Green Door

[Matt Yorston]

I'm sure almost all WB fans are aware of the reference to the song, "Open the Door, Richard", in "High Diving Hare" (i.e. Sam yelling, "Open up that door", then asiding, "You'll notice I didn't say, Richard").

That's probably the most famous song reference in a WB cartoon but I just discovered another reference to a contemporary popular song in "A Waggily Tale" (1958). When Junior (still dreaming he's a dog) is locked up in the pound, he looks over to a green door across from his cell and wonders aloud, "I wonder what's goin' on behind the green door?". This is a reference to the 1956 Jim Lowe song, "The Green Door" (about a man being kept awake all night, mysteriously wondering about the merry noise going on behind a green apartment door). I didn't realize it was a reference to a song until I heard "Green Door" on an oldies station I listen to and immediately thought of that scene. Live and learn....

[Matthew Hunter]

There are actually a couple of references to Elvis Presley in WB cartoons. A caricature of Elvis appears in "Hareabian Nights", and "Dog Tales" has an appearance by a dog that "ain't nothin but a hound dog". Also, Carl Stalling made some dead-on hilarious muisical puns in cartoons if you can pick up on them. If you ever see the original title version of "A Wild Hare", (thanks, Goopy Geer!) as the words "A Wild Hare" appear on the screen, the tune "I'm Just Wild About Harry" plays! wild hare, wild Harry...well, anyway. Also, when anyone, anywhere in a Warner Bros. cartoon finds money or gets rich, you'll either hear "We're In the Money" or "Plenty of Money and You".
-Matthew

[Matt Yorston]

Of course! That's practically what made Stalling famous... his whimsical ability to synchronize famous music/songs with the cartoons' onscreen action. As Chuck Jones notes, one time he did a cartoon that had a bee in it and Stalling accompanied the bee's presence with "My Funny Little Bumblebee". Also, "A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich, and You" is often played when a character is shown eating (probably Stalling's most obvious song use) and, at the end of "Little Red Rodent Hood", when Sylvester says, "You ain't just whistlin' Dixie, brother," Stalling plays a few notes of ... well ... "Dixie" on the soundtrack. Also, in "Quack Shot", when Daffy launches an attack on Elmer with a "toy" sailboat, Stalling accompanies the action with "Don't Give Up the Ship" ("If at first you don't succeed, get smarter, I always say!").

[Paul Penna]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
Also, Carl Stalling made some dead-on hilarious muisical puns in cartoons if you can pick up on them. If you ever see the original title version of "A Wild Hare", (thanks, Goopy Geer!) as the words "A Wild Hare" appear on the screen, the tune "I'm Just Wild About Harry" plays! wild hare, wild Harry...well, anyway. Also, when anyone, anywhere in a Warner Bros. cartoon finds money or gets rich, you'll either hear "We're In the Money" or "Plenty of Money and You".
-Matthew

One of my personal favorites is during "Book Revue," when the chase passes into The Petrified Forest (from the book of the same name :D ), Stalling breaks into "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree."

[Bobby B]

Originally posted by Matt Yorston
Of course! That's practically what made Stalling famous... his whimsical ability to synchronize famous music/songs with the cartoons' onscreen action. As Chuck Jones notes, one time he did a cartoon that had a bee in it and Stalling accompanied the bee's presence with "My Funny Little Bumblebee". Also, "A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich, and You" is often played when a character is shown eating (probably Stalling's most obvious song use) and, at the end of "Little Red Rodent Hood", when Sylvester says, "You ain't just whistlin' Dixie, brother," Stalling plays a few notes of ... well ... "Dixie" on the soundtrack. Also, in "Quack Shot", when Daffy launches an attack on Elmer with a "toy" sailboat, Stalling accompanies the action with "Don't Give Up the Ship" ("If at first you don't succeed, get smarter, I always say!").


Don't forget "I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover" accompanying an overhead view of a cloverleaf highway in "Fast and Furry-ous".

[DR. BELCH]

"Four-Leaf Clover" also plays when a character is looking for something or someone (e.g. the bulldog for the McKimson Cat in "Early to Bet"). Another favorite of mine is whenever a female character, or a male in drag, appears--particularly in a red dress--"The Lady in Red" starts up....

I believe another version of the song--called "Open the Door, Homer"--was done on The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and The Band in 1975. "Open the door, Homer/I'd heard him say before/Open the door, Homer/I've heard it said before/But I ain't gonna hear it said no more." Though it sounds like they're saying either "Richard" or "Rachel" rather than "Homer". "Now, there's a certain thing/That I learned from my friend, Mouse/A fella who never blushes...." [guitar string snaps a la "Pecos Pest"]