This year marks the 30th anniversary of the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit (without a question mark at the end) that was released June 1988. It is difficult to remember the huge influence this film had when it debuted.
It revived the general public's interest in animation, introduced several memorable new animated characters, was a goldmine in merchandise, and spurred ill-conceived projects from other studios attempting to duplicate its success in combining live-action and animated characters.
Originally budgeted at around $12 million in the early 1980s, the film finally came in with a cost estimated at close to $50 million. Reviews were generally mixed but positive. Reviewers were astounded by the technology, but found story and character deficiencies.
Audiences fell in love with the feature and it helped spark an animation renaissance, assisted by the release of The Little Mermaid the following year.
The film toppled almost every Disney financial record. Roger broke theater records around the world. It became the top-grossing film that year (more than $150 million in the United States alone and $325 million worldwide on its first release), and one of the top money-making features of all time.
The feature received a number of prominent award nominations. The Golden Globes nominated it for Best Picture and Best Actor (Bob Hoskins). The script was nominated for best script based on material from another medium by the Writers Guild of America.
The Directors Guild nominated Robert Zemeckis for best director. Even Charles Fleischer, the voice of Roger, was nominated for best supporting male by the American Comedy Awards for his role.
Though it didn't win any of these awards, this was a sign of how well-received the film was in the professional community. Other award recognition included a Hugo award and a Kids Choice award.
A rare cel from the unmade Roger Rabbit cartoon Hare in My Soup.
Roger did well at the Oscars. Nominated in a number of categories, it went on to win three Oscars for its technical work (Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing). Additionally, an Honorary Oscar for special achievement went to Richard Williams “for animation direction and creation of the cartoon characters.” Originally an animated Roger was scheduled to appear at the Oscar ceremonies, but last-minute production problems prevented it from happening.
However, to save money on what was initially considered an expensive and risky production (it was purposely released under the Touchstone Pictures label not Disney), Michael Eisner suggested that Disney and Spielberg's Amblin studio co-produce the film and share the uncertainty. Eisner was thinking about the previous Disney partnership with Paramount Studios for the 1980 live action Popeye film that had been written off as a flop because it was not a blockbuster or generated a franchise.
Eisner was also counting on Spielberg to be able to persuade other studios to allow their characters to be used in a Disney film and, in fact, Spielberg was able to negotiate the rights to many animation icons with some stipulations for only $5,000 for each character.
However, Spielberg insisted that Amblin and Disney would share the copyright on any new characters created for the film like Roger, Jessica, Baby Herman and Benny the Cab. In addition, the two studios would split evenly the profits from the film and any merchandise. Finally, both parties would have to agree on any future project using the characters.
After the release of the film, Disney immediately started featuring Roger in the Disney theme parks, ramped up a plethora of merchandise, and green-lit a sequel film feature. Unfortunately, because of the production necessities of the time, the earliest a sequel could appear would be in 1992, and perhaps later, since Zemeckis had already gone on to simultaneously direct the two sequels to his film Back to the Future (1985) that would be released in 1989 and 1990.
In the New York Times April 19, 1990, Peter Schneider, then senior vice president of Disney feature animation said:
“Keeping Roger Rabbit alive has proven to be a challenge since the sequel isn't expected to open in theaters until summer of 1992. Roger is the first time in many years that a cartoon character has come off of a movie and become a character audiences want to see more of. Once we saw he really did transcend the movie, the question was how to keep him alive. Of course, there is merchandise but the key to longevity is the screen which is why we are doing theatrical shorts.
“However, shorts these days are almost as complicated to make as a feature film. We look at it both ways. They are as complex as a feature but at the same time six minutes is definitely easier to do than seventy minutes so, of course, it's easier to manage. It's also a great way to try out new people, train them for the features.”
A continuing series of shorts were agreed to by Spielberg in order to keep the characters in the minds of the audience and build anticipation for the upcoming sequel.
Voice artists Charles Fleischer (Roger), Kathleen Turner (Jessica), Lou Hirsch (adult Baby Herman), and April Winchell (Mrs. Herman), returned to reprise their roles from the original film. In addition, from the original film, producers Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Don Hahn were attached. Marshall would also direct the live-action segments in the first two shorts.
