Category: Cartoons from the 40’s

My personal favorite decade from Warner Bros. The majority of my favorites came from this era. (It was the last one where we still had Avery and Clampett)

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A Tale of Two Kitties

“HEY, BABBIT!”

Supervision by Robert Clampett; Story by Warren Foster; Animation by Rod Scribner; Musical Direction by Carl W. stalling. Released in 1942.

This short was supposed to introduce the world to new characters who would be stars for Warner Bros. But someone else stole the spotlight. The two supposed stars are two kitties. (This is their tale.)

The taller one is named Babbit (Tedd Pierce) and the stout one is Catstello. (Mel) His name is never mentioned in the short, but come on. He’s a cat and if you have any idea who Abbot and Costello are, then you know who these two are based on and you’ve made the pun yourself. (That and the studio model sheets labeled him as such.) It’s time to eat and Babbit tells his comrade to go get a bird out of a nest so they can eat. Catstello is reluctant even after he’s told of how small it is. (I guess they’d each get a mouthful, but I have a feeling Babbit would hog it all.) Turns out hes got “Heightrophobia” and it takes a pin to his backside to finally get him up the ladder.

Scared sightless as his partner is, Babbit has to angrily demand that he gives him the bird. (Catstello laments that the Hayes office is what is keeping him from fulfilling that desire. I just didn’t know the term existed in the forties.) He makes a swipe at a sleeping bird but misses. This is the birthplace of Tweety. (Inspired by nude baby photos that Clampett’s mother had and he resented.) The ladder breaks and Catstello begs to be rescued from atop the remainging pole. So scared is he that he doesn’t notice Babbit saving him until he is in his arms.

For the next attempt, Babbit shoves his pal into a box against said pals protests. He’s also afraid of the dark. Babbit lets him out and the springs on his feet bounce him up to the nest. Here, our little baby Tweety (model sheets had him labeled as Orson) utters his first words: “I tawt I taw a putty tat.” Seeing as he did taw a putty tat, Tweety has no choice but to defend himself. And does he ever! Using an arsenal of guns, clubs and even TNT sticks, he continues to beat the crap out of the poor putty tat. Catstello cries over his failure while unbeknownst to him, he sits on an explosive. When Babbit detonates it he flies up towards the nest again. But he flies past it. (Tweety helps himself to Catstello’s apple. Or rather, the worm that was inside.)

When gravity kicks in, the cat falls and is able to cling onto a telephone wire. Tweety comes over to play “This ittle piddy.” A sequence that would be reused, essentially verbatim, in “Roger Rabbit“. Even down to Tweety resembling his old design.  The bird isn’t totally heartless, as he throws the cat a rope. It’s attached to an anvil, though. Said anvil crushes the cat into the ground and drags all the surroundings towards it. This includes Babbit and his victory garden. (I really like how concerned he sounds for his friend. Turns out he really does care.) The final attempt is launching Castello with wooden wings strapped on. Wouldn’t you know it, it works. (Human beings have been trying to fly for years, and it took a simpler mind to figure it out.)

Tweety calls the “fourt interceptor tommand” to report the disturbance and the cat is blasted out of the sky. He manages to avoid landing on a pitchfork in favor of his partner. (While they didn’t become the stars, they did appear in a couple more shorts after this. But they were mice. How humiliating.) Tweety is now on the ground and initiates a blackout. Seeing their chance, the two cats stalk their prey with faces that haunted my childhood.  Tweety doesn’t freak out, though. He yells at the two to turn out the lights like he told them too. Their glowing eyes instantly dim. (As does the moon.)

Personal Rating: 4

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Wagon Heels

“Him, screwball.”

Directed by Robert Clampett; Animation by Rod Scribner, Manny Gould, I. Ellis, and C. Melendez; Layouts and Backgrounds by Thomas McKimson and Michael Sasanoff; Voice Characterization by Mel Blanc; Musical Direction by Carl Stalling. Released in 1945.

What’s going on? Why is this place updating a day early? Well, I’m working tomorrow so you’ll have to put up with me during your holiday. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day! If you’re racist, the Martin Luther King snake will bite you!

This is a color remake of an earlier short by Clampett called “Injun Trouble.” This new title is much more friendly. If I was smart, I would have reviewed all the shorts in chronological order. (However, I amn’t smart.)

