Chimp & Zee is a 1968 Merrie Melodies short directed by Alex Lovy.
Title[]
While the title is a play on the animal "chimpanzee", it's also the names of the boy and his monkey, however it is unknown who is whom.
Plot[]
A hunter travels though the jungle looking to capture a rare blue-tailed simian. Soon he meets the boy and his monkey. Realizing that the boy's monkey is the blue-tailed simian hes been hunting for, he chases the boy and his monkey all around the jungle using several tricks to try and catch them:
- First he grabs the monkey, but the boy uses a bow and plunger to tie him to a large bolder, then the boy pushes it off a cliff along with the hunter.
- The hunter chases them, the boy and his monkey get to a lake, the boy and monkey cross the lake and the monkey asks an alligator to take care of the hunter, the alligator tries to eat the hunter, but he escapes him.
- The hunter hangs a large rock above the ground with rope, and places a banana underneath it, hoping to crush the monkey. The monkey grabs the banana and the hunter uses a magnifying glass to burn the rope holding up the rock up, it falls down, but when but when the hunter looks under it, he finds not the monkey, but an elephant, who beats him up for crushing him.
- Next he tries to shoot them with a blow dart, but he misses and ends up shooting himself in the rear twice.
- The boy and monkey hide in a log, the hunter sticks his hand into the log and another hand comes out to punch him, he tries it again and the same thing happens, once more he sticks his hand inside, and when the other hand comes out he bites, only to realize that it's his own hand, he tries once more to pull the boy and monkey out, but all he pulls out is the elephant from before, who beats him up once more.
- The boy and monkey climb up a tree. The hunter uses a firework to get up to catch them, but it fires him straight up to the sky, where he blows up.
- He disguises himself as a female blue-tailed simian and lure him in so the hunter can trap him, but his call gets the attention of a dozen or so male blue-tailed simians who, thinking he is a mate, chase him out of the jungle.
The boy and his monkey swing away on a vine, laughing at the hunter.
Availability[]
Streaming[]
HBO Max (2020 - ) (restored)
Notes[]
- This was the last cartoon Alex Lovy directed for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. He left and returned to Hanna-Barbera as an animator for shows like Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines and Scooby Doo Where Are You!
- The boy and his monkey went on to cameo in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "El Dia de los Pussygatos".
- The title card of this cartoon for The Merrie Melodies Show incorrectly colors the monkey's tail as brown.
- This is the first Warner Bros.-Seven Arts cartoon to feature Mel Blanc doing voices outside of a Daffy Duck vs. Speedy Gonzales cartoon (the series had ended months prior with "See Ya Later Gladiator"). Here, Mel voices the hunter (using the same voice he would use for Wile E. Coyote) and also provides all the monkeys' vocal effects.
- Even though the original ending titles of the short ended with the "A VITAGRAPH RELEASE" byline, as with all Merrie Melodies shorts after "3 Ring Wing-Ding", the HBO Max restoration uses the ending title with "A VITAPHONE RELEASE" as with the Merrie Melodies shorts before "3 Ring Wing-Ding".
Gallery[]
Title card (low quality)
Title card (HD quality)
Cropped screenshot of 2020 restoration
Videos[]
TV Title Cards[]
External Links[]
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