Hamateur Night

Synopsis

Cartoon of an amateur talent contest in a local theatre, which includes, among other entrants, an operatic penguin, a fox reciting Shakespeare, two chickens (one with a Katharine Hepburn voice) performing the balcony scene from ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and a performance of ‘She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes’ by Egghead. The cartoon satirises talent shows - all the talent and all the audience are animals. The fox only manages to get through the words ‘to be or not to be’ (which he recites thrice) when he is pelted by the audience and subsequently dropped through a trap door.

Series

Merrie Melodies

Language

English

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Year of release

1939

Duration

8 mins

Credits

Director

Tex Avery

Producer

Leon Schlesinger

Writer

Jack Miller

Music

Carl W. Stalling

Animator

Paul Smith (3)

Cast

Cliff Nazarro	Egghead (voice)
Tex Avery	Hippo (voice)

Additional Details

Production type

Animation

Plays

Hamlet; Romeo and Juliet

Keywords

animals; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Talent contests

Notes

Notes

The cartoon may be downloaded from the web at http://refrederator.com/cartoon/hamateur_night (accessed 4/2007).

History

Episode number 845, season 45

Production Company

Name

Vitaphone Corporation

Address

USA

Name

Warner Bros Pictures

Archive

Name

BFI National Archive

Web

http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/searching-access-collections/research-viewing-services External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7436 0165

Address

21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN

Online Retailer

Name

turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com

Web

http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com External site opens in new window