Rooty Toot Toot (1951)

The musical tale of a murder trial by a jealous lover.

Director:

John Hubley

Writers:

John Hubley (story), Bill Scott (story)

Stars:

Thurl Ravenscroft, Annette Warren

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Credited cast:
Thurl Ravenscroft	...	Jonathan Bailey, Honest John the Crook (voice)
Annette Warren	...	Frankie / Nelly Bly (voice)

Storyline

The story of Frankie and Johnny: Frankie walks into a bar, where she catches her boyfriend Johnny with the sensuous Nelly Bly and kills him in a fit of jealousy. The story is told in song, during the trial, and the bartender and Nelly both tell essentially the same story; Frankie's lawyer spins a wild tale of Johnny out-running bullets and Frankie trying to return his gun, and the jury buys it!

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Plot Keywords:

courtroom | jealous lover | crime of passion | murder trial | jury | 

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Taglines:

He done her wrong...so she done him in!

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Musical | Comedy

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Annette Warren, who sings the part of both Frankie and Nelly Bly, also provided the singing voices for Ava Gardner in "Show Boat" that same year, and sang for Lucille Ball in both "Fancy Pants" and "Sorrowful Jones".

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Quotes

Bartender: Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts, and all over town it was known, and then one day he came in without Frankie, but still ain't quite alone. Now Frankie come looking for Johnny, well, I couldn't tell her no lie, so I quitely slipped her the info, "He's out back, with Nelly Bly."
Frankie: Nelly Bly?
[Frankie marches out back, gunshots are heard; fade in back to courtroom]
Bartender: Rooty toot toot.
Judge: Rooty toot toot?
Bartender: Right in the snoot.

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Soundtracks

Frankie and Johnny
Lyrics by Allen Alch

User Reviews

One of the better of the UPA releases, it obviously influenced at least one later Disney short

Rooty Toot Toot is one of the best of a very good run of cartoons from the UPA studios. A stylized take on Frankie and Johnny, it has a great jazz score and uses its limited animation to great effect. Excellent blend of music and visuals, it clearly had influence on at least one Disney short, Toot, Plunk, Whistle, Boom. The cartoon isn't the best UPA did (Unicorn In the Garden was) but it's real close. You can find it on one of the Columbia Classics series of tapes. Highly recommended.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Трам-пам-пам

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Productions of America (UPA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

7 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1