Saturday, November 9, 2019

Looney TV: Two Crows From Tacos (1956)

Here's a rare Merrie Melodies entry that doesn't feature Mel Blanc.

Jose & Manuel are a pair of guitar playing, hungry crows, whose hunger leads to some misfortune in trying to capture a grasshopper. Here's "Two Crows From Tacos":



Don Diamond (later of F-Troop) and Tom Holland (no relation to the "Spider-Man: Far From Home" star) are heard here.

Rating: A.

3 comments:

Goldstar said...

After the closing of Termite Terrace, Friz Freleng revived Jose and Manuel reclassified as a pair of Toads named Toro and Pauncho when he teamed up with David DePaite in the Tijuana Toads shorts. These shorts later resurfaced as an attraction on Depatie-Freleng's "The Pink Panther Show".

Jose and Manuel also appeared as cats in a WB short where the two of them try to catch Speedy Gonzales (also directed by Friz Freleng). I think the the aforementioned short also marks the first appearance of Slowpoke Rodriguiez.

Silverstar said...

Addendum to Goldstar's post: the Tijuana Toads shorts resurfaced on NBC Saturday morning's Pink Panther Show re-branded as the TEXAS Toads, with their names changed to Fatso and Banjo and their voices re-dubbed with Texan accents; apparently someone at BS&P thought that Toro and Pancho were potentially offensive ethnic stereotypes (IIRC, Speedy Gonzalez was also under fire around this same time), though the Toads' shorts appeared in syndication under their original Tijuana Toads names and accents.

hobbyfan said...

As it happens, the same actors did the Tijuana/Texas Toads shorts. I have a couple of the Toads' shorts elsewhere in the Archives.