The Goofy Gophers

The Goofy Gophers is a 1947 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Bob Clampett and Arthur Davis.[1] The short was released on January 25, 1947, and is the first appearance of the Goofy Gophers.[2]

The Goofy Gophers
Directed by	Bob Clampett (planned) Arthur Davis (finished)
Produced by	Edward Selzer
Story by	Warren Foster
Starring	Mel Blanc Stan Freberg (uncredited)
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Manny Gould Don Williams Cal Dalton J.C. Melendez
Layouts by	Thomas McKimson
Backgrounds by	Philip DeGuard
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	January 25, 1947 (USA)
Running time	7:10
Language	English

Plot

An anthropomorphic dog who is based on John Barrymore is guarding a vegetable garden and falling asleep. However, the dog then spots two gophers eating carrots. The dog disguises himself as a tomato vine and poses as an actual plant in the garden. The Gophers spot the tomato vine, grab a bunch of vegetables, and throw a pumpkin on the dog before striking him with a spade. The gags are plenty as the Gophers continue to outwit their canine nemesis. Eventually, they launch the dog, via rocket, into outer space towards the moon and now there are four crescent moons. The Gophers, now triumphant, gloat that they will have all the carrots to themselves. But suddenly they hear a familiar "Eh," and there stands Bugs Bunny who says the popular catchphrase from The Great Gildersleeve, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that!" However, this is not answered as the cartoon ends.

Notes

• Among some of the music cues heard throughout the short are:

• "Merrily We Roll Along" - Merrie Melodies theme music; heard when one of the gophers makes like Bugs Bunny.
• "The Wish That I Wish Tonight" - played prominently throughout the cartoon; especially when the Gophers gather vegetables while pulling the dog by his nose. This musical number is previously heard in "Hare Remover" and "Kitty Kornered" and would later be used again in "Water, Water Every Hare".
• "Mysterious Mose" - A Latin-flavored version of the musical number plays as the vegetables disappear one-by-one. Commonly this musical number plays during horror scenes in cartoons, particularly the 1930 Betty Boop cartoon of the same name from Fleischer Studios.
• "Minuet in G" - Played when the Gophers dance with the hand puppet.
• "Let’s Sing a Song About Susie"- Played when the Gophers suggest what vegetables they should take next; also played when they prepare to launch the dog to the moon via rocket launcher.
• "Rock-a-Bye Baby" - Played when the moon blows up into four crescents.

• This is one of the few cartoons that Clampett had planned before he left the studio in 1946. Like this short, "Bacall to Arms" was finished by Arthur Davis, while "Birth of a Notion" was finished by Robert McKimson, and "Tweetie Pie" was finished by Friz Freleng. Voice recording however was the only finished section of the shorts production that was directed by Clampett, while Davis had to finish everything else.
• This marks the first appearance of the Goofy Gophers, who would appear in eight more shorts in the Golden Age of American Animation. This cartoon also marks the first appearance of an unnamed dog which would appear in only the first three Goofy Gophers cartoons: this one, "Two Gophers from Texas" and "A Ham in a Role".
• This was long-believed to be in the public domain, however, United Artists, in fact renewed the copyright on January 2, 1974.[3]
• Five cartoons originally in the Looney Tunes series, including "The Goofy Gophers", were re-released as Blue Ribbon cartoons in the 1954-55 season. Out of those five, four of them, including "The Goofy Gophers", kept their original closing titles. Three other cartoons from the Looney Tunes series that were re-released in that season also kept their original ending titles. They are: "What's Brewin', Bruin?", "Crowing Pains", and "Hop, Look and Listen". The fifth cartoon, "House Hunting Mice" was another Looney Tunes cartoon re-released in the 1954-55 season as well, but it got the reissue ending titles since the cartoon was originally in Cinecolor, while the other four cartoons' original color process was Technicolor. In fact, "House Hunting Mice" was the only Cinecolor cartoon re-released in the 1954-55 season, meaning it was the only cartoon re-released in that season to get the 1954-55 closing titles. All other cartoons re-released in that season were in Technicolor and thus kept their original closing titles, regardless of series.
• This cartoon was sold to Associated Artists Productions in 1956 with all the color Warner Bros., pre-August 1948 cartoons.

• The AAP print, VHS/LaserDisc and 1995 American and European Turner prints of this cartoon have an opening Blue Ribbon music glitch. For a brief moment after the WB shield zooms into view, the pitch goes down before quickly going back up.

• When Bugs Bunny appears at the end of this cartoon, his voice is unusually sped up. This is because the tape of Mel Blanc's voice recording in the switch between Davis' and Clampett's direction was not slowed down properly.

• The Goofy Gophers' voices switch back and forth throughout this first cartoon, sometimes even in mid-sentence. This would be quite different from the rest of the series, in which each character maintained his own distinctive voice throughout.
• In this cartoon, the Goofy Gophers have gray and white fur, much like Bugs Bunny's fur colors (although this could be due to discolorization of the material); but beginning with their next cartoon "Two Gophers from Texas", the Gophers have their fur colors changed to brown and tan.

• When the dog says "Stunning, isn't it," his mouth doesn't move.

References

1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 174. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 87–88. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
3. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015084450967;page=root;view=image;size=100;seq=99;num=81