Dog Tales (film)

Dog Tales
Dog Tales
Directed by	Robert McKimson
Story by	Tedd Pierce
Produced by	John W. Burton, Sr. (uncredited)
Starring	Mel Blanc; Mary Jane Croft (uncredited)
Narrated by	Robert C. Bruce (uncredited)
Edited by	Treg Brown
Music by	Milt Franklyn
Animation by	George Grandpré; Ted Bonnicksen; Warren Batchelder; Tom Ray; Harry Love (uncredited)
Layouts by	Robert Gribbroek
Backgrounds by	Richard H. Thomas
Color process	Technicolor
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures; The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	July 26, 1958;
Running time	8:00
Language	English

Dog Tales is a 1958 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.^[1] The short was released on July 26, 1958.^[2]

Plot

The cartoon consists of a series of blackout gags involving dogs (e.g., one in which a doberman pinscher viciously pinches an overweight U.S. Army private identified as "Doberman" (a reference to, and caricature of, the character played by Maurice Gosfield on The Phil Silvers Show); and another in which the narrator can't make up his mind whether the dog pictured is a pointer or a setter, and then finally shows a picture of a "point-setter"). A basset hound declares that she's a TV star (a reference to Cleo the Dog, from the contemporary TV sitcom The People's Choice, who was also voiced by Mary Jane Croft), we learn the unusual breed of a Newfoundland puppy's grandfather, and a great dane named "Victor Barky" plays the piano.^[3] Reused animation from Chuck Jones' Often an Orphan (1949) and Friz Freleng's Piker's Peak (1957) is also seen here. In the former case, Charlie Dog makes a cameo - his final appearance in a Warner Bros. cartoon as well as his only cartoon to not be directed by Chuck Jones.

One gag is a backhanded reference to Disney's animated feature, Lady and the Tramp, which was released around three years before this short. The narrator (Robert C. Bruce) solemnly intones "Today, the dog appears in countless varieties of artificially produced breeds," while the screen shows drawings of a Russian Wolfhound, an English Bulldog, an American Cocker Spaniel, a Pekingese, a Chihuahua, a Scottish Terrier, and a Dachshund—all of them nearly identical in their 'artificial' depiction to dogs from the Disney film (Boris, Bull, Lady, Peg, Pedro, Jock, and Dachsie), where they all (with the exception of Peg, played by Peggy Lee) speak English with stereotypical accents associated with their breeds' countries of origin.

References

^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 309. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 100–102. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
^ "The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion: B".