Release Date:

March 28, 1953

Main Character(s):

Dodsworth

Summary:

Dodsworth wants to eat a woodpecker for breakfast, but is too lazy to catch it himself. Like in his previous appearance, he pretends to teach the white kitten to catch birds, when he’s actually using him to catch the woodpecker for him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1241 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

The cartoon is a follow-up to “Kiddin’ the Kitten” with this being Dodsworth’s second and final appearance (and again voiced by Sheldon Leonard).

The woodpecker resembles the one in “Peck Up Your Troubles”.

The title is a play on words for the phrase “peck of trouble”.

“War Dance for Wooden Indians” plays during the scene where Dodsworth attempts to balance the kitten on a pole up until the point where the kitten falls off of it due to being pushed off by the woodpecker.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

The draft also reveals that the cartoon would originally end with Dodsworth walking away and giving up. This was obviously cut from the finished cartoon, as it irises out on the woodpecker and disguised-as-woodpecker kitten’s message to Dodsworth, “Gnats to Cats”.

Due to Mel Blanc not voicing any characters in the cartoon, there are no voice credits.

Favorite Scene:

The scene with the pole that ends with the woodpecker putting a bottle of nitro-glycerin on top of it and pecking the pole to nothingness, so the bottle falls and explodes on Dodsworth. After said explosion, Dodsworth is seen on fire and flapping his arms around to put the flames out in a hilarious way.

What Happens in This One:

The woodpecker is seen busy pecking on a telephone pole as Dodsworth watches him while licking his lips (animated by Phil DeLara). Dodsworth goes into a sneaking position and tiptoes on all fours towards the pole before climbing up it. He gets attacked by the woodpecker offscreen before he comes down with his face all lumpy from being pecked. “Hmm. Serves me right. Should’ve known better. Why, for generations, none of us Dodsworths have ever stooped to physical effort to obtain his breakfast”, he remarks (animated by Rod Scribner).

The woodpecker then flies off and takes refuge in a nearby tree, which Dodsworth marks an “X” on with a piece of chalk (animated by Scribner). Looking up towards the hole in the tree the woodpecker entered, Dodsworth says to himself, “Well, I know WHAT I want for breakfast and I know WHERE to find the juicy little feathered tidbit. Now the problem is how do I go about gettin’ him?” He looks around the tree and observes, “Hmm. Too bad they don’t have elevators in these trees”. Hearing a meowing noise, Dodsworth finds the kitten has appeared out of nowhere and decides, “Hmm, Dodsworth. Looks like your problem’s solved for ya”. He puts on a friendly manner, “Greetings, my furry little feline friend. Now would you care to learn the catly art of bird-catching… under the tutelage of a past master of the noble art?” The kitten nods three times while meowing. Dodsworth replies, “That’s the old school spirit. The kitten can’t start learning early enough” (animated by Charles McKimson).

Putting on a graduate cap and ringing a bell, Dodsworth announces, “Quiet now. School’s in session”. He picks the kitten up and tells him, “Now. Your first lesson is to, uh, shimmy up this tree, grab that red-headed squab out of that hole up there, and bring him down to me”. The kitten looks up at how high of a climb it is to the hole (animated by Charles) and turns to Dodsworth pointing upward with a fearful expression as if he’s questioning it. Dodsworth tells him, “Well, come on, boy. Ya’s ain’t afraid, are ya’s?” The kitten shakes his head and goes up the tree while yowling. Dodsworth encourages, “Keep goin’, boy” before he leans against the tree and says without looking up at him, “You’re doin’ fine”. The woodpecker hands the kitten a bowling ball, causing him to fall (animated by Scribner). Oblivious to this, Dodsworth licks his lips while saying to himself, “Mm. Heh. That juicy little tidbit’s as good as in my mouth right now”, only to now look up just as the kitten and bowling ball fall right on top of his head. The bowling ball falls off of Dodsworth’s head before the kitten’s head pops up from Dodsworth’s body. It turns out that Dodsworth’s body is scrunched down below his shoulders as he is heard wondering with his voice muffled, “Now where is that kid? I can hear him, but I can’t see him”. Dodsworth’s head then re-emerges from being pushed down into his shoulders, causing the kitten to land in his hands (animated by Charles).

