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A Ham in a Role
08-haminarole
Directed By: Robert McKimson
Produced By: Eddie Selzer (uncredited)
Released: December 13, 1949
Series: Looney Tunes
Story: Warren Foster
Animation: Charles McKimson
Phil DeLara
J.C. Melendez
Emery Hawkins
Layouts: Cornett Wood
Backgrounds: Richard H. Thomas
Film Editor: Treg Brown (uncredited)
Voiced By: Mel Blanc
Stan Freberg (uncredited)
Music: Carl Stalling
Starring: The Goofy Gophers
Dog
Director
Preceded By: Rabbit Hood
Succeeded By: Home Tweet Home
199519 10150148367593926 223597233925 6487776 1498526 n

lobby card

A Ham in a Role is a Looney Tunes short starring The Goofy Gophers along with an unnamed dog. The cartoon, released in December 1949, was directed by Robert McKimson and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The cartoon draws heavily from the works of William Shakespeare, with its gags relying on literal interpretations of lines from Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Richard III, and Romeo and Juliet.

A Ham in a Role would be the last cartoon in the Golden Age of American Animation (he would be recycled for a single short in the 1990s in the World Premiere Toons series) to star the dog that had opposed the Gophers in their first two appearances. In addition, this is the first Gophers cartoon to be directed by McKimson; it was supposed to be directed by Arthur Davis, but when Warner Bros. Cartoons reduced from four units to three, A Ham in a Role was reassigned to McKimson, along with animators J.C. Melendez and Emery Hawkins.

Plot

At the beginning of the cartoon, an anthropomorphic dog, who also appeared in The Goofy Gophers and Two Gophers from Texas (albeit in slightly different form) is tired of appearing in cartoons and goes home to study the works of Shakespeare. Upon arriving back home, the dog finds that his home has been invaded by gophers. Unfazed, the dog then begins reading Hamlet. Upon discovering the gophers sleeping in the book, he throws the book out the window.

The Goofy Gophers then get their revenge on the dog by literally interpreting lines from Shakespeare works, including "lending him ears", tormenting him with flames (to his foot), dousing him with "the joy of life" (by dumping a tub of water on the dog), dumping limburger cheese as the dog utters the "that which we call a rose" line while holding a rose, imitating the exhumed Yorick in a dance (making the dog appear like a Shakespearean coward), using magnets on the floor and ceiling to toss the dog around the room (in armor), with the coup de grâce coming about when the Gophers use a horse to kick the dog out of his house and back to the studio, where the dog laments that "parting is such sweet sorrow", returning to the studio where he began the cartoon as the song You Ought to Be in Pictures plays in the background.

Video

Looney_Tunes_A_Ham_In_A_Role_1949_720p

Looney Tunes A Ham In A Role 1949 720p

Notes

This cartoon was originally issued as a Looney Tunes cartoon with the Looney Tunes music. When it was re-issued, the cartoon was re-issued with Merrie Melodies credits, but retained the Looney Tunes music.

Home media

This cartoon is available, with the original Looney Tunes cards restored, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 1.

External links

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