"Hoppity Goes to Town"

[Vdubdavid]

I'm just wondering, but what exactly is "Hoppity Goes to Town"? If I am right it's a Paramount feature, but when was it made and is it worth watching? I caught a snatch of it when it aired on AMC last week before school, but only about 10 minutes worth. (Incidentally, when it aired the other day, did it have it's original titles?)

[BobChief]

"Hoppity", also known as "Mr Bug Goes to Town", is indeed a Paramount feature, Max and Dave Fleischer's 1941 followup to their far-more-successful "Gulliver's Travels".

I seem to recall hearing that when "Hoppity/Mr Bug" airs on AMC, it had a National Telefilm Associates title at the beginning, and the Paramount mountain at the end.

As animated features go, this one is kind-of down on the list of greats, tho if you're a Paramount fan there is plenty to like.

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by BobChief
"Hoppity", also known as "Mr Bug Goes to Town", is indeed a Paramount feature, Max and Dave Fleischer's 1941 followup to their far-more-successful "Gulliver's Travels".
....
As animated features go, this one is kind-of down on the list of greats, tho if you're a Paramount fan there is plenty to like.

"Hoppity/Mr. Bug" is notable though for a number of reasons... It was made under harrowing conditions in Miami just as the final few sands were running out of the hourglass for the Fleischer studio. It is a unique blending of the styles of Warners, Fleischer and Disney (the "animation directors" and storymen). And they succeeded in making it on a gruesome timetable imposed on them by Paramount. Buuuuuut Paramount's decision to virtually dump it into theaters assured its failure, and the ultimate takeover of the Fleischer studio by Paramount.

The choice of a bug motif for this feature may have also weighed against it with audiences in 1941. An alternate suggestion for a feature was "Raggedy Ann And Andy " which as a story of beloved childhood dolls MAY well have had vastly greater audience appeal than the story about vermin in the BIG CITY... The Fleischer's opted to make the Raggedy Ann tale as a two-reel film (hedging their bets???). This is all reminiscent of their having chosen to do a largely straight (and Disney influenced) version of "Gulliver's Travels" rather than a heavily Fleischer Popeye take on Gulliver. The choices that people make...