A Corny Concerto



Voted no. 47 on Jerry Beck's The 50 Greatest Cartoons list, Bob Clampett's A Corny Concerto (pronounced "Con-Shir-To", by the way), a Merrie Melodies short from 1943 is a parody of Walt Disney's Fantasia, keeping the musical aspect fully intact, but throws Fantasia's highbrow attitude right out the window in favor of slapstick and hilarious sight gags (as well as throwing in sound effects and Voice Grunting). The short is split into two segments: "Tales from the Vienna Woods", which is centered on one of the very few times Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig have shared screentime, and "Blue Danube", which is a retelling of "The Ugly Duckling" with Daffy Duck (or a baby version of him at any rate).

This short is in the public domain and can be viewed on YouTube or downloaded from the Internet Archive.

The short has also made it onto The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes list.


 * Affectionate Parody: To Fantasia.
 * Children in Tow: A mother swan and her cygnets in the "Blue Danube" segment.
 * Digital Destruction: The print used on Golden Collection Vol. 2 used digital interlacing, which caused a lot of frame ghosting on it. The print used in Vol. 4 via the "Bugs Bunny Superstar" documentary uses a much better print, however.
 * Disney Death: Bugs in "Vienna Woods".
 * Faking the Dead: Bugs does this.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Conductor Elmer's dickie, which keeps rising against his will.
 * Green Around the Gills: Bugs after he's supposedly shot.
 * Mickey Mousing
 * Mortal Wound Reveal: Porky and his Dog discover they're fine, Bugs fakes having a mortal wound.
 * My God--What Have I Done?: Porky, in the usual role of Elmer Fudd, mourns Bugs after Bugs has apparently been shot by an angry chipmunk. (Though Porky didn't actually fire the bullet, he'd been hunting Bugs to begin with.)
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: Two waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr.
 * Shout-Out: Elmer refers to the 1935 song "The Music Goes Round and Round."
 * Something Else Also Rises: Elmer's dickie.
 * Talking with Signs: Porky holds up a sign to the audience telling them that he's "hunting that @!#! rabbit", and his dog holds up a sign reading "ditto".
 * Bugs also holds up a book on etiquette telling the dog it "ain't polite to point".
 * Through a Face Full of Fur: Bugs' face turns green (pictured above) after he's been 'shot'.
 * In the "Blue Danube" segment, rather through a feathery face, the frightened buzzard turns yellow when he realizes he's about to be done for and flees as the black duckling (possibly Daffy) comes chasing after him.
 * Stealth Pun: Elmer's rising dickie.
 * Swans-a-Swimming
 * Toothy Bird
 * Voice Grunting: The segments don't exactly follow Fantasia's presentation, y'know...
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Bugs, who is wearing a brassiere.