. January 1937. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences (1900-1999). McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-7864-4985-9.
- ^ Scott, Keith (2022). Cartoon Voices from the Golden Age, 1930-70. BearManor Media. p. 22. ISBN 979-8-88771-010-5.
- ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 54. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
- ^ "Katie Canary". Behind the Voice Actors. 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
- ^ "WARNER BROS. TITLES". www.cartoonresearch.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008.
- ^ Sigall, Martha (2005). Living Life Inside the Lines: Tales from the Golden Age of Animation. ISBN 9781578067497.
External links
edit
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