Directing Animator
Posted:
Oct 26, 2004, 3:29 PM
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"Cat Concerto" vs. "Rhapsody Rabbit"
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In the new T&J DVD set, Joe Barbera recounts his work on The Cat Concerto. He mentions at one point that when the cartoon was screened at the Academy Awards ceremony, it was followed by two other nominees from other studios--and then by Friz Freleng's Rhapsody Rabbit from Warner Bros. According to Barbera, the audience began roaring with laughter and Freleng reportedly began vehemently protesting that he had not stolen any story ideas from MGM.
There is another story (I think it is given in detail in Steve Schneider's That's All, Folks) that the Technicolor Corporation, because they were heavily burdened with dalies coming from all the cartoon studios, accidentally delivered footage of Rhapsody Rabbit to MGM (!) When Hanna and Barbera and the members of their unit ran the footage, they were shocked to see Bugs Bunny up on the screen!
While Barbera contends that a piece of music like the Liszt "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" might inspire similar visual ideas (and he knew Freleng's way of thinking because they had worked together at Warner Bros. in the early 30's), he nevertheless thought that pairing Bugs Bunny with an unnamed mouse was rather odd.
Given Freleng's predilection for the Liszt piece (he used it in no fewer than 5 cartoons), it doesn't seem very far-fetched to simply chalk up the whole matter as a gigantic coincidence.
IMHO, I think that Rhapsody Rabbit has funnier gags, but The Cat Concerto is more musically satisfying--especially the segue into the song "The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe" (from the MGM musical, The Harvey Girls); and has SLIGHTLY better animation--although I think it is a close call in that regard.
Does anyone else want to voice their own thoughts on this?
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"I'd like to cover you with furs and automobiles!"
(This post was edited by zavkram on Aug 10, 2007, 1:40 PM)
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Forum Admin
Posted:
Oct 26, 2004, 7:39 PM
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I do not know where to credit this to, but I had always thought that WB claimed that HB was trying to make a name for themselves, and that someone at MGM "spied" and stole their original story.
Hard to prove now, either way.
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Dave Koch
Big Cartoon DataBase
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Director / Contributor
Posted:
Oct 26, 2004, 8:19 PM
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What I heard was that Bill and Joe were developing a Tom & Jerry cartoon that took place at a classical piano recital. However, when MGM received a copy of Rhapsody Rabbit by mistake, H & B saw it and paniced. They knew that this supurb entry from the WB would sweep the Oscars easily, so they rushed their T & J cartoon to completion just in time for it to be considered for an Oscar. As I stated in my Bugs Bunny analysis, the reason Cat Concerto got the nomination is beacuse the Acadamy screens their films alphabetically. C comes before R so the Acadamy mistakenly thought that Rhapsody Rabbit copied from Cat Concerto.
So Tom & Jerry got their fourth Oscar win that year while Friz and his crew had to wait 'til next year for Tweetie Pie to win. ANd the rest, as they say, is history.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi0dqcR-Otk
(This post was edited by damfine on Oct 26, 2004, 8:28 PM)
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Jpeg Master / Moderator
Posted:
Oct 26, 2004, 10:23 PM
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I actually prefer Cat Concerto. It's just done better.
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BmodeMusic.com
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Directing Animator
Posted:
Nov 1, 2004, 9:51 AM
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I actually prefer Cat Concerto. It's just done better. Hear, Hear! I agree... see my comments at the start of this thread. In fairness to Friz Freleng, his Rhapsody in Rivets should have won an Oscar, as it is just a little bit superior to "Rhapsody Rabbit".
I should also add that another reason that I think Rhapsody Rabbit doesn't work as well as Cat Concerto, is because the pacing is sluggish at times. Freleng breaks up the continuity by using "blackout" gags, whereas H-B keep the momentum going from start to finish.
Still, it is somewhat jarring to see Tom strut out on the stage of Carnegie Hall, when compared to the same shot of Bugs in Rhapsody Rabbit. Tom, alas, does not have quite as much universal appeal as Bugs. For one thing, he rarely talks in the Tom and Jerry cartoons--and on those rare occasions when he does, the voice is not consistant or even distinctive.
Don't get me wrong; the Tom and Jerry cartoons are a wonderful example of personality animation at its best, but there was only so much you could do with the characters beyond their typical "baseboard" scenario (chasing one another around the house.) By the time the MGM Studio closed in the late 50's, T&J had become shadows of their former selves. Their physical designs had been streamlined and the characters themselves had been grossly anthropomorphized. Indeed, in one cartoon we see Tom entering the house on two legs, presumably from a 9-5 job, hanging his hat on the wall hook, and then sitting down to read the evening paper(!)
Anyway, I'm rambling now... so I'll stop.
Bye! 
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"I'd like to cover you with furs and automobiles!"
(This post was edited by zavkram on Aug 10, 2007, 1:42 PM)
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Member
Posted:
Apr 13, 2007, 11:10 PM
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I agree with the opinions, Cat Concerto is better
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Supervising Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Apr 14, 2007, 2:16 AM
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This subject has also (of course!) been discussed at length in the WB forum.
Regarding the Rhapsody Rabbit/Cat Concerto controversy, Peter Gimpel (son of Jakob Gimpel, the concert pianist who recorded the sountrack for Rhapsody Rabbit, and later Johann Mouse), having identified the pianist for Cat Concerto as his father’s former friend Shura Cherkassky, has a plausible explanation for what happened. Click on this link for more:
http://www.gimpelmusicarchives.com/catconcerto.htm
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Back by popular demand -
"La-la-La-la.. I can't hear you!"
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
Apr 14, 2007, 7:00 AM
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Perhaps I'm the only one-I prefer "Rhapsody Rabbit"
So many great piano gags in that one-Bugs playing the piano with his ears-dancing on the piano. Tom never did any of that.
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"Homer,we just brought Flanders back from the dead. Did you use the notebook to make a flock of penguins peck him to death?"
Marge-"Murder He Wrote"-a Simpsons Comic story.
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Zinc Saucier
Posted:
Apr 14, 2007, 9:10 PM
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Another vote for Cat Concerto here.
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Supervising Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Apr 20, 2007, 5:16 PM
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Thanks for bringing up the thread! I didn't say my vote!
My opinion: Rhapsody Rabbit was much funnier, although I've always thought that Cat Concerto was the original cartoon, since Jerry's already a mouse, and Bugs faced off a random mouse. So I guess I like Cat Concerto more.
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As much as I love the traditional style of cartoons, two dimensional characters can be rather frustrating sometimes. Exhibit A: 
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
Jun 6, 2007, 8:59 PM
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I myself like Rhapsody Rabbit.
However, I'm going to make a movie called Stupid Men which lampoons all those Superhero Movies and the first scene is where Jules Wade (One of the characters.) plays Hungarian Rhapsody. Many gags from The Cat Concerto and Rhapsody Rabbit and Viktor Borge and even some Jimi Hendrix gags are in the introduction of this film.
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Thank God for kids who love obscure things-Lee Hazelwood (1929-2007)
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Intern / Contributor
Posted:
Jan 31, 2009, 2:29 PM
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Franz Liszt!? Never heard of him.
I will always choose the Rabbit over the Cat and Mouse. Not to mention FF over H&B.
My late vote. :)
Unca Jeffy
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Inside my head.
http://jeffoverturf.blogspot.com
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Member
Posted:
Oct 29, 2009, 10:04 AM
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I like the Cat Concerto better.
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