You no doubt recognize the melodious amphibian from the 1955 cartoon One Froggy Evening, written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones. The frog didn't have a name in the cartoon but in 1960, Jones was one of the folks behind the prime-time ABC series, The Bugs Bunny Show and they ran the '55 cartoon along with a bit of new footage to frame it.
For the occasion, the frog got a name — Enrico, as in "Enrico Caruso" — but I don't think it was used on the program. The only place I've ever seen it was on this drawing that Jones did for publicity purposes.
Everyone soon forgot it and some years later, when (I'm told) the merchandising division at Warners felt the frog should have a name, he became Michigan J. Frog. Both names probably came from Jones. One of the songs the frog warbles in the original cartoon is "The Michigan Rag," which unlike the other tunes in his repertoire, was not a golden oldie. It was written for the cartoon.
But you know what name never appeared anywhere? Not on the show, not on the merchandise…nowhere? The name of Bill Roberts, the singer whose voice came out of the beloved croaking creature. Mr. Roberts had a nice career singing on radio and in recording sessions and many other places but he didn't have much of an on-camera presence. Here he is singing a tune in the 1942 movie, The Yanks Are Coming…