Horton Hatches the Egg

I think the first ever adaptation of any Dr. Seuss book was the 1942 Merrie Melody cartoon, Horton Hatches the Egg. Directed by acclaimed LT director Bob Clampett, this short is remarkably faithful to the doc's original story while still implementing some humorous Warner Bros. Style antics to balance it all out.

Apparently, Clampett and his team didn't even produce a storyboard / script from scratch and instead used his own copy of the book as a blueprint for additional material to include, most of which are the kind of juvenile gags you'd see in any Clampett or Tex Avery cartoon during this time. Having said that, the primary focus of Horton the elephant being used to sit on an egg from a lazy irresponsible bird named Mayzie remains intact quite nicely. The initial themes of staying faithful to someone and maintaining trust in spite of being a laughing stock are still prevalent and thus make Horton a truly sympathetic lead. While there could be an argument about how Mayzie is portrayed from a feminist perspective, the idea that some people can be more responsible than the initial parent remains as timely as ever. Add in some humorous Looney Tunes content for extra levity and you've got the longest running WB short made in the Golden Age without it feeling long at all.

On a side note, the late Kent Rogers voiced Horton himself, and while the short is carried through Frank Graham's solid narration and Sara Berner's hysterical portrayal of Mayzie, his genuine emotional delivery makes Horton far more empathetic than the Doc and Bob Clampett already made him out to be. Rogers sadly parted this world not long after the cartoon was released, so hearing him as such an innocently devoted elephant really hits home. I only wish he could have done more beyond his work at Warner Bros and other studios, but we'll always have works like this to remember him by.

I don't think I have much else to say, but Horton Hatches the Egg still holds up today. It's a charming blend of two different styles, with Seuss's content and Clampett's humor stretching for miles. Definitely give it a watch if you might, I'm sure you'll find some value in this cartoon alright. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, this short is worth the watch, 100 percent.

This afternoon while I was waiting for Enchanted to begin, there was a preview for the new computer-animated feature, Horton Hears a Who? with the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell. After going home and checking out the Cartoons, Model Sheets, and Stuff blog, I discovered the presence of another Horton tale from Dr. Seuss that I remembered from childhood called Horton Hatches the Egg that became a Warner Bros.-Bob Clampett cartoon. Anyone who's read HHtE will be glad to see how faithfully Bob adapted both the story and drawings to his short while adding some of his own gags and a ditty called "The Hut-Hut Song". One of those gags had a fish that looks like Peter Lorre and as he sees the elephant sitting on an egg on a tree in a boat moving in the sea for the circus, well...Oh, watch the cartoon. And kudos to Mr. Clampett for making such a wonderful Dr. Seuss animated cartoon. The Cartoons, Model Sheets, and Stuff blog linked this from Daily Motion.

Directed by Bob Clampett and scripted by the great Warner Brothers storyman Michael Maltese, this animated version is very faithful to the 1940 story about Horton the earnest elephant, but has a few added embellishments. Call it an irreverent version for adults.

The story begins with a lazy mother bird who longs to go on vacation. She needs to attract Horton so he'll sit on her egg for her. So she pushes her stomach upwards to give herself really big ...

Horton keeps the egg warm during a torrential storm -- that's in Seuss -- getting submerged and nearly drowning -- that's in Clampett.

Three hunters discover Horton perched on the egg and aim straight at his heart. Only in this version it's Horton's jumbo-sized posterior they actually get in their sights. In Seuss, the hunters are gentlefolk nattily done up in bowties; in Clampett, they're coiffed in a style more befitting Yosemite Sam.

Horton is captured and taken across the sea to be exhibited in New York. The sight of Horton at sea is so startling that a fish, who looks and sounds just like Peter Lorre, shoots himself in the head.

Dr. Seuss's story ends happily, with Horton returned safely to his jungle home. Clampett's story also ends happily, with Horton earning big money for promoters.

The Warners team succeeded in reproducing Dr. Seuss's distinctive artistic style but added a full range of colour to his limited palette. A couple of scenes also have what appear to be watercolour backgrounds -- very nice. A little added touch to an already beautiful-looking, one-of-a-kind cartoon.

Every animation fan is well aware of Chuck Jones's Christmas classic 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', a seasonal staple based on the classic story by Dr. Seuss. However, fewer people are aware of Bob Clampett's adaptation of a Seuss story, 'Horton Hatches the Egg', which predates Jones's effort by a couple of decades. Out of all the Warner Bros. directors, Clampett is arguably the most obvious choice as the ideal person to adapt Seuss's surreal tales and he more than proves himself with 'Horton Hatches the Egg'. Both the genius of Clampett and of Seuss shine through as Clampett deftly weaves his own edgy, grotesque humour into Seuss's friendlier tomfoolery. Exceptional wordplay (rhyming "it doesn't make sense" with "I'm so immense" is merely the tip of the iceberg) and brightly coloured characters and settings collide with Hollywood caricatures, indelible images and off-colour jokes about backsides, sea-sickness and characters shooting themselves in the head! Clocking in at just under ten minutes, 'Horton Hatches the Egg' is longer than the average Merrie Melodie but if anything it leaves the viewer begging for even more. It's truly a shame that there were no further Clampett/Seuss collaborations as it is clearly a match made in heaven. 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' may be the recognised classic but 'Horton Hatches the Egg' deserves to be as widely celebrated and its egg-based narrative makes it ideal for the Easter schedules. If only these gorgeous cartoons weren't so rapidly disappearing from our screens, perhaps 'Horton Hatches the Egg' (along with hundreds of other classics) might be rediscovered by a whole new generation. In the meantime, you can get your hands on this charming short on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection volume 6 DVD.

Bob Clampett's version of Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hatches the Egg" was the first cinematic adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book. And a good one at that. While it does change a few small things, it mostly stays faithful (like Horton is 100%). Oh, and just in case you operate under the assumption that this is just cute stuff for children: Michael Maltese, in his screenplay, also threw in a some things that moviegoers in 1942 would have understood but 21st century tykes probably won't get (including a brief instance of mild sexuality on the bird's part; look what she does to attract Horton's attention!).

I definitely recommend this cartoon. Clampett doesn't make quite as much use of contortion as he does in some of his more famous cartoons, but he still pulls off some fine work. The combination of talent from Seuss and Clampett should identify that you're in for something neat.

This was one of the many Warner Bros. cartoons released before 1948 that lost its opening credits in the Blue Ribbon reissue.