Best cartoon title 'rip-offs'...

[Crazy Tom]

Gotta have some fun with this one...instead of making this a poll, I ask this interesting question since we all live such 'interesting' lives...

...what is your favorite cartoon 'rip-off' title? Examples can be such as The Big Snooze (taken from 1945's The Big Sleep) and A Star Is Hatched (taken from 1937's A Star Is Born).

My favorite, since I'm bringing this up? No doubt it's Duck Dodgers In The 24 1/2 Century (a spoof from Buck Rodgers In The 25th Century). In my opinion, it's the best title out there.

[Sogturtle]

Originally Posted by Crazy Tom

Gotta have some fun with this one...instead of making this a poll, I ask this interesting question since we all live such 'interesting' lives...

...what is your favorite cartoon 'rip-off' title? Examples can be such as The Big Snooze (taken from 1945's The Big Sleep) and A Star Is Hatched (taken from 1937's A Star Is Born).

My favorite, since I'm bringing this up? No doubt it's Duck Dodgers In The 24 1/2 Century (a spoof from Buck Rodgers In The 25th Century). In my opinion, it's the best title out there.

Crazy Tom~

I don't know that I'd call them "rip-off" titles... They are a continuation of the pun titles begun with "Sinking In The Bathtub" of course for the song title "Singing...". There's a seeming gazillion darn-clever cartoon title puns, such as "My Favorite Duck" (for 1942's "My Favorite Blonde"), "The Case of the Stuttering Pig" (for "The Case Of The Stuttering Bishop") "A Message To Gracias" (for "A Message To Garcia"). "Kitty Foiled" (for "Kitty Foyle") blah, blah, blah... (Plus Clampett's Beany & Cecil ones). But my personal favorite is one that nobody to date has ever caught (that I know of)

[Daffyfan2003]

Hmmm. I remember we had a thread like this a few months ago when I asked where the name "Rabbit Transit" came from. Let's see there was "A Streetcat Named Sylvester" (A Streetcar Named Desire) "Design for Leaving" (I think that's really something "for Living" I'm not sure.) I really can't think of too many of these right now.

[rodney]

The Case of the Screaming Bishop (Columbia)
A Hare Grows In Manhattan

[Sogturtle]

Originally Posted by Daffyfan2003

Hmmm. I remember we had a thread like this a few months ago when I asked where the name "Rabbit Transit" came from. Let's see there was "A Streetcat Named Sylvester" (A Streetcar Named Desire) "Design for Leaving" (I think that's really something "for Living" I'm not sure.) I really can't think of too many of these right now.

Well Kenny, for cartoon title puns from movie-titles, 1954's "Design For Leaving" almost soitenly came from 1933's "Design For Living", while
"D' Fightin' Ones" (is punning "The Defiant Ones"), "Birth Of A Notion" of course is "Birth Of A Nation". Friz's "The Gay Anties" is biting at "The Gay Nineties". "Bacall To Arms" is calling out to "Call To Arms". "Peck Up Your Troubles" was for "Pack Up Your Troubles"... This list can get PRETTY LONG... But I should probably add that "Kitty Kornered" is for (what else) but "Cornered" (1945).

[Jave]

I also like "A Star is Bored", "All This and Rabbit Stew" (All This and Heavens, Too) "Bars and Stripes Forever" (Stars and Stripes Forever) and "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

[Thad Komorowski]

"Clean Pastures" - GREEN PASTURES
"All This and Rabbit Stew" - ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO
"Alley to Bali" - ROAD TO BALI
"Of Mice and Magic"/ "Of Rice and Hen"/ "Of Mice and Menace" - OF MICE AND MEN

[Sogturtle]

Originally Posted by Thad K

"Clean Pastures" - GREEN PASTURES
"All This and Rabbit Stew" - ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO
"Alley to Bali" - ROAD TO BALI
"Of Mice and Magic"/ "Of Rice and Hen"/ "Of Mice and Menace" - OF MICE AND MEN

And of course "Uncle Tom's Cabana" & "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" for "Uncle Tom's Cabin"... "Tugboat Granny" stands in for "Tugboat Annie"... "Brother Brat" for "Brother Rat". "Yankee Doodle Daffy" is "Yankee Doodle Dandy".

And unknown to most of us "Sniffles Takes A Trip" comes from "Topper Takes A Trip". Plus "The Wabbit Who Came To Supper" is feeding on "The Man Who Came To Dinner"...

How about this one... "The Leghorn Blows At Midnight" for... "The Horn Blows At Midnight"...

And a real beaut (One of my all time favorites...)
"The Bird Came C.O.D." is for "The Bride Came C.O.D."(!!!)

[David Gerstein]

I like MUZZLE TOUGH (Mazel Tov!). I'd love to say that I caught it thanks to being Jewish— but no, it took a goyishe cartoon fan like Jerry Beck to point it out to me. Oy!

[rodney]

Ah! I never caught that one! Very interesting.