In 1849, the U.S. was a much smaller country. It was all relegated to the east coast and the rest of the land belonged to the red man, Injun Joe. (If he was born today, he’d be called Native American Joe.) But if you read your history books, (And I know you did. Kids love history!) you’ll know that the white men decided that the land was theirs and they would soon have it. A wagon train is headed to what is today known as California. (Back then, it was Joelifornia.) There are some familiar looking faces in those wagons. They look an awful lot like the gremlins from “Russian Rhapsody.”

Seeing as they’re entering enemy territory, (Containing such lovely locales as Joeklahoma, New Mexijoe, Minnejoeta, and Injunsaas.) they send out a scout to watch for trouble. Who better than my pal, Porky? Not too long after crossing the border, he finds the remnants of Joe’s last massacre. There’s only one survivor: Sloppy Moe. A blue-skinned runaway from Wackyland who may or may have clearly been driven insane by Joe’s wrath. He does admit to knowing something he won’t tell. Shouting that it’s a secret when Porky inquires. Porky shrugs him off as a lost cause.

Now why don’t we check in on this Joe character? How strong is he? And what of his age? Is the mighty Joe, young? Well, he’s certainly earned his title. He’s the original Joe Cool. He doesn’t walk around mountains, he walks through. Trees with what look like Tweety clones in his way? Them too, without pity. He reduces the most ferocious of bears into whimpering cubs, and bites bear traps into letting him go. Naturally, if you’re going to fight him, you’re going to have to send someone beyond cool, manly, and cunning. And I don’t see how you could disagree with me, but Porky fits that description. Unfortunately, Joe has found Porky’s wagon train and diverts them off course leaving them out in the open. You might think Joe loses coolness points for riding a stick horse, but that’s actually quite clever. What horse could hold his weight?

The train tries to fight back, but they don’t stand a chance. Joe uses whole trees as arrows and can make uses of bullets too. He crams them in his mouth and fires back cannon shells at them. Porky catches up and wrestles Joe’s tomahawk away from him and gives him a smack on the foot. At least he hurt Joe. That’s more than any of us could have done. The angry Injun causes Porky to jump out of his skin-colored pants, and chases him to a cliff. It looks bad. How could things get worse? Well, Moe comes back. He’s still singing about his secret, but Joe won’t put up with such tomfoolery and demands to know it. Turns out, he already did.

Moe’s secret is about Joe’s weakness: he’s ticklish. Using his beard Moe tickles the burly brave into submission and he falls off the cliff. The force of his impact causes all of his territory to be dragged down with him, stretching our country to it’s current size. Goodbye, U.S.J. and hello U.S.A. (Bet you didn’t know that the country was fully formed at that time. We just didn’t announce it until 1912.) It’s all thanks to our heroes: Porky the fearless and Sloppy Moe the brave. (Moe would appear years later on “Tiny Toons” when they did a parody of “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery.” There, he was called Ticklepuss.

Personal Rating: 4 Better than the original. (If I was smart, it’d be discussed by now.)

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The Wise Quacking Duck

“Buck up, B.B. eyes!”

Do you like quacksberry pie?

Supervision by Robert Clampett; Story by Warren Foster; Animation by Phil Monroe; Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling. Released in 1943.

Hope you weren’t expecting me to keep trying to tie the week’s featured short into something related to the time of year. I’m past that. Here’s another short with a one of those one time appearing characters that Termite Terrace loved so much. This is Mr. Meek. His voice annoys me to no end, but he isn’t Red Hot Ryder so he’s not all bad. Today, his wife wants roast duck for dinner. He doesn’t really have the heart for it, but what Sweetie-Puss wants, Sweetie-Puss gets. Luckily, there is a duck who is casually resting his head against a tree stump. Just begging to be chopped off. Unluckily, it’s Daffy. (Oh, like you couldn’t tell.)

He doesn’t take too kindly to the near decapitation and decides to really mess with Meek. (He looks like a Marvin. Let’s call him Marvin.) He starts by shoving his head into his neck and spraying ketchup around. (Geeze!) This does not help Marvin’s case at all and he slumps back to his house. There’s a kind soul inside willing to lend an ear to his woes: Daffy again. He offers Meek a cup of coffee, but finds that Sweetie-Puss already beat him to the “giving lumps” joke. This doesn’t stop him from adding more. And cream! AND DANCING IN THE FOOD! (This might be Daffy at his craziest.)

