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Kaboom! The history of dynamite in Looney Tunes
When did dynamite start showing up in Looney Tunes?
As far as props go, you can hardly have a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoon without a stick of dynamite sizzling threateningly nearby. It's the perfect prop for cartoon storytelling: sticks of dynamite can be comedically confused for other objects, and there's a built-in timer threatening the characters with the need to deal with it now. Hilarity and panic ensue, with a quick hot-potato-like game of toss the dynamite starting before it inevitably blows up in someone's face. Dynamite is used so often in Looney Tunes shorts that it's practically part of the brand at this point.
But how did we get here? When did the animators decide that there should be a stick of dynamite in practically every short? We hit the books and found that the earliest appearance of dynamite in a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies short goes all the way back to 1932's You're Too Careless With Your Kisses!. Directed by Friz Freleng, this cartoon follows a couple of bumblebees who, amidst a marital squabble about drinking, are separated by a spider. The wife bumblebee is kidnapped, and the husband bumblebee sobers up and alerts the other bug villagers about the kidnapping and rallies the troops to save his wife. The bugs attack the spider with a variety of methods (shooting peas, popping corks, etc.), but the battle is ended by a squad of bees dropping a stick of dynamite on the spider. Boom! The fight is over, and the bumblebee couple are reunited and in love once again.
Dynamite was used a handful of times throughout the '30s and '40s in cartoons like Rover's Rival, Porky's Midnight Matinee, and Bad Ol' Putty Tat, but dynamite really became a featured prop in the '50s. Dynamite's rise in popularity was due in part to the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons, which needed 7 or 8 wild gags to backfire on the coyote. Therefore, dynamite was featured at least once in every short. The gag was a huge hit and suddenly, it was impossible to find a Looney Tunes cartoon without dynamite in the '50s and '60s.