[Matthew Hunter]

A couple or random ones I can think of:

of course there's "Tabasco Road" for "Tobacco Road", "Cat tails For Two" for "Cocktails for Two". "Aint She tweet" is based on a song called "Ain't She Sweet" (you hear it a lot on the Stalling musical scores.) "Hoppy Daze" is "Happy Days", "Bunny and Claude" is "Bonnie and Clyde". Better go to a mechanic if your car has "Injun Trouble" , and "Hopalong Casualty" is based on the Western character Hopalong Cassidy. "Kiss Me Cat" was "Kiss me Kate", "To Beep or Not To Beep" was "To be or not To Be". "A Scent of the Matterhorn" is a pun on the cartoon's plot, in which the characters ASCEND the Matterhorn mountain in the Alps.

But the coolest title I can think of wasn't really a parody that I know of...but pretty clever. "Hocus Pocus Powwow". Sounds cool, and gets magic (hocus pocus) and indians (powwow) in there.

-Matthew

[Daffyfan2003]

"Hoppy Daze" is "Happy Days"

Wasn't that cartoon from 1960? I didn't think "Happy Days" aired until 1974.

[Matthew Hunter]

Well, not the show necessarily, just the saying "those were happy days", etc. There could very well be a connection with movies called "Happy Days", there were some in the 1930's. Anyway, those are the words played on, and probably had nothing to do with the show, or the Fonz
-Matthew

[Thad Komorowski]

The cleverest title pun EVER is Woody Woodpecker in "Billion Dollar Boner". I know it's not intended, but still...

"Happy Days" was the title of a popular tune of the 1940s, used frequently by MGM (see "The Hungry Wolf", "The Lonesome Mouse", "The Truth Hurts").

[Paul Penna]

A few years back I whipped up a list that I think I posted here, and tuco, the guy who runs the Looney Tunes Lists site, asked if he could put it up, and I see it's still there:

http://home.nc.rr.com/tuco/looney/lists/title.html

I've come across a few more since then, but haven't written them =down yet.

[PorkyandDaffy]

Originally Posted by David Gerstein

I like MUZZLE TOUGH (Mazel Tov!). I'd love to say that I caught it thanks to being Jewish— but no, it took a goyishe cartoon fan like Jerry Beck to point it out to me. Oy!

I remember it took me forever before I found out what that title was a pun on.

[Tintin]

That's a lot of my favorite title "rip-offs" for classics and recent series:

Hot Cross Bunny (Hot Cross Buns - child's song, i think)
Rabbit of Seville (The Barber of Seville - also used this title for a Woody cartune)
Sheep Ahoy/Shape Ahoy (Chips Ahoy!, cookies)
Mom and Cherie (by refering to Tom and Jerry series)
Puny Express (Pony Express)
A Star is Bored/A Star is Hatched/A Moon Star is Born (A Star is Been)
My Favorite Duck (My favorite Blonde or My Favorite Things)
You Ought to Be in Pictures/So You Ought to Be in Pictures (You Ought to Be in Pictures (a 1980's movie)
Much Ado About Baby Sitting/Much Ado About Nutting (Much Ado About Nothing)

[Sogturtle]

Originally Posted by David Gerstein

I like MUZZLE TOUGH (Mazel Tov!). I'd love to say that I caught it thanks to being Jewish— but no, it took a goyishe cartoon fan like Jerry Beck to point it out to me. Oy!

Interesting David, I got that one from seeing "Fiddler On The Roof" long, long ago...

Annnnnnd continuing with JUST movie title puns...

"Snow Business" parodies "Show Business", while "A Mouse Divided" takes on "A House Divided" (which goes back to the words of Jesus' "A house divided against itself cannot stand"). Then there's always "Kit For Cat" and "Trip For Tat" from "Tit For Tat", while "The Pest That Came To Dinner" would annoy "The Man Who Came To Dinner". With a wicked grin we find "You Were Never Duckier" for 'You Were Never Lovelier". "Captain Hareblower" can only be "Captain Horatio Hornblower". How about "Daffy Duck Slept Here" covering "George Washington Slept Here"... And then there's "Hollywood Canine Canteen" for "Hollywood Canteen", likewise "Stagedoor Cartoon" stands in for "Stagedoor Canteen". Artie Davis' "The Stupor Salesman" is from "The Super Salesman". Likewise his "Two Gophers From Texas" comes from "Two Guys From Texas". Chuck's great "Mississippi Hare" MAY be paying homage to "Mississippi Gambler". Without a doubt Friz's "Rebel Without Claws" points straight to "Rebel Without A Cause", likewise for Clampett's "A Tale Of Two Kitties" from "A Tale Of Two Cities"...

How many more of these do you guys want???

[J Lee]

Originally Posted by David Gerstein

I like MUZZLE TOUGH (Mazel Tov!). I'd love to say that I caught it thanks to being Jewish— but no, it took a goyishe cartoon fan like Jerry Beck to point it out to me. Oy!

I saw that in a theater in Syracuse one time -- the people in the audience got the title, which is the only time I've ever heard an audible groan from the crowd due to the 'punniness' of the situation.

[comicfan]

Whereas it's not a "rip-off" of any one movie/book/etc. title, my favorite cartoon pun would probably have to be the Tom and Jerry's "Posse Cat".