Now Hear This is a 1963 animated short film in the Looney Tunes series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. It was directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble, and written by Jones and John Dunn. The title comes from a phrase used aboard American naval ships as an instruction to cease activity and listen to the announcement that will follow. The phrase was referred into another WB cartoon, Now Hare This, five years before this one.
This cartoon is notable in that it has no rings at the opening title sequence (see "Title Sequence" below). In addition, this cartoon is notable for resembling a UPA cartoon (whose cartoons had used limited animation techniques) more than a typical Warner Bros. short of the time.
Plot
Satan, the Head Devil, loses his left horn, which is found by an elderly man in Britain (there are clues to the cartoon's location; the bin says "Keep Britain Tidy" and Rule Britannia is heard twice) who uses it as a hearing trumpet. Soon the man experiences a series of aural and visual hallucinations: A bug sounds like a locomotive; a butterfly causes him to see strange patterns; a short man in a pink suit makes mischief, at one point pulling a telephone from the horn and turning the phone's mouthpiece into a shower outlet. These hallucinations become steadily more strange and frightening before finally culminating in a "GIGANTIC EXPLOSION!" Having suffered enough, the gentleman leaves the horn behind in favor of his original hearing trumpet, which he had thrown out at the cartoon's beginning. After he leaves, Satan materializes and is glad to find his missing horn; he screws it back on and disappears. The cartoon begins with the moral: "The other fellow's trumpet always looks greener".
Title sequence
This was the first Warner Bros. cartoon short to use the "modern" abstract opening and closing sequences, which would be used on all mid-1960s WB shorts, mainly produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation. This is also one of the rare Looney Tunes shorts to list the director's name first.
At the close of the cartoon, when the "modern" close is in progress, they have the first four notes of the Westminster Quarters play to bring on the four elements of the "WB" lettering, then as the words "A Warner Bros. CartOOn" scroll appear, Big Ben chimes, and then as the OO's in Cartoon separate from the words, a bicycle horn is heard squeaking three times. Big Ben gives one more chime as the words finish appearing on the screen before the fadeout. This closing sequence is seen in two more cartoons: Bartholomew Versus the Wheel and Señorella and the Glass Huarache. An updated variant was used on DFE-produced cartoons until the W7 era, except instead of Big Ben's chimes and the honks, a reprise of Bill Lava's version of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" is heard, and (with the exception of Pancho's Hideaway) instead of the background being white, the background is black.
The sequence was the idea of Chuck Jones; however, he was fired before he moved on to MGM Animation/Visual Arts due to participating in an animated production by United Productions of America, Gay Purr-ee (the film was later picked up by Warner for distribution), and he couldn't direct any more cartoons with this opening.
External links
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Short subjects |
- The Night Watchman (1938)
- Dog Gone Modern (1939)
- Robin Hood Makes Good (1939)
- Prest-O Change-O (1939)
- Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939)
- Naughty but Mice (1939)
- Old Glory (1939)
- Snowman's Land (1939)
- Little Brother Rat (1939)
- The Little Lion Hunter (1939)
- The Good Egg (1939)
- Sniffles and the Bookworm (1939)
- The Curious Puppy (1939)
- Mighty Hunters (1940)
- Elmer's Candid Camera (1940)
- Sniffles Takes a Trip (1940)
- Tom Thumb in Trouble (1940)
- The Egg Collector (1940)
- Ghost Wanted (1940)
- Stage Fright (1940)
- Good Night, Elmer (1940)
- Bedtime for Sniffles (1940)
- Elmer's Pet Rabbit (1941)
- Sniffles Bells the Cat (1941)
- Joe Glow, the Firefly (1941)
- Porky's Ant (1941)
- Toy Trouble (1941)
- Porky's Prize Pony (1941)
- Inki and the Lion (1941)
- Snow Time for Comedy (1941)
- The Brave Little Bat (1941)
- Saddle Silly (1941)
- Porky's Midnight Matinee (1941)
- The Bird Came C.O.D. (1942)
- Porky's Cafe (1942)
- Conrad the Sailor (1942)
- Dog Tired (1942)
- The Draft Horse (1942)
- Hold the Lion, Please (1942)
- The Squawkin' Hawk (1942)
- Fox Pop (1942)
- The Dover Boys (1942)
- My Favorite Duck (1942)
- Case of the Missing Hare (1942)
- Point Rationing of Foods (1943)
- To Duck or Not to Duck (1943)
- Flop Goes the Weasel (1943)
- Super-Rabbit (1943)
- The Unbearable Bear (1943)
- The Aristo-Cat (1943)
- Coming Snafu (1943)
- Wackiki Wabbit (1943)
- Spies (1943)
- The Infantry Blues (1943)
- Fin'n Catty (1943)
- Inki and the Minah Bird (1943)
- Tom Turk and Daffy (1944)
- Bugs Bunny and the 3 Bears (1944)
- Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike (1944)
- The Weakly Reporter (1944)
- A Lecture on Camouflage (1944)
- Going Home (1944, unreleased)
- Gas (1944)
- Angel Puss (1944)
- Outpost (1944)
- From Hand to Mouse (1944)
- Lost and Foundling (1944)
- Hell-Bent for Election (1944)
- Odor-able Kitty (1945)
- In the Aleutians - Isles of Enchantment (1945)
- Trap Happy Porky (1945)
- It's Murder She Says (1945)
- Hare Conditioned (1945)
- Fresh Airedale (1945)
- No Buddy Atoll (1945)
- Hare Tonic (1945)
- Secrets of the Caribbean (1945)
- Quentin Quail (1946)
- Hush My Mouse (1946)
- Hair-Raising Hare (1946)
- Fair and Worm-er (1946)
- Roughly Squeaking (1946)
- Scent-imental Over You (1947)
- Inki at the Circus (1947)
- A Pest in the House (1947)
- Little Orphan Airedale (1947)
- House Hunting Mice (1948)
- A Feather in His Hare (1948)
- What's Brewin', Bruin? (1948)
- Rabbit Punch (1948)
- Haredevil Hare (1948)
- You Were Never Duckier (1948)
- Daffy Dilly (1948)
- My Bunny Lies over the Sea (1948)
- Scaredy Cat (1948)
- So Much for So Little (1949)
- Awful Orphan (1949)
- Mississippi Hare (1949)
- Mouse Wreckers (1949)
- The Bee-Deviled Bruin (1949)
- Long-Haired Hare (1949)
- Often an Orphan (1949)
- Fast and Furry-ous (1949)
- Frigid Hare (1949)
- For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)
- Bear Feat (1949)
- Rabbit Hood (1949)
- The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950)
- The Ducksters (1950)
- Dog Gone South (1950)
- 8 Ball Bunny (1950)
- The Hypo-Chondri-Cat (1950)
- Homeless Hare (1950)
- Caveman Inki (1950)
- Rabbit of Seville (1950)
- Two's A Crowd (1950)
- Bunny Hugged (1951)
- Scentimental Romeo (1951)
- A Hound for Trouble (1951)
- Rabbit Fire (1951)
- Chow Hound (1951)
- The Wearing of the Grin (1951)
- Cheese Chasers (1951)
- A Bear for Punishment (1951)
- Drip-Along Daffy (1951)
- Operation: Rabbit (1952)
- Feed the Kitty (1952)
- Little Beau Pepé (1952)
- Water, Water Every Hare (1952)
- Orange Blossoms for Violet (1952)
- Beep, Beep (1952)
- The Hasty Hare (1952)
- Going! Going! Gosh! (1952)
- Mouse Warming (1952)
- Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
- Terrier Stricken (1952)
- Don't Give Up the Sheep (1953)
- Forward March Hare (1953)
- Kiss Me Cat (1953)
- Duck Amuck (1953)
- Much Ado About Nutting (1953)
- Wild Over You (1953)
- Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953)
- Bully for Bugs (1953)
- Zipping Along (1953)
- Lumber Jack-Rabbit (1953)
- Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953)
- Punch Trunk (1953)
- Feline Frame-Up (1954)
- No Barking (1954)
- The Cat's Bah (1954)
- Claws for Alarm (1954)
- Bewitched Bunny (1954)
- Stop! Look! And Hasten! (1954)
- From A to Z-Z-Z-Z (1954)
- My Little Duckaroo (1954)
- Sheep Ahoy (1954)
- Baby Buggy Bunny (1954)
- Beanstalk Bunny (1955)
- Ready, Set, Zoom! (1955)
- Past Perfumance (1955)
- Rabbit Rampage (1955)
- Double or Mutton (1955)
- Jumpin' Jupiter (1955)
- Knight-mare Hare (1955)
- Two Scent's Worth (1955)
- Guided Muscle (1955)
- One Froggy Evening (1955)
- A Hitch in Time (1955)
- 90 Days Wondering (1956)
- Bugs' Bonnets (1956)
- Broom-Stick Bunny (1956)
- Rocket Squad (1956)
- Heaven Scent (1956)
- Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z (1956)
- Barbary Coast Bunny (1956)
- Rocket-bye Baby (1956)
- Deduce, You Say! (1956)
- There They Go-Go-Go! (1956)
- To Hare Is Human (1956)
- Scrambled Aches (1957)
- Ali Baba Bunny (1957)
- Go Fly a Kit (1957)
- Boyhood Daze (1957)
- Steal Wool (1957)
- What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
- Zoom and Bored (1957)
- Touché and Go (1957)
- Drafty, Isn't It? (1957)
- Robin Hood Daffy (1958)
- Hare-Way to the Stars (1958)
- Whoa, Be-Gone! (1958)
- To Itch His Own (1958)
- Hook, Line and Stinker (1958)
- Hip Hip-Hurry! (1958)
- Cat Feud (1958)
- Baton Bunny (1959)
- Hot-Rod and Reel! (1959)
- Wild About Hurry (1959)
- Fastest with the Mostest (1960)
- Hopalong Casualty (1960)
- Who Scent You? (1960)
- Rabbit's Feat (1960)
- Ready, Woolen and Able (1960)
- High Note (1960)
- Zip 'N Snort (1961)
- The Mouse on 57th Street (1961)
- The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961)
- Lickety-Splat (1961)
- A Scent of the Matterhorn (1961)
- Compressed Hare (1961)
- Beep Prepared (1961)
- Nelly's Folly (1961)
- A Sheep in the Deep (1962)
- Zoom at the Top (1962)
- Louvre Come Back to Me! (1962)
- Martian Through Georgia (1962)
- I Was a Teenage Thumb (1963)
- Now Hear This (1963)
- Hare-Breadth Hurry (1963)
- Mad as a Mars Hare (1963)
- Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)
- To Beep or Not to Beep (1963)
- Tom and Jerry (cartoon shorts, 1963–1967)
- War and Pieces (1964)
- The Dot and the Line (1965)
- The Bear That Wasn't (1967)
- Man: The Polluter (1973)
- Chariots of Fur (1994)
- Another Froggy Evening (1995)
- Superior Duck (1996)
- Pullet Surprise (1997)
- From Hare to Eternity (1997)
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