Release Date:

October 14, 1944

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

On a freezing cold winter day at the farm, a mother duck’s eggs hatch except for one named Robespierre, where only his legs stick out. Desperate for warmth, Robespierre ends up getting lost and unknowingly finds himself stalked by a hungry wolf. But the wolf gets outsmarted at every turn by the mother duck.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 10-14, the 10th Looney Tune in the 14th release season.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “She Broke My Heart in Three Places” played under the opening credits:

Direction: Frank Tashlin

Story: Warren Foster

Animation: I. Ellis

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

The wolf resembles the one in “I Got Plenty of Mutton”.

The cartoon’s plot would be reworked for Robert McKimson’s “The Shell Shocked Egg” (1948) only it takes place in the summer at the beach and has turtles instead of ducks. Rather than a hungry predator, the pursuer this time is a dog who the central character initially walks under and believing he laid the egg tries to get it back to gain fame as the first dog to lay an egg.

“The Toy Trumpet” plays when the mother duck leads her newly hatched offspring outside up until the point where Robespierre finds the lake too cold when he tries to join them as well as the scene where the mother duck names out all her children before realizing Robespierre’s absence, when the mother duck is seen heading into the blizzard to look for Robespierre, and during the “ROBESPIERRE, A DOORKNOB!?” scene.

Some of the mother duck’s children are named Eleanor (after Eleanor Roosevelt), Franklin (after FDR), Winston (after Winston Churchill), and Leon (after Leon Schlesinger as this cartoon was also in production before he left).

This is Tashlin’s second usage of the name “Robespierre”, with the first being in “Porky Pig’s Feat”.

What I Like About This One:

The mother duck’s eggs literally turning blue to the tune of “Am I Blue” (animated by Cal Dalton).

Putting them up to a candle, the mother duck sees what each of her unhatched offspring is doing inside their shells: one is warming himself by a furnace, another sneezes to which she tells him “Gesundheit” and he says “Thank you”, another ice skates, and another one crashes after jumping off a ski ramp, cracking his egg shell (animated by Dalton).

The mother duck reorganizing her eggs with the help of a billiard triangle (animated by George Cannata).

When it becomes too cold to keep her eggs warm as the temperature is “cold as a brass monkey” (animated by Dalton), the mother duck turns the candle’s flame all the way up and puts her rear end against it, while removing her scarf and earmuffs and heavily sweating. Once her behind is red hot, she gives an evil smile (even when I first watched this as a kid, I always thought this evil smile made her look masculine) and runs all the way back to the nest to warm the eggs up. But they all hatch and say in unison, “DON’T DO IT! We’ll come out” (animated by Arthur Davis).

To the tune of “The Toy Trumpet”, the mother duck leads her offspring outside to their first swim in the lake, except Robespierre who is still in his shell and wonders, “Hey, where is everybody? Who turned off the heat?” (animated by Izzy Ellis)

When Robespierre first dips his leg into the lake, it’s way too cold for him, and to add insult to injury, the flame dies down once he zooms back to the barn. Annoyed at the fuel oil shortage during the war, Robespierre wanders away from the barn, seeking warmth (animated by Ellis).

Once they’re finished with their swim, the mother duck names out all her children as they pass with each quacking as their name is called. Realizing Robespierre is missing, she starts desperately looking for him and calling out his name in several places, such as underwater, under the snow before hitting a tree (to which her children revive her by throwing water on her), and in the barn before noticing his footprints leading into the woods (animated by Davis).

Caught in a snowstorm, Robespierre is lost and heard calling for his mother, before the snowstorm freezes in place so Robespierre can confide, “This is the saddest part of the picture, folks!” Licking his lips, the wolf agrees and pulls out a sign, “An he ain’t whistling Dixie” (animated by Dalton)

Mistaking a hibernating bear as “Mama with a fur coat”, Robespierre goes under the bear who calmly says in confusion to the audience, “So I laid an egg”. In order to get his hands on Robespierre, the wolf puts a TNT stick under the bear which blows him up to the cave ceiling, removing all the fur on his behind. When he slumps back down to the floor and gets back into his sleeping position, he calmly says, “Dreams like this worry me you know” (animated by Davis).

The wolf attempts to make off with Robespierre but everywhere he turns or runs into, the mother duck is there to poke him in the eyes and retrieve her child. She eventually runs with the egg all the way back to the barn, but realizes she grabbed an egg-shaped doorknob by mistake: “ROBESPIERRE, A DOORKNOB!?” (animated by Ellis)

Just as the wolf is about to boil Robespierre, he hears a knock on the door. Realizing it’s the mother duck, he looks through the keyhole, but is poked in the eyes that way and also has the door slammed on him (animated by Cannata). Rescuing her son from the boiling pot (animated by Davis), Robespierre opens up his shell and complains in a Joe Besser-like voice, “Aw, Ma! Just when I was gettin’ warm!” and dives back into the pot, relaxing in his shell like an innertube (animated by Dalton).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½