Bugs at the Bowl
I went to the Hollywood Bowl last night for the 17th annual "Bugs Bunny on Broadway" show, in which the L.A. Philharmonic (which in the 1940's was the orchestra for Warner Brothers' Animation department under Carl Stalling) backed up classic cartoons like "Rabbit of Seville" and "What's Opera, Doc?"This show tours around the world using local orchestras. The founding conductor, George Daugherty, noted that the Bowl was the "home" of the orchestral Bugs Bunny "because Warner Brothers is right over the Cahuenga Pass".
When the animated Hollywood Bowl showed up in "Long-Haired Hare" ("Leopold!"), people applauded.
It was a hometown audience. The late director Chuck Jones' granddaughter was there, and several ovations were given to the memory of Jones, Mel Blanc, Carl Stalling, and Arthur Q. Bryan, the seldom-credited voice of Elmer Fudd.Daugherty knew how to appeal to this crowd. He talked about how all the cartoons were drawn and painted by hand, 300 cels for every second of screen time. He peppered his introductions with local references. The crowd of about 16,000 ate it up.
It was hard not to think of politics. We stood and sang The Star-Spangled Banner with the L.A. Phil at the beginning of the show, underlining the fact that people who like subversive, educated fare - backed by classical music - wouldn't stick up their noses at singing the national anthem. Later, Daugherty asked the audience if anyone, "after last winter's unfortunate hunting incident", wondered if the Vice-President was Elmer Fudd.I'd forgotten how brilliant the cartoons were. The plump horse that Bugs as Brunhilde rides in "What's Opera, Doc?" drew cheers when it appeared.
It was fun listening to what appealed to the kids. Every instance of gender roles being subverted, like when Bugs kissed Elmer Fudd, danced in a tutu, or when Fudd showed up in a wedding dress, made the kids belly laugh.
To my great shame, there were two guys in front of me sporting the exact same Costco Hawaiian shirt I was wearing. Our big-box store shopping triumvirate was probably replicated throughout the facility, as arts patrons know that Costco means value.My introduction to Wagner, Strauss, Rossini, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov and many other composers was due to Warner Brothers cartoons, but I've often wondered if classical music purists ever thought that this use of the music was lowbrow or distasteful.
Watching children respond to this music, and knowing how my own appreciation of pieces like "Ride of the Valkyries" was only made possible by "Kill the Wabbit", I thought that these cartoons did a great service to the composers.I can listen to "Tannhauser" without thinking about the fat horse, but I don't like to.
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by Marty Barrett at Saturday, July 08, 2006
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