I do not own these characters or plan on using them for merchandise, this is just a friendly blog to share with ones who have the same love and respect for these characters. Any character of a similar name living or dead is coincidental.
Now Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was a classic epic film and if you've never seen it shame on you. It was based off Gary K.Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? and arguably one of the greatest films of all time. If you want to know the plot..... (if you seen it please skip past the tiny print)
The story is a murder mystery set in 1947, in a surreal world where cartoon characters, commonly called "toons", are living beings who act out cartoons in the same way that human actors make live-action productions. Toons interact freely with humans and live in an area near Hollywood called Toontown. R. K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) is the human owner of Maroon Cartoon studios; Roger Rabbit is a fun-loving toon rabbit, one of Maroon's stars; Roger's wife Jessica is a gorgeous toon woman; and Baby Herman is Roger's costar, a 50-year-old toon who looks like an infant. Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye) is the prank-loving owner of Toontown and the Acme Corporation.
The trouble begins when Maroon hires private detective Eddie Valiant to investigate rumors that Jessica is having an affair. Eddie and his brother Teddy used to be friends of the toon community, but Eddie has hated them, and has been drinking heavily, since his brother Teddy was killed by a toon a few years earlier. When he shows Roger photographs of Jessica "cheating" on him by playing patty-cake (literally) with Acme, Roger becomes distraught and runs away. This makes him the main suspect when Acme is found murdered the next day. At the crime scene, Eddie meets Judge Doom and his Toon Patrol of weasel henchmen. Although toons are impervious to physical abuse, Doom has discovered that they can be killed by submerging them in a mixture of solvents he refers to as "Dip." He demonstrates this to Valiant by lowering a (living) cartoon shoe into a drum of Dip until it dissolves, leaving only a smear of paint floating on top.
Baby Herman insists that Acme's will, which is missing, bequeaths Toontown to the toons. If the will is not found by midnight, Toontown will be sold to Cloverleaf Industries, which recently bought the Pacific Electric system of trolley cars. One of Eddie's photos shows the will in Acme's pocket, proving Baby Herman's claim. After Roger shows up at his office professing his innocence, Eddie investigates the case with help from his girlfriend Dolores while hiding Roger from the Toon Patrol. Jessica tells Eddie that Maroon blackmailed her into compromising Acme, and Eddie learns that Maroon is selling his studio to Cloverleaf. Maroon explains to Eddie that Cloverleaf will not buy his studio unless they can also buy Acme's gag-making factory. His plan was to use the photos to blackmail Acme into selling. Before he can say more, he is shot dead by an unseen assassin and Eddie sees Jessica fleeing the scene. Believing she is the killer, Eddie pursues her into Toontown. When he finds her, she explains that Doom killed Maroon and Acme in an attempt to take over Toontown.
Eddie, Jessica, and Roger are captured by Doom and his weasels and held at the Acme Factory, where Doom reveals his plan. Since he owns Cloverleaf and Acme's will has yet to turn up, he will take control of Toontown and destroy it to make room for a freeway, then force people to use it by dismantling the trolley fleet. He has also built a mobile Dip sprayer with which he intends to wipe out the toon population. With Roger and Jessica tied up, Eddie performs a vaudeville act that makes the weasels literally die of laughter. In the climactic struggle between Eddie and Doom, Doom survives being run over by a steamroller, revealing that he is a toon. He admits that he killed Teddy, and Eddie dissolves him in Dip by opening the drain on the Dip machine. As toons and the police arrive, Eddie discovers that an apparently blank piece of paper on which Roger wrote a love poem to Jessica is actually Acme's will, written in disappearing/reappearing ink. Eddie gives Roger a big kiss, and the toons celebrate their victory.
Anyway what the made the film epic and memorable was for the 1st time characters of rival companies all appeared together in this film. For the first time Mickey Mouse met Bugs Bunny! Great Characters that Appeared were: Bugs Bunny, Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, Droopy Dog, the cast of Fantasia, the list goes on.
Unfortunately out of all these great iconic characters they left out Popeye the Sailor. Popeye, a walk on character of E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre comic strip who later became the Star. Years later, Popeye became a Hollywood Star debuting in a Betty Boop cartoon and was Mickey Mouse's first real rival. Now I read that Popeye, and co-stars Bluto, and Olive Oyl were supposed to appear in the never filmed Marvin Acme funeral scene. However I think that's a lie and here without further adieu is the real reason......
...."Why Popeye the Sailor was left out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
This Scene takes place after the Evil Judge Doom has survived being run down by a steam roller to reveal he is a toon and the one who killed Eddie's Brother and Marvin Acme. Eddie Valiant is helpless after being beaten by the Judge while Roger and his wife Jessica are being Dangled over a tank of "Dip" (a chemical made of turpentine the only thing that can kill a toon) which Doom will use to destroy Toon Town to build a freeway...... oh what will happen next.
Okay I know what You're thinking....
...."YOU MONSTER.... How can you do that to Poor Roger after all he's been through?!!!"
1. Relax this is nothing compared to what happens in "Who Censored Roger Rabbit"
2. IT'S NOT OVER YET!!! Scroll Down for the EPILOGUE!!!
After the crowd of toons exit the Acme Factory.......
There you have it after Popeye leaves off with Jessica... Roger finds comfort in Betty Boop (who can not she is so cute and adorable). If you want to know about Olive Oyl or Bimbo..... don't think about it, you'll hurt yourself.
I had a lot of fun drawing these characters. I'd like to thank.....
Max Fleischer, E.C. Segar, Walt Disney, Tex Avery, Walter Lantz, Gary K. Wolf, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, and Winsor McCay, thanks for the inspiration for creating great characters and with apologies to you all for using them....
...Thanks to my fellow illustrators..... Billy Tucci, Robert McGinnis, Craig Yoe, Dean Yeagle, Savanella Sisters.....
.....And last but certainly not least thank you Jo' my beautiful fiancee.... for helping color Popeye's pants and for forcing me not be lazy and to draw every single brick. You are my greatest muse and my everything!!! 143!!!
Story and Art by Frank Mongelluzzo
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