“I worked on Roger Rabbit for two and a half years so I know,” Don Hahn told writer Desmond Ryan for a June 25, 1989 article. “The earliest we could hope to have a sequel out with the way things are is 1992. There are many factors. One of them is, while we've figured out how to do combining live action and animation, we would want to top the first one.
“Roger has been so successful that we're in a position where a cartoon can help a movie from a marketing standpoint, Hahn said. “There's a tremendous value for us in keeping the characters alive. Roger is everywhere right now, and we want to make sure it stays that way. This (making theatrical shorts) is the best way to do it until the second feature.”
Producing these shorts would also provide work for the new Disney animation studio that opened in Orlando at Disney MGM Studios.
The R.K. Maroon Shorts
During the summer of 1988, Macy's department store in New York had an exhibit of props from Roger Rabbit. In the store's restaurant they had reproductions of the Maroon cartoon one sheets seen briefly in the scene in R.K. Maroon's office in the movie.
Here are the only known titles, imaginary release dates, credits, and plot lines from the poster art of these very rare Maroon Cartoons. Obviously other short cartoons featuring Roger, Baby Herman, Jessica, and other Maroon characters were produced but these were clearly special to the fictional producer.
- Pistol Packin' Possum (2/9/42) – Produced and directed by R.K. Maroon. A private-eye possum trails a suspicious weasel.
- Babes in Arms (10/30/42) – Produced and directed by R.K. Maroon. Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman are accidentally drafted into the army.
- Herman's Shermans (4/15/43)- Produced and directed by R.K. Maroon. A follow-up to the smash hit cartoon Babes in Arms. Roger disguises himself as Hitler when he and Baby Herman cross enemy lines.
- The Wet Nurse (6/3/44) – Produced and directed by R.K. Maroon. Baby Herman plays doctor when Roger accidentally hits his thumb with a mallet.
- The Little Injun That Could (7/23/45) – Produced and directed by R.K. Maroon. Playing “Cowboys and Indians” with Baby Herman becomes Roger's last stand.
- Roger's Baby Buggy Blunder (5/13/46) – Produced and directed by R.K. Maroon. This cartoon introduces sexy red-head Jessica to the screen. Roger unknowingly grabs a baby carriage with stolen loot, leaving Baby Herman in the hands of a gangster's moll.
- Somethin's Cookin' (10/20/47) – Produced by R.K. Maroon; directed by Raoul J. Raoul. Babysitter Roger is tortured by every household appliance and kitchen utensil as he tries to stop Baby Herman from reaching the cookie jar. This is the short that is being filmed at the beginning of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
The Real Roger Rabbit Theatrical Shorts
All three shorts follow closely the pattern set in Somethin's Cooking. Roger is trusted to babysit Baby Herman and, inevitably, Baby Herman gets away from Roger and puts himself in danger prompting Roger to come to the rescue. The result is that Roger gets battered and bruised in the wild cartoon action while Baby Herman remains unscathed.
A poster from the Roger Rabbit short Tummy Trouble
In the Boston-Herald newspaper June 23, 1989, Disney producer Don Hahn said:
“All of us had knocked around the idea of doing another [Roger Rabbit] short because the other one (at the beginning of the feature film) had been received so well. I came up with a list of about 20 ideas last fall, most of which could be described in one sentence. Then in December we did three up on storyboards. We pitched those to Steven (Spielberg) and Jeffrey Katzenberg and we went away with the idea that Tummy Trouble would be the first.
“That it was going out with Honey I Shrunk the Kids was determined pretty early on. It really wasn't appropriate to go out with Dead Poet's Society or something like that. The idea of having them appear at the end in a live-action setting like the first one was driven by the Disney Company that wanted it inextricably linked to the first one. The whole idea of the ending was to keep alive the conceptual twist on the characters that the first film had. Just to remind everybody that they exist in that world.
