STRANGE TOONS: LOVE IS ALL

Readers of a certain age will perhaps remember this bizarre cartoon from its occasional airings on the '80s kid show, The Great Space Coaster. Gorridle Gorilla would ask to see a movie, and Roy would whip out his little pocket-size TV gizmo, fire it up and show us Love is All, this crazy cartoon in which a frog with a lute would holler a song at us about a bunch of bugs having a masquerade ball. The cartoon was loud, colorful and slightly frightening, and it seemed like a showstopping sequence from a longer movie. So, what the heck was it?

In 1974, Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover conceived a rock opera based on The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast, a children's book written by William Plomer and featuring spectacular, psychedelic illustrations by Alan Aldridge. There were plans to adapt it as an animated feature, and this test sequence was made featuring character designs based on Aldridge's drawings. Gnomish heavy metal shrieker Ronnie James Dio(!) was the voice of the frog.

Unfortunately the Love is All clip was as far along as the film ever got, but the album and this cartoon went on to have quite a cult following. If it freaks you out to hear the normally dour Dio belting out a rather insistently cheerful song about peace, love and dancing butterflies, watching him sing it live will make your head spin around like Linda Blair's in The Exorcist.



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Technocrati tags: [Love is All][The Butterfly Ball]