Release Date:

December 13, 1947

Main Character(s):

A. Flea

Summary:

A. Flea teams up with a homeless horsefly (a literal horse with wings) to find a new home which they find on a dog who lives in the nearby house. Unfortunately for them, this dog is also home to a tribe of Indian fleas who don’t want to share their territory with paleface fleas.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1060 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. When it was restored for the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 2 Blu-ray set in 2012, the original titles were put back in.

The cartoon was produced in Cinecolor, resulting in it being finished early. It also uses the 1948-1949 green rings with the red background.

This is the second and last appearance of A. Flea, following “An Itch in Time”. In this one, however, he sounds more masculine due to being voiced by Mel Blanc rather than Sara Berner.

In release order, this is the first McKimson cartoon to have animation by Phil DeLara, who previously animated for Jones in the early 1940’s. Like how Rod Scribner would in the 1950’s, DeLara would also often steal the show in McKimson’s cartoons, and would also leave Warner Bros. in 1955.

The cartoon no longer airs on television due to Native American stereotyping. As mentioned above, however, the cartoon was restored and put out on disc.

The animator draft can be viewed here (most of the McKimson drafts not on Cartoon Research have shown up on Worthpoint and Looney Tunes Wiki).

“The Toy Trumpet” plays when the “flea circus” moves into its “winter quarters” (the dog).

A. Flea also sings his song, “Food Around the Corner” as “Home Around the Corner” in this one with different lyrics such as: “There’ll be no more wanderin’ highways; no more plottin’ byways; there’s a home around the corner for me!”

What I Like About This One:

Even when modified as “Home Around the Corner”, A. Flea’s song is still very catchy (animated by Manny Gould).

Seeing the horsefly with a sad expression and tears, A. Flea asks him where his horse is. The horsefly sadly tells him that he used to be a milk wagon horse but lost his home when they changed to autos (animated by Charles McKimson). A. Flea cheers him up by telling him he’s homeless too and that they can search for a home together, before continuing his song while riding the horsefly like a horse (animated by Phil DeLara).

Deciding to make the dog their home, A. Flea and the horsefly fly in (animated by Fred Abranz) and ride the dog’s eyelid opening into his forest of hairs. They then come across a sign that reads “Indian Territory Pale Face Fleas Keep Out”. A. Flea confides to the horsefly, “You know, I bet I miss a lot of things by not being able to read!” (animated by DeLara)

A. Flea decides on a spot and clears out some “trees” (the dog’s hairs) to make a cabin. After A. Flea chops a hair down like a tree (animated by John Carey), the dog makes several cringed takes as it falls (animated by Charles).

Next, A. Flea chops a pickax into some flesh (animated by Carey) as the dog screams in pain and his scratching creates a tremor in his body (animated by Charles).

Suddenly, an arrow pins A. Flea’s raccoon-skin cap to a hair which alerts him of the Indian fleas (animated by Charles). The Indian flea who shot the arrow runs back to his chief who has the tribe beat tom-toms and do a war dance (animated by Carey). Meanwhile, the dog sees smoke signals coming from him which form the words, “Roger” (animated by DeLara).

Bringing out two pistols, A. Flea rapidly fires at the Indian fleas and also shoots at one on the top of the dog’s head as he falls in a dramatic death. A. Flea is forced to make a run for it once his pistols bring out the words “Empty” and “Ditto” respectively (animated by Carey with Abranz animating the shot of a few Indian fleas getting shot). Getting onto the horsefly, he shouts like the Lone Ranger, “Hi-ho, Duplicate! Away!” (animated by Abranz).

The dog opens his fur (animated by DeLara) to watch the chase (animated by Charles) and pours flea powder on himself (animated by Abranz) which only creates a snowy chase scene with the horsefly pouring the shivering A. Flea in a sled and the Indian fleas going after them on skis (animated by DeLara). With this, the dog rolls around in anger and repeatedly bounces on his head. The chase continues across the dog’s muzzle (animated by Charles). One Indian flea who is behind the others stops to hit the dog in the eye with his tomahawk (animated by Carey).

The Indian fleas have managed to capture A. Flea and the horsefly with them tied up to a “stake” (another hair) and are about to burn them alive (animated by Carey). Seeing smoke coming from his body, the dog unintentionally saves them by jumping into the fountain to relieve the pain. The chase now occurs in canoes (animated by Abranz).

Later, as the dog is sleeping in front of the fireplace (animated by DeLara), a flea circus train comes in and moves into the dog for their winter quarters (animated by Carey). The chase between A. Flea and the Indian fleas continues into the dog (animated by Charles) where they enter the circus tent and become an act offscreen (animated by DeLara).

The dog is nonetheless delighted at this and seen with cotton candy and a magnifying glass, happily says, “Oh boy! I haven’t seen a circus since I was a little pup!” Now being chased around and around in the flea circus by the Indian fleas (animated by Charles), A. Flea, riding the horsefly, is happy about this new job: “As long as they’re gonna chase me anyway, I might as well get paid for it!”, with the cartoon ending with four catchy sounding closing notes (animated by DeLara).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