Release Date:

April 26, 1958

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

After forcing his dog to play games that involve mistreating him, a boy named Junior is sent to his room by his mother. Mother warns him he wouldn’t want to be treated that way if he were a dog. Junior dreams that he actually IS a dog and is adopted by a little girl, whose innocently destructive way of caring for him causes Junior to realize dogs deserve to be treated good.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1486 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon’s plot is a reworking of “A Kiddies Kitty”.

This is the last one-shot that Freleng himself directed, but not the last to come from his unit (the last in question is “Senorella and the Glass Huarache”, which was directed by Hawley Pratt, and was also the last Warner cartoon from the original studio, but not the last Warner cartoon overall).

This is also the last cartoon to have backgrounds by Boris Gorelick.

This is the first Warner cartoon to reference Elvis Presley.

Daws Butler does all the male voices in this cartoon, making this one of the few cartoons from this period to not feature Mel Blanc. He also uses his Jerry Lewis voice for Junior (as well as his future Huckleberry Hound voice for the dog at the end- with this cartoon having been released a few months before Hanna-Barbera would introduce him).

The title is a play on words for “wagging tail”.

Junior’s character design would be used for the one-off character Prince Abadaba (sultan Yosemite Sam’s spoiled brat son who insists on stories being read to him) in the 1982 compilation movie, “Bugs Bunny’s 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales”.

Both boys in the dream, Johnny and Melvin, look a bit like a younger Jones.

In his dog form, Junior does not wear glasses despite wearing them in real life.

Junior’s mother is a rare instance where a woman sounds nagging for the right reason: she is appalled at Junior’s mistreatment of his dog.

Favorite Scene:

Junior getting his teeth brushed with shaving soap (basically the same as shaving cream), which causes him to run out with a foamy mouth and getting mistaken for a mad dog, causing the city to go into an uproar.

Also features a very clever twist ending that makes this such an interesting cartoon.

What Happens in This One:

We begin with Junior tugging on the dog’s leash and urging, “Come on! Come on! I-I’m gonna teach ya tricks if it takes all night!” (animated by Virgil Ross) Mother walks out and scolds, “Junior! Stop pulling on that dog’s leash!” (animated by Gerry Chiniquy) Junior answers while smiling, “Alright, Mama” before giving a look of annoyance to the audience (animated by Ross) as Mother goes back in (animated by Chiniquy). He then has the dog act like a horse while pulling him in a wagon, hilariously subverting Yosemite Sam’s dialogue to get one moving, “Hi mule! Hi! Hi mule! Mule! Hello mule! (animated by Ross) Hi!” Mother walks out again and is not pleased at seeing this either, “Junior! Stop it! That poor dog can’t pull you!” (animated by Chiniquy) He again answers with “Alright, Mama” and gives an annoyed look to the audience (animated by Ross).

Junior next rides the dog like a horse while he imitates one of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, yelling “CHARGE!” The dog then collapses when Mother is heard catching him one final time, “Junior! You’ve tormented that dog enough! (animated by Ross) You march right into the house this minute! And stay in your room ‘til I tell you you can come out!” Although he walks in with a disgruntled expression, Junior’s only reply is “Alright, Mama”. As Junior is lying on his bed, Mother warns him from the doorway, “You wouldn’t want to be treated that way if YOU were a dog!” (animated by Chiniquy) Junior answers, “No, Mama” before going to sleep. As he does, Mother’s warning of “If YOU were a dog!” echoes four times before the scene ripples into the outside of a pet shop where Junior as a white dog is resting in the front window (animated by Ross).

Junior as a dog wakes to find himself in the pet shop window, “Yipe! Where am I!?” Upon seeing his question answered when he looks around, he realizes, “Hey! I’m in a pet shop with dogs! Eh, this is ridiculous! I’ll just tell the owner I’m not a dog! I-I’m Junior!”, but unknowingly walks off on all four’s. Two adjacent puppies jump up yipping but Junior scolds them, “Stop that yapping! I’LL do the talking!” Upon spotting the unseen owner, “There he is!”, he yells, “Hey!”, but the only noise that comes out of his mouth when he attempts to talk to him is barking. Making a realization, Junior asks, “Did that come from me!?” He barks again before covering his mouth in shock, “I can’t talk. Just bark!” (animated by Arthur Davis)