Meek catches on that it’s the same daffy duck as earlier and chases, running into a drawing Daffy put up on the wall. The duck then drops an egg on him from high up in the air. (Is there no roof?) But Meek has reached his boiling point. He points a gun at Daffy. What else can he do? Strip! No, really. Daffy starts taking off his feathers rather seductively, causing the poor man to blush. (It’s a good thing his wife doesn’t come in at this point. In fact, we never see her. She’s probably really beautiful.) Don’t worry, he stops once he reaches his boxer shorts. Next he dresses up as a swami with a Jerry Colona-esque voice. Not only does he read the bumps on Marvin’s head, (The one’s from earlier have healed, so he thoughtfully adds more.) but he offers him his palm red. (This is such a great joke. I’ve used it on my friend before. He luckily thought it was funny too.)

Meek grabs his gun again in a bit of animation that looks just like the one earlier. (Even Daffy points out this is the second time it’s happened in the same picture.) Meek shoves him in the oven and turns it up full blast! But he can’t bear to hear Daffy screaming from inside and opens the door. Is this the end of Daffy Duck? Nah. He’s still alive and well and happily basting himself. It ends like that, leading me to believe that they didn’t have much of a story in mind and just wanted to have Daffy be daffy for the sake of being daffy. (And God bless them for it.)

Personal Rating: 3

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The Wacky Wabbit

“You chubby little rascal!”

Supervision by Robert Clampett; Story by Warren Foster; Animation by Sid Sutherland; Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling. Released in 1942.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been able to connect the featured short with something appropriate for the time of year. Can I do it again? You bet! Elmer is in his fat phase again, just like how most of us are after the holidays. (But not me because I was dieting all of last year.)

Elmer is out in the desert. (My guess is it’s in California. Do you really care though?) He’s off prospecting for gold whilst singing “Oh, Susannah!” (No one sings that anymore though. Shame.) Bugs is there too, hiding under a bovine skull. He says hi to the the passing prospector, who politely says hi back. Not getting the reaction he wanted, Bugs tags along joining in the song. Eventually, Elmer catches on and freaks out. (I know I would be if I saw a singing skull with eyes still in the sockets.) He quickly figures out it was just that “scwewey wabbit” and starts digging. (I love how he makes an “X” before digging in a completely different spot.)

He drops an explosive down the hole, but it keeps popping back up. In desperation, he zips the hole up an hides. Being the nice guy he is, (*snicker*) Bugs returns him his T.N.T. Elmer cowers, but the stick was a dud. That doesn’t stop Bugs from shouting “BAM” anyway. Elmer grabs his gun but Bugs has exciting news: Gold has been found! Where is it? It’s his gold tooth. Elmer shows off his own before realizing the trick. He tries to dig Bugs out of his hole, but his pick axe has gotten stuck in the cliff wall behind him. Bugs uses this opportunity to cut Fudd’s clothes off, revealing his girdle. Seeing us laughing, Elmer scolds us, saying that he’s sure plenty of the audience’s men wear one too. (Not me personally, but I love how comfortable he is with himself.)

Redressing, he leaps into the hole himself. Bugs buries him and walks off. (Notice that the shot has changed. They were in a canyon before, but now they appear to be out in the open.) Elmer escapes somehow and tells the wabbit his plans: he came for gold, and he’s going to get it. And Bugs definitely has some. Bugs is not willing to part with a piece of his body, so Elmer tackles him and wrestles it away. The short ends with him smiling at his success, unaware that the tooth he is holding is his.

Personal Rating: 3

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The Old Grey Hare

“What’s up, Pruneface?”

A bad case of rabbitightens.

Direction by Robert Clampett; Animation by Robert McKimson; Story by Michael Sasanoff; Voice Characterization by Mel Blanc; Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling. Released in 1944.

Here’s your final entry of 2016. Everyone has already said that this year sucked. They’re right. I’d go more into it, but this blog is for Looney Tunes and Looney Tunes related things. So, let’s just agree that the year was crap, we’ll hope the next will be better and around this time next year, we’ll be saying the exact same things. Now then, with time constantly moving on, why not talk about a short that shows just that?

