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Flip the Frog was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first sound cartoon. It is about a happy-go-lucky, needy frog, named Flip the Frog, and his girlfriend, Clarisse Cat. Other recurring characters include Flip's dog, the mule Orace, and a dizzy neighborhood spinster.
The cartoon was created by Ub Iwerks in 1930. He had drawn a frog and his girlfriend in "Night'", one of the last Silly Symphonies short films he drew while working for Walt Disney.
After leaving Disney, Ub Iwerks began the Flip cartoon series with the help of Pat Powers. The first cartoon that Ub Iwerks made for the series was called Fiddlesticks (released on August 16, 1930), and it was also the first color sound cartoon ever made. Fiddlesticks was made in two-color Technicolor. The rest of the Flip series were made in black and white, except for Techno-Cracked (1933).
After the first two cartoons, the appearance of Flip the Frog was changed to become less frog-like. This was done under the encouragement of MGM who thought that the series would sell better if the character were more humanized. By the time the series ended Flip the Frog looked more like a boy than a frog.
As part of this transformation, Clarisse Cat was eventually traded for a human girl named Fifi.
In the 1990s, cartoonist, Eric W. Schwartz produced a short series of amateur computer animated shorts with Amiga technology featuring a variation of Flip who is determined to please his sexy feline girlfriend, Felice.
List of cartoons for the Flip the Frog series
- Fiddlesticks, August 16, 1930
- Flying Fists, September 6, 1930
- The Village Barber, September 27, 1930
- Little Orphan Willie, October 18, 1930
- Cuckoo Murder Case, October 18, 1930
- Puddle Pranks, December, 1930
- The Village Smithy, January 31, 1931
- The Soup Song, January 31, 1931
- Laughing Gas, March 14, 1931
- Ragtime Romeo, May 2, 1931
- The New Car, July 25, 1931
- Movie Mad, August 29, 1931
- The Village Specialist, September 12, 1931
- Jail Birds, September 26, 1931
- Africa Squeaks, October 17, 1931
- Spooks, December 21, 1931
- The Milkman, February 20, 1932
- Fire! Fire!, March 5, 1932
- What A Life!, March 26, 1932
- Puppy Love, April 30, 1932
- School Days, May 14, 1932
- The Bully, June 18, 1932
- The Office Boy, July 16, 1932
- Room Runners, August 13, 1932
- Stromy Seas, August 22, 1932
- Circus, August 27, 1932
- Goal Rush, October 3, 1932
- Pony Express, October 27 1932
- The Music Lesson, October 29, 1932
- Nursemaid, November 26, 1932
- Funny Face, December 24, 1932
- Cuckoo The Magician, January 21, 1933
- Flip's Lunch Room, April 3, 1933
- Techno-Cracked (Cinecolor), May 8, 1933
- Bulloney, May 30, 1933
- Chinaman's Chance, June 24, 1933
- Pale-Face, August 12, 1933
- Soda Squirt, October 12 , 1933
See also: animation
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