This is the short where the opera singer is practicing, but Bugs is singing as well and distracting the singer, causing him to lapse into "What do they do in Mississippi, when skies are drippy. . . "
Anyway, various sources cite a recent dvd release indicating that the singer was voiced by an opera singer named ‘Nicolai Shutorov.’ I’m a little skeptical of that claim, or that there even was a Nicolai Shutorov, opera singer or not. (Hmmm. . . 'shoot ‘er off?’).
Anyway. . . anyone with any reliable info on this name?
Mark Evanier gives Shutorov as the name in this 2000 article mainly about The Bullwinkle Show, but also commenting a bit on various cartoon voice actors. Evanier’s a pretty reliable guy. Evanier mentions Shutorov again in this article about the singer who provided Michigan J. Frog’s voice.
Michael Barrier, another reliable guy, gave an audio commentary on the first volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, released in 2003. He says in the commentary: “What you have here is Bugs, of course, is disturbing an opera singer, whose voice we have only recently learned was provided by a singer named Nikolai Shutorov.”
All other references to the name I can find online are directly linked to the cartoon in question, so I don’t know if it is indeed true or not.
Yeah, I suspect that was a Chuck Jones inside joke. . . although Carlo or Carlito might have made more sense.
And as to my OP. . . still nothing to corroborate Mr. Shoot 'er off. I send an email to Mr. Evanier, but I haven’t heard back.
Mr. Barrier seems to just be repeating what has already been reported three years earlier.
It’s worth noting, possibly, that a different “Michael Barrier” played bit parts in various programs in the 1960s. He’s probably best identified as is appearances as “Lt. DePaul” in Star Trek. He was a better actor than some of the recurring characters, so it’s a little odd why he didn’t have more appearances than he did. Or maybe that’s why.
Sorry to post on an old thread - found it by googling some genealogy research, but: in case you ever look at it again, yes, Nicolai Shutorov (gets translated/spelled different ways; his brother, my grandfather, spelled it Shuteroff, even worse!) was a real person and he did the voice for the opera singer - he was my great-uncle, an immigrant from Russia and he sang and had a band/orchestra in LA in the 1920s- 1940s. I think he did some other voiceover work, but no one’s sure anymore what else he worked on. My mom & I inherited some of his musical instruments. He died while touring Europe just after World War II in the early 50s, and his wife who never remarried i don’t think, died a year or 2 ago, and we ended up with a lot of his music memorabilia. Just to answer your question!
Another heartfelt thank you for the information! Like many people of a certain age, his was the first operatic singing I ever heard. It’s so nice to know whose voice it was.
I was reading today about an encounter between two musicians that sounds very much like the beginning of Long Haired Hare. They were staying in neighboring bungalows at a hotel, and both wanted to practice their respective instruments, but were each making too much noise for the other to concentrate. A loud battle ensued until one of them gave up in frustration.
“Giovanni Jones” may well have been a joking reference to director Chuck Jones… or the whole joke may have been the combination of an Italian first name and an ordinary American last name.
But if you’ve ever see “The Rabbit of Seville,” check out the names on the cast at the opera house:
Eduardo Selzeri
Michele Maltese
Carlo Jonzi
Michael Maltese wrote the story for that cartoon (and for many others), Eddie Selzer was the head of the Warner Brothers animation division in the Forties and Fifties, and “Carlo Jonzi” is a jokey Italian version of “Charles Jones.”