“Other shorts like Roller Coaster Rabbit, Hare in My Soup and Clean and Oppressed are also under consideration. We're trying to see if we can develop a Tom and Jerry-like group of characters that could exist in a cartoon series. There has to be something that was similar or familiar for an audience going to see them again. If we took the characters completely out of 1948 and out of that genre of movie, I think it would be a little too jarring.”
Rob Minkoff, who directed two of the shorts said:
“I think people love Roger because of all [their] associations … with the old cartoon characters. There's a lot that comes with the character that combines with people's memories of their childhood. Roger's a fool, and everybody has empathy for a fool that gets hurt all the time.
“Some children are too young to remember matinees and cartoon shorts in theaters. In making something that will grab them, the operative word is 'quick'. Maybe it's not that kids require a faster pace but that they accept it. They make connections between things more quickly than we did as kids because they've been exposed to so much video material.
“They don't need to have things explained. You can cut ahead to the next idea, and they'll come with you. Doing a short is different. You can be more intense. In a feature we mute the colors [of the character]. In Tummy Trouble, the colors are vibrant and alive, and things get wacky in a hurry.”
Animator Tom Sito did not draw the character of Roger Rabbit in the original feature but did in the shorts.
''I was the weasel terminator [in the original feature film] I killed all the weasels,” he said. “But I love doing Roger for this one. Roger is one of life's victims. He's soft and fluffy and a lot of fun to draw. He's not anatomically perfect, not an accurate rabbit like you have in Bambi. He's a crazy little critter. Bugs Bunny has the savvy—he's one of a kind. But Roger is sort of an Everyman. I think he's Jewish, personally. He has all these things happen to him, and it's: 'Oy vey! Why me?'”
Sito worked on a scene where an angry Baby Herman banged his head on the floor.
“I got that from my wife, who used to be a baby sitter in Manhattan,” Sito said. “She had this one baby who would bang its head on the floor when it had a tantrum. When the parents see this in the theater, they're going to nod and say, 'Yeah, that's the way it is'.”
Just as attaching the short Tummy Trouble to Disney's Honey, I Shrunk the Kids helped that film's box office, Spielberg wanted Roller Coaster Rabbit to be attached to an Amblin film Arachnophobia that was being produced for Disney's new Hollywood Pictures division.
However, Eisner was worried about the success of the upcoming, big budget Dick Tracy film being produced by Disney and felt the short could help its box office take more.
Since both films were being released by Disney, Eisner made the final decision to put the new Roger Rabbit short with Dick Tracy. It was felt in the entertainment industry that so doing did help the film, but that it would have helped Arachnophobia do better if it had been attached to it instead.
Spielberg felt he was being disrespected and that his co-ownership rights were being ignored. Disney had begun production on the next Roger short, Hare in My Soup, when Spielberg announced he didn't like the story and demanded production be shut down. Disney pitched several other ideas but Spielberg rejected all of them for roughly two years.
He eventually approved Trail Mix-Up, which had originally been planned to be attached to The Rocketeer (1991), but couldn't meet the deadline. It was attached to a Disney/Amblin co-production, A Far Off Place.
Tummy Trouble (6/23/89) attached to the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Produced by Don Hahn. Animation directed by Rob Minkoff. Live action directed by Frank Marshall.
Plot: The title card claims the film was made in 1947, the time of the feature film. Baby Herman swallows a toy rattle and is taken to a hospital. He and Roger keep coughing up the rattle with each other swallowing it. Hilarity ensues in the hospital until Roger sees the final enormous bill.
Notes:
- The film was produced in Burbank over a period of nine months and was the first theatrical short produced by Disney in 16 years.
- Droopy's one line, “Gruesome, isn't it?” was voiced by Who Framed Roger Rabbit animator and director Richard Williams and was an outtake from the original film.
- An X-ray on the wall shows Mickey Mouse's skull.
- Actor Sol Pavlovsky plays director Raoul J. Raoul.
- It is the only Roger Rabbit short to have a complete story that is not interrupted at the end. It is the only Roger Rabbit short to have a musical score by James Horner.
- Spielberg is credited as executive producer of Tummy Trouble and contributed a sight gag.
- Outside the hospital, the sign reads “St. Nowhere,” a reference to the popular medical television series St. Elsewhere.