Elmer is crying. It’s only been four years since he started, but he’s already given up hope on ever succeeding in getting Bugs. A voice tells him to keep trying. It’s never explicitly stated, but it’s kinda obvious that it’s God. (And he’s voiced by Mel. Don’t you think it would have been a bit more clever if he was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan?) Elmer agrees that he should keep trying, but how long will it take? So God allows Elmer to look into the future to see how things will turn out. This means one of two things: either he’ll succeed, or die trying.

It seems that things will come to an end in 2000 A.D. Which is odd; I was alive by that point and I don’t recall any of this. (But then, I had just discovered Cable T.V. and it was hard to pry me away.) A lot has changed. (And I don’t just mean appearance wise.) The horse Bing Crosby bet on still hasn’t come in, and Smellivision replaced Television. (The paper that Fudd is reading says that Carl Stalling doesn’t think it will catch on. Guess he was right.) And Elmer is now toting a “Buck Wogers Wightning Qwick Wabbit Kiwwer.” There’s no way he can lose! All we need now is Bugs.

Luckily, he pops up not too long afterwards. He’s looking pretty good for being 54 years older. (All that time has passed and I only can see one grey hare.) Sure he’s aged somewhat, (less teeth, glasses, and a beard) but he still has enough strength to strangle Elmer before hobbling away. (Seems like he’s got lumbago too.) Elmer fires his new weapon, and wouldn’t you know it: he shoots Bugs. The bunny can’t believe it either. He begins reminiscing and gives Fudd a present: A photo album! It shows all their good times together, including the first time they ever met. That happened when they were babies. Even though Fudd’s picture is labeled with him being “only 3 and a 1/2 years old.” (They just couldn’t resist making that joke again. It really should say “seconds” instead of years. Wouldn’t it be funnier to think that the very first thing Elmer did after being born was go hunting?)

A flashback ensues. Elmer is crawling along with a pop gun and looks into a small rabbit hole. Bug’s pops up and babbles some baby talk while drinking carrot juice. (Luckily there is a subtitle for those of us older than the age of 1. But then they both start talking in English. I guess we’re just seeing things from their point of view?) They begin their first chase of many. Only to stop briefly to take a nap. When they resume, Bugs is able to get away. (This proves that no matter how many times Bugs is called a “rabbit” he is really more of a hare, as young rabbits are born naked and helpless, whereas hares are not.) Needing to match his prey’s speed, Elmer gets a stroller and drives after the leveret. (That’s the term for a baby hare, folks.)

Miming a cop, (that includes miming a motorcycle too. Something proto-Bugs did once. Leading me to believe he is Bug’s father.) he pulls Fudd over and berates him for speeding. After he leaves Fudd crying in his carriage, (I think that’s a real baby cry too. Way to be authentic, Bob.) the flashback ends and we go back to the two seniors. (This is the only Bugs Bunny short where Bugs doesn’t appear once as his modern self.) Elmer is devastated that he has killed his oldest and dearest friend, while Bugs starts digging his own grave. He tells Elmer to smile while he does it. (Doesn’t every dying person say that?) Elmer is so distraught that he doesn’t notice Bugs switching places with him, until the rabbit (I mean hare) buries him alive.

So there’s God’s answer: Elmer is never going to win. Elmer is unhappy, but he takes some solace in the fact that he is rid of Bugs forever. Bugs comes back to give him some parting gifts: a goodbye kiss, and a lit firecracker. Don’t worry. Bob may use actual crying of children for sound effects, but he draws the line at blowing up the elderly. But that doesn’t stop it from rattling the “That’s All Folks!” end card once it does blow.

Personal Rating: 4

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The Bashful Buzzard

“Just watch me folks!”

Why don’t he do this more often?

Directed by Robert Clampett; Story by Michael Sasanoff; Animation by Robert McKimson; Voice Characterization by Mel Blanc; Musical Direction by Carl Stalling. Released in 1945.

