These are sound effects of bomb whistling from Warner Bros., best known for being used in Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. None of them should be confused with SKYWALKER, WHISTLE - LONG, DESCENDING WHISTLE due to sounding very similar.
Contents
Info
- First Recorded: September 14, 1940
- Creator: Treg Brown
- Owner: Warner Bros. (1941-1990), Montery Post/DigiPost TV (1990-2020)
- Origin: United States
- Year Debut: July 5, 1941
- First Heard: The Heckling Hare (a Looney Tunes short)
- Area Used: TBA
There are 14 different variations of this sound all made by WB around the early 40's. Their early use in the Looney Tunes was in the 1941 Bugs Bunny cartoon "The Heckling Hare." Since then, they used the sounds as their trademark Looney Tunes falling whistle sound up to 1967 in the Daffy and Speedy cartoon "Daffy's Diner." In the 60's, the sounds were later used as DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' trademark falling sound in their animated projects from 1964-1980, the Peanuts first used the sounds since the mid to late-1960's up to the early 80's (although It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown! was the final use of the sound), and were also used in Chuck Jones' animated projects during those times. WB eventually got back to using the sounds by the late-70's in the Looney Tunes compilation films and TV specials, but hauled their frequent use of the sounds by the early-90's. They were only heard in a few shows and movies since then, and were never available on sound effect libraries.
This sound seems scarcely used these days, but DigiPost.TV projects tend to use it (the company has gone defunct as of 2020 and relocated to Atlas Oceanic Sound and Picture). Some Skywalker Sound projects use it as well where applicable, namely select ones involving Ben Burtt.
Trivia
The sound was made 9 months after MGM made Sound Ideas, WHINE, CARTOON - SHELL SCREAMING WHINE DOWN on December 9, 1939. MGM would later copy WB with their falling sound since 1955 after the release of the Oscar nominated cartoon "Good Will To Men."
Used In
TV Shows
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Heard once in "Tails' New Home.")
- The All-New Pink Panther Show
- Animaniacs
- Attack of the Show! (Heard once in a May 2004 episode in an excerpt from "Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom" Part 1.)
- Baggy Pants & the Nitwits
- Bill Nye, the Science Guy
- Bobby's World
- The Bugs Bunny Show
- Codename: Kids Next Door (Heard once in "Diseasy Does It.")
- Doctor Dolittle
- Doctor Snuggles (Heard in episodes made by DePatie-Freleng.)
- Doug
- The Electric Company (Heard once in "The Roadrunner segments.")
- Fred Basset
- Goof Troop (Heard once in "As Goof Would Have It.")
- Here Comes the Grump
- Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
- Histeria!
- Inspector Gadget (1983 series, Heard once in the intro and the pilot "Gadget in Winterland.")
- Kato-chan Ken-chan Gokigen TV
- Looney Tunes Cartoons (2020) (1st take used in a -12 pitch in "Basketball Bugs". This is the only episode to use this sound effect so far.)
- Mr. Men and Little Miss (Heard once in "Mr. Mean hasn't a Penny Left.")
- The New Pink Panther Show
- The Oddball Couple
- The Pink Panther Show
- Pinky and the Brain
- The Road Runner Show (Heard once in the Road Runner segments.)
- The Super 6
- Star Wars: Forces of Destiny (Heard three times in "The Starfighter Stunt"; one take used twice and another used once)
- The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries
- Teen Titans (Used in "Only Human" when Cyborg falls; in "Fractured", actually heard by Raven, when Robin and Larry fall from the sky above her; and in "Don't Touch That Dial" when Beast Boy falls ala Wile E. Coyote.)
- Tom and Jerry Tales
- Transformers (1984)
- Taz-Mania
- Tiny Toon Adventures
- The Tom and Jerry Show (Heard once in "Gravi-Tom".)
- What a Cartoon!
- What's New, Mr. Magoo?
- Xena: Warrior Princess (used constantly when characters or objects fall)
- Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (Heard twice in "Attack of the Hawkmen," once in "Love's Sweet Song," and numerous times in "Tales of Innocence." Also heard at the beginning of "Treasure of the Peacock's Eye;" some of these whistles may be identical to the Warner Bros. whistles.)
TV Specials
- Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over (1980)
- Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979)
- Bugs Bunny's Mad World of Television (1982)
- The Cat in the Hat (1971)
- Charlie Brown's All-Stars! (1966)
- The Charmkins (1983)
- A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) (heard in reverse as Woodstock, after snapping the wishbone with Snoopy, is thrown backwards)
- Daffy Duck's Easter Show (1980)
- Garfield: His 9 Lives (1988) (1st take heard briefly as fireworks launch over Garfield after he tries out lasagna, captioned as "[FIREWORKS WHISTLING]")
- Garfield in Paradise (1986)
- Halloween is Grinch Night (1977)
- It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
- It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown! (1992)
- It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown (1969)
- Pink Panther in the Olym-pinks (1980)
- You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown (1979)
Movies
- Attack! Battle of New Britain (1944) (One of the takes is used twice in reverse from bombs dropping; both precede the entire FAMOUS STUDIOS CARTOON FALL SOUND)
- A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) (heard whenever a baseball is falling.)
