"Mr. Bug Goes to Town" - Part 1

(a.k.a. "Hoppity Goes to Town" and "Bugville")

A rare Fleischer classic!



"It was originally meant to be an adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the Bee, but the Fleischers were unable to get the rights to the book, and the studio came up with its own story inspired by The Life of the Bee instead and also added from Capra-esque elements.

"Mr. Bug Goes to Town" was beset by problems early on. To produce their first animated feature, "Gulliver's Travels", the Fleischers had moved their studio from New York City to Miami, Florida, and expanded their staff, at great expense. Immediately after "Gulliver" was completed and released, the studio began development on a second feature, eventually going into production on "Mr. Bug".

The studio was already deeply in debt, and the Fleischers were forced to sell their studio to Paramount mid-way through production on Mr. Bug, on May 24, 1941. Paramount kept the Fleischers in production, but they were required to deliver unsigned letters of resignation to Paramount, to be used at the studio's discretion, as the brothers were growing apart.

"Mr. Bug" was originally going to be released on November of 1941, but since the Fleischer's rival, Disney, released "Dumbo" weeks earlier, Paramount changed the date to December of the same year, but "Mr. Bug" unfortunately went into a, then unrealized, trap of terrible timing. Having the misfortune of opening two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, "Mr. Bug" was a financial disaster and led to the ousting of Max and Dave Fleischer, from the studio they had established in 1919, and reorganized the company as Famous Studios."

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