Finally get to talk about Beaky again! I love this guy! (No! Really?) But the poor bird only had four appearances in his theatrical career, so I can’t give him his own entry. (And yet, he was pretty popular in merchandise at the time.) At first, he was just called “The Snerd Bird” due to his resemblance to Mortimer Snerd. And he wasn’t voiced by Mel. (At first) His original voice voice actor was a talented young man named Kent Rogers. He was a semi-regular in these shorts. Being the original voice of Henrey Hawk and Junyer Bear, and voicing caricatures of Hollywood’s finest in “Hollywood Steps Out” (And he was only 14 at the time!) He died during some training for World War II. Friggin’ Hitler! This is all his fault! Along with “Fantasia” not getting a European release! I wouldn’t be born for decades and he still ruined my life!

This short starts very similar to Beaky’s first appearance in “Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid.” Mama buzzard even telling her boys to bring back the same things she did then. Perhaps aware that this has been done before, everyone’s lines are more exaggerated. Beaky really doesn’t want to go, but is kicked out anyway. His brothers target a farm and each grab some poultry. (By the necks even! They’re not kidding around.) Beaky tries to do the same, but crashes into a weather vane. His mom rescues him, sarcastically comparing him to his father. (Am I the only one who’s curious about him?)

She points out his brothers are now each carrying home a sheep. Wanting to make his mom proud, Beaky tries the same, but just pulls the wool off. The sheep beats him for that. The brothers have moved on to even bigger game by this time. Including: a cow complete with a farmer milking her, (the farmer avoids being part of their dinner, but still plummets to his doom) a dog who really doesn’t want to die, (he desperately clings to a fire hydrant) a freakin’ horse drawn carriage complete with driver and romantic couple, (at least they’re going to die happily) and even a parade of circus elephants! (Including a cute little baby one at the end who informs Disney’s lawyers that he’s NOT Dumbo.) Mama happily shoves all the meat into the pot. Seeing as Beaky hasn’t come home yet, she figures he must be bringing home something fantastic!

Well, he caught a bumblebee. (A baby one yes, but still…) The mother comes to her young’s rescue and stings Beaky.  While he soothes his aching tail feathers, a creature laughs at him. Seeing that he is taller than the thing that is most definitely a caterpillar or turtle, he begins pummeling and insulting the creature. Even nearly swearing, calling him a piece of shhhhhhoe leather. (I didn’t know the term even existed in the 40’s.) Unfortunately, Shorty (as Beaky calls him) is actually the head of a dragon. A. Dragon. And it’s not too happy about Beaky trying to carry it off. It roars, but Beaky tells it to stop scaring Shorty. He realizes it IS Shorty and is chased into a cloud where he is presumably thrashed.

Later that night, Mama laments the fact her son is gone. (Isn’t that sweet? As hard as she may be on him, it’s because she loves him and just wants him to be strong.) Every parent’s worst nightmare is over when Beaky shows up. Perfectly healthy, but a little roughed up. And empty handed. (No really. Look at his wings. There’s nothing there.) Happy as she is, she still scolds him for not bringing home any meat. (It’s the only way he’ll learn.) It’s a shame that the short ends here. I want to see her face when she see’s the DRAGON that her son is now currently holding. And that is why I’ll never forget Beaky. He took on a dragon and won. He’s going to get all the b*tches.

Personal Rating: 3, but if the beginning wasn’t an obvious repeat, I might have opted for a 4.

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Prehistoric Porky

“♫ A-hunting I will g-go! ♫”

Mama, baby, dad!

Supervision by Robert Clampett; Animation by John Carey; Story by Melvin Miller; Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling. Released in 1940.

This short takes place in the year One billion, trillion B.C. Or if your mind isn’t able to picture such a ways back: it was a long time ago. It was a rough time. Strange monstrous animals roamed the earth, and according to a Jerry Colonna vulture, it was when men wanted big chests, babies were born with lots more hair, and women felt they only needed fig leaves to be dressed. They truly were wonderful days.

Living in cave number 123 1/2, is my pig, Porky. He starts his morning the way any caring pet owner does, by giving his animal companion, Rover, a bone. Rover is some sort of hippopotasaurus. A sauropod whose head is the only part that can fit in his house. The rest of his body has no choice but to brave the elements. But he is happy enough. He wags his tail so much, that nesting mothers in trees are forced to flee and some dinosaurs lose all of their armor plating. One raptor (avian in this case) angrily takes it as this apparently happens every day.

