Release Date:

January 31, 1942

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

Two birds, Sammy Seagull from Brooklyn and Cecil Crow from Oakville, Iowa, stow away on a ship and end up on a Hawaiian island where they become friendly rivals for a hula bird named Lelani.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The cartoon was originally titled “Gulls A Poppin’”

Production on this cartoon began in April 1941 (a few months before Avery left) so he still directed it. As he left before the cartoon’s release, he is uncredited.

Pinto Colvig, the voice of Goofy, voices Cecil.

Sammy’s voice sounds similar to that of Popeye.

This is the first instance in a Warner cartoon where a character does a one finger, two finger, three finger count when drowning. Later instances where a character does this include “Fresh Airedale” (1945), “Henhouse Henery” (1949), and “Chaser on the Rocks” (1965).

What I Like About This One:

The ship that Sammy and Cecil stow away on is called the “S.S. Sabotage”.

When the two birds first meet, Sammy asks, “What do ya say, Jack?” Cecil says his name isn’t Jack but Cecil from Oakville, Iowa.

Upon meeting Lelani, Sammy and Cecil immediately start trying to win her affection (albeit without any hostility towards each other). Sammy dives into the water and presents an oyster with a pearl inside it. Cecil gets the same but the oyster inside the shell retrieves the pearl.

Sammy creating a heart with an arrow in the sky via the smoke from his cigarette.

Cecil’s attempt to create a heart out of smoke ends with him falling into the sea. He lights a match and then smokes before commenting, “Gosh, I didn’t know I could light this underwater”. He then realizes where he is (“UNDERWATER!?”) and zooms out. Several fish also fight over his cigar (animated by Rod Scribner).

Sammy rescues Cecil from drowning, but when coming out of the water, a tired Cecil pulls an unconscious Sammy from the water.

Sammy’s next attempt to impress Lelani involves zooming into the air and doing a dive. Cecil’s attempt to do the same results in him nearly getting eaten by a shark, accidentally annoying a turtle by hiding in his shell and taunting the shark, and getting a starfish stuck to his head.

Suddenly, a gorilla (wearing a sweater that says “The Villain” on the front and “As If You Didn’t Know” on the back) appears and kidnaps Lelani. After constantly humiliating himself throughout the cartoon, Cecil gets an awesome moment where he single-handedly fights the gorilla offscreen and wins. A grateful Lelani declares Cecil her hero.

In the end, Sammy stays on the island and waves goodbye to Cecil and Lelani who fly away and wave goodbye to him, along with two children who look like Lelani and a final one who looks like Cecil.

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