Fright Before Christmas

Fright Before Christmas
Production company	DePatie–Freleng Enterprises
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Release date	November 27, 1979
Run time	7:00
Starring	Mel Blanc June Foray
Producer(s)	Friz Freleng
Music composed by	Doug Goodwin
Animation	Don Williams (uncredited)
Director(s)	Friz Freleng
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Fright Before Christmas is the five hundred and twenty-eighth short of the Merrie Melodies theatrical series, which originally came as the third and final segment in the Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales television special. It first premiered on November 27, 1979 on CBS. It was both produced and directed by Friz Freleng.

After making an escape from a cargo plane, the Tasmanian devil lands on the North Pole where he puts on Santa's suit and takes his sleigh with him. Taz then flies to Bugs Bunny's house, where he tries to eat everything in sight.

Memorable quotes

Bugs: 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...
Speedy: I'm stirring and I'm a mouse.

Bugs: I'm glad he self-inflate a rubber life raft. Tasmanian devils are awfully hard to buy for.

Bugs: Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good bite, I mean, night!

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Santa Claus (voice only)	Mel Blanc
Mrs. Claus (voice only)	June Foray
Cargo pilot #1	Mel Blanc
Cargo pilot #2	Mel Blanc
Bugs Bunny	Mel Blanc
Clyde Bunny	June Foray
Speedy Gonzales	Mel Blanc
Frank Sinatra

Organizations

• IBM

Locations

• Earth
  • North Pole
    • Claus' residence
  • United States
    • Bug Bunny's residence
• Venus (mentioned)

Objects

• Emergency parachute
• Christmas Stories
• Milk and cookies
• Clyde's Christmas list
• Popcorn

Vehicles

• Santa's sleigh
• Cargo plane
• Self-inflating rubber life-raft

Music

The score was composed by Doug Goodwin, while Joe Siracusa is credited as the music editor.

The title music used from this cartoon was from the 1952 Looney Tunes short, Gift Wrapped, which was composed by Carl Stalling.

Crew credits

• Film editors: Robert Gillis, Rich Harrison, Richard Gannon

Behind the scenes

• The title is a play on the line, "'Twas the night before Chirstmas", from the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas".
• The people who worked on animation, stories, backgrounds, layouts and artwork are not mentioned in the credits and are instead credited as members of the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, Local 839.
• This is one of the few shorts where Bugs lives in an actual house instead of a rabbit hole, alongside What's Up Doc? and His Hare-Raising Tale.
• This is the only Friz Freleng-directed short to feature the Tasmanian Devil.
• The things listed on Clyde's extremely long Christmas list consists of the following:
  • A solid gold football
  • A trip to Venus
  • Ten tickets to the World Series
  • A hockey team (world championship quality)
  • A carrot farm in the South Pacific
  • A stereo
  • A TV
  • A controlling interest in IBM
  • Subscription to the "Comic Book of the Month" club
  • Frank Sinatra's old address book
  • Twin Ferraris with custom plates
  • Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde chemical set
  • Jet roller skates
  • A secondhand diamond
  • A laser light show
  • A puppy
  • A kitten
  • A pony
  • A little brother
  • A partridge in a pear tree
• "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is referenced when Bugs mentions "a partridge in a pear tree" as on of the items in Clyde's list.