- A Disney spokesperson claimed that Tummy Trouble was the most expensive short cartoon ever made.
Cameos by:
- Mickey Mouse
- Donald Duck
- The Mad Doctor
- The Three Little Wolves
- Raggedy Andy
- Droopy Dog.
Roller Coaster Rabbit (6/15/90) attached to the film Dick Tracy. Produced by Don Hahn. Animation directed by Rob Minkoff. Live action directed by Frank Marshall. The title card at the start of the cartoon states it was made in 1947, the year the feature film took place.
Plot: Baby Herman loses his red balloon at a fairground and Roger Rabbit gives chase confronting an angry bull and a speeding roller coaster on an endless spiraling track in the process.
Notes:
- This short was made at the new Disney MGM Studios by Disney Feature Animation Florida.
- A planned but never filmed gag would have had the roller coaster encounter an intersection at the top of the biggest drop and a long car speed pass with classic Disney animated characters. It was determined it would have been too fast for an audience to really see the characters and get the gag.
- From Baby Herman's baby carriage, Roger tosses out a bottle, a rattle (the exact same one from Tummy Trouble), a teddy bear, a ball, a safety pin, a rolling pin, a pistol (which fires), a box of cigars, two fluffy dice, an axe, TNT, a Mickey Mouse Club hat, a book titled “The Disney Look,” a bowling ball, a bear trap, an anvil, a rubber tire, a bottle with a skull motif indicating poison, a kitchen sink, and a copy of Play-Toon magazine. Jessica Rabbit is the centerfold in the magazine and gives Roger a wink. She is not naked but in a one piece purple bathing suit.
- The only Roger Rabbit short to get a PG rather than G rating because Baby Herman grabs a bull by the groin thinking it is his lost balloon.
- The only Disney animated short to be rated PG until Pixar's 2014 Party Central for “reckless behavior.”
Cameos by:
- Mickey Mouse
- Clarabelle Cow
- Pinocchio
- Ariel the Little Mermaid
- Droopy Dog
Trail Mix-Up (3/12/93) attached to the film A Far Off Place (Disney/Amblin). Produced by Rob Minkoff. Animation directed by Barry Cook. The title card states that the film was made in 1947, the year the original film takes place.
Plot: Baby Herman wanders off while camping with his mother and Roger and goes into a working sawmill. Forest related calamities including wild animals abound.
Notes:
- This short was also made at Disney MGM Studios in Florida.
- Some of the bees that Roger spits out resemble Mickey Mouse, Tinker Bell, Evinrude, and the Genie.
- The deadly green-fumed insecticide Roger uses is “MINK-OFF”, a reference to producer/director Rob Minkoff.
- The log that Roger and Baby Herman ride has a bumper sticker saying “We visited Splash Mountain.”
- Maroon Studios as seen from the air is the real Burbank Walt Disney Studios.
- Animators were warned not to show the buttons on Jessica's uniform when she was in close-up because they might be mistaken for nipples.
- One gag that has since been blurred out from releases showed a poster advertising the product Rigid Tools and featured a curvy young woman straddling a saw.
Cameos by:
- Mickey Mouse
- Tinker Bell
- Evinrude (The Rescuers)
- Genie
- The boy from Off His Rockers (a short made by Disney Feature Animation Florida in 1992 and directed by Cook)
- Droopy Dog
Several Roger Rabbit shorts were announced as in development but were never completed: Hare in My Soup, Clean and Oppressed, Beach Blanket Bay, and Bronco Bustin' Bunny.
Hare in My Soup would have taken place in a restaurant and, when Mrs. Herman goes to powder her nose, Baby Herman wanders off into the kitchen. Chaos ensues. Roger would have been a clumsy waiter once again struggling to save Baby Herman from harm.
The three Roger Rabbit shorts were released on VHS in 1996 under the title Disney and Steven Spielberg present The Best of Roger Rabbit. They have also appeared as supplemental extras on various releases of the original film.
Next week: I look at some of the proposed animated shorts and feature from author Gary K. Wolf and the two unmade Roger Rabbit sequels that were actually prequels and were actually pretty good.
