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Prissy

Given the fact that lately,  I am talking about characters that appeared in Foghorn shorts, I figured I should talk about another one.

Prissy is a chicken who debuted in the Porky cartoon “An Egg Scramble”. Since then though, she seems to have moved to Foghorn’s barnyard. From what I have seen, this poor gal has never laid an egg or been married. This does not deter her though; she keeps on trying on both accounts. She also would be pretty cute, but that bonnet and her voice make her seem too old, but apparently she is young enough to try and woo Foghorn. Or, perhaps most likely she is just desperate.

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Early to Bet

“So remember folks, the gambling bug will get you if you don’t watch out!”

This is one of those shorts that was a one shot. That did not make it any less hilarious, though. It opens with an nature documentary sort of thing. We are introduced to the Gambling Bug. (Hemipterus addictus.) An insect whose bite inflicts anyone with a need to gamble. Today, however, the bug thinks he needs a vacation, so he goes for a walk in the country. He witnesses a dog ask a cat to play cards with him, but the cat refuses. Perhaps it’s because every time the cat loses he must face a penalty?

The bug decides that this is a job for him, and gives the cat a bite. As to be expected, he loses and we see his penalties range from sneezing while being forced to chew bubble gum, to being forced to roll out a barrel of gunpowder. Finally the dog decides that the cat is too unlucky and if they play more, he’ll die. (Ruining the dogs fun). Feeling bad the bug plays the cat… only to promptly lose and have to face a penalty: being swatted.

Personal Rating: 3

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Daffy Duck Hunt

“B-B-Benedict Arnold!”

Porky and his dog, the Barnyard Dawg are out hunting. Cue duck. Daffy empties all the shells and taunts Porky and his dog with some french dancing. Porky tells the dog to get him and the dog decides that a trick will help him win. He begins to cry and Daffy asks what’s wrong. The dog explains (lies) that if he does not catch a duck, Porky will torture him. In a rare moment of selflessness, Daffy says they will pretend he was caught. After the dog brings Daffy back to his master, Porky decides that one duck is enough for dinner. They go home and put Daffy in a freezer.

Porky goes to sleep whilst the dog hears thumps in the freezer. His two consciousnesses appear and try to make him choose to let Daffy freeze or at least warm up for helping him. Choosing the right choice, he puts Daffy in the oven to get some heat. Daffy tries to leave but is explained that he is not going to leave. Daffy makes a lot of racket and Porky storms in to see what is going on. Daffy jumps in the dog’s mouth and the poor mutt gets beaten.

More of this zaniness follows. Finally, Porky says that if the duck is not in the freezer then the dog dies. Opening it up he allows Daffy to jump out, dressed like Santa and has them sing “Jingle Bells.” Porky then notices the calendar says April, and gets an axe to finish Daffy. However, he is stopped by the patch on Daffy that says, “Do not open until Christmas”. Daffy figures that by then, he will have figured a way out of the mess he got himself into.

Personal Rating: 3 (but it teeters dangerously towards the “4” category)

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Barnyard Dawg

This is the dog I pity the most. The poor guy tries again and again to beat Foghorn and half the time, he loses. Plus, when he does get one i,. I feel bad for Foghorn. (It’s complicated.) Still, he has had other appearances as well. Being Porky’s and Elmer’s dog, for example. In those cartoons he is the character who usually wins against Daffy. (Or at least not getting his hindquarters paddled.)

Sorry for lack of updates. School sucks.

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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

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Foghorn Leghorn

So today, I was trying to think of a character I had yet to talk about. Glancing at my calendar, (which is Looney tune themed by the way, as is nearly everything I own) I said to myself “That’s, ah say that’s it!” Unless you posses the intelligence of a cnidarian, you probably guessed by now that I am indeed referring to Foghorn Leghorn.

He got his start in  a cartoon called “Walky Talky Hawky” which starred Henery Hawk. The rooster was not supposed to be the star. However, he was way funnier and he had a great personality. He won’t shut up and he thinks he’s the greatest. (That is flattery by the way.) Robert Mckimson did a good job with this leghorn (type of chicken for you simpletons) and I would, ah say, I would love to meet this fowl-mouthed fowl.