- A Bug's Life (1998) (May be confused with similar whistles.)
- The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
- The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981)
- Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982)
- Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island (1983)
- Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988)
- Despicable Me (2010) (This or similar whistles used for Gru's missiles.)
- Freddie as F.R.O.7 (1992)
- For Your Eyes Only (1981)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
- Iron Man (2008) (This or similar whistles used for some incoming ordnance.)
- Iron Man 2 (2010) (This or similar whistles used for some incoming ordnance.)
- Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) (Heard as a car explodes late in the film.)
- The Lion King 1½ / The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata (2004)
- Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)
- The Peanuts Movie (2015) (May be confused with similar whistles.)
- Pearl Harbor (2001) (This or similar whistles used for a number of bombshells dropping.)
- The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
- The Rugrats Movie (1998)
- Snoopy, Come Home (1972)
- Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) (First, one take heard in the beginning for overshot debris flying out of an explosion, read on MTV's captions as "missile whining". Various takes used in lower quality for the Vulture Droid missiles.)
- Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) (variants/takes used formerly for Vulture Droid missiles are heard as bombs drop from Paige's load.)
- Storks (2016)
- Toy Story 3 (2010) (Used briefly as the barrel of monkeys drops.)
- Tweety's High-Flying Adventure (2000)
- Two Guys from Texas (1948) (Heard briefly in the animated dream sequence.)
- Wakko's Wish (1999)
- WALL-E (2008) (used for GO-4 as he flies out of a window to his death.)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
- Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen (1995)
- Young Indiana Jones: Love's Sweet Song (1997) (May've been used once in low volume.)
- Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye (1995)
Shorts
- Adventures of the Road-Runner (1962) (10th fall sound heard more often, and 11th heard once.)
- All Fowled Up (1955) (Short)
- (blooper) Bunny (2nd halves of 1st fall sound and/or other fall sounds used for fireworks launching.)
- Bring Me The Head of Charlie Brown (1986) (Shorts)
- Box-Office Bunny (1990 Short)
- Clippety Clobbered (1966) (Shorts)
- Daffy's Diner (1967) (Shorts) (Played in reverse)
- DePatie-Freleng Cartoons (Shorts)
- The Duxorcist
- Hocus Pocus Pow Wow (1968) (Short)
- The Inspector Cartoons (Shorts)
- Look Before You Beep (Shorts)
- Looney Tunes Cartoons (Shorts)
- Misterjaw Cartoons (Shorts)
- The Night of the Living Duck
- Snyder Films Cartoons (Shorts)
- Pink Panther Cartoons (Shorts)
- Private Snafu
- Sugar and Spies (1966) (Shorts)
- Tom & Jerry Cartoons (Shorts)
- Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life (1965) (heard as Tom falls, trying to change his "!" to a "?")
- Tom-ic Energy (1965)
- Of Feline Bondage (1965) (twice; may be confused with similar MGM/H-B whistles)
- Duel Personality (1966)
- Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary (1966)
- Matinee Mouse (1966) (heard in the clip from "Jerry and the Lion", as Tom is propelled across the room from the closet)
- The A-Tom-Inable Snowman (1966)
- Catty Cornered (1966) (as a brick falls on the neighbor cat after an explosion)
- O-Solar Meow
Video Games
Arcade:
- Ninja Hayate
PC:
PlayStation:
Commercials
- Cheetos Commercial: Chester Meets Daffy (1999)
- Cocoa Krispies: Gorilla (1992)
- Tetris 2 (1993) (Commercials) (Heard in the "There's Bombs In It" commercial, in reverse.)
Trailers
TV Spots
Home Videos
- Animaniacs Sing Along: Yakko's World (1994) (Videos) (Heard in the "Disasterpiece Theatre" segment)
- Sing Along Looney Tunes (1998) (Videos) (Heard during the end of "Barber of Seville")
YouTube Videos
Web Originals
- Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom (All Chapters) - The Thwart of Wart (2015) (Used once in Part 1 and briefly in Part 2)
- Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom 1, 2 and 3 (2015) (Used once in Part 1 and briefly Part 2.)
- Tonia LaJaunie Videos (Heard in "Dr. Seuss' Crash Bandicoot™ The Movie: The Thievius Raccoonus", heard whenever a Dr. Cortex is falling.)
- Video Game Director's Cuts (VGDC)
Other Media
- Raymond Scott Rewired (2014) (heard twice in "Powerhouse")
Anime
- Akazukin Chacha
- Birth (1984)
- Dragon Ball Z (Ocean dub only)
- Ox Tales
- Shin Cream Lemon (Heard once in Episode 5.)
- The Sky Crawlers (2008)
- Superbook (1981)
Image Gallery
Audio Samples
All 14 different variations of the sound.
Stand-alone version of the 2nd fall sound as heard in Shot and Bothered (1966).
Take 1 recording version.
