Hold the Lion, Please
Encyclopedia
Hold the Lion, Please is a 1941 Merrie Melodies
cartoon, first released on June 13, 1942, distributed by the Vitaphone
Corporation and Warner Bros.
. This skit is Bugs Bunny
's tenth appearance and Chuck Jones
' 39th Warner Bros. cartoon.
The short was directed by Chuck Jones, animated by Ken Harris
and scripted by Tedd Pierce
. Musical Direction was assigned to Carl Stalling
.
The title is an obvious play on the expression used by switchboard operators of the day, asking the caller to "hold the line." The Three Stooges made a short with a similar title, Hold That Lion, which also featured a renegade lion.
who is trying to prove he is still "King of the Jungle" by hunting a small, defenseless animal. He chooses Bugs Bunny
as his intended victim. The lion soon finds out that, in a battle of wits, he is the defenseless one. However, the lion eventually gets Bugs under one paw while raising the other one, claws extended, and looking angry; a truly frightened-looking Bugs could be facing his end. Just then the lion gets a phone call from his wife, changing the lion's demeanor from ferocious to meek. He apologizes to Bugs that he can't "stay and kill him," and then dashes home. Bugs ridicules the lion's apparent submissiveness, but we soon see that he has someone to answer to as well: his own wife, who sends Bugs slinking into the rabbit hole while "Mrs. Bugs Bunny" (according to the arrow pointing to her) shows the audience that she "wears the pants in this family." Mrs. Bugs' higher-pitched voice is similar to that of Tweety Bird minus the speech impediment. It is the sole appearance of a Mrs. Bugs Bunny, as Bugs is ever afterward depicted as a bachelor but recently is depicted with a sweetheart, Lola
.
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
cartoon, first released on June 13, 1942, distributed by the Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
Corporation and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. This skit is Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
's tenth appearance and Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
' 39th Warner Bros. cartoon.
The short was directed by Chuck Jones, animated by Ken Harris
Ken Harris
Ken Harris was an American animator who worked for several film studios. He is widely considered as one of the master animators of his time....
and scripted by Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce , was an American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist. Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for the Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, working alongside fellow luminaries such as Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Pierce also worked as a writer at...
. Musical Direction was assigned to Carl Stalling
Carl Stalling
Carl W. Stalling was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.-Biography:Stalling was born to Ernest and...
.
The title is an obvious play on the expression used by switchboard operators of the day, asking the caller to "hold the line." The Three Stooges made a short with a similar title, Hold That Lion, which also featured a renegade lion.
Synopsis
The short focuses on a lionLion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
who is trying to prove he is still "King of the Jungle" by hunting a small, defenseless animal. He chooses Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
as his intended victim. The lion soon finds out that, in a battle of wits, he is the defenseless one. However, the lion eventually gets Bugs under one paw while raising the other one, claws extended, and looking angry; a truly frightened-looking Bugs could be facing his end. Just then the lion gets a phone call from his wife, changing the lion's demeanor from ferocious to meek. He apologizes to Bugs that he can't "stay and kill him," and then dashes home. Bugs ridicules the lion's apparent submissiveness, but we soon see that he has someone to answer to as well: his own wife, who sends Bugs slinking into the rabbit hole while "Mrs. Bugs Bunny" (according to the arrow pointing to her) shows the audience that she "wears the pants in this family." Mrs. Bugs' higher-pitched voice is similar to that of Tweety Bird minus the speech impediment. It is the sole appearance of a Mrs. Bugs Bunny, as Bugs is ever afterward depicted as a bachelor but recently is depicted with a sweetheart, Lola
Lola Bunny
Lola Bunny is a cartoon character from Warner Bros. Studios. She is an anthropomorphic rabbit and has been established as having a romantic involvement with Bugs Bunny, as well as being his main love interest and girlfriend.-Space Jam:...
.
Cast
- Mel BlancMel BlancMelvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
voiced Bugs BunnyBugs BunnyBugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, MonkeyMonkeyA monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
, GiraffeGiraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
, Mrs. Bugs Bunny. - Tedd Pierce voiced Leo the Lion.
- Tex AveryTex AveryFrederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
voiced the HippoHippopotamusThe hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
.