Gorilla My Dreams

Gorilla My Dreams
	Lobby card
Directed by	Robert McKimson
Produced by	Edward Selzer
Story by	Warren Foster
Starring	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Charles McKimson; Manny Gould; John Carey; Additional animation:; I. Ellis (uncr.) ; Anatole Kirsanoff (uncr.); Fred Abranz (uncr.)[1]
Layouts by	Cornett Wood
Backgrounds by	Richard H. Thomas
Color process	Technicolor
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	January 3, 1948 (USA)
Running time	7:25
Language	English

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]

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.

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

Availability

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).

References

http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/robert-mckimsons-gorilla-my-dreams/
Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 58–62. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
"Gorilla My Dreams". BCDB. 2012-12-16.

External links

Preceded by Slick Hare	Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1948	Succeeded by A Feather in His Hare

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[1] ttp://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.

[bcdb-4] "Gorilla My Dreams". BCDB. 2012-12-16.