Next, Porky goes to get his mail. He rips the bills in half (Atta boy! Stick it to the ᶜᵃᵛᵉman!) and goes for his new issue of “Expire” magazine. (Which not only advertises Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, but has some familiar looking names on the front, like Cob Blampett, Farren Woster, and Mubby Tillar.) Seems like the new styles are here, and Porky’s suit will just not do. Club in hand, he heads off into the wilderness to do some prehistoric clothes shopping. He knows no fear. Kicking a roaring therapod in the shin and breaking up a group of loitering nasties. He finds an adorable little kitten and does what I’m pretty sure everyone does when they see one: plans to kill it. Look at how sexy he looks! Don’t tell me you wouldn’t pose the same! Either way, the cub gets the drop on him with its own club and escapes.

Meanwhile, a saber-toothed feline of some sort is on the prowl. I’m not entirely sure what it is. Porky calls it a tiger but it has no stripes. It can’t be a species of smilodon because that tail is too long. I guess its a new species! Clampett may have discovered it, but he didn’t identify it, so it is now the Saber-toothed leopard. (Panthera clampettitus.) Seeing as it is close enough to dinner time, he tries to have some cave bacon. Porky is not scared and takes a swing. The predator is too hard headed though and chews his club into clothespins. He chases and soon corners the cave pig.

Porky apologizes saying he never meant any harm, he just wanted a new suit. (Best excuse ever. It’s kept me out of prison.) The feline says that Porky should have just said so. He can get one for him wholesale!

Personal Rating: 3, unless you’re a Porky fanboy. (Like me. Then it’s a 4.)

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Patient Porky

“Ohhh, my poor b-be-b-be-b-be- tummy!””

Supervision by Robert Clampett; Story by Warren Foster; Animation by Norman McCabe; Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling. Released in 1940.

This short is based on the book “The Pains Came.”

At a hospital, we see that the floors are organized by the alphabet, leading me to believe there are 26 floors. We get some hospital gags including a paging for “Sir Jury” and a list of the days births. Not all surprisingly, the rabbits are winning with a total of 490. Proto-Bugs makes a cameo to correct the number to 750. What’s interesting is this came out after Bugs made his fully fleshed out debut in “A Wild Hare.” (But then, I’m sure both were being worked on at roughly the same time.)

One ward is under the care of Dr. Chris Chun. (No relation to the amazingly charismatic Dr. Foolio.) He checks on his patients. Poor little Olley Owl has to shout that he can’t talk above a whisper, whilst another patient gets some good news: his bones are literally knitting. Herbie the hippo is in because he swallowed a piano. Cartoon or not, why would he do that? Is this a mental ward? That would explain Crazy Cat in the next bed. (Note: Crazy with a “C”, I don’t need to be sued.) He delights in playing said piano and annoying Herbie. It can’t be good for his digestive system either.

Porky enters the scene asking for a doctor. Chun must be on lunch or something because that mentally unstable cat leaps at the chance. Introducing himself as Dr. Chilled Air, he asks the pig what’s wrong. Seems Porky ate too much at a birthday party: 3/4 of a cake with the candles still lit! (Cool!) Making like a horror film, the cat puts him in a hospital gown and happily sings about his first patient. He wheels my pal into surgery and gleefully sharpens some knives. Porky is getting rightfully freaked out, especially when the phony physician starts aiming to saw him open without any anesthesia. Making a break for it, Porky runs for home.

Unfortunately, Crazy McCutlery, is right behind. But Porky has a plan. When the maniac corners him in his bed he finds a sign on Porky’s gut: “Do not open until Christmas.” This doesn’t hold him for long though, as he hops in bed with him intending to wait. (I swear cat, if anything bad happens to my buddy, I will submit you to horrors so psychologically scarring, that you will turn sane with fear! Oh wait. This short is over seventy years old and Porky is still alive. My mistake.)

Personal Rating: 3

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Hare Ribbin’

“Mama, Baby, Dad!”

You naughty bow-wow!

Directed by Robert Clampett; Story by Lou Lilly; Animation by Robert McKimson; Voice Characterization by Mel Blanc; Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling. Released in 1944.

