The Foghorn Leghorn

“Still trying to prove you’re a chicken?”

Don’t I pick the most creatively titled cartoons to review?

It starts with Henery Hawk begging his dad to let him go chicken hunting with him. His dad says no because chickens are vicious monsters. This does not deter Henery in the slightest and secretly follows his pop. At the chicken farm Henery’s father gets beaten up by Foghorn. Having witnessed this Henery asks if that was a chicken. Not wanting to admit he was beaten by his prey, Dad identifies the rooster as “a loud mouthed schnook”

The dad goes away for the rest of the film and Henery tries to catch a chicken on his own. Finding a chickens “cave” (doghouse) he ventures in and easily nabs a “chicken.” Seeing this, Foghorn claims that he himself is a chicken while accidentally beating the farmyard Dawg. Henery does not believe and of course the dog calls a rooster a schnook as well. Eventually, after many failed attempts and many beatings of the dog. (Who thinks Foghorn is the one bothering him) he finally calls the chicken a chicken. Henery hears this and carries the rooster off. Now Foghorn identifies himself as a loud mouthed schnook.

Personal Rating: 3

Bugs and Thugs

“Jiggers! The cops!”

It’s rabbit season, but Bugs is a city dweller, so he’s in no danger. That all changes when a mysterious car stops at the bank Bugs is at. Mistaking it for a taxi, Bugs hops in and soon finds out its the getaway car of Rocky and Mugsy! (The latter of whom is making his first appearance.) Figuring out they are crooks, Bugs tries to call for help, but fails and now has to stall the crooks. When they get to the hideout, Rocky tells Mugsy to let Bugs have it. In the other room, Bugs asks to be given “it”, with “it” being the gun.

To survive, Bugs imitates the cops, causing the crooks to hide in the oven. Still pretending, (Even though he could now leave. Classic Bugs) he tells himself that if they were in the oven, he would not turn on the gas or throw in a lighted match. After his charade, the real police arrive causing the same dialogue we just heard. The crooks beg to be arrested, and Bugs goes back to the city as a detective.

Personal Rating: 4

Lady Play your Mandolin

“Hola!”

https://youtu.be/1CmA7MZR7LU

This is the first Merrie Melody and is one of my all time favorites, so lets get this party started.

We open on a bar with one of the catchiest songs ever played. (These old M.M.’s titles were just the name of the song that was played in the short.) All the customers are singing and drinking (beer) and having a great old time. After some music we find our character, Foxy. He is riding his horse to the party to have some fun. He arrives and plans to go in but his horse wants in on the action. Foxy ties his neck around a cactus (Imagine how horrible that would be!) and goes in.

He drinks and the entertainment begins. It is Roxy and Foxy asks her to (all together now) “Play her mandolin!” She complies and more music ensures. The horse is ticked at being left out and unties himself. He yells some thing and Foxy breaks some tequila over his head. His horse gets drunk and comes in. He drinks more and starts to hallucinate wildly. Pretty scary. He burns up and our characters finish their song.

Personal Rating: 4 (First cartoons aren’t supposed to be this good.)

Tortoise Wins by a Hare

“Here comes the toitle.”

In what may be the first Looney Tunes clip show, we see footage from Bugs’ first race against Cecil Turtle. As we all know, Cecil won, and Bugs is ticked. How did he do it? He goes to Cecil’s house in disguise and asks for the secret. Cecil tells him that his shell is streamlined and that rabbits are retards. Bugs is mad and runs off to make sure he’ll win the next race. Cecil of course knew who it was the whole time and speculates that another race is about to happen.

The day of the race arrives and the rabbits are betting everything on the rabbit, and they are sure to have some tricks. They begin and Bugs puts on a metal tortoise shell in hopes of raising his aerodynamics. However, Cecil is now wearing a rabbit suit and as mentioned before, rabbits are dumb. They clobber Bugs and carry Cecil to the finish. Bugs reveals who he is and the rabbits commit suicide.

Personal Rating: 4

Bugs Bunny gets the Boid

“Shh! I’m a-stalking a victim.”

Its Beaky Buzzard’s debut and he is sent by his mother to get food for dinner. (While she stays home and does who knows what) Beaky wants no part of this, but his mom kicks him out saying to at least get a rabbit. (We all know where this is heading)

The Snerd bird sees Bugs and grabs him. Bugs says he must shower first, but Beaky catches on. He leaps into the hole only to find Bugs dressed as a woman. Bugs smacks him with his towel and runs. Beaky catches him and flies off. Bugs rips out one of his feathers and tickles him into letting go. Bugs lands in front of a skeleton and mistakes it for his own. On seeing his feet he realizes he is okay.

