Release Date:

December 4, 1943

Main Character(s):

Elmer Fudd, A. Flea

Summary:

Elmer Fudd’s dog becomes the new home for A. Flea, a blue-skinned hillbilly flea with red hair, who attempts to make a meal of his flesh. Elmer becomes fed up with his dog scratching so much that he threatens to give him a bath if he is ever caught scratching again. Not scratching ends up becoming sheer torture for the poor dog.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 24-12, the 24th Merrie Melodie in the 12th release season.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “As Time Goes By” played under the opening credits:

Supervision: Robert Clampett

Story: Warren Foster

Animation: Bob McKimson

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

A sketch of the original opening rings was also found at the start of 2023.

For this cartoon, A. Flea was given a high-pitched feminine like voice, courtesy of Sara Berner. In his other appearance, Robert McKimson’s “A Horsefly Fleas” (1947), he was voiced by Mel Blanc.

Throughout the cartoon, A. Flea sings a catchy tune called “Food Around the Corner”, which Clampett wrote himself. This tune is so catchy, it’s hard to stop singing once you hear it.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

Elmer is seen reading a Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies comic book throughout the cartoon.

When the dog finally has enough after A. Flea sets off explosives inside him, he scoots his rear end all over the living room while howling hysterically. At one point, he stops to confess, “Hey, I better cut this out! I may get to like it!” before continuing. Clampett actually intended for the Hays Office to catch this scene and snip it out. But since it’s still intact in the cartoon, it probably went over their heads.

“Powerhouse” plays during the scene where the dog first scratches from A. Flea making a sandwich out of his skin up to the point where A. Flea tricks the dog into biting himself.

What I Like About This One:

When A. Flea pulls out a telescope and spots the dog’s rear end, he wolf-whistles and yells, “T-BONE!!!!!!!!” (animated by Rod Scribner)

Like I said before, “Food Around the Corner” is very catchy.

Once he finds a suitable part of the dog’s flesh to feast on, A. Flea then spreads mustard and douses it with ketchup before engulfing them with two pieces of bread, all the while singing his song. Before he takes a bite (animated by Scribner up to here), however, he tears off a ration stamp from his meat chart (animated by Robert McKimson), and finishes the song before taking a chomp (animated by Virgil Ross) .

Feeling an itch, the dog scratches (animated by Robert) and chases A. Flea with his teeth. A. Flea pulls up a piece of skin (animated by Ross), which the dog bites and immediately leaps up into the air in pain (animated by Robert). Landing on Elmer, the dog weeps in pain and starts crying in a very high voice, “Look what he did to me! He bit me-!” (animated by Scribner) Elmer just simply pours flea powder on him, but that only creates a snow-like landscape that A. Flea ice skates around on (animated by Phil Monroe).

Elmer then lays down the law, “Scwatching, scwatching, scwatching! One more scwatch and I’ll give you a BATH!” (Scribner’s animation and Arthur Q. Bryan’s line delivery make this a lot funnier than it should be) Dreading the idea, the dog pleads for him not to but Elmer has made up his mind: “One more swatch!” The dog promises, “Cross my heart!” but of course that is easier said than done (animated by Thomas McKimson).

Singing his song again, A. Flea now brings out several digging tools (animated by Thomas) and draws out a cut of the dog’s rump roast, labeling it as well and chopping at it with a pickax (animated by Ross). Seeing A. Flea drill into his flesh with a corkscrew (animated by Thomas), the dog turns a tealish shade of green and starts growling and breathing in fury (animated by Robert) before Elmer peeks over from his comic book to see what’s going on (animated by Scribner), forcing the dog to just simply give a nervous chuckle (animated by Robert).

Feeling A. Flea’s pickax hit him again, the dog’s body stiffens in pain (animated by Thomas) but Elmer peeks over from his comic book again (animated by Scribner), causing the dog to give a big, nervous grin with little beads of sweat forming on his face (animated by Monroe). Attempting to sneak in a scratch, the dog is then caught by Elmer who this time gives him an angry glare (animated by Robert).

With A. Flea now using a jackhammer, the dog provokes the house cat into scratching him. This works for a while until Elmer angrily glares at them, forcing them to hide their heads in their arms (animated by Monroe).

A. Flea bothering him and not being able to scratch becomes so torturous at this point, that the dog now turns all sorts of different colors such as blue, red, all of the warm colors (red, orange, and yellow), yellow with red shapes, and even plaid! (animated by Robert)

The last straw comes when A. Flea sets off explosives (animated by Scribner). When they go off (animated by Thomas), the dog can’t take it anymore, so he starts scooting his rear end all around the living room and howling hysterically. He realizes, “Hey, I better cut this out I may get to like it!” before continuing (animated by Monroe). Seeing Elmer with an angry expression and running towards him with his arms out in a grabbing position (animated by Thomas), the dog skids to a stop. Despite his repeated shouting of “OH NO!” (animated by Monroe), Elmer grabs the dog from a door which he ends up tearing off its hinges (animated by Ross).

In the midst of Elmer dragging the dog to the bath, A. Flea jumps on Elmer, causing Elmer to start scratching himself like a dog by means of using his foot! The dog then tries to give Elmer a bath, but he slips on a bar of soap (animated by Ross up to here), causing them to fall into a tub of sudsy water (animated by Thomas). When they emerge, the soap suds cause Elmer to resemble Santa and the dog to resemble a reindeer (animated by Robert).

Both Elmer and the dog end up on A. Flea’s blue plate special as he carries them off and sings a variant of his song, “There’ll be no more meatless Tuesdays for me!” Witnessing the sight, the cat is so shocked at this that he states, “Well, now I’ve seen everything!” and shoots himself where he lands in a spot across the room (animated by Robert).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