Junior finally realizes the body he’s in, “I got dogs’ feet. And a tail. I’m a dog!” He starts laughing hysterically at this before this turns to equally hysterical crying. Junior then realizes the perks of this, “Hey! Eh, what’s wrong with being a dog? No-no more Saturday baths, uh, no table manners, no more school”. He then dances around chanting, “No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ (animated by Ross) sassy looks!”, as he goes up to the window and watches people pass by. “I’ll get someone to buy me a-and get a good home”. Junior pants affectionately when the girl is heard saying, “Oh, Daddy. Look at that cute doggy! He’s got such pretty sad eyes!” Junior then gives the soulful eyes to prove it. Her father agrees, “Okay. (chuckles) Let’s go in and see what we can do about it”. As Junior watches them enter while following them by the window, the father is heard asking, “How much is that dog in the window?” The owner clarifies, “You mean the one with the waggily tail?” (animated by Davis)

Later, the girl is seen carrying Junior down the sidewalk in her arms, much to his delight, “I don’t have to walk. I-I just get carried. I like it! I like it!” She then comes across someone named Johnny, “Hi, Johnny! How do ya like my new doggy?” Johnny replies, “He’s silly-looking! Uh, let me carry him!” The girl refuses, “No! He’s mine!”, but Johnny grabs Junior by the tail, “I wanna carry him!” Obliviously making Junior become a tug-of-war object and making him turn blue in the face from being choked, the girl argues, “No, no! He’s mine!” Johnny grabs hold of Junior and carries him by the tail, with Junior’s face thumping on several stairs, “Hey, fellas, look! A dog with a blue face!” The girl chases after him, demanding, “You come back here with my dog!” She then picks him up from the rear and ascends the stairs, with Junior’s face also thumping them this way, “He’s MY dog! And I’M going to carry him!” (animated by Ross)

The girl, walking Junior on a leash, comes across another boy named Melvin, with his own dog. He too is rather rude, “You’re silly-looking! A-and you wear funny clothes! And besides, my dog can lick your dog!” The girl retorts, “He cannot!” Seeing how small Melvin’s dog is, Junior gives a slight scoff to the audience, “Is he kiddin’?” Melvin then orders his dog, “Sic ‘em, Spike!” Spike beats Junior up right away (animated by Davis).

In her house, the girl has gotten out a first aid kit and has bandaged Junior from head to toe, “Melvin’s dog is just a bully, that’s what he is! NOW you’ll feel better!” The bandages only leave Junior capable of moving around on his tiptoes. Once out of the bathroom, Junior removes the bandages, but ends up ripping off some of his fur in the process. After he’s removed them all, he begins crying, “I don’t wanna be a dog!” The girl is then heard saying, “Now, doggy. It’s time you had a bath!” Junior attempts to run away to no avail as the girl takes him downstairs to give him a bath in the washing machine. After going through each process, “Wash”, “Spin”, “Dry”, and “Fluff Dry”, Junior emerges as a floating ball of fluff (animated by Ross).

The girl is pleased at Junior’s appearance, “Now you’re all nice and clean! (gasps) But we forgot to wash your teeth!” Not wanting an experience similar to the washing machine, Junior attempts to run out of the bathroom, only for the girl to block the door by standing in front of it, “No you don’t! You wait right here ‘til I get the toothpaste!” She walks over to the counter and grabs a tube of shaving soap- a variant of shaving cream-, “I-it says, ‘S-O-A-P’, toothpaste”. She squirts a bit onto the toothbrush and opens Junior’s mouth for him, “Open your mouth!”, before scrubbing the foamy toothbrush on his teeth, leaving his mouth covered in it. Having had enough, Junior runs out of the house (animated by Davis) and down the street where a few citizens mistake him for a mad dog, with one of them, a housewife, attempting to hit him with her broom. He runs into Stacy’s Department Store, scaring everyone out and causing a major uproar in the city, complete with a cop blowing his whistle, and a massive traffic jam (animated by Ross).

Following this, Junior has been put in solitary in the pound, sad and lonely. While a fellow imprisoned dog plays a harmonica, Junior spots a nearby door and ponders, “I wonder what’s going on behind the green door”. He then holds onto the bars and yells to be let out, “Let me out! Let me out of here! I-I don’t wanna be a dog no more!” The scene ripples back to him holding onto the bars at the end of his bed back to his usual self, “Let me out! Let me out!” He wakes up and is relieved, “Gee! It was only a dream!” Junior spots his dog and hugs him, “Elvis! Gee! I am glad it was only a dream! I learned what a dog’s life can be and from now on, I’m gonna treat you good!” Speaking in a Southern drawl similar to the soon-to-be-introduced Huckleberry Hound, Elvis reveals a twist, “Well, that’s okay with me, ‘cause I’m not a dog neither. I’m really another little boy having a dream!” (animated by Chiniquy)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

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