He goes off but Beaky grabs him. They dance and Bugs puts him in front of the skeleton. Beaky calls for his mom and she is ticked. Bugs reveals that her “leetle keeler” is fine and she declares him a hero instead!

Personal Rating: 4

Feed the Kitty

“Don’t you dare bring one more thing into this house!”

A little kitten comes across a big dog. He tries to frighten her, but she treats him as her bed. Falling for her, Marc Antony takes her with him to her new home. The mistress of the house decides the dog has enough material objects and warns him to not bring in anymore things. So now he must try to keep the kitten hidden. This lady never stops moving and frequently runs into it. Puppy has to pass it off as a toy and a powder puff just to keep it safe.

When she comes into the kitchen, he hides it in the flour bin. Wouldn’t you know it, she is about to make cookies. He tries to save her, but the mistress throws him out. Unbeknownst to him, his kitty crawls out of the bowl but not before he thinks she has been beaten, rolled out, cut into shapes, and baked. The dog is reduced to a blubbering wreck and the woman tries to cheer him up with a cat shaped cookie. (Seriously, who makes cookies shaped like cats?) He puts it on his back and cries, but surprise! She’s alive! The woman finally gets wise and says if he takes care of it, he can keep it. A happy ending for all.

Rating: 5

Frigid Hare

“Jumping ice cubes! Its freezing!”

Out of the two shorts that Playboy Penguin appeared in, this is my favorite. Bugs is on his way for a vacation and makes a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ends up at the south pole. There he saves a penguin from an… Eskimo? (Never mind. I’m not going to mention he’s in the wrong hemisphere.) Now the little bird is smitten with him and we see the cutest scene ever! (I want to hold him) Bugs throws him away, and sees him get nabbed by the Inuit. Realizing he must do the right thing he disguises himself as a woman again, and manages to rescue the penguin.

Upon the guy’s realization that his dreamboat is a rabbit, the chase begins. They end up dangling over a cliff where Playboy returns the favor and saves bugs. (The Eskimo is carried off by a whale that has a vertical tail. WRONG!) Bugs wants nothing more to do with the bird and just wants to get to his vacation spot. Until he learns that the days down there are 6 months long! We wont see bugs again until 1951. (Not literally.)

Personal Rating: 3

Haredevil Hare

“I’m alone on the moon!”

In the cartoon that was the first appearance of our favorite martian, we find Bugs being forced to be the first rabbit to be sent into space. He is reluctant at first until he sees all the carrots being loaded into the ship. Once on the moon he encounters Marvin (who has a way different voice) preparing to blow up the earth. Bugs takes the infamous illudium pu 36 explosive space modulator and Marvin’s reserves (or his dog K-9) is sent to retrieve it. Bugs and the dog end up in a comedic embrace and Bugs makes his getaway. He then returns the explosive to the martians attached to a detonator. Bugs lowers the plunger and finally the scientists get through to him and ask for a statement for the press. Bugs response is “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” All that’s left of the moon is a sliver and Bugs… with the two martians hanging on to him for dear life.

Personal Rating: 3

Hair-Raising Hare

“Did you ever get the feeling you was being watched?”

You can probably tell from the title, that Gossamer is in this one. He is, and it’s his first appearance.

Bugs is being watched by a Peter Lorre scientist who is trying to lure him into his lair to be the monsters dinner. He succeeds with a female rabbit decoy. “You don’t need to lock that door mac, I don’t want to leave” Bugs coyly remarks. Upon realizing he has been had, he tries to bid a hasty retreat, but Gossy won’t let him go that easily and what happens is a romp around the castle.

Gossamer is a particularly nasty foe and Bugs has to dispose of him not one, but three times. Its a great short in a place where lamps dance, rabbits become manicurists, monsters are scared of people, and where the pictures watch your every move.

Personal Rating: 4

Dripalong Daffy

“Probably didn’t have his iron today.”

Well, Porky and Daffy got mad about who I was starting to talk about, so to calm them down I decided on a cartoon they both starred in. Porky and Daffy have always been great together and I have to say this is one their best. It takes place in the old west with Daffy as a western type hero; Porky as his comedy relief. (tee hee) Coming to a lawless western town, Daffy declares he will clean up this one horse town. They run into Nasty Canasta and sample his deadly drink, but in the end Daffy will clean up!

Personal Rating: 4