Now you listen to me! I have a question and you’re gonna tell me what I want to know, see? If you don’t start singing like a canary you’ll be sleeping with the fishes, see?
So who is that a parody of? I know I learned it from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon (bonus q: can you tell me which cartoon it was, and the name of the character? I can’t remember that either), but I have no idea who it’s making fun of. I assume it’s somebody from vintage gangster movies, but I have no idea who. Clue me in please!
Now I don’t wanna have to rough you up. So I want a straight answer and I want it now, see? myeah! myeah!
Didn’t an Edward G. Robinson gangster parody appear in an episode of SAMURAI JACK sometime last year, too?
LITTLE CAESAR offers the quintessential Robinson mobster (and was the first great gangster flick of the talkie era, beating Jimmy Cagney’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY and Paul Muni’s SCARFACE into the theaters), but I’ve always liked his bad-guy perf in KEY LARGO more.
Thanks for the responses, gang. It looks like I have some movies to rent.
One thing though…Rocky is not the one I was thinking of (unless there was more than one incarnation of him). Rocky is the 3 foot tall gangster (5 feet with his hat) who talks in a low, slow monotone: “sheddap shutt’n up!”
So if anybody has any more info about who the cartoon was, I’m listening. I’m thinking maybe it was one of those composite cartoons with no real plot, similar to the one where they went through the library looking at all the different books (when Gone With The Wind opened, everything was blown away by a really strong wind). I love those old cartoons, and Acme Hour is my favorite show on cartoon network.
Good Lord, but I’m getting old when kids nowadays don’t instantly recognize Edward G. Robinson by way of Bugs Bunny. I grew up long after his heyday (although he was syill churning out films), and knew who it was. The last line of Little Ceasar, BTW, is “Sweet Mother of God, is this the end of Rico?”
George Raft was the coin-flipping gangster (who Bugs also parodied).
Ok, I can’t be certain but judging from the “sleeping with the fishes” I’d say it’s “The Unmentionables.” One of many cartoons Rocky’s in. Click on my previous “also click here” link for the complete list. In “The Unmentionables” Bugs somehow gets caught up with the gangsters in their getaway car. I believe he does something to the money and they end up giving him cement shoes and tossing him into the river. Don’t worry though, Bugs does manage to survive and get the gang arrested.
In fact I have that one on disk. Let me check. It’s one of those 1963 so-so ones. Not the hey-day for sure. Bugs Bunny is Elegant Mess. Nope, that’s not it. Will keep looking.
Could it be Michigan J. Frog (or whatever that frog’s name was)–in The Adventures of Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse–the show in its animation inspired The Powerpuff Girls.
Well in that case it could be any Rocky cartoon. All of which are mentioned in my second link above.
1946’s Racketeer Rabbit which is the best of them. In that one Bugs is grilled by Rocky.
1950’s Golden Yeggs
1953’s Catty Cornered which I think it the one where Tweety Bird is kid napped and gest ‘saved’ by Sylvester.
1954’s Bugs and Thugs
1957’s Bugsy and Mugsy
1963’s The Unmentionables rounds out the series.
Of course there were other caricatures of Edward G. Robinson in other cartoons. I’d wager there were several in the very popular Porky cartoons early on.
Not very many people know this but Edward G. Robinson almost played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too see? Yeah.
Popies! Sleep see! Yeah!
