Baby Bottleneck

Baby Bottleneck
Baby Bottleneck
Directed by	Robert Clampett
Story by	Warren Foster
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	Rod Scribner; Manny Gould; C. Melendez; I. Ellis
Layouts by	Thomas McKimson
Backgrounds by	Dorcy Howard
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc.
Distributed by	Warner Bros., Vitaphone
Release date	March 16, 1946;
Running time	7:03
Language	English

Baby Bottleneck is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Bob Clampett and written by Warren Foster.^[1] The cartoon was released on March 16, 1946, and stars Daffy Duck and Porky Pig.^[2] Tweety makes a cameo appearance in the film.

Plot

As the baby boom of 1946 escalates, a disgruntled stork (patterned after Jimmy Durante) laments his workload at the Stork's Club. Inexperienced animals have attempted, unsuccessfully, to mitigate the increased workload, resulting in numerous baby animals being delivered to parents of the wrong species.

Porky Pig takes charge of Storks Inc. and appoints Daffy Duck to answer the phones. An assembly line powders, diapers, feeds and burps each baby before it is sent to its parents. Trouble arises when Porky discovers an egg without an address; Porky decides that hatching it will reveal its species and assigns Daffy to the task. Daffy refuses, leading to a chase around the factory and an eventual mishap where both go through the assembly line together and are sent to Africa, where a mother gorilla awaits her child.

Daffy cries upon realizing where he is, and the gorilla begins nursing him until Porky emerges from the diaper. The gorilla, terrified, calls Mr. Anthony (a popular radio advice commentator of the era).

Censorship

When the alligator is trying to get milk from Mrs. Pig, she starts to say something before it abruptly cuts. According to Bob Clampett, she says “Don’t touch that dial” (a common cliché when radio or television shows cut to commercial). It was cut out because the Hays Office deemed it too risqué. No footage has surfaced of the original uncut scene.

Reception

Michael Barrier writes, "Baby Bottleneck, like Book Revue (1946), reveals just how great Bob Clampett's impact was on the Warner Bros. cartoons in the early 1940s... As so often in Clampett's best cartoons, there is a prevailing air of hysteria and madness: The stork is drunk, inexperienced help is delivering babies to the wrong mothers, everything is a mess — and all is bliss."^[3]

Home media

DVD: Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2
Blu-ray and DVD: Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1

References

^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 165. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 70-72. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
^ Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-1-64722-137-9.

External links

Baby Bottleneck at IMDb

[Beck-1] Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 165. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.

[2] Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 70-72. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.

[3] Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-1-64722-137-9.

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