Friday, October 08, 2010

Freeze Frame! - Visit La Brea Tar Pits

When I inaugurated the Freeze Frame! series here at 2719 Hyperion some four years ago, I deliberately avoided Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as it seemed too obvious and easy a subject.  I've thought better of that now and today's post will be the first in a series of new Freeze Frame! posts dedicated to that now classic 1988 film.

One of the most controversial aspects of the eternally controversial Song of the South was the entity of the Tar Baby.  Even so, the Roger Rabbit animation team saw fit to include it in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo during Eddie Valiant's drive into Toontown.  Looking out the left window of Eddie's vehicle, the Tar Baby can be seen for a split second before the scene cuts back to a shot of Eddie shaking his head.  Sitting on the same stone wall as the Tar Baby are the four girl bunnies from the 1935 Silly Symphony The Tortoise and the Hare.  The blur in the picture is not a flaw in our screen capture, but in fact a portion of window glass from Eddie's automobile.

The Tar Baby holds a sign that reads, "VISIT LA BREA TAR PITS," referring to the famous Los Angeles paleontological landmark.

3 comments:

Nate Parrish said...

Nice catch Jeff. I never noticed that before. I wonder how many lesser known cartoons make appearances in the film.

Gator Chris said...

Nice work Jeff.

One gets the feeling there's enough freeze frame material in the Toontown sequence for an Animation History dissertation (or at least a Sweatbox session ;-] ).

Nic Kramer said...

I notice on the DVD that the Dodo from Warners' "Porky in Wackyland" makes a cameo when Eddie first goes to the Maroon Studio.