Who's Who in the Zoo

{{Infobox film

| name = Who's Who in the Zoo

| image = File:Who's Who in the Zoo Title Card.jpg

| caption = Title Card

| director = Norman McCabe

| screenplay =

| story = Melvin Millar

| editing =

| animator = John Carey

| background_artist =

| layout_artist =

| based_on =

| starring =

| narrator =

| music = Carl W. Stalling

| cinematography =

| producer = Leon Schlesinger

| writer =

| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation

| studio = Leon Schlesinger Productions

| released = {{Film date|1942|2|14|Valentine's Day}}

| color_process = Black and White
Color (1992 computer colorized version)

| runtime = 7 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Who's Who in the Zoo is a 1942 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Norman McCabe.{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2=Will |title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |date=1989 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |isbn=0-8050-0894-2 |page=125}} The short was released on February 14, 1942.{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/100/mode/2up |pages=100–102}}

Plot

Who's Who in the Zoo is one of the cartoons that Warner would occasionally produce, particularly in the World War II era, that featured a series of loosely related gags, usually based on outrageous stereotypes and plays on words, as a narrator (in this case Robert C. Bruce) describes the action. The plot is substantially similar to that of 1939's A Day at the Zoo, except that Porky Pig (voiced by Mel Blanc as usual) appears as the zookeeper of the "Azusa Zoo," and that the now-discontinued Elmer Fudd is absent. Some excerpts:

In a comic "triple", a timber wolf is shown, then a gray wolf, then a "Hollywood wolf" (a frequent reference in the 1940s WB cartoons).
Other creatures include a "missing lynx", a "tortoise and the hair", "March hares" who march to a drumbeat, a down-on-his-luck "bum steer", an "Indian" elephant (An elephant attired as an American Indian), and a bald eagle wearing a toupee.
There is also a running joke about a lion who is awaiting the arrival of the ice cream truck.
An Alaskan Bear who's known for hugging its prey to death picks up and starts hugging a defenseless sheep. When the narrator begs the bear to stop hugging the sheep, the sheep responds, in a feminine voice sounding like Sterling Holloway: "Oh, for goodness' sake, mind your own business!"
A group of seals that the narrator says only eat fresh mountain trout. Porky attempts to feed them a mackerel instead, claiming it to be indistinguishable, but a seal plants a sign saying "No substitutes accepted".
Some gags reference the then-ongoing World War II, including a black panther drinking cream from its dish, then noticing the dish is aluminum and throwing it into a scrap pile, a reference to the Salvage for Victory campaign; as well as a distressed rabbit father of dozens of babies given a note from the government to "increase your production 100%," as the song "What's The Matter with Father" plays in the background.

References

External links

{{Internet Archive short film |id=LooneyTunes1942WhosWhoInTheZoo_201802 |title=Who's Who in the Zoo}}
{{IMDb title|35557}}
{{YouTube|8wy2xektJOI|Who's Who in the Zoo (1942)}}

Category:1942 films

Category:1940s American animated films

Category:Looney Tunes shorts

Category:Films directed by Norman McCabe

Category:Films scored by Carl Stalling

Category:Porky Pig films

Category:Animated films about wolves

Category:Animated films about big cats

Category:Films about turtles

Category:Animated films about rabbits and hares

Category:Animated films about cattle

Category:Animated films about elephants