One Froggy Evening (1955)

Poster for One Froggy Evening (1955).

What is One Froggy Evening?

Referred to by the one and only Steven Spielberg as “the Citizen Kane of the animated short” (high, high bar), One Froggy Evening is a classic cartoon with a pedigree a mile long. One Froggy Evening, released in 1955 as part of Looney Tunes’ Merrie Melodies series, tells the story of a singing frog. It is largely based on a 1944 Cary Grant film called Once Upon a Time, which is about a dancing caterpillar. Once Upon a Time is based on the 1940 radio play My Client Curley by Norman Corwin, which is in turn based on a magazine story from the 1930s written by a woman named Lucille Fletcher. Exhausted yet? There may be nothing new under the sun, but every once in a while an adaptation of an original story stands out so much that it takes on a life of its own. One Froggy Evening is one of those.

Check out those moves. “Hello! Ma Baby” indeed!

Rather than give you a detailed plot summary, I strongly encourage you to watch the cartoon. It clocks in at under seven minutes long, and every second is worth it. It can be hard to find in one cut online nowadays (boo!), but I found a link on Reddit where it can be viewed in one piece.

In brief, however, One Froggy Evening tells the story of a construction worker who finds a box containing a magical singing frog. Naturally thinking that this is a million-dollar find, the man attempts to capitalize on the frog’s talents, but there’s a catch: the frog will only sing for him. The minute someone else looks at the frog (whose official name, for the official record, is officially Michigan J. Frog, which is amazing), he clams up (is that a mixed metaphor? I don’t care). The ending, which I won’t spoil—watch the cartoon, seriously—is dark and brilliant and hilarious. Watch it.

So what makes One Froggy Evening worthy of its 2003 National Film Registry induction?

Michigan J. Frog, in all his glory. Look at that smirk…

Well, one thing is the music. Michigan J. Frog sings and dances to multiple songs, including popular (at the time) tunes like “Hello! Ma Baby” and “Please Don’t Talk about Me When I’m Gone,” but also the all-time cartoon favorite “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (think you haven’t heard this song? You’re probably wrong—check it out!).

Cartoons have a long history of using classical music in shorts—it’s generally cheap or free, and it created a definite atmosphere in the cartoon shorts of yesteryear (seriously, “Largo al factotum” is in a bunch of them—it’s basically the anthem of old cartoon shorts). Michigan J. Frog’s interpretation is probably second in fame only to Woody Woodpecker’s.

Woody Woodpecker in The Barber of Seville (1944).

One Froggy Evening has also had a lasting legacy. In the 1990s, Michigan J. Frog became The WB’s mascot, and he’s been a Looney Tunes legend for almost a century. Filmmakers and critics alike widely consider One Froggy Evening to be not only an animated classic but also as close to perfection as can be achieved in a cartoon short. It’s not hard to see why. One Froggy Evening is a masterpiece of short-form and visual storytelling, and it does it with minimal dialogue—in fact, the few spoken lines in the whole cartoon all go to Michigan J. Frog (Michigan’s agent knew how to negotiate for top billing).

This cartoon is a classic, and it never stops being funny. For my money, it’s a toss-up between One Froggy Evening and Duck Amuck in terms of a favorite animated short. I’ll even give Michigan J. Frog a hair of an edge for its use of “Largo al factotum,” which just sounds amusing. So check out One Froggy Evening and thank me later!

Camille