To Beep or Not to Beep

To Beep or Not to Beep
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	December 28, 1963
Run time	6:40
Starring	Paul Julian Mel Blanc
Producer(s)	David H. DePatie
Music composed by	Bill Lava
Story by	John Dunn Chuck Jones
Animation	Richard Thompson Bob Bransford Tom Ray Ken Harris Harry Love (Effects Animation)
Director(s)	Chuck Jones
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Title card

To Beep or Not To Beep is the four hundred and ninety-second Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 28, 1963. It was written by John Dunn and Chuck Jones, Produced by David H. DePatie, and directed by Jones.

After reading a recipe on "Road Runner Surprise," Wile E. Coyote makes a few attempts to catch the Road Runner. One of them involves a catapult that he tries to use several times from different angles.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Wile E. Coyote	Mel Blanc
Road Runner	Paul Julian

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Southwest desert

Organizations

• Road Runner Manufacturing Co.

Objects

• Western Cookery
• Lasso
• Spring-coil harness
• Wrecking ball and crane
• Catapult

Music

The music was scored by Bill Lava.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: December 28, 1963 in theatres

Behind the scenes

• The title is a play on the phrase, "To be or, not to be," from the William Shakespeare play Hamlet.
• It is one of the few Road Runner cartoons where Latin names, Acme and its products do not appear.
• Scenes from Adventures of the Road-Runner were recycled into this short.

Everlasting influence

• The Lasso and Catapult attempts were used in The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • October 25, 2005: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 on DVD.