Title of Cartoon (Solved - Finnigan's Flea)

Hi all,

This is driving me bananas. There is a cartoon from WB called "One Froggy Evening" - I'm sure you're familiar with this one, but there is another cartoon that had a very similar plotline about a man and a fly. I don't think it was WB - I thought it was a Harveytoon, but I've looked everywhere and cannot seem to locate this one-off.

The plot of the one I'm trying to locate is: "A man walks into a bar" and asks about the gentleman at the end of the bar, a stunned patron who the bartender feeds pretzels and pours beer down his throat for him. The story then follows the same route as Froggy Evening with a fly taking the place of a frog. At the end of the story the fly returns to the bar (barfly yuk yuk) and the bartender smacks the fly dead, which leads to the comatose man's position on the barstool.

Why this affected me as a kid I do not know, but would like to find out the title.

Any help would be appreciated.

The cartoon you cite- FINNEGAN`S FLEA - was actually about a singing flea who first encounters the man while he's in prison. When he gets out he takes the flea to a talent agency and, as they say, "a star is born".

When the man brings the flea into his neighborhood bar to celebrate,however, the bartender inadvertently smacks and kills said flea; sending the man into shock and a catatonic state.

From that point onward the bartender, feeling remorse for having crushed his friend's dream, continuously cares for the man's welfare.

The cartoon was originally produced and released theatrically by Paramount Cartoon Studios; which was previously called "Famous Studios".

The cartoons produced at this studio were made in New York and released and distributed by Paramount Pictures in Hollywood.

Famous Studios was once Fleischer Studios (the studio founded by animation pioneer Max Fleischer, who also created Betty Boop). The name change came when in 1942 Paramount decided to call their loan and take over the studio. Many of the Fleischer animators and other staff members remained despite the takeover and the ousting of Max and his brother Dave. On a side note, at one point from 1939 (?) to 1942 Fleischer had moved his studio from New York to Miami in order to build new facilities and take advantage of tax breaks available there. After the takeover, the studio moved back to New York

The Famous cartoons that were made from 1942 to 1948 were first distributed to TV by UM&M and then by NTA. The original Paramount opening titles were lopped off and replaced with different ones that often employed hideous-looking black bars to obscure any references to the original studio and the word "Technicolor".

The Famous cartoons that were produced from 1949 to the mid 1950's were licensed for Television use by Harvey Films, a division of the Harvey Comics company that produced comic books featuring many of the Famous Studios' established characters (except Popeye, who was owned by King Features Syndicate).

This particular cartoon was, I think, one of the "Modern Madcap" series of cartoons that were made by the studio after they changed their name to "Paramount Cartoons.

IIRC, the cartoon in question was included in the package of Harvey Cartoons that were distributed in syndication to TV stations during the 1970's... I remember seeing it quite frequently then on one of the independent stations in my area when I was growing up.

It may not have been included in the DVD set of Harvey Cartoons that was released a few years ago from Shout Factory (?) and it may have not been included in the package when the cartoons were redistributed in the 1990's.

I apologize in advance if I got any dates wrong. I'm going solely on memory of what I've read in the past about the studio history. If you do a search in the BCDB by studio, under "Paramount Cartoons" you should be able to find it listed. I'm pretty sure it was produced in the late 1950's or early 60's. If you can't find it listed at all, please let one of the moderators or administrators know.

Here's the episode. Couldn't believe my good fortune to find this thread, I had the same exact question!!