| Let It Be Me | |
| Director: | I. Freleng |
| Story: | J.B. Hardaway (uncredited) |
| Animator: | Bob McKimson Don Williams Paul J. Smith Cal Dalton Sandy Walker Phil Monroe Charles McKimson (assistant) |
| Starring: | Bernice Hansen |
| Music: | Bernard Brown Norman Spencer |
| Producer: | Leon Schlesinger |
| Studio: | Leon Schlesinger Productions |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Color Process: | Technicolor |
| Runtime: | 7 min (one reel) |
| Language: | English |
Let It Be Me is a 1936 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.[1] The short was released on May 2, 1936.[2]
The plot revolves around an anthropomorphic hen named Emily (a prototype Miss Prissy), whose boyfriend rooster, Clem, is just about to propose marriage to her when she gets infatuated with a passing rooster motorist, the radio crooner Mr. Bingo (a caricature of Bing Crosby). She goes with Mr. Bingo instead. Bingo, while dating Emily in a nightclub, gets infatuated with a singing French hen (a caricature of Irene Bordoni), and after Emily cries that Bingo no longer loves her, has a waiter throw her out into the street. Crying, she then fends for herself selling violets on a winter day. The jilted Clem, meanwhile, overhears Mr. Bingo on the radio. Clem soon goes from jilted to livid when he grabs the radio and smashes it on the ground, with the "boo boo boo boo" sounding as if the radio is in its death throes, then eventually makes his way to the city, goes to the radio station and gives Bingo his just due in the middle of a broadcast. Clem then finds Emily selling violets, forgives her and marries her, and sires her brood.
In the concluding scene, both Clem and Emily are lounging in the living room when the scene is cut to one of her brood of chicks singing at the piano the song that Emily first heard when she dated Mr. Bingo. A book is hurled and hits the poor chick, silencing the singing.
This cartoon, along with Bingo Crosbyana were the two Warner Bros. cartoons which Bing Crosby initiated lawsuits to suppress because they portrayed him in what Crosby considered a defamatory light. In this case, he objected to his portrayal as unfaithful to women and to the imitation of his voice.[3]