User reviews

Three years before the name Elmer Fudd first appeared on movie screens (and four years before his recognizable form debuted, as he started out as Egghead), the name Elmer was used for a baby rabbit in Friz Freleng's "My Green Fedora". This cartoon portrays a mother rabbit telling her oldest son to keep an eye on the baby while she's out, and so he tries to entertain the tyke with a riff on the title song, but a hungry wolf hears him singing and guesses that there's food in the vicinity. It leads to a quite impressive game of cat and mouse.

Apparently, this cartoon features a parody of an entertainer named Joe Penner. Unfortunately, I don't know who he was. So, I just take the cartoon at face value, regarding it as a look into Warner Bros. animation's early days. Available on YouTube.

This is a kitchen-sink cartoon-it has a bit of everything. There's a song serving as the title, the obligatory singing of that song by a character, a celebrity parody (in this case, Joe Penner, a comedian, whose catchphrase, "Wanna buy a duck?" and laugh are probably more familiar than his name is these days), a villain and some very well animated chase sequences. All in all, a rousing good time in this one. Well worth watching. Recommended

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more through young adults eyes, due to having more knowledge of it, various animation styles, studios, directors and how it all works.

Granted, 'My Green Fedora' is not one of Friz Freleng's, a director who did many great cartoons and a director held in high admiration by me, best, not being one of his funniest, wittiest or freshest. For relatively early Freleng, 'My Green Fedora' is well worth watching though he would do much better later. It is never what one would call properly hilarious (but is never unfunny), Freleng's later efforts show more evenness and confidence in directing and the story.

It is quite thin in terms of story, with nothing new done, and the structure is basically an excuse to string the events along. It is not terribly imaginative and occasionally momentum is not always there.

However, the characters and their chemistry carry 'My Green Fedora' very well. The weasel makes for a fun villain and Peter is an appealing hero.

'My Green Fedora' has enough very amusing moments (like the Joe Penner parody and some suitably wild action), some variety and there is a good deal of liveliness in the second half. The conflict is nicely done and there is a good deal of cuteness and charm. The sentimentality is kept at bay thankfully.

Animation is very good, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading, vibrant and very meticulous in detail. The music is lovely on the ears, lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. The title song is a highlight.

Overall, very well done but Freleng did much better later. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Warners liked to feature songs they had under copyright in many of their cartoons, however slim the pretext for introducing some of these into the story lines and titles of the 'toons. In this case, Peter Rabbit, stuck watching his baby brother (who is quite a terror), does a Joe Penner routine to entertain the little monster, delivering Joe's signature song with all Joe's characteristic moves, and baby Elmer responds with Joe's distinctive goofy laugh.

You figure the brothers are going to get along after that, but uh-uh; that baby really wants to get Peter's goat! Big brother stalks out in disgust, leaving Elmer all alone in the house. A big drooling weasel is lurking nearby, planning a rabbit meal, and immediately seizes his chance (and Elmer). A moment later Peter relents and rushes back, only to find his baby brother gone! Horrors!

Then it's all pursuit and rescue action underground in the weasel's burrows, very fast-paced and inventive. Sibling friction is forgotten as Peter goes up against a scary carnivore with single-minded determination. And everything happens while Mama is away, too. How will the boys explain that big weasel hole in the middle of the floor?

If anyone's curious about Penner, he can be seen in a number of old movies. His comedy isn't highbrow stuff, but it's right at home in a cartoon.

When you see "My Green Fedora" you are bound to notice that it is in color but not full color. This is because in 1935, Disney had an exclusive agreement with Technicolor to use its new Three-Color process...which would give a true color appearance to the films. Instead, if other studios wanted color, they needed to use a cheaper Two-Color process...such as Cinecolor. While cheaper to use, the Cinecolor films clearly have a limited spectrum--and they mostly look blue-greenish and ornagy-red. Now I must say the copy on HBO Max is an awfully good one, as with some of these films the colors all degrade to a pinkish or orangy hue.

The cartoon is another Peter Rabbit cartoon from Looney Tunes. Peter wants to go out to play but his mother insists he stay home and take care of his little brother, Elmer. As for Elmer, he likes to cry a lot...so when Peter runs off the play and leaves Elmer home alone, he's about to be eaten by the evil weasel....something I looked forward to seeing. Sadly, Peter is the hero here and he rushes off to save Elmer.

A major plus of this cartoon is that unlike most Harmon-Ising cartoons for Looney Tunes, there is none of the usual sacchariney singing. While not particularly funny (a problem typical in their products), it is not so cutesy...and so it holds up better than most of the early Looney Tunes shorts. Overall, not great BUT compared to many of the cartoons of the day by most rival studios, it's awfully good...particularly the animation and backgrounds. For 1935, quite good.