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Tweety’s S.O.S.

“Hello, breakfast.”

 

This short begins with Sylvester digging through the trash. He can’t bring himself to eat what he finds, and he goes down by the pier to mope. As the title promises, he soon spies Tweety and, of course, he gives chase. However, Granny is also on the boat and she wont let the cat hurt her bird, BUT… she has a weakness. Without her glasses, she is blind. Sylvester kicks them under a couch and almost catches his meal, but Tweety gets the glasses just in time.

The ship begins its cruise and Sylvester paints a bad drawing of Tweety on Granny’s glasses so he can chase him round the ship. After a while he is found with his head over the side. Tweety asks if he lost something and he did… his lunch. Tweety tries to give him a snack, but it causes the cat to run to the sick room to down some antidote. The chase resumes, which ends up with Sylvester in the boiler.

He corners Tweety who holds up a picture of a boat and rocks it, causing the putty tat to get nauseous again. Tweety beats him to the sick room (Look, Hawley Pratt!) and switches the antidote with nitroglycerine. This gives Sylvester a new weapon and he would have caught the bird if Granny had not shown up. She hits him with her umbrella which causes him to sail into the sky. He lands on the captain ko-ing them both. Tweety and Granny then take over the ship.

Personal Rating: 3

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Speedy Gonzales

“There is only one mouse who can get that cheese, and that is Speedy Gonzales!”

No, really. That is the name of the cartoon. It was not the only one of its kind. There were other shorts that were not the characters first appearance but named after them anyway. (“Tweetie Pie”, “Hippity Hopper”, “The Daffy Duck”, “The Foghorn Leghorn”…)

Anyways, some mice stare at a cheese factory. Why don’t they go in? Oh, its just the fact that Sylvester is guarding the place and has killed everyone who tried to get past him. The mice decide that if someone was fast enough, they could eat. They ask Speedy and he agrees. He races to the factory, and Sylvester learns that this is one fast mouse. He tries mousetraps, but Speedy runs so fast they just fly onto the cat.

He dresses like a catcher but only catches a baseball. (After he throws it away it is shown Speedy was in there.) He even plants a mine field, but the mouse (who technically is the bad guy in this episode, Sylvester is just doing his job and Speedy is stealing) tricks him into running into it. In the end Sylvester tries to blow up the cheese…only causing it to rain down on the mice.

Personal Rating: 3

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Speedy Gonzales

The fastest mouse in all of Mexico and a hit with the ladies, is Speedy here. Speedy here, got his start in Mckimson’s “Cat-tails for Two.” There, he looked like a rat. No, really. He wore a red shirt, no pants, scruffy hair, and a gold tooth. But his next cartoon (and the one I will review next time) led him to stardom. Why? Because he won an Oscar. So that elevated him to star.

His most frequent adversary was Sylvester, but during the end of the golden age of Looney Tunes, it was Daffy. I don’t know why. They just had a lot of Daffy and Speedy back then. Daffy probably just wanted more screen time, and they needed a fast character who could come whenever.

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Lumber Jerks

“It seems like they are bent on the destruction of our forest.”

For unknown reasons, the gophers are more like tree squirrels in this short. They are gathering acorns for the winter only to find their tree is gone. A quick search later and it is found among many others in a river. They try to paddle it back to shore but wind up going down a waterfall and ending up at a sawmill. Narrowly avoiding being sliced they notice where they are. Its the sawmill from hell!

They are turning trees into sawdust and then mixing with glue and water to make fake logs, and sharpening whole trunks into toothpicks. Finding their stolen property (now a chest of drawers) they siphon the gas from the delivery truck and catch up to it.  We see that they have built a new tree out of furniture which is much nicer than the old one because they have television. Really enjoying it, they think that they will enjoy it more once they have electricity.

Personal Rating: 3