Besides the titular hare, this short stars a dog who looks like Willoughby with a haircut. He’s Russian because it’s a reference to a character on the “Eddie Cantor” radio program. While sniffing around for a rabbit, he rather abruptly runs into Bugs. Bugs claims to have not seen any rabbits, but this dog isn’t as dumb as Red Hot Ryder and gives chase shortly thereafter. He chases Bugs into a lake. And I’m not kidding, the rest of the short takes place underwater. I guess a friend of Clampett’s really had a fetish for characters being underwater and Clampett was too good of a friend to suggest he go get help.

Of course, being underwater makes for a perfect excuse to have Bugs dress up as a mermaid. So maybe that’s the whole reason it’s underwater. I don’t really care though. This is Clampett! I’ve accepted stranger things than this from him. The dog, who shall be called Vladimir,  (It’s my blog and I’ll be as uncreative as I want!) falls for the get up and hits on “her.” Agreeing to play games, they start up a round of tag. Bugs uses his tail-fin to slap the dog around. He removes his disguise, which wasn’t the best time since Vladimir immediately catches on and declares he is having a rabbit sandwich for dinner.

Happy to oblige, Bugs plays waiter. Unfortunately, they’re out of rabbit. (No rabbit in a lake? I’m shocked.) Masquerading as Fudd he tells the dog he’s going to get him a wabbit. Vladimir once more catches on sooner than most would against Bugs. He demands his sandwich and Bugs crawls between the (I guess waterproof) bread and lettuce. But he lets us know that he will be scrunched up. Vladimir doesn’t know this, takes a big chomp and feels guilty for killing Bugs. He cries and wishes for himself to be dead.

There’s two ways this scene plays out: Bugs gives the dog a gun and he shoots himself, and the director’s cut where Bugs shoots the dog himself. (I don’t like that. It seems too out of character for Bugs.) With the danger gone, Bugs leaves. Vladimir stops the iris out to deliver one more line before he goes: “This shouldn’t even happen to a dog!” (The same line would be spoken by another animated dog in his first appearance: “Courage the cowardly dog.” And he got a whole series! Poor Vladimir only got a cameo in “Back in Action” after this.)

Personal Rating: 3

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Farm Frolics

“♪There’s no place like home!♪”

Supervision by Robert Clampett. Released in 1941.

A beautiful farm is drawn in by a realistic hand. (That windmill doesn’t look finished, you fraud!) It’s time for some farm jokes! A horse has been trained very well. He trots when you say trot. He gallops when you say gallop. When you say canter, he imitates Eddie Cantor. (We’re still working on that one) The farmer’s dog may be old, but he is still dependable. He still fetches the paper every morning. (Gotta get his Dick Tracy fix) And we also see some piglets watching a clock. If you’re visiting this place for the first time, you should know that pigs are my favorite animal ever, and piglets are the cutest cutes that ever dared to cute. They’re the origin point of the word. It is odd that they choose to watch a clock, but I’m not going to spoil their fun.

A mother hen leaves her eggs. Not smart. They are being watched by a hungry weasel. He sneaks up to feast, when the chicks hatch and nearly give him a heart attack. In the nearby forest, there are lots more animals to have fun with. (You didn’t think we’d stay on the farm for all of our frolics did you?) There we see a field mouse with abnormally large ears, who keeps hearing things. Believe it or not, he has a name. His name is Rosebud. And even though he only appeared in one other short besides this one, we got some merchandise of him.

Let sleeping statues lie.

Even though they are small, even ants care for their young by calling them home. For the sake of not boring you, I will refrain from pointing out all the misleading ant facts that are shown here. Except for the ant butt crack. (What is up with that?) As we head back to the farm, we see the pigs still at the clock. They refuse to go play. I guess that clock is more entertaining than we will ever know.

A more bizarre sight is that of a cat and a mouse in a loving embrace. Apparently the cat loves that mouse and takes good care of him. This doesn’t stop the mouse from begging for help and trying to escape. The cat catches him and happily goes back to sleep. Before the day is over though, we stop by the piglets one more time. Seems they were watching the clock to know when it was their favorite time of day: Dinnertime. They happily run home to their mother’s teat and began suckling. (“Every day it’s the same thing.”)

Personal Rating: 3