Wake Up the Gypsy in Me

Wake Up the Gypsy in Me is a 1933 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short, directed by Rudolf Ising and based on the title song written by Lew Lehr, Harry Miller and Lew Pollack.[1] The short was released on May 13, 1933.[2]

The plot concerns a village of Russian Gypsies, led by a caricature of jazz bandleader Paul Whiteman, generally singing, dancing and whooping it up, when the mad monk Rice-Puddin' (a caricature of Grigori Rasputin) casts his eye on one of the apparently underage girls in the village and has her abducted in an attempt to force himself upon her. The villagers revolt and rescue the girl and give Rice-Puddin' just due.