In tune to “Umbrella Man”, Dodsworth flies a kite toward the hole with the kitten riding on to the kite’s tail. “Aw, Doddsy, ol’ boy. You’re just FULL of tricks today”. The woodpecker moves himself out of the kitten’s reach and slices up the bottom of a dynamite stick to make it resemble his head feathers before lighting it. Believing he’s caught the woodpecker, the kitten slides down the string with the dynamite as Dodsworth is pleased, “Well. Here’s my pupil now, and he’s got my red-headed breakfast with him”. As the kitten is holding onto it, Dodsworth encourages, “That’s it, boy. Don’t let him get away. Give him to me, quick!” The kitten hands it to him as Dodsworth immediately puts the dynamite in his mouth, causing a huge explosion from inside his stomach. After he burps out a ring of smoke, Dodsworth runs over to a pail of water to drink out of it. As he leaves, water gushes out from several holes on his crotch area (animated by DeLara).

Dodsworth is next seen folding some paper into a paper airplane as he tells the kitten, “Come on, boy. Let’s put our shoulders to the wheel and get that ladder up”. He then flies his plane only for it to not fly very far and land next to him (animated by Charles). The tired-out kitten is seen cranking up a ladder very high up to the hole as Dodsworth continues, “I’ll never get my breakfast… uh, I mean, uh, y-you’ll never learn to catch birds dawdling like that”. The kitten finally finishes cranking it all the way up as Dodsworth sighs, “Well, we finally got it up, didn’t we?” The kitten wearily meows in agreement before Dodsworth instructs him, “Now go up there and get that bird and I’ll steady the ladder for ya’s”, but he actually lounges against the ladder instead (animated by Keith Darling).

The woodpecker watches the kitten climb up the ladder, and then pecks out a hole in front of where the latch in the ladder is, allowing him to move the latch with a wood chip (animated by Charles) and cause the ladder to zoom back downward (animated by Herman Cohen) and fall on Dodsworth. The kitten tumbles backward and stares slack-jawed at Dodsworth as he tells him, “Well, come on, boy. Don’t stand there with your mouth hanging open and your pop-eyes popping. Get me out of here!”, revealing that he got stuck in the ladder. The kitten cranks it up to get Dodsworth free, but it only results in Dodsworth’s fur from the neck down being pulled right off (animated by Darling) and flying all the way back up to the tree with the ladder (animated by Cohen). The woodpecker shakes Dodsworth’s fur suit and then looks down at (animated by Charles) Dodsworth, who is now nude except for a pair of yellow underwear with green squares. He blushes in embarrassment and runs up the ladder to retrieve his fur suit. After coming back down, he turns an even more vibrant shade of red and chuckles awkwardly (animated by Scribner).

Dodsworth holds up a pole towards the tree with the kitten hanging onto it. The woodpecker pushes the kitten off of it before Dodsworth looks up and clings to the pole in fear upon seeing what the woodpecker has placed atop the other end: a bottle of nitro-glycerin (animated by DeLara). The woodpecker goes all the way down to Dodsworth, and pecks away at the pole, sending the nitro bottle falling towards him. Dodsworth puts on a blindfold and smokes one last cigarette before the bottle lands on him and explodes. With his body on fire from the explosion, Dodsworth frantically flaps around, trying to put the flames out (animated by Herman Cohen).

Dodsworth warns, “I’m warnin’ ya. If ya don’t bring him back this time, I’m gettin’ me a new pupil. Ya understand?” Tied to a crossbow, the kitten meows in agreement. Dodsworth launches him from the bow into the tree where an offscreen fight between the kitten and the woodpecker occurs. After the fight stops, Dodsworth instructs, “Well, come on, boy. Throw him down!” He then says to himself, “Can’t wait all day for my breakfast”, before this causes him to think, “My breakfast! Hey- you don’t suppose-Yeah! That’s it! He’s eaten MY breakfast! Why, the little double-crosser! He ain’t gonna get away with THAT!” Dodsworth pulls on the rope hard to bring the kitten back down to him, only to be hit directly on the head with a bowling ball tied to a rope. After Dodsworth’s head pops back into its correct shape, he takes out a piece of paper sticking out of one of the bowling ball’s holes. It’s a note that reads, “My mother always said, If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Signed, The Kitten”. Dodsworth looks up (animated by Cohen up to here) and finds the kitten donning a fake beak and a rubber glove on his head to join the woodpecker in pecking out a message in all-capitals on the tree, “Gnats to Cats” (animated by Scribner).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½