Release Date:

September 16, 1950

Main Character(s):

Foghorn Leghorn

Summary:

Fishing in a pool-like pond, a cat is informed via a note from the fish that he can’t catch them without a worm. The same worm the cat finds is the one who Foghorn Leghorn wants to eat and they fight over the worm.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1128 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the first Foghorn cartoon where neither Henery Hawk or Barnyard Dawg appear and is also the first of ten Foghorn cartoons where Dawg does not appear. The other nine are “Little Boy Boo” (1954), “Feather Dusted” (1955), “Weasel Stop” (1956), “Raw Raw Rooster” (1956), “A Broken Leghorn” (1959), “Crockett Doodle Do” (1960), “The Dixie Fryer” (1960), “Strangled Eggs” (1961), and “The Slick Chick” (1962).

This is one of four McKimson cartoons to have animation by Manuel Perez. The other three are “Pop ‘im Pop”, “Bushy Hare”, and “Dog Collared” (all released later in 1950).

This cartoon breaks the streak of Emery Hawkins having animated on nine cartoons in a row (which started with “An Egg Scramble” and ended with “The Ducksters”) as he didn’t animate on this one (and speaking of Hawkins, I had forgotten to mention in “All A Bir-r-r-d” that he had animated on another cartoon for Freleng, with that being 1951’s “A Bone for a Bone”. I guess I was only thinking of 1950 when I mentioned that. Just shows I’m not perfect, folks).

The title is a pun for “fractured leg”.

This is one of three post-1949 Foghorn cartoons to not use “Camptown Races” with the other two being “Of Rice and Hen” (1953) and “Banty Raids” (1963).

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

This is the other McKimson cartoon to have backgrounds by Philip DeGuard.

The cat shares the same character design as the one in “It’s Hummer Time”.

The “Foghorn Leghorn in” title card for his two appearances in Looney Tunes Cartoons, “Weaselin’ In” (2021) and “Feather of the Bride” (2023) is based off of the title card for this cartoon where Foghorn looks at the title after having painted it out with a bucket of black paint.

What I Like About This One:

In tune to a pleasant rendition of “By a Waterfall”, the cat is seen fishing in the pool-like pond (animated by Phil DeLara) as several hooks are also seen on his feet underwater (animated by Rod Scribner). Thinking he caught something, he reels it in but finds it’s a note: “Dear Dope- You can’t catch us fish without a worm on the hook. Signed- The Fish”. The cat shrugs at this before he goes searching for a worm (animated by DeLara).

The worm pops out of a hole and starts moving along before he sees Foghorn’s shadow above him and Foghorn’s foot preventing him from going back into the hole (animated by Charles McKimson). Foghorn begins to chase after the worm (animated by Manuel Perez) but as the worm turns the corner, (animated by Charles) he sees the cat who runs toward him hoping to catch him in a can (animated by DeLara). Seeing (animated by Charles) Foghorn and the cat running towards him in opposite directions (animated by DeLara), the worm goes up the wall, resulting in Foghorn and the cat crashing into each other offscreen (animated by Charles).

With both piled up, Foghorn is shown to have the can on his head which he removes as the cat comes to and attempts to catch the worm only for Foghorn to mistakenly put the can on the cat’s head. Foghorn begins berating the cat while talking nonstop and pushing him, “What’s the big, I say, what’s the big idea chasing my worm? You’re a cat, son! Cats don’t eat worms! You’re takin’ the food right out of my mouth! I don’t go around chasing mice!” After slapping him down hard, he says, “Stand up, boy, you’re trippin’ over your own feet” and then continues pushing him backward this time through a fence, which causes the board the cat’s in front of to come loose and for the cat to get a bucket on his foot, “Now you stay away from worms and I’ll stay away from mice! That’s fair and square and if you’d stop all your arguin’ and jawin’, you’d see MY side of it!” He then backs him all the way up a ladder, “Yap, yap, yap, keep that mouth flappin’ and do no listenin’!” After the cat falls, Foghorn hypocritically remarks, “There’s nothin’ worse than a blabbermouth cat” (animated by Scribner).

With the can now off of his head, the cat is seen behind a fence and painting his finger to look like the worm and sets up a guillotine-like trap made from the fence where he raises the blade-like part up and sticks his disguised finger out into view (animated by Charles). Foghorn is seen searching for the worm through a telescope and upon seeing the cat’s finger runs toward it. Attempting to bite it, he ends up getting his head stuck in the blade-like wood in the cat’s trap. Unable to move his head, Foghorn sees the cat push in a wheel, “Hey, son. Whatcha gonna do with that wheel?” It’s revealed that the cat has set up some sort of contraption with the wheel lying face up and with a sail attached to it. He also dips a paintbrush into a bucket of green paint and ties it to the wheel before turning on the contraption with an electric fan. The fan propelling the sail causes the wheel to spin around and repeatedly smack Foghorn in the face with the paintbrush, getting him covered in green paint from the neck up (animated by DeLara).

