“Good morning, neighbor!”
Supervision by Fred Avery; Story by Rich Hogan; Animation by Robert McKimson; Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling. A Merrie Melody released on February 15, 1941. (Can anyone tell me why searching for this cartoon brings up “The Haunted Mouse” as the first result? I admit it would be quite useful if I really meant to search for that one but typed in this one because I’m drunk on poster paint.)
Willoughby is inspired! It was that fateful billboard for Barko dog food that did it. That proud picture of a perfectly poised pointer will persuade any pooch to pick up pointing as a pastime. (Good thing, as the food sucks.) Willoughy is go going to track a quail. It’s not oddly specific because the title promised us one. I see it as a waste of time though. On the list of birds I’ve eaten, quail ranked at the bottom. Granted, the list is only five birds long, but it’s six if we can count turducken as a species.
He takes off and almost instantly crashes into a tree. Caught unawares, the camera keeps panning without him for three seconds. When hound and camera are reunited, a sound is heard! It’s a whistle if ever I’ve heard one. And not just any whistle; the whistle of a Odoltophoridae averyius, or the crackpot quail, to you. The males of this species have the topknot you’d expect a quail to have, but they don’t improve their status with the ladies much. In fact, the birds see them as a prime source of irritation, mainly because the feathers aren’t rigid, and droop into their faces. The whistling call they make is from their fruitless efforts in trying to blow it away.
Willoughby asks this little bird is he heard a sound that sounded like a whistle, but looks like a raspberry. You think there’s chicanery afoot? You’re very astute. Censorship aired its head in a unique fashion, that really insults everybody’s intelligence. For you see, the bird originally made raspberry-esque noises to keep the topknot up top. Observe.
The problem? I really don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t sound like flatulence to me. Maybe if you were horribly constipated, and had marshmallows crammed up your colon. I get more of a broken kazoo vibe. Maybe it’s because Willoughby’s sounds so much more proper? But if we changed that one, we’d have to edit them all? Personally, I think it should have been left alone. You want a rude noise? A phlegm snort will satisfy that disturbing craving.
The quail is Cracky! Naming characters is why anyone comes here. There is someone on this planet who saw this short in theaters and wished someone would christen the quail. I’m here for you. He’s kind of a Bugs wannabe, what with being another woodland creature and calling the dog “doc”. He’s just not very screwy if I’m being honest. He doesn’t have a wacky laugh, or manic tendencies, or anything that suggests he’d bother you if you didn’t bother him first. Shouting that he is a quail in the dog’s ear after he accused him of such is the craziest he goes. It’s a good thing there’s good jokes here. And hey, why not a quail? Quail is fun to say!
And when Willoughby tries to give chase, he crashes into “Another tree.” What’s an Avery flick without a running gag? “Page Miss Glory!” (Feet discoloration.) The tracking leads into a pond where the bird is found swimming amongst the fish. He makes good gag use of his plume, using it as both a periscope and a windshield wiper upon exiting the water. (Why does Tex like having his dog chase prey underwater? Is he confusing him with a freshwater dogfish again?)
When Cracky looks to be in an inescapable situation, he gets rid of Willoughby by starting a game of fetch. I love that dog’s run cycle. Notice how his hing legs stretch over his head with every bound? I could watch a two hour loop of that. When he realizes he’s been had, he makes his maddest, most furious dash yet. Cracky makes a sharp turn, and the longest skid in animation history takes place. (Go ahead and disprove me if you can. I won’t be too upset.) We don’t really see the skid in action, but we do see all the damage it caused. Ending up with a pile of “lots of trees.”
Favorite Part: Willoughby’s angry barks are funny enough, what with being gruff readings of ‘ruff’ but it gets even better when he asides to us “That means that I’m getting pretty sore.”
Personal Rating: 3. Maybe if Cracky had a more developed personality he could have been remembered as one of the great one shots.