Gorilla My Dreams

Gorilla My Dreams is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical animated short directed by Robert McKimson and written by Warren Foster.[2] The short was released on January 3, 1948, and stars Bugs Bunny.[3]

For The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode or the Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys episode, see Gorilla My Dreams (Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys) and Gorilla My Dreams (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!).
Gorilla My Dreams
Lobby card
Directed byRobert McKimson
Produced byEdward Selzer
Story byWarren Foster
StarringMel Blanc
Music byCarl Stalling
Animation byCharles McKimson
Manny Gould
John Carey
Additional animation:
I. Ellis (uncr.)
Anatole Kirsanoff (uncr.)
Fred Abranz (uncr.)[1]
Layouts byCornett Wood
Backgrounds byRichard H. Thomas
Color processTechnicolor
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
January 3, 1948 (USA)
Running time
7:25
LanguageEnglish

The story is a parody of the many jungle films that were prominent in the 1930s and 1940s which often featured gorillas extensively (though not always behaviorally accurately), most notably the Tarzan films. The title is a play on the expression "Girl o' My Dreams". The short featured Gruesome Gorilla, who reappeared in Hurdy-Gurdy Hare and as a boss in Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters.

The cartoon was remade in 1959 as Apes of Wrath.[4]

Plot

"Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart" plays briefly under the title card, and the cartoon opens with a trail of carrot tops floating on the seas. Bugs is stranded in a barrel in the middle of the ocean, but he does not seem to mind; he is reading Esquire magazine (considered an "adults only" magazine at that time) and singing the song "Down Where the Trade Winds Play" (a song made popular by Bing Crosby).

On the island of 'Bingzi-Bangzi – Land of the Ferocious Apes', the population is made up of gorillas that act like humans - they read the newspaper and books such as "The Apes of Wrath", have families, live in huts and speak American English (in the underscore, one of Stalling's orchestrations of Raymond Scott's jungle themes is heard, its official title being "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals"). One of the apes, Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla, is sad that she does not have any children, whereas her husband (voiced by Mel Blanc) could not care less. Mrs. Gruesome (also voiced by Blanc, using a falsetto) walks toward the water and starts to say, "I'm going to ..." (suggesting despondency), but then spots Bugs floating in his barrel. Her mood instantly changes and she takes him back to her treetop (at one point, yielding the right-of-way to a man wearing just a leopard skin loincloth that looks strikingly like Tarzan). Bugs finishes "Trade Winds" just as Mrs. Gruesome picks up the barrel and segués into a full verse of "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat", which he finishes just as he discovers himself in the clutches of the ape. Mrs. Gruesome wants Bugs to be her 'baby'. At first, Bugs does not want to, but when she starts crying, he gives in ("That's my soft spot—dames crying").

Mrs. Gruesome then presents Bugs to Mr. Gruesome—who is none too happy about having a baby in the house. Bugs tries to fit in, playing like a 'monkey'. Mr. Gruesome takes Bugs out for 'a walk', but Bugs soon realizes that he is in for a beating if he sticks around. A long chase ensues (including a frenetic version of Stalling's jungle theme) and Bugs finds himself trapped against the edge of a cliff. Bugs gives up and allows Gruesome to catch him. However, Gruesome quickly tires out and drops from exhaustion, with Bugs knocking him over with a mere puff of breath. Emerging as the 'victor', Bugs jumps up and catches a hanging branch, again playing 'monkey' (another short clip of the jungle theme is heard in the underscore, along with the time-honored "jungle" sound of a kookaburra) at iris-out.

Reception

Animation historian Mike Mallory writes, "Bugs Bunny is at his brashest and most fearless in Gorilla My Dreams, a drivingly funny romp staged with breathless energy and flawless timing by director Robert McKimson. This cartoon also pits the rabbit against one of his most formidable opponents... The ensuing grudge match between the roaring, angry would-be father and his recalcitrant, long-eared 'baby', set to the raucously jazzy music of Carl Stalling and Raymond Scott, is prime Warner Bros. cartooning."[5]

Music
  • "Down Where the Trade Winds Play", uncredited, by Cliff Friend, lyrics by Charles Tobias
  • "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals", uncredited, by Raymond Scott
  • "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat", uncredited, by Leon René, Otis René and Emerson Scott
  • "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart", uncredited, by Ray Noble
  • "Congo", uncredited, by M.K. Jerome
  • "Goombay Drum", uncredited, by Charles Lofthouse, Schuyler Knowlton and Stanley Adams
  • "Ahí, viene la conga", uncredited, by Raúl Valdespí
  • "Hey, Doc", uncredited, music by Edgar M. Sampson
  • "Valurile Dunarii (Danube Waves)", uncredited, music by Iosif Ivanovici

Home media

Gorilla My Dreams is available, uncut and restored, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 (Disc 1).

Gorilla My Dreams is available on Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3 (Disc 1).

See also

References
  1. http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/robert-mckimsons-gorilla-my-dreams/
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 58–62. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. "Gorilla My Dreams". BCDB. 2012-12-16.
  5. Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-64722-137-9.
Preceded by
Slick Hare		 Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1948		 Succeeded by
A Feather in His Hare
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