The cat chases the worm to a tractor where the worm hides in the engine. The cat beats said engine with a metal pipe before putting his mouth up to the exhaust in order to blow the worm out. Unbeknownst to him, the worm escapes (animated by John Carey). Foghorn then starts up the tractor, causing the cat to cough out the exhaust! After snapping out of it, the cat grabs an ax but Foghorn steals it from him and asks, “Who do ya think ya are?, George Washington?” before hitting him on the head with the non-sharp end of the ax. “Huh. There’s no cherry trees around here”, he mutters while walking away and sticking the ax into a fence board (animated by Scribner).

Attempting to remove the ax, the cat ends up falling backward with the board the ax was stuck in (animated by Scribner). After the worm passes above him, the cat gets up and continues the chase (animated by Charles).

The worm retreats into the hole from earlier and when the cat sticks his finger in there to reach for him, the worm bites the cat’s finger, causing the cat to scream in pain. Angry, he attempts to force the worm out by jabbing a stick down into the hole, only to see him come out of another hole. Every time the cat tries to get the worm in one hole, he always pops up out of another. The cat attempts to blow him out with a pump but he has to step off the pump every time to grab him, causing the worm to go back down into the hole. Foghorn enters and berates the cat again while pushing him back, “What’re ya do-, I say, what’re ya doin’ with the pump?, pumpin’ for oil? You’re crazy, boy! There’s no oil in this ground!” Foghorn slaps the cat down hard again, to which he says, “Stand up, son. You’re fallin’ all over yourself”. He then pushes him back and belly-bumps him, “There’s no oil 500 miles of here! Geology in the ground’s all wrong! Even if there WAS oil, you’d need a drill, not a tire pump!” After Foghorn backs the cat under a hay cart that they both duck under (animated by Bill Melendez up to here), the cat ends up hitting a rake back first and collapsing. “Oh, you’re down again. You gotta learn to stand on your own feet, boy. I may not always be around to help ya”, Foghorn says to which the cat facepalms at this (animated by DeLara). Foghorn then asides, “Boy’s got a mouth like a cannon. Always shootin’ it off” (animated by Charles).

Foghorn then pushes the pump out of curiosity and upon seeing the worm come out from the pump’s air, decides to use it for himself, attempting to bite at the worm every time he pumps him out. The cat eventually grabs the worm before Foghorn can make one final attempt to bite at it (animated by Melendez).

Now able to use the worm as bait (and with Foghorn hiding behind a tree), the cat finds that the worm is very reluctant as he shivers upon touching the water and slithers back up the fishing pole. The cat points a pistol at the worm as a sign that he’s not taking no for an answer (animated by Charles). Foghorn suddenly emerges out of the pool-like pond and once more starts walking the cat backwards, “What kept, I say, what kept ya, son? I can’t hold my breath forever! I’m not a fish! I gotta breathe air! My lungs CRAVE air! You gotta think of things like that, boy!” He then backs the cat into a water trough and Foghorn’s dialogue only comes out as gargling as his head is submerged. After they get out, he continues, “-a little consideration for me!” The cat falls down again, “Ah, you’re down again. I don’t want to be hoggish about this, so I’ll tell ya what! Let’s dee-vide the worm!” (animated by DeLara)

The worm shakes his head in fear at this suggestion, as Foghorn also suggests, “Yeah. We’ll dr-, I say, we’ll draw a line and BI-sect him!”, with one half going to Foghorn and the other half going to the cat. The worm scrunches his whole body up to Foghorn’s side: “Well barbecue my hamhocks! Your half is gone!” The cat starts to say something, but Foghorn interrupts him: “Now don’t, I say, don’t give me no lip, son. Ya gotta stick by your bargain. I’d do the same.” The worm then scrunches his whole body up to the cat’s side: “Well, hog gravy and chitluns! MY half is gone!” (animated by Charles)

Foghorn interrupts the cat once more, “Ah-ah-ah. I know what you’re gonna say, son. When two halves is gone, there’s nothing left. And you’re right. It’s a little old worm who wasn’t there. Two nothings is nothing”. Thanks to Foghorn’s refusal to stop talking, the worm gets away (animated by Charles) and Foghorn once again pushes the cat down, with the latter ending up with a small stepping trash can on his head. “That’s mathematics, son! You can argue with me, but you can’t argue with figures! Two half-nothing’s is a whole nothing! And I know what I’m talking about because-” Having had absolutely enough, the cat gets in his only line of dialogue as he beats Foghorn with the can, “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, SHUT UP!” and walks away in annoyance (animated by Melendez).

Foghorn decides, “Okay, I’ll shut up. I’m not one that has to keep talkin’. Some fellas just have to keep their mouths flappin’ but not me. I was brought upright. My pa used to tell me shut up and I’d shut up! I wouldn’t say nothin’! One time darn near starved to death!” and then holds back the iris-out to finish, “Wouldn’t tell him I was hungry!” (animated